The Legendary Inge

by Kate Stradling

  “Not now, Lisbet! Where is Inge? Inge!”

  “You’re gonna wake Sassa!” Lisbet chided.

  “Inge’s not here,” said Eirik.

  “Gunnar, you know this guy?” asked Einar.

  “He’s my commanding officer, you little twerps! Untie him right now! You’re all in loads of trouble! And what do you mean, Inge’s not here? Colonel, I’m so sorry about all of this!”

  Gunnar didn’t seem to know where to direct his attention, whether to focus on his rambunctious family members or upon the imprisoned officer. Raske didn’t mind. Certainly one of his men had just found him in an infinitely humiliating situation, but Gunnar was demonstrating a sufficient level of terror. It probably hadn’t even occurred to him to ask how two small boys had managed to overpower a seasoned warrior in the first place.

  Eirik and Einar made short work of the knots that held Raske to the chair. He remained seated, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had been the tightest. “Lang, were you sent here by Bergstrom or someone else from the castle?” he asked curiously. For the sake of his dignity, he didn’t want this story to spread.

  Gunnar paled at the question. “No, sir. I’m sorry, sir. No one sent me. I slipped away on my own. I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem fitting.”

  Raske looked up in surprise. “Punishment? No, no. You came just in time. Your brothers were conducting an interrogation.” He smiled faintly. Gunnar’s pale face turned ashen. Raske had momentarily forgotten the terror his smile caused his underlings. It had been Bergstrom’s method of controlling his behavior, to spread such horrible rumors. Immediately he schooled away the expression. “There will be no punishment, Lang.”

  “Why’s he calling you Lang?” Eirik asked his brother.

  Gunnar shushed him.

  “In the military we often assign new surnames,” Raske explained patiently. “Your brother received the name Lang when he came under my command, so that he wouldn’t get confused with someone else when I gave orders to my men. And really, Lang, I’m glad that you came when you did. You can help me decide what to do with your family.”

  “Sir?” said Gunnar with visible terror. “They’re only small boys, sir! They didn’t understand what they were doing, certainly they didn’t know who you were! Please don’t—”

  Raske had trouble suppressing his laughter, which would only have made the situation worse. “It’s not just the boys. It’s your whole family. I suppose I should leave you here to watch over them, only now that the issue at the castle’s been resolved I don’t know whether King Halvard will order me back to the border. I certainly can’t leave you behind if he does.”

  “No, no!” Gunnar waved defensive hands. “They’re not… they’re not living here alone. Inge takes care of them—my sister Ingrid, I mean. She’s old enough and very capable, and Linnea helps—”

  “Nea’s not here,” Lisbet piped up.

  Gunnar looked around in confusion. “Nea’s gone too? Where are they?”

  “Inge farmed Nea out to a dairyman two weeks ago,” said Eirik idly.

  “What? I told her not to do that! Nea’s only fourteen! She doesn’t need to go off on her own to work! And where is Inge, anyway?”

  Eirik shrugged.

  “Maybe she went to visit the tomten,” said Lisbet. “That’s where she went last week.”

  “Do you mean to say,” said Gunnar with rising anger, “that she’s been abandoning you all for hours at a time? And you don’t know where she goes?”

  “She visits the tomten,” Lisbet insisted peevishly.

  “She doesn’t abandon us,” Einar said. “Inge would never abandon us! And she wasn’t visiting the tomten. She went and sold her hair somewhere.”

  “She gave it to the tomten,” said Lisbet. “She gave it to the tomten for Sassa’s medicine.”

  “That’s just what she told you, dummy. She didn’t really give it to any old tomten.”

  “Don’t you call Inge a liar!”

  “Hey!” Gunnar yelled before the argument could get out of control. “Stop fighting! Is Sassa sick again? And Inge sold her hair? What else has she sold? And what did she do with all the money I’ve been sending home?”

  The three children fell into an uncertain silence. “We don’t know,” said Eirik at last. “You’ll have to ask Inge.”

  “She’s the one I came here to see!” Gunnar exclaimed. “Has she been selling off the practice swords as well? Someone used one this morning to—” His voice suddenly cut out and he shifted wide eyes to the chair where his commanding officer still sat.

  Raske had wondered how long it would take Gunnar to remember that he was there. In the meantime, he had quietly listened and assessed the family’s situation. No wonder Inge had been so frantic for her brother not to come, if she had been misusing funds and resources.

  “She didn’t sell any practice swords,” Einar said abruptly. “All three were there yesterday when Eirik and I went to play with them.”

  Gunnar bristled. “I should think I know them well enough to recognize one when I see it. Where did I…? Oh!” He returned to the front door, there to pick up a crafted length of wood that he had dropped in his surprise. He promptly brandished it in front of his brothers. “You’re going to tell me this isn’t one of ours? It’s cracked and worthless now, but I’d recognize it anywhere. And some boy used it just this morning to kill an awful monster out in the woods. So either Inge sold it, or it was stolen.”

  Raske thought it proper to intercede. He loudly cleared his throat. Gunnar’s attention snapped to him. “That ‘boy’ was actually your sister,” he said. “That’s the reason I’m here.”

  Gunnar stared.

  “Inge killed a monster?” Eirik asked. “That’s great!”

  “What kind of monster?” Einar asked. “Was it a big one? Did it have fangs?”

  “I—” said Gunnar. “There must be some mistake. Inge couldn’t possibly have— I mean, when Dalstrom and I got to the scene, everyone said it was a boy, and that the king has adopted him as reward!”

  “That’s about the long and short of it,” Raske confirmed.

  “But—” Gunner said, and a helpless tone infused that single word.

  Raske stood at last from his chair. “I do not have the power to disobey the will of the king. He’s declared your sister to be his son, and until he says otherwise, that is what she will be.”

  “B-but she’s a girl!”

  “Yes, that’s the same argument she made, but it didn’t do her any good either. Everything should resolve itself within a few days. In the meantime, I promised her I would make certain her family was aware of the situation and that they were looked after. I suppose I really should leave you here in charge for now, since I don’t know of any other option. Is that satisfactory, Lang?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Gunnar hesitantly.

  With that issue settled, Raske crossed the room to retrieve his sword and other personal effects. As he replaced the blade where it belonged at his waist, he suddenly paused and turned curious eyes upon the twins. “I’ve just remembered. I never did find out what you two had done to Ulfred.”

  Eirik and Einar stiffened.

  Gunnar frowned in confusion. “Ulfred Rikardson, our landlord?”

  “That’s the fellow,” said Raske. “What did you two do to him?”

  “Nothing,” said Eirik.

  “Nothing to him,” Einar clarified.

  Raske arched an eyebrow. They exchanged an uncertain glance and decided to confess.

  “He gets drunk most nights,” said Eirik.

  “We moved his outhouse,” said Einar.

  “You what?” cried Gunnar.

  Eirik shifted uncomfortably. “We moved it back,” he said, but then he added in a small voice, “after he fell in the hole.”

  “He deserved it,” Einar declared. “He’s not hurt. He was cursing up a storm when we ran away.”

  Raske had covered his instinctive smile with one hand. No wonder they
thought Ulfred would send someone to murder them! “And he’s still there?” he managed to ask.

  The twins exchanged another glance. They didn’t know.

  “Good enough,” Raske said. “Now that my curiosity’s been satisfied, I’ll take my leave. Lang, I’ll send word if you are to return to the castle.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Gunnar, a little mystified by everything that had occurred.

  “And as for your sister, Inge,” Raske added as a sudden afterthought, “you should probably tell anyone who asks about her that she’s away visiting family. It’ll be best if she’s not connected to the new prince, for however long this charade lasts. Is that understood?”

  Gunnar nodded curtly, and the twins mimicked that action. Lisbet merely tipped her head in confusion, but Raske didn’t anticipate that she would pose a problem. “I’ll take my leave, then. Good day.”

  Quickly he ducked out the door and made his way back through the small yard to the road beyond. When he had achieved sufficient distance between himself and the cottage, his mirth overtook him and he dissolved into silent, uncontrollable laughter. Under normal circumstances, Colonel Raske was not allowed to show his amusement over anything. Under normal circumstances, he had to maintain a stern and stony demeanor, devoid of any human frailties.

  These were not normal circumstances.

  “Ridiculous,” he murmured when he had sufficiently recovered. “This whole morning has been absolutely ridiculous!”

  No wonder Inge had panicked over the possibility of a pair of boys left to their own devices.

  Chapter 5: Momentary Order

  Princess Signe was a nice girl, shy and soft-spoken and everything that a lady should be. Inge’s few experiences with castle-folk thus far had made her expect to hate everyone she came into contact with, but there was no hating the princess. Signe had mustered every ounce of courage she possessed in order to come visit her new “brother” and assert her dissent from her father’s plans for the two of them.

  Inge had considered asking more about the unnamed courtier, but she refrained. She figured that the princess probably wouldn’t want to discuss her love life with a twelve-year-old boy, even though Inge was really eighteen and a girl. Inge didn’t bother correcting Signe on that point either, because she had no intention of staying long enough for it to make any difference.

  Mention of the banished Osvald piqued Inge’s interest the most, but she couldn’t ask about that either. Thus, when the soft-spoken princess finally made her retreat, Inge knew very little more than she had before the visit.

  She listened to the patter of receding footsteps in the hall until they disappeared. Signe had provided an interesting distraction, but now Inge’s thoughts turned back to the possibility of escape.

  The bedsheets would have to do for her makeshift rope, but would they be long enough? Two sheets on the bed, plus the blanket, corner to corner…

  She opened the window to assess the drop again. There wasn’t even a ledge. The central iron pane seemed sturdy enough to hold a rope and body, though. Inge tested her weight against it and then leaned out, mentally calculating how far the rope might reach and how much of a drop she would face at the end. Satisfied that the escape was feasible, she scanned the yard for her best path back to the city or the surrounding woods.

  Halfway to the nearest fence, her gaze abruptly met that of Colonel Raske. A bolt of terror shot up her spine. He had stopped short, apparently on his way back to the castle, and stared plainly up at her.

  His expression testified that he knew exactly what she was scheming.

  For an instant she didn’t move, frozen with guilt at being caught. Down in the yard, Colonel Raske’s mouth thinned and he started forward again, determination thick upon him.

  Swiftly Inge shut the window and decided to pretend she had only been getting a breath of fresh air. When, only minutes later, a knock sounded upon her door, she was already positioned in one of the chairs by the fire place, posed in practiced nonchalance.

  “Come in,” she called.

  Colonel Raske entered and made an efficient bow. He left the door conspicuously open behind him. “I have come to report on your family, Your Highness.”

  His official manner disconcerted her, especially after their mute interaction out the window. She had expected a rebuke, at the very least, before he moved to this subject. “Are they all right?” she asked in worry.

  “Yes. They are with their elder brother at present.”

  “Gunnar?” She bounded from her chair in outrage. “You promised not to tell him!”

  “It was unavoidable, Your Highness. He came to the house himself while I was there, and I could hardly withhold the truth. I humbly beg your pardon.”

  “Oh, stop that!”

  He had stooped halfway into another bow, but he paused to raise inquiring eyes. “Your Highness?”

  “I told you not to call me that! And stop treating me that way, like you have to grovel to me or something! Just—can’t you talk to me like a normal person?”

  Understanding dawned on Raske’s face. “This is the protocol for interactions between the military and members of the royal house. I may not treat you with anything less than the utmost respect, Your Highness.”

  “It’s Inge,” she corrected him, “and you know as well as I do that I’m not really a member of the royal house. You said yourself it would only be a couple of days, so what’s the use of observing ridiculous formalities? Just… tell me how my family is and forget the protocol.”

  “Eirik and Einar were an interesting force for mischief, Lisbet was strong-willed and curious, and Sassa slept the whole time I was there. I didn’t see her at all.”

  His sudden candor took her by surprise. She had expected him to persist with the affected formalities, to ignore her wishes just as King Halvard and Captain Bergstrom had.

  “Oh,” she said stupidly.

  “May I ask what ails her?” he continued, and she realized that he was still being formal. He was just being more efficient about it. “Someone mentioned something about medicine, and Lang—your bother, Gunnar—asked whether she was sick again.”

  Inge dropped back into her chair. The worry she constantly suppressed bubbled up within her anew. “It’s the same illness that took our parents,” she said dully. “All of us had it, just some worse than others. Sassa relapsed when we moved here to the capital, and then again a few weeks ago. She was breathing all right this morning before I left, but her medicine makes her drowsy.”

  “How old is she?”

  “Only seven. I keep hoping she’ll get better—Lisbet’s case was the mildest, and the boys recovered quickly, but with Sassa, it just lingers.” She blinked to fight back unbidden tears. She didn’t want to cry in front of anyone, to demonstrate such weakness, but this topic always taxed her emotions to a breaking point. The deadly sickness had swept through their village last fall. All things considered, Inge’s family had fared well with only two deaths. Others had lost more than that.

  Her family’s comparative luck didn’t make the loss any easier, though, and Sassa’s continuing illness kept her anxiety fresh. “It’s my job to take care of her, do you see? How am I supposed to do that if you keep me here at the castle?”

  If Raske was disconcerted by her brimminng emotions, his stoic face did not betray him. “Do you wish to send the royal doctor to attend her?” he calmly asked. Inge gaped. “As a member of the royal family, you may command him to see to your sister’s welfare.”

  “B-but I’m not… I’m not going to be here long! You even said—”

  “All the more reason to command him while you can,” Raske interrupted with a mischievous quirk to his lips. He fixed his expression the next moment, back to its blank façade. “That is, we neither of us know the will of the king, Your Highness, so you should act as you see fit in the moment.”

  “You’re doing it again,” said Inge, “that formal speech.”

  He ignored the rebuke. “Do you wa
nt the doctor sent or not?”

  “Yes, but… Will it cost anything?” she asked hesitantly. “We don’t have any money.”

  Even though his face remained expressionless, it seemed very kind to her just then. “It won’t cost you a thing,” he gently promised. “I’ll see to it.” He bowed and turned to make his exit.

  “Wait!” Inge cried. He paused, his back to her, and she faltered. The world beyond her family had been unusually cruel of late, so she did not know how to react to such kindness as this. “Why are you so willing to help? I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I… I don’t want to be indebted to anyone.”

  “You’re not indebted. Had I performed my duties as I should have, you would’ve been saved this morning’s trouble. Besides,” he added, turning to her with a wry smile, “this way you can rest easy on your sister’s welfare, and I don’t have to go to any ridiculous measures like confiscating your bedsheets. Unless you have any other reasons to attempt escape. Do you?”

  Blood rushed to her face. “I—I was only getting a breath of fresh air!”

  “Sure you were. And tugging on the window frame helped the air flow better, I suppose. Your family is tended to, Your Highness. Please enjoy the hospitality of the castle at present.”

  Before Inge could gather her wits to respond, he passed through the door and shut it firmly behind him. “Ooh!” she said to the space where he had stood. Impulse told her to pitch herself out the window just to spite him.

  If Gunnar was at the house, though, she’d rather stay here. Her absence might give him time to sort out their family woes without her having to explain the underlying circumstances.

  ***

  Colonel Raske delivered orders to the castle doctor and then sought out Captain Bergstrom. It made no sense to prolong this charade, but he would need reinforcements to convince King Halvard of that. While he had his doubts about approaching the Captain of the Castle Guard, he knew the king often looked to Bergstrom for guidance.

  He discovered him in the lower courtyard giving instruction to some of his men. At Raske’s approach, the soldiers bowed and quickly retreated. Bergstrom turned.