Runes of Fate

by Lena North

  I remained under the fir until I was sure she'd disappeared into the trees. Then I continued toward the seer's camp, walking as silently as I could and leaving the path when I got closer to come up toward the fire from the side.

  It took a while for my eyes to get used to the light from the fire even though it wasn't bright. I saw some movement on the other side and my breath hitched when I realized what was happening right in front of me.

  A woman was pressed up against one of the trees. I'd never seen anyone dressed like her, or with that kind of strange bracelets. There were other ornaments fastened in the tresses of her long dark hair, glittering in the light from the fire. I could see her profile clearly, and she was beautiful in a haunting, unusual way.

  Between her raised legs stood a tall man.

  He held her hands pressed to the tree trunk high above their heads, and his trousers were down around his ankles. She was moaning softly, and I heard him grunting deeply with every thrust he made. I only saw the back of the man, but I would have recognized that soft brown hair anywhere because his son had inherited it.

  It was Einarr.

  I didn't want to see Josteinn's father like that, but I couldn't seem to look away. I knew what men and women did together, and I had heard my parents more than once, but this was different. It was raw, wild and in a strange way somehow exciting to watch. Suddenly Einarr tilted his head backward and groaned loudly. I jolted, and that snapped me out of my stupor, so I held my breath, backing away slowly. I moved silently in the shadows when the seer suddenly turned her head, and it seemed as if she was looking straight at me even though I knew that she couldn't see me through the darkness. Suddenly, she smiled knowingly, almost mockingly, and my cheeks burned with embarrassment when I crept away through the forest.

  I walked back slowly, wondering what to do. The seer had somehow known I was there. Would she say something to Einarr? If she did, then it was better that I said something first. I didn't want him to think I'd been following him. Then I remembered how Astrid had looked, and I guessed that she must have seen the same scene I did. Einarr should know what to expect when he got back home, I thought.

  So I sat down on the log in the clearing where we'd met the other times.

  I didn't have to wait for long, and then he came ambling through the forest. He looked relaxed, I thought, and I almost chuckled because he would be.

  "Einarr," I said and stood up.

  "Sissa?"

  He seemed surprised. Apparently the seer hadn't said anything, but I still wanted to warn him.

  "I was in the forest, for..." I indicated my basket and he nodded, but I saw how his eyes sharpened. "I just wanted to tell you that I saw your wife," I said carefully.

  He straightened, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

  "I don't mean to interfere, but she looked very upset so I thought you should know," I said. "I thought that you might want to plan your explanation a little bit in advance, in case you have done, eh... something that could anger her," I added, stuttering a little as I fought the blush that crept up my neck

  He kept watching me in silence but then slowly a grin spread on his face. He knew what I'd seen and he was enjoying my embarrassment.

  "I see," he said. Then his grin became even wider, and I could suddenly understand why Catriona would find him handsome. He stepped closer, and I looked down, but he used one finger under my chin to lift my head until I faced him. "I hope you aren't too shocked, little girl," he whispered and his breath brushed my cheek as he spoke.

  "No," I replied determinedly, trying to act like a grown up and be casual about it all but I could feel that I was still blushing. "And I won't talk, you know I won't, Einarr," I added.

  "I know, Sissa, and I thank you for it," he said, suddenly serious.

  Then he backed away, motioned toward the village. I felt awkward walking next to him, still having the image of his naked backside in my eyes, and the sounds he'd made in my ears, so I searched desperately for something safe to talk about.

  "Can I look at the sheds, Einarr?" I asked when we finally approached the houses.

  "Of course. I should have thought about that before. I've been through them with my men, and we found nothing, but we'll do it again tomorrow, you and me," he replied. "I'll come and get you from the longhouse," he added.

  Then he raised a hand in a silent greeting to me, turned around a corner and disappeared.

  I wondered what he'd face when he came home.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Clues

  The next day, Einarr came to the longhouse when the sun was at its highest in the sky. We didn't have many hours of daylight this time of the year so I was grateful because we'd have several hours to look around if we needed it.

  The weather was warmer again, and the snow had started to melt a little so the paths through the village were muddy. When we reached the sheds, I could see that there would be no useful information coming from the footprints or other tracks in front of them. It seemed that the whole village must have stomped around the two small houses, and both of the doors were half open.

  "Everyone has had free access to go in there as they pleased?" I asked, trying to sound neutral. He frowned a little, so I guessed he'd heard my displeasure.

  "We searched the sheds and the area around them, Sissa. There was nothing there. You think that you'll find something that we couldn't?"

  "I don't know. But it has snowed so even if you missed something then it would anyway be gone by now," I replied sourly. "You'll have to tell me about what you saw."

  We started with the shed I'd been in. It looked exactly like it had that horrible day. I shuddered slightly when I remembered how I had stood there and waited for them to come for me. It was a small building, and there were just some tools and a couple of piles of dry, thin sticks that was used to start fires with in there. I walked forward to crouch by the wall where I had sat.

  "What are you doing?" Einarr asked.

  "I'll think about what happened. Try to..." my voice hitched slightly, but I continued immediately, "to remember what I heard that night. It's blurry, Einarr. I was... I was afraid, and I don't remember everything, but I'll try."

  "Wait," he said abruptly.

  To my surprise, he walked out of the shed, and I heard some murmurs outside. Then he came back in again and nodded at me to continue.

  "I sat here. I remembered Fin, how we were children together. How we planned and dreamed. I -" I stopped to swallow. My eyes stung, and I looked at Einarr with embarrassment but continued staunchly, "I soiled myself," I whispered hoarsely and his face softened.

  "Sissa..." he said gently, but he didn't move so I continued, wanting to get through this as quickly as possible.

  "Then I decided that I wanted to behave with dignity. Needed to show to both myself and the gods that I had courage. I wanted Fin to be proud of me."

  "You miss him," he said, and it wasn't a question so I didn't bother answering.

  "I crawled over here," I said as I got to me feet, "and then I stood here. Waited. Counted my breaths, and the stitches on the -" I turned abruptly. "Einarr, where's the hood? The one Mother made for me?"

  "Gone," he replied grimly. "Both yours and the one on Heidrun."

  "I have Heidrun's," I whispered and he jerked.

  "What?"

  "Nessa gave it to me. She'd been out to see my brother, and she found it. She gave it to me, and I don't know much because they were suddenly gone but I have it hidden at home."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" he barked angrily.

  "Einarr... she found it on the back side of your house," I replied, watching his eyes widen in surprise. "I didn't know what to think. Did you put it there? Your wife? Joss? I kept it and waited, but I am telling you now," I said quietly.

  "By my house?" he asked.

  I watched him carefully, knowing well that he was cunning and probably good at pretending, so he could be fooling me. I still thought that he seemed genuinely surprised.
>
  "Yes. I'll give it to you later," I said.

  He grunted but didn't say anything else so I turned and tried to remember more from the evening of the sacrifice.

  "I waited, for what felt like forever but it wasn't so long, I think, and then there was silence. I knew it was time so I braced when I heard a commotion outside, but then it was silent again. Then the voices started up again, the chanting. I couldn't understand, but then I fell to the ground, and the last thing I heard was someone shouting my name, I heard -"

  "Me," a calm voice said from the door. Josteinn pushed his father to the side and put an arm around my shoulders. "Sissa, you're shaking," he said turning angrily to his father. "Is this necessary?"

  "I'm fine Joss," I interrupted immediately, and that was suddenly true. Standing there with his arm around me and with nothing more to share, I felt calm again. I took another look around, but it was just a shed like it always had been, and I was alive to tell my story. "When I get out of here I'll be even better," I added, moving toward the door.

  "Walk with us, son," Einarr commanded in a quiet voice.

  I realized that when he left me earlier, he'd gone out to ask his men to get Josteinn. For me? Or because he wanted him to be part of what we were doing? I didn't know but thought that either way it was a nice thing to do.

  The shed Heidrun had been in was close to mine, but they were still several steps apart. I looked at the door and the beam that stood leaned against the wall and wondered how she'd ended up in there. I tried to lift the beam, and I got it off the ground, but there was no way I could have hoisted it high enough to lock the door. Then I walked back to lift the one that had locked me in and that was much lighter. I could effortlessly slide that on the door.

  "Huh," I said but continued into the house Heidrun had been held in.

  It was bigger and sturdier than the one they had kept me in, partially because it was dug out so there were a couple of steps down just by the door. At the back wall, there was a window, and the shutters were closed with two smaller latches of wood on the inside, much like how we held the doors closed, and locked. I turned to Einarr, who answered my question before I could even voice it.

  "Locked, Sissa. We checked immediately, and they were locked from the inside."

  "Someone could have gone there during the night and closed it," I said.

  "One of men put the beam in place after they'd brought the girl out but before they took her to the sacrifice," Einarr said.

  "That means either someone was strong enough to take the beam off and put Heidrun in here, or else, she could have been brought in through the window, but then the one responsible would still have needed to get the beam off to go in and lock the shutters. It all comes down to being strong enough to lift off the beam," I said slowly.

  Then I looked around, but there was nothing to be seen in there. Some tools were leaning against one wall next to a big stack of baskets, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A huge pile of rushes was propped up against one wall, and I turned to Joss.

  "You brought these in here?"

  "Yes. Freyja had it in her head that we needed extra rushes so we wouldn't catch diseases or something. She made Ulf run back and forth to the forest the whole afternoon. I pitied them and tried to help so she made me start bringing them in here and then she could order Ulf around instead. And she was in and out of the storage as well, all in a flutter over the visitors and the sacrifice. Reminded me even more of a headless chicken than usual."

  "Josteinn," Einarr said warningly, but Joss turned to his father with an unrepentant grin.

  "Father, I know. But she is so -"

  "Think it, boy, don't say it," Einarr interrupted, but I could hear the smile in his voice as well.

  We walked out and started to look around the houses, but there was nothing to be seen. The ground was covered with snow and mud. I looked around, scanning the surroundings. They'd used this shed to keep me because it was close to the area where sacrifices were held, though on the main path through the village. There were houses lined up all the way to the village center, though the path curved so the Jarl's longhouse was actually not that far away. Next to the shed Heidrun had been in was the brew house where ale, beer, and mead was made and between the buildings the small path leading to the storage curved. I frowned and walked a few steps up the path to take a look. I'd passed by the storage house the day Disa died, and there had been tracks in the snow. I'd forgotten, but now I walked up to see if they could still be seen. They'd been on the outside of the storage, facing the edge of the village and the forest and it had seemed as if they brought barrels out through the window. This would've made the distance to the longhouse quite a bit shorter so I had not thought more about it but now I wondered.

  "What are you looking for, Sissa," Einarr asked.

  "I don't know," I said slowly. "I went by here on my way to help Mother tend to Disa when she was ill. I didn't want to pass right in front of the sheds, so I walked around here, and there were some tracks outside the window, there," I said, pointing to the ground.

  The snow had blown up and formed a huge drift up against the wall of the house, and no tracks could be seen at all.

  "I don't know, maybe it was nothing but I thought it looked like they'd dragged barrels from here. It would be shorter to the longhouse so I didn't think about it," I added.

  "Huh," Einarr said, and he sounded annoyed, but Joss snorted.

  "Yes, they probably did. I've seen them do it many times, and I don't blame them. Why would they walk all the way around the houses when the longhouse is just there?" he said and pointed to the house that could be clearly seen on the side, not too far away.

  We started walking back to the main path, and I thought about all the things we knew, but I couldn't get my head around it all.

  "I need time to think, Einarr," I said.

  "Yes. So do I, Sissa. We meet tomorrow to talk through what we know, and then we see?"

  He put it almost as a question. I thought that was nice of him because it was, in reality, a command.

  "I've been wondering..." I said, but I didn't know how to put my question so I trailed off.

  "Yes?" he prompted.

  "Why did Jarl Ingolf decide on a human sacrifice? I've never heard of it, and it came up so suddenly. Do you know?" I whispered, afraid that he'd be angry with me.

  "I don't know, Sissa. You should know that I tried to make him change his mind. When he said who the gods had told him they wanted I tried even harder but he wouldn't be swayed, and he didn't want to talk about it."

  I'd been thinking about this. When we sacrificed animals, the gods rarely asked for young and healthy animals. They were satisfied with the older, weaker, ones. So why had they asked for me? Why not one of the old thralls? I worried that the gods would ask again and that I wouldn't be quite so lucky next time.

  "The gods might ask again, Einarr, and for the same girl they wanted the first time. Can you perhaps talk to him? See if you can find out? Maybe you can say that the villagers worry that since the gods got the wrong girl they might be annoyed?" I asked.

  Even though my voice was not much more than a soft whisper, both Einarr and Joss heard me.

  "Don't worry, Sissa, you will not have to go through that again," Josteinn said immediately.

  "You don't know that for sure, Joss," I said.

  "I'll ask, Sissa. Ingolf will explain to me if I tell him that you worry," Einarr said. "He told me you talked to him about Heidrun, and you got through to him somehow. He's grateful for whatever it was you said."

  I nodded, a feeling relief washing over me. With Einarr and Josteinn protecting me, surely the gods would ask for someone else next time, I though. I had one of them on each side as we continued along the path, and I saw that people were watching, some with a smile and some with a speculative look in their eyes. I remembered how I dreamt about walking through the village with Joss as a free woman, and I thought that maybe this was good enough. It was the fate the
gods had decided for me, and neither of them had treated me as a thrall in the past hour, or on the other occasions we'd been together, so maybe the freedom I'd dreamed about wouldn't have been so very different anyway.

  "Sissa," Freyja called out as she came out from one of the houses. "Excellent, go and feed the hens. Then you can go back to the longhouse and start bringing in firewood. After that, you will grind barley for tonight's bread." She smiled sweetly at me but then she continued condescendingly, "If you are quick about it, you can bring a handful of barley to your home tonight."

  I raised my head and looked at her. I knew that she could order me around as she pleased, but I'd had such a good time with Einarr and Joss that her commands surprised me.

  "Well? Don't stand there, Sissa. Go," Freyja said, making a shooing motion with her hands.

  I still stood as frozen. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't what actually happened.

  "You'd better go, Sissa," Josteinn said calmly as he gave my shoulder a little nudge.

  I looked at him silently, then I swung around to face Einarr. He looked grim, and his mouth was a thin line.

  "Go," he said curtly.

  I swallowed and walked briskly back to the longhouse thinking that I must be even more stupid than Freyja, wondering why I never learned when it happened again and again. I walked around with my head in the clouds and allowed myself to dream, to think that I was somehow special when I was in fact just a common thrall.

  After feeding the hens, I carried several piles of firewood into the kitchen area. Then I sat down to poke the logs around and add more to keep the fire going. It was less cold, but it was still winter, and it wouldn't do to let the fire die out.