The Best Quest Ever-Day 2

Day 2
I wake up to Bergen snoring. I realize that I really have to pee. If I just quietly go outside maybe I won’t disturb anyone. I tiptoe across the room to the door and gently remove the beam across the door. I drop the beam on the floor and it makes a little thunk. Erik mumbles something in his sleep but doesn’t wake up. Bergen keeps on snoring.
I go outside. It’s cool and misty. I move around to the back of the little hut. I’m just squatting down when Erik comes rushing around the side of the hut.
“Ahhh!” I scream. And fall over onto my bare butt on the dewy grass.
“I’m so sorry.” he says. “I thought something had happened to you.”
“I just had to pee.” I say as I try to pull my shirt down while still squatting.
“I’ll leave you to your business.” Erik says blushing.
After I was done with my “business” I head back inside the hut.
Bergen and Erik are packing up their stuff.
“What about breakfast? I’m starving.” I ask
Erik throws me some sort of jerky like thing. Gross.
“Is this it?” I ask in my saddest voice.
“We have to get going Katrina. The Trolls are going to be looking for us. This hut has a protection spell on it. While we are in it the Trolls cannot locate us. We have to get a good head start on them. Our first stop is the old witch Birgitta where Bergen got your potion.”
I gnaw on the jerky. If this is all I get I better not waste it.
I really would like a shower but I guess that’s not happening either.

We start out traveling east slowly up into the mountains on a small pathway through the pines. We walk single file Erik, Bergen and last me.
It would have been an enjoyable hike if not for every couple of minutes Erik was pulling us off the path because he thought he heard something.
The fourth time Erik stops suddenly and Bergen walks into him I start giggling. Erik gives me an evil look and and puts his finger to his lips. But I can’t stop laughing. All of a sudden I’m being tackled into the brush. Erik is on top of me with his hand over my mouth. Bergen is crouched down next to us. Then I hear something on the path. Voices, ugly, harsh voices. Erik mouths the word “trolls”. I can’t understand what they are saying. They’re probably speaking trollish. They keep moving down the path until I no longer hear them. Erik takes his hand off my mouth.

“You’re crushing me.” I say as I push Erik off of me.
He gets up off of me. “Sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.” He holds out his hand to help me up. I take it and stand up. I brush off my clothes.
“They’re looking for us.” He says.
“They know she’s here.” Bergen adds.
“And how would they even know who she was!” Erik says angrily and then he stops and looks at me. “Unless she was sent by Varg and they are using her somehow to track us and spy on us.”
“I am not a spy! Why would I have been attacked if I was working with them?” I start shouting.
Erik runs over to me and grabs me. “You have to be quiet Katrina. Do you want them to come back!” he whispers. “Or maybe you do.”
“I do not!” I whisper vehemently.
Bergen pulls us apart. “Stop this. Erik you know she’s not a spy.”
“I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.” Erik says looking at me warily.
He makes me walk between him and Bergen. So if I attack him or something Bergen can pull me off of him. Whatever…

We finally reach the hut of the witch Birgitta.
Bergen goes to the door and knocks.
The door opens after a minute and there is a Charlize Theron like beautiful young girl. She ushers Bergen inside.
I look at Erik “Tell me that is not the old witch Birgitta.” I ask
“No, that is Birgitta’s successor. The old witch will pass on all her knowledge to her. And she will become the witch on the mountain.”
Nice job title. I guess it’s better than “bitch of the office.”
After a second Bergen comes rushing out.
“Katrina, Birgitta has asked to see you.” He says breathlessly
“Why? Do I have to?” I whine.
“If Birgitta wants to see you, you better go.” Erik says
Bergen is pulling at me.
“Okay, okay I’m going.”
I drag my feet all the way to the door.
We enter the dimly lit hut. In one corner there is a fireplace with a pot boiling over it. And in the other corner is the hugest woman I’ve ever seen. I’m talking bigger than Kirstie Alley before Jennie Craig.
All I can do is stare.

“Come here child.” Says the gi-normous woman in a deep, gravelly voice.
I slowly walk over to her. She takes my hands into her large, sweaty palms.
“I feel great power in you. But you will have to let down the walls you have built up inside of you. You have a long, hard journey ahead of you and you must be brave. You must trust your heart for it will tell you the truth.”
She stared into my eyes. I felt hypnotized by her silvery grey eyes. I couldn’t seem to pull away.
She finally let go of me. I stepped back away from her.
“Sonja, girl bring the potion. “
The beautiful girl poured the contents of the pot into a flask and put a cork stopper in it.
She brought it over to us.
“Now girl, when you start to feel weak you must drink the potion but it will only last four days unless you can retrieve your missing soul.” Birgitta says as pretty girl hands me the flask.
I couldn’t seem to get any words out of my mouth. Her overwhelming presence seemed to take up the very air in the room. I felt claustrophobic, I had to get out of there.
I backed up towards the door. I couldn’t turn my back on those eyes. Bergen was holding it open for me. As soon as I stepped outside I could breathe normally again.
As Bergen was closing the door I heard Birgitta say “Girl, beware those who seek death without justice.”
Cryptic messages just what I needed. I’m surprised there wasn’t some sort of prophesy. The girl with the partial soul shall be the one to unite the Realm.
Erik was impatient to get going. "We have to get to a safe place by nightfall."

Nobody said anything for a while as we trudge up the mountain paths.
Erik wasn’t speaking to me anyway. Every couple of hours or so we would rest and he would pull Bergen aside and there would be intent whispering. There was nothing I could do to prove I wasn’t a spy. So I just quietly went along.
After a lunch of some jerky and water (the Vakkar Dal Diet) I wandered off the path to use the little girl’s bushes. I left Erik and Bergen arguing over something. Bergen standing on a rock to be eye level with Erik.
As I was buttoning my now getting very disgustingly dirty favorite Gap jeans I heard something behind me.

I turned around and there was Miss Pretty from the old witch’s place. She puts her finger to her lips and motions for me to follow her. I follow her deeper into the forest. She finally stops and turns toward me.
“I need your help.” She whispers. “I’m in love with Erik.”
My mouth drops open.
“You see we had a brief courtship and then I was chosen to be Birgitta’s successor and the Witch on the Mountain is not allowed to marry.”
“And what can I do?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” She says as a tear falls from her beautiful blue eyes.
Is this girl for real?
“Maybe you could find someone else to be Birgitta’s successor on your travels.” She looks pleadingly at me.
“Well, maybe I could but I’m not guaranteeing anything.” I say
To myself I think yeah, ok. I’ll just post an ad in the Dakkar Val Times. Witch on The Mountain needed, must be ugly and have no chance of ever having a life. No experience necessary. All applicants welcome. Send resume to Birgitta, Current Witch on the Mountain.
“Would you let him know I still think about him.” She says as she turns and starts walking away her long blonde hair flowing behind her.
“I will.” I say. Maybe.
She disappears quickly and quietly into the forest as if she were some sort of elf.
I’m still standing there wondering if Erik still has feelings for her. She probably wanted me to know about their relationship seeing me as a possible threat.

I wonder if I should tell Erik. Would he even believe me since he doesn’t trust me. I guess I probably should try.

I get back to the path. They’re still arguing. They finally stop after coming to some sort of compromise.

We start along the path. I get in step beside Erik.
He glances at me but doesn’t say anything.
“So, Erik that girl at Birgitta’s she’s very pretty. What was her name?”
“Her name is Sonja and no more talking until we get to Haldor’s. We need to reach the camp before nightfall.”
“Why are we going to Haldor’s?” I ask.
“He might have an idea of who you really are and what we should do.”
“I told you who I am.” I said angrily.
Erik stops and turns toward me.
“And why should I believe you? You have no proof. You just appear out of nowhere and expect us to believe everything you say. Something just doesn’t seem right and I just want to find out the truth.” He says with a little bit more kindness in his voice.
I couldn’t really disagree with him. I nod in agreement and turn to walk on up the path.

Bergen is a ways ahead of us on the path. I jog to catch up with him when all of a sudden I hear a crash and horrible grunting noises behind me. I turn around and I see what could only be described as big, ugly, bulbous eyed, badly dressed, well armed, what must be trolls. There are two of them and they are attacking Erik.

Bergen is pulling at me and telling me to run. I just can’t stop staring. My brain doesn’t seem to be functioning. But we can’t leave Erik to fight them alone. Erik is putting up a good fight fending them off. But as he uses his magic on one of them and makes the troll fly into the forest the other rushes him and knocks him down. I scream, the other troll comes back out of the forest and rushes towards me. I put my hands up to block him but there is no impact. I open my eyes and the troll is lying on the ground with a dazed expression. Erik is still fighting the other one off but is having a hard time of it. The troll reaches for a huge ax and is about to cut Erik in half when I scream “No!” and out of my hands a huge ball of fuzzy light goes whizzing towards the troll and hits it square in the head. The troll falls over on its side and Erik stumbling gets up and runs toward me. He grabs my hand and we’re running down the path. We keep running and running until I can’t breathe anymore and I’m going to die of exhaustion and then he stops. He pulls me off the path and into the forest. Finally he stops and I plop down on the ground. He sits down next to me. I lie down and try to get my breathe.
Both of us lie there for a while not saying anything.
Finally, Erik sits up and looks at me. “How did you know how to do that?” he asks. He’s staring at me with an awed expression.
A thank you for saving my life would have been nice. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much.
I sit up. I’m a little shaky after the near death experience and the major jog we just did.
“ I don’t know how I did it. It just happened when I had a rush of adrenaline.” My voice comes out trembling and I realize I’m crying. It’s all too much for me. Being thrown into this world. Losing part of my soul. People not trusting me. Things trying to kill me. Not having a single friend.

Erik puts his arm around me and I just bawl against him. He doesn’t say anything.