Fossegrim Read online

  I slurred my words, so he would think something was wrong with my face or my mouth or my brain or whatever he needed to cross me off his list.

  This only confused him. I wanted him gone. I grabbed the metal bars and slammed my forehead into them, smiling and laughing in my best insane villain voice. I cackled through the agony that knocking my already pounding head shuddered through me. The pain was so bad, it was only a matter of time until I finally bought a one-way ticket to Loonyland.

  Stop, Lucy! You’re going to knock us both out! I’m on a horse trying to find you! I can’t fall down now.

  I gusted out relief. “Jamie? Jamie?” I called aloud before realizing that would do him little good. I ignored the men before me and tried to communicate to him.

  Where the smack have you been? I’m in Aladdin’s ghetto over here, and you’re gallivanting around on a horse! Get over here!

  “Show me what else you’ve got. This one’s been hit in the head too often. Shame. Golden hair like that…”

  That’s right, keep on walking.

  Gallivanting? You only just woke up. I’ve been calling for you all night. Where are you?

  I’m in a freaking dungeon, is where I am! I’m ten minutes away from being sold to some idiot with a nickel and a smile. Get over here and bring some money!

  Where? Do you have any idea where they took you?

  My heart sank. No clue. Just follow your headache. If it gets worse, that’s the wrong direction. Ride until your head doesn’t hurt anymore. And hurry! I’m serious, Jamie. Don’t let anyone buy me! My heart broke afresh. They took my necklace! I need it! Please, help me!

  There was a few minutes of silence, and then Jamie came back with, Foss wants to know if there are men for sale, too, or if it’s just women.

  Just women. A couple dozen of us. I’m in a freaking birdcage, Jamie! Ah!

  I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and found myself jerked out of the cage by rough hands. Beady black eyes examined me, poring over my face and form to inspect for injuries. “Is her hair real? Not jinxed by some elf magic?”

  “Real, sir. Just picked her up yesterday. Ripe for a bedslave.”

  That’s what you think. I drooled on his hand and let my left eye go wonky. The man launched me back into the cage, where I smacked so hard against the bars, the only thing I heard was Jamie calling my name before we both went out like a light.

  Five.

  On Foss’s Leash

  When I blinked the world into focus, I was greeted with the same headache that threatened to drive me to insanity with its fervor. It was determined to take me down if Jamie and I were separated, and it was winning. Tor had mentioned people offing themselves who were laplanded. I was beginning to understand. If I actually lived past the next week, this would be a real problem that needed tackling.

  Again I heard boots on the dirt floor, and the metal rod dragged against the bars on the cages, waking us all to the sound of our own worst fear realized. Women began weeping all over again. I wanted to join them, but I knew no one would listen to my tears. They heard crazy, so that was the language I spoke.

  A slice of moldy bread was pushed through the bars, and a small dish of water. My stomach jumped on the food like an alien bursting out of my midsection.

  Girls tackled their food like jackals, ripping apart the bread and devouring it in seconds. I eyed my dish with longing, but also with a note of healthy skepticism that had Tonya’s voice laced through it. She would never drink something out of an unmarked, open container in a setting where it could be messed with. My mouth was dry and I was far weaker than I had been yesterday, but my resolve was still my own. I would not eat food from my captors. I would rather starve in a cage than be fed and live as a slave. They would carry my emaciated body out of here before I ate what slave traders gave me. It’s not like I had a ton to live for. My family was gone and Jens was probably…

  No. I couldn’t say it, even to myself. If Jens was dead, I would wait until the last possible moment to feel that.

  I broke my bread in two and passed it through the bars to the girls on either side of me. They had to really reach for it, but they took it with gratitude, devouring the crumbly bits in seconds.

  The water was harder to resist, so I poured it out on the floor next to my cage so I would not be tempted later. I wrapped my arms around myself and huddled in the far corner of my birdcage. It wasn’t quite the hug I was wishing for, but it did the trick of holding me together through the thrumming in my brain that was only slightly less intolerable.

  Less?

  Jamie? Jamie! My headache is getting less. You’re moving in the right direction!

  Lucy? Thank goodness. I gave up calling your name a while ago. Anything else you can tell me about your surroundings would be helpful.

  I looked around for anything to report. There’s a tiny window near the ceiling, so we’re in a basement somewhere. I can’t see out the window, though. They’re selling us off, Jamie. Please hurry!

  We are, darling. Hold out as long as you can. We’ve been checking different traders all day. Foss has a few more he knows of.

  A few more? What kind of awful place is this?

  This is Fossegrim, Lucy. They’ve been given this island for a reason. None of us wanted to work with Foss, but their portal needs to be destroyed, too.

  I’ll bet the women make good use of the portal here. I hesitated before making my fragile opinion known to Jamie. The situation here is kinda all my worst fears doubled. Are you sure it’s such a good thing to cut them off from The Land of Be here? There don’t seem to be many solid options for women.

  Jamie’s answer was swift and laced with disgust and finality. Women are not granted access to Be in Fossegrim. Pesta would take them, but the men do not allow it. The portal is for people, and women are not people here.

  You can guess how I feel about that. I rubbed my temples. You’re getting colder. Turn around or something. It’s starting to hurt more. I can’t take much more of this, Jamie.

  I’m riding a horse with this headache, Jamie answered back with a rare touch of irritation in his tone. If you could not knock us both out again, I would be grateful. I’ve fallen off this horse once. I don’t look forward to doing that again.

  Sorry about that. It’s a little desperate down here. I didn’t do that on purpose. They’re not exactly careful with the merchandise.

  Another set of boots entered the dungeon, inciting fear amongst the women. The weeping picked up, as did the praying and begging. I looked up at the man and shuddered. He had a giant scar down the length of his right cheek and walked with a limp. He was missing a tooth, which made his sinister smile all the more disgusting. He was bald, and his shiny head had sweat splattered across the tanned skin. He was easily seven feet tall and looked every bit the villain he was. He rattled around a brown sack of gold coins, sifting his fat fingers through them as he appraised each of us.

  My headache started to lessen as he made his way toward my cage. I readied my drool, but since I was dehydrated, there was less of it at my disposal.

  “This one,” he ordered, jabbing his finger at my cage.

  “Right away, Master Olaf.”

  Jamie, hurry! Don’t let him take me! I gave Jamie a good fill of the man’s face in case describing him to Foss would be helpful.

  Terror lit my insides when the warden yanked me out of the cage, but I did not fight. I’d noticed the glee on the other buyers’ faces when the women tried to get away. They relished a good fight, but they would not find one with me. I was limp and cross-eyed as the warden dragged me out by my long hair.

  “I won’t pay a full hundred for her. She’s barely alive and not all there,” the buyer argued. His breath stank like a landfill. “She’s dressed like a man.”

  “But golden hair like the sun,” the warden pointed out, yanking me to my feet and holding my hair up to the man to examine. “And you can dress her however it pleases you.”

  I cringed an
d tried to maintain my hold on appearing insane while both men smelled my dirty hair. Olaf’s giant hand reached down and cupped my breast as I fought back the vomit and tears.

  I screamed in my mind for my mom to comfort me, for my dad to save me, for Linus… just for Linus. I wished for death over and over, so I could be with my family and with Jens, who was most certainly dead. For if Jens were alive, this would not be happening.

  Lucy! Lucy, we’re here, I think. Foss is on his way in.

  The bile built up inside of me the longer Olaf’s hand rested where it was not welcome. I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t hold back the puke. I vomited all over the man, soaking his shirt in my sick. I was almost a little bummed I didn’t have more in my stomach to launch at him.

  I was thrown roughly back into the cage, which I was beginning to find comfort in. The warden came by and dumped a bucket of water on me to clean me off. I shrieked at the freezing splash, but other than that, made no noise. I closed my eyes and shivered in the sliver of light let in through the tiny window. Another woman was chosen, and I took responsibility for her screams. She was a fighter, and it would cost her dearly.

  I was a survivor, though I could not give myself a solid reason why. I think it was just that I didn’t want to go out like that, at Olaf’s awful hands. I tried to scrub the echoes of his touch off my body, but it stayed there. As the handprints of the Nøkkendalig began to heal and fade from me, the Fossegrimens added theirs to my damaged psyche.

  Before I realized what was happening, my cage was opened again, and I was dragged out by my hair once more and thrown onto the floor.

  “A hundred for this piece of sewer water?”

  My spirits lifted at the sound of Foss’s voice. I raised my chin to look at him, and was greeted by the back of his hand. Hard and solid as the rest of his body, his hand sent me flying backward, knocking my body against my cage. Something cracked. I felt the change in my ribcage and cried out involuntarily. I couldn’t tell if my rib had broken or if it was just badly bruised. Either way, when Foss yanked me up by my damp hair, my left side felt like it was on fire.

  Foss sneered, “I’ll give you sixty.”

  “The hair alone’s worth more than that. Scalp her, and all your girls can be blondes,” the warden suggested.

  I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from crying. I didn’t dare raise my head to look at Foss again.

  Foss’s gruff tone was firm. “I don’t barter. You’ll give her to me for sixty, and be grateful I do business with you at all.”

  The warden observed his damaged goods with a heavy sigh. “Alright. Sixty it is.”

  Foss shoved the money at the man and jerked me up. I remembered not to look at him this time and kept my aching ribs to myself.

  My obedience wavered when a rope went around my neck. I started hyperventilating, which nearly crippled me with the ache in my ribs. I clawed at the rope, but it was already tightening uncomfortably around my throat. I gasped for air when Foss yanked on the tether. My feet moved on their own, following his large footsteps out of the dungeon and into the store above.

  There was no scandal to a man leading me around like a dog. A few people gave me an appraising look because of my hair or my size, but no one stopped Foss. No one spoke on my behalf. They went about their normal bustle of life and did nothing to stop the cruelty.

  The Nøkken turned a blind eye to the Nøkkendalig. The Fossegrimens accepted slave trading. Evil was rampant, and no one cared enough to lift a finger in protest.

  Right then I vowed I would do whatever it took to destroy their portal. I would take away the blissful retirement from the men and force them to live with themselves until they died, old and decrepit with nothing but their bad choices to cling to.

  I held my side and walked hunched over to give the tender area extra care. I stumbled when the full blast of midday sunlight hit me, and choked on the leash when Foss jerked it to keep me from misbehaving. I blinked to adjust my eyes to the light as I fumbled along behind Foss. He led me to two horses. One was for him, and the other I guessed held Jamie in his vanished form. I was shoved up on the horse with Jamie and tied to the flank. Jamie loosened the noose so we could both breathe a little easier and kissed my head. “It’s alright. You’re out of there. You’re safe.”

  I had no response to this. Yes, I was out of the dungeon, but I was being taken to Foss’s home, which held a different kind of fear for me. Foss hated me, and there was only Jamie to keep him in check now. My eyes glazed over as Jamie’s horse followed Foss to my new wretched home.

  Six.

  Guldy

  “Hold on, Lucy. Don’t pass out on me,” Jamie urged through gritted teeth. He could no doubt feel my grip on consciousness wavering. Every gallop brought a torturous jolt to my ribs, meaning his ribs were also feeling the brunt of the aftermath from Foss’s rage.

  Jamie shed his invisibility as we rounded the corner and crossed over into Foss’s estate. Foss had a huge piece of property with dozens of slaves working in his field. The long ranch house sat half a soccer field’s length from the barn and the shed.

  Foss dismounted and stalked toward the house, shouting over his shoulder to his head servant. “Viggo, this is Prince Jamie from Tonttu and a new slave I acquired. See to it they’re taken care of.”

  Viggo whistled, and two men came trotting out from the field. He helped Jamie dismount and untied my rope from the horse. Jamie tried to help me down, but he could not raise his left arm without his ribs pulling painfully.

  “Come on, little one.” Viggo reached for me, but I backed away from the foreign hands. He had slicked back hair that was tied in a ponytail and dark eyes that were vacillating between authoritative and gentle.

  My eyes darted around for the best way of escape. Jamie was off the horse, so I knew I wouldn’t get far before my head would keep me from leaving.

  I shook my head at Jamie, eyes wide with the fright I would not voice. No. No, Jamie. No.

  Viggo gave me a sad smile. “These are the friendliest hands you’ll see, so best not resist them just yet. I’m not a born Fossegrimen, so I don’t bear the curse. You’ve no need to fear me.”

  I kept my mouth shut through my muted scream as Viggo grabbed my hips and pulled me gently down. He sent the horses off with one of the men. Viggo bowed his head to Jamie, who was holding his ribs in the same way I was. “Prince Jamie, do you require a doctor?”

  “Yes, we both do.” Jamie gripped my elbow to hold me upright.

  Every step was a stab, and every breath an effort. Viggo looked me over and then lifted the leash over my head. “You won’t run, will you, Guldy? Can I take this off and trust you’ll not make my life harder?”

  I nodded, but refused to speak to him or anyone.

  I walked behind Jamie and Viggo to Foss’s house, my head pointed to the ground so no one would feel the need to smack me around. Just like when I was a new kid at school, I knew to keep my head down while I gauged the law of the land. If this was my new life, I’d survive until my own will gave out, not until Foss ordered my ending. I would decide it, not him.

  Viggo whistled for a woman he introduced to me as Erika. “She’s going to take you to get some women’s clothes and get you cleaned up. She’ll show you around Master Foss’s property.”

  As long as I lived, I vowed I would never call him Master Foss. I would sooner have him break all my ribs than debase myself that low.

  “What’s your name?” Erika asked, her black braids swishing as she talked. She towered over me, but she still seemed youngish, perhaps my age. Erika spoke to me like I was a fragile bird, which was actually pretty well spotted.

  I don’t know why I would not answer her. She seemed nice enough to warrant at least a response. But I knew if I opened my mouth, I would start crying, and I would not break on Foss’s property like that. He hated my weaknesses, so I would show him and his people none. I kept my head bowed and shook it slowly, hoping she would not be too pissed off at me.

>   Viggo motioned for Jamie to go down the hall as we entered the solid wood ranch that belonged to my third worst enemy behind Pesta and the Mouthpiece. There were red tapestries that stretched from ceiling to floor with gold cords wrapped around them. Fossegrim was hot, but the shade of Foss’s home added a note of cool to the air, though I still could not relax as Erika led me through the main hallway, toward the side of the house, and back out another door.

  Viggo spoke to Erika as a mix between an equal, a boyfriend and a boss. I was having a hard time getting a read on him. “She’ll be Guldy until she feels like correcting us. Run along, Guldy. Erika’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  Erika bit her thumb in his direction, like a jab, but with an edge of flirtation mixed in. “That’s not true. I’ve been known to tan a few hides when certain people step out of line.”

  Viggo chuckled at her. “Then I’ll be sure to jump clear off the line next time we’re alone.”

  She shot me a look after he disappeared that said, “Men! Am I right?”

  In another life, we might have gotten along swimmingly. But in this life, I would hold tight to my personality and give it to no one, since I could already feel it slipping through my fingers.

  Erika led me to the bath house that was at the end of a path to the left of the actual house. There were three rooms, one for men, one for women and the third for Foss and his guests. She handed me some soap, a towel and a brown dress, but did not leave to give me any privacy as she filled the tub. “Hand over your clothes, Guldy. I’ll wash them and give them to Master Foss. Maybe he’ll be able to trade them for something useful. Maybe a young boy might want them.” She eyed my jeans as if she very much doubted it. “How old are you? You’re so much shorter than us, but your face looks like you’re of age.”