Journey the Land
Ailia’s bottom had become sore from sitting on the saddle for so long, but she felt she had no right to complain since she was sitting and Soren had been walking on the slick ground for hours.
“I cannot believe how vast the glaciers were,” Ailia said, adjusting in her seat, trying futilely to find a comfortable position.
“They are not really that vast, but they take a long time to cross because they are so slick,” Soren said, walking faster than before as he held on to the reins.
They had reached the end of the Blue Glaciers and had entered the Northland Forest. Ailia asked if he wanted to ride with her, but he preferred to walk instead of burden his horse with another rider.
The forest’s evergreen trees stood lifeless, starved and skeleton-like, stripped of their previous majestic grandeur. Freezing wind breezed by, swaying the bare trees gently from side to side. About an hour ago, the sun had reached its pathetically low peak and was now streaking the dimming sky with bright pink, flaming clouds.
“My uncle says the evergreen trees in this forest are enchanted with trolls and fairies,” Ailia said. “I used to come here with him all the time when I was a child.”
“And—” Soren started.
“I hope you’re not going to tell me that trolls and fairies exist, too. If you do, I will never believe you,” she said, smiling.
He laughed. “No, trolls are just the human’s way of glorifying giants and dwarves. I was about to say: and now the Northland Forest is a ghost of what it used to be.”
“I heard once that the Vik people lived in this forest. Is that true?” she asked.
“You mean the Vikings?”
“I suppose—” she said, not familiar with that name. “Is it the same thing?”
“The plunderers from the Vik district have recently been nicknamed Vikings. No one knows exactly where they have settled, or even if they have settled, but I highly doubt they are here,” he said.
“That’s a strange name—Vikings.”
“The southerners started calling them that after they plundered their country.”
“So they don’t only plunder here?” she asked.
“No, not at all.” He walked on for a while in silence. “I was recently in the Southlandic Kingdom and most southerners consider all of us northerners Vikings, whether we plunder or not.”
“They must not realize that some of us don’t condone that type of barbaric behavior.”
“No,” he said. “We are all the same to them.”
“Well, I suppose we view all southerners as overly religious extremists, so we’re not much better,” she said.
Soren laughed. “True.”
She grew serious. “I—think there could be a connection with the Vikings and my disappearance.”
He looked up at her, his eyes puzzled. “What makes you think that?”
She clutched the handkerchief and flask in her pocket. She was not sure if she was ready to reveal everything just yet to this stranger. “I remember seeing one of them before I lost consciousness.”
“You would probably be dead by now if they were involved,” he said, pulling on Volomite’s reigns.
“Yes, most likely,” she agreed on the surface, but she was now wondering why she was not dead. Maybe they thought they had killed me when in fact they had not.
“Now that I think of it, I do remember hearing a story about a young family that was captured and killed close to these woods,” he said. “I do not know if it was Viking related, but it could have been.”
Feeling suddenly very uneasy, she looked behind her to make sure they weren’t being followed. “But if they come from the Vik District, why would they have settled around here?”
“I remember hearing that a few Bergendalers joined the Vikings when Eiess usurped the Northlandic Throne,” he said.
Ailia thought back to the last day she remembered. The Vik men had been on the mountainside, and they were carrying weapons, appearing as if they were going to attack. But she didn’t see Eiess there. Then again, Eiess could have been elsewhere in the battle.
“However, after they helped Eiess seize the Northlandic Throne, she betrayed them and cast them out of the castle without the promised reward. The Vik men tried to re-settle in Bergendal, but they left shortly after because they were ousted by the people for their treachery.”
I had already gone missing by then, she noted.
“As they left the city, they vowed with one another to destroy Eiess and the people of Bergendal,” he finished.
“Where did they go after that?” she asked. Each moment she grew more and more fearful that the Vikings might be lurking close by.
“That is what no one knows,” he said.
“Oh, so they could be here?” she asked, lowering her voice several notches, as her eyes again searched between the trees.
He looked up at her sitting on Volomite and smiled. “You need not worry. I will protect you.”
Not quite knowing what to think or say to that, she blurted out, “And I will protect you.”
He barked a laugh. Slightly offended by his apparent lack of confidence in her, she took off her wool mitten and threw it at him, but he ducked just as the mitten missed his head. She pulled off her second mitten and tried to hit him again, but missed.
“Be careful, Miss Ailia, or your hands will be very cold by the end of this trip.” He glanced at her, smiling mischievously, and raised an eyebrow.
She looked for something else to throw, but stopped searching when he handed her mittens back.
“We should break here before we continue,” he said more serious now. “I am starving. How about you?”
“Me, too,” she said relieved. His playfulness had helped her lose her nervousness a bit. Did he intend that?
“But before then, I was considering leaving you up there indefinitely as payback for trying to hit me with your mittens,” he said, his face looking dead serious.
She smiled guiltily. Did I take it too far?
Soren lifted the fur off from the horse, opened it and laid it on the ground. He then walked over to the right side of Volomite and raised his hands to help her down.
“You don’t remain angry for very long, do you?” she said.
He smiled and shook his head. “Too much to carry.”
She reached down and grabbed hold of his shoulders as his hands wrapped around her waist.
Lifting her off the horse, he set her down on the snow very gently. “My lady,” he said.
Their eyes connected for a moment and Ailia had to catch her breath when her heart started to beat faster. His eyes seemed to exude compassion and wisdom beyond a human’s capacity. If what he had been telling her was true, it would make sense that she felt this way around him, a half mortal, half god-like being. However, she still couldn’t help but think that she knew him from somewhere. He almost seemed to be a part of her in some way. Maybe I’ve met him before, but I just do not remember?
“Let me help you on to the fur.” He placed a hand around her waist, and she reached her arm around his shoulder. They walked over to the fur, and he helped her sit down. The sky had suddenly taken on a much darker color, making every shadow that much more frightening.
“Drink this,” he said, giving her a wooden bowl filled with liquid.
The drink was cold, but it was the same one he had given her earlier. It tasted much bitterer this time going down, but her leg had started to throb again, so she would do whatever it took to lessen the pain.
Soren immediately gathered twigs and wood, and started a small fire. “I have more healing herbs for you, but I need to go find one last ingredient, so I can prepare them. Volomite will stay here to keep you company. I will not be long,” he said. “Maybe I will even get lucky and find something else to eat, too.” He snagged his bow and quiver. “I will be return shortly. Do not worry. No one is around.”
She watched him walk off into the blackness. Even the way he moved seemed so recognizable, slightly springy in his gait, with confidence in each step. The further away he got, the more she appreciated having Volomite close. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said, looking up at him.
Volomite neighed, flicking his long, black tail.
She tried not to think about the Vikings, but she couldn’t help from glancing around whenever she heard the slightest sound, or thought she saw movement. Once in a while, a few ravens squawked, causing her to jump, but never was there a Viking to be seen. As her eyes grew heavy, she lay down and gazed up into the dark, starlit sky. Radiant, colorful Auroras lit up the heavens with a beautiful dance. She remembered a conversation she had had with Uncle Brander several years back when she was just eight.
“The Auroras are known as the dancers of the spirits and they connect past generations to current generations to future generations with their light display,” he had said.
“Why are they different colors?” she had asked.
“The red Auroras are spirits that have not yet been born and the green and blue Auroras are spirits that have passed away. When someone dies, a part of their spirit is caught up into the heavens and is transformed into light. It is the only way for us to see that our loved ones are still with us. So anyone who hopes for a child, or has lost a beloved, can look up into the skies and the Auroras will remind them that the spirit is eternal.”
The light spectacle soothed Ailia’s fears and she felt at ease in the night. She thought about her birth parents, wishing she could remember them, their faces, their voices and their loving embraces. If only I had one single item from them, a word, or something I could know them by, I would be so happy. She closed her eyes and imagined what they looked like, and gradually, she fell asleep under the stars.
Ailia woke up and saw that the fire had started to grow dim. Where’s Soren? He had been gone longer than she thought he would. Suddenly, she heard rapid footsteps behind her, and she turned around. Nothing was there, except for the gaping vacuum of a dark abyss. “Soren?” Her breath grew shallow as she heard the footsteps behind her again, more prominent this time. She cringed and wanted to stand up and run away. Maybe the wolves have returned to finalize their kill?
Volomite whinnied fearfully and reared, floundering his front hooves into the air. Barely able to keep herself from screaming, she stood up and hopped over to him on one leg. She grabbed his mane and pressed herself close up to him to calm him and her. Panic grabbed hold of her body, escalating her heart rate to twice its normal pace. Where were the footsteps coming from? Is another mare demon visiting me?
The footsteps slowed until they completely stopped. She closed her eyes and squeezed herself closer to Volomite’s large body, realizing he was currently her only safeguard against danger. She wanted to yell for Soren, but if the wolves or the Vikings were close by, they would hear her, too, and come for her. Having calmed down, Volomite stepped forward and lowered his head with a nicker as if to greet someone.
It must be Soren, she thought. “Soren?” she said, cautiously peeking around Volomite’s chest.
But it wasn’t Soren at all. There stood two little boys around two and three years of age, dressed in winter overcoats and fur hats and mittens, their boots caked in snow. They looked at her with doleful eyes, and seemed to be lost. She remembered the young family that had been killed by the Vikings. I hope these aren’t their spirits still wandering these forests. She quickly pulled her head back behind Volomite and closed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Slowly opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and peeked around Volomite’s massive body again.
The boys were crying and whimpering now, rubbing their moist eyes.
She stepped out from behind the horse. “It’s all right. Don’t cry. What’s the matter?”
They stopped crying and looked up at her with swollen, red eyes.
“Mamma,” the older one sobbed, pointing randomly into the air. The younger boy stepped closer to her and raised his hands toward her, as if he wanted to be picked up. She instinctively reached for him and lifted him up. She had to put weight on her injured leg and felt an intense shooting pain, immediately putting the boy down again. She wobbled over to the cushy fur blanket and sat down, smiling and waving for the children to join her.
The two babes rushed over, both jumping onto her lap, competing for affection and space.
“Where’s your Mamma?” she asked.
“Mamma gone,” the older one said.
She looked around again, but she didn’t see anyone. “You can stay with me until we find her,” she said, hugging their fidgety, cold bodies.
The older boy started to fuss and the younger one was quick to follow his example.
“Let me sing you a song,” she said. She chose her favorite lullaby.
Sleep now my child, your mamma is here
To hold you so tight and erase all your fears
The kettle is full of porridge for you
Your father is coming and he loves you too.
Sleep now my child, rest your sweet head
On this silk pillow that is in your bed
Watch all the stars in the heav’n so bright
Sleep till you wake to the morning light.
Sleep now my child, your future is set
You will have all the riches a young prince can get
Peace in your soul, love in your core,
Faith in each step from shore to shore.
Sleep now my child, the sun will soon rise
The Lord has secured all family ties
Forever you will be in my heart and my mind
My love is eternal, His love is Divine.
Sleep now my child, do not worry at all
Your needs will be met, no matter how small,
one day you will grow and not want to stay
Just follow your dreams and you will find your way.
The boys settled down serenely and looked up at Ailia with endearing eyes.
“I hungry,” the younger boy said.
She remembered where Soren kept his bread. She stood up and told the boys to stay put. “I have some food for you,” she said, limping over to Volomite, looking inside the leather bag. She found the bread and turned around.
She was startled to find Soren standing right in front of her.
“Heavens, you scared me!” she said, hitting his arm.
“Was that you singing?” he asked. “It sounded lovely. Look what I found!” he said proudly, holding up two lifeless snow-white hares by their hind legs.
“Uh, yes, you must have heard me,” she said embarrassed, as she tried to look around him for the children. “The children were hungry, so I wanted to give them some bread,” she said, trying to get him out of the way. “These sweet boys just appeared out of nowhere and were crying.” Finally, she walked around him to get to the boys, but to her surprise, they were not there. “Where did the boys go? They were just here!” She limped over to the other side of Volomite and looked for them there. “We need to find them. They were lost and looking for their mother and… Did you see them?”
“I heard you singing, but I did not see any boys here when I arrived,” he said, looking bewildered.
“They were just here. They sat on my lap and said their Mamma was gone and that they were hungry. You must have scared them off! We need to find them. They cannot be out here all by themselves!” She was becoming anxious and she always started rambling when she worried about something. “It would be inhumane to leave them in the forest alone.” She hobbled into the forest, looking for them and Soren followed. They searched the area for some time, but had no luck in locating the children.
The pressure on her injured leg became too much and she sat down in the snow as her eyes kept scanning the forest.
“Shh—” Soren warned unexpectedly, his body turning rigid.
She looked at him and listened. They heard men’s voices in the distance and saw torches flickering through the shadowy forest trees.
He signaled to her to be quiet, placing his index finger over his lips. “Shh,” he said, this time very quietly but more severe. He slowly crouched down to the ground.
“I think they are Vikings,” he mouthed to her.
She looked at him, her eyes widening, as terror filled her core.
The voices and torches were coming closer, but there was no place to hide. He signaled to her to follow him., and they crawled in the snow, worming themselves toward a hopefully safe shelter from the barbarians. He laid down on his right side behind a not nearly large enough rock and gestured to Ailia to do the same. She wiggled over and lay in front of him facing outward. Then, his arms wrapped around her, as he spooned her.
She felt his body heat burning against her back. His rough chin rubbed against her virgin soft cheek and his warm breath felt like a soft feather against her cold skin. It surprised her that her body responded so favorably to his and that she longed to be even closer to him than she was now. Their heartbeats conformed to each other as they lay wait for the Vikings to either pass by or notice them. However, it struck her: no danger in the world could make her feel less safe. Not around Soren.
“You must have been mistaken. There’s no one out here,” one of the men said, standing only a dozen feet away from them.
“What about these footprints?” the other said.
She cringed. They know we’re here. We’re dead.
“Those are our footprints, you idiot. I don’t want to waste my time out here. If Gunnar wants to search for people who don’t exist in the middle of Loki’s freezing night, he can go do it himself.”
“Well, if we find out later that there was someone here, it’ll be your fault that they got away,” the Viking said.
“Do me a favor and shut your stinkin’ lutefisk hole.”
Ailia could hear them continue to argue, as their voices faded away into the distance.
“They are gone,” he finally said, still whispering and slowly releasing his grip on her.
“That was close,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Even had we been discovered, I would have been able to take them both without difficulty.”
“But—they are Vikings,” she said in disbelief. “They plunder and kill for a living.”
He paused. “I do not know how to say this without sounding like a completely overconfident fool, but I could have killed twenty Vikings with the greatest of ease had they discovered us.”
She smirked and tried not to laugh at his ‘humility’. She just nodded her head and bit her lip. “Um-hmm—” she said.
“What?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing.”
“No, what?” He smiled.
“You are just so— humble,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Hopefully, I will never have to prove it to you,” he said.
She rolled her eyes at him, sat up, and rose to her feet. She could feel that her injured leg had been used too much and the sharp pain had returned.
“Vikings wear a raven symbol. I did not see one, did you?”
“No,” she said.
“I did not see one earlier either.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I saw them when I went hunting,” he said.
“Why did not you tell me there were Vikings close by?” she asked disturbed.
“I did not feel the need to tell you, because there was no immediate threat,” he said.
She huffed. “I don’t need protecting, you know. I’m not a dainty little flower.”
He stared at her intently. “I beg to differ.”
“Well, not usually, only recently.” She met his eyes but looked away quickly, the intensity of his gaze causing her cheeks to warm.
“Just since you met me then?” he said with a penetrative glare.
She huffed and decided it was due time to change the subject. “Let’s just hope they didn’t see our fire and Volomite,” she said.
He let it pass. “Volomite is usually smart enough to stay away from strangers, but if they find the fire, they will know someone is here and will come looking for us.” He rubbed his forehead.
She had almost forgotten about the children she had seen. She gasped. “The boys!”
“I do not want to alarm you further, but are you certain the boys were…real?” he asked.
“Of course they were real. They sat on my lap and cried and I comforted them,” she said, almost insulted.
“Were they—alive?” he continued.
“What do you mean?” she asked, perplexed and annoyed.
“There have been sightings of ghosts here in the Northland Forest, sightings of two young boys who were killed by the Vikings.”
She stared at him for a moment before saying, “These boys were not ghosts or spirits. I held them in my arms. I felt them.”
“Were they cold or warm?” he asked.
“They were—” She had to think about that for a while. “They were cold, but it’s cold out here.” Yes the children were cold, but unlike Soren, they also didn’t have any body heat that she could feel when she held them. When she was pulled close to him, she could definitely feel his body heat. “I saw them and held them,” she said disbelieving. She knew that spirits held no body heat, but she had also believed they couldn’t be held or touched.
“I had a friend who also had seen the boys a few weeks ago and they had vanished as quickly as tonight. I am not saying that you did not see them or hold them, but I think that they could be the little boy spirits trapped here in Midgard without a way to go back home to their parents in Valhalla,” he said.
Ailia grew silent because she couldn’t make sense of anything. Maybe the medicine he had given her had some hallucinogenic effect on her.
“You look like you are in pain,” he observed, taking a step closer to her.
She thought about trying to remain brave and push through the pain.
“I would be happy to help you back to our camp site,” he said, now serious and not teasing, but only seeming genuinely concerned.
“I think I do need help,” she said, realizing her own limitations. She decided not to dwell on the children, but she hoped that they would reappear sooner or later, so she could help them.
Soren swooped her up into his arms and their eyes locked for a split second. For a fraction of a moment, she thought she saw something that looked like longing, almost as if he was searching for something in her gaze. However, before she could make sense of it, he looked away and carried her all the way back to their campsite. The fire had burned out completely, and while she sat down, He gathered firewood and rekindled the flames. They sat in silence as he skinned the hares, seasoned them and put them to roast on the fire.
Sitting and watching him do all the work, she felt useless. She wasn’t used to sitting and having someone wait on her, and more often than not, she had been the one serving others at home. “I’m sorry I’m not much help. It feels strange to me to not be doing anything.”
“I do not mind,” he said. “It is good for you to get rest, so you can heal.”
The hares smelled heavenly and her stomach growled. “May I ask what happened after your wife—?” She didn’t like how harsh the word died sounded and decided not to finish her question.
“I arrived home and was told the news. Shortly after, our first son, Bjorn, died of a mysterious infection.” He paused as if to compose himself. “I swore I would never rest until I avenged my wife’s death and until Eiess was destroyed.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your loss,” she said. It would be the most horrifying thing to lose one’s wife and child.
“It was so long ago, but I still feel it as if it happened yesterday,” he said.
“How could Eiess kill you or your wife? Being a Sentinor, aren’t you as powerful as she?” she said.
“She has had a much longer time to increase her strength here in Midgard. The rules are different here than in Alvheim or Vanaheim, the realm Eiess is from. Eiess became involved with black art magic even before she came to Midgard and she has grown very powerful over millennia now.”
“Can’t you just kill yourselves and you would be free and together again?” she asked. “I wouldn’t want you to kill yourself, but perhaps you might be happier if you were with Lucia again.”
“It is not that simple. My wife and me together are the only ones who can defeat the empress. If we both killed ourselves, we would be leaving Midgard in the hands of Eiess and we covenanted in Alfheim to protect humanity. It is a commitment I am willing to endure all things for.”
“Does Lucia look the same every time she is reborn?” Ailia was spellbound by his story. She rested her chin in her palm and leaned forward.
“No, although the first two times she lived, she had hazel eyes.” He studied her face.
She blushed and looked down.
“Do you remember the incident when most young women disappeared in the Northlandic Kingdom about twenty-eight, twenty-nine years ago? Eiess took all women under the age of twenty, probably to be killed.”
“I hadn’t been born yet,” she responded. “But my aunt and uncle told me about the horrible story. Only a few made it out alive they said.” Her aunt was over thirty at the time, so she hadn’t been taken.
“The whole story was a lie. Eiess, still an unknown figure to most people in the Northlandic Kingdom at the time, led everyone to believe that it was the Vik people who headed the attack and kidnapped the young women. However, I have reason to believe it was her. I was on an errand for someone when Eiess sent her Surtorians out to round up all the women.” Soren flipped the hares around to roast on the other side.
“Why would she do something like that?” she asked, shaking her head with a furrowed brow.
“It makes sense if you are as greedy and power hungry as Eiess. Think about it: the prophecy states that the Great Sentinor would defeat her. If Eiess does not know where or who the Great Sentinor is, she will do anything to have her exterminated.”
“What did she do to the women?” she asked.
“No one knows, but they disappeared forever.”
She thought back to Lucia. “So, has Lucia been re-born many times?”
“This past time was her third time,” he said.
“Do you know where she is now?” Then something occurred to her. “It’s not Princess Lucia, is it?”
He nodded. “Eiess has Lucia imprisoned somewhere with King Olav. Nobody knows where Eiess keeps them, or even if they are still alive. I have tried several times to break into the castle, but to no avail.”
She could see the pain in his eyes.
“Ironic, is it not? I have waited for three-quarters of a century for her to be born again and she disappears the eve before I was going to formally propose.”
“I’m so sorry to hear.” She felt quite sad on his behalf.
“I believe Eiess has the Aesira Jewel with Lucia and King Olav in the Northlandic Castle. That is where it was last seen. It makes for a dangerous combination.”
“Can’t Iluxia tell you where Lucia is?” she asked.
“No. He only sees her spirit right before she enters this life and merges with her mortal body—like a light, he told me once.” He took the hares off the fire and cut them up. He placed a nice sized portion onto two different wood plates.
Her mouth watered, as the scent of fresh meat inundated the air.
“Here you are. I hope this will fill you up,” he said, handing it to her.
“Thank you.” She accepted the meat and started eating. It was the best meat she had ever tasted.
He poured her a cup of wine from his wine sack and into a wooden bowel. “This may be too strong for you,” he warned as he handed it to her.
She was accustomed to drinking strong mead and wine. She gulped deeply from the bowl, but quickly realized that this drink was much stronger than what she had been raised on. She coughed violently.
He cracked a crooked smile. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She coughed again. “Excuse me,” she said embarrassed, wiping the wine off her face and chin.
“After repast we should be getting on our way again, so we can get out of this forest sooner rather than later,