"At least Thor seems to think we can use the help," Herrick bit out, rolling his neck. "I just wish I could contribute."
Maude brought her attention to the iron band.
"Liv said the Shadow King should be able to remove it," Maude said quietly, her anger seething beneath the surface of her skin. "Why didn't you tell me about yourgalder?"
Frost covered the banner she leaned against as her outrage manifested as ice. Herrick stiffened, realizing that she was aware of his new weakness.
"You have to learn to redirect your anger now that you seemingly have control of multiple elements," Herrick said, glancing over his shoulder at Maude as she slipped against the icy surface of the railing. "Looks like you'll need lessons in controlling this new, mysterious power of yours."
Maude clenched her teeth. He was purposefully avoiding speaking to her about thegaldersuppressing iron choking his abilities.
"Are you going to ignore the question?" she asked.
"Yep. Are you going to keep hiding what happened these last few weeks?"
Neither of them spoke again for a handful of moments as their stubbornness became living, breathing entities that warred against each other.
"I'd really rather not talk about it right now," she muttered, averting her eyes.
Reaching for her fire, Maude pulsed once with her flames and melted the ice as if it had never been there, just as the rain started to fall from the heavy, gray clouds pelting her with its frozen downpour.
"I deserve to know what happened. I deserve some answers," Herrick said quietly, the bitterness he had brewing under his skin showing its face in his words.
"I know," Maude replied just as quietly.
Herrick released a grunt of frustration, but before he could turn and demand her to reveal all that had happened, Yuri signaled again that it was time to act.
"I promise to tell you everything, but right now, we have to focus on staying alive," Maude whispered, her words somehow finding him in the chaos of sound that came with the thunderous icy rainstorm.
"I'm holding you to that vow," Herrick growled. He shook the tension from his shoulders before ordering, "Drop the anchor and hold on tight. We're coming about!"
Herrick's orders boomed across the longship, the strength and confidence in his voice resembling the man Maude knew before this nightmare they were living in began. Before them, the crew broke into frantic movement, the Elven and prisoners alike gripping the edges of the ship with unrelenting fists.
He tossed a wink over his shoulder to Maude before the ship abruptly shifted under her feet, the wood rumbling all the way through her bones and straining under the forced change in trajectory, throwing her into Herrick's side as her head spun from his quick change in demeanor. His arm wrapped around her waist as she gripped his tunic, the soft linen already enveloped in his rain-soaked scent. As Maude became ensnared in the fresh smell of Herrick's skin, the sky opened up. Lightning crashed around them in bright flashes that highlighted every surface in white light for a short eternity.
"I've got you,minn eldr," Herrick said in her ear, making her shiver.
Maude looked over her shoulder while trying to regain her footing. The rain pounded into the hardwood boards of the ship sharply as Liv and Bryn wrangled the chaotic winds in their favor. Hakon and Yuri gathered at the starboard with the other Elven, who still had their glamours on. The icy rain soaked through her clothes quickly, cooling the flames that lived beneath her flesh.
Finally, the ship righted itself, and Maude's world stopped spinning abruptly. A few more shouts and the anchor being pulled out of the water before the hardthunkof it landing on the deck drifted up to them but she couldn't hear anything as she was so wrapped up in Herrick's stare as he held her. The scene below her was an explosion of activity as they all prepared for a fight, but Maude could only focus on how his hands gripped her waist. His hold around her tightened for a moment, his face open and vulnerable as he searched hers.
The longer she felt his scrutiny, the more she could feel herself erecting the walls she was so comfortable with. The old instinct, the need to hide herself from the world so she could conceal who and what she was, overpowered her control. She felt herself draw away from him, even as she begged herself to become pliant in his arms.
Herrick's features shuttered as he watched Maude fall back on old habits. He released his grip on her as she finally found her footing and walked away from her, stopping at the top of the short stairs that would lead to the deck. Maude sat with the pit that had grown in her stomach with each step he took away from her, the feeling burning through her core until it radiated through her very bones.
Herrick signaled to the deckhand to take over the helm now that the wild anchor turn maneuver was complete before heading to stand at Maude's side. Black sails billowed in the distance— the stillness from their ship unnerving in comparison to their bustling deck. They joined their friends, the stress thrumming between all of them putting Maude on edge as she stopped at her sister's side.
Herrick ignored everyone. Walking to the edge of the landing they stood on, his golden eyes narrowing, he reached up to the iron around his throat with one hand and traced it gently. Maude shivered as she watched the caress, so similar to how he would trace patterns over her skin. She wasn't sure he was even aware he was doing it.She went to his side, opening her mouth to see if she could somehow start to repair what she was already shattering with her bloody hands, when Herrick stiffened.
"He's there," Herrick said quietly, cutting through the humming chatter around them. "Baldr. The General of Flame."
"How can you be sure?" Liv asked.
Herrick was quiet for a moment as he stared at the black ship that grew closer and closer. Without responding, he shouted to the crew, "Prepare to board; we give no quarter."
The crew of Elven andvitkiburst into motion again— voices shouting and weapons clanging against shields as they painted runes onto their skin for luck and said their last prayers to the gods for glory in battle. Herrick turned to her and Maude could see before he spoke that his eyes were haunted. Except there was a lining of something else in the gold hue…
Fury. The type of fury Maude usually burned with.
