Page 37 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

“Is it a good idea to leave our horses so close to the cave?” Inkeri placed a gentle hand on the black mane of her steed. “I would be devastated if one of those creatures did anything to them.”

Eluf opened his mouth to say something, but Kolfinna was already moving forward. She stopped in front of the cluster of horses tied to the trees and raised her hand. All at once, mana gushed from her and seared the ground in flashes of gold writing.

Gunnar cursed softly. “Her eyes are glowinggold.”

Runes danced on the ground around the horses in a ring.Nothing shall pass through here to hurt the horses. Nothing with magic will cross inside here. All the horses will be protected within this ring.

“There.” She followed the circle around until she was sure it was complete before turning to the party. “The horses will be safe so long as they remain in the circle.”

“What … Is this?” Ivar’s eyes were wide as he tentatively poked the runes with his foot. When his foot didn’t go inside the ring, his eyes widened further and he looked up at the group. “I can’t even put my foot in. It’s like there’s an invisible …wall.”

“What did you do?” Herja asked, voice rising an octave in panic. “Is my horse okay?”

“Is this … fae magic?” Inkeri looked both thrilled and nervous.

Eluf hadn’t moved. “What … is that?”

They had probably never seen rune magic, Kolfinna realized. Most reports from the Eventyrslot ruins weren’t made public or even shared within the military or Royal Guards outside of the higher officials, so it was no wonder they didn’t know.

“It’s rune magic,” she said with a shrug. “I made it so that the horses are safe within the circle I created with my magic. The horses are fine.”

“How does that work?” Inkeri tilted her head curiously, looking between Kolfinna and the row of curved glowing runes.

“It’s a long explanation,” Kolfinna said. “But essentially, runes put commands or rules or conditions in place that my magic carries out. It’s a bit complicated and I don’t understand it completely, but it’s an ancient fae magic. I’m still learning, so I’m no expert.”

“I didn’t even know fae could do that,” Ivar said, still trying to poke the runes.

“There’s a lot you probably don’t know about the fae.” Kolfinna tried to smile, but she couldn’t, not when everyone’s attention was zeroed in on her. “Anyway, are we going inside the cave now or …?”

Eluf nodded. “Yes, let’s all go.”

They all headed inside the cave. Herja was the first to enter; she acted confident, with violet fire roaring in the palm of her hand, and to everyone else, she probably seemed unbothered. But Kolfinna knew the truth. She could hear her shallow breaths—breaths that Kolfinna shouldn’t have been able to hear. Herja was trying to calm herself—trying to breathe in and out, in and out. Kolfinna recognized the strategy—it was something she had done too in the face of fear and anxiety. And yet Herja still appeared confident. She walked forward and led the partythrough the narrow opening of the cave as everyone filed in behind her. Her fire shifted to a bright white, better illuminating their path.

The slender opening slowly expanded and eventually stretched out until it was at least eight feet tall. Herja’s breathing had calmed down when they were no longer squeezing through the narrow cave. The hallway slowly descended down. Crude steps led them deeper into the network of paths that Kolfinna could feel with her stone magic.

She could hear movement even better down here, where the breaths of the forest—the swishing of branches and the scampering of rodents—weren’t as deafening. She could hear the small scurries of mice flitting across the ground and above the tapered structure at the roof of the cave. She could hear footsteps in the distance. She could hear everyone else’s breaths.

It was both bizarre and fascinating—how much clearer everything suddenly became. This must’ve been a new development for Kolfinna because she was certain she didn’t have this level of hearing a few weeks ago.

When they went deeper into the cave, they no longer needed Herja’s fire because crude sconces along the bumpy, cavernous wall held flickering fire that bathed the hall in shades of dark shadows and deep orange.

Herja still kept her flame in hand, the color shifting between violet and white and blue, each different flicker of color changing the temperature in the hall.

Footsteps neared them. One? No, three sets of footsteps. They shuffled, slowly.

Kolfinna’s eyes narrowed. They were coming closer. Maybe fifteen seconds away. The hallway bent at the end of the hall about four feet away. Was it a group of goblins? Or something else?

She grabbed Herja’s elbow, halting the woman. Kolfinna hadn’t realized how tall Herja was until she was peering down at her with sapphire eyes, threads of silver running through them like the white fire in her hand. Ivar looked over at them and was about to say something, but Kolfinna’s expression stopped him.

Kolfinna raised three fingers and pointed to the end of the hall.

Understanding flickered in the other woman’s face and she nodded. Kolfinna turned to the others and was about to relay the same information, when the footsteps came to the bend and stopped abruptly.

Three green-skinned goblins wearing thin rags over their groins stood at the end of the hall. White, wispy hair hung over crinkled, leathery skin. Their stomachs protruded slightly, and they held crudely shaped wooden clubs. At the sight of their group, they charged them.

An ugly battle cry left one of their lips, but Herja was already on the move.

Fire blasted the hallway in crimson, sending waves of heat behind Herja. Kolfinna found it hard to take a breath of that remaining hot air. The fire died out just as quickly as it sprang forth. The unexpected heat in the cave remained, clinging to the once-cold walls. Kolfinna exhaled deeply. The three goblins were dead on the ground, their bodies black, and the smell of burning flesh came off their corpses so strongly that Kolfinna almost retched on the side of the hall.

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