The Wild Swans (19 page)

“Erick is right. Captain
Meier, Elise, you cannot let anyone find out who you are. Do you understand? If King Torgen realizes he has the beloved princess of Arcainia in his clutches, there is no telling what he will do,” Steffen said.

“Yes
, brother.”

“Yes
, Prince Steffen.”

Brida and Elise
were ready for Prince Toril when he showed up the following day.

“Good morn
ing to you, madams. I trust you slept well? Yes?” he answered himself when Brida stonily stared at him and did not deign to give him a response. “Have you thought about my offer?”

“We
have. We will come.”

“I must beg you to reconsider for it is not safe—wait
, you will come?” Prince Toril said.

“Yes
,” Brida said.

Prince Toril clapped his hands together.
“That is wonderful news indeed. I am glad you see the sense in my plan. When will you be ready to leave?”

“Now.”

“Now?” Prince Toril repeated.

“Yes. The horses are saddled
, and the birds are ready.”

“The birds?”

“Do you have a problem understanding the words I am saying? Why must you repeat them? Yes, the birds. We could not possibly travel without her swans,” Brida said, nodding at Elise.

“Oh. Of course
,” Prince Toril weakly said as he looked past Elise where her brothers were flocked together on shore, waiting to take off until Elise climbed in the saddle and started the journey.

“So… may we depart?” Brida asked after a minute of silence.

Prince Toril’s smile was back. “Yes, of course. My horse is just past these trees,” he said, heading back into the trees.

Brida mounted up her horse
, and Elise took up the lead rope of Falk’s horse—who was laden with nettles, Elise’s finished shirts, and various plants Falk had plucked the night before for medicinal purposes.

“We will travel with a few other men—soldiers and hunters who accompanied me.
There are only five of them, so there is no need to be afraid. Aren’t you going to ride?” Prince Toril said when he came back—riding a splendid-looking horse.

Elise shook her head.

“You could ride behind me if your mount is otherwise burdened,” Prince Toril said, glancing at Falk’s horse. “You are a slight thing; my horse will hardly notice your extra weight.”

Elise shook her head again
, but Prince Toril wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

“You cannot
walk to Ostfold. It’s too far. My horse has very soothing gaits, I promise you,” Prince Toril said, grabbing Elise by her forearm.

Elise looked to Brida who shrugged. “He
has a point.”

Elise frowned
, but scrambled up behind Prince Toril.

“There
, this isn’t so bad, is it—oof,” he said when Elise lodged her arms around his stomach so tightly she squeezed air from him. “Nothing to fear,” Prince Toril wheezed.

The prince led the way
, leaving Brida to pony up Falk’s horse before bringing up the rear. The Arcainian Princes hissed and bumped one another before they took off, circling overhead as Prince Toril led them through the forest.

Within several minutes
, they met up with the rest of Prince Toril’s party and set off for Ostfold, the capital of Verglas.

“So
, where do you come from?” Prince Toril asked. He spoke at a volume that made Elise think he was talking to her, but Brida answered for her.

“Loire
,” she lied.

Prince Toril nodded. “And what are your names?”

“I am Brenda. She’s Elsa,” Brida said.

“What brought you to Verglas?”

“We live in a border town. Elsa’s remaining kin died, and the villagers never liked that she couldn’t talk, so they ran her off.”

“And you?”

“I’m her friend; I couldn’t let her go alone.”

As Brida and Prince Toril chatted
, Elise studied the men traveling with them.

They
had the look and air of Verglas to them—meaning they were sturdy and tough like their Verglas-bred horses, but they smiled kindly, and Elise’s unnatural silence did not seem to bother them.

When they reached a road
, Elise looked up and, through the breaks in the trees, could spy a flock of white swans flying.

Go
ing to Ostfold was a frightening prospect, but with Brida behind her and her foster family above her, Elise thought everything would be alright.

Ostfold
was not what Elise expected.

Unlike Brandis
, which was all stone, most of Ostfold was built out of wood. Each building had a slanted roof and pointed turrets, and every window had painted shutters. The buildings were beautiful and in perfect condition—each house seemed to have a fresh coat of paint on it, and beautiful wood carvings could be found in every nook and cranny of even the lowliest building.

“Don’t you worry about fires?” Brida
asked as they rode through Ostfold—which was about the size of one of Arcainia’s medium-sized cities.

“No
. Why would we?” Prince Toril blinked.

Brida and Elise exchanged glances as they rode on
, heading for the royal palace.

The royal palace
was smaller than Elise pictured. The Sole Ambassador mocked Castle Brandis for its size, but the Ostfold palace was only half the size of Brandis. The Verglas Royal Palace also had a significantly different style of architecture than the traditional castle. Instead of solid lines and a smooth roof, every part of the castle jutted up into triangular cut outs, like fat stalagmites of ice. There was only one tower in the castle, and it was tall and skinny and shaped like a well-sharpened pencil.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Prince Toril asked.

Elise found herself nodding. Although Ostfold and the palace weren’t as beautiful to her as Castle Brandis, it did have an exotic sort of beauty, and Elise admired all the triangles and straight lines.

“I thought you could
take refuge at Lake Sno,” Prince Toril said as he led the way to the back of the royal palace. Behind the oddly beautiful castle was a huge lake. It was a gorgeous aqua color Elise had never seen in water before.

“It’s pretty cold since it
’s snow-fed from the mountains, but your swans should be able to brave it,” Prince Toril said, glancing overhead where the flock flew.

“There’s a small cottage where a hermit used to live
, before my father threw him out,” Prince Toril said, speaking the second part quickly. “It should house you two quite comfortably. There it is.”

Elise
was relieved to see that the cottage Price Toril pointed to was out of the way of the palace. Between the palace and the cottage were the royal gardens, the stables, servants’ quarters, and a good-sized hill. The cottage was nestled into a group of pine trees that backed up into a large forest. It stretched up one of the mountainsides Ostfold leaned against. It was a stone’s throw from a small inlet the lake stretched into, formed complements of the hill and the forest.

It would be close enough to civilization
that they would be safe, but far enough away that no one would take note of seven transforming swans at sundown.

“Do you like it?” Prince Toril asked.

Elise nodded.

“It will do. You
have our thanks, Prince Toril,” Brida said, regaining some of her manners due to the proximity of a palace.

“No thanks
are necessary. It is my duty as a royal prince to see to the happiness of peasants,” Prince Toril said, an idiotic grin on his face.

Behind
his back Brida rolled her eyes.

“I will take the ladies to their new residence. I’ll see you tonight at the Rabbit and the Reindeer?” Prince Toril asked his companions.

“Aye,” they chorused out.

“Take care
, ladies,” one of the more talkative soldiers said to Brida and Elise.

Elise waved in farewell as Toril directed his horse down the dirt path
that led to the cottage. Brida hurried after them, clicking to her mare and Falk’s mount to keep them going when they longingly eyed the beautiful stables.

“Almost there
,” Brida murmured.

The cottage
was unsurprisingly made of wood. It had just one carving in the exterior—an extravagant snowflake posted just above the doorframe. What was most astonishing about the cottage, though, was its roof. It was covered with green grass.

Both Elise and Brida stared at the green roof.

“What? What’s wrong?” Prince Toril asked after he dismounted his horse, being careful not to kick Elise in her open mouth.

Brida pointed to the cottage. “The roof. It is grow
ing grass,” she said respectfully, just in case the somewhat clueless prince hadn’t noticed.

“So?” he asked.

“It’s grass,” Brida repeated.

“Sod roofs are common practice in Verglas
,” Prince Toril said, helping Elise down.

“Why?” Brida asked as she too dismounted.

“They provide wonderful insulation in the winter, and they’re heavy, so it supports the structure,” Prince Toril said. “They’re actually covered in birch bark underneath the greenery. The birch bark is what makes the roof waterproof. The grass just keeps it in place.”

Brida accepted this explanation and set about
unpacking the horses.

Elise
, however, stared at the roof in morbid fascination.

Prince Toril caught her extreme interest and chuckled. “Some folk occasional
ly toss their goats on their roof.”

Elise swung to face him with disbeliev
ing eyes.

“It’s true. It keeps the goat from wander
ing off, and their roof gets trimmed so it does not become a bushy eyesore,” Prince Toril said.

Elise
was not entirely convinced Toril was telling the truth, but the loud flapping of wings told her she had no time to further enquire. She left Prince Toril and Brida and walked to the lake shore, plunging in until she was up to her knees.

Prince Toril
was right—the water was cold!

Elise waved to her flock of swans
, who circled the inlet before they landed in the water—managing to do so with a small amount of grace so they did not crash into each other or spatter the lake surface as they were prone to doing.

“Once you are settled in
, I shall return. Otherwise, you can expect a kitchen girl to deliver food for you every morning and evening. If you have a need for anything, just ask her—or if it is urgent, you may ask any guard around the palace,” Prince Toril said.

Elise hurried out of the water when the sw
ans began splashing each other in their exuberance to be back in water.

“Again
, you have our thanks, Prince Toril,” Brida said before she bowed.

Elise hasti
ly curtsied, purposely using the plainest curtsy she could.