Runes of Fate

by Lena North

  "Sissa, go. No one in the villages puts wounds together better than you, we all know that. I saw the ones you did on Joss, and he barely has a scar," Astrid added, and when I looked at her, she smiled a little.

  So I walked around the table, changed places with my mother and while she took care of the wounds on the Jarls chest I stitched his eye together with many small and neat stitches. I tried to not pull too much on the skin, and I attempted to make it look like he had just closed the eyelid. When I got to the outer edge, mother laughed softly.

  "Astrid, come and look at this. She made him sleep with one eye!"

  They chuckled again and then Astrid put a hand on my shoulder.

  "Very nicely done, Sissa. You're skilled with the needle when you want to be, at least. Ingolf will thank you for this."

  Then we tried to get some hot brew with chamomile and other herbs into him. He didn't wake up completely, but we managed to get him to swallow some anyway. Then Father put him back down again.

  Jarl Ingolf looked vulnerable and softer than his usual loudmouthed self as he lay on the table in the middle of his home, and Mother sighed.

  "I wish Torunn hadn't died," she whispered quietly.

  "Me too," Astrid said softly, but then she straightened and seemed to become herself again. "I'll go and get Einarr now, and if that dimwitted girl Ingolf chose to marry has calmed down she'll come too."

  I stared after her as she left.

  "Don't look so surprised, Sissa. Astrid isn't so bad when she forgets who she thinks she's supposed to be," Mother said.

  "You thought that she had..." I started accusingly because Mother had told us that she suspected Astrid of killing Disa, and Heidrun.

  "It seemed the only one it could be, but when I thought about it, I knew that I'd been hasty in my judgment. It isn't Astrid. Sissa, there must be someone else," Mother said calmly.

  I started to speak but the door opened, and the Jarl's brother strode in, followed by Josteinn, who had a firm grip around Freyja's shoulders.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Wolves

  Jarl Ingolf came down with a fever during the first night, and he seemed to get weaker every hour so Mother, Astrid and I stayed in the longhouse, taking turns to care for him. I couldn't find sleep so I was up most of the night, giving Mother and Astrid a chance to sleep a few hours each. Einarr walked in and out, and I don't think he slept anything at all either.

  "Will he make it, Sissa?" he asked softly.

  We were sitting next to each other on a bench Father had put next to the Jarls bed. I turned my head to look at him. In the soft light from the fire, he looked young and vulnerable. I could suddenly see how much Josteinn looked like his father.

  "I don't know," I mumbled.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked when I didn't turn away.

  "I never realized how much Joss looks like you," I said softly. "He has your hair, and your face, but he has his mother's eyes, I think," I whispered, adding with a wink, "And very pretty eyes they are."

  "That they are, Sissa. That they are," he said calmly. "And I'm old," he added. He clearly meant it to be a joke, but I heard how insulted he had been.

  "Not old, Einarr. Just older than me," I said. Then I grinned and peered at him. "Or... maybe a little old," I said, nudging him with my shoulder. His surprised chuckle warmed my heart. I'd not meant to insult him, and I knew well that I needed his support in many ways.

  "Where's Freyja?" I asked, remembering how useless she'd been when Torunn was ill and hoping that she' stay away.

  "She sleeps in my house. Josteinn and one of my men do too, and I have guards outside the door to keep intruders out," he replied calmly.

  "Did your men find..."

  "Yes. Just as you said, a thick rope. Someone had pushed a lot of our longest nails through the rope and then tied it across the path, just where it turns and then narrows. It was tied up quite loosely, but he must have come around the corner fast and hit it with his left side first," Einarr said grimly. "One of the nails would have gotten into his eye. Then I guess the slack rope caught his shoulder so it was just sheer luck none of the nails got his throat. I don't know how he made it back, bleeding like that, but that's how he is. Stubborn and tough."

  He was watching his older brother while he spoke, clenching his hands into tight fists. If I hadn't been sure already before that he wasn't responsible for Heidrun's death, then I would have known at that moment. The affection he felt for his brother, and the rage at what had happened to him was clear to see.

  "Einarr," I whispered and put my hand on top of his fists. After a while, he turned to me, so I smiled at him. "Don't worry so, Einarr. He is strong, and he will fight. My mother and your wife will save him. We'll find the one who did this to him. Then you will both have your revenge."

  "We have to solve this soon," he said calmly. "If they don't hesitate to kill our Jarl then no one is safe."

  "Yes," I replied. "I'll be tending to our Jarl until Mother says they don't need me anymore, but I'll think while I help them."

  "You're right, Sissa, now is not the time. When Ingolf is better, we'll talk."

  "Yes," I repeated, and he smiled then, but he didn't look happy.

  The Jarl moaned again, so mother came over with an infusion that would bring down the fever. We managed to get him to swallow some of it, and Einarr left soon after that. The care for Jarl Ingolf continued through the night but in the morning, the worst fever finally seemed to let go of him. He'd still not opened the one eye he had left, but Mother said that this was to be expected because of his injuries, and the herbs they gave him.

  When the first rays of sunshine came in through the door, I fell into one of the beds and slept until it was well after midday.

  The next few days were a blur of sleeping and tending to Jarl Ingolf. He still had a fever and his recovery was slow. Mother and Astrid just kept working. I helped as much as I could, but I had to admire the strength the older women showed as they relentlessly washed the man, coaxed him into drinking different kinds of tea and covered him with furs when he shook so hard his teeth rattled.

  He woke up sometimes but he was never really awake, and the nightmares we'd heard that he suffered from after Heidrun's death was fueled by his fever so he kept tossing and turning. Mostly he talked about his first wife, and their life together. I'd known that the Jarl had been fond of Torunn, but I had been too young to understand just how much her death had crushed him. Now I heard it clearly in his endless and devastatingly sad rants. Jarl Ingolf had been an angry and hard man for as long as I could remember, but I started to wonder if Torunn's illness and death hadn't amplified that.

  He didn't once ask for Freyja, but she came several times each day to sit with him. She was just as useless as I'd remembered her being when we had cared for Torunn, and she mainly cried, asking us repeatedly if we knew who could have done this to her dear Ingolf. I tried to stay as far away from her as possible because she was unpleasant to everyone around her, which perhaps was understandable in the situation, but I also found her constant moaning and whining exasperating. I was tired enough as it was, without her adding to it.

  In the long hours next to Jarl Ingolf, I let my thoughts roam, and I tried to sift through all the little things I knew. The more I thought about it, the more impossible it seemed that Freyja was somehow involved, and I started to think that perhaps Stein was responsible after all. Einarr didn't think so, and the man they described when retelling tales about the warriors' bravery had not sounded like someone who would have plotted and schemed to achieve the elaborate scam that ended with Heidrun's death, but he could have done it. Except, Stein had said that he'd be willing to take the beating from Jarl Ingolf for breaking his promise to Heidrun and he hadn't been around at the time of Disa's death. One of Einarr's men had been behaving strangely as well, I thought, and I was still not sure about Astrid. I wasn't entirely comfortable around her, but I reluctantly admitted to myself that she was different
when we worked the long hours together in the longhouse. Most of the time we moved around in silence but sometimes we talked. I'd noticed how she softened when she spoke about Josteinn, so I encouraged her to share stories about how he'd been as a boy. I'd seen him around as we grew up, of course, but we'd never been close friends. To hear it from her side was sweet.

  "To think that the tiny bundle who screamed all night has grown up so much, Sissa. It feels like I gave birth to him just last week," she said. Then she suddenly turned to me. "I know what my son plans for you, and I want you to know that I won't mind."

  I bent deeper over Jarl Ingolf because I didn't know what to say. I'd still not made my mind up completely, but I'd thought a lot about my life, and had decided I'd probably say yes. I would ask Joss if we could wait until after he'd married, though. After that, I'd be happy to move into his home. There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him from doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and I knew that Joss could pay my fee any time, but I thought that he'd accept my wish. At least, I hoped he would.

  "It will be good to have children in the house, Sissa," Astrid continued, and I turned my head to look at her. She was smiling, but her gaze was focused on Jarl Ingolf. "It's sad that the brothers only had one child each when they wanted to have so many more, both of them."

  "They did?" I asked. I tried to imagine Einarr or the Jarl holding a baby, but I couldn't picture it in my mind.

  "Both of them," she said. "Einarr was so happy he cried when Joss was born."

  "Really?" I said, and I had to smile because that was something I could imagine even less.

  "He thought I was asleep, but I saw him. He sat by the fire with Josteinn in his arms and the sweetest smile I'd ever seen on his face, but there were tears slowly running down his cheeks. Then he wiped them off and told Joss that he would be a great warrior and that we'd give him many brothers and sisters." She looked sad when she continued in a hushed voice, "Proves how much he knows, the silly man."

  "You lost children?" I asked.

  I couldn't remember hearing about it, but that was what usually happened, to all women and several times.

  "No," she replied and to my surprise, she suddenly grinned a little. "For all their manly manliness, neither of them had much luck making their seed grow," she added.

  "Jarl Ingolf has been lucky again, though. Or so I hear," I said casually.

  "Ah, yes. So it would seem, and we can all hope the child takes after him because the gods will have to help us if it doesn't," she replied calmly but I saw laughter lurking in her eyes so I giggled.

  We didn't talk much after that, but things had somehow settled between us. It was a surprise to realize that we would get along just fine if I moved to their house.

  Late afternoon the third day after the incident the Jarl was feeling better and had been awake several times, although for short periods only. He'd talked to his brother, but we were not allowed in the longhouse then, and Einarr had left immediately afterward so I didn't know what was said. Jarl Ingolf seemed exhausted so we'd coaxed him into resting a while and then my mother chased me out of the longhouse. She wouldn't accept any objections, said gruffly that I was too pale and that I needed fresh air. When I got out, I realized that she'd been right. The cold wind on my face felt fantastic, and I decided to walk off the stiffness in my body. The light was almost gone so I stayed close to the village and had just decided to go home to talk to my father and brother when I heard a soft wail from the forest. It sounded like a small child, so I called out.

  "Who's there? Do you need help?"

  Another whimper came from the trees. It sounded like someone was injured so, without thinking it through, I followed the path through the trees into the nearest glen.

  Then I heard soft steps in the snow behind me. Suddenly afraid, I leaped away, turned but faced only the dark gray shades of the late midwinter afternoon. A soft wind whistled through the trees, making them creak a little. I stood completely still and listened intently, but there were no other sounds at all. Then a branch snapped to my left, and I whirled around. It had sounded if someone stepped on it.

  "Hello?" I called out uncertainly.

  There was no reply, but I thought there was a a soft rustle of fabric. It sounded as if someone was moving around slowly. Shivers went down my spine, and I knew that I'd been stupid to walk into the forest alone like that. Someone had harmed our Jarl, Heidrun and Disa were dead and there I was, strolling around in the darkness. I started to move backward toward the village, ready to run but not willing to turn my back against whoever stood among the trees.

  "Sissa, are you there?"

  I jumped and gave up a small cry when a loud voice suddenly came from behind me.

  "Josteinn!" I exhaled and turned around, pressing one of my hands over my heart. "You scared me," I said shakily, but full of relief. It must have been him I heard, I thought.

  "Well, you should be afraid, Sissa," he scolded, walking up to me with a deep frown that made him look a lot like his father. "It's dark, cold, and you are tired. You shouldn't walk alone in the forest like this. Come, I will take you home."

  "Okay," I said meekly.

  When I walked next to him with my hand in his, I felt safe again. I thought he was a little bit overprotective, though. I'd grown up walking freely in the forest, and I wasn't that tired. Then I remembered the sounds I thought I'd heard. I had also felt that it was stupid to walk around alone, and decided that he might be right. Maybe I shouldn't leave the village when it was dark, just in case.

  We walked slowly hand in hand back to the longhouse and were just about to turn around the corner when Einarr came toward us. He was scowling and turned immediately to his son.

  "Josteinn, come. It seems one of our horses is gone."

  Joss straightened, gave me a small push and murmured, "Have to go, Sissa. We'll meet later, okay?"

  "Okay," I replied and then they were gone. I sat down on a bench, watching as stars started to appear on the sky. Yes, I thought. It wouldn't be the life that I'd dreamed of, but I would be content with Josteinn and the life he could offer me.

  "Sissa, there you are," Ulf said when I finally walked around the corner to our house. "Josteinn wants to see you, in the clearing."

  "Huh?" I said. It was almost completely dark, and I was a little bit cold.

  "It sounded urgent," Ulf added.

  "Okay, I won't be gone long. I'm cold and tired, so I'll just see what he wants, and then I'll be right back," I said.

  Wondering what Joss wanted to talk to me about, I walked toward the clearing where we had met so many times. It was almost completely dark when I got there so I slowed down and called for him.

  "Joss?"

  A scraping sound came from somewhere among the trees on the far end of the clearing. I walked faster then, laughing as I marched determinedly along the path, "Oh no, you will not scare me again, Joss."

  I stumbled in the snow, and cursed as I went down on my knees. It turned out to be a stroke of luck, though, or maybe the gods were trying to help me out. A blow suddenly came out of nowhere, hitting me on my shoulder. If I'd been standing, it would have hit me on the head.

  A sharp pain erupted on the outside of my arm, and I called out as I fell to my knees. I wasn't sure where my attacker was, or if there would be another blow coming, so I scrambled to my feet and started running. When I couldn't hear anyone following me, I slowed down. I didn't want to go further away from the village so I'd started to turn back when, out of nowhere, a horse barged through the trees. It was too dark to recognize who was on it's back. The rider was only a blurry shadow, and all I saw was a long dark cloak with the hood up, covering my attacker's face. They came straight toward me, fast, so I ran again.

  My shoulder burned, and it hurt all the way down to the elbow. I could feel blood running down my arm, and I held it closer to my body as I rushed forward. There was no time to stop, the horse came toward me again so I turned off the path, jumped over a log an
d rushed straight into the forest. I hoped that the horse wouldn't get through the thick firs, but I was wrong. I heard it crashing from my side, and I turned again, running and jumping, turning around the trees.

  I was starting to lose my breath when I realized where I was, and my heart skipped a beat. The person on the horse had been herding me straight toward the wolf-den that Fin and I had crawled into all those years ago. It was just a little while ahead of me. I didn't know if the wolves were there, but if they were then I was in a very, very dangerous situation. They'd be hungry, and they would certainly smell my blood, know that I was weak. I wouldn't last very long if they got to me so my best hope was that they'd decided to spend the winter somewhere else. I knew that I had to make some kind of plan, just in case.

  I turned my head from side to side as I pushed along in the deep snow but it was dark, and only the massive shadows of firs loomed around me. I knew they'd be difficult to get up in so I looked around wildly to find white trunks. Birch would be easier to climb, if I only could find any.

  Then the first howl split the night, and right after that a second. Then a third. The sound was eerie, sending shivers up and down my spine. We heard them all the way into the village sometimes, and I'd always thought that it sounded both lonely and captivating at the same time. Listening to them when you were at home with the door locked was one thing, though. To hear them when you were chased through the night with blood running down the length of your arm was an entirely different thing.

  I realized suddenly that I couldn't hear the horse behind me anymore, so I stopped and quickly considered my options. Continue forward and straight into a pack of wolves? Or turn back and hope that whoever chased me would have turned back? I didn't spend much time thinking about it, and it wasn't a difficult choice, so I turned around, racing back toward the village as fast as I could make my legs go. I aimed for the path knowing that if I got there, the snow wouldn't be so thick so I'd be able to run quicker.

  I'd just reached it when I saw the first shadow of a wolf slink through the trees to my side. It was huge and seemed almost black in the darkness of the night. I heard it growl, low and menacingly. Knowing that it was the wrong thing to do, but not knowing what else to do, I screamed as I ran. More wolves were moving around in the shadows. I knew that if I stopped, I was dead.