by K.E. Rodgers
***
Hin Skógr (The Forest)
Aõalríkr Torvald stood next to his hross in a bright clearing in the Black Woods. It was the first he had seen the sun light in several hours. The canopy of trees obscured the land so that one was almost able to believe that the land existed in eternal night. He breathed in the fresh air of the forest as he brushed down his animal while he allowed it to rest. Patting it affectionately he forced it to wander off to a nearby stream.
With a great puff of agitated exhalation he sat down on the soft earth near a large moss covered boulder. Aõalríkr rested his head back against the cold stone, closing his eyes for a moment. He just wanted to be alone for a few minutes so he could think over what he had hastily agreed to do for his father and their political allies. For them it wasn’t such a great sacrifice and in their defense his lot in life was a lot better than most.
But who was he kidding? He’d rather he were the poorest beggar or fish-monger than the husband to an Eastern Nation princess. Regardless of the fact that at one time there had been only one nation and what now was called the Eastern Nation had been a small providence in a larger country, the Eastern Nation and their culture was as different from his own as night and day.
His own father had been cousins with the self-professed king and now deceased father of the daughter to whom he was set to marry. Her mother was a princess from one of the Western ally Nations. The providence had sided with the six Eastern Nations with the ideal that when Bergr Haldis defeated his cousin and their allies, he would be ruler over the country. It hadn’t worked out as he planned and Aõalríkr knew his father had lost a once dear friend in the process.
Now the countries would be united and Aõalríkr was to be the sacrifice to see that his father and their associate’s aspirations for the nations went as planned. The woman who held his future in her hands was professed to be a beauty with a docile and gentle disposition. In truth he couldn’t care what she looked like or how amicably she behaved. All that mattered was that she and her uncle agree to this marriage and join their nations. Their children would end the skirmishes raging in the Eastern border and unify the people under one ruling house. That was the plan at least, but even the best laid plans cracked under pressure. Right now that plan was riding hard under the heels of the Red Rebels from the east.
The Red Rebels followed under the code of the Crescent Moon whose beliefs contradicted those of the Western Stars that Aõalríkr, his father, and the Western allies followed. A band of them had traveled through the country during the Final War and though most of them had disbanded or returned to the Eastern Nations, some of them remained to cause trouble in the Eastern shores and sometimes tried to infiltrate the Western shores through the Gaeta Wall.
Aõalríkr looked down at his hand which only days before had been covered in the red gore of some hapless Red Rebel who had gotten too close to his Suero to deserve to live. He had been trained as a first class leikn. All Aõalríkr knew of this world and all he saw was covered in the scares of battle and death. His father had groomed him to be a warrior. Growing up during war times, he was too young to remember a time when war between countries didn’t exist.
The almost quiet hiss of a Suero being extracted from its sheath was the only warning he got before he felt the cold steel against the warm flesh of his exposed neck. Perhaps under other circumstances Aõalríkr would have found the realization that someone could sneak up on his person so subtly and without giving themselves away comical. In all his years of existence in this world he could say without hesitation that this was the first time anyone had accomplished such.
Aõalríkr’s emerald green eyes remained closed as he reached for his own Suero which was lying just to his left side. As his hand moved to grasp it he felt the cold steel of his adversaries Suero bite into his flesh just enough to draw a small trickle of blood. He could feel the viscous liquid as it traveled down his throat into the collar of his fur lined skyrta.
“Move your hand back to your side or the blade of my Suero will be more than happy to extract your head from your shoulders. Just to let you know we have your company of men in safe keeping; for now at least. If they should happen to tie themselves into the trees then that’s no fault of ours.”
It seemed that luck had abandoned him during this trip to the east because not only was he being held by the sure and steady draw of a trained warrior he was doubly humiliated that that same warrior spoke with the lilting voice of a disir. Only someone with a close connection to the Allfather could have a voice such as her. He might have thought he was being blessed by the gods except for the fact that this disir wasn’t choosing him to be a great warrior for the Allfather, she was threatening to lop his head off.
Aõalríkr kept his hand still, neither moving it closer to his weapon or retreating his hand back to his side.
The female voice grunted with obvious disapproval. “You don’t listen very well do you?” He could detect her accent as being from an eastern province confirming his suspicion that she was a native to the Eastern Nation and not one of the displaced communities from the far western portion of the Eastern Shore. It was also clear that she spoke with a refined lilt in her voice that could only mean she was not of the peasant class.
Why then was she not at home sitting beside a roaring fire doing something meek and feminine like sewing or such? Why was she traveling with a band of defeated warriors through the Black Woods? The woods were dangerous enough during less hostile times; it was sure death for those unprepared for its strange occupants not least of which being the Red Rebels. Aõalríkr didn’t shy away from the task of traveling through the woods to reach his destination, but even he had been on edge the entire time he had been riding through the dark and dense foliage.
She was just a woman, Aõalríkr reminded himself and for that reason he would spare her precious life. It was then that he finally opened his eyes and gave this upstart of a woman the irritated glare that she deserved. His hostile façade cracked a little as he took in the sight before him. Standing as tall as a great tree, she made an impressive and almost intimidating sight as she glared down at him, her Suero outstretched and poised over his flesh.
Her long beautiful sun-kissed hair wouldn’t have given her gender away from afar as many of the eastern warriors wore their hair as long as she did. But this close to her he could see the face and figure of her revealed the vulnerability of her true sex. She wasn’t particularly beautiful. Over the years he had seen many a fairer face than hers, but it was the unique shape of her jaw and slight upturn of her deep blue eyes that flashed at him with an unholy light that made her entire person beguiling. There was a distinct radiance about her, like an elusive rainbow that hovered just over her form that softened the rougher edges of her personality and the stiff stance of her body. It was altogether enthralling, except again for the fact that she still held a Suero in her hand raised to strike him at any moment.
In the next moment he was on his feet. With a fluidity born of years of practice he was able to come out from a resting position into one of action with the speed of the gods. Aõalríkr was not easily taken down especially by a mere woman. She may have been well trained, but even so he knew he was superior in this craft.
Yet even with his superior skills there had been a moment when the steel of her Suero had almost cut more into his flesh as she had threatened to do. It took only a second to extract the Suero from her grasp with a sure tug as he threw it out of both of their reach. He almost smiled at the shocked expression on her face. Apparently being disarmed was a new concept for her.
Kári stepped back a pace as she found herself disarmed by a trained leikn. Her hands she braced at her sides away from her body, poised to defend herself with the fall back tactic of her hands and feet.
She had come upon this sleeping giant of a man minutes earlier when he had stopped to rest in the open clearing. She had watched him out of curiosity because right away she had recognized him as a man from the
west. All men of the west wore long mantles that flowed about their bodies except for over their sword arm which they kept free from the cumbersome fabric. It was a protective measure and gave them a fierce look in battle.
His hair was a dark burnished color that caught the rays of light above the open clearing. It glowed like a royal halo above his head. Most curious of all was the fact that he was a good three inches taller than her, an unheard of possibility as far as she was concerned.
Then he had sprawled out on the ground, his head thrown back against a boulder and closed his eyes. In repose he looked more than beautiful. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn that he was a perfect recreation of the gods themselves. No mortal man she had seen in all of her existence could compare to the physical perfection of this man.
Wandering away from the safety of his company he had sought the solitude of the peaceful clearing. What few men he rode with had been easily overtaken by her followers and Kári had taken the initiative to seek out the leader of this western party.
Aõalríkr wiped at his neck feeling the small droplets of blood on his fingers. He frowned at her as he secured his Suero against his body. “Good day madam. Is it customary to draw blood of guests to the area or are you gifting me with special treatment?”
He was from the Western Nation and obviously a well trained warrior. His cultivated accent and expensively tailored attire easily gave his identity away. He was likely a very respectable figure in his country, a leader. Kári felt anger well up the realization that he might have been with the men responsible for her step-father’s death.
“You’re the last person I would give special treatment to. What are you doing so far from your own country? You do realize that you and your followers aren’t exactly well liked in this area?”
“By that little display,” he gestured to where her Suero lay quiet and still in the grass feet away from them, “I would say that you follow with the anti-western alliance.”
“I could care less about the alliance of the country,” she corrected him. “What else can the Western allies do to us? You can’t break what is already beyond repair.”
“Your cynicism reminds me of my father,” he said with a slight chuckle. Aõalríkr folded his heavily muscled arms over his chest. “You two would definitely not get along as the competition between you would stand in the way of your common beliefs. And what would a woman be doing wandering the Black Woods with a roughened band of warriors; surely your family wouldn't allow it? I find the idea of a woman warrior as ridiculous as a man who stays home and knits while his people are being slaughtered.”
The woman had the audacity to snort at him even though he was the one with the weapon.
“I thought you were a little dimwitted, now I know the truth. Your archaic generalization of my gender doesn’t take into account the reality that it’s you not I who has blood upon their collar.”
Aõalríkr took an aggressive step toward her, not sure what he intended to do to her. She was an impertinent woman and it was the first time anyone other than his mother or father had spoken to him in such a manner. It occurred to him then that she wasn’t aware of his status as governing prince and soon to be ruler over her country.
Whatever he had intended to do or say to this woman was halted by an unexpected surprise which took this opportunity to leap into the clearing. Álfr broke through the crop of trees, disturbing the foliage and animals in the area as he made his way toward them. A great beast in this form, his raised hackles showed his anger. Only a fool would try to engage this wolf right now.
Álfr was a shape-shifter, a rare and dying trait in this world. His true form was that of an average size man, but in the form of his other half, he was far larger in breath than the hrosses they traveled on.
The wolf came to crouch on all fours a few feet behind Kári. His large muzzle was drawn down and his eyes were alight with instant fury. Álfr’s snarl was eminent as he parted his jaws to reveal sharp and lethal looking teeth.
At once Kári’s spine stiffened; a subtle gesture, but not lost on both men. She knew that a great beast was standing but one leap away from her person and if she moved or made a gesture that he didn’t like she would quickly find herself in its more than capable jaws.
“It looks like you escaped from the pack, Álfr,” Aõalríkr noted with a smirk.
Álfr snarled in response, keeping his focus on the woman in front of him.
“I think we need to come to some kind of an agreement, madam.” Aõalríkr addressed her with a raise of his eyebrows. “Or none of us will leave this forest alive.”