The Wild Swans (17 page)

“Wait until the ground dries a little
before you look for more,” Nick said. “Trying to find them in all this muck will do you no good.”

“
But won’t they be easier to pull out of the ground right now?” Elise asked.

“
It would be nothing but a great deal messier. You are better off waiting until the ground is soft but not moist,” Falk said.

“
But that could be days,” Elise said.

“A few extra days as swans won’t harm us
, although your loyalty warms me,” Rune said, kissing the top of Elise’s head.

It
was a gesture Elise was familiar with, but the arm he slipped around her waist was new. Added to the claim that he loved her, Elise found herself blushing.

“Heel
,” Steffen said, carelessly yanking Rune backwards by the collar of his sparkling white shirt. “Keep your paws to yourself, mutt.”

“Why do you continue to insert yourself where you are unwanted?” Rune asked Steffen.

“Mostly because I can,” Steffen said.

“Such a shock
,” Falk said.

“Wait until it’s dry
,” Mikk summarized for Elise’s benefit as the rest of their siblings entered the fray.

“If you say so
,” Elise said.

It
was another three days before Elise could walk without her bare feet sinking into mud and muck. During the three days of mud, Elise fell several times, so on the first day of warm weather and solid footing, Elise plunged into the pond.

She dove in with her dress on and her hair unbound. When she popped up for air a swan regal
ly padded by, Steffen probably. Elise watched the swan before she tried scrubbing at the worst of her dress stains while standing in the water.

When her teeth started to chatter
, Elise clambered back onto shore, ringing water out of her dress and hair.

“You should dry off
before you get yourself sick,” Brida said, chopping a sturdy tree limb with her axe.

Elise
sneezed twice and flicked water off her skin as she walked past the shelter, pausing to grab her whistle, knife, and burlap cloth.

Proper
ly armed, Elise hiked a short way into the woods. She could still hear the noises her brothers made as swans—the sound their flapping wings produced was quite loud—when she found a boulder situated in a spot of sunshine.

Elise dropped the burlap cloth and set the knife and whistle on the boulder
before she climbed it, sunning herself on the warm surface as she attempted to comb her wild hair with her fingers.

As her hair dried
, her bouncy curls sprang into their usual tangled ringlets. Elise abandoned the ribbon she used to keep her hair tied in a low ponytail at the nape of her neck and fluffed her hair, hoping to get it to dry quicker. The early summer air was cooler than she estimated, and between her sopping dress and wet head, she was getting a chill.

Once she felt she
had sufficiently untangled her wild curls, Elise tried wringing more water from her dress. Both the morning sun and the rock warmed Elise, making her damp situation bearable, and in less than an hour, Elise was more or less dry.

Elise tossed her cur
ly mop of hair over her shoulders as she reached for her ribbon, intending to pull her hair back so she could nettle hunt without it flapping in her face.

She froze when she heard a
male
voice say, “So it is true. There is maiden as lovely as a summer day who has taken up residence at Farsund Pond.”

Elise slow
ly lifted her eyes up to stare at a handsome young man who had soundlessly crept up on her. The fine velvet of his tunic was too expensive to make him anything less than a noble. He had baby fine blonde hair and grey eyes that were the same intense color as frothy rapids.

Elise flattened her lips and reached for her whistle as she kept eye contact with the strange man.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said, lifting both of his hands. “I’m worried for you. How can you survive out here, alone?”

Elise
, obviously, was silent.

“Won’t you speak? You can trust me
,” he said, taking a step closer to her. “Where are you from? I’ve never seen anyone like you. Your hair is beautiful.”

Elise slid off her rock
, clutching her whistle. She was careful not to place her back to the man as she retreated to the pond.

“Easy
, easy,” the man said, as if Elise were a wild horse he needed to soothe. “Do you want to leave this place? I could take you somewhere warm. You could sleep in a real bed and eat only the best foods. Don’t you want to come?”

Elise shook her head
, making the young man smile.

“So you can understand
, then? You aren’t dumb. Nor are you a witch, like that foolish hunter said you were,” the man said. “Come with me. I will protect you.”

Elise shook her head and kept back
ing up.

“You will be safe
, I promise. Just trust me,” the man said before lunging forward and grabbing Elise’s wrist.

Elise shoved her whistle between her teeth and tried
punching the man with her free hand. He caught her jab and within seconds had her flung over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

“I’m do
ing this for your own good,” the man said as Elise struggled.

Elise took in a deep breath of air
, positioned her mouth by the man’s ear, and blew her whistle so hard she made her ears pop.

“Ow
, what was that for?” the man said, dropping Elise to clamp his hands to his ears.

Elise hit the ground with a thud. She rolled away
, getting grass stains all over her dress, and scrambled to her feet, blasting another note on her whistle.

She needn’t
have bothered. Brida came tearing through the woods, a spear held above her head and roaring like an angry bear. Behind her was a train of four snow white swans. The swans flapped their wings and strained their necks while they hissed.

“Get away from her!” Brida shouted
, sounding scarier than ever as she leveled her spear at the intruder.

“What? What’s go
ing on?” the man said.

“What did you do to her?” Brida asked
, suspiciously eyeing the grass stains on Elise’s dress as Elise passed her, aiming to stand with the swans.

“
Nothing
! I thought she was alone in the woods so I was going to take her back to the palace so she could find shelter,” the man said.

“Like
ly story!”

“It’s true. Who are you
that you don’t recognize me?”

“What is
that supposed to mean?”

The man thumped the stag symbol embroidered on the front of his tunic. “I am Prince Toril
, the only child of King Torgen and heir to the throne of Verglas,” he said. “In case you didn’t know it is a capital offense to brandish a weapon at me.”

“Royal or not
, it’s an offense to humanity to manhandle a girl,” Brida spat.

“I
wasn’t manhandling her! Please, there must be some way we can come to an agreement.”

“Leave right now and
that will be a proper agreement,” Brida said.

“This forest is mine
; you can hardly force me out of it.”

Brida held the spear in a throw
ing position. “Oh?” she asked.

“Except for today
,” the prince hastily said. “I can see I have upset your…delicate nerves. I shall take my leave now and come back at a better time,” he said, starting to back up.

“
Don’t
come back,” Brida warned. “You aren’t wanted here.”

“
That you have made perfectly clear, madam,” the prince said before darting out sight. “But I will be back. Count on it.”

Brida held an arm in front of Elise as she listened to the man stumble through the woods. (Elise
had to wonder how she missed his arrival if that was how he usually moved.) When the noises faded, Brida lowered her weapon and her arm. “Well done, Fürstin,” Brida said before she plunged through the four troubled swans and headed back to the camp.

Elise followed
, the swans in tow, with wide eyes. She had never imagined there would be a day when Brida would praise
her
.

Elise glanced over her shoulder in the direction Prince Toril
had disappeared.
What was he doing this far south
? Elise shivered in the cool summer air, hoping he would forget about her, forget about Brida, and forget about her wild swans.

“Prince Toril? What could he possib
ly want with Elise?” Nick asked as he sat next to Brida.

“
I could think of several things,” Rune frowned. “Did you scare him enough?” he asked Brida—who was telling her part of the story.

“If I
had frightened him anymore, he very likely would have wet his royal trousers,” Brida dryly said.

“
That’s our Brida,” Nick chimed in.

Rune nodded and paced by the fire.

“Perhaps we should move,” Elise said.

“There’s no r
eason to. The prince of Verglas is not known for his sharp wit. He will never figure out who you are. I doubt we are in any real danger except for extreme annoyance if he keeps popping up,” Steffen said.

“He will be leav
ing to go north to the capital soon,” Falk said.

“How do you know?” Elise asked.

“Based on his clothes, he’s obviously on a hunting trip. Even though he is flippant, he is the only heir to the throne and as such would have to be in court most of the time,” Falk said.

“Based on his clothes? You
remember what he looked like? You were one of the swans that came with Brida?” Elise asked.

Falk shifted and looked
, for the first time in years, uncomfortable. “Yes.”

Before
Elise could further pursue this interesting reveal, Rune, who still paced, said, “I don’t care. First the hunter and now this prince—I will not let us put Elise’s life in danger.”

“I assure you
, Prince Rune, I will do my best to protect Princess Elise,” Brida said.

Rune pressed his lips together and tried to hang his thumbs
on a sword belt that wasn’t there. His hazel eyes were dim and tinted with frustration.

“
That’s not enough, is it?” Brida asked, her voice hollow.

Rune looked away and flexed his hands.

Erick cleared his throat, drawing Elise’s attention to hm. He discreetly tipped his head in Rune’s direction and made a shooing gesture.

Elise hesitated for a moment
, wondering why of all her brothers it would be
Erick
to instruct her to talk with Rune.

“I should check on the horses—they haven’t been offered water in a few hours. Come with me
, Rune?” Elise asked.