Ahtohallan's Lullaby

4. Going North

"Come here Pooky"

The baby reindeer came closer to me as we were walking between the dark tree trunks before I gently patted his head to reassure him. We were heading north for almost half an hour and this part of the forest was by far the scariest, nothing seemed to live here, not even plants. The mist was way thicker here, only letting the dead trees' silhouettes pass through it. But the thing that was particularly making me feel wary was the silence. There were not even a breath of wind between the branches, not even a single animal sound. There was nothing more than dead trees and thick mist.

We were still following the icy path that was leading us on the top of a small hill. How long was the path after that ? How far were they from us ? I truly didn't know. I stopped a few seconds to think before we started the ascent. There was still no sign of the girls, and I was starting to wonder if following this path was truly a good idea. I plopped down on a dead trunk and patted my lap, allowing Pooky to rest his head on it. I knew the girls were at least one hour above us, and it would be hard to find them except if they stopped somewhere. I breathed out to think before I felt a light breath of wind behind my back. Then small colorful leaves began to sway in a breath of air around us, making Pooky jump up and down in amusement, trying to catch it with his mouth.

"Hey Gale", I chuckled quietly, "What do you want ?"

As an answer, the wind spirit suddenly became a strong gust, making me jump in surprise, and pushed me on my feet before leading me fast on the top of the hill. I followed his lead before opening my eyes wide at the view in front of me. At the other side of the hill was a wreckage of a boat, but not a small boat as we used to have to go fishing. This one seemed to be a sailing ship as I never saw before. The size of its cog and the three massive masts showed me that it was probably a ocean-going vessel. This wreckage was for me a true piece of art, but I wondered why Gale wanted to show me this.

As if he understood my inner questionings, he blew towards the aftcastle to make the small flag on it fly for some seconds. I crossed my arms on my chest, allowing me to think. I knew those patterns, I saw them just a few hours ago. It was the emblem of Arendelle I saw on the soldiers' armors. Adding to this that the frozen path was suddenly and oddly ending at the top of this hill, I was pretty sure that Elsa was here not so long ago.

Seeing a breach in the cog big enough for a human to pass through it, I decided to move closer. I stopped in front of it to look above me as the imposing wooden wreckage was cracking with the back and forth of the wind, making it seem almost alive. I then put my hand on the cog, caressing the soft wood polished by the wind and tides, breathing out slowly before entering the guts of the ship. It took my eyes some seconds to get accustomed to the darkness. I stepped forward carefully as the wooden floor was creaking under each of my steps.

" Elsa ?", I said hesitantly as I was bit by bit starting to see around me, " It's Honeymaren, are you here ?"

A small ray of light passed between the wooden beams to light up the place ahead. I jumped in surprise as I discovered in front of me a human-scaled statue of ice. It was depicting a man and a woman embracing each other surrounded by unrelenting waves. Scanning the scene, I could not help feeling my hear sink. Whoever they were, if this scene was real that was probably their last seconds alive. The ocean had no mercy. I knew that well.

Shaking my head, I skirted the statue to walk behind it. On the dusty desk was a scroll of paper. There was no doubt that the two sisters were here just before me. I opened it carefully to find a map on which I could recognize the forest, the dark sea. I opened my eyes wide as on the left corner of ther map, to the north of the dark sea, had been added a location.