As Jarl Oggi rights himself, Jarl Jorg Eriksson lowers his viciously serrated head and stares his neighboring Jarl down. Jarl Jorg is even smaller than his family in shifted form; but power boils off him like a typhoon of Bloodwind now, as a vast standoff happens before us.
Jarl Oggi’s honor guard and his prison guards rush to his side, facing off with the Erikssons. The Magnussen dragons are massive compared to the Eriksson lot. But power seethes off Ström’s kin like ten hurricanes now.
All equal in their might to Jarl Jorg, or nearly so.
As Ström, Bjorn, and I heave hard breaths, helping each other up off the ice, we’re nowhere near able to shift up to join the fight. The Eriksson clan protects us, however, as all around, the Magnussen witnesses shift uncomfortably in their boulder thrones.
Because they’ve all seen we were successful in our Trial, in a situation that was damn near a complete death sentence. It’s clear Jarl Oggi wantedto kill us, and found a loophole to sentence us to our watery death when he pronounced we had to do our Trial together.
Now that we are successful, beating all odds and rising like leviathans from the deeps, he’s furious.
Wanting to kill us right here and now, for defeating him.
“Stand down, Jorg.I have a right to punish my son, so he learns his lessons.” Jarl Oggi gives a vicious snarl now as the Magnussens and Erikssons face off. His human voice pummels through my thoughts, as his dragon’s voice rumbles. Some immensely powerful dragons can communicate mind-to-mind without being life-mated; Jarl Oggi is apparently one of these, though this is the first time I’ve heard him use it.
Rather than remain in dragon form, however, Jarl Jorg shifts down, standing before the menacing Jarl Oggi in his thin, lean stature.
A nasty smile upon his face.
“I won’t have my great-grandson and his mate be caught in your crossfire,” Jarl Jorg says now as he grins viciously at Jarl Oggi. “And since my Jarl-Heir is life-mated via a Bloodwalker’s power to not just said Bloodwalker, but also to your son, you killing your son might just kill my Heir. I won’t stand for it. Rikyava, Ström, and Bjorn passed your little test. By your own Magnussen laws, they have free passage to the border now, which I am thankfully here to enforce.”
“Jarl Jorg Eriksson is right, my Jarl,” that fierce old drakaina barks now from her high seat as many of the witnesses around her nod. Her voice is like iron as her ruby gaze pins us on the ice. “The Eriksson Jarl-Heir, our Hög Skjaldmær, and our own former Jarl-Heir have free passage, now that they have proven they speak the Truth. Or would you gainsay our ancient Magnussen benefactress, she who has given our clan so many gifts of Truth these past millennia?”
As a watchful stir takes the witnesses above and all around, Jarl Oggi Magnussen pauses. Even as his big drake, he thinks about what this fierce old drakainasaid.
I wonder who she is, that she has the power to make her own Jarl pause in his tracks.
“Bjorn, Rikyava, and Ström have spoken true that they are on a mission for the King, my Jarl.” I hear Captain Olander Mortensen’s voice now as he steps up beside his shifted brethren upon the ice in human form—and I understand he did not shift to oppose us when his Jarl’s other guards did.
Captain Olander looks at us, and I see his clever thoughtfulness in his eyes now, as he plays a card for us. “To waylay them now, even though they desecrated one of our most sacred spaces, would be High Treason against our King who wishes they continue their hunt. They have also spoken true that they are hunting the Black Dragon ofUnhaemmerten… risen again in modern times to destroy us.”
“Your young captain is right,” that fierce old drakaina barks again from the high circle of boulder thrones. “A wise Jarl who loves his people might be more interested in stopping the ancient creature who once decimated Seerselen and many more of our villages. Because our ancient benefactress Aesa has determined these three speak the truth—in all three points we wished clarified. Which means the Black Demon has indeed risen again, and these three are on the most noble mission possible: to stop it before it wrecks infernal havoc upon us once more.”
“The Black Dragon has attacked no one in your territory yet, Oggi. Best let your son and his mates go to stop it before it can slaughter countless thousands of your people. Eh?” Jarl Jorg says cleverly now as he gives Oggi an eyebrow lift.
“The desecration they did atUnhaemmertenwas to gain information about the Black Demon,” Captain Olander says now as he backs us up, as well. “Entering that place and disturbing it served deep purpose, my Jarl. They hunt a demon of the ages. And they needed information from the most ancient ages… to find the key to bringing it down.”
As everyone goes silent now, the Eriksson retinue still facing off with Jarl Oggi and his guards, a tense moment takes the basin.Countless dragon magics whirl around me now, ready for a fight; I breathe into my power, feeling my Bloodwalker energy rise.
It’s strongly connected to Ström’s and Bjorn’s again, now that we’re no longer magically bleeding out and slowly drowning. But Jarl Oggi doesn’t want to back down. He’s got a vendetta against his son for showing him up, yet again.
Not to mention surviving the impossible, a voyage to the Truth—which I doubt Jarl Oggi has done himself.
It makes him look weak in his clan’s eyes. It makes Bjorn look like their true Jarl, yet again, as all the top people in Jarl Oggi’s clan witness it. As Bjorn steps forward now, touching Jarl Jorg’s lean shoulder to get the aged man to step aside, Ström’s great-grandfather does. Approval is in the elder Eriksson’s eyes as Bjorn faces his father, me and Ström stepping up behind him.
Ready for a fight, even though we’re barely recovered enough to do it.
“I will come for you.” Bjorn stares at his father, his voice the calmest, and most certain, I’ve ever heard it, as his bright red-gold power stirs in a slow Bloodwind around him. “Be it a day, a week, a month, or a year… I will come to unseat you again, for good. Too long you’ve ruled our clan with too much brutality and too little thought. They deserve better… and they will get it. Just as soon as I am finished with this hunt.”
“Go, with your tail between your legs, cur.” Still in his dragon form, Jarl Oggi sneers at his son with cruel fangs. “For though you have been victorious this day, you and I both know you only run from me now because you are weak. Face me—fight for your right to lead this clan. Or go… and let everyone here see how much of a coward you really are.”
As Bjorn stares at his father, for a moment, I think he’ll take the bait. But this new, far stronger and more in-control Bjorn shakes his head. His glance spears daggers into his father—more than words ever could. And then he’s moving, turning his back on his father.
Completely.
“Come on, let’s go,” Bjorn says with the most calm I’ve ever heardfrom him as his gold eyes shine with the power of his dragon. “My father will get his, in time. Right now, we have a Black Dragon to find. Best we get to it.”
Bjorn kisses me, then glances at Ström and grips his shoulder. As I take Ström’s hand and Bjorn’s, we share a moment, understanding that this is all that matters, now that we’ve passed our Trial.
