It took Hrollief two days of hard riding to reach the village. It was one of multiple that had sent for help, all of them on Hrollief’s border with Hagen. He and his men rode into town to find barns and fences damaged, and the people hiding within their houses. When they saw Hrollief and his men, they came out into the streets, some cheering, some sobbing, some yelling. He managed to get the steward of the village to tell him what happened to the enemy soldiers, and they rode in the direction he pointed them. After an hour of riding, they came upon a camp, surrounded by Hagen’s men, all heavily armed. As Hrollief and his men approached, he saw fear and disbelief flicker in their eyes before they began to retreat. Without Hrollief even drawing his sword they rode off in the direction of their own land, completely deserting their camp. Hrollief had his men search through the camp, but they found nothing but basic supplies. How odd… He thought. They surveyed the rest of the woods around the village, and after he was satisfied they were free of enemies he left a few of his men there and continued on to the next village. Six villages they visited in the next few days, and six times when they found the enemy camp they simply ran away, not even bothering to put up a fight. By this time Hrollief was extremely suspicious, and just as he decided to go to Hagen and demand to know what his men were doing on Hrollief’s land, they came across their seventh camp. This one was different, however, in that the soldiers did not run (although they looked as though they wanted to), and inside the camp they found King Hagen himself. Hrollief stalked up to him, Hagen’s men scattering like flies as Hrollief approached, walking straight into the dense darkness that had latched itself onto King Hagen’s soul.

“Why are your men attacking my villages Hagen.” Hrollief towered above the older king, but there was no fear in the man’s eyes.

“I was just here to ask them the same thing myself. I can assure you, Hrollief, I had no intentions of provoking you this way.” He gave a false smile. Just as you had no intentions of your daughter attempting to kill me in my own home. I suppose you thought me dead by now, and believed yourself strong enough to take my land.

“Whatever your story may be, you are trespassing. If you and your men do not leave willingly, then I will force you off myself. Do not forget, I have made no agreement of peace, and you do not have the army to force my hand.” The old king narrowed his eyes, searching Hrollief for something. He seemed to have found it, because he next spoke with an annoying amount of confidence in his tone.

“I know no terms have been written, but as my daughter is living close inside your walls, I assumed an, unspoken agreement had been made.” Hagen had hit a nerve, and he well knew it.

“Your daughter is my guest, and is free to leave when she pleases. I am not keeping her forcibly within the walls of my castle.”

“Ah, well then, you will see no problem with my sending a carriage for her? I do miss her company, all my other daughters being married off now.”

“Do as you please, but do not expect her back so soon.”

Hrollief began to walk away, wanting to leave before his sword found its way out of its sheath and into the king’s gut.

“If you would like to make an arrangement, I would be happy to oblige. I am sure my darling daughter would love to stay, but if I do send a carriage, she will get on it, of that I have no doubt.” Hrollief continued to walk away, ignoring Hagen’s words, Tove’s warning ringing in his ears. “And, as I am sure you are well aware, accidents do happen along treacherous roads. Such a long journey back, and all by herself, something awful could happen. However, if you were to cede some of your land, just a parcel that connects to my own border, I am sure I could find ways of making her journey safer .” Hrollief stopped. He looked back at Hagen, not even bothering to hide his anger and disgust.

“Those who use their own blood to gain power and wealth are not those that I would ally myself with.”

“Then there is no reason my daughter should stay with you, if she can be useful elsewhere.” Hagen gave an vicious smile, and then signaled to his men to pack up the camp. Hrollief watched them leave, and even saw them over the border. “I will send for her shortly! And may you pray she makes it home alive.” Hagen shouted over his shoulder, then he and his company disappeared over a ridge. Hrollief rode with his men back to the village, where they stayed the night.

As he tried to rest, his mind kept bouncing back and forth between what Tove had warned him about and what her father had said. Surely he would not kill her just to try and weaken Hrollief? But then, Tove had been sent to kill him in the first place, and no doubt her failing in that mission was enough to warrant her father doing something drastic. He must keep her far away from her father, but Hagen had seemed so sure that she would willingly go back, even though she seemed to be glad to be far from him, that Hrollief was worried. Perhaps he had some way of controlling her using her demon? His advisers had given him sparse information on her family’s connection to demons, though now he knew for certain that a demon was what was controlling her. She had barely managed to choke out that she had been sent to kill him, but how was the demon able to do something like that? Normally, a demon within the mind cannot do bodily harm, only mental, for a demon to do bodily harm they must be outside the body. Then, it hit him. Her collar! That must be where the demon is hiding, and how it is controlling her! Finally it was making sense. All the odd times she had choked up, her hand always straying towards it, it all made perfect sense! As well as how her dreams could do her body real harm. He decided they would leave at first light, and ride as hard as the horses could go. If they made minimal stops, then they could be back to the castle within three days, which was half the time if had taken to get them here. His resolve settled, and his mind thinking over this new knowledge triumphantly, Hrollief fell asleep.

* * *

Tove spent the next several days reading everything she could about Hrollief’s family and the woods that surrounded the castle. She found little information on the woods, but she did discover, through reading many large tomes, that Hrollief’s family had always had some sort of connection to spirits. This gift often manifested itself in different ways, but one of the rarer ways was to be able to see the presence of demons and spirits. She spent so much time in the library researching everything she could about his family’s gifts that the cook and maids approached her the next morning and asked her to spend some time in other areas of the castle. Tove agreed, if only to appease them, and took a stroll about the stone hallways. She was quite familiar with the castle now, and could find her way to the rooms she had spent time in with ease. As she headed from the kitchen back to the library, she got the sudden urge to get a bit of fresh air. The guards agreed to let her roam the courtyard, but kept a close eye on her. She walked about happily in the thick snow, breathing in the fresh cold air and savoring the warmth from Hrollief’s cloak.

Then, suddenly, a vicious wind ripped past her, nearly throwing her off her feet. Snow swirled around her and throughout the courtyard, blinding her as well as all the guards. She began to panic, seeing nothing but snow around her, and fell to her knees, waiting for it to pass. The wind died down for a brief moment, so Tove stood and tried to find her way back to the doors, but then another vicious gust of wind tore past her. She stumbled into a thick hill of snow, falling onto her side as the wind finally quieted. The cold from the snow piling on top of her seeped quickly through her cloak, and she felt herself slip into a deep sleep.

* * *

Hrollief dreamt he stood on the wall surrounding his courtyard, watching the woods for any sign of trouble. All was quiet, but he saw a flicker of movement in the trees, so he climbed down from the wall and followed it. A figure led him deep into the woods, far from his castle, and finally to a small clearing. He stood in the middle of it, turning about to find the figure he had lost track of, and then he spotted it again. This time, however, he could tell that it was the figure of a woman. He followed it deeper into the woods, farther then he could ever remember going. He reached another clearing, just behind the figure now, and barely made out its face. It was Tove, but she was free from her collar. He called out to her. In reply she let out an ear-splitting scream, and then her ghost split apart into wisps of light that began weaving between trees, scattering themselves as though to ensure she could never be whole again. He tried to catch some of the wisps, but they vanished as soon as he touched them. “TOVE!” He yelled into the woods, but silence was his only reply.

He bolted awake. Something was wrong, very wrong. He gathered his things and rallied his men. They had to get back as soon as possible.

* * *

Tove sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes and brushing clumps of snow off her clothes, and found herself deep in the middle of the woods, thick trees all around her, with no castle in sight.

She stood up shakily, turning around slowly, panic rising in her. She freed herself from the dense pile of snow and began to walk about in a growing circle, trying to find any glimpse of something familiar. How had she ended up here, when she had been in the courtyard just moments ago? At this thought her stomach growled, and she doubled over. Her body felt as though she hadn’t eaten in days. But, that cannot be true…can it? Questions tumbled across her mind, but she found no answers in the silent trees around her.

As she walked farther and farther from where she had woken up, the woods became darker, and the trees seemed to grow closer together. Suddenly, as she rounded a wide tree, she came face to face with her own reflection.

Well, it wasn’t quite her reflection. The apparition standing in front of her looked exactly like her, except with a peaceful expression on her face, and the golden collar was gone. Tove reached towards the spirit, trying to reach the freedom she so desperately wanted, but a gust of wind and snow separated her from her reflection, and a split second later she saw a different figure. One dripping in blood, with long fangs and claws, and a shining golden collar, encrusted with glittering jewels. Tove tried to scream, but her collar was shrinking, and the figure had clasped its hand around her throat, the blood dripping from it scalding her skin. She struggled, clawing at the creature’s arm, and tears began to stream down her face.

Her vision began to blur, but then something strange happened. As her tears dripped onto the creature’s arm, it began to dry and crack. The wind began to blow, and the cracking spread slowly up its body, until the entire creature had dried out, and the wind pulled at its fractured body. Then, with a crack like a whip, the creature crumbled into dust, and she could breathe again. Tove fell to the ground, gasping for breath, tears still streaming down her face. “I…will not…become…that.” She gasped out, and the wind and snow began to swirl around her again, more gently this time, as though coaxing her to move. She stood slowly, her whole body shaking and weak, and let the wind guide her through the trees. After walking for what felt like days, the gray light about her never changing, she spotted the castle, just as she began to feel faint from hunger and cold. She pushed onward, barely managing to reach the edge of the woods before collapsing into a pile of soft, cold, snow.

* * *