Chapter 6

It took a couple of more days to get us - Elof, Knut, Oskar, Ove and myself ready for our mission. We were a bit worried about the weather when the locals told us that it might be changing. In general, the weather was good and bright, the nights were cold, but the days were clear and nice. Two more weeks of that and this mission could be over! I used the last night before our mission to send one more letter to Saga. I hoped that I’d be able to arrive back home immediately after the letter.

My mother had taught me about different religions, their beliefs and priests. Her opinion about all of them was that even if their teachings were actually quite good, the problem was that the people carrying out those beliefs quite often had some personal agendas which weren’t always as good. The end result of her teachings was that I knew about different religions, but I didn’t really believe in any of them, which was quite common in our little village as it was too small to attract any of those religions - or anyone who might have benefited from them. However, right now I thought that maybe I should have given my respects at least to Thor, the God of thunder and battle. Or maybe he was just unhappy because of our cowardly plan of attack.

During our second day of travel the weather indeed changed. Dark clouds appeared with the wind and snow started. An hour later, the gentle snow had turned into a full snowstorm and the deepening snow made the going hard and dangerous. As if that wasn’t enough, I had to admit that none of us had any clothing that would have been suitable for surviving the snowstorm. I would have liked to continue, but there was something else, too. Maybe it was because of our previous encounters, but I could feel the presence of the creature if I allowed myself to ‘open’ to it. Since I wasn’t really sure what it could do to me magically, I didn’t really want to do that. I still remembered what I had felt, even from a distance, when the beast had attacked Ivar.

Suddenly the whole feeling had changed. While the magic had previously been almost like a beacon or bonfire if you only dared to look at it, now there was only a dim glow, like a curtain had been lowered between me and the beast. I stopped, since keeping the correct direction in a snowstorm was almost impossible. Suddenly, understanding hit me like a big brick. That damned beast had decided to hibernate! Of course, even if it had feathers it was otherwise like a lizard - and lizards hibernated. Suddenly, I felt cheated, defeated - and angry.

“We have to turn back, Stian. We cannot survive in this storm with the clothes we have,” Rafal told me.

I looked ahead and considered our situation. I could still dimly feel the creature and I was quite sure that eventually I’d be able to find it. But shooting it from a distance would be out of question - we’d need to get close in order to hit or strike it. Of course, sleeping or hibernating would make things even easier for us. Or maybe the beast would freeze to death! As that thought came to my mind I started shivering myself, and I noticed that my companions looked much worse. It was clear that they weren’t at all used to conditions like this.

During our journey back, the weather only got worse and besides finding the way I had to make sure that my friends were as protected as possible. By the time we stopped for a break, my partners were surprised when I started digging and piling the snow so that we finally had some ground visible, and the piled snow gave us some protection from the wind. As soon as I had that ready, I gathered some dry branches from the nearby trees and started a fire. Once it gained some strength, I added even more branches to it and we started to evaluate our situation. Despite being hungry as hell and freezing to death, we were doing quite well. Personally, I was sure that by using snow and branches with needles I would have managed a day or two even in the snowstorm, but I didn’t trust that my friends would be able to do that. In fact, I was quite sure that they wouldn’t have been able to make it.

Since the snow made the surroundings brighter we were able to continue walking throughout the night after our break. Being the only one accustomed to this kind of weather, I made sure that we stopped at regular intervals while I checked my friends for frostbite. Luckily for us, the wind wasn’t as bad when we got to the lower ground, but the accumulating snow made it still very difficult to keep going and even if we kept on going it would be late in the evening when we finally were back to the village again. By that time, I had to admit that despite my disappointment, I was happy to be back.

As soon as the people noticed that we were back, there was a whirlwind of activity around us and Cajsa hugged and kissed us all. Elof didn’t mind and for sure I didn’t mind at all - not even Rafal seemed to mind. Yes, they were more or less officially a couple now. I had been told that relationships between fellow Guardians were normally frowned upon - especially as Cajsa was considered an officer and Rafal was merely a Sergeant. Although this situation was far from normal, none of the other Guardians cared and I was only a bit jealous of Rafal. Okay, quite a lot since, he had Cajsa here and now, and my Saga was on the other side of the mountains. It didn’t really help me that Ove was getting friendly with Astrid’s mother and he probably spent more nights ‘helping’ her than with the rest of us.

I really felt it when I saw how Astrid’s mother openly kissed Ove while I tried to see through the wall and past the mountains back to my home village. Most probably there was also winter and lots of snow falling, but the closeness of the sea made sure that the temperature wouldn’t stay extremely low for long periods of time.

“I’m really sorry for you Stian, you should have no part in this.”

I almost snapped. I wanted to shout and yell for all the unfairness, but Rafal’s presence reminded me of my father, and I just couldn’t. I remembered that when I had been younger, I had once complained to him about something that seemed unfair to me. He had put his hand on my shoulder just as Rafal had his good hand on me right now and my father’s words echoed in my mind: ‘It may seem utterly unfair to you, my son, but the sad truth is that the world doesn’t care.’

“Unfair or not, the world doesn’t care.”

“What did you say Stian?” Rafal asked.

“It was something my father said to me once: ‘It may seem unfair to you, but sadly, the world doesn’t care.’”

First Rafal laughed but then he turned serious.

“Stian, you are much too young to think that way. You have your life ahead of you, and we’ll all make sure that you get back. Besides, since you’re not a Guardian but an outside helper, you should earn a small fortune during this trip.”

“We need to kill the beast first.”

“We will Stian, right now I’m sure we will. I haven’t thanked you before for giving us some hope and maybe even a new chance to live. You know that I never thought that ... I mean, that...”

“About Cajsa and you? Yes, I know.”

Despite the jealousy I was feeling, I could not help grinning at the way the older man blushed. Besides, I had to admit that his words had some merit. I was still young and after helping the Guardians, nobody would be able to question my position in the village.

Since both the villagers and Cajsa and Rafal were extremely happy to have the rest of us back safe and unharmed, they all agreed that it was a good reason to celebrate. Besides, with all the snow outside and all the cattle inside barns, there was nothing else to do, right? My sensible part tried to convince me that getting something to eat and a good night’s sleep might be an even better idea, but since I was a hero after killing those two Trolls, I had to join the celebration.

The following morning I woke up naked in the corner of the big common room in which we had the party, with my head hurting terribly, my stomach uneasy, with an enormous need to pee and Astrid sleeping next to me under the blankets. At least she had a nightgown on. Shit. Somehow I managed to find my pants and made my way to the outhouse without waking her. I even managed to take care of the most urgent business without problems. After that I still felt dirty and terrible and for a moment I considered my options. I needed to freshen up if I wanted to feel even a bit alive again. So, after a quick look around I took a place next to the house, threw my pants to the ground and washed myself - both my body and my head - with the fresh, newly fallen snow. It felt cold and terrible but I knew that I would not miss that terribly smelling sweat that had dried on my skin.

“Have you said in your letters to Saga that she has some serious competition?”

Of course I turned around, just to see Cajsa and Astrid’s mother, Helga, standing on the porch looking at me. Naked me. With Cajsa holding my pants.

“Oh, Stian, you need some clean pants. You just can’t put these back on after washing yourself.”

Then she turned to Astrid’s mother. “I must have been wrong before, he doesn’t look at all dangerous now.”

Both of the women giggled when I joined them at the porch, shivering from the cold.

“Can I have at least something?? I’m freezing.”

“You’ll get something once we’re all inside. It’s too cold to stay out here.”

Didn’t I just say that to her? Luckily for me, not everyone was awake yet, only the women and for some reason they were in no hurry to find me something clean to wear. I probably would have died from embarrassment, but as I was quite sure that I’d die from my headache, first, I just didn’t care.

“No, you were quite right, Cajsa. He seems less dangerous now.”

“Who is dangerous, mom? Stian?” Astrid asked.

As soon as Astrid turned out to be awake, the women were finally able to find some suitable clothes for me. As though Astrid had not seen something much worse already. On the other hand, maybe a bit of teasing was just what she needed to see and hear. Gradually, I was also able to join the living again.

During the following days, we learned that this kind of weather was something quite exceptional in this area, but something that did happen every now and then. The problem was that once the cold period started it usually lasted several weeks, maybe even months. Even the river froze but luckily not before I had been able to send another letter to Saga. It should reach her, since the ocean remained ice-free and there was some trade going to our village throughout the winter.

Here, the longer and warmer summers had made sure that there would be no shortage of food. Not even with our group spending the winter as long as I agreed to do some hunting and fishing. Yes, I was familiar with fishing through a hole in the ice.

“Maybe the beast will starve and die from the cold up there.”

Elof had found me outside looking up to the mountains and he had guessed correctly what I had been thinking. As if there had been many options. We had been stuck here for some time now and the Winter solstice and the big celebration would be on us in a few days. I opened my mind as I had done a few times before.

“No, it’s up there, sleeping. It could have escaped before the winter came, but I’m sure it knew Winter would come. When I saw it for the second time, it had gotten much fatter.”

“Can you... - you know. Can you sense it?”

I nodded to him.

“In a way, I can. It is so powerful that it probably just cannot turn itself totally off, not even while hibernating.”

Now it was Elof’s turn to nod.

“That was what Ivar said, too. He said that it was so powerful that even the normal Magicians can sense it without any tricks if they are close enough. It seems that beast may also affect those who cannot do magic.”

The pain was evident in his voice. Probably for the first time, I really understood that his love for Ivar must have been something very deep, maybe not quite as deep as it had been between my mother and father, but certainly much more than I had seen between some couples in our village.

“I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure that you really loved each other.”

He didn’t answer me with words but his nod and the hand that patted my back told me enough. After a while we both went our own ways and I returned to one of the barns where I had been making some more arrows I could use while hunting. I didn’t dare to use any of my good arrows for normal hunting since I was afraid that I’d need all of them once Spring came.

I survived the Winter solstice celebration and all the attention Astrid gave me. In fact, she was quite a nice kid to spend some time with, and she also offered me some protection against some older girls who had suddenly understood that there was a new guy in the village - and would be for some time still. As soon as it was clear that the snow would stay on the ground the whole winter, I had started to make snow shoes for myself. Once I had them ready, I started hunting again and that increased my popularity even more. Since I was hunting, they were able to save some more of their herd for the coming Spring and Summer, which might not have been possible otherwise. I also wanted to hunt, since I needed to test my new arrows, made from a special kind of hardwood growing on this side of the mountains.

A month later I was quite ready to climb the walls, since there was no sign of Spring and I had read all the books they had in the village, which surprised some people even more. Astrid was eager to learn to read better, and she managed to get me to help at the school. It was just like back home during wintertime when there wasn’t that much to do; the children were sent to some homes where they had prepared a room for teaching. Since I was able to read well and also do some calculations, they wanted me to help. Or rather, Astrid informed me that I had agreed to help. Once Cajsa heard about that she laughed so hard that she almost fell from her chair. Well, I was happy that I could make her laugh since otherwise her mornings were terrible. Yes, she was with a child. Oops.

Cajsa being pregnant was one more thing that made all of us even more determined that we would kill the beast. The beast had killed Ivar and now Cajsa and Rafal deserved some happiness together. It goes without saying that I practiced my magic skills whenever I could - the only problem was, the only creatures that seemed to be aware of magic - or the fact that somebody was using magic - were cats. I wasn’t really surprised. Cats seemed to like my company and they also seemed able to absorb all the magic drops I left around - and without any effect on them. Maybe I should surround myself with cats and then attack the creature: The cats would then nullify all the magical tricks the creature would try.

Of course the secret of our little group also got out. There was no way that Ove could have kept it secret from Astrid’s mother. Well, we are sure that he tried, very hard. But he was putty in Helga’s hands, or his mind was. Knut and Oskar teased him mercilessly about that, but since both cousins ‘helped’” three widows they could as well have shut up. I never figured out what the system was with that help, but both of them were eager to do it whenever possible.

I also got some offers, but I had decided to stay true to Saga. Besides, Astrid made sure that approaching me with those things in mind was really frowned upon. The only thing with Astrid that really bothered me, was that she occasionally sneaked out to sleep with me. That alone wouldn’t have been so bad, since I’d never done anything with her, but my dreams had started to be alarming enough without Astrid being there, touching me. Oh, I really needed to get back home to be with Saga.

When once I expressed my worries to Helga she laughed at me at first.

“Oh, I know that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt Astrid. But Stian, you need to understand that she may still be a bit afraid, and she also feels dirty because of the Trolls. I know that she’s still a virgin and that nothing happened, not with the Trolls and not with you. You are a good young man Stian, and I trust you.”

That wasn’t the problem. I trusted myself, too but I didn’t really trust Astrid. Luckily, she hadn’t yet started her transformation into a woman.

Gradually and slowly, the winter started to turn into Spring. Since the snow cover was much thicker than it usually was on this side of the mountains, the Spring would probably be late and the Spring floods would be high. The people at the village started to prepare for the flooding, while our party started to prepare ourselves for the trip to the tree line. Most of the arguments we had were about Cajsa, but she simply informed us that, if the rest of us - especially Rafal - were going, she would be as well. After all, she wasn’t sick - only a few months pregnant. Most likely she was not the only one, if anything could be guessed from the discussions between Helga and Ove. I was the only one who saw that, and I wasn’t going to give him away.

What finally triggered our departure was that I sensed some change in the magic the creature was broadcasting. I couldn’t tell what kind of change it was, but it was a change. It was three days before the Spring equinox when the snow had melted so much that we were able to start our trip up the mountains. I was quite certain that the beast was not fully awake, yet, but it would only be a matter of days when that would happen - I hoped that we’d be ready by then.