Heart's Conquest; A Viking Romance

by Andromeda -

  However, he did have opposing thoughts. Most slave-women didn’t stay virgins for long, and Alrik wondered if Rashida might have given her virginity to another. The consideration made him furious, as he knew that since the moment he saw her that Rashida would be his and only his.

  “Mother?” he asked one night at dinner.

  “Yes?” Ingrid said, lifting her head from the papers that sat before her.

  “When will we return?” he asked.

  Instantly, Ingrid stiffened and Alrik knew that he shouldn’t have asked this right now.

  “Soon,” she said, after several moments. “Very soon. Just waiting for the right moment.”

  Alrik nodded and turned back to his plate, but he knew that deep inside that nothing was going to keep him from making his return to Rashida.

  ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

  “Rashida! That pie is burning!” Kaya cried out.

  Rashida turned from the deer she was skinning and looked in the oven where the pie was. Her hand dropped the knife and she cleaned her hands, rushing over to open the oven. Smoke poured out the moment she did and Rashida jumped back, her hand waving in front of her face as she coughed.

  “I told you to watch it, Kaya!” she said.

  “I did!” Kaya said. “Well…I thought I did.”

  Rashida sighed. “It’s not too burnt… Maybe I can help it.”

  She looked around. Only she and Kaya were in the kitchen, so she felt safe enough to use her abilities. Slowly, she opened her palm and focused hard, her lips moving as she whispered an incantation. The heat in the oven began to slowly dim down, and the smoke disappeared. When it was done, the crust wasn’t blackened, and when she took it out, the gravy of the meat was gently bubbling through the holes.

  “That was a close one,” she sighed, as she placed the pie onto the table.

  “How many times must I say that I am grateful for your abilities?” Kaya asked with a smile. “They have saved our asses several times over.”

  Rashida smiled at her friend and touched her neck, where a circlet of gold and amber was. This was her necklace. The thing that marked her as what she was: a Seiðr. Virtually, the same thing as a priestess. This title, however, came with more responsibilities as she had more things to do. For starters, she was a Chosen of the goddess Freyja, the Norse goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, magic, war, and death. The old woman, Astrid, explained this to Rashida.

  Their species was a dying one, as the goddess hadn’t chosen any new bodies to be host to her spirit and power. Astrid thought that she was the last in her region, but after she had found Rashida, she knew that she must be trained in the art. Thus, began the most complicated two years of Rashida’s life.

  From when she was 16 to her now 18th year, Rashida learned under the elderly woman. Whenever she could get away from her duties in the Jarl’s home, she rushed to go to Astrid’s cottage for her lessons. Astrid taught her everything she knew as her time in the current world was coming quickly to an end now that she had a successor to come after her.

  The knowledge of a Seiðr had to be vast as they were the mouthpieces of the goddess; her eyes and ears in this world. Herbal knowledge, the way of childbirth and more were what Rashida had to learn in a short period. As she learned the things from this world, she was always taught the things of the other worlds. In Norse mythology, there are seven worlds to be exact and more gods than Rashida could count and creatures she never knew of. Astrid always taught her that honor and respect of those mystical, and when Rashida took her place, then she must be ready for the challenges ahead.

  Another blessing that came from being a Seiðr was the control over nature, control over what Freyja had created. Thus, animals and the four elements always answered her call. Fire no longer burned her, flowers bloomed when asked, water would move from one container to another with ease and air always blew when needed.

  This power that she had was something that she never could have dreamed about, and while she was unsure at first about her new role, she knew that she couldn’t run from who she was anymore.

  “Girls,” a voice said behind them. “Are you done?”

  Rashida and Kaya turned around and their eyes widened when they saw Gala had stepped inside the kitchen. Quickly, each girl dropped to their knees before their Mistress.

  Gala looked at them, though her eyes locked onto Rashida. The girl seemed to be…glowing as of late. Gala knew that she wasn’t with child. The girl would save her virginity until she was of use as was expected, yet there was something else amiss here, something she didn’t like.

  “Everything alright?” Gala asked. “I smelt smoke.”

  “Everything is fine, my lady,” Kaya said quickly. “Believe us.”

  Gala nodded and turned to leave, though she cast another look at Rashida before she did.

  Both girls exhaled deeply the moment Gala was gone, and Rashida turned to her friend.

  “That was close…” she said.

  “Agreed,” Kaya said with a nod.

  Astrid had strictly instructed Rashida to keep her double life hidden as best she could. Of course, she could tell a couple of people, but she had to choose them carefully. Kaya and Sven she told, as well as her siblings, but no one else did. She couldn’t afford for her secret to fall into the wrong hands as her power still wasn’t completely under her control yet.

  ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

  “Astrid?” Rashida called out as she stepped into the home of her mentor. “Are you here?”

  The older woman moved on her cot, her bones grinded against each other, making her groan. “Rashida,” she said in a weak voice. “I am here.”

  Rashida rushed over and knelt beside her. “I’m sorry that I am late. Gala wouldn’t let me go…”

  Astrid patted her cheek weakly. “I understand, my child, but…” she coughed, noise rattling in her chest like birds in a cage.

  Rashida got a cloth to wipe the spittle. “Astrid, you shouldn’t be trying to move that much. You aren’t feeling well.”

  “No, my child, I am feeling a lot better than you think,” Astrid said. “I will soon see my goddess. She will be proud of me because I found a person to carry on my legacy.”

  “Astrid, you can’t leave me,” Rashida said. “We just met. You’ve taught me so much.”

  “The rest you must learn on your own, my child,” she said. “The path of a Seiðr is normally a lonely path, a long path, but it is one that we must all take. You will be blessed, my child. I see…a long future for you… I have set aside some of my books for you to have…”

  Rashida felt tears of sadness and anger prickle her eyes. She felt so helpless. She wanted to help her mentor, but Astrid told her that she couldn’t waste her power on a meaningless thing. When Seiðrs met their mentors, they had to learn quickly.

  “You will find your Sjeldyr soon,” Astrid said, this time, her voice sounded as if she was becoming sleepy.

  Rashida’s ear prickled. Astrid had mentioned that word only once before, as Sjeldyr means ‘soul animal’. “I will?”

  “Yes,” Astrid said. “You will meet it…and a familiar soul will come back soon. Goodbye…my child…”

  Her eyes closed as her chest raised one last time. With one last final exhale, Astrid passed from the physical world to the spiritual one. Rashida knelt and bowed before the body in respect.

  “May you find peace and greet Freyja with open arms,” she whispered.

  She then did as she had been told to do. When a Seiðr died, their body and all their possessions must be burned. As she looked around, her palms spread as she called upon the fire to do its work.

  The flames slowly spread out, licking the walls and furniture as they caught ablaze. Rashida gathered the books and items that Astrid had left for her, and walked outside. As she watched the cottage burn, a wind blew and she felt a sense of comfort and relaxation. A feeling she knew would only come from the spirit of Astrid.

  Without a second though
t, she turned around and left the burning building. It wasn’t going to get out of control. She wouldn’t allow it to do so, but the further she walked away, the calmer she became. She didn’t need to fear anymore. With the books in her hand, and the knowledge planted by Astrid, all she had to do now was water the seeds. However, as she was leaving, the sound of a twig snapping made her stop and look around.

  She sensed someone was watching her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. But when movement in the brush began, she summoned a ball of fire in her palm as she slowly approached it. Instead of a terrible monster waiting for her, she found a black kitten with large green eyes. The small feline looked at Rashida with intelligence behind her pupils, and when Rashida tilted her head to the side, the kitten copied her movements.

  “Hello there,” Rashida said as she extinguished the flame. “What are you doing here?”

  The kitten mewed softly and walked forward boldly until she was inches from Rashida. Her tiny paws reached up and tugged on Rashida’s dress, which made her laugh.

  “Hi there,” Rashida giggled.

  Unable to stop herself, she bent down and picked up the kitten. The moment her fingers touched fur, a blast of energy spread throughout her body and tingles shot through her skin. It took a moment for Rashida to catch her breath, and when she did, she looked at the kitten.

  “You…” she whispered. “You are my Sjeldyr.”

  The kitten tilted her head, and then she smiled.

  Chapter Seven: Revelations

  The time that came after Astrid’s death was a hard one. Though she had only known the woman for two years, Astrid had become a guiding light for her. Growing up, Rashida had always felt alone with her strange power, and when she had found Astrid, she felt a sense of hope. But Astrid explained to her thoroughly that the life of a Seiðr was a hard one.

  They were under the control and command of no one, save the goddess, and though Jarls would try and tame them, they never could. When the Dark Ages struck, almost all Seiðrs seemed to have disappeared as the goddess didn’t wish to inhabit another soul. But apparently, as Astrid pointed out, the goddess did, just not a Norse soul.

  In her lessons, Astrid told Rashida that she was the most powerful Seiðr she had ever met in all her life. At such a young age, Rashida was more powerful than Astrid herself was in her middle age.

  “You are special,” Astrid told her repeatedly. “Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  When Rashida returned home, she tucked the books away into her personal chest and locked it. The original lock that Kaya had given her was easily breakable, as she explained that everything that they had had to be easily opened in case the Jarl or his wife asked to see their items. Memories of Astrid flashed in Rashida’s mind. Memories of how the woman told her that Seiðrs answer to no one, save the goddess herself. This was a dangerous thought for a slave, but Rashida couldn’t help but feel a slight giddiness at the thought of not having to answer to Gala anymore.

  Astrid had taught her many kinds of incantations during their lessons, and the first one she taught Rashida to do was how to make a personal lock. The lock would only unlock for her, no other, and if she were forced to open it against her will, then the magic of the lock would activate. The chest would open and the inside would look to be normal.

  The kitten that Rashida had found quickly turned out to not be just a kitten. It was a creature that Kaya called a mountain lion, named thus because it was known to live in the mountains. Rashida had never heard of such a creature before, yet she quickly grew to love the kitten who looked to her as a mother. She knew of course that the kitten was much more than a normal kitten. She was Rashida’s Sjeldyr, her soul animal.

  All Seiðrs, Astrid explained to her, had a soul animal. They were the embodiments of the Seiðr’s spirit and will. Animals from bears to birds to even insects could be a Seiðr’s Sjeldyr. It all depended on who they were inside. Astrid had a crow, which symbolized that she was a free spirit, a free thinker and one to always put brains over the sword.

  Rashida remembered looking over Astrid’s Heart Book—the book that every Seiðr must have to pour out their thoughts—and recalled that the mountain lion symbolized a strength of character. The Seiðr who had it was known to become a strong leader, or at least the wife of one. They were known to be stubborn and strong willed, but also compassionate to their people. Mountain lions didn’t just appear to anyone, and the only other Seiðr who had a mountain lion was a shieldmaiden named Brynhildr.

  “I will become the most powerful Seiðr my generation has ever seen,” Rashida swore to herself that night as she wrote in her Heart Book. “I will gain my freedom, no matter what the cost.”

  ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

  She had to continue her lessons in secret. Rashida knew that while the village would welcome the prospect of a Seiðr on their grounds, Gala would be furious. The woman hated being second-best to anyone, and the thought of an all-powerful slave would upset her greatly. Not that Rashida cared. As a Seiðr, she answered to no one, but she only bowed and nodded her head to Gala in respect as her Mistress, nothing more. Inside, however, she didn’t look to Gala as her Mistress. The only woman who could hold that title would always be Ingrid.

  Thoughts of Ingrid always summoned old memories of the one person whom she had grown to care for besides her siblings. She didn’t know if she should call it love or what, but Rashida knew that the feelings she had for Alrik were stronger than just ‘caring for’. She wondered what he looked like now, wondered if he even remembered her, wondered if he was even alive.

  As soon as that thought came, she shook it away. Of course, Alrik was alive. Ingrid, too. If either of them had died, then she would have felt it. She knew it. But as the memories stirred, so did other thoughts, more intimate thoughts.

  Rashida was a woman now, quickly nearing her 19th year. She had begun to desire things that a woman would want. She wanted to be kissed, she wanted to be touched, she wanted to know what it felt like to be in the arms of someone that she loved.

  The slaves were never shy to hide whose bed they were in among themselves. Kaya, who was a year older, had shared the bed of a stable boy who said that he loved her. When Sven found out, he was furious, and it took a lot of fast talking on Kaya’s end to cool her brother’s fury. It made Rashida laugh, though she could look into the stable boy’s eyes and see that he did indeed love Kaya. As an exotic woman from a faraway land, however, eyes were always on her.

  There wasn’t a day that didn’t go by without a man offering himself to her, and every now and then it was even a woman. To them, she was a delicacy of the highest quality that needed to be sampled. However, Rashida constantly and politely refused.

  Not only was she saving herself, but Astrid had told her that her virginity kept her power slightly controllable. As a virgin, she was a girl of air and water and the moment she surrendered to a man was the night she became a woman of earth and fire. The kind of responsibility that came with—that power—would be extraordinary, and Rashida had to make sure she was ready for it.

  But that did not stop her from desiring a man’s touch, a man’s kisses. Yet every time she laid in her bed and dreamt these dreams, she always found herself in the arms of one man, her heart’s desire. Alrik Henriksson.

  ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

  The storm roared and raged against the Jarl’s home, rain beating against the walls. Bastet, the mountain lion kitten, whimpered and cuddled closer to Rashida in her sleep, seeking comfort in her mother’s arms. Rashida held the kitten close, but the moment fingers touched fur, she was snatched from her sleep and into a vision.

  She could always tell the difference between normal dreams and visions, as visions were always much more vivid and she had no control over them, unlike in her dreams.

  This vision was strange, as she found herself cloaked in furs, furs that no slave could ever afford. Torches illuminated the Great Hall, and sitting on one of the thrones was Henrik, but he looked dif
ferent. His face and clothes were splattered with blood, yet his eyes never looked clearer. In his right hand, he held a mighty sword with a jeweled handle, a bloodied circlet of gold in his left. He opened his mouth and laughed as he held both up in triumph.

  The meaning of this vision was clear. The answer came to her instantly, which made her snap awake. Panting heavily, she looked around, her heart thudding in her chest. She was back in the real world, but the vision and its meaning were still in her mind.

  “Henrik is going to be king,” she whispered to herself. “And soon.”

  Her eyes looked to a sleeping Kaya, who wasn’t being exactly quiet at all with her snoring. It made her chuckle softly, but when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, she looked to the door. Slowly and quietly she rose from her bed. Her bare feet made no sound as she passed through the doorway and into the dark halls.

  Something was wrong. She could sense it, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. The creak of a floorboard behind her made her freeze, and before she could react, a hand reached out and covered her mouth. The hand was dirty, and when the man who held her opened his mouth, she could smell rotting teeth.

  “Don’t move,” he said. “Or else I’ll get rough with you.”

  Rashida played the part of a scared woman, though she wasn’t scared at all. Instead, she felt fury at the daring these men had in breaking into the Jarl’s home. Thus, she held still, but when his free hand began to grope her body, that was what broke the charade.

  She threw herself back, and he staggered, falling backwards. Scrambling to her feet, she held up her dress as she ran for the warning bell that was upstairs. The bell they were supposed to sound if any trouble came. She knew this man wasn’t alone, and when she reached the bell, she grabbed the large hammer, pulled back her arm and hit the mettle side with all her might.