Elves

Medieval 5: K and Y 17 Surprises, part 2 of 4

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Kirstie

Harrold and Ulf surprised Kirstie when they walked up to Kirstie and Harrold asked straight out. “Which way do we go?”

To Kirstie’s surprised face, Ulf added, “It is your plan. Best we travel in a way that avoids hamlets and farms where the people might see and give warning.”

“Why are you asking me? I’ve never been to Northumbria.”

Harrold smiled for her, and it was a wicked smile. “Why don’t you ask your maid and her elf friends. Maybe some of those little things that flitter around the home of the Witcher Women. Maybe this place has some little hairy men like the ones working with Svend. The blacksmith has never produced such good work as in the last year or so.”

“Dwarfs,” Kirstie said. “The little hairy men are dwarfs, and I would not recommend speaking badly of them. They are experts at holding a grudge and getting even.”

“Lady,” Yrsa interrupted. “We can go this way.” She pointed up the beach. Ulf looked around like he expected to see some fairies or light elves, but Harrold smiled more broadly and got the men up and moving.

Kirstie added one note to the captains. “We can avoid the obvious farms and Hamlets along the way, but you better tell the men to keep quiet or we will be heard long before we are seen.”

Yrsa and Kirstie walked out front and whispered. Kare and Thoren followed them like they were not about to let the women get out of sight. Kirstie looked back now and then to be sure the men were keeping up, but all she saw was Kare’s vapid smile. It made Kirstie curl her lip in response.

Kirstie could know and hear from the little ones that volunteered to lead the group, but being strictly mortal and human, she would risk getting a headache. Yrsa was tied directly into the network of little ones and could hear and sense the way to go without much effort at all. She did most of the leading and relayed the information to Kirstie, not that either of them had to concentrate on the directions. Mostly, the directions consisted of keep going straight in the direction you are going.

Around noon, Kirstie sent word back that they should be extra quiet. They had to thread the needle between two small hamlets and their farm fields that practically touched. One field had men working, but they got called off for some reason and went down the back of a hill and out of sight as the Vikings moved by. Kirstie got the word as well as Yrsa. “Someone is helping us.” Kirstie did not want to think about it.

They stopped shortly in a wooded area where they could eat and rest. “No fires,” Kirstie insisted, and the captains agreed with that.

“The smoke would be seen for miles.” Captain Erikson spelled it out.

The afternoon was much the same, and they stopped early in a meadow on the side of a hill, surrounded by deep forest. Kirstie showed the three places where the men could build their fires for the night. She explained that the rocks, and the natural contour of the hill, plus the trees would block the light from the fire. Also, the wind appeared to be blowing in the right direction to take the smoke away from the village.

“This is not good farmland, being full of rocks on the hillside,” she told the captains. “The village fields start on the other side of the hill, and there is a road that comes around the hill and leads to the village center. We can pick up the road in the morning when we reach the fields. Meanwhile, though it is less than ten days into May, the day was warm, and I expect the night will not get too cold. Let the men eat and sleep tonight so they will be rested and ready to go in the morning.”

“What about after the deed is done?” Odger asked.

“We cut diagonally through the land back to Howick. A false trail is being laid that points due east toward the sea. Even if they gather fighting men right away, and even if they have horses, they should head toward the sea. By the time they figure it out and come down the coast looking for our ships, we should be well away.” That was all Kirstie planned to say, but then she thought she better add one more note. “Just remember, we can burn houses and loot everything, but we need to drive the people away. We especially want the women and children to complain to the king. Desperate women and children will get the men in Bamburgh moving like nothing else, so no indiscriminate killing.” The captains looked like they were half listening.

Kirstie got awakened by Yrsa before dawn. Gunhild got enlisted to wake them, but Yrsa sensed they were coming so she got Kirstie up and ready. The captains Harrold, Ulf, and Odger had a request. Captain Erikson was kept out of it for some reason.

“You two need to put on your blue and green dresses,” Harrold said. “You need to go into the village and check it out. Let us know where the men are gathering, and if there are any fighters or soldiers in the town, we need to know where they are.”

“The general layout of the place would help,” Odger added.

“I expect you back here two hours after sunrise. That should give us enough time to move in and do the deed and be gone by noon. We will have to move fast but knowing what we are doing will speed things nicely.”

“You don’t want to run into a troop of soldiers or find a local fortress near the town,” Kirstie concluded.

“As you say,” Ulf spoke kindly, though it was clearly not his natural voice. “We wish to minimize the fighting and killing.”

Kirstie frowned at the men and stood. She packed her little bag and glanced at Gunhild. The woman stood with her mouth open. Who knew what she was thinking except maybe sending two young girls in to spy on a strange town seemed dangerous. Kirstie also glanced at Kare and Thoren who were not far away and still snoring, not aware that anything was happening. Kirstie caught a sudden image of Kare as a husband. The burglars could break into the house, rape her, and steal everything, and Kare would sleep through it all.

“We will be back,” Kirstie said with, “Come on Yrsa.”

“Don’t you need to change?” Harrold asked.

“Don’t worry. We will be dressed properly before we get to the village.”

Kirstie and Yrsa got to the road and out of sight of the men behind them before they changed. Kirstie called her blue dress out of Avalon. It replaced her armor and weapons. Yrsa simply had to touch her fairy weave and think what she wanted, and her leather changed into the green dress she liked.

“Let’s try and stay out of the mud,” Kirstie mumbled and said nothing else until they came to the village center. There were only a few people up and out that early. The blacksmith was stoking his fires. One woman was setting a stand in the market area and another woman complained that she was taking her spot. One man walked down the road beside an ox drawn wagon full of hay. A few men stood around the front of a shop, talking quietly, and Kirstie recognized one of them. She said, “Wilam.”

Wilam turned to see who called him. Kirstie stopped a few feet away and watched Wilam’s face turn slowly from curiosity to recognition. “Kirstie?” He got it right.

Kirstie tried not to smile too hugely. “You remembered.”

“It took a second because I never imagined, well, I imagined, but I never saw you in a proper dress,” he said. “You look very nice… Lovely… Beautiful… Stop me when I get to the right word.”

“Any of those will do fine,” she responded and looked down to check herself. She wanted to make a good appearance. “But what are you doing here?” she said, some concern creeping into her voice.

“I live here. Why? What are you doing here?” He picked up on her concern.

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

MONDAY

Kirstie spies out the Northumbrian village and has to try and save as many people as she can. Until then, Happy Reading.

*

Medieval 5: K and Y 16 Going Again, part 2 of 4

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Kirstie

Kirstie would not be going anywhere before spring, maybe late spring depending on how long Fiona carried. The woman would have to stay in bed for the last trimester. Any moving around would likely break her spine. Doctor Mishka checked her regularly and prayed the baby would favor his human side. The baby seemed like a real fifty-fifty, so she prepared to take him out with a cesarian section. Fortunately, she had some practice with Hilda’s baby, and knew Inga could assist.

The boys were excited, especially Edwin, the younger. He was happy to let someone else be the baby brother. Birdie harped on Booturn and said he should spend more time with his own children. He did. In fact, he got drunk any number of times with his daughter’s husband, who was plenty full grown. But he went up into the mountains to do that while Birdie stayed and knitted wool outfits for the baby.

“Hard to do when you don’t know what size, exactly,” Birdie said. “But the wool stretches some, so we hope.”

Kirstie just nodded. She seemed to nod a lot since she got home. The shipbuilders wanted to clear a stand of trees on her land. She nodded. The elves in the woods all but adopted Oswald and Edwin, and Alm took them hunting regularly. They were always good to ask first, and she nodded. Some of the fairy tribe asked sweetly if they could move closer to Inga and the Witcher Women. Kirstie nodded, but she thought it best if they avoid being seen by other than Inga and maybe Mother Vrya.

“But we already made friends with the women,” Buttercup told her.

Kirstie nodded and said, “But no one else if you can help it.” She said if they can help it so they could have an excuse if it happened, or maybe when it happened.

Finally, near the end of March, when Fiona reached the baby could come at any time point, Inga came to fetch Kirstie for what Inga was told was an important meeting.

“All three captains Harrold, Jarl, and Rune are there with Chief Kerga.”

“Yeah,” Kirstie grumped. “Rune was not going anywhere, and he sailed off as soon as I sailed out of the fjord with Jarl.”

Inga ignored Kirstie’s complaint. “I do not know what the meeting is about, but there are three other captains there with their skipari. Two are from the far north. I think one is from Maerin. The third is from Vigg in the Skaun. He is an ugly one. They are planning something big and looking at a map when they argue.”

Kirstie did not think that sounded good. She imagined all sorts of terrible things before she asked, “What do they want me for?”

“That is what I would like to know.”

When they arrived at the big house, the men quieted for a minute. Kirstie marched in with Inga. She came dressed in her armor, which she had taken to wearing regularly because it felt so comfortable. She had a knife at her side, but no other noticeable weapons on her person. She knew she could call to her weapons, and they would come to her from Avalon, the island of the Kairos in the Second Heavens where they were kept, so she did not worry about that.

“What is this all about?” she asked and pushed up to the table where the men were worrying around the map. It was a map of Northumbria. She had a similar one among her father’s navigation papers.

“You said you were interested in going to Northumbria,” Jarl said.

Kirstie paused to look at the men. One mean looking man stood next to Captain Harrold. A very tall man stood next to the mean one, and she had to stare for a second to figure something out. Kirstie once estimated that she stood about five feet, nine inches tall, which was very tall for a woman. It made her more man sized and taller than some men. This overly tall man had to be a foot taller than her, so maybe six feet, nine inches. He would have to crouch in battle formation. Anyone tall enough to stick out above his fellows that much would become an excellent target for any archers on the opposing side.

Harrold saw her staring and thought to introduce the two men. “Captain Ulf and his skipari, Njal the giant.” Kirstie checked. He might have had some giant blood in him somewhere, she would not know, but she imagined he was just a very tall man. Certainly, he had no troll or ogre in him. Besides, Vortesvin the troll had to be another foot and a half taller than Njal, and with the human-like glamour the elves managed to place around the beast, she knew better what a real giant looked like. As for Captain Ulf, she translated the name in her head to Wolf, and from his looks she imagined he probably was. She turned to Chief Kerga without blinking, like she hardly cared. “What is this all about?”

“The men were hoping you could get in touch with Elgar the Saxon. They are looking at Northumbria, particularly the northern part that remains in Anglo-Saxon hands. They were wondering if Elgar might have or be able to get some inside information about the place, or about the coast.”

Kirstie shook her head like that did not answer her question and Rune spilled the beans, so to speak. “The new Danish king in York wants to reunite the two halves of Northumbria under his crown. He is willing to pay us a considerable sum to raid the coast there to bring out the army in Bamburgh. We just need to scare the villages enough to shake them up. Panic would be better, and we get paid.” Rune opened the small chest on the table. It looked full of silver coins. Kirstie picked one up to examine it.

“Siefried Rex,” she read on the coin.

“Cnut is king now,” Captain Ulf said.

Kirstie dropped the coin and turned on the man. “So, why didn’t King Cnut ask the King in Denmark for help? He could ask the Danish kings in Danelaw for help, especially if his plan to begin with only involves a raid to frighten the people.”

Ulf stared at her. “Why are we talking to this girl?” he asked.

Jarl and Rune jumped, and to his credit Chief Kerga and even Harrold looked ready to defend her presence, but one of the stranger captains began to speak first before Ulf cut him off and Inga spoke into the silence.

“Because even at her young age she has more military experience than you could hope to have if you lived ten lifetimes, and she is friends with the gods.”

Ulf appeared to chew on his tongue for a minute before he confessed. “Because Cnut killed the old man, Siefried and took the crown. He is ambitious, but he does not like leaving an Anglo-Saxon kingdom at his back. Twenty-five years ago, Halfdan Ragnarsson overran the northern kingdom, but he did not finish the job, and he left Lindisfarne relatively untouched, so the anchor of the English remained. Cnut wants to drive the English above the River Tweed and out of the kingdom altogether. Once the northern kingdom is fully Danish and a buffer between him and the wild north, he can take his army and do whatever he wants. The king in Denmark and the kings in the Danelaw have refused to support the usurper, as they think of him.”

“So, he turned to the people of Harald Fairhair, but not to the king. He is looking for the men of Trondelag to do his dirty work and enticing them with silver and gold,” Kirstie concluded. “I assume none of you wants the king informed.”

“This is not the king’s business,” Captain Harrold said.

“A little private enterprise.” Kirstie named it and looked more closely at the map. “You know they will have coastal watchers, and if you are seen at sea they will prepare for your arrival. One or two ships sailing together might be peaceful traders, but six or seven ships seen together will scream raiding party and they will certainly prepare to fight you.”

Medieval 5: K and Y 14 Side Steps, part 2 of 2

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

While the men rowed, Kirstie and Yrsa disguised themselves as well as they could. Yrsa simply changed her glamour, so she looked like a young boy instead of a girl. “Cheater,” Kirstie said, and immediately traded places through time with Elgar, the Saxon. Most of the men knew Elgar from years earlier. Leif even complained.

“You don’t look like you have aged one day since then.”

“I do try to keep in shape,” Elgar smiled and called for a different suit he knew he had on Avalon. It was mostly leather, it replaced his armor, and with some minor adjustments, he looked like one of the crew.

“Elgar,” Jarl said. “I thought you might show up.”

They bumped the dock softly and men jumped out to fasten the ship. Six men stood on the dock waiting to board. The speaker from the longboat stood in front. Two soldier types, though they may have been mercenaries stood behind him. Three clerks with tenth century versions of clipboards, velum, and something to write with followed.

“I am Captain Jarl Hagenson of Strindlos. My skipari is Leif. Old Man Skarde is our scald and with Elgar and Yerser, they will accompany your clerks and answer any questions you may have.” He smiled as the speaker from the longboat frowned. That told Jarl, and at least Elgar, that the clerks and probably all six of them had sticky fingers and needed to be watched.

Jarl stayed with the longboat speaker. Leif grabbed another member of the crew to stand with the two mercenaries and pass pleasantries while they waited. The whole center aisle of the ship was filled with bags, boxes, and bundles to trade, and Yrsa and Skarde watched their clerks closely, though there was not much they could pocket. Elgar helped his clerk step over the rowing benches to get to the front of the ship where Kirstie kept the most valuable items.

He let the man taste the honey with his finger, but it was an especially big jug, and the wax could hardly be snitched. The man was impressed by the polar bear skin, and his eyes got big looking at the ivory. Then he counted and asked why there were only five tusks.

“Walruses,” Elgar said. “They fight, you know. They fight for dominance, and sometimes one breaks a tusk. My supplier said one must have broken completely off, probably by the water where the tide took it out to sea. Such a shame.”

The clerk nodded. It was a good story. He looked at the basket of amber, and counted, but Elgar never let go of it.

“Half empty?” the man asked.

“We got caught in that storm a week ago. Do you recall? It was terrible at sea.”

“You don’t mean some washed overboard,” the clerk looked horrified.

“One crew member did,” Elgar said. “But no. We had to stop in a village on the Eider River in Saxon territory to make repairs.” he showed the man Kirstie’s railing. “You can see the new wood. It is not the same color and hardly weathered. We had repairs all over the ship and even needed a new mast. They were good people, though. The Lord of the Castle gave us a keg of wine, but all of it cost us some amber. Even if we had silver to pay, which we don’t, he would only take amber. I guess there is a good market here on the continent for the stuff. It is hard to come by as Captain Hagenson said.” He brought the clerk back up front and away from their special items. “Are we all done?”

“Not yet,” the speaker from the longboat said. “I only need to know where you have hidden the rest of the things.”

“Why would we hide things?” Elgar asked. “You have a list of all of our things, so if anything gets stolen, we will know, and more importantly, you will know and hopefully help us catch the thief.”

The speaker eyed Elgar like he was not supposed to think of that, but he said something different. “You speak with an accent.”

Elgar looked down like a man ashamed. “My mother was a Saxon, but polite people kindly don’t notice.”

All this while, Skarde kept trying to draw attention to himself by trying hard not to draw attention to himself. Finally, Yrsa could not stand it. She lowered her voice as she had with the clerk, though she still sounded like a young man whose voice had not yet changed, and she said, “Skarde, what are you hiding?”

Skarde quickly pulled his half open shirt together and said, “Nothing. Nothing.”

That finally provoked a reaction. The speaker from the longboat stepped to face Skarde. He put his hand out and frowned again. Skarde shook his head and turned away without actually moving away.

Jarl spoke. “Give it up, man,” he said, and Skarde reluctantly pulled out a piece of amber. The speaker from the longboat took it but kept his hand out. Skarde pulled out the other piece with a word.

“There. That is all of it.” He opened his shirt and showed his fat belly. He turned around and showed there was nothing down his pants. The speaker from the longboat decided he did not need to look there, and he spoke.

“Since these are not on the inventory, it is my duty to confiscate them. This man is not allowed to come into town, but the rest of you are welcome to come to the tavern on the water while your captain negotiates his sales.” The man gave Jarl a smile that looked sickly, and he left.

Jarl waited until the man was out of earshot before he laid down the rules. Same as before. No one gets drunk and don’t provoke anything. No stealing and no fighting. Leave your swords and axes here but take your knives. Keep the knives hidden. I don’t want the locals to know you have knives on you. Remember. We are trying to make some good money, but there is reported to be a hag in town, so keep your eyes open and be prepared to fight if needed.

“Skarde, Yrsa and Elgar need to stay here and guard the treasure.” Jarl held up his hand to forestall the protests. “The hag does not need to know you are here looking for her. I will send word when I find her, meanwhile, we are trying to make some money here.”

Elgar growled at him and traded back to Kirstie in her own armor who still made the growl, though a whole pitch higher.

Jarl, Leif, and the men all vacated the ship, the men to the tavern, and Jarl, Leif, and three others to the guild hall. Kirstie turned straight to Yrsa.

“What resources have you got?”

“Like you don’t know?” Yrsa said.

“Yes, but you are here, and I have a headache.”

Yrsa nodded and shut her eyes for a moment. “There are not many around here right now,” she said. “All the fighting not to mention the hag is scary. The land is rather torn up. Let’s see. There is an elf troop in the glens on the hillside, a fairy camp on the shore toward Dieppe, dwarf homes in the hills of Talou, and dark elves in the swamps around Lillebonne, this side of Rouen. As you know, there are always some here and there, but those are the closest that feel available to manifest in the face of the humans.” Yrsa turned to Skarde. “Facing human can be scary. Humans are so mean and unpredictable.”

“Exactly as I think,” Skarde said.

Suddenly, Kirstie felt guilty. Margueritte reminded her that she used to travel with a fairy from the Frisian shore named Tulip. Kirstie checked. Tulip was getting up in years, having passed eight hundred. But she had a daughter, Anemone, who was only two hundred and three, a good age for a fairy. Kirstie decided if she survived this encounter with the hag, she would urge Jarl to stop where she could see Sir Waldo and maybe Captain Otto and visit with Tulip and her daughter.

Kirstie called to her blue dress. Yrsa immediately changed into her green dress and removed the glamour of the boy, so she looked like Yrsa again, albeit still covered to look like a human woman, and she said, “So where are we going?”

“I thought you two were going to stay and keep me company,” Skarde said.

Kirstie shook her head. “You need to come with us. I have a bad feeling about this. I expect since he got the whole crew to go to the tavern, Longboat Bigmouth will be back with a bunch of soldiers to kill you and take everything.”

“They wouldn’t,” Skarde said.

“And where are the Danes? Not even a guard left on their ship.”

“No movement on the ships anchored in the port, either.” Yrsa pointed out.

“I said a brace is only as good as the glue that holds the wood in place when I showed my clerk the repair to the railing. He heard “a brace is” and looked up, like he expected a different word.”

“I use the word abrasive, and mentioned pirates’ ambushes, and I think both times he looked for the word Abraxas.” Yrsa looked pensive. “The clerks and soldiers did not seem entirely focused,”

“Enchanted by the hag,” Kirstie said.

“I would guess the same,” Yrsa agreed. “They will be back now that the ship is deserted.”

“I think this hag is greedy, or she is working on the crews to turn them to Abraxas so when the time comes, they can sail home and spread the word.”

“Or both,” Yrsa added.

“Kind of like spreading a disease.” Kirstie said, and Yrsa nodded.

“Shall we?” Yrsa asked and took one of Skarde’s arms.

“We shall,” Kirstie said and took the other arm.

They walked the dock to town looking like a grandfather and his two granddaughters. They made it to the main street just in time as sure enough, Longboat Bigmouth and twenty soldiers scooted past them, not giving them a second look, other than the young soldiers who might have looked twice at the girls. The soldiers headed straight for their boat and Bigmouth even called out. “Old man, come out and show yourself.”

Old Man Skarde watched for a minute before he said, “How did I get so lucky.”

Kirstie answered. “Blame the elf.”

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MONDAY

Things in Normandy don’t go as expected, and there is the hag. Until Monday, Happy Reading.

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Medieval 5: K and Y 10 Home Again, part 3 of 3

M G Kizzia Leave a comment

Kirstie

Kirstie turned to Fiona and the boys and said, “Your home is there near the barn. The boys can roll out of bed in the morning and get straight to work. The kitchen fire is the bricked in area there, between the houses. There is a brick oven and everything. The fences they are still building.” A couple of workmen stood around by the barn. One waved. “That is where the sheep will go. The pigs are there. The cows on the other side. And there are chickens in the barn. Also, the fields are mostly over there, and by my house there is a garden. The boys are welcome to pull the weeds.”

“It all looks lovely,” Fiona said. “I’ll just get the boys settled and get right on the cooking fire. We won’t disappoint you, Lady, but if it is all the same, respectfully, I would rather you finish what you were saying before we move in.” Of course, once the conversation started, Kirstie and Inga forgot to whisper, and Fiona could not help hearing the whole thing. Kirstie did not mind. She answered Inga.

“There are some special lifetimes I mentioned in the past that I can call on to take me to the place I need to go, like Nameless, or Danna, the Celtic mother goddess. But my main job, if you will, is to keep history on track. I can’t imagine anything more dangerous to history than letting a bunch of wild sprites loose on the world. I am supposed to make things come out the way they are written, and I get reborn in the place where the trouble is most likely to change the future unless I can prevent it.”

“How do you know the way things are supposed to come out?” Fiona asked, and added, “Begging your pardon.”

“I have future lives,” Kirstie said. Fiona did not really understand, but Inga nodded. She had seen Elgar and Mother Greta with her own eyes. They came from the past, but Inga saw no reason why Kirstie could not borrow a life from the future in the same way. Then she remembered Doctor Mishka. Kirstie thought to clarify if she could. “My many lives are not entirely isolated from one another. Of course, nothing happens exactly the way it eventually gets written down, but the gist and general thrust of history is clear. And it is equally clear when something threatens that, like Abraxas and his hags attempting to gain him worshipers and followers so he can return to the continent and mess up everything. Eventually, I will have to sail off again.”

“I will still worry about you,” Inga said.

Kirstie hugged the woman but turned to Fiona. “There are elves of the light that live in the woods nearby. There are dwarfs in the mountain there.” She pointed. “But they keep mostly to themselves. And there is a whole fairy troop in a glen not far from here. One or more of them might show up at my front door at almost any time.”

“I saw a fairy once,” Fiona said. “If you have a cow that is giving, we can leave a bowl of milk out for them as an offering.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Kirstie said. “If they want some milk, they know they only need to ask, and I would be glad to give it to them.”

Fiona looked uncertain. She always tried to placate the spirits lest they do her some mischief. Inga encouraged the woman. “As my fairy friend Buttercup explained to me, Kirstie is their goddess. They would not dare do anything that might make Kirstie angry at them.”

“If you say,” Fiona curtseyed a little to Inga. She turned to Kirstie and curtsied again. “Lady.” Kirstie saw this one-handed woman, this thrall, had more grace in her moves than Kirstie managed. She vowed to practice her curtsey.

Kirstie had a thought. Right there, she called to her regular clothes and let her armor and weapons return to the place they came from. Fiona looked surprised, and her eyes got big, but she said nothing. Oswald behind her said, “Wow,” And Edwin nodded in agreement, but Kirstie needed to verbalize her thought.

“My friend Hilda is as fully human as they come, and she has no contact with the little spirits on the earth. She does not even know about them. She is married to Troels, and she is six months pregnant. She could use the help since her mother and father are not rich and very busy on their own farm. I would be happy if you stayed here and helped me manage this place. I imagine I will be sailing off on another trading expedition in the near future, and I would like someone I can trust, and boys not afraid of work, to keep this place in good order while I am gone. But I understand having little ones about can be unsettling. If you want to stay, that would be great. But if you would rather, I can arrange to set you up in town where Hilda lives, and you can work for her. I would not mind if you chose to do that.”

Fiona did not hesitate. “If it is all the same, I think working this lovely farm would be fine. The boys and I have never had a home of our own.”

Kirstie nodded, but thought the woman needed another chance to decide, so she called Buttercup. Of course, Mariwood appeared with her since they were holding hands. It took a second before Mariwood bowed to Kirstie and Buttercup curtseyed most gracefully in mid-air. It took just long enough for Oswald to say “Wow” even louder than before, and this time Edwin echoed the “Wow”.

“Lady,” Mariwood spoke for the both of them.

“Mariwood and Buttercup,” Kirstie said. “Allow me to introduce Fiona from Northumbria and her two sons Oswald and Edwin. They may be living here to help me with the farm.”

Mariwood and Buttercup turned to the woman, keeping well out of the reach of the boy’s hands, and they repeated the bow and curtsy one more time.

“A pleasure,” Mariwood said.

“Lady,” Buttercup repeated, and Fiona smiled at being referred to as a lady, but she never blinked.

“I hope I may stay,” Fiona said.

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Buttercup said, and Kirstie took that as a good sign. Fairies were very intuitive about who to trust and who should not be trusted.

Fiona appeared to blink and said, “I saw a fairy once in my place by the manor on the river Aire not far from where it joins the Ouse. Perhaps you know him?”

“I am sorry, Ms. Fiona,” Mariwood said, thinking about it. “That is a long way from here and I cannot say to whom you may be referring.”

Buttercup also spoke. “I can think of only one man right now. Mariwood is my heart. I have a very small heart, you know.”

“What about your friend, Inga?” Kirstie said. “She has been missing you.”

Buttercup spun around to face Inga. She hovered, looked down, and turned her toe in the air like a little girl might turn her toe in the dirt. “I’m sorry.”

“It is all right, little one,” Inga said. “I am glad you are happy.”

Buttercup let out her most radiant smile. “I am happy,” she said and flew up to hug Inga, or at least she hugged Inga’s nose, one cheek, and an ear. It was as far around Inga’s face as her little arms could stretch.

“Mariwood and Buttercup.” Fiona tried the names on her tongue. “They seem very nice.”

“Most people are nice if you give them a chance,” Kirstie said, and invited Fiona and the boys to see their new home.

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MONDAY

Kirstie remembers that trouble comes in threes. Then Kirstie and Yasmina both discover it is time to go. Until then, Happy Reading

*

Medieval 5: K and Y 10 Home Again, part 2 of 3

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Kirstie

Inga and Hilda met Kirstie at the dock and Kirstie introduced her thralls and explained while Fiona collected their few things for the walk to Kirstie’s house. “They were taken in Northumbria. They were already serfs or slaves to the manor there, so being brought to Olvishaugr in the Skaun did not change their status much. Fiona lost her husband, Aidan, when the Vanlil came. She also lost her left arm from the elbow down. The man said it was a wonder she survived. The boys are Oswald, ten, and Edwin, eight. They are a bit young to do much, but they will grow. The man said he could not afford to feed them for nothing and keep them until the boys got big enough to be useful. They did not cost much. I figure the boys can learn to keep the sheep out of the grain and pull weeds from the garden, and the mother cooks so I don’t have to.”

“I hope it works,” Inga said.

“Speaking of cooking,” Hilda said with a grin and a pat on her enlarged belly. “I need to go home. I can’t walk that far anymore.” She hugged Kirstie and walked off, Inga and Kirstie staring. Kirstie said it.

“The girl waddles like a duck and she is just six months along.”

Inga chose not to comment, though she did whisper when they were on their way to Kirstie’s house. “Have you considered what to do when certain people show up on your doorstep? I mean, you get plenty of strange visitors.”

“We already talked about that. Fiona is used to having little ones around. She calls them the wee ones, or the good people. She says she even saw one once. We should be all right as long as Vortesvin the troll doesn’t show up.”

Inga rolled her eyes before she laughed. “Leave it to you to be friends with a troll.”

“A big ugly one, too. He has some ogre blood. But he is a nice fellow beneath that rock hard exterior, and he even seems to have a brain.”

“You sound like you like him,” Inga said, surprised until she put it together in her mind. “He is one of yours.”

Kirstie nodded. “All the trolls. I am responsible for all the sprites of the air, fire, water, and the earth. That includes all the elves, light and dark, and the dwarfs in between. Trolls are in there somewhere.”

“Giants?” Inga asked.

“No.” Kirstie shook her head. “In fact, even among the little ones, the little spirits of the earth, there are far more than the few I am responsible for. I have no responsibility for any lesser spirits or greater spirits, and certainly not for any flesh and blood people like giants or mermaids. I have no say over the swan people, or seal people, or any such people.

“Just the sprites,” Inga confirmed in her mind, although “sprites” was a generic enough term where it did not honestly explain who was included and who was not. “How do you know which ones are yours?”

“I know,” Kirstie said with finality. She thought for a moment while they walked and then tried to explain a bit more. “I have thought about this for a long time. I think in the beginning, the gods decided they could more or less watch over the lesser and greater spirits. Mostly those spirits did their work and there was not much interaction with the gods, or with people for that matter. Oh, the gods might call up a hurricane, or turn one away, but generally, the spirits did their jobs and that was fine.”

“Okay,” Inga said, to show she was listening even if she did not exactly understand.

Kirstie backed up the story a little bit to speak of an earlier time. “All of the universe is alive in one way or another. It is constantly changing. Gravity, electro-magnetism, time all bring changes.” Kirstie stopped and waved off the questions that might bring. “At some point, some five thousand four hundred years ago, there was a tower built to the glory of man. The Most High God scattered the people at that time and confused the languages so like today, different people speak different languages, and we cannot understand each other easily.”

Kirstie looked and Inga nodded slightly. “Well, at that time, the gods were given the job of watching over the human race, to test and try the souls of the people to see if they were fit for heaven or hell. The gods could encourage, support, strengthen or weaken, guide, defend, or withdraw their protection as they saw fit. They were not allowed to decide how things should turn out, but they laid the foundation for morality and natural law and showed that in this world there is a greater power than the human self, and that power will one day hold all people accountable for their lives so no one would have an excuse. But in their work, the gods noticed that certain little spirits worked close to the humans and risked interfering with the work and the development of humanity. They were mostly the little ones that were able to take on a form of flesh and blood, even to appear human, though they are not.”

“Like Yrsa,” Inga understood. “She looks human enough, but I have seen behind the glamour she wears and know she is not really human at all.”

Kirstie nodded this time. “The gods wanted to give the responsibility to someone to watch over them and keep them to their tasks, and most importantly, to prevent them from interfering with humanity. They were reluctant to put that much power into the hands of one of their own because for one thing, that person would have to be able to travel around the world as needed. They would have to have access to the lands of Aesgard and the lands of the Celts, the Africans, the Romans, the eastern lands… The sprites move with the winds, the seeds, and the waves, you know, and are not tied down to only here or only there.”

“But you are tied down to this place,” Inga said and held up her own hand this time to say what she thought she understood. “You have lived many lives in the past and will continue to live into the future. I get that. But in this life, and at least most of them you are just a plain, ordinary human and nothing special.”

“Thanks,” Kirstie interrupted. “I’m just an average nobody,” she said in a goofy voice.

Inga smiled, but she knew that Kirstie knew what she was saying, so Inga continued. “In any case, you are not a god like the gods. You may be immortal after a fashion, but you die time and again and are reborn somewhere else on the earth.”

“And very disturbing it is when that happens,” Kirstie said.

Inga nodded. She could imagine. “So, the gods give you the little ones they want to watch over, because you are not tied to one place on the earth, and not being an actual god, you are no threat to them.”

“Basically,” Kirstie nodded.

“But you are tied down to this place for as long as you live your life. What if there is trouble in Egypt? That is a long way from here and I doubt Rune Stenson would be willing to sail that far.”

Kirstie stopped walking. They had reached her farm, and she had servants to get settled.

Medieval 5: K and Y 10 Home Again, part 1 of 3

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Kirstie

As soon as they arrived at the house, Yrsa ran off to the woods, presumably to see her father. She came back a week later with an elf named Alm and declared that she was married. At the same time, Mariwood and Buttercup never seemed to be apart, and never came around when Kirstie might need them. Kirstie sighed and first thought she might like to have a boyfriend, but not Kare. Certainly not that jerk.

The elves of the wood took good care of her home while she was away. They brought in the harvest and sold most of it, using Inga as an intermediary. They kept the pigs. Her sow had a litter of six while she was away, and Kirstie swore the piglets ate everything they could reach. Kirstie looked at her pregnant friend Hilda and said Hilda was getting fat like her pig. Hilda probably put on a bit too much weight, but Hilda just smiled and chewed.

The elves of the wood also took care of her three cows. One calved shortly after she got home, and that was good. The cow provided plenty of milk which the elves turned mostly into cheese to preserve it. Kirstie had no complaints, but at the same time, she understood that it was not fair to depend on the elves of the woods. That was a great kindness to her, but that was not their job. She needed to live in her human village and work out her own place in her human world, and the elves needed to do their own work in the spiritual world.

Inga came to visit often enough, and she generally got her hair braided when she visited. “Otherwise, my hair tends to frizz and stick out in every direction it can,” she complained before she added. “Although, having it wild and frizzy works for Buttercup, if I should see the fairy again.”

Kirstie nodded to things, generally. “Mine is thick and stays straight with no curl at all.” They started toward the village. Kirstie had an errand and dressed in her armor, though the weapons were not so prevalent, and she asked, “Why is it women always want the kind of hair that they don’t have?”

“Women want everything that they don’t have,” Inga said and smiled. “So, you are a woman now?”

Kirstie nodded. “Close enough at fifteen.”

Inga smiled. “I still see you as the wild child I used to chase around the village, trying to keep you out of trouble.”

Kirstie kept on nodding. “I’m still wild. And still growing.” She wanted to complain. “I’m fifteen but already tall for a woman, taller than some men.”

“Maybe you will get as tall as Kare. Then, as you say, you can tell him to stuff it.”

Kirstie grinned before she frowned. “I had a nightmare about him. But what about you? You must be twenty-one or two. Isn’t there anyone you are interested in? You are pretty enough. I am sure any man in the village would be glad to have you to wife.”

Inga looked at Kirstie and shook her head softly. “Mother Vrya keeps me very busy. Besides, I will have to be there when Hilda has her baby.”

“I’m worried about her eating so much,” Kirstie said. “She does not have to put on so much weight. She will never get it off again.”

Inga agreed. “I have talked to her about that, but she says she is eating because she is so happy. It makes her happy.”

“There is an excuse if I ever heard one,” Kirstie responded. “Women eat because they are happy, and they eat because they are sad. I would guess the only time women will stop eating might be if they stopped feeling anything at all.”

“That will never happen,” Inga said.

“Never happen,” Kirstie agreed.

They walked toward the docks and Inga asked a question. “So, what is this journey you are taking? The spring has arrived. Shouldn’t you be worried about getting your fields planted?”

Kirstie shook her head. “My sheep are due to arrive and my friends in the woods have agreed to watch them, but that is really asking too much of them. Rune, Frode, and my friend Thorsten all said they would send men to get the fields planted, but I need to make a better arrangement. The men I hired are building a two-room servant’s home. They have expanded the pig pen to accommodate all the piglets for when they grow, and turned old Bjorn the Bear’s sleeping quarters into a real chicken coop. They are also building two large fenced in areas beside the barn. on either side, one for the sheep and one for the cows. I hope this trip will find something more permanent so when the word comes, and I have to sail off, I can know my home will be cared for.”

“You will be sailing again?”

“It is only a matter of time. I don’t expect Abraxas to give up.”

They stopped by the docks. “I worry about you, you know.”

“Feeling all motherly?” Kirstie smiled.

“No. Yes. But I worry about these hags as you describe them. I saw the body of Chief Birger after the King’s house. A bear could not have done a better job of ripping the poor man to shreds.” Inga looked around and lowered her voice. “Buttercup explained to me how you are a goddess to the spirits of the earth. I understood better when you went away, and Elgar came from the past to stand in your place. Elgar lived in the past, did he not?” Kirstie nodded, so she continued. “But I do not like the idea of you fighting one of the gods. That thought frightens me to no end.”

Kirstie kept the smile, though it was perhaps not so pointed. “Especially since in this life I am just an ordinary human.”

Inga almost smiled herself. “Graced and empowered by Njord and Fryer, and who knows who else.”

“No one else at this time. The gods have all gone over to the other side, and this Abraxas needs to join them. He has been given two chances. First, the Nameless god threw him out of all the lands of Aesgard. And second, the gods agreed. Junior Amun threw him out of the Middle East and from the ancient lands of Karnak and Luxor in Egypt and North Africa. Amphitrite, queen of the seas threw him out of her waters, including the Atlantic and every sea connected to the ocean, and as the last Olympian, she threw him out of the lands of Olympus. Danna, the mother goddess of the Celts threw him off the continent, so he only has the big islands in the west for his home. He must stop interfering with the natural course and development of the human race, and he is supposed to find the courage to give up this life and go over to the other side. He is not supposed to be trying to find ways to come here or come back to the continent. He should not be making hags to do his dirty work.”

“He must die?” Inga tried to understand.

Kirstie nodded. She did not mind telling the volve in training. “It is like dying. He must let go of his flesh and blood and return to being the pure spirit he actually is.”

Inga shook her head, so Kirstie explained as well as she could.

“A pure spirit has no eyes to see nor ears to hear. It has no hands to touch the earth. The sun still shines. The wind still blows, but the gods no longer have the ability to see or feel what they are doing. They are directed now by the Most High God, the source of all.” Kirstie pulled out her little cross and held it tightly in her hand. “Maybe God will be gracious to help me find the help I need.”

Inga could nod for that. “Good luck,” she said, and Kirstie hugged her motherly friend and climbed aboard the Red Herring, a karve ready to sail north into the fjord. The next day, the Red Herring returned with nails and other goods for the village, and Kirstie returned with Fiona, a woman in her mid-thirties, and her two sons named after the saints in Northumbria, Oswald and Edwin.

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

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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

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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

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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 3 Little Ones, part 2 of 2

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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.