A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"So we'll travel to the Finnish-Swedish border, which should get us safely away from Frostfang, and then we'll see about finding Alice's exact location from Victor," Erik continued, explaining as they ran.

"Alright," Astrid nodded before asking about something she had been wondering. "So what about the other destination you mentioned? You said there were two places we needed to go, but only this one couldn't wait?"

"Right," Erik nodded with a thoughtful frown. "The other destination is a strange ruin that my mother brought me to a few times in the past. Apparently, she left a sigil stone with Uncle Viljar before she left, with the message that I should bring it to those ruins."

"Wait," Astrid wondered, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "Your mother knew you were alive?"

Erik smiled warmly. "Not exactly, but apparently, she never lost hope." Then he went back to his thoughtful frown. "Although, whether that was just the hope of a desperate mother or something else, I don't know. But perhaps those ruins and that stone will provide some answers."

Talking about Erik's mother caused Astrid to start thinking about her own, as a sad expression fell over her face. "I hope my mother doesn't think I'm dead," she mumbled suddenly, more to herself than to Erik.

"Even if she does, she won't think so for long," Erik said with a reassuring smile, causing Astrid to nod with determination and agree with him.

After that, they continued running at high speed in silence.

While Erik and Astrid could potentially sprint at almost 100km/h (~60mph), they were currently running at a 'mere' 60km/h (~35mph) because they were carrying cargo in the form of two beautiful sisters and were trying to conserve energy so they could last longer.

Not to mention that Erik was still wounded and wearing his armor, as it could not be stored in a storage jewel.

Unfortunately, Erik had decided that it was not yet safe enough to simply wait around and heal. Besides, when those council soldiers returned to their base and reported what happened, there was a good chance they would move Björn's daughter, Alice, to somewhere else.

After all, he and Elora currently assumed she was somewhere in Sweden, so she was close enough to provide some encouragement for Björn should he need it.

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But now that Björn was dead, and considering the council's intention to study, or perhaps even experiment on, Alice for her hybrid status, there was every possibility they would soon move her to a place more focused on research.

Which meant they had no time to waste.

Technically their covenant with Björn was vague enough that they wouldn't be forced to rescue Alice at the first possible opportunity, but, at some point, the covenant would force them to get a move on.

Better they get it out of the way now, while she was hopefully in Sweden, rather than having to both search and travel all over Europe for her.

Such was the price they paid to get out of Frostvik and away from Frostfang.

Although Erik actually didn't mind this deal so much. He liked Björn and respected the lengths the man would go through to rescue his daughter.

Under normal circumstances, that still wouldn't be enough to actually convince Erik to go out of his way to rescue a relatively random girl. Still, as far as deals go, this one wasn't so bad.

Besides, Elora also had a slight interest in the girl's hybrid status.

According to Victor, the council had learned very little about any special powers a hybrid might have so far, but that didn't mean Elora would be just as stumped.

All in all, while being forced to continue traveling despite his wounds was a downside, the rest of their deal with Björn was very acceptable to both Erik and Elora.

As they traveled further southwest, the taiga forests of Norway and northern parts of Finland made way for the fell highlands—vast, treeless mountain plateaus characteristic of the Scandinavian Mountains. The terrain undulated, and hills rose like waves from the earth under a blanket of snow.

After the fell highlands, the terrain changed into one of partially frozen lakes and large, crisscrossing rivers that flowed from the fells to the sea. These rivers created countless wide river valleys with varying vegetation and terrain, from dense forests to marshlands.

Naturally, none of this was an issue for Erik and Astrid as they continued to travel through these lands at a high pace, using their strength and stamina to traverse the terrain for hours at the same pace of 60km/h (~35mph).

During this time, Erik's natural regeneration, combined with whatever little help Emma's magic was, managed to bring his body to a point where, at the very least, he wasn't in constant pain anymore.

At one point, when Emma's magic ran out, she actually managed to fall asleep in Erik's arms despite the rocky movement and cold metal armor he wore.

Emily, too, didn't wake up at all during this time. Erik figured her mind was resting and restoring itself after her short relapse back in Frostvik.

Elora remained quiet as well, as she would need at least a day to wake up again.

Their journey went largely uninterrupted, as second-rank beasts were still rare. First-rank beasts, on the other hand, had their instincts screaming at them to remain far away from this group of travelers.

Neither did they encounter any people, as most of the Sámi shapeshifters and vampires who once lived in this region had migrated to the north, into Finnmark, for safety.

After all, Finnmark was the only nearby place with powerful, established factions that could provide safety from other races and the roaming first-rank beasts.

Of course, now there is the council as well, but they were new, and when they arrived in Sweden, Lapland had already mostly emptied out.

As for the humans, they had likely all gone to seek warmer climates in Sweden to be eventually absorbed into the council, or died during some harsh winter, or from a horde of first-rank beasts.

Perhaps some holdout human villages were still around with people stubbornly clinging to life in this harsh, post-apocalyptic region. Yet, if so, Erik and his group didn't encounter them.

Like this, they traveled for a total of eight hours, non-stop, until they finally began to near the Swedish border.

Gradually, the landscape transitioned into mixed forests with a higher proportion of non-coniferous trees and even some abandoned agricultural land.

They reached a small, abandoned town by the name of Muonio, located directly on the border between Finland and Sweden.

It was here that they finally decided to take a short rest to wake Emily and find out Alice's location from Victor.