philtucker

Chapter 98: Homecoming

They set sail on the Sea Wolf while the morning sky was yet dark. The last of the stars still glimmered in the west, while to the east the black sky was lightening toward dove gray.

Skadi sat beside Damian on their sea chests, oars extended through the oar locks, war shields slid i...

Chapter 99: Devastation

The thin scent of burnt wood hung in the air, and she could see that some of the buildings were charred. The streets were empty but for the crows that sat in thick, serried ranks upon the longhall’s roof. The pier that they were drifting up to was stained with dried blood which contrasted sharp...

Chapter 97: Valka

Events moved quickly after that.

With their course set, the warriors at the Giant’s Rest began to break down the camp. Navigators consulted the weather and gauged how favorable it would be to set out at dawn; the provenance of the wicked storm confounded them, but in a world dominated by ...

Chapter 95: Holmgang

When Skadi emerged from her tent she put her doubts and fears aside and brought all her focus to what was to come. The path to the holmgang square was lined by warriors, men and women who’d turned out to cheer her on, clap her on the shoulders, scream their approval, and cause the very air to s...

Chapter 96: Warnings

The body was carried away by men of Havaklif, and Baugr stood there, bereft and somehow diminished as if a candle flame in his soul had been snuffed out. Skadi was jostled and cheered as the men surged over the birch branches, but she fought her way through the crowd, laughing and with tears in h...

Chapter 94: No time for tradition

Skadi ignored the clamor that followed, as did the Stórhǫggvi. They stared at each other through the shifting crowd as men rose and shouted at each other, as Damian tried to pull her aside, as her uncle berated Baugr while the other two jarls sued for peace.

Slowly, carefully, she drew Na...

Chapter 93: Challenge

The morning dawned fresh and clear, with only a few high, insubstantial wisps of clouds left to the north to indicate where the storm had scoured the earth. The energy over the camps was tense and expectant, and to Skadi’s relief, Kvedulf wasted no time in beginning the proceedings.

As th...

Chapter 92: The valkyries followed me like crows

The rumbles and crackling of thunder still sounded from the north when Skadi returned to the Giant’s Rest. Dawn was but hours away; Freyja had set her down a good ten or more miles north of their meeting place.

Still, Skadi’s emotions alternated between morose and exultant, pensive and ...

Chapter 91: Goddess

Her uncle was still awake, a lantern lit within his tent, a rough group of warriors seated before it, unofficially at the ready even at this late hour.

“Ho, Skadi,” hailed Auðun, but she strode through their midst and entered the tent abruptly.

Kvedulf sat at ease with Marbjörn,...

Chapter 90: Revelations

The hour was grown late. The feasting and festivities had begun to die down, with most of the attention now focused on the drummers and the ever-larger circle of men that shuffled and danced around the flame, lost in private visions fueled by mead and delirium

The bonfires were dying down. ...

Chapter 89: Foolish plans

Skadi and her companions moved amongst Kráka’s warriors as darkness fell upon the plain. Fires were everywhere lit, and ale flowed in profusion. Cattle and swine had been brought aboard knorrs, and these were now slaughtered, drained of blood, butchered, and set on spits to roast and fill the ...

Chapter 88: A Gathering of Jarls

Jarl Einarr arrived on his two ships later that morning, one of which was the Sea Blade captained by Tryggr Ramundrson. Word passed through the camp like an ocean wind, and men ceased killing time to stand and turn and watch the cliff’s edge that looked out over the sea.

Warriors...

Chapter 87: Snarfari

The next day dawned brisk and chill. Skadi crawled out of their tent, rose, and yawned as she stared out over the camp. Gone was the allure and mystery of the fire-lit gathering; now everything seemed bleached of color and dampened by the morning mist. Guttered bonfires stood in blackened mounds,...

Chapter 86: All Thing

Six Days Later

Dusk was falling as Skadi’s knorr rowed onto the packed black sand of a broad crescent beach, sloping cliffs hiding the land beyond, seagulls wheeling in the final shafts of sunlight that speared like bloody gouts from the great anvil-shaped clouds to the west. The...

Chapter 85: Conference

Skadi opened her eyes. Morning light filled the enclosure. She lay stretched out on the dirt, her body stiff and cold. With a start, she rolled over and sat up.

She was alone.

Natthrafn was at her hip, Thyrnir stood propped against the far boulder. The fire was little more than coals ...

Chapter 84: Don’t change too quickly

They sat in a silence that was only broken by the crackling of the fire. A branch broke, collapsed into the growing pile of embers, and sent forth sparks like those which had escaped Muspel to form the stars.

Astrilda stared off to one side, her lips pursed, brows furrowed, then sat up stra...

Chapter 83: Wolf-age

They sat in silence for a spell, Skadi’s words and the need for her to make a decision seeming to hang in the air between them.

“Out of respect for the dead,” said Astrilda at last, “may I put my companion’s bodies to rest?”

Skadi shifted uneasily. “Good idea.”

A...

Chapter 82: Innocence, once lost, is never regained

They found a ring of great boulders that rose from the leaf litter and undergrowth like a primitive fort from ages past. Slipping between the great rocks made shaggy with moss they found a narrow space within, like the gap between the palm and fingers of a loosely clenched fist.

Great trees...

Chapter 81: A Meeting by the Waterfall

Skadi emerged into the morning to find herself cautiously watched by everyone she passed by. She’d noticed this after her return from Djúprvik, but now it felt different; where before people had nodded and smiled, now they glanced away or pursed their lips.

They were wary, she realized. ...

Chapter 80: The greater the challenge, the greater the glory

To her uncle’s frustration, Skadi excused herself shortly thereafter; his significant stare made it clear he wished to converse, but Skadi smiled at him with feigned blitheness and rose, leaving him to preside over the end of the feast.

The rest of the night passed with torturous slowness...

Chapter 79: Wedded to the shield and seax

Skadi wished she could remain hidden in Afastr’s temple forever, but it wasn’t her nature to hide from a problem. After giving the völva a hard hug, she adjusted her weapons and descended from the mountain meadows to Kráka below.

The moon had emerged and bathed the slopes and dark for...

Chapter 78: Ascertaining the Truth

Skadi stared up into Afastr’s face, hypnotized by the very power of his certainty, then tore her gaze away and stood.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, ignoring the stares, and made her way to the side door and then out into the night. Sidestepped and leaned against the wall, her whole body ...

Chapter 77: Afastr's Vow

Skadi avoided the great hall for as long as she could but eventually was forced to enter with her friends as dusk fell and the feast began.

Nobody summoned her, but she was raised as a jarl’s daughter. She knew that she couldn’t escape this obligation by skulking in her home. Thus she d...

Chapter 76: Evaluating the Enemy

Kvedulf invited Afastr up to his longhouse, and the two jarls climbed the street speaking amiably as if the threat of war didn’t hang over them both. Skadi chose to remain behind on the docks to watch the other warriors of Kaldrborg unload and stream after their jarl to be feasted.&n...

Chapter 75: Afastr

The harvest month of Heyannir drew to a close. The days passed after Skadi’s triumphant return, and though she itched to set sail, she couldn’t fault her uncle for the tardiness; he insisted on outfitting his great dragon ship, the Sea Wolf, with fresh cordage and plenty of food and ...

Chapter 74: Home

Kráka’s gate came into sight and the sight felt almost like coming home. The very warmth of emotion that suffused Skadi’s chest made her feel a pang of guilt; was she so quick to replace Kalbaek?

“Why the frown?” asked Damian as he strode beside her. “Not excited by the prospect ...

Chapter 73: Reap the Rewards

Bölvun went down with a muffled cry, slamming into the ground with such violence that she bounced.

Aurnir glared at where she lay. “Bad lady.”

And like that, the fear was gone. It felt as if a massive vice had released her, and with a gasp, Skadi fell back onto her ass. She sat t...

Chapter 72: Bölvun

Skadi crept along the narrow road toward the tannery. The villagers must have sensed trouble in the air as they remained indoors; the street were empty and still. The sky was gradually lightening, the gray giving way to softest blue, and the air was damp and suffused with the mineral tang of rain...

Chapter 71

Skadi raised her chin and strode forward, hand resting on Natthrafn’s hilt. “It should be obvious as to what I’ve done.” “Even to a coward like you,” she almost added.

The crowd spread out, the body between them and her, their faces ashen with fear.

“Wh...

Chapter 70: What have you gone and done?

Thyrnir burst through the berserker’s temple and into his brain. His whole body spasmed, his grip on her neck faltered, and then they were both falling, her halfspear torn from her grip to crash upon the sodden boards.

Skadi bounced back to her feet, coughing and gasping as she grasped he...