The last Viking Queen

2

2

I swung my battle ax towards the giant of a man heading straight for me. It lodged itself deep into his chest cutting his battle cry off immediately. I placed my boot on his chest next to my ax and relished in the bone snapping suction sound it made as it was yanked free. I quickly turned and flipped over the sword as it attempted to slice through my middle but only caught air. Landing on both my feet, I crossed my arms together and sliced through the man’s stomach with my both of my axes that I always carried into battle with me.

He quickly fell to the snow, holding his stomach as his insides slid out between his fingers. The blood and intestines steamed around him when the warmth of them hit the cold snow. I turned as his body hit the ground and ran for my next target. The man who had yanked me out of my bed and dragged me outside by my hair. He was wrestling with my wolf and was losing quickly but this was my kill and I would not let Loch have his chance.

“Neinn, Loch.” I yelled.

Loch halted and stepped back. He growled at the man on the ground as I ran up to him. The man who had followed me from the village earlier. I was getting too easily distracted recently, not paying attention to the things and people going on around me. This is my punishment for not paying attention, I thought. I looked down at the man who was laying on the ground holding his arm to his chest. Kara stepped up to my side and nuzzled me, making sure I was fine.

“Who are you?” The man asked in an anguished voice.

“My name is Norna.” I said.

“Norna? Your name means fate? What kind of name is that?” The man asked, chuckling to himself. He was bleeding from many wounds that loch had inflicted on him. They weren’t life threatening though, not unless they got infected.

I c****d my head at him thoughtfully.

“You should not have to ask. Because I am your fate this day.” I said as I stepped up to him and brought my ax down on his head. His blood sprayed out of the wound, some landing on my face. His body jerked. I yanked my ax free and looked around the clearing before I checked on Loch and Kara. They both were fine and unscathed.

Looking up at the sky I realized dawn was quickly rising, but snow was heavily falling and the dark clouds in the sky that I could just make out told me that it was going to be a gloomy cold day. I always hated the winter months. They were the hardest months to survive and they seemed to last a hell of a lot longer. The scenery of the trees covered in snow and the silence of the woods was beautiful though. It was one of the reasons I loved to live here on my mountain by myself, that and the solitude.

I looked back down at the three bodies lying on the ground. Blood was quickly pooling around them, staining the white snow red. I went to each body and dug around in the clothing and any pockets or pouches I could find. They wouldn’t need any of the coin or other personal belongings now that they were no longer alive. I straightened again and looked around the clearing, making sure there was nobody else out there.

I sighed as I walked back towards the cave entrance and walked to the back where I had made my home many years ago. I needed to get dressed and drag the bodies away, so they are not found by someone. I didn’t get any visitors this high up in the mountains until these approached, but I couldn’t take the chance there would be more, and someone would start to question what happened. I quickly got dressed and put on my heavy fur lined cloak and boots. I stepped back out of the entrance where Kara and Loch still waited, and made my way over to the first body.

I knew even though I threw their bodies down the ravine on the other side of the cave that my two wolves would make their way down there eventually and feast on them. I should just save them the trip and leave them on the ground, but I didn’t want to trip over them. The first man I grabbed was heavy, I had to get my wolves to help drag his body away. The other two were a bit easier since they were a lot smaller. It was a shame really, one of the guys looked to be about my age and he was some-what handsome.

I rolled the last body over the ravine and looked up at Loch and Kara. They’ve been my companions for the last two winters. Kara was solid white with sparkling blue eyes. Loch was solid black with orange eyes. They were both beautiful creatures and faithful. They had saved me as many times as I had saved them. We made a good team and we stayed together always, rarely leaving each other’s sides.

The men that snuck up on me today while I slept in my bed had distracted Loch and Kara with meat. I knew this because I could see the carcass they had brought back with them and left by the entrance of our home. Being wolves, they had followed the scent and then the men had snuck in. When they had heard me yell they had come running. I knew they both felt guilty for almost getting me killed and they have learned their lesson and will not repeat their mistake, they never do. So, there was no reason for me to scold them. I walked past them leaving them to follow me as I made my way back into the cave and followed the walkway towards the rushing water that ran through. I used it to clean myself up quickly and then dressed again.

I strolled out of the cavern a few minutes later and adjusted my axes on my back, preparing to make my way deeper into the woods to catch my dinner for this day. I always hunted early in the morning and did what chores needed to be done the rest of the day. Then I would sit by my fire at night with my wolves and sing old Norse songs that I have heard others sing from time to time. My voice echoed off the cavern walls and the sound became a beautiful melody. Some days I sat outside and watched the stars fall out of the sky, others I made weapons or figurines.

Loch and Kara followed me through the trees and bushes as I crept along checking my traps and watching for sign of bigger game then rabbit. This time of the year it was even hard to catch the damn rabbits. The creatures of the forest seemed to fade away with the greenery of the forest and not return until it’s return in spring. It always made for a hard winter and there were times I had to sneak into the nearest town and steal what we needed to eat.

I bent to check a trap I had sat up yesterday. Something had made its way into the trap but got itself back out. I heard a branch snap to my right. Loch growled low in his throat and sniffed the air. Kara and I looked around trying to see what he smelt. Loch suddenly took off in the direction directly ahead of us and disappeared into the snow-covered bushes, Kara stayed with me. She backed herself up against me and sniffed the air. I stayed low as I waited to see what she would do. When we heard a vicious growl and then the howl of pain and surprise of a woman, Kara took off in Loch’s direction, I was hot on her heels.

Coming into the clearing, I saw a woman on the ground with her arm braced against Loch’s neck. She was trying to keep his mouth away from her face. If she only knew that if Loch wanted to hurt her, he would have already. The fact that she was a woman was the only reason he hasn’t ripped into her yet, just knocked her down and pinned her to the ground. I stepped closer and looked down at the woman as Kara circled around her and Loch, growling low in her throat.

“Please, help me.” She begged.

I could see the tears streaming down her face. She was truly scared. I looked around our surrounding area, looking to see if there were others with her. I didn’t see anybody, so I motioned to Kara to look around. She took off, not hesitating in her responsibility. Looking back down at the woman I studied her for a moment. She was pretty, small, blond hair, and blue eyes. The fear on her face made her look older then what I believed she was.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I asked her.

I still haven’t told Loch to get off her. I didn’t trust her. There’s a reason she is out here, and I need to know what that reason is. She didn’t take her eyes off Loch for a second, but with her free hand she slowly lowered it to her side. I tensed and walked up to her swiftly, stepping on her arm when I got closer. I bent down and felt around her skirts, looking for any weapon she could use against me or my wolf.

“I’m not armed. I’m looking for someone, a girl. I was told I could find her up here on this mountain.” She said.

I was stunned at her declaration but quickly masked it and stayed on guard. Someone knew I was here, but who? I looked around again and stepped off her arm, letting her continue to lower it to the folds of her skirt. I stayed close in case she pulled a dagger out and I needed to stop her from stabbing Loch. She surprised me though when instead, she pulled out a necklace. It had a dark red ruby set in the mouth of a golden wolf. I stared at it for a moment, stunned by the beauty of it and then looked her in the face.

“You have a necklace you want to sell? I have no money. You’ll have to take your goods somewhere else,” I told her.

“Hitta,” I said to Loch. He quickly stepped away from the girl, letting her sit up but not move more than that. Kara came into view then, she hadn’t found anything. Good, that meant we’re safe for now.

“It’s not for sale, I am to give it to the girl who lives in the mountains. The girl who is queen of our people. The child who survived the mutilation and murder of her mother while she was still in the womb.” The girl said.

“What is your name?” I asked her.

“Eivora,” she replied.

I stared at her for a long time and then turned and walked away as I threw over my shoulder, “There is no such girl here. Be gone with you.”

I didn’t wait for her to leave or say anything else. Loch and Kara quickly followed behind me, back into our home. I grabbed some of the wood I leave by the front entrance and went deeper inside to start the fire. I’ll have to wait for the girl to leave so I can continue to hunt. It worried me she was here though. I am the only girl on these mountains. Hell, I’ve been the only person on the mountains for as long as I can remember. I’ve always kept myself separated from the rest of the world and never shown myself to anybody if I could help it. I was a nobody, a ghost. So, I had no idea what she was talking about.

“If you are not the girl then help me find her, please.” Eivora said.

“There is no girl but me here. I’m the only crazy person to live in these mountains.’ I said, throwing another log on the fire.

“Then you have to be her.” Eivora said excitedly.

I watched her as she came inside and made herself at home. Loch and Kara watched her also, never taking their eyes off her. I could see their muscles coiled for action. Good, they weren’t letting their guard down around her. Eivora pulled a cloth out of the bag she was carrying that I hadn’t noticed earlier and watched as she pulled out three dead birds and a roasting stick. I raised my eyebrow at her and watched as she shoved the stick through their bodies and started to roast them on the fire that I had just got going.

Loch licked his lips as he watched the birds cook. Kara whined and crawled closer to her. They were hungry I knew that, but they weren’t starving. They had three dead bodies they can chew on down the ravine behind this cave. Hell, the bodies weren’t even cold yet. Thinking of those bodies, I stopped looking at my wolves and looked back at the girl. How did she get up here? How did she know where to look? I pulled my dagger out of my boot and flung it towards the girl. It landed between her legs and she quickly looked up at me with fear on her face. I stood and walked near her, but she didn’t move. I had to give it to her she is a brave little thing.

“Where did you come from?”

“From the same town those three men came from. I heard one of them talking about a girl with fire red hair and two wolves that snuck up the mountain a week ago. He said he thinks you’re the ghost girl the town whispers about. They think you a curse and won’t say who or what you are out loud. That you haunt these mountains, killing those who don’t belong. When I heard they were going to sneak up here and look around, I decided to follow. I wanted to know if it was true about the flame red haired ghost girl.” Eivora said.

“You watched as I killed them?” I asked her bluntly.

She didn’t answer but nodded instead and pulled the birds free of the fire. She broke part of her stick that one of the birds was attached to and handed it to me. Then she broke another piece off and pulled my dagger out of the ground. She cut the bird in two and threw each piece to Loch and Kara. She was feeding us today, I realized. I watched and waited until she ate her bird and then I sat and ate mine as my wolves devoured theirs. We sat in silence afterwards. I didn’t know what else to say to her. I wish she would just leave and go back to the village.

“Why would your people send you to look for a girl they don’t even know if she is alive?” I asked her. It didn’t make sense.

“They are scared. They don’t know I came looking for the girl, our Queen. I snuck out on my own one night. I need to have her. My people need her more now than they ever have. We want our life back our homes our rightful Queen. The night that our village was burned, and our King and Queen murdered, they ran, the ones who were able to get out did, there weren’t many who escaped. When daylight came, and it was time for the noon meal, they made their way back to the village and saw our Queen tied to a tree with her hands behind her, her stomach cut open and her insides on the ground. King Raud was beside his wife on the ground. He had been ran-through with a sword through the chest. They thought the child would be amongst them, but the babe was not.” Eivora said.

I was picturing the story she was telling while she told it. I could imagine what the woman looked like with her insides and child laying on the ground on the outside. I’ve seen it done to women before. It was cruel and heartless but the way of the world we lived in. These Norse people went by a certain decree, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. They gave no mercy to anyone, not even the children.

“When they realized the child wasn’t there, they started a search. Wolf prints were found all over the place where the babe should have been. There was a man that had been stabbed in the gut and left to die. He had watched the murder of our King and Queen. He had watched her Father raise her in the air and beg the Gods to have mercy on his daughter, to save her from this fate. Then the King wrapped her in his fur cloak and laid her on the ground. Renaldo, a man of Raud’s enemies, thrusted his sword in Raud’s back. Then our King shoved the blade out of his own chest. He didn’t want to rake the chance he would land on her and kill his babe. Renaldo waited for the King to take his last breath and then told the rest of his men to leave the child to die. She would die either by his hand or the wilds and since she wasn’t his he didn’t care. The man said she was a brave babe. She didn’t cry not one time. Just laid there and stared into her father’s lifeless eyes until she fell asleep. Then the wolves came and took the babe with them.” Eivora said.

I stared at her in disbelief but couldn’t deny her story. I have lived with the wolves all my life. I had been raised by them, hunted with them, and slept with them. Could I be the girl she searched for? Loch and Kara’s parents had been here with me until two winters ago. They had been killed by a hunting party of men. They left Loch and Kara with me, they had only been pups themselves at the time. Those men had skinned their hides off and wore them around their shoulders. They had fed from the meat of my wolf parents, the ones who helped raise me after their own parents had died of old age. Those men had died one by one by my hand and dagger. I slit their throats open two nights later as they got drunk and celebrated their victory.

Loch and Kara were too young to help then. The victory I felt after I slit each man’s throat was satisfying and a memory I will never forget. My wolves stepped closer to me and nuzzled my neck as if they knew the night I was remembering. It was almost like they understood the story Eivora had told and the memories I had of growing up in the wild. I nuzzled them back and they sat next to me as I thought over what she had said.

“Where are your people?” I asked.

“About a two or three day walk from here.” Eivora replied.