Guardians of the Northern Sky

Five years later. The high alpine meadows beneath the southern precipice of Mount Skugg were bathed in the golden, endless radiance of the midsummer sun. In the Arctic Circle, midsummer brought twenty-four hours of unbroken daylight—a golden season when the snow retreated to the highest glacial ridges, transforming the mountain valleys into a lush, emerald paradise. Thick carpets of purple arctic lupines, delicate yellow poppies, and sweet wild alpine strawberries…