“Pick up the sword, try again,” he says.
“You need to put that on a bumper sticker,” I grumble, reaching down and finding the sword. Like before, it seems as if it comes to me. I grasp it, trying to gather the energy.
And we spar like this for what feels like hours. My hands are rubbed raw, my muscles ache, my lungs burn. I was hoping I could spend the session firing questions at him, but I’m too tired and way too focused to talk.
“You’ve had enough for the day,” he announces. “We will pick up tomorrow.”
Sweat has pooled beneath my mask, but I don’t dare wipe it away. I blink as it stings my eyes. “How long do these sessions go on for? What exactly are you training me against?”
“At the moment, you are vulnerable,” he says. “You must be able to defend yourself, especially if the uprising were to happen. You have seen the Deadhands and the Bone Stragglers. Imagine an army of millions swarming the land, coming after you and your family.”
I gulp. “Well, I think in that case I’d be screwed no matter what happens.”
“That is defeatist talk,” he says with an admonishing tone. “You are not here to cower in defeat. You are here to—”
“Pick up the sword and try again,” I finish dryly.
“Yes,” he says tersely. “At any rate, the queen must learn to protect herself, whether from attackers, kidnappers, or all-out war.”
“And Tuoni?” I swallow uneasily. “Will he not protect me?”
“He is not sworn to,” he says. “But if you are the one, then he will.”
“And if I’m not the one?”
“Without knowing the circumstances, you could be asking the God of Death to risk all to save your life. He is the God of Death and he did not marry you out of love. You are a new introduction to a carefully constructed world that he has been running for eons. You can never assume Tuoni will save your life when it comes to it. He most likely will choose his world and his role over you.”
I can’t help but flinch at Vipunen’s words. Freaking ice cold. I mean, I kind of figured that, but it really hurts when it’s coming from the mouth of an ancient giant.
“Gee, tell me how he really feels,” I mutter, gripping my sword.
“It is time for you to go back,” he says. “But through the way of the Crystal Caves. Only there may you take off the mask. There is a path that will lead along the water, all the way back to the castle. It is much faster that way.”
“How do I get there?”
“Just walk straight ahead for seventy steps. I will guide you.”
Oh god, now I have to count? I do as he says, walking straight, my legs feeling like jelly. At seventy steps, he tells me to go to the right for ten steps, then straight for twenty, then turn right for three and keep walking.
“Okay, well bye I guess,” I say to the giant as I walk blindly forward, still ever so conscious of walking into a wall.
He doesn’t answer. I feel nothing but cold dead air at my back and I feel he has retreated to wherever he goes.
What the hell does he do down here all day? If I was some wise old giant I’d be out and about, stomping around, not kept underground. Though maybe he doesn’t want to flatten the world around him. Maybe he keeps himself here out of safety.
I ponder the life of Vipunen, of how old he really is, if he can shrink himself or perhaps split himself into many forms and what those forms could look like (I could have been having a sword fight with a pig for all I know), when suddenly the space around me changes.
Underneath my mask, light glows lavender and I feel a warm, healing energy press down on me from all sides. There’s this feeling of the space opening up, and in turn it feels like my brain is opening up, and I can hear the lap of calm waves and a magical tinkling sound.
I know I’m in the fabled Crystal Caves.
I take off my mask, prepared to wince at the light, but I’m already adjusting.
Holy shit, I’m in heaven. The cave is glowing with thousands of crystals, pink and purple amethyst, clear quartz, rose quartz, and pale citrine, all of it covering nearly every inch of the cave except for the sandy-looking ground. They emit a soft light, as if lit from within, making the water of the underground lake look like it’s a shimmering pool of Lisa Frank stickers. I feel like I’m standing inside a gigantic geode.
I wipe my brow, my skin instantly cooled, and then place the mask on a shelf of amethyst teeth, followed by the halo crown. I place the sword beside it and before I know what I’m doing, I’m undoing the buttons of the catsuit at my neck and peeling it off. I don’t wear underwear anymore (luckily the catsuit had a built-in bra for support and protection), so I strip down until I’m totally naked.