Medieval 5: K and Y 7 Buying a Ride, part 2 of 2

May 27, 2024April 9, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

Kirstie sat, so the men sat. She dressed in slacks and a simple tunic that covered the shape she was developing at her young age. The men came dressed in what may have been their best. They bathed and maybe even washed their hair. They wanted something from her and were willing to make the effort of a good appearance. Kirstie smiled at the thought of them making the effort.

“So, tell me,” she began. “How did your voyage work out?”

Captain Stenson looked at Frode before he began the story. “On our first trip, we followed the land south, thinking the men needed a good beginning and we did not want to get lost at sea,” Captain Stenson explained. “We had furs, grain, mostly wheat, and several bundles of down and feathers. We should have made a good return on all that. We visited Kupang, our own main trading center, but we lost most of our grain in the king’s tax. We gained some silver for the feathers but could not find an interest in our furs and hides, which was mostly what we had. We thought to try the Danish center of Ribe. Back when I sailed with Captain Birger, I recalled they were interested in the fur trade.”

“We headed for Jutland,” Frode interrupted. “We sailed two days down the wrong side of the peninsula before we turned around.”

“One day,” Rune insisted. “We figured it out after the first day.”

Frode shrugged. “We backtracked and went around.”

“Anyway,” Captain Stenson continued. “We found Ribe was willing to take our goods, but we hardly got their worth. We did not fail on the trip, but we hardly made any profit.”

Frode looked like he was going to complain so Kirstie interrupted. “What did you take on your second trip? I am guessing the men contributed all the furs and feathers they had for the first trip.”

“No,” Captain Stenson said. “We have brothers and sons who continued to get furs and hides over the year we were away. Trade is very much a family business. We had some grain again, though this time mostly barley, but most of what we had was bundles of carded wool from my family and Frode’s family. We thought to visit the Oyskjeggs thinking the island must have very cold winters.”

“Orkney and Shetland Islands,” Frode explained.

Captain Stenson frowned. “We landed in Danelaw, in Northumbria where they have flocks of sheep covering every hillside.” Kirstie nodded. She understood why so many of her people turned from honest trade to taking what they wanted. They simply did not have the trade goods for a good exchange.

Frode groused. “We unloaded our wool in East Anglia for practically nothing.”

“We crossed straight over the sea,” Captain Stenson said with a hard look at Frode. “We thought to hit the Danish coast but landed in Frisia near Utrecht. They came out armed against us, and we ran. Eventually we found a Frisian fishing village and the men all but rebelled. We went into the village and took a few things. A couple of good plows and farm implements, and some glassware.”

“They paid us off to go away.”

“We left our leftover wool, fur and hides there. Some good leather, so we did not actually steal their things,” Captain Stenson said. “At least I like to think of it as a trade.”

“I understand in Iberia and North Africa, quality furs like beaver, ermine, and fox pelts go for a premium price,” Kirstie said.

“But that is so far away,” Captain Stenson countered.

Frode looked at the ground. “I honestly would not know how to get there.”

“So, what do you have this time?” Kirstie asked. “Obviously, you came to me because you are getting ready for the next trip. I know right where to go if you have the right goods to trade.”

Rune and Frode looked at each other again, and Frode spoke softly. “We were wondering if you could maybe teach me what your father taught you… What?”

Kirstie simply shook her head. “I am going. I would not be the first maiden to go on a trading expedition. Besides, you will need the goods I bring to trade. Did you forget?” Kirstie called, and her slacks and tunic became instantly replaced by the armor of the Kairos with her sword at her side, her battleaxe and shield at her back, and her long knife across the small of her back. “Yrsa,” she called while Captain Stenson and Frode got over their shock.

“Lady?” Yrsa came from the other room dressed in fine leather with two knives at her side and her bow and arrows at her back. She looked ready for war. She also appeared as the elf she was, having neglected her glamour of humanity.

“You need to dress,” Kirstie said.

“Sorry,” Yrsa said and applied her glamour to appear human. Yrsa and Kirstie worked this out in advance to remind the men without frightening them too badly.

Captain Stenson started to think. “We need to take both of you?”

Kirstie stood and got the men to stand. She said little as she and Yrsa took them to the barn. She showed them what she gathered in preparation for this day. “Three large jugs of the finest honey, compliments of the Fairies of the Glen.” She unscrewed the lid of one jug and let them stick a finger in to taste the sweetness before she carefully closed it tight again. She showed them the beeswax to go with the honey before she pulled back a horse blanket and spoke. “Three pairs, six walrus tusks of good ivory, a gift of the dwarfs of the mountains. They said there is plenty more, but I would not let them kill any of the beasts. These are from walruses that died of natural causes. They are from older beasts, and you can see where a couple of them are chipped and this one is missing the tip end. Walruses, you know. They fight each other like men fight each other.”

“This is worth a fortune,” Frode mumbled, but Kirstie was not finished.

“And last,” she said and removed another blanket to reveal a basket of amber. “From Lord Amber and the elves of the woods. This is a one-time deal, but these things go with Yrsa and I, and they go where we need to go.” She paused to let the men calculate how much silver they could get for what they were looking at. “Yrsa and I will be sailing with you, and Frode, I will teach you what I can while we are on the way.”

Captain Stenson did not ponder long. “So, where are we going?” he asked, though he looked at Yrsa and wondered how such a good-looking eighteen-year-old girl might do on a voyage.

“Bremen, in Saxony,” Kirstie answered, and when they got on the ship, she made Yrsa sit in front of her where she could keep an eye on the elf maiden and wondered much the same thing as the captain.

Medieval 5: K and Y 7 Buying a Ride, part 1 of 2

May 22, 2024April 9, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

Kirstie got word through the elf and fairy grapevine that a hag was seen in Saxony, around Bremen on the Weser River. She imagined she guessed right. She would have to direct Rune’s ship to the Frisian shore and up the Weser to find the hag and put her out of business.

She looked at her hands and thought about the fire and the water that killed the hag of the Vanlil. She could start a fire by merely pointing at the wood and thinking about it. She could project a light from her hands, like two flashlights on a dark night, and could make herself glow in the dark if she wanted. Then, she could shoot the fire from her hands, or put the heat and light together, like some alien heat-ray. She only tried that once, but the result was a pile of ash where a tree once stood. Kirstie remembered when Fryer visited her, he turned a whole copse of trees into ash just by his mere presence.

She also thought about Njord’s visit. It did not seem like much at the time, but since then she found she could stay underwater for an indefinite amount of time. It was like she was breathing underwater, and she could see and even hear underwater just like she was on land. That was about the best she could describe it. What is more, she always felt warm in the water, even when it had ice by the shore. On cold and blustery winter days, she often threw herself into the ice water of the fjord to warm up. She could swim fast as a dolphin, almost like flying through the water, and she could call to any fish that were nearby. She could actually tell the fish to jump into her boat, so she always had a good catch of fish and without having to cast a net or fishing line. It felt strange that she could do these things, but she figured they were gifts and more than she needed. She knew that basically she needed the fire and the water to kill whatever hag she encountered. Kirstie pictured herself setting the hag on fire with the fire in her hands and then putting it out with the water she carried inside. That would do it, and it would be enough, as Grandfather Njord and Father Fryer said.

When Kirstie turned thirteen, she first wondered why the Norwegian hag went all the way to Jamtaland in the first place. She must have been a Norwegian from Northumbria in the British Isles; the only place Abraxas was permitted to go. She must have done a kind of reverse immigration, but she could have landed at Hof or Upphaugr on the coast in the first place and worked on the people there to invite Abraxas to come across the sea to their homes. Why travel all the way to Jamtaland where she had to invade and fight her way to the sea?

Kirstie imagined she figured it out when she thought of the hag in Bremen, and when she remembered Margueritte, a life she lived in Brittany some two hundred years earlier. Margueritte fought her own hag and found the hag gained power over the people when the celts and their druids were confronted with Father Aden and his Christians. The people became confused and no longer certain what to believe. That was when the hag stepped in with word of Abraxas, a god of the ancients, but a living god to be worshiped.

The people of Hof and all the Trondelag worshiped the gods of the Aesir and had no confusion in their mind. Likewise, the Vanlil—the Jamts worshiped the Vanir. but then they took in many Aesir worshiping exiles who claimed that some of the Vanir had become Aesir. That happened as a result of a war in the lifetime of Faya, daughter of Fryer. Kirstie remembered being Faya briefly when Fryer came to visit. Faya, as an outsider, found a way to make peace and bring the two waring houses of the gods together. That happened ages and ages ago, but the Vanlil, just now learning about that, must have thrown their minds into confusion, not knowing what to believe. They became fodder for the hag and the worship of an actual living god, Abraxas.

Kirstie thought about the hag in Saxony. There were certainly plenty of Saxons in the British Isles for Abraxas to choose from. He no doubt sent the woman back to Saxony, but then she needed to find a place where the people still clung to the old gods and the old traditions but were being confronted with the Christian world. The Storyteller life she lived in the future told her about how Charlemagne slaughtered some four thousand five hundred Saxons between Verden and Bremen. The Saxons there were in rebellion against the empire and thus against the Christian faith the empire promoted. Now, all these years later, more confusion. Another opportunity for Abraxas. Kirstie remembered Margueritte’s friend, Boniface did great work among the Saxons and Frisians alike, but sometimes and in some places the old ways died slowly.

That must be it, she thought to herself. He needs to find a people who don’t know where to turn so he can offer stability if they turn to him. Sadly, that did not help her get to where she needed to be. But then she turned fourteen, and Rune and Frode returned from a second trip. Captain Harrold sailed into the docks a week earlier and the people mourned for the crew members he lost. When Rune came home, several men deserted his ship to sail with Captain Harrold Harroldson, including Kare and Thoren.

Captain Stenson and Frode finally came to visit Kirstie in her house, not exactly carrying their hats in their hands, but near enough. She had ale and snacks prepared and sat them in her living area. “The ale is from the special recipe of Bjorn the Bear. Tell me what you think. I know he enjoyed it while he lived.”

“Bjorn the Bear?” Frode asked, knowing the name well.

“He taught me to handle my weapons, especially the battleaxe. I understand he was an expert who killed many men.”

Captain Stenson drew a long face. “I do not doubt you know how to defend yourself. Bjorn the Bear was an expert, as you say.” He looked around the room before he thought of what to add. “But it will take more than just knowing how to defend yourself to sail in a longship.”

************************

MONDAY

Kirstie needs to secure her ride and then get to Saxony to confront the hag. Until Monday, Happy Reading

Medieval 5: K and Y 6 Getting Ready, part 2 of 2

May 21, 2024April 9, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

In those days, Inga and Buttercup visited regularly to where Kirstie’s house became like a second home, and they spent the night often enough.

“But there was so much yelling,” Buttercup explained about Captain Harrold’s visit. She fluttered down to the table where Kirstie made a soft cushioned stool just her size. “It was scary.” she finished and settled down.

“But it turned out all right,” Inga said.

“I heard the yelling all the way up here,” Yrsa said whether that was true or not.

They all looked at Kirstie, but Kirstie had something else in mind. “Buttercup, come here.”

“Come where?” Buttercup asked. “I am here.”

“No, here,” Kirstie said and used her hands to show where she meant. She thought there would be enough space in that spot. The fairy complied and everyone looked curious before Kirstie said, “Now, get big.”

Buttercup fretted and swayed a little back and forth in the air until she made up her mind. She got big and lost the points to her ears and the wings at her back. Of course, her fairy weave clothes grew with her, so she did not appear naked in her big size. She looked down, like one embarrassed, but as Kirstie thought, she never got big before for Inga.

Yrsa let out a little gasp at how beautiful the fairy was, as all fairies should be. Buttercup looked to be about eighteen, the same as Yrsa, and Kirstie nodded to say she understood in human terms they were a smidgen younger than Inga, though Buttercup was actually one hundred and fifty-seven and Yrsa was one hundred and thirty-three. Of course, Inga saw Svator get big in the big house war meeting, but for some reason it never occurred to her to ask Buttercup to get big.

“Is this okay?” Buttercup asked without looking up.

Inga stood and hugged the girl. “You look beautiful,” she said. Yrsa and Kirstie passed a glance and got up to join the hug, and Buttercup’s small voice came out from the midst of all those huggers.

“Now I am going to get happy-weepy.”

Kirstie let go and Yrsa followed, wiping her own eyes a bit. Inga backed up and Kirstie spoke. “You can get little again if you like.”

Buttercup thought about it and shook her head. “I can stay big for a while,” she said and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Kirstie found her a regular chair and said that now she could get big when she wanted to help Inga or Mother Vrya in their work.

“I don’t know,” Inga said. “She already helped in the birth of Bodil’s baby. Poor Bodil was in terrible pain, screaming pain, and even Mother Vrya was at a loss as to what to do. Suddenly, Buttercup came racing in and hovered over the bed, hands on her hips and shouting. “Quiet. You are not having a leg chopped off. You are having a baby and that is a wonderful thing. You keep screaming and you will just scare your own baby. You don’t want to scare you own baby.” Bodil looked up at the voice and said, “Oh, a fairy.” She reached up, but Buttercup kept back. But after that, Bodil delivered her baby without another sound. It was like magic, like a miracle, like you talk about.”

Kirstie reached down beneath her shirt. She had a small wooden cross made and wore it around her neck on a leather string, but she said nothing at that time. Instead, she said, “Can’t count on that response from every human. Some might see the fairy and scream louder.”

“I know,” Buttercup said. “That is why I stay hidden in Inga’s hair.”

Inga turned to Kirstie. “I’ll never be able to braid my hair again.”

Kirstie smiled. About half of her hair was loose, but about half was beautifully braided in two long strands that fell down her back.

When Kirstie was not learning about weapons or visiting with Inga and Buttercup, she went to the village center. That happened regularly enough, and Yrsa often went with her. They always found the people in the village warm and friendly. It was not just that they knew Kirstie all her life, or even that they knew Kirstie’s parents and like them well enough. It was because they credited Kirstie with saving their village and saving so many of their lives during the Vanlil invasion and the rebellion of the exiles, all of whom eventually had their heads chopped off by the king.

Often enough, Kirstie went to the village to keep up with her friends. She met with Hilda regularly, and Hilda took her to the marketplace to look at things such as a wife and young mother might want. There was no disguising what was on Hilda’s mind. Yrsa went with them occasionally. Hilda expressed a little jealousy toward Yrsa’s closeness with Kirstie, but oddly enough, she never asked where Yrsa lived. Somehow, she got the impression that Yrsa might be from Varnes, though maybe she lived on this side of the river.

“What I honestly don’t understand is your obsession with weapons and fighting,” Hilde said. “I mean, look. Isn’t this cloth just beautiful?”

“Silk,” Kirstie named it. She knew Captain Harrold brought it back from Kent at the cost of a few men’s lives. “I’m not obsessed. I am sure when I am older, I will agree. It is beautiful. But right now… My father had a son, you know, but he did not live. I feel it is my duty to carry on the family tradition for the day when I have a son.”

Hilda did not exactly buy the explanation. “So, you plan to marry someday and have a son?”

“Kare keeps threatening me.”

Hilda smiled at that. “Liv says she is never going to marry.”

“Liv’s father might have something to say about that.”

Hilda shook her head. “Liv’s father and mother are not around much. There is something strange there. Liv is strange. She is getting stranger and stranger the older she gets.”

Kirstie nodded. She saw Liv a few times over those years. and while the girl seemed normal enough in a way, Kirstie could not disagree with Hilda that in some ways the girl seemed stranger and stranger.

One time when she got to the village, she found the king’s ship in the dock. Two men in particular, Lind and Gruden, seemed especially interested in finding Elgar the Saxon. They heard in other villages how Elgar organized the counterattack that defeated the enemies of the king.

“We just want to honor him for his help,” Lind said, though he was not a convincing liar.

“Being a Saxon, I am sure he went back to Saxony, or West Saxony, or wherever he came from,” Chief Kerga told them, and they left, not entirely happy. Kirstie sighed her relief. The people in Strindlos would not betray her, even if the king offered a reward. Well, at least that would depend on how much of a reward he offered.

Another time in the village, she ran into Kare and Thoren. In fact, she saw them several times over those years, and each time they seemed creepier than the time before. Fortunately, they sailed in Rune’s ship twice before they found a place in Harrold’s ship. Captain Harrold lost a few men in the encounter in Kent, and since Kare and Thoren had some seasoning, and since they wanted to make a change, he took them for his crew.

Thoren said, “Rune and Frode could not find their way out of a sack of grain.” Kirstie heard that as out of a paper bag. She smiled at the time and ran home to get out her father’s charts and things and review everything she could remember about navigation, as her father taught her.

After Kirstie turned thirteen, and she began to show that she might not be a skinny little blonde beanpole her entire life, Kare started in on the drumbeat that he was going to marry her. It got annoying. He said he was saving all his money, and Thoren’s, too. He said he was going to get his own ship someday soon. “Just you watch.” She watched. Granted, he was something of a leader among the boys in his generation, about Inga’s age. But he was roughly eight years older than her, which made him twenty-one to her thirteen.

To be honest, eleven, twelve, and thirteen was when girls did start thinking about marriage. If Kirstie’s father was alive, that was the age when he would start looking around to make a good match. The presumed quality of that match depended on his wealth, power, status, and standing in the community and region. It had nothing to do with what she wanted. Kirstie imagined she would have been married at sixteen or seventeen to some stranger, and it would have been up to her to make it work. But then, her father was gone, and that liberated her in some sense.

Kirstie thought about Inga, who turned twenty and almost qualified for the term old maid. Inga was pretty enough and would have made an excellent catch for any man, but her parents were also gone. Her father died at sea. His ship got caught in a terrible storm and he got washed overboard to never be seen again. That happened often enough. Then, her mother caught the winter flu and died despite the best efforts of Mother Vrya. Mother Vrya took Inga at that point to be her pupil, and Kirstie’s mother somehow convinced the girl to help watch over her wild child, Kirstie. Mother Vrya encouraged that situation, because it gave her pupil some income and a stable home environment she could count on in time of need. It also gave Inga a chance to provide a steadying influence on the wild one in her charge.

And Kirstie did settle down, some. But Inga did not marry, though she may have had a couple of offers. Kirstie got the feeling Mother Vrya ran interference for Inga with Chief Birger and others to see she did not get roped into a relationship she did not want. From time to time, Kirstie thought Kare would not be a terrible choice. At least she knew the boy—the man, creepy as he could be at times. He was not a stranger. Still, at thirteen to his twenty-one the age difference seemed insurmountable. Kare was serious. Kirstie had some words for him.

“Pervert,” she called him. “Pedophile.” Mostly, she had no interest in marriage, so it was just as well she did not take his comments seriously. She normally laughed in his face when he brought it up. At that time, she had far more important things to worry about, like where she needed to go.

Medieval 5: K and Y 6 Getting Ready, part 1 of 2

May 20, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

First, Kirstie grew through some more ordinary and strange things. She had her house rebuilt, and the men were glad to do it because of her help in driving off the Vanlil invasion. One old man, Bjorn the Bear even volunteered to teach her how to use those weapons she carried. He was not much of a teacher. He mostly knew the long handled single blade battleaxe, and she got good with hers. Also, the old man drank too much. He said it was because he spent all those years at sea fighting the Angles, Saxons, Franks, Frisians, and so many people he could not name them all. One afternoon, in a moment of honesty, he said it was because he killed so many men. In his old age he imagined there were better ways for people to settle their differences without all that fighting and killing. So he drank. But Kirstie learned and became something of an expert with her battleaxe. In the end, since Bjorn the Bear had neither a wife nor children, Kirstie let him move into her rebuilt barn where he proceeded to drink himself to death. She wept when she buried the old man.

Meanwhile, she learned mostly from the elves who built a small enclave in the woods by the house. It was a place where Yrsa could live and be close. Buttercup had no interest in learning to fight. She attached herself to Inga, and the two of them learned from Mother Vrya, in particular how to heal the survivors after the men got done fighting. Yrsa, on the other hand, felt reluctant to learn about the weapons at first, but after the first month, she seemed to get into the whole idea. She even admitted that it felt like her life calling.

“It’s the endorphins,” Kirstie said.

“I am sure you would know,” Yrsa answered, and shot her arrow perfectly into the bullseye. “What are endorphins?”

“I’m not sure,” Kirstie answered honestly and shot her arrow a little off center. “But you got them.”

Kirstie started learning with Defender, her long knife. She found she had a second shorter but wider knife she called Cutter and learned with two knives for a while. Kirstie found the spear a bit awkward, and she did not have the upper body strength to throw a good javelin, but she told herself she needed to know these things in case the opportunity presented itself.

Kirstie turned twelve before her elf teacher allowed her to pick up her sword. She had to use two hands at first, but she worked out and got stronger. She tried just her right hand and eventually picked up her shield with her left hand. It was not too hard since she had been using her shield already in her axe lessons and gripping her axe with only her right hand. Just when Kirstie thought she was getting good with her sword, her teacher made her switch hands. Putting the shield in her right hand was not hard, though she needed to not use it like a club, but the sword in her left hand felt awkward.

“Your left hand used Cutter just fine,” her teacher said. “Salvation is simply a longer version of Cutter.”

“My head knows that.” Kirstie responded. “But my hand wants to act stupid.”

She eventually made an acceptable swordswoman with her left hand, and thank goodness, they went back to her right.

Yasmina

Yasmina wore a dress to ride. When she stood on the ground, it looked like an ordinary enough dress, but it had a slit front and back so when she sat on her horse, the dress would fall to the sides down to her stirrups. The dress had a hood and mask attached that covered her nose and mouth so only her eyes could be seen. She also had good solid boots on her feet. Al-Rahim said in the real world they did not always ride on smooth cobblestone courts.

Ahmed, al-Rahim’s sergeant in the harem guards taught her to ride. Her horse was a gentle beast that would never be used as a war horse. When it was younger, it helped train recruits, but now that it was old, it could not even do that. It could walk and trot with encouragement, but it could not really gallop, even with only a skinny little girl on its back.

Aisha, in a similar outfit, rode beside her. Aisha knew full well how to ride, and honestly, she spent most of their time on horseback making sure Yasmina did not fall out of her seat, at least at first. Yasmina got tired of going around and around the courtyard soon enough and complained about that almost from the beginning. Eventually, they got to go out the palace gate to a small field where they could at least trot along at some speed. That lasted for a while, but by the time Yasmina got ready to turn twelve, she began a new complaint.

“When can I have a real horse? I want to ride and feel the wind in my face. I want to ride like the Pony Express, like the cavalry coming to the rescue.” No one knew what she was talking about, but they got the general idea.

When they got down, Yasmina went straight for her bow. Aisha had a beautiful bow in her slip, her invisible, personal piece of the second heavens that followed her around and only she could access. She also knew how to use the bow. Yasmina got an acceptable bow with an easy draw. She aimed and exhaled before she fired. Aisha fired two arrows in the same time. The princess hit the second circle on the target. It hit low and to the left. Aisha’s arrows both struck dead center, or near enough.

“Endorphins,” Yasmina said with an accusatory look in Aisha’s direction.

“What are endorphins?”

“I have no idea, but you have them,” Yasmina answered. While she stared at Aisha with her deadpan face, she called the way Kirstie called. She became instantly clothed in her armor, and al-Rahim, who came from the side door yelled.

“Princess!”

Yasmina looked at herself. Her legs were partly exposed beneath the short skirt of her armor and her arms were completely exposed from her short sleeves. She had boots to just below her knees and fingerless gloves up to her elbows, but they were form fitting, so they showed her shape.

“Oops,” Yasmina said and since her armor had fairy weave properties, she could tell it to lengthen to cover her knees and give herself long sleeves. Then she called to the cloak of Athena and made it come together in front, leaving only slits front and back to be able to sit her horse. She raised her hood and caused the material to cover her mouth and nose. She went one step further when she made the outside of her cloak imitate the color of her riding dress.

“Let me see those weapons,” al-Rahim insisted.

Yasmina detached the front of her cloak with a thought, though the hood stayed up and her face remained veiled. She pulled a shield from her back. It was round but smaller than Kirstie’s being something like an old Roman cavalry shield. She pulled Defender, her long straight knife from her back, one perfectly weighted to throw. She left the scimitar at her side. It looked thin, but strong, like a saber, except it curved at the tip so it could slice anything, but it would not work as a stabbing weapon.

He rubbed his chin as he spoke. “We can begin by learning something about the knife when I get back with your mother from Jeddah.”

Yasmina opened her mouth. She was excited about learning to use her long knife but had to complain. “You are taking mother to the beach without me?”

“Princess. You better let me hold on to the sword for now,” he said, completely ignoring her complaint.

Yasmina looked at her scimitar. “Sword, go home,” she said, and the sword vanished.

Al-Rahim did not even blink. Aisha smiled and said, “She is learning many things.”

Kirstie

Captain Stenson and Frode came to see Kirstie when she turned twelve. “I’m not ready,” she yelled to them before they could come close. “Go back to sea for another practice run. I’ll be ready for the next trip.”

Once again, neither Rune nor Frode said anything. They simply turned and went back into the village.

In the village, Captain Kerga got elected chief. He limped a little for years and could not reasonably go back to sea. He arranged for Jarl to take his ship, young as the man was, but his men made no objection. Jarl the Younger had proved himself worthy on several occasions, and Kerga certainly put his trust in the man, so that was settled amicably.

Then Captain Harrold came home. He missed the Vanlil invasion, the death of Chief Birger, and everything. Tension filled the village as many feared Harrold might have wanted to take Chief Birger’s place. Mother Vrya spent two days in the big house with Kerga, Harrold, Jarl and several others who came and went. They brought in food. In the end, when the crowd was gathered outside the door, Harrold came out and said, “Kerga is Chief.” Then he turned from the crowd and went to his home by the sea. He stayed there, minding his own business, until the call of the sea got him to gather his crew and sail off into the sunset.

Medieval 5: K and Y 5 The Norwegian Hag, part 2 of 2

May 15, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

As Kirstie squirted away from the men and ran toward the docks, she soon found a couple of fairies overhead and a couple of elves that ran with her. She ignored all of the fighting that went on around her. She hoped she would not come around a corner and find herself in the middle of it. Oddly enough, it never occurred to her to ask Elgar, or Diogenes or the Princess, or even better, the Nameless god to run for her. When she thought of Nameless, she got a clear picture of exactly where the hag was located and adjusted her run accordingly.

She arrived before an open space and saw the hag beside a building that saddled up to the water’s edge. Her men were hunkered down in and around the building, holding back the seventy from the ships that had come to shore. “It’s just a little old lady,” Kirstie said, surprised. One of the elves nodded as she pulled her long knife defender and looked at it closely, wondering how one kills a hag.

The hag started to yell but stopped suddenly. Kirstie saw the head turn and look in her direction. Then the hag began to change. The hag grew and became covered everywhere with hair. She ended up about seven feet tall and let out a roar that would have frightened a bear. Kirstie stepped from her place when she saw Frode and Rune with many men catching up. She stopped when she got struck by an arrow. It bounced off her chain mail, but it would leave a small bruise and she said, “Ouch.”

The fairies responded. That man did not live long, and in fact all the men on that side of the building either died or had to duck where they would be no threat. Kirstie just wondered what her elves were doing when she saw Chief Birger come racing up with some men in his trail. Those men from Strindlos attacked the building from the other side and took many of the hag’s defenders with them into death. Chief Birger attacked the hag and planted his bloodaxe directly in her chest. She scoffed and pulled it out.

“No weapon forged by men can hurt me,” she said, and with lightning speed, the monstrous hag crushed the chief and left his own axe in his own chest.

Kirstie looked again at Defender. She wondered if it would even make a scratch on such a beast. She knew her sword was too heavy for her even if it was not made by men. She did not know what to do.

The elves fired and three flaming arrows struck the hag in the chest. She roared. She felt those arrows not made by men, but then the flames spread, and the hag looked like she became even bigger and stronger. At eight feet, a ball of flame, she roared again in an even deeper, more powerful, and frightening sound.

“Look out!” the word came from over her shoulder. Vortesvin, the mountain troll rushed past her like a cannon ball. He was not quite as tall as the hag, but he was as wide. Kirstie wanted to shout, “No!” but she could not get her mouth to move as she watched, stunned. The hag swung an arm, and Kirstie knew that swing would take even the troll’s head right off, but the troll had ducked. It had no intention of fighting the hag. It tackled her instead, and while she shoved the troll away, she lost her balance and tipped straight back into the sea.

Kirstie heard the scream. It sounded like the old lady screaming as the fire that covered the beast went out all at once. Massive amounts of steam poured into the air, and Kirstie raced forward to see. The elves and fairies came with her to cover her. Frode and Rune and their men came behind, wary about getting too close to a mountain troll. Chief Birger’s men from Strindlos also came from the other side of the building, but carefully. They found the Vanlil stopped resisting and appeared to be willing to surrender.

Kirstie looked into the water’s edge. The monster had turned mostly back into the old lady, but she appeared to be melting. It would not take long for whatever melted hag remained to be carried out to sea and vanish in the deep. Kirstie looked up and saw Lord Amber there.

“Abraxas, son of Janus and Morrigu, born just before the dissolution of the gods, is the god of fire and water. He claims to be a god over good and evil, but no one has seen the good in him. The creature of Abraxas, the hag is empowered by the fire and water. Thus, she must be set on fire first, though it is a dangerous thing if there is no water handy because it makes her much bigger and stronger. The water that follows right away puts out the fire and breaks the bond of life in the creature. They end up melting as you see.”

Kirstie looked up and nodded. “Thank you very much. Thank Lord Bjork and Bellflower. Thank all the elves and fairies, and the dwarfs, though you might tell Booturn if you see him, I am thinking of having words with him.”

The five exiled men at the king’s house slept on the king’s ship, but the fifty Vanlil, not being sailors, camped on the ground around the burned house where they could keep their eye on the men camped in the king’s field. The dwarfs were told that any man who got to the ship should be allowed to surrender, so they moved in first to make a wall between the Vanlil and the ship so none could go there, then they proceeded to chop the Vanlil to pieces. The exiled men on the ship were presently cowering in the bow as far from the dock as they could get while the dwarfs taunted them, called them cowards, and told them to come to the dock so they could get their reward.

Kirstie shook her head and hugged Lord Amber briefly while she told him he better go. “And take that smelly mountain troll with you, please.”

Lord Amber smiled for her and faded from sight until the elves all vanished, taking Vortesvin with them. The fairies were already gone. The dwarfs eventually marched back to the mountains singing some strange marching song, and for nearly a decade after, people reported they could still hear the song echoing in the wilderness.

Mother Vrya caught up with Kirstie on the docks. She said now she had to go to work. Kirstie nodded and traded places with Mother Greta and said she would help, but when it came to the arrow in Kerga’s leg, she had to let Doctor Mishka take a turn. In fact, Doctor Mishka removed plenty of arrows that day, and Mother Vrya and Inga stood right there, looking over her shoulder, learning all they could.

When the day was done and Kirstie finally got to come home, she backed Captain Stenson and Frode into a corner. “Rune, you are no navigator, and Frode, you are a good skipari, but you are not any better as a navigator. My father taught me all there is to know about navigating the seas. I have all of his old charts and equipment and know how to use it. You take your new longship and go on your practice trading voyages, and when you get lost and have a hard time getting home, you come and see me. By then, I should be old enough and practiced enough with my weapons to sail with you and be your navigator. I’ll be ready when you are.” She harumphed at them and walked off without letting them object. They looked at each other and shook their heads, but that was what they did.

************************

MONDAY

Kirstie plans to sail off on an adventure with Rune and Frode, but first she needs to review her father’s notes on navigation, then she needs to learn to use those weapons she is carrying. Until Monday, Happy Reading

Medieval 5: K and Y 5 The Norwegian Hag, part 1 of 2

May 14, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

There were no incidents in the night, and Kirstie actually slept well when she did not expect to sleep at all. Mother Vrya and one of the Witcher Women came with her so she would not be the only female among so many men. Who knew what the men were told, but they kept away from her in the night as well. Rune and his number one, Frode kept a good watch, so that may have had something to do with it.

The men gathered even as the sun first touched the horizon. They moved on the town as quietly as a bunch of clunky men could move, and as far as they knew, they would surprise the enemy. Thus far, neither the people of the town, who were likely under house arrest, nor the Vanlil nor the exiles showed any sign that they knew an army was on their doorstep. Kirstie, however, got a different word.

Svator came to her first thing and said the hag must have discerned their plans. She had men in the houses, the ones they had not burned, and they were prepared to repel the attack. Kirstie took a moment to hear from Elgar, Diogenes, and the Princess about what to do.

“Halt,” she said and sent Rune’s men to get the advance to halt because otherwise they would not see in the dim light. They made a ragged line, but Chief Birger and a couple of other chiefs at least came to Kirstie to ask why they halted.

“They are prepared for us, thanks to the hag. I’ll be sending the fairies in to try and route out their defenses and at least throw them into some confusion. Chief Birger, you need to take about forty or fifty men, about a full shipload to the east side. Don’t worry, the elves there will let you in and keep the dwarfs away.” She spoke to the Chief of Oglo. “You need to take about forty or fifty men to the west side. I want you to attack them from the side before the main army arrives. If you hit the sides, maybe even get a bit around to their back, they should feel like they are in a trap and need to escape. I do not want you to try and trap them. They do outnumber us two to one. I just want them to feel like they are being trapped when the main army comes up in front of them. They should pull back, and hopefully begin the exodus toward the docks and the fjord. Is that clear?”

The chiefs nodded and Chief Birger paused to say, “When did you get so smart?”

Kirstie smiled a little. “I have good teachers, Elgar included.”

“I figured there was more than one in there,” he said and left, and Kirstie did not feel obliged to correct him. The others were not in her. They were in their own time, living their own lives. When she borrowed them, they traveled through time to take her place in the present. Where she went at that time was a mystery, but in any case, that was more or less how it worked.

“Should we start moving?” Rune asked, but Kirstie shook her head. She looked at Svator who got big to present himself around the humans as a hunter dressed in his green outfit. Svator looked at the sky, but Kirstie knew he was not looking at the sky. He was listening for the reports from the fairies watching over the Chief of Oglo and Chief Birger and waiting to first tell the fairies on the edge of town to start the bombardment of the enemy positions, and then tell the humans to resume their slow march to the town. All of that did not take very long. It was all rather sloppy work, but by the time the hundred and fifty with Kirstie reached the town, the enemy had abandoned their positions and headed toward the docks.

The fairies hidden around the docks had to send the message to Buttercup and the waiting ships. Lord Amber moved a few elves in toward the docks as well to alert Yrsa when the time was right to make double sure the message got received by Captain Kerga. Those fairies and elves had to work hard to make sure the enemy did not escape aboard the ships before the trap could be set. Even so, fifteen men, twelve of whom were exiles who knew how the ships worked, made it to one karve and got it out into the deeper water. Captain Kerga on the lead ship caught them in the river delta.

The struggle in the delta did not last long. Kerga had some forty-five men aboard his longship. His longship was not damaged, though the karve burned. Kerga lost five men in the mele, and seven were wounded. None of the fifteen were allowed to surrender. Captain Kerga himself took an arrow in his thigh, but he ignored it and got his ship back out into the fjord and into position before anyone else could escape.

The other two longships sent longboats with men to take the actual docks. Shortly after that, two of the karve pulled up to the docks and unloaded. That put about seventy men on the docks itself, and the fairies and elves continued to strike at whatever enemy stuck his head up. Of course, they had to be careful not to shoot any of the men from Kerga’s little fleet.

There were some face-to-face fights in the streets among the mostly burned buildings. The Vanlil were not sailors, and besides, they were being driven by the will of the hag who herself did not have a very good military mind. Any human commander would have sued for peace almost from the start, at least as soon as their plan to repel the invaders went bust. Certainly, when Captain Kerga’s fleet arrived to blockade the town, even Lord Cornwallis would have surrendered. But the hag seemed to enjoy the death and killing, and seemed willing to sacrifice every life she controlled, even if and when she realized she was not going to win.

Soon enough, Kirstie knew she had to confront the hag, like it or not. She called to her armor and weapons and made a side comment to Mother Vrya. “The men will need healing hands when this is over,” though she supposed Mother Vrya was thinking the same thing. Kirstie turned to Frode who looked surprised when she became clothed in her armor. Frode was the one Rune commanded to stay with her and keep her safe. “I’ll square things with Captain Stenson when I get back.” Kirstie squirted away from the men and ran toward the docks.

Medieval 5: K and Y 4 Battle Plans, part 2 of 2

May 13, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

Elgar called. “Stovelurne.” That was the chief dwarf’s proper name in the land, though when the dwarf chief appeared out of nowhere, and the men shouted, and the dwarf shouted with them, Elgar reverted to his native Old English to name him. “Booturn, your people will behave when we camp in the night, won’t they?”

Booturn shook his head to clear it and took a quick look around the room before he answered. “We will keep to our own place in the night. We will even feed Vortesvin, the mountain troll, so he won’t go looking for a snack in the night.” He grinned. He just could not help himself. “But I must say this.” He turned serious. “When the fighting starts, the mudders better stay away from the king’s house. Truth is many dwarfs can’t tell the difference between one human and another, so you best leave us alone to do our work.”

“Maybe we should give the king’s house a wide berth,” one man said.

Svator spoke to the men, which surprised some of the men. “They know we are coming. As long as you are with Lord Elgar, the dwarfs will behave.” He looked at Elgar as Booturn sighed and nodded.

Elgar continued. “We will camp in the king’s south field tonight to be ready to assault the south end of the town at first light. Just remember, we are not there to engage them in battle, just drive them to the water. God willing, that will be where they think to go in order to escape aboard whatever ships they are able to capture. Svator and his people will fly cover. They will route out any attempt to gather the enemy forces to counterattack, so do not be surprised if you see fairies land on a roof, get big, and use their bows expertly.”

“But look,” Chief Birger was thinking. “What if they don’t go for the ships? You said the Vanlil are not sailors. What is to prevent them from slipping out of town to the east and west as soon as we begin our attack on the south? They can then gather in the wilderness and come up with a new plan, as you said, and we will be right back in the same mess.”

Elgar shook his head. “Lord Amber,” he called, and the elf lord appeared beside Svator, not entirely disoriented at first. The shouts were a little less this time. “The elves of light have positioned themselves in the east and west to prevent that very thing.”

Lord Amber bowed to Elgar. “Lord. My people are in position. We will not let any escape into the wild even if we have to chase them down.”

“I still think we should be allowed to chase the ones on our side,” Booturn spoke up. “You can trust us not to let any escape.”

“Yes,” Elgar said. “And leave bits and pieces of chopped up humans all over the woods. I don’t think so. Besides, there are dark elves just itching to be part of the action. If any should escape Lord Amber’s people, it will be much worse for them in the woods at night.” Elgar paused and let that thought settle among the men in the room. He saw from the horror painted on several faces what the men thought about that. “You stick to your assignment and stay off the King’s ship. If they escape to the skied, the longship, you need to let them surrender.”

Booturn sighed again. “It won’t be easy,” he said, but he nodded.

Elgar looked around the room and spoke to his little ones. “Thank you for helping these men understand that we have a good chance to stop these exiled chiefs and their Jamts in their tracks. Please go back to your people,” he said. “Svator, you need to get small and keep your eyes on the proceedings.” Svator got small, and when Elgar waved his hand, and Booturn and Lord Amber disappeared, Svator sped back to hide in the rafters at such a speed, it looked to the men that he disappeared too. “Please tell the ones outside that it is safe to come back in.” Elgar said. “Only humans here now, and we need all-hands-on-deck to prepare. And I’ll not hear any bad talk about men who acted in a perfectly natural human way. Save that coward talk for any who might run away in battle. I hope no one will.”

Captain Kerga appeared sensitive to the few who came back into the big house and sat in the back. He spoke right away, “So, now all we have to do is figure out the timing, so we bring our ships in at the right time to block the port.”

“The timing will be difficult,” Elgar said. “If the ships arrive before the enemy is backed to the water, they may yet find a way to slip out from our fingers. On the other hand, if the ships arrive too late, the enemy may grab the ships in the town dock and slip out into the fjord.” Elgar thought for a second when he heard Yrsa speak up, contrary to all etiquette where women only spoke in the council when given permission.

“Perhaps we can help.”

“Of course,” Inga understood what Yrsa was suggesting. “The three of us can ride in Captain Kerga’s ship and the other ships can follow his lead.” She stood to speak so Yrsa stood with her, and Captain Kerga asked an obvious question.

“The three of you?” Kerga glanced at Mother Vrya, but Mother Vrya shook her head.

“Buttercup, show yourself,” Elgar insisted.

A little head poked out from Inga’s hair. “Do I have to?”

Elgar smiled. “You have to,” he said. “In fact, I think you should come over here and face me.” Elgar made it a command, but he tried hard to not smile as he said it.

Buttercup came but stopped out of arm’s reach. “But I like Kirstie,” she said. “You’re too scary.” Several men around the room snickered.

Elgar looked at Captain Kerga, who stared at the fairy as he stared at all the little ones. He opted to call Kerga’s number one, what some might call the first mate. “Jarl the Younger,” he called, and the man came. He looked delighted to see the fairy. “This is Jarl, Buttercup. When your father or Svator, or Eik, or one of the other Fee send you word to go, will you tell Jarl to go. Shout it nice and loud when that happens. Your friend Inga can remind you. Would that be okay?”

Buttercup took a moment to fly around Jarl. It got him to turn once all the way around, but Buttercup, in that annoying fairy habit, stayed always barely in his peripheral vision until she faced Elgar again. “He seems nice. I can do that.”

“Very good. Thank you. You can go back and visit Inga again.”

“Goody,” she said, and fast as a bolt of lightning she hid once again in Inga’s hair. Elgar saw the smile that colored Inga’s face and turned to Yrsa.

Yrsa did not need to be prompted. “I can also say go when Father sends word to my heart.”

“Your father?” Jarl asked, young man that he was.

Yrsa stared at Elgar. Elgar lifted his hand briefly, so everyone caught a glimpse of the elf under Yrsa’s glamour of humanity. “Don’t go there,” Elgar told Jarl. That was one complication he did not need, or rather, Kirstie did not need it, young as she was.

“Well, Saxon,” Chief Birger rubbed his hands. “You seem to have covered all the angles.”

“No pun intended, I am sure,” Elgar mumbled, when Mother Vrya stood and spoke.

“Not all the angles. What do you propose we do about the hag, the power behind this Vanlil invasion?”

Rune Stenson also stepped forward and had something to say. “And these spirits of nature. We have all heard terrible stories. Can they be trusted?”

“More than most men,” Elgar answered Rune and went away from that place to let Kirstie come home in case any of the men present had forgotten. “The hag will be my responsibility,” she said. “And concerning the little ones, they don’t like their word and loyalty questioned, so Rune, you and your crew better stay with me. You can keep me safe when the fighting starts. And as for the rest of you, if any of you hurts a fairy, elf, or dwarf, even by accident, I dread to see what punishment will await you. Remember, they are on our side. Normally, they would not be permitted to interfere with a human conflict, even with a power on the other side. In this case, we do not have enough men to assault the town and block the port at the same time. So, they are allowed to be part of the action as long as they… as long as we all stick to our assignments.”

Inga spoke up into the silence that followed. “You will not be going with us in Captain Kerga’s ship.” She made a statement, but it was really a question.

Kirstie shook her head and said, “Come on.” She headed toward the door. “I want to have a snack and gather my things before I have to walk all the way to the king’s field.”

Medieval 5: K and Y 4 Battle Plans, part 1 of 2

May 8, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

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.

************************

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.

Medieval 5: K and Y 3 Little Ones, part 2 of 2

May 7, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

All three fairies seemed disoriented at first, but sight of the elves helped to steady them. “Amber?” the older, male fairy asked what was up by saying the elf’s name. Lord Amber merely pointed at Kirstie. Kirstie did her best to sound grown up.

“Lord Bjork. Do you know the disposition of the Vanlil—the Jamts and the exiled men around the king’s house and the town on the Nid River?”

Lord Bjork looked at Kirstie, Yrsa beside her, and back at Amber who waved toward Kirstie as if to say he should answer her. “We saw the men come down from the mountains and thought no good would come of it. We saw many villages on this side of the Trondelag fjord be attacked in the outlying farms. We know the men have moved on to the king’s house and the town, but we do not know how they are disposed.”

“I need to know how they are arrayed,” Kirstie said, or Elgar said it in her head. “Do you have any that can fly there and bring back numbers and maybe give an idea of their plan of attack? I see that you do. Eik and Svator,” she called, and the two younger fairies appeared as if out of nowhere. It took Kirstie a little time to explain what she needed, but she knew they would fly to the river, check on the enemy, and be back by the night meal, possibly before the men from Oglo and Frosta arrived.

Kirstie looked again at the patient dwarfs, a most unusual sight, and the elves that might stand there for days if needed. “I don’t know if it is right to ask for your help. I don’t even know what the men will be facing. I do not know how the battle may shape up, but if there is a place for you, I will not forget you.”

Lord Amber nodded that he understood. “The gods don’t make promises,” he said to Booturn who reluctantly nodded and let out a great sigh.

“In the meantime, Lady Bellflower, may I borrow your daughter for a while? Buttercup, would you like to be friends with me and Yrsa?”

“Yes,” Buttercup said quickly and a bit loud.

“With your mother’s permission, of course. You girls can meet my human guardian, Inga. She is very nice. You will like her. And we can stay among the Witcher Women tonight if you don’t mind.”

“And Mother Vrya will be there?” Lady Bellflower asked.

“Yes. Certainly, for the night,” Kirstie answered.

“Then I am sure it will be all right. Lady Kairos.” Bellflower offered a mid-air curtsey, and Kirstie noticed understanding came to Lord Bjork’s face, like he was not sure.

Kirstie stood in leggings and did not know how to curtsey, so she bowed. “And thank you Lord Amber and you too, Booturn for saving our lives.”

Booturn groused. “We would have if the skinnies had not interfered.”

“Well, thank you anyway. Meanwhile, we need to get back. Inga is probably worried about me. Buttercup.” Kirstie tapped her shoulder and Buttercup shouted, “Yes!” and Kirstie imagined this time the fairy pumped her little fist in the air as she zoomed up and took a seat, tugging only slightly of Kirstie’s hair to get comfortable. Of course, it was impossible to tell with a small fairy seen from a bad angle.

Yasmina

Yasmina spent that whole week moping and worried. She mostly stayed in her rooms and in her bed. Sometimes, she walked in the garden. Sometimes she went up on the wall to look down on the town and the marketplace, what she could see of it. Sometimes she went to the latticed windows and watched the soldiers and the comings and goings in the courtyard of the palace. Sometimes she wandered the halls of the harem looking sorry and lost. Mostly she stayed in her rooms and moped and worried.

She made a couple of friends among her father’s concubines, but they were mostly older, like Inga’s age, and hardly friends with a ten-year-old. They were good to ask what was wrong, but she could not tell them. Sometimes the slave girls who served in the kitchens and brought food to her room, and the maids who cleaned and straightened all the rooms asked, but she stayed silent. Every day after working out with the harem guards and assigning their duties for the day, al-Rahim asked what was troubling her. She just shook her head against unauthorized ears.

“Princess. I will be here if you need me or wish to talk about it.”

Yasmina knew that and hugged the man for his faithfulness.

Yasmina’s mother came twice at the end of the week. But it was no good. Yasmina would not snap out of her mood, and she would not explain it.

Finally, a young maid came to her with a snack for the afternoon. She placed the snack on the table and did something most unusual. Instead of offering a bow and exiting to return to the kitchen, or even asking what had Yasmina so worried and anxious, she quietly sat on the floor, lowered her eyes, and waited for Yasmina to speak.

Yasmina looked before she stared and squinted at the girl. When she spoke, it was one word. “Yrsa?”

“I am Aisha,” the maid said. “Yrsa is my distant cousin.” Yasmina sat up and her eyes went wide as Aisha began to tell her story. “One day, there were two brothers in a place called Kyiv. One felt the call of the cold, snowy north. He loved the winter, and he wanted to find the source of the Amber he cherished. The other felt the call of the warm, dry south. He loved the summer, and he sought after the emeralds that fascinated him. The brothers also loved each other but they heeded the call on their lives. They hugged and one went north while the other went south.”

“Wait a minute,” Yasmina made her pause. “When are we talking about? Kyiv has not been there that long.”

“Not as Kyiv,” Aisha agreed. “But there has been a village of one sort or another there for ages. I am speaking of the days when the Kairos Flern first brought the bronze making to the steppes.” She paused to let Yasmina process what she was saying. “The brothers left the area around the Caspian Sea and followed the army of the east when it invaded the west.”

“But…” Yasmina paused to calculate, and she heard for the first time from the Storyteller who estimated the year. “But that was 4400 years ago, SE—Storyteller’s estimate.”

“It was,” Aisha agreed, and smiled her relief. She would have been in terrible trouble if she mentioned something from the Kairos’ past that the Kairos herself could not remember. That was the law from ancient times. “Yrsa and I are the tenth generation since the brothers went their separate ways. I did not know I had a cousin in the far north, but Yrsa put together the clues in Kirstie’s early years. When Kirstie left… When you were born, Yrsa reached out to this place and confirmed her feelings. Her father, Lord Amber, and my father, Lord Emerald made contact over that long distance. The blood ties are still strong. And at that time, I came to work as a maid servant in this house, though this is the first time I have had a chance to see you with my own eyes.”

“Well…” Yasmina did not know what to say and could not speak through her sudden tears in any case except to say, “I am so afraid for Kirstie.” She began to weep.

“Lord al-Rahim,” Aisha called, and the man came from the other room where he listened behind the crack in the door while Aisha moved to sit on the bed, hug Yasmina, and cry with her.

“Princess. Why are you so afraid for Kirstie?” Al-Rahim asked kindly, no longer questioning the connection between his princess and the yellow-haired girl from the land of the Vikings. He certainly knew who the Vikings were.

Eventually, Yasmina got out the words. “She is my age, just ten, a young girl, and she is going into battle. Her home is invaded. She is leading the men. Things got complicated. She has weapons but does not know how to use them. She has no teacher. And worse. She is the one who has to fight the hag. A terrible monster. Tall and wide as that doorway. Strong as an ogre from the mountains. Faster than the imps of the desert. More powerful than the great genie, the marid of all genies. I am afraid she is going to get herself killed. She thinks that too, and there is nothing I can do to help her.”

“We can pray for her,” al-Rahim suggested.

Hours later, well after the sun set, Yasmina, Aisha, and al-Rahim sat around the table eating and laughing. Yasmina’s mother and father entered the room to this pleasant scene and stopped in the entranceway with questions on their faces.

Al-Rahim jumped to his feet and stood at attention. Aisha slipped to the floor and got to her knees her eyes humbly lowered in the presence of the Lord of Mecca. Yasmina also jumped up and ran to hug her father. She hugged her mother while her father spoke.

“Captain?” he looked at al-Rahim.

“We have resolved the princess’ troubles for the moment, but there are a few conditions.”

Yasmina let go of her mother, took two steps back and spouted. “I want a horse, two horses, me and Aisha. I have taken Aisha as my personal maid and companion, and we want to learn how to ride.”

“Baby.” Mother called her that sometimes when she got all parental and Mother knows best. “Girls do not ride horses. They are carried in a proper litter.”

“I want a horse,” Yasmina raised her voice, but just a little. “What is more, al-Rahim has promised to teach me and Aisha to defend ourselves. You know, a girl can’t be too careful in this world.” Mother was not buying it, so Yasmina looked at her father. “Please, daddy.”

The Lord of Mecca glanced at al-Rahim who nodded slightly. He turned to his daughter. “I’ll see what I can arrange,”

“Baby…” Mother started in again, but Father took her hand and dragged her from the room before she could say anything. Aisha and al-Rahim both exhaled.

Medieval 5: K and Y 3 Little Ones, part 1 of 2

May 6, 2024April 7, 2024M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

Kirstie spent the week climbing the nearby hills and walking through the edge of the forest. Inga stayed with her most of the time and would not let her go too far into the woods, but sometimes Kirstie escaped so she could spend some time alone. She had a great deal of grief to work through and could only imagine that once again men were going to get killed on her insistence.

Kirstie also spent some of that week beginning to familiarize herself with the various weapons that came with her armor. She did not think good thoughts about the Vanlil or the exiles leading them. She decided that having weapons was a good thing because she would not have to beg someone to make her weapons. All she would have to do is beg someone to teach her how to properly use those weapons.

The sword Salvation was a bit heavy, but she liked the long knife, Defender. She found she also had a spear, a shield, a helmet, a beautiful bow with plenty of arrows, some of which were silver tipped, and some other odd weapons of every sort. She also had a small knife that fit down alongside her boot, and a hatchet she called her tomahawk. Best of all, she had a genuine Viking battleaxe she could take into battle. It was a one-handed axe. She needed to be able hold her shield with her other hand, but honestly, at her young age, it took both of her hands to hold the axe steady. She also needed to learn how to swing it less wildly. Inga made her walk down the road to practice, far away from the house and the old women in case it slipped out of her hands, which it did a couple of times.

On the morning of the fifth day, Kirstie escaped her watcher and headed for the woods. Men from Varnes came the night before. Men from Oglo and Frosta were on the road and expected in by nightfall. There was much excitement in the village, and Inga with the Witcher Women and plenty of volunteers had to work hard to see all those men housed and fed. The report was men from Olvishaugr, and even further north were coming by boatload. Clearly, all the villages along the east side of the fjord had been raided, and Strindlos was not the only place where women and children had been killed.

Mother Vrya, Chief Birger, and Captain Kerga, with the future Captain Rune Stenson were all needed to see all those men were properly taken care of, so Kirstie was able to sneak out. She felt nervous, knowing the men were all there because of her, well, because of Elgar. It was his plan, and the spies sent to the river Nid were not due back until morning. If the exiles and Vanlil were not gathered there, she would be in big, big trouble.

Kirstie came to a small clearing near the edge of the woods and only realized when she sat down that it was the place Father Fryer met her. The ash that had been trees had all blown away on the wind. The ground was hard since it had not rained all week, but here and there it showed signs of grass and weeds growing. Kirstie began to cry. She cried for her own father, buried in some distant land where she would never see him again. She cried for her mother, and her baby sister who would never grow up. She cried for Dorothy, and her farmhands who were such kind and hard-working men, and always good to her. She cried for her puppy.

“Why are you crying?” Kirstie heard and looked, half expecting to see Edelweiss. Instead, she saw a young woman about Inga’s age of eighteen standing in the shadow of the trees. The woman had small tears in her own eyes. Kirstie looked closely and realized this was one of the little ones Father Fryer mentioned. Then she knew the girl’s name, though she could not say how or why she knew.

“Yrsa,” she said. “You can sit with me and cry with me if you want.”

Yrsa looked startled that this human should know her name, but quickly she decided, “I will.” She sat next to Kirstie and they both cried while Kirstie tried to explain the reason for her tears.

“My father and mother are dead. My baby sister who barely knew three years of life is gone. My friends, the thralls who worked so hard on the farm got killed, and my house burned down, and the barn. I don’t know where the livestock has gone. I have nothing left.”

Yrsa hugged her and said, “I can be your friend, so you won’t be alone.”

Kirstie nodded and wiped her eyes. “Come on,” she said. “We will go to my home to see what has become of it.”

“Oh, but I am not supposed to leave the woods. Father said so.”

“Your father Lord Amber?” Kirstie knew. “I’ll explain it to him. I am sure it will be all right.” She took Yrsa’s hand and brought her to her farm wondering the whole way how she knew their names. Greta spoke to Kirstie in her heart that she was the Kairos, and they all belonged to her.

“What do you mean, belong?” Kirstie wondered out loud. “People belong to themselves, don’t they?”

“You are responsible for the elves light and dark, and the dwarfs in between. The sprites in the sky, in the sea, and in the fires under the earth.” Greta answered. That did not really explain it.

Kirstie could only think, I’m too young. At my age I’m not even allowed to be responsible for myself.

They arrived. It was not that far away since Kirstie had been thinking of going there when she found Fryer instead. She saw three men poking around the ruins, and thought to hide behind the bushes, but Yrsa shrieked on the sight of the men, and they noticed.

“You there. Come out from the bushes.”

Kirstie came slowly, still holding the older girl Yrsa’s hand. Kirstie knew these were men from Trondelag, not Vanlil, because she understood their words. She imagined they were from Varnes or further north.

“What are you doing here?”

Kirstie squeezed Yrsa’s hand and felt bold. “This is my farm. What are you doing here?”

The man smirked. “We left some prime livestock here when we came before. We came to fetch it to feed the men. We figured no one would be here after a week. I though we killed all the people here.” The man pulled a big knife and the other two joined him.

“Father!” Yrsa called to the wind. The call would have traveled for miles, but Lord Amber was closer than she knew. He came from one direction with several undisguised elves. A true mountain dwarf came from the other direction with a good dozen dwarfs, all hefting weapons, hammers, and axes, that looked too big for them.

The men’s eyes grew wide as they looked in one direction than the other. They started to run in the only direction not covered. They did not get far. The dwarfs roared and attacked, but the elves were quicker with their bows. The men all fell with several arrows in each.

“Damn it, Amber.” The chief dwarf, Booturn yelled. “They were ours.” One dwarf chopped a head off a dead man just on general principle.

“Just protecting my daughter,” Lord Amber said, and pointed at Yrsa.

Booturn tipped his hat. “And a human friend, I see. Surprised you let her be friends with a mudder.”

Lord Amber gave Yrsa a hard but curious look and Yrsa got ready to explain in good daughter to father fashion when Kirstie interrupted the father-daughter game. “Yrsa has said she will be my friend and I have taken her up on that offer. We are going to learn our weapons and in particular the bow and arrows. We may even go hunting. I will undoubtedly go hunting in a few years, but that will be aboard a ship, so she can come home then, for a while, if she wants. Meanwhile, what are you doing here?”

Lord Amber raised one eyebrow while the dwarfs stared, a couple with their mouths hanging open. “And who are you to be asking?” Booturn spouted.

“This is my farm, or it will be when I fix it up. I will rebuild the house and the barn, get some new livestock, and harvest the field which is already planted.” She paused to look at Yrsa and scrutinized Lord Amber’s face. “Yrsa and I can put a target on that tree there for target practice. I’m sorry, but it is the duty of certain elf maids to become good with a bow and arrows. Now, be good and maybe someday you will have a son to go with your daughter.”

Lord Amber looked surprised, then shocked, and finally resigned. He went to one knee and the elves with him followed his example. He said, “Lady Kairos.” Booturn and a couple of dwarfs who were more with it whipped off their hats, and Booturn spoke right up.

“So, you are gathering fighters in the village. I’m guessing you are going after the Jamts and escaped men that came over the mountains and have been attacking places, like your own farm.”

Kirstie nodded but kept her mouth closed.

“Er… So, any chance you might have a place for a few dwarfs in your battle. We could stay hidden and maybe back you up some if you wouldn’t mind. We would not mingle with your men. No need to even be seen. We would be careful.”

“Dwarfs, careful?” Kirstie, young as she was knew that was a fib. Lord Amber had to cover his smile and one elf let out a small laugh.

“Well, we would not get in the way, and you can count on us. No tellin’ that maybe the humans might run away once the fighting starts, no offence.”

“I’ll think about it,” Kirstie said, and felt she had to acknowledge the elves. “Please get up. I’m just a young girl and much too young for all this responsibility.” Kirstie could not keep the worry from coming to her face.

Lord Amber stood, but being empathic as elves are he asked, “What is troubling you?”

“I wish I knew what was happening in Hladir and Nidarosss. I guess it isn’t called Nidarosss yet, but I don’t suppose you know.”

Lord Amber shook his head. “Bjork might know,” he said.

Kirstie nodded. She suddenly knew who Bjork was, along with Missus Bellflower and their daughter Buttercup. She knew Buttercup and Yrsa knew each other and might be friends if given a chance. She called all three at once, and the three fairies vanished from wherever they were and appeared on the farm. Kirstie felt shocked by that. The elves and dwarfs less so.

Storyteller Tales & Thoughts

Stories and reflections on storytelling

Author: M G Kizzia

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