by Anthology
“I am Morrígan, and you are welcome, ladies. My lord Herlechin has the honor of meeting you in battle today.” Her voice melted into the air like a drizzle of honey into the pot. Alex and La Héron exchanged a wary look.
“I am Birdsong, and this, Madame La Héron,” Alex said, unable to keep a quaver of unease from her voice. “Will you do us the honor of stating your terms?”
“Most gracious, ma chère. I propose nothing difficult, simply a duel to first blood. I don’t foresee any complications.”
“First?” Alex frowned, but Morrígan’s mocking smile roused her blood. “Naturally,” she snapped. “That is the simplest thing. Only—perhaps, a little wager?”
Morrígan looked amused. “Do you birds need something from Herlechin, then? Brave of you!”
“I need nothing!” La Héron put in, looking alarmed. “Sister Birdsong, a moment?”
Alex ignored her, but Morrígan raised an eyebrow. “Sister?” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if tasting the air. “Oh my, yes. A daughter of God! Don’t you smell sweet.” Her forked tongue flitted over her teeth, then retreated. “Yes, I think we could add a little more flavor to this match. Name your terms.”
“Play for me,” Alex blurted, spitting the words out. “If Madame wins, I belong to her.”
“Sister!” La Héron cried. “Don’t be stupid!”
“And a nun for Herlechin if he wins. Very tempting. But, ma chère, you belong to your God.”
Alex squared her jaw. “That isn’t a problem for you, is it?”
Morrígan laughed. “No, Sister, it is not. I confess, I did not think you could offer us anything, but this”—her lips lifted over her sharp teeth—“we agree to your terms.”
“I do not!” La Héron protested.
“It is done.” Morrígan quickly glanced at the tall woman. “You knew we would have to play for something, madame.”
La Héron ground her teeth together and glared at the back of Alex’s head. After a moment’s silence, she waded off to join Herlechin.
The duelists bowed and assumed their positions atop the butter-colored walls, surrounded on both sides by the waters of the storm-brought lake twenty feet below them. Herlechin was twice as tall as La Héron remembered. He wielded two longswords in the German fashion, neither blade as long or as swift as La Héron’s, but heavy, dangerous-looking affairs nonetheless. She could see no eyes in the black pits of his demon’s face, yet somewhere in their depths, La Héron sensed damnation.
Herlechin moved first. He swung one blade down, a lightning strike sent straight for her heart, whirling the second like an echo toward her thigh. For her part, La Héron stepped back and twitched her sword’s point at the back of Herlechin’s gloved hand. First blood needn’t be fatal.
Herlechin repeated this cleaver-like attack three, four times, advancing on La Héron each time, forcing her farther and farther back toward a turret. The fairy lord was tireless, and La Héron’s counterattacks hadn’t enough weight behind them to breach his leather hide. Still, La Héron’s face showed only focus and control, study and thought.
As Herlechin drew up for the fifth attack, La Héron’s heel scraped against the stone wall. Herlechin guffawed to see her trapped, unable to retreat further, but La Héron’s lip only twitched in annoyance. As the great swords fell toward her with the weight of judgment, she quietly lowered her weapon, flattened herself against the turret, and twisted to face the wall’s ledge. She scrambled spider-like onto the lip, faced the water-filled fields, spread her arms, and jumped.
Her escape was obscured by an explosion of yellow rubble and dust as Herlechin’s blow ripped through the tower. A moment later, the blood-red hunter leapt onto the ledge and dove after his quarry. Twenty feet later, there was no splash.
Alex rushed for the stairs, her pace slowed by the deep water. She took the steps three at a time with Morrígan at her heels, raced along the wall toward the ruined tower, and threw herself at the wall’s ledge, gripping the stone with white fingers. The sparkling green water appeared to stretch out to the horizon, broken only by ripples where the long grass swayed below the waves. There was nothing else: no bloody flush, no floating corpse, no froth of struggle, and no sign of La Héron nor Herlechin.
Alex glanced at Morrígan, whose perfect face was muddied by confusion.
“What sort of creature is she?” Morrígan murmured, sounding almost impressed.
Alex kept her eyes on the water. “La Héron,” she muttered.
At this invocation, the surface of the water broke. A snake-like neck preceded a white spray of water where sheets of blue-grey feathers unfurled and took flight. Long, scaled legs trailed behind the lithe bird, clutching a rapier in one talon. The blade was too long and too heavy for feet built for gripping fish, and the heron struggled to escape the pull of the water. After a few moments flapping awkwardly too close to the water’s surface, a red fist punched out of the depths and took hold of the free leg, forcing the blade to tumble from her grip and her body back into the mire.
“No!” Alex cried and vaulted over the edge. The long drop took no time and the shallow water did little to break her fall. With a pained cry, she pushed off the ground and lurched in the direction of the duelists, catching up the sword sinking hilt-first into the flooded field. Herlechin had surfaced now with the thrashing heron’s neck caught in one hand like a chicken for the slaughter.
“Better one loss than two,” Alex muttered. If La Héron bled, Alex would be lost. If La Héron died, they both would be.
So, she thrust.
She thrust gently, careful to avoid slitting the heron’s long neck which snaked and curled as she pecked at Herlechin’s face with her pointed beak. Alex thrust for the heron’s chest, where she hoped the bird had the most muscle. She thrust so slowly that in the space between beats of the wing, between blinks, the heron vanished and the long, pallid lines of a naked woman appeared where the bird’s breast used to be. The weight of her transformation caused Herlechin to buckle, surging forward into the slow path of the incoming blade. La Héron’s arm shot out and covered Alex’s grip on the hilt. Together, they drew a razor-straight line of black blood along Herlechin’s neck just above the collarbone.
Herlechin and La Héron collapsed into a messy heap in the water as a burst of wind hit Alex clean in the face. She dropped the blade and clutched her chest instead. She staggered back a few steps as both duelists splashed to a stand.
“First blood?” Alex croaked. “Does it count?”
For a few quiet moments, nobody answered.
“Yes,” La Héron barked, pushing Herlechin away from her and fishing around in the water for her soggy clothes. “It bloody well counts.” She turned on Herlechin and shook an angry finger in his face. “Don’t like it, monsieur? Argue with fate! Mademoiselle Birdsong’s soul has been gifted to me.”
“It has?” Alex said, frowning and poking her chest.
“Yes.” La Héron waded back toward the gate, clothes bundled under one arm and her sword in the other. “Next time, negotiate better terms. Breaking one bondage and tying up another—not smart, Birdsong. Not smart.”
“Next time?” Alex trailed behind her.
“Yes, next time. You’re free of your God now. You belong to me instead. What else did you think we would do? We go to the next town, the next tourney. Next time. On it goes.”
“You’re a bird.”
“Very astute.” La Héron paused and turned back to Herlechin. “Did your Hunt come for me, monsieur? Did you hope to bring me back to fairyland with you?”
Herlechin grinned, his smile reaching the tips of his ears. “I sensed an attractive soul here, yes.” He chuckled.
La Héron bowed. “Then I wish you better luck next time as well.”
Alex mirrored Herlechin’s smile. “Next time,” she echoed.
Sigrid Under the Mountain(Short story)
by Charlotte Ashley
Originally published in The Sockdolager, Summer 2015<
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After Esja produced sour milk three days in a row, Sigrid knew she had a problem. Leaving the pail of greenish milk next to her stool, she trudged off in the grey light of the early morning towards the barley field at the verge of the woods; the new field she had cleared only this spring. When your cow spoilt on the inside, she knew, that only meant one thing: mischief.
She found the door nestled in the mud between the last row of barley and the half-completed fence. Made of scavenged barrel-boards and twine, it could have been mistaken for a junk heap if not for the flotilla of little footprints surrounding it. Sigrid lifted the artless trapdoor a few inches just to be sure and was rewarded with the warm stench of burnt rabbit pellets. She dropped the door and staggered back. Kobolds.
“Ogmund,” Sigrid said to her husband that night after he'd come back from the pub, “Ogmund there's kobolds in the field. Might you not take some time tomorrow to clear them out, before you leave for Norvgod?”
“Kobolds,” Ogmund turned his nose up disdainfully, half tripping over a stool. “I don't have time for kobolds. Get Jord's boy to take care of them.”
“What, Grann?” Sigrid planted her hands on her narrow hips, “you want me to send a boy down into a kobold lair?”
“He's a big boy, and strong. Don't think he hasn't been in a fight or three. He should have a few likely friends to help him out.” Ogmund started unbuckling and unslinging his many weapons. “Offer him a bit of coin and see if he isn't down there before lunch tomorrow.”
“Ogmund, Grann Jordsson hasn't even got a stout knife to arm himself with.” She looked pointedly at the great steel sword denting her kitchen table. “His mother would tear off my scalp if he were to hurt himself. Couldn't you just do it?”
"I'm bound for Prince Aelfwenther's at first light, Sigrid, you know that. I've got bigger foes to face than kobolds." Ogmund stretched, took Sigrid by the shoulders and kissed the very top of her tawny head. "Now, come to bed with me, wife. I will need some memories to take with me across the Durkensea." Sigrid crossed her arms, refusing to return his embrace.
“No, I don't think I will,” she said stubbornly. “I've got bread to rise if I'm to eat anything tomorrow, now the cow's upset.” Ogmund paused, then turned and ducked under the doorframe to her bedroom without saying anything. Sigrid snorted with frustration.
What's the point of marrying a great, celebrated hero if he won't even keep kobolds from harrying your cow? She thought, surveying the room. Her eyes alit on the satchel he'd brought back with him from Norvgod—gems and jewels aplenty for her, for all the good they did. What I need is good milk from my cow. Sigrid sighed and turned her thoughts to young Grann Jordsson.
***
Grann Jordsson was fifteen years old and as big as a bear. As Ogmund had predicted, he agreed to help Sigrid with her kobold problem in exchange for ten bits of tin and a fresh loaf of bread. He'd enthusiastically raided her shed for equipment, taking with him a ball of twine, a dozen row pegs and a hoe as well, with the promise he'd bring them back when he was through.
Armed with her farming tools, Grann Jordsson descended into the dark and fetid lair at mid-morning, and by sunset his parents were seated at her table drinking barley wine by the jugful. Sigrid baked them bread and kept a lantern lit by the tunnel entrance, but as Jord and Egritt passed out just before sunrise the next morning, she had to admit she would never see her hoe again. She placed woolen blankets over their shoulders, left out the last of the milk, and snuck out at first light.
Sigrid set out down the wooded path towards Yunderhill, the tall keep built into the rocky foothills. It had been a good long time since she'd called on the sorceress there, but she and Groa had played together as girls and Sigrid was sure Groa's time in Alfheim couldn't have changed her as much as folk said it had. She brought a loaf of bread and a jug of wine with her, and the satchel of jewels just in case.
“Groa?” Sigrid called from the base of the high walls, circling the keep looking for a door. “Groa, it's Sigrid Ulafsdottir from down in the valley! Hullo, dear, are you at home?” Her voice seemed to get lost somewhere between her throat and the crow-lined crenulations of the wall, but she kept yelling. “Groa, I've been walking all day, and I can't go home just now. Be a dear and show me to the entrance, will you?”
A dozen crows suddenly took flight, reluctantly finding new perches now that their section of the smooth, grey wall was dropping open on invisible hinges. Sigrid scrambled out of the way as the wall hit the gravelly earth with a bang and a cloud of dust. She was still coughing when a blonde woman robed head-to-toe in red stepped out onto the slab and regarded her curiously.
“Sigrid Ulafsdottir? By my one good eye!” Sigrid moved to meet the red woman still coughing and waving away the dust in front of her face. Groa looked the same as ever, complete with two perfectly good eyes. The two women met with an embrace before Groa took Sigrid by the elbow and drew her towards the tower at the heart of the walled keep. “Where have you been, my dear? I've been back for nearly a year now! Not very neighbourly of you, is it now?” Groa chided her, smiling toothily. Sigrid hung her head and squeezed the other woman's hand.
“I've been running the farm alone, Groa, you've no idea the work it takes. I've been through three farmhands in six months, and Ogmund's no help at all. I wanted to come sooner, I really did!” Sigrid stopped as a servant shambled past her, smelling oddly of spoilt meat, but Groa tugged her along.
“Three farmhands? Wherever do they go?” Groa led her through a gated door carved so thoroughly with runes that it had the topography of porridge.
“Two were eaten by Rut the Rugged before those fellows from the capitol came to drown her, and the third simply went missing in the woods earlier this fall.” Sigrid thought a flicker of recognition flew over Groa's face just then, but she didn't have anything else to contribute. “So, I'm sorry to say, I'm not just here to visit, Groa. I was hoping you might be able to help me with a thing.”
Groa raised an eyebrow as she led Sigrid into the most opulently appointed hall Sigrid had ever seen. Red and gold tapestries lined the walls and the floors, warmed with the extravagance of dozens of wall-mounted torches. The long table was still shiny and soft, the carvings still smooth, and the paint unchipped. Being a sorceress must pay well, Sigrid marvelled, though she did note Groa's servants left a little to be desired, slow-moving and rather smelly they were.
“Tell me all about it,” Groa insisted, showing her to a chair. Sigrid produced wine and bread, and the two women settled in for an evening of talk.
***
"…so it isn't that Ogmund isn't a very nice man," Sigrid found herself saying mid-way into the third bottle of wine; a better vintage, Groa told her, though it tasted like the bottom of a well. "It's only that he's no good for anything." She cut herself another slice of bread and heaped butter on it, thick and fresh. "He's ever off overseas killing dragons or ettins or whatever for all these great princes, but what good is that to us? Why can't he stay home and deal with our problems?"
“Why don't you go with him, dear? A man with his reputation, I'm sure you'd be staying in palaces from here to Qat San!” Groa motioned for one of her smelly servers to fetch another bottle.
"Pfft," Sigrid snorted dismissively. "Then I'd just be abandoned amongst foreigners, without even my chores to occupy me. No, the truth is I rather prefer being a widow. I only wish Ogmund would stop coming home again. He gets underfoot!" Sigrid laughed inappropriately and Groa joined her. Just like when we were girls, Sigrid thought. We were mankillers, both of us, then, she remembered fondly. Groa's golden eyes twinkled with a familiar mischief.
"I could help you with that, Sigrid," Groa raised one eyebrow suggestively. "It wouldn't take much to make you a free woman again. You and I—the times we used to have! We could find you a new man. One better equipped to serve your needs."
Sigrid gasped. “Groa! What are you saying, girl? No, don't say anything more! That isn't the kind of help I had in mind.”
&n
bsp; Groa looked miffed, and poured herself another cup of wine. "More's the pity. I could make you the perfect partner if you really wanted."
“No thank you,” Sigrid said firmly. “I only need some help with the kobolds.”
Groa shrugged. “Sigrid, you know I love you, but I don't have time for trolls-”
“Kobolds.”
“-whatever. I've been slaving for months now raising some help with the bigger problem of the Jarl.”
“What, Jarl Eskrisson? The man we pay our taxes to?”
"Oh, Sigrid. You really shouldn't. That is a waste of your hard-earned coin."
"Well, it's rather the law, isn't it? The last thing I need is ruffians 'round the farm looking for tithes." Sigrid said with some surprise. Groa stood up abruptly, slopping her wine on the table.
“That's what I've raised the army for-”
“Army?”
“-and that is why I don't have the time to go slumming down kobold-holes.”
“Army? What army? You've raised an army so's you don't have to pay taxes?”
“Sigrid, you understand very little,” Groa turned towards her fiercely and for a moment the firelight cast such an odd shadow over her face that Sigrid wasn't quite sure Groa had two eyes after all. “The Jarl is a horrible bully of a man, and when I'm through with him, no tyrant will ever dare take another penny from the lands of others.” Sigrid opened her mouth to object to this misleading hyperbole, but something in the sharp angles of Groa's face made her think the better of it. She gulped down the last of her wine instead.
“Very well, Groa. You fight the Jarl and I will go home and attend to the kobolds all by myself.” Sigrid stood and tripped a little trying to disentangle herself from the legs of the table.
“Oh Sigrid, don't pout.” Groa threw up her hands, spilling yet more wine. “Stay the night. It's dark and you're in no shape to get home.” Sigrid hesitated, considering it. “Really, you ought to stay longer.” Groa looked as if she'd just remembered something. “My army marches out this season. It's bound to be safer here.”