Lost & Found by Elizabeth Garner

Author:Elizabeth Garner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800181243
Publisher: Unbound
Published: 2022-07-14T16:37:36+00:00

THE TROLL KING’S SISTER

Once there was an Old King in the North Lands, and he was dying.

He called his only son Sigurd to him. ‘Duty is sacrifice,’ he said. ‘It is time to set aside the freedoms of youth and accept both the honour and demands of your station.’

Sigurd called counsel with the Royal Advisors. They bowed their heads in sorrow and respect. Then they rolled out a multitude of arguments and opinions regarding strong borders and shrewd couplings.

In the days that followed, Sigurd watched on as the daughters of noblemen were paraded before him and he felt nothing but despair. For whilst the Old King was ruled by his mind – by logic and legality – Sigurd was ruled by his heart, by his dreams and desires.

There was one particular dream that called to Sigurd through the long nights of his father’s illness. A vision of a woman with fair hair and blue eyes, dressed all in white, standing on the battlements of a silver castle set at the edge of a wild and tumbling sea. And although the many daughters of the many noblemen were beautiful and clever and kind, they were not her.

Sigurd went once more to his father’s chamber and told him the truth of his heart’s desire. The Old King smiled to hear it. The Silver Castle of the Furthest North was a place he knew from the days of his own youth and adventure.

‘A King is both ruler and protector,’ he said. ‘I would gladly depart from this world in the knowledge that my son has secured an alliance that embraces the entirety of the ocean.’

He ordered his longship to be made ready and to be fitted with his finest oarsmen.

Then he called his son to him for the final time.

‘Fear not the unfolding of your Fate, my child,’ he said. ‘It is through the advancement into the unknown that we come to understand our true selves. However long or however hard the journey ahead, all will be well at the end of it.’

So it was that Sigurd set sail across the fierce foaming waters, with a strong wind and his father’s blessing behind him.

For a year and a day, Sigurd followed the stars and the sea paths until he came to the shining city of the Furthest North. The King welcomed him into his silver castle. When the King’s Youngest Daughter set eyes upon Sigurd, she knew him from her own dreams also. The match was made and they were wed.

The seasons turned and the Princess of the Furthest North gave birth to a strong son. They lived happily and well. Until one morning, there came riding into the courtyard a man dressed all in the black livery of mourning. Sigurd wept to see him, and the Princess wept all the more when she learned of the message that he carried.

The sea that was wild on the setting out rolled easy upon the return. The New Queen took to playing with the young

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