by Lizzie Vega
Annika smiled weakly, “Tusen takk,” she said.
Iris looked at Stefan, “Thanks?” she queried.
“Indeed,” he answered, “a thousand thanks,” and he smiled, “She likes you.”
Iris raised an eyebrow at the compliment, “I can’t imagine what she thinks of all this. I don’t want to think what might have happened if you hadn’t arrived. She certainly would have killed Parker. Jesus, Stefan, this is really getting serious.”
To her surprise, Stefan smiled, “No, she likely wouldn’t have. I have seen her in sword tournaments before, her little spin move is her signature. She would have slapped him on the neck with the flat side of the blade. On the other hand,” he wondered, “she was terrified and disorientated. Better we don’t think too much about it.”
“That’s so comforting,” Iris reacted with a nervous laugh, “Hey wait a minute, sword tournaments? Who are you people?”
Just then, the door to warehouse swung open and the rest of the group came in with quite an assortment of groceries.
“We bought out the place,” was the announcement as they paraded in with bags full of snacks and beverages.
“We might have bought beer as well,” cackled Katie as she hefted two twelve packs in the air, “nothing serious, just to keep the mood entertaining. I think we were the last customers of the night.”
Iris laughed at the comment, “Perfect timing, then. I am just getting down to finding out who our guests actually are.” Her voice had a bit of a sarcastic edge to it, her wink to Stefan, helped ease his concern. “Everyone, gather around.”
Michael and Samantha sat next to Katie while Mac and Allie sat next to Iris. They were bubbling with enthusiasm about something. “Before you start, can I just say there is something that we are all going to want to see on the video, just sayin,” Mac was excited enough, he was already squirming in his seat. Allie teased him, “It’s ok, it can wait,” but she added with a grin, “It’s pretty cool though, we got the whole thing on video.”
Parker was the last to join the circle. He brought three cans of beer with him and, to everyone’s delight, graciously offered them to their new guests. First to Stefan, and then, far more cautiously, to Annika. “Welcome,” he said to her and he smiled as she took the can from him, “No hard feelings” and he pointed at the sword at her feet. He seemed sincere but then Katie commented on the return of his impishly cocked eyebrow, “Oh boy,” she said, “Here we go.”
Iris caught it too, “Down boy,” she admonished him, “just so everyone knows, Annika is feeling a little under the weather after the, ah, big trip. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“So,” she continued, “that we are all on the same page here, for the record, I had the opportunity to meet Stefan a few days ago over by Concordia. He is a new instructor there… I think.”
Katie elbowed a grinning Samantha in the ribs, “Awkwarrrd,” and cracked open her beer.
Stefan took his beer and showed Annika how to open it, it spurted a bit as he opened it and she smiled. She pulled on the tab slowly and squeaked as the pressure released itself. She was clearly feeling better. She raised the can, “Skol,” she offered and took a tentative sip. A bright smile came across her face and she tipped the can back to her lips, downing half of it.
“Well, that’s about as authentic as it gets,” cracked Allie in delight, “A real Viking toast.”
Stefan grinned, he was beginning to relax as well, “Wait,” He looked at his sister and nodded his head.
The young warrior looked back at him with a mischievous smirk and let out a monstrous belch to the shock and delight of her new friends.
“There,” he said happily, “Now, it’s authentic.” He raised his beer to the others and he winked at Iris.
“Stef,” she said to him quietly, “I think you should bring us up to speed at what is happening, Ok?” Her voice was soft towards him and had lost the sarcastic edge it had earlier.
Samantha nudged Katie, “Catch that? Nicknames already. This is so interesting,” she said under her breath.
Iris stuck her tongue out at Sam, but that only served to make it worse, “I think we should take notes.” Iris just rolled her eyes and then gestured toward Stefan, “Anytime, please.”
Stefan leaned forward on the sofa to address them, “Sure. Honestly, there have been several coincidences happening here that I can’t explain. From what I know and from what Annika has told me…” and he began to list them off. Eyes started getting wider and mouths fell open from the first one.
“It appears that the impending wedding between my sister and a man named Amund was interrupted by your summoning.”
“It’s likely he’s not happy about her disappearance,”
“He is a powerful warlord from another province in our region.”
Annika finished her beer with that comment and held up her beer can, “Drittsekk,”
She crushed the can in her fist. She was not smiling.
Parker chirped, “I know that word too, she does not like him, at all. Is it safe to say the marriage was not her idea?”
“Jeez, Parker,” Michael chided him, “You’re multi-lingual, I never knew this side of you,” and he laughed.
“Ha, not at all,” he replied, “I just had a cool gramma that taught me all of the fun words and Annika just called her fiancé an asshole. Sort of sets the tone doesn’t it?” He handed Annika another beer.
The laughter that followed served to bring down the tension of the subject matter, Iris got them back on track, “Continue, please,” but Michael interjected a question,
“Is the marriage a big deal then?”
Stefan hesitated but then he answered, “It would serve to unite two provinces together to become more powerful, because, well, she’s a prin..” and his voice got so quiet they didn’t hear the last word clearly.
Iris cleared her throat, “Um, did you just say Princess?” She looked at him suspiciously, “So, that makes you..”
Allie finished the statement for her, “A prince.” She clapped her hands together happily, “So cool.”
Stefan looked at Iris, “Sorry, it’s not something I felt I should just blurt out, Ok? It’s not like you go around announcing you practice an unusually advanced type of witchcraft, right?”
Iris shrugged and pointed at her chest, “Point taken, I gather you saw that tonight during the summoning?”
“I did,” he answered, “I also saw the rest of it the other night at my place,” and then realized what he had just divulged was supposed to be private. Iris began to blush noticeably.
“It’s gettin’ warm in here” sniped Katie again.
“God, Katie.” Iris snarled, “Seriously.” She looked at Stefan, “What’s going to happen next?”
Annika suddenly lurched forward on the sofa, her skin was a pale white, “Foler syk,” She slapped her hand over her mouth.
Without hesitation, Katie jumped out her chair taking hold of Annika’s arm, “To the rescue” and she put her hand over Annika’s, “Come with me,” she said and began to pull her quickly toward the bathroom, “Sam, you too. You’re on hair duty.”
“Whaaat?” Sam protested even as she rose up to help and the two of them spirited Annika quickly to the bathroom.
“Ohhhh, missed it by that...” the closing bathroom door muffling the rest of the conversation.
A minute later, Katie poked her head out of the door briefly, “We’ll be a little bit. Carry on.”
The others just sat staring at the door but, predictably, it was Parker that broke the silence, “Lightweight?”
Stefan just laughed, “Quite the contrary, I wager she could drink me under the table. She is very much a lady, but we drink from a young age. And,” he added, holding up his beer, “this is very light for her. I’m sure it’s the trip. I remember feeling the same way.”
Iris just shook her head, “I can imagine. Is Amund going to come after her?”
Stefan’s eyes grew cold, “Of that,
I have no doubt. And he will come soon.”
“What will we do?” Iris asked as she stood up in front of him, “Do we fight?” Her eyes flared in anger.
Stefan just watched her standing there. She looked strong and defiant. “It may not be that simple, Iris, we don’t know when he is coming or if he will be with others, that will change our options. I’m sorry, there is so much I don’t understand about this yet.”
The bathroom door swung open wide and Samantha walked out into the lounge, “Ladies and gentlemen of the court,” she said formally, “May I present, Princess Annika,” and then she laughed and bounded over to land next to Michael, “She’s feeling much better now.”
Annika came out of the bathroom, still looking pale but with a bright smile on her face. Katie came behind her carrying an armload of chain mail and a section of Annika’s tunic, “No worries, chain mail is pretty much rinse and go. Let’s say it was a near miss. Sam was a trooper, kept her hair back while she puked.”
Parker set his bag of chips on the floor, “I think I’m done here. Thanks for that.”
Annika walked across the room and flopped down happily next to her brother. Other than the leather tunic and jewelry, she looked like any other college aged woman.
Katie set the bundle of clothing on the arm of the sofa next to Stefan. “This armor is pretty cool. She was all woven into it like a kinky corset.”
That caught Parker’s attention, “Hello? You bonded with her, did you?”
“Oh, stop it, Park. Although,” she teased, “the contrast of the hard metal rubbing back and forth against the glove soft leather is intriguing.” She drew out the last part just to torment him.
“Ya know actually,” Katie continued, “there is one thing that was interesting.” She reached back and searched through the folded metal shielding, This was attached in the back where you couldn’t see it. It’s genuinely pretty. I woulda put it on a chain.”
She turned the armor section over and revealed a small curved glass tube about the size of her pinky finger. There appeared to liquid inside it with an air bubble inside that moved from side to side as she played with it.
Stefan reached out quickly and steadied Katie’s hand, “Careful, let’s not break that, Ok Katie?” He held onto her hand and she looked at him dreamily, “Ok, Stefan, I’ll be careful.”
“Ehem,” Iris cleared her throat, and Katie shrunk back to her chair with a grin, “He’s a prince, you know.” Iris chuckled, she knew Katie was just kidding, “Umhmm, I got that,” and she winked at her.
Stefan looked at the glass vial he tipped it back and forth gently, the bubble inside moved slowly back and forth. He held it out so all of them could see.
Michael commented first, “It looks like the bubble on a spirit level.”
Stefan looked at Iris, “Spellcaster, any thoughts on this?” he asked quietly. The way he said it gave Iris chills. She shivered and could feel herself blushing again.
“I would say it a talisman. And, since it was hidden, it’s not ornamental. Let me look at it.” He carefully handed her the vial.
Stefan looked at Annika. Her color was improving, she had sat quietly just looking back and forth at all the people that now surrounded her. She seemed very content to just sit and relax.
He spoke to her quietly and asked a couple of questions. Her answers seemed simple and she seemed calm. Stefan would then turn and act as an interpreter for each, so they knew what he as what was being said. In short, he asked who had selected her wedding dress and who had dressed her the day of the wedding.
“She was dressed by members of both courts, including our mother and members of Amund’s family. Then I asked her if her head still hurt. She said it’s buzzing now.” And he grinned. He spoke to her again. It was a short question. “I asked her,” he said, “If anything unusual was said or done, that seemed out of place.”
Annika thought for a moment and then nodded her head, “Ja, en stor argumentet.”
Mac jumped in excitedly, “Hey, an argument, I got that.” Allie teased him, “Good job hun, you didn’t even have to buy a vowel.” That brought a round of laughter from the others.
Stefan grinned at them, “Get ready, Mac, there are maybe more words coming that you will understand.” He turned back to Annika with another short question.
Annika’s answer was anything but short. She launched into an animated recollection of what had been said and who had said it. Stefan picked up the chain mail and set it closer to Annika, “Hvem?” he asked. He looked at the group, “who dressed her in the armor?”
Annika again excitedly told her story. Amund’s name was heard several times and Stefan interrupted her, “Hvem?” his voice had a definitive edge to it and it startled her. She looked hesitant, as though she didn’t want to answer him.
“Elen,” she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
Stefan sunk back into the sofa. He blew out a long breath and looked around the room at their new friends. “Unbelievable.”
Iris summed up the confused look of the others, “Are we in more trouble?”
Stefan shook his head, “I’m sorry, I am so confused right now. This makes either no sense or it makes complete sense, but I don’t know which one at the moment.”
“Amund’s family are a really dark bunch. Armund is the worst of them by far, but he pales in comparison to Elen. She isn’t even related to them, but she has been part of their family’s inner circle for many years.” He chuckled weakly, “She doesn’t seem to age. She is the family’s high council. Beautiful with flaming red hair and she is incredibly dangerous.”
Annika raised her head, blinked her eyes and said, “the Red Wolf” with a soft accent.
Stefan grinned broadly, “Yes,” he exclaimed, “She is the Red Wolf.” He started to laugh, then leaned over and hugged his startled sister. He reached up and touched her ear, “Bare hor, ikke snakker,” He looked at confused group, “I told her just to listen and not to speak too much, it will get easier for her to process as she adjusts.”
“Did she just say that in English?” was Michael’s stunned question, “or am I just hearing things?”
Samantha started to clap in excitement but stopped in embarrassment, “I heard it too, how is this possible?”
Iris looked at the talisman, “What is this Stefan? I thought your tone got a little more upbeat when you first saw it.”
Stefan nodded, “Elen argued with Amund about her wedding gown. He wanted something soft and feminine but, because the family is known for being powerful, Elen demanded the armor as a show of strength. She is the one that dressed Anni just before the ceremony was to begin. Amund isn’t the brightest leader in the land, he fears Elen. Although,” he added, “in that way, he is smart. She makes people disappear. Here in America, you have the bogeyman, where we are from, it is the Red Wolf we fear.”
Parker asked the obvious question. “She sent Annika here? How did you know about the talisman?”
Michael corrected him, “No, we brought Annika here.”
Stefan nodded in agreement, “She did the same thing to me when I was sent here. She was the last one I saw as I shifted. At the last minute, she threw an old robe at me and joked that I would need it to stay warm where I was going. The amulet was sewn into the robe. I think it allowed me to learn the language and begin to assimilate into the more modern culture faster than normal.”
Parker nodded, “I see the confusion. Is she helping you or hurting you?”
“She took me away from my family. That tells me what I need to know.” Stefan shrugged his shoulders, “There are too many puzzle pieces, I know.”
Michael wondered aloud, “How long did it take you to come from the past to our time?”
“I’m not really sure, maybe four or five seconds. Everything went white and I was here. Or, actually, I was in Norway.”
“Interesting, for the beginning of the lightning to Annika’s arrival was like, almost three weeks for us.”
“Y
eah,” Parker added, “And we started it.”
“Not entirely,” was Michael’s response.
“Good point, we didn’t actually start this.”
“Good point,” Annika parroted Parker, “Goodmund will know.” She spoke haltingly and yawned broadly.
“So much for the language barrier, she’s adorable,” grinned Parker but that set off a collection of groans from the others and a couple of sympathetic yawns as well.
“It is late,” said Katie as she stretched her legs, “we’re not going to solve this overnight and this chair is killing me.”
“Let’s call it a night,” Iris looked at her phone, “Ok, a morning then, we can still salvage a few hours of sleep.”
Michael agreed but he added, “No way, I’m going to sleep after this…if during the night, you think of an idea or a question, write it down and we’ll discuss it as a group tomorrow. Any little thought or idea. We can engineer this. We are a pretty smart bunch.”
Stefan tried to look enthusiastic and Iris caught the ruse. She played along with the upbeat mood, “Yeah, we can do this.”
Parker ushered everyone out, turned off the lights and locked the warehouse door, “Let’s not kid ourselves,” he said to Iris, “We’re in way over our heads and in trouble.” But then his tone shifted as well, “we are smart though.”
Mac and Allie drove off in their van, while Parker loaded up his car, Michael jumped in the backseat with Samantha. That left Katie in the front with Parker. Katie’s frowning expression produced a comment from Parker, “I’m not going to bite you Katie, relax.”
She was quick to apologize, “No, Parker, that’s not it, I was just elsewhere mentally, sorry,” She climbed into the leather bucket seat and pointed to the street in front of them, “Make it so, number one.”
Parker just shook his head and put the car in drive, “Geeks.”
Iris stood outside with Stefan and Annika. She watched as Annika looked up at the stars and then looked around at the collection of buildings surrounding them. “Imagine what she would be thinking if we zapped her into New York City. At least this sort of eases her into our world.”