FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

The Council Meeting

Someone was calling softly at the entrance to my tent. It took a few seconds to fully emerge from dreams. Charlotte groaned and struggle to sit up.

What had I been dreaming about this time? There were pictures in my mind, faint, slipping away now. Were my genetic memories no longer going to show up as dreams now that I knew what I needed to know about the Queen? It was almost like Amora had been trying to warn me. I shook my head, like I was trying to shake off the silly idea. Charlotte threw off the fur blanket and crawled over to the entrance, pushing the flap back.  The blast of daylight made me squint, and I crawled after her and emerged into the crisp air, eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden change. Everyone in the camp seemed to be awake now, and they were all passing through the tents, heading in the same direction, to the open space just behind where the horses were tethered.

“I had weird dreams,” one of the girls – Stacey – emerged from the tent beside ours, rubbing at her eyes. Suddenly I remembered back to when I had first met the girls, how they had strange dreams about battle as well. I frowned, trying to think. Did that mean the Queen had put a spell on their mother’s too?

“About battle?” I asked her.

She nodded, “I have battle dreams from time to time, Lief would tell us that they were just passed down to us, the memories of our fathers.”

So they were genetic memories. I wasn’t the only freaky magically engineered one? I felt a little lighter inside, “Do you ever dream anything specific? Or feel like you’re someone else in the dream?”

Stacy looked confused, “no, I just dream about battle. And it’s always kind of a blur.”

I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Margaret and Becca pushed through the tent flap, Margaret still stretching and yawning as she went, “That was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.” 

I turned to see Loki stumble out of the far tent. His dark curls were a mess. He blinked sleepily at me and my heart lurched. He was adorable. I resisted the urge to run over and squeeze him.

Someone cleared their throat. We fell silent. Turning around, I spotted a tall, broad shouldered woman leaning against a tree just outside the tents. Obviously she was the one who had woken us up. I recognized her as the same woman who had swooped Loki up onto her horse. When I looked sideways at him he was still staring around himself dazedly. He hadn’t woken up yet enough to realize it was her.

She said, “Now, if you are all ready, you can come with me. I’ll show you the way to the council meeting. Everyone is heading that way now.” She turned abruptly and marched off, and we hurried to follow her. We passed jotun who were damping down their fires in preparation to leave them, and other jotun hurried along beside us as if they had become swept up in our tide. Everyone was heading for the meadow beside the horses. Already a large crowd had begun to form there. People placed skins down on the snow and then sat down cross legged on them, waiting patiently for something to happen.

 I spotted Erik already there, standing at the front of the crowd, arms crossed over his leather jerkin, eyes travelling over his people. When he saw us coming he gave us a smile and a wave.

“Thank you, Gerdie. Amora, you and your friend can come stand by me.”

Gerdie? I glanced at the broad woman’s back, thinking that she could not have possibly been landed with a more unpleasant name.

Gerdie melted – as much as she could be said to melt – in with the others, and we took our place beside Erik. I found myself standing between Loki and Erik, and I noticed the difference immediately. Loki seemed to radiate heat from his skin, and whenever his arm brushed mine I could feel it warming me. Erik and I were the same natural temperature.  I didn’t have long to think about this, because apparently the last couple people had trickled in at the back of the crowd, and the meeting was starting. Erik cleared his throat, and the gentle murmur of conversation died away.