Chapter Text
Gunnar walked across the blue carpet of Arcadia, claws retracted to make sure not to damage it. He was on his way to the library, when he suddenly heard something.
His ears perked up, listening carefully.
Howling.
Of his wolf brothers and sisters. The tone communicated confusion, and that something was wrong.
Urgency seized him, and he ran, ran towards the source of the sound as fast as his wolf paws could carry him.
Suggestions and fears flashed through his mind. Calengol was dead. His crows? Herbert? Something completely unknown, something he had never dealt with before?
He hadn’t seen Nives in a bit, ashamed of his own failure, his incompetence. The princess had been in danger, urgent danger, and he hadn’t been there. Herbert had beat him to it, and he realized this well. And now, was he going to make the same mistake again??
Speeding through the doors, he ran across the courtyard, seeing… nothing.
Nothing suspicious, no one there at all. Then what were his brothers and sisters howling at? Something had to be wrong, all of them were capable, brave, loyal and well-trained.
Not slowing down, he went for the stables, reaching the main group, asking them hurriedly what was wrong, what they had seen, what they were howling at.
They replied that they had not been able to see, the stables were still closed, but that they had smelled a scent that made their hairs stand on end. A scent they had never smelled here before. Wrong. Unknown. Dangerous. They had heard voices. Someone talking to the princess. And then a strong wind picking up, a rise in an unknown energy. They apologized to him, not having been able to do anything, not having been able to act, to defend, to scout. The wolves bowed their heads, worried, apologetic.
The information sunk into Gunnar’s mind. Nives had been here. Visited by an unknown, dangerous individual. It couldn’t have been Herbert, as he had no smell at all. But then who could it have been? Did Herbert have more accomplices?
And the most pressing of all: where was the princess now??
With the help of Olafur, the butler, the wolves were let out of the stables, and under Gunnar’s orders, they searched the whole castle, top to bottom. No trace of the princess.
The grounds around it, the snowy plains… nothing. Gunnar felt hopeless, empty. The only places still left unchecked were the volcanoes, the village, and the cave of the Tree. But all of those were places that she wouldn’t have gone to without Gunnar or one of the other wolves… right?
No… the truth was that the princess had vanished, gone without a trace.
Out of sorts by all the commotion, Berglind came out of the room she was resting in, and demanded to know what was going on. Gunnar stared at her with those big blue eyes of his, wishing he could speak. The wolves howled. Berglind felt increasingly lost and confused.
‘Wait… where’s Nives…?’
Berglind felt hopeless, restless, afraid and guilty. Nives was missing, and it might be her fault.
After their… talk, about the protocol, and her duty as princess, Nives had quickly excused herself.
She had heard her run away through the hall.
And now… her niece was missing.
A day had passed. The wolves had searched even further, were still out there even now, looking everywhere they possibly could, searching every inch of the icy kingdom. Berglind felt more heavy with worry with every second that passed.
She had been too strict with her… hadn’t noticed how her niece was hurting inside, and now…
Thina and Tallia were sad, asking where she was. She didn’t know what to tell them. The court needed answers. Prince Herbert was demanding answers. She had made her apologies, informed them all the best she could that the princess was missing, that they were trying to find her. That she had vanished.
Herbert was baffled and frustrated, asking for her to explain herself, but she really did not know more. He’d seemed a little more concerned after that, but still mostly angry, upset that his soon-to-be bride had vanished, possibly ran away from him.
A week had passed.
None of the searches had turned anything up. The court was beyond worried. Prince Herbert was growing impatient. At night, Gunnar howled at the moon.
Even Helgi, the reclusive gardener, had shown up at court, worried for the princess. He explained that the last time he’d seen her, when she came to visit the tree, she’d been sad and out of sorts. This made Berglind’s heart ache only more, sick with worry and guilt.
The current running theory was that the princess had run away, but… where to? The wolves had searched everywhere. Unless… she had left the kingdom, ran to one of her sisters…?
Precious time was slipping away. They had to come up with a plan.
‘I could go to the Coral Islands, look for her and inform the princess there,’ Haldorr offered during a meeting in the library tower. ‘I’ve been there before, and if it doesn’t turn anything up, I could even go to the desert afterward. I’ll take a ship, and look for her.’
Berglind nodded slowly, not fully processing.
‘And I could go to the Sunken Kingdom, look for her there while you search the warmer regions,’ Helgi spoke.
Berglind looked up, confused. ‘But… from here? The sunken kingdom is miles away… you’d have to cross the sea, and-’
‘There’s a shorter way,’ he said, eyes focused. ‘The moat is a direct portal to the sunken lands.’
Berglind and Haldorr looked at him with shock, then looked to eachother, worry and realization on their faces.
‘...Is there something I don’t know about? Did something happen with it?’, Helgi asked.
‘Well… you might remember Calengol,’ Haldorr explained. ‘Not so long ago, he infiltrated the castle in the middle of the night, threatened Nives with a knife. Herbert got into a fight with him, and threw him inside the moat. Killing him, or so we thought.’
This time, it was Helgi’s turn to look shocked, and worried to the bone. ‘Herbert has effectively sent him to the Sunken Kingdom, without realizing. …I could check on that situation as well. I could depart immediately.’
‘Yes, me too… if uh, you’d give me a moment to pack some things for the trip,’ Haldorr added.
‘Very well,’ countess Berglind said, grief-stricken, ‘depart as soon as you can.’
That night, Haldorr and Helgi both departed on their own respective missions.
Gunnar watched them leave, wishing he could go with them, search the ends of the world for Nives himself. But the court needed him to keep them safe. And so he stood guard, walking the halls alone, only the moonlight for company.
Herbert left the following morning, making his polite excuses, wishing them the best of luck with the search.
The court held its breath. In the meantime, Berglind would handle any official matters that came up.
Eventually, they’d have to think of a more long-term solution… Berglind was old, but the nieces were much too young… and it broke her heart to have to even think about replacing Nives in her royal duties.
Oh Nives… I’m sorry, I’m so, so very sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have been a better carer for you… Please, come back to us. We can’t go on without you…