* * *
“Arna?!” Soryn yelled, trying to get Arna to snap out of whatever trance she was in.
Vague sounds registered in Arna’s head. First, she was staring at the old woman. Then her confusion grew when the cave, the fire, and the mysterious woman faded. Arna found she was staring at the sun spire, sweat soaking her body. She blinked until the whole room came into focus, then looked over at Bialas. He looked petrified.
“W-What happened?” she asked. Whatever she had been doing, it was not dreaming.
“You were just lying there with your eyes completely open and you stopped breathing! I thought you had died! What happened?!” Soryn demanded.
“I don’t know…” Arna rubbed her eyes and forehead. She had a headache.
“What’s going on!?” Fanndis boomed from the doorway.
“Arna was unconscious with her eyes open and she stopped breathing!” Soryn’s heartbeat rattled his chest and his breathing was erratic. He had been terrified that something very wrong had happened to his friend.
“What’s this?” Fanndis looked at Arna.
“I fell asleep after Lord Maslyn went outside to help Stigg. I was having a strange dream,” Arna began.
“That was no dream. Who was speaking to you?” Fanndis interrupted.
“What?” Arna asked, confused again.
“Who was speaking to you in your vision? Was it a woman? A man? An animal? I need details if we’re to solve this riddle. We need to know who summoned you,” Fanndis said, folding her arms.
“It was a woman—an old woman. She was dressed in wolf pelts and we were hiking in the mountains until we reached her cave. Inside, there was a goat. She changed him into a human before my eyes, but then turned him back. She said that he was sick and that she kept him in animal form as a mercy. She said that he would not die as quickly in an animal body.” Arna did not know who this woman was, but by the look in her teacher’s eyes she knew that this ordeal was very significant.
“Did you see her face?” Fanndis asked, very serious.
“No. It was shrouded in a cowl and it was too dark to see under it.”
“That’s because the old bat hid it from you purposefully. She probably wanted me to know that she was testing you.”
“Who is it, Fanndis?” Arna asked, suddenly starting to believe that she been in the other woman’s actual presence. How was that possible?
“Her name is Valkyrie and she’s an old Seidh woman of the north. I, myself, trained with her many years ago. She’s a few years older than me. At the time my training began, she had already mastered magical powers that many do not even attempt until they are far advanced in their practice. Valkyrie’s quite a force to be reckoned with. If she’s taken an interest in you, we need to keep close watch on your dreams.”
“How did she find out about me in the first place!?” Arna was exasperated at the idea of some strange woman monitoring her mind when she was unconscious and vulnerable.
“It’s hard to say. She may have been passing through the village and heard about you or she might have sent her spies here to keep watch on me and might have learned about you by accident,” Fanndis admitted, her lips drawn tight.
“You mean she spies on you?” Arna felt a little afraid of this Valkyrie woman.
“She likes to…how shall I put it?” Fanndis tapped her cheek, thinking. “She likes to collect information about her former apprentices in case she needs to entice one of them to aid her in her wild experiments. Some of my friends, who also studied under her, just say she’s morbidly curious and a busybody. I think there’s more to it, personally.”
“Great. Now, not only do we have Bialas’ brother Ulla to worry about, but we have some meddling intruder entering my mind!” Arna snapped her head away from Fanndis and Soryn. She was quite put out.
Stigg had come in by that time. He was unsure of what everyone was discussing, but he could tell it was a distressing topic. Stigg’s mother tapped her foot frantically on the floor and Soryn paced about the room biting his lip.
“What about Ulla?” Fanndis’ foot stopped and she grew very still.
Arna, realizing what she had blurted out, covered her mouth and looked apologetically at Bialas. He caught her gaze and frowned. Soryn knew there was no taking it back now. He might as well go ahead and tell Fanndis about what Ulla had told him. Perhaps she would help, perhaps not, but he certainly trusted everyone in the room not to tell anyone.
“Ulla is my brother Olan. He didn’t tell me. I found out on my own when I read through some of Olan’s old journals. When I approached Ulla about it, he admitted it was the truth.” Soryn stared at the floor, afraid to meet Fanndis’ gaze.
“How did you come to this conclusion?” Fanndis asked, still calm and quiet.
“After the snowstorm the other night, I couldn’t come visit you, so I went to the old family quarters of the castle. I found Olan’s journals next to a book about animal transmutation. The entry was definitely in Olan’s handwriting and it mentioned how much he liked a pig in the castle’s barn named ‘Ulla’. It also mentioned how much he wanted to be able to transform into an animal. He was fascinated with animal transmutation—just as my other brother, Fenris, was fascinated with the biology behind animal communications with humans.”
“And you asked Ulla about this?” Fanndis asked.
“Yes. I confronted him and probably backed him into a corner, but he told me the truth. He had already told me that he was a human trapped in a pig’s body. I never suspected it was Olan until I found the journal entry,” Soryn said.
“You’re sure of this, Soryn?” Stigg asked from the back corner of the room.
It startled the others in the room when Stigg spoke. He rarely contributed to conversations unless it was strictly necessary. Soryn nodded at the man.
“Yes. I’m sure he’s my brother.”
“Well…this certainly makes things more complicated, doesn’t it?” Fanndis remarked.
“He helped us get out. He told us to find you, Fanndis. I think it was because he thought we might learn how to turn him human again,” Arna suggested.
“That may be true, but I think we should help him no matter how selfish his motives were,” Soryn said, on the defensive.
“I meant no offense, Bialas, but there is the possibility that Ulla was using us all along. He may not be your brother at all. I just don’t like the way he went about it. He’s too sneaky,” Arna admitted.
“Ulla is not Olan, Lord Maslyn,” Stigg declared from the doorway of the room.
“How do you know? I would know more than anyone!” Soryn protested.
“Stigg is right, Lord Maslyn. I don’t believe he’s Olan, either. It doesn’t add up. We need to investigate further,” Fanndis agreed with her son.
“How can you know this?” Soryn said, tears stinging his eyes.
He had been so lonely and Ulla helped him find friendship and freedom—they were all forgetting this. So what if he was going to use them just to become human again? He had lived for six years as an animal. His sensibilities were bound to be skewed.
“Soryn, think about it. What do you remember about Olan’s temperament? I can tell you that the animal I met in my old study was nothing like the Olan that I remember and trained all those years ago,” Fanndis said.
In Lord Maslyn’s mind, images of Fenris beating Olan up in the woods flashed by. Olan would never cry, though he was a timid and sensitive boy. He would just grab Soryn’s hand and walk away, leaving Fenris laughing. Other images entered Soryn’s head: Olan befriending birds in the woods and sitting with patience while he drew their delicate feathers; Olan speaking to the cats or rats he kept as pets. Ulla did seem very different from the brother he remembered. Soryn’s mother had always called Olan an “old, gentle soul”. Ulla did not seem like Fenris either—too reserved and not nearly malicious enough. However, he did feel strangely familiar to Soryn.
“Perhaps you’re right,??
? Soryn conceded, though he did not want to believe it. He finally thought he had found his brother. Now, perhaps he had not. Sitting down on the bed, he put his head in his hands. He felt Arna’s small hand rest on his shoulder.
“We’ll sort this out, Bialas. Don’t worry. Perhaps he is your brother, but just changed or something. It may take a lot out of a person’s personality to be transferred into a different body.” Arna attempted to comfort him.
Ulla is lying to the boy, Ulf spoke only to Stigg’s mind.
“Obviously,” Stigg scowled under his breath, only loud enough for Ulf to hear.
We need to know more about this pig. I’ll investigate and see what I can find out. Eira and I will talk to all the animals we have connections with in the castle, Ulf said.
“Let me know what you uncover.”
Will do. With that, Ulf was gone and Stigg heard Eira meow outside the cottage. He could certainly count on those two to find out the truth. Stigg gave his mother a meaningful glance and she could tell that the wolf had left the cottage and had gone in search of knowledge about this situation.
“Arna, you need to get some rest after your encounter with Valkyrie. Soryn, come with me,” Fanndis commanded.
Before the girl could protest, Lord Maslyn and Fanndis had left the room and she was alone with Stigg. He looked troubled and pensive.
“What’s the matter, Stigg?” Arna asked.
“I don’t like the pig. I don’t care for anyone who makes people deliberately uncomfortable. I know for certain, however, that he is not Lord Maslyn’s brother Olan.”
Arna was also troubled by the conversation. She wanted to get to the bottom of it all. If the pig truly was Lord Maslyn’s brother, she wanted to help turn him human again once she was strong enough. If it was not, she wanted to find out who it really was and fast. Confounding Fanndis’ sleeping draughts, Arna fell asleep again. Her rest was, thankfully, free of that Valkyrie woman’s meddling.
Stigg watched from the doorway, deep in thought concerning the events over the last week. He knew much about the Maslyn family and its past but that girl in the bed…he knew nothing of her. Though she was some years his junior and far too young for him, she was enchanting and wholly unique. In some ways, Stigg was reminded of Fanndis—with her devil-may-care attitude and her sense of humor—but there was something else there that made Arna entirely herself. He just couldn’t place what it was. She was certainly diverting and that was a welcome change from the boring life of the son of a powerful Seidh woman. In all of Stigg’s twenty three years, he finally felt that something extremely interesting had taken root in his dusty heart.
Since Fanndis was busy with Soryn, and Ulf and Eira had gone to gather information, Stigg felt he should sit with Arna awhile. That protective feeling he had experienced the night she had fallen from the rock face had not waned. He did not want her to be alone so soon after Valkyrie had invaded her mind. Because it still nagged him, he labeled the feelings he was having towards her as brotherly affection. When he was a boy, his mother had birthed another child—a baby girl—but she grew very ill during the summer and soon died. Stigg had been eight years old; old enough to be devastated by the incident, but young enough to recover. He supposed he was thinking of Arna as some shade of the little sister he lost long ago.
The warmth of the sun spire soothed his tired body. Angry winds whipped against the stones of the cottage and the sound was like the rocking of a boat. Soon, Stigg fell asleep in the chair. When Fanndis found him later, she smiled and walked softly into the room. Fanndis looked from Stigg to Arna. The girl had been such a comforting presence in the house. Fanndis wanted to protect her. In order to do that, she had to know why Valkyrie was so interested in the girl.
She walked up to Stigg and gently shook his shoulder until he woke up and stretched.
“Sorry I fell asleep. I didn’t want to leave her alone,” he muttered, still groggy.
“It’s alright, son,” Fanndis whispered. “It’s good to see you at rest.”
“Where’s Soryn?” he asked.
“He’s outside shoveling out around Arna’s room so that you two will be able to resume work soon,” Fanndis informed him.
“Ah,” Stigg yawned.
“Stigg, I want you to find out more about Ulla. I know that Ulf and Eira will help you. I must take care of another matter and I might be gone a night or two. Please watch over Arna and Soryn. Don’t let them out of your sight for long. Send Kimbli a message and ask him to come here for Soryn’s lessons for the next two days. I don’t want the boy anywhere near that pig until we know exactly who he is. Kimbli must be apprised of the entire situation—he’s the only one in that town we can fully trust.”
“I understand. Are you going to go visit that woman?” Stigg was concerned for his mother traveling alone through the mountains.
“Yes. Unfortunately, I must face Valkyrie once more. I suppose I was overdue for a visit, anyway. I’m getting too old for these sorts of escapades,” she grumbled.
“Mother…you’re only fifty-nine years old.” Stigg pursed his lips.
“Yes, but Soryn and Arna call me the ‘old snow woman’ so perhaps I should trudge around like some ancient crone,” Fanndis smiled, trying to get her son to cheer up.
“Nonsense,” Stigg said, smirking.
“Well, I need to leave before it gets dark. I’ll take your horse and leave Liv here, if that is alright with you. Ivan is a much stronger animal and I know he can travel longer distances without growing tired,” she said.
“That’s fine. Mother, please be safe. It’s dangerous up there on the mountain,” Stigg said gravely.
“Ah well, it can’t be helped.”
Fanndis left. Stigg massaged his temples with his fingers. He was tired. He hoped he would be able to keep up with all the indoor and outdoor work along with caring for Arna as she healed.
“This will be interesting,” he mumbled to himself.
He left Arna to sleep and went to the barn. Waving at Soryn, who was working hard to rid Arna’s building of snow from the storm, Stigg crossed the waist high snow to the stables. In the barn, Stigg put his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill whistle. From the rafters of the barn, his hawk friend, Vrik, ascended to light upon his extended arm.
“Vrik, I need you to deliver a message to Father Kimbli,” Stigg told him.
What sort of message?
“Tell him that we need him to travel to the cottage to give Soryn his lessons for the next two mornings. Let him know that my mother has urgent business in the mountains and I need Soryn’s help tending to Arna, who has a broken leg.”
It will be done, Vrik promised and flew away into the darkening sky.
Stigg went back and helped Soryn with the shoveling.
“Where did Fanndis go?” Lord Maslyn asked, breathing heavily.
“To see Valkyrie. It’s about a day’s ride up into the mountains. She may not return for two to three days. Father Kimbli will come to give you your schooling in the mornings at the cottage until she returns. I need help tending to the chores and checking on Arna. You don’t mind, do you?” Stigg had never spoken so many words to the boy, but he was beginning to feel more comfortable with Soryn.
“That sounds great! It’s so cold in my tower room, anyway. I’d love to sleep on the floor by the fire tonight.”
“Well, I’m getting very tired of sleeping in the frozen barn. I’ll sleep in the den, also, and that way, if Arna should need something in the night, one of us will be able to reach her quickly.”
“Do you think she’ll be awake again before nightfall?” Soryn wondered aloud.
“Probably not. The sleeping draughts my mother has been giving her are very strong. She needs her rest. Her leg will take a while to heal. Tomorrow, she will need to get up out of bed and walk around with her crutch for a while—just to get moving,” Stigg informed Soryn.
“What if she needs to go to the bathroom?” Lord Maslyn’s e
yes widened.
“She has a chamber pot. I’d rather not get into her personal business. If she has an urgent issue, I’m sure she’ll let us know.” Stigg laughed on the inside at the boy’s awkward practicality.
“Ah,” was all Lord Maslyn said, turning an impossible shade of red.
When the two of them finished clearing out the snow, there was still about an hour of daylight left. They looked at each other and immediately, began working on the room. Now that Arna was injured, it occurred to each one that it would be a nice surprise for her to have a finished room when she was up and moving around by herself again. By the time it was dark, they had put another two layers on the room. Stigg estimated they would be finished in about four days if they could avoid any more blizzards. That did not include furniture for the inside, however. Stigg had almost finished building her bed, but she would still need a desk, chair, and shelf for books.
When they reentered the cottage, Arna was still sleeping and breathing softly. Soryn thought she looked very peaceful and angelic. A hint of smile curled on her lips and there was a tender beauty about her. He wished he could wake her up so that they could talk and laugh together. After several, minutes, however, he knew he should let her sleep. Returning to the main room, he helped Stigg lay out their sleeping pallets for the night.
Before settling down for sleep, Stigg smoked his pipe and started reading from a book entitled, Aartiksen: Philosophy in the Niflheim Woods. Soryn felt that would be a bit too dense for him, so he browsed the bookshelf on the wall next to the fire place. There, he saw many books on philosophy—Stigg’s he assumed—and some on topics like hunting in the Obanian mountains. He chose one on the natural life in the woods and opened it to see an image of a wolf-pack. It was not a photograph like they had on Ancient Earth, but it was a very detailed drawing.
The two of them, man and boy, sat reading silently just as comfortably as if they had lived their whole lives in the same house. When it was time for sleep, without a word, they settled down. It was utterly peaceful and tranquil. Somewhere off in the woods, Ulf’s mate howled for him to return to her. Soryn wondered when the white wolf would go home to his family and when Eira would be back at the cottage. He yawned and supposed he would find out in the morning.
He thought it strange that he felt no sort of suspicions about Ulf. Though he was a white wolf, he was wholly unlike Fenris, whom Soryn remembered to be cruel and sadistic. Ulf was a leader; a father. Soryn never suspected him at all. After all, on a planet covered in snow, there were most likely thousands of white wolves. It was a relief knowing Ulf wasn’t Fenris. Ulla was enough to worry about.