Iron Frost - Clan of the Rim Chronicles #1

29

"CALDER! CALDER PLEASE WAIT!" I called for him as I stumbled out of the portal just as it closed. I fell into the snow, cursing upon it touching my wound.

The sound of my pain must have been what caused Calder to turn around and walk back over, but he didn't touch me.

"Were you ever going to tell me or just keep yourself wrapped up in the lie?" he asked.

"I wasn't going to say anything until I was sure the visions were true," I defended. "I didn't want to worry you."

"That's a load of shit, Eerika," Calder spat. "You wouldn't have told me no matter what the outcome ended up to be."

"Oh, you mean like how you wouldn't have told me about Runa unless I asked you about her?"

"That is not the same thing," he gritted, turning his back to me.

"Of course it's not, not to you! You don't understand what this has been doing to me, Calder. It has been eating me up inside for weeks, giving me nightmares, making me sick to my stomach. I could barely close my eyes without the visions flashing behind them."

"Then you should have trusted me to help you through it! We literally just discussed last night that I wouldn't keep secrets from you anymore and it turned out you had one of your own all along. We could have told the Clan about what was going on. They could have done something to cease them or stop what might come to pass!"

"I couldn't tell anybody, Calder! It would have only made things worse. The Clan would have put me on total lockdown, and then we never would have been able to find the sword that will kill Sylvi."

"Do we even kill her in the visions? Or have we completely wasted this entire journey for a lost cause just as I feared it would be?"

I looked down at my lap and shook my head. "I don't know. The visions never get that far. It always ends with you telling me to run."

Calder sighed and ran his free hand over his face, cursing in Norwegian. "Jælva helvete."

"I assume that's a curse word?" I interjected, trying to break the tension.

"Yes, and it's one you don't want to hear in English," he said as he walked over to crouch at my level. "Let me see your leg."

Tugging off what was left of the soaked bandage he examined the wound which had indeed reopened.

"The saltwater sanitized it but it could have also set in bacteria," he said. "We have to get back to the palace before infection sets in. This is no place to keep fixing wounds like this."

Grabbing the needle and thread from my hand he began sewing it closed again in silence. I felt an awkwardness surround us and tried to think of what to say.

"One of the reasons I didn't tell you about the visions. . .was because of a slew of nightmares I've been having. Or at least one in particular that I can't get out of my head."

Calder stopped mid sew and turned his icy blue eyes up to me. "What happened in it?" he queried.

I bit my lip, cursing myself at the prick of tears I felt trying to surface. "You die."

Calder clenched his jaw without a reply, finishing the last stitch and ripping a piece of his shirt to use as a bandage.

"It's my biggest fear about all of this," I told him, my voice cracking. "It isn't about facing the queen. It's about losing you and being unable to protect my people. I can't bear it, Calder. I've lost so many things already. I can't lose you too."

"Stop. Stop speaking this way," Calder spoke softly, his hand coming up to my now tear stained cheek and pulling my forehead to his. "Stop."

"How can you deflect it so easily?" I asked as I fisted his shirt in frustration. "How can you not be afraid of something happening to either of us? It scares the hell out of me and you're so calm. It kills me!"