Runebinder

One: Crimson Falling-4

“He's not lying! It's true, all of it. I saw it to! I swear it!” he protested in a shrill voice.

“You're saying a wind killed your hound, ate its insides and then, what? Chased you and your boys out of the wood? Do you know how foolish that sounds? The village will have you beaten for sure. If the Jarl catches word of this you may be hanged.” Nori was right. The people of Galdbygde, though industrious and hard-working, were not ones for tales of fantasy. It was not unusual for men diseased of mind to be cast out, to live alone amongst the woods like wild things.

“It was the wind,” Hakon replied. “It started as a gentle breeze that grew to a whistle that grew to a howl that became a roar like I've never heard before. A wall of dirt and leaves rose up like, like a phantom, and chased us out of the forest. We thought it to take us but when we reached the clearing the wall flew away as if it smashed up against something hard; like a stone. Then the ravens soared in fright from the tree tops in the opposite direction.” Nori's skepticism began to fade as everyone but Svanhild had seemed to believe in this wind that killed the hound and chased them out of the forest. “Father looked for tracks, there were none save for Hund's!”

“So, we were seeing ghosts, were we? Where's Hund?” Nori demanded. Eirik looked at Hakon and stepped forward retrieving his bow and quiver of arrows.

“I'll take you to him.”

“Father, no!” Knut protested. “It might still be out there.”

“All will be well son. Hund is just beyond the clearing, no more than a stone's throw away. Knut fell and dropped the beast in the snow while we were being hunted.” Nori stepped back and retrieved his axe from the wall.

“Alight then, show me.” Eirik walked towards the worn plank door and pointed to Hakon's bow and quiver that lay on the ground.

“Pick it up, son. You're coming to.” Hakon's eyes grew wide and he took a slow half-step backward placing a hand on his chest.

“Me?” Hakon questioned. Eirik knelt on one knee placing his callused hands on each of Hakon's bony shoulders.

“I know you may not be much of a warrior, son, but this is how you prove yourself. Bravery through action. Now get your bow and follow us. I need all the help I can get. Just stay behind me and everything will be alight. Watch our backs.” Hakon swallowed his fears deeply and a cold sting gripped his nerves.

“Yes, Father,” he replied with utter reluctance. Without delay or a goodbye to his loving wife, Eirik left the relative safety of his cottage with Nori and his son Hakon and headed back into the wood in search of the slain Hund. Eirik took off at run and wasted no time in crossing the barrier of the clearing. When it was Hakon's turn, he hesitated to step forward, pausing for but a moment as he stared at the line of piled snow, leaves, and dirt but knew if he delayed for too long he would once again be left alone in the woods; perhaps even this time to die. The boy leapt forward and sprinted as fast as he could until he was right on Nori's heels. As the trees rushed by Hakon, he felt a deep loathing of the forest and looked in every direction for the noise that hunted them down. Eirik stopped abruptly near a patch of disturbed ferns. As Nori stopped the boy Hakon was so distracted searching around for the phantom that he clumsily ran into the fisherman's back.

“Imbecile,” Nori jested. “Just watch where you're going, young man. Next time it might be a cliff you run over.” Hakon was embarrassed but the feeling passed quickly when he to saw what his father was looking at.

“Well?” Nori asked. Eirik looked all around the forest floor and pointed down at the smashed ferns.

“By the gods, he was right here! I swear it to you, Nori. Look at how the brush is disturbed!” Nori knelt with his axe and ran his fingers gently along the plants searching for signs of death.

“There's no tracks and there's no blood, no drag marks. If he was here something picked him up and carried him off. The snows must have covered up the spot where his body lay.” Tunn came running up from behind shoving his nose in front of Nori. As he sniffed the ground at his feet he began to whimper loudly and then sat upright, howling a most sad and depressing tune for his fallen brother.

“I swear it. You see, even Tunn knows his brother was here. This is the spot where Knut dropped him. And look, this is the branch he fell over and twisted his leg. I've never been so sure of anything in my life.” Nori stepped towards the half-buried branch that had been recently broken and showed a heavy foot print beneath it, deep in the front and shallow in the back.

“This is the branch, brother, but I still don't see how a creature made off with your dog without leaving tracks. Every beast leaves a track. Especially one that drags a full-grown hunting dog away. It is just not possible…” To Eirik's disappointment there would be no convincing his friend Nori this day and so the trio quickly departed the dark wood without the answers they so desperately sought.

* * *

Sol had dipped beneath the dark mountain sides as the angry Hati chased the silvery Mani higher into the dark night sky and the High-Stones were now resting comfortably in their cottage. A roaring fire nestled by stones beat back the chill of the evening and the light snows that followed. Svanhild had prepared supper and placed it gently on the table. A generous helping of dried fish and a root stew to fight the cold and mend wounds of the days hunt. The men of the hovel were famished and eagerly sat down to consume their meals. Though the danger of the woods had passed, Hakon could not put it out of his mind. The noise consumed him, the whistling was all he could hear in the silence of the hovel and soon his ears began to ring with a dull pain that ached terribly. He had to break the silence, he had to find answers to the questions that burned in his mind before the sound drove him mad.

“Father?” Eirik High-Stone looked up from his wooden bowl and root stew poured sloppily down his beard. He opened his eyes wide with a mouth full of broth and waited for his son to ask his question. “What happened to Hund?” Eirik quickly looked down and returned to consuming his meal. “Father?” Hakon pressed the issue but Eirik knew he had no answers and this made him frustrated. There was little about the forest and the wild that Eirik did not know, but this, this was different. For the first time Hakon knew just as much as Eirik.

“Put it out of your mind, son. We saw nothing. It is all for the best.” Eirik would now have his sons forget the great howl and the wall of gust. Seeming a fool in front of his most trusted friend was bad enough. For if tales of the incident should go beyond Nori, if the rest of the village were to find out, then Eirik would be made a mockery. No man wished to be the village i***t and therefore Eirik now dismissed what they saw entirely.

“But I can't, Father,” Hakon exclaimed. “What we saw, it was unnatural. It was real!” Eirik stood fiercely smacking away Hakon's bowl throwing stew atop the table.

“I said put it out of your mind!” he demanded.

“Father?” Knut interjected. Eirik pointed a rigid finger at his favored son.

“Don't you talk back to me, boy! You would do well to forget this as well. Lest you wish to be banished from the village. Who would believe you? Who would believe me? No one. Not one damn person.” Svanhild lifted a wooden bucket of water and began wiping away the wasted stew with a damp woolen cloth.

“You boys listen to your father now. I'll have no more yelling in this household. Is that understood?” The boys nodded and Eirik sat down returning to his meal. The hovel was silent now and it was in this silence that Hakon heard a familiar and terrifying sound, a howl began to grow outside. All the men of the hovel immediately recognized the sound and yet did not utter a word. They listened intently, their eyes traveling wildly along the thatched ceiling. Hakon became nervous and could no longer hold back his tongue.

“Do you hear it?” he asked meekly. Eirik shot a stern gaze. “The howl. Do you hear it?”

“It's just the wind,” he replied trying to dismiss what he knew in his heart to be true. “The snows must be picking up on the mountain pass. It will be a cold night for certain.” Despite Eirik's denial the howl grew all around and Knut stood from his resting place and hobbled over to the door. Opening it slowly the sound raised ever louder. Eirik walked behind him to gaze cautiously outside.

“What's the matter? Is it that thing you spoke of in the wood?” Svanhild had become concerned. It was not often that the men of the household were so deathly silent. Something worrisome loomed on their minds and Svanhild knew that when men became silent that danger was not far away. Eirik and Knut gazed outside at the piles of white ivory and saw that the snow had ceased to fall, the wind had died, but the howl continued none the less. A chill crawled up Eirik's spine and he stepped in front of Knut to slam the door shut.

“Eirik!” A sound from outside emerged and a face suddenly appeared in the doorway startling those inside.

“Nori?” Eirik was surprised to find his friend out so late.

“Do you hear it? Do you hear that sound? I was on my way home from gathering water when I heard it.” Nori was wary and was beginning to believe in Eirik's tale. “Is that the one? Is it the very same? The noise you spoke of?” Nori asked nervously. Eirik reached outward and pulled Nori inside, slamming the door firmly shut behind him.

“All of you, stay inside.” Nori stepped back from the door and listened intently.

“I've never heard anything like it. Where is it coming from?” Hakon stepped forward nearing the door next to his father and Nori.

“That's what we heard in the forest. That's what chased us. The noise.” Nori clenched his lumber axe tightly in his right hand and vigilantly watched the door. The howl was all around now piercing the walls and cracks in the planks. Eirik walked towards the fire and retrieved a small hatchet. Knut and Hakon saw that the men of the home were now armed and thought that they too should gather their weapons. Both the boys retrieved their bows, quivers, and arrows. Hakon lifted the furs from his bed and retrieved a small seax with a wood handle and quickly fitted it to his belt. The howl grew ever louder and became a deafening roar.

Svanhild ran to her husband. “Eirik, I'm frightened. What is out there?” Eirik gripped her tightly and gazed lovingly at his bride.

“I do not know woman. Get a blade and get behind the table with Hakon. Do it now.” Eirik urged. Without a moment's thought Svanhild ran to her son and pulled him to the center of the room. With Hakon's help they pushed the wooden table over making a hasty wall.