Kirstie

Word came from the fairies Eik and Svator that the enemy overran the king’s house on the sixth day, even as the ships from Olvishaugr arrived in Strindlos Bay with a hundred men from the north. The enemy burned the king’s house to the ground. Svator was surprised that even at that distance the people in Strindlos could not see the great cloud of black smoke that wafted into the sky.

 Chief Birger’s spies arrived in the morning. They traveled through the night to get back first thing in the morning and reported that there were about four hundred men gathered to attack the town. By the fourth hour, about ten o’clock, the chiefs from Oglo, Frosta, and further north arrived in the big house and Captain Kerga took the lead in explaining the situation as well as he knew it. They began to argue about the best way to attack the enemy and drive them back into the mountains.

When the women arrived outside the big house, Inga asked. “Are we ready?”

Yrsa and Buttercup both nodded. They spent the night avoiding the widows, though Mother Vrya saw Buttercup fluttering around twice, and saw Yrsa once. Mother Vrya did not appear surprised on seeing the fairy in Kirstie’s company. Yrsa, of course, wore a glamour that made her appear human, and there were plenty of strangers in Strindlos by then, though not many women. In any case, Mother Vrya said nothing and left before dawn to take her place in the big house council chamber.

Kirstie thought to say something. “Buttercup. You better ride on Inga’s shoulder. I’m going to have to let Elgar talk to the men.”

Buttercup did not mind, and Inga positively smiled, like she got excited. Kirstie thought that was odd. She was not sure she ever saw Inga excited before. Buttercup and Yrsa knew Inga by then. Kirstie could hardly avoid introducing them to her watcher. They all seemed to get along well and talked into the night about many things. Kirstie mostly kept quiet and worried when the word came that the hag had moved down from the mountains to join the men.

If the Vanlil got a foothold on the Nid River, it would not be hard to cross over the fjord and overrun the hamlet of Stadr on the narrow place. They could block the whole fjord from there and cause the villages all the way up to Steinker to surrender. At least that was likely what they had in mind. Kirstie imagined them pushing west from Stadr to Hof, the place where the fjord and North Sea met. Kirstie also imagined the hag had some of the Vanlil and maybe some of the exiled men primed to invite the god Abraxas to come to their shores. Abraxas got told that putting his foot on the ancient land ruled by Aesgard would be instant death, but an invitation by the people might negate that threat. In fact, once he got a foothold in Norway, he might easily arrange an invitation to Denmark, and anywhere on the continent where the Danes and Norwegians went would be open to him. Abraxas was supposed to be confined to the British Isles, but it seems he found a way to get off the islands. He probably already had Jutes, Angles, Saxons, and Danes working for him, and they all had cousins on the continent.

Kirstie shook her head and said, “Ready,” and the four women trooped into the big house totally interrupting the argument. Kirstie yelled, in case any of the men were not paying attention. “How many men do we have to march and how many ships have we gathered?” When most of the eyes glared at this rude young girl, Kirstie traded places through time with Elgar, and he came dressed in his armor and decked out in weapons. He spoke to Chief Birger in a softer voice. “I said, how many men do we have to march and how many ships have we gathered?”

Chief Birger smiled, having seen Kirstie change into this man before. Most of the outsider chiefs shouted from surprise before they quieted to listen. Captain Kerga answered the question.

“We have three longships, one of which is mine, and seven karve which are smaller but perfectly good transports in the fjord.”

“Saxon,” Chief Birger said. “What have you to say?”

“They attacked and burned the king’s house to the ground and captured the king’s monstrous ship you call a skied. They are preparing to attack the town, and I expect them to concentrate on taking the docks, which is good for us because we want them to back up to the fjord. They will try to capture the longships and karve in the docks. They will need all the ships they can get to cross over and take Stadr and to block the narrow place. We will need our ships to block the town docks and not let them escape on whatever ships they capture. Fortunately, the Jamts are not sailors, though they are excellent horsemen. How many horses do we have?”

Men began to shout until Chief Birger and some of the older village men got the others to be quiet. Captain Kerga picked up the telling. “We have two hundred and fifty men ready to cross overland to the king’s place. Not many on horseback. We have about as many that will sail to block the port in the third hour tomorrow.”

“Yes. Why wait?” Chief Birger asked. “We could block them in tonight.”

“No.” Elgar shook his head. “If we move before the men on foot can get there, they can escape with their whole army intact, and hide in the wilderness where they will just come up with a new plan. We have to trap them in the town and push them to the water. Some will have to engage face to face, but we mostly need our bows and arrows to drive them to the shore. When our ships come up, they will be surrounded and will only survive if they surrender.”

One of the northern chiefs stepped forward with a question. “How do you know they burned the king’s house? The spies we sent only returned a few hours ago. They said some four hundred are gathering outside the town but made no mention of any attack on the king’s place.”

“My spies,” Elgar said. “They have more recent information, but I hesitate to introduce them because I don’t want to frighten you.”

Men grumbled angrily at the implication that they might be afraid of anything, especially having that suggestion come from a Saxon. but Chief Birger asked, not too sharply, “What spies?” At least he could imagine.

Elgar nodded and called to the rafters overhead. “Svator, please come down here. The chiefs here want to know the source of my information.” Svator fluttered down from above but stayed facing Elgar the whole time. The men gasped, a few screamed, but only one ran screaming from the big house. “Please get big,” Elgar said, knowing that men, on first meeting a fairy, found it more palatable meeting them in their big size. When big, fairies lost their wings and appeared human enough. Svator obliged, appeared dressed in hunter green, and grasped tight to his excellent bow. He offered Elgar a bow.

“Lord.” he said. “There are five hundred Jamts—Vanlil, and fifty exiled men who once took refuge in Jamtaland. Fifty and five have been left to guard the longship in the king’s dock. Five hundred face the town, which is as many as live in the town, men, women, and children. They are negotiating a surrender, but some in the town want to fight. They have seen that the Vanlil are under the sway of the hag and are slow to react when confronted in a battle situation.”

“To be expected,” Elgar said and looked around the room to hear objections or thoughts. Only one man spoke, and not too loudly.

“They have twice our number on foot.”

“Not twice,” Elgar responded. “I have mountain dwarfs who will keep the men they left at the king’s house busy, so we won’t have to worry about them. When the Jamts-Vanlil and exiled men came over the mountains, they disturbed the dwarf home, and a dwarf child was killed. The dwarfs are anxious for pay-backs, as you might imagine.” Elgar paused and saw heads around the room nod. The men there likely never saw a real dwarf, but they all heard stories from their childhood and understood revenge was what they did when disturbed. He hated to bring a living nightmare into their midst, but the chiefs needed to see the reality of what they were dealing with, and they needed to be warned.

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MONDAY

Kirstie, Elgar, and the Vikings settle some details but some decisions about the coming battle will have to wait until they get there. Until then, Happy Reading.

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