“It was a fine land we found ourselves in, with large flat areas suitable for growing grains. My father and his youngest son and I all joined the same warband, ostensibly under Firi, the youngest of my brothers. My father did not wish to erode the legitimacy of any of his sons. By refusing to take the title of leader and Jarl in the new land, he prevented this. By aiding his youngest, most saw him giving the wisdom of experience to the son who needed it most. He was old, and I think saw his last chance to die in battle. He was saddened by the thought of not dying on the field of battle he loved so much. It was with joy, not sadness that we found ourselves engaged by perhaps the largest of the former ruler’s remaining factions. It was a battle in which we were outnumbered, though not by a large amount.”
“We formed shield walls and moved towards each other, as this is how our battles were fought in that time. Axes were rapped against our shields to keep the movement pace. But my father saw an opportunity, dropped his shield and called for his great ax. He charged the enemy alone. The impact of his body into the opposing shield wall was heard across two fields. The impact had cracked the two enemy shields his body hit, allowing him to penetrate the formation and forcing it to slow. An enemy soldier was thrown into the shield wall from the inside by a mighty swing of my father’s ax, forcing the formation to slow further and disrupting their planned movement.”
“Our group quickened its pace. Moving at a rolling speed, we slammed into the hampered formation.”
“When we collided with the enemy shield wall, it crumbled. Three others and I found ourselves surrounded for a short time by the enemies. Two of my companions attempted to flee back to the safety of our main group but were cut down. The remaining man and I fought back-to-back keeping several of the enemy away until our shield wall reached us. That day, I found my husband.”
“After that battle, and after we had buried the dead, which included my father, the time came to split the land for the freeholds. What was the Jarl’s alone, and what was given to others for service in the Jarl’s forces. What was to be held free of the Jarl. Before the land was split, I declared my intention to marry, and my brother gave his blessing. Therefore, myself and my future husband were given a freehold, as were many of the warriors who fought in that battle. My new husband and I shared a patch that was larger than the grants to individual fighters. Some objected though the grant was smaller than any other two warrior’s grants.”
“The original holding’s borders are not more than thirty kilometers from where we sit today.”
“I was happy for many years with my husband and bore him four children, one son and three daughters. We were happy until he was killed in revenge raid against the Sami tribespeople to the north. Then trouble started occurring. None of my children were old enough to be fully trained in the warrior’s arts. Many, especially from the local population, thought I could not hold the former lands without him. Our holding was on the border so that we were obligated to protect our lands and to watch the border for the Jarl. That placement left us without his easy support. The distance became known along with the fact my husband was dead. Many raiders thought to take advantage of this. That was despite my reputation as a shieldmaiden of great skill, one to be feared on any battlefield. I was sucessful in defending the holding, but suffered grave losses.”
“I was captured by the strange alien with my children as we started on a Yule trip to my brother’s hold. Partly to celebrate with family, and so my children could meet their cousins. Partly to ask him for aid. It pointed one of its devices at me, and I crashed to the ground, shrieking in agony. When I could move again, it pointed it threateningly at my children and told us to follow. What choice was there for us?”
“For some time, the creature was only interested in tormenting me. What it did to me, the pain it caused I cannot and will not describe. It kept assuring me it was improving me, and eventually showed me how to change my form into the other one you have seen. I was content at this time. My children were not harmed, were healthy, and fed with food the creature provided and deer I hunted. It only seemed interested in me.”
“Then it started doing things to my children. I felt true despair and began searching for a way to, if not free us all, free them from its control. We were not slaves. We were not thralls. We were proud descendants of a Jarl’s line. That it treated us all as slaves, that it hurt my children… “She broke off, sobs wracking her body. Janna moved close to comfort her, but Gyada shook her head.
She wiped the tears from her face, “I found a way to allow my children to escape. The being did not need sleep, not like humans do, but I learned to recognize the signs of when it wasn’t paying attention to the world around us. During one of those periods I changed, broke my children free of their chains, and told them to run far and fast. To change to the forms that had been inflicted upon them and use those forms to aid in their escape. And never to look back. To warn their children, and their children’s children, that this area was too dangerous to return to.”
“When the creature woke up, it took some time to learn my children were no longer there. It started ranting that it would catch them, bring them back, and cause me pain until I broke, and would become obedient to its wishes. I shifted and charged it, moving faster than I ever had ever attempted. It seemed to be in shock, and the blows from my paws interrupted it as it tried to yell something out.”
Her listeners were now captivated for various reasons by her tale. Boris because he realized this may well be his ancestor telling him the story of how his people were created. Janna because of the loss the woman had faced. Shen and Alecta were both fascinated by the technologies she was describing.
“I found myself unable to return to my human shape. I was in despair. I hoped that there was some way that my brother’s village would take me in, so I traveled there. They tried to chase me off with fire and sword. When the first blade bit my skin, it was as if the Beast took over. The anger of the betrayal added to my rage, for I had traveled by my homestead first and scented that nobody had investigated the fact that I had not arrived when I had sent messages ahead of my imminent arrival.”
“I am ashamed to admit that I left the village without another living creature in it. That I ate the flesh of many that I killed there that winter. My rage that nothing had been done to avenge my capture burned strong at the time. I continued to raid my other brother’s holdings over the next few years until finally I was hunted by a man with strength beyond my own. With strength beyond anything that I had ever encountered. I then retreated back to the cave, making brief forays out to hunt for food, then returning. But that powerful man tracked me down. He cornered me in the cave, and I was certain it was my time for Valhalla. There would be worse ways to go than being killed by this great warrior.”
“Instead he showed me a kind of mercy. I do not know if he realized I would survive as long as I have, but rather than kill me he collapsed the entrance to the cave. It happened to be the only entrance to the cave that I could use in my animal form to escape.”
“In my time within the cave, a voice talked to me. At first, I thought it had been some sort of spirit sent to punish me. Eventually, I came to realize that it was trapped the same as me. I learned many things from it. Learned of wonders I never thought I might have the opportunity to see. “Her eyes glittered for a moment as if there was something she desperately wanted but was still not sure she could achieve.