Page 65 of The Seducer
“And how tall was Magni again?” Tristan asked.
“Almost seven feet tall.”
“That’s two meters and fourteen centimeters,” Reva said and widened her eyes. “That’s crazy.”
“Not at all, we’ve many men taller than that in the Northlands.”
“But why are you Northmen so tall while we’re normal height?” Reva asked with curiosity.
“Meat!” Finn said. “It’s because we eat a lot of meat. And we have good genetics too. All our boys are fathered by Nmen and each generation seem to grow taller and stronger.”
“We’ve got a few tall boys at our school too,” Tristan said. “I’m one of them. We even have a girl who’s almost my height.”
Reva spoke up. “I know, and it’s strange because I heard a teacher say she’d never seen so many tall kids in the school as these past few years.”
Tristan looked at me. “You’ve been to the Northlands, Athena, did you meet Finn’s friend, Magni?”
“I did,” I confirmed. “He was the one who kidnapped me.”
Tristan and his siblings grew silent.
“How did he kidnap you?” Reva, who was eleven, asked.
I gave her a sad smile. “It’s a scary story, are you sure you want to hear it?”
All the children nodded and because there were no more seats left, Finn sat down on the floor leaning his back against the wall, sipping on his hot chocolate with a content smile on his face.
“Well, I should start by saying that it didn’t happen here. We’re too far from the border for any Nman to ever come here and kidnap you,” I said and looked straight at Charlotte. “So you shouldn’t worry, sweetie,” I said and continued. “Every year in May, there’s a gathering for the priestesses here in the green area. It’s a chance for us to learn from each other, and to celebrate the progress each priestess has made. It is also at these yearly gatherings that we are rewarded with the honor of another tattooed symbol on our forehead, to signal our level of wisdom within certain theological areas.”
Samuel spoke up with impatience. “But how did you get kidnapped?”
“This year, the gathering was up north, about two hours from here, and I was on my way to meet some of the others for dinner. That’s when out of nowhere I was attacked by a giant.”
“A real giant?” Charlotte said and moved closer to Tristan, who placed an arm around the five-year-old.
“When I say giant, Charlotte, I simply mean a really large man.”
The little girl nodded with a serious expression.
“I was terrified of him, and tried to get away, but he was so big and strong that he lifted me without any trouble and just carried me with him.”
“Where to?” Tristan asked with eagerness. “Did you get to see the Northlands?”
“Some of it, but it was night when we arrived and I couldn’t see much in the darkness. Also, I think I must’ve fainted, because parts of the journey I don’t remember at all.” I took a sip of my cocoa and nodded to Finn. “It turned out that Magni, the man who had kidnapped me, was the brother of Khan Aurelius.”
“Who is he?” Samuel asked.
“Khan is the ruler of the Northlands and it was he who asked Finn to look after me.”
Finn lifted his cup. “You’re welcome, honey,” he said with a smile. “And what a good time we had together.”
The children looked from me to him and back again. “Was it fun being a hostage?” Reva, who I knew to be a very quiet child, asked.
“Hey, Reva sweetie, let me ask you this,” Finn said. “Did you have fun playing in the snow?”
The girl nodded. “Lots of fun.”
“Did Athena look like she was having fun?”
