Yngvild and the Forest of Dreams

Grunwald

The Thunderbird beached in the middle of a semi-circular beach surrounded by cliffs, with a river cut through them. It needed repairs before it could get anywhere safely.

Some of the crew set about searching for some fresh timber to help brace the ship during repairs. Others unloaded some provisions and made a makeshift shelter. I recovered my kit from the cabin, and along with Old Bjorn we climbed down onto the beach. Noren was already down there helping the sailors secure the Thunderbird to the beach so that she wouldn't float off at high tide. He came over to join us when they were done.

'It's going to take the ship's carpenter several days to fix the Thunderbird, and even then she's going to need an overhaul in a shipyard.' Old Bjorn said.

'Best we walk from here then. It isn't far.' Noren said.

'I can't come with you.' Old Bjorn said.

'Why not?' I said.

'Alfarinn won't want to see me,' Old Bjorn said. 'And it's best to respect her wishes.'

'I'll miss you.' I said, hugging him.

'You'll be fine. Best get some provisions and start off immediately.' He said.

'I've already got some ship's biscuits, cheese and dried meat. I think we can probably find some fresh on the way.' Noren said.

'Farewell then.' Old Bjorn stood and raised his hand.

'See you back in Kronstadt, at Lady Helga's.' Noren said.

'Until then. Remember. No rush to die!' Old Bjorn turned away from us and climbed back into the Thunderbird.

Noren and I gathered up our kit and walked up the beach to the gap in the cliffs made by the river. The sun had come back out and we were both steaming gently as we walked. The storm had finally stopped roaring and I could smell some wild flowers as well as the sea. Birds sang in the trees. It was such a contrast to earlier. It felt like home, Noren and I walking along the beach to spend some time together, with flowery fragrance and singing birds. I felt empty inside, I'd lost it all. Would Straven still be there to go back to, and if it was, would it ever be the same again?

Noren took my hand. 'We'll have those times again, when we've found out who we are, and stopped Rojden from causing trouble in Cotallem.'

'If we stop him.'

'We will. I've seen what you can do. When I'm properly initiated I'll be able to do similar things too. Between us we will defeat Rojden.'

'I hope so.'

'That storm was you, wasn't it?'

'I hadn't expected it to be so hard to control.'

'I was surprised that we made it. That last wave should have kept the ship down.'

'It took me by surprise too, I was just concentrating on us making it to safety and the storm stopping.'

'Well it has stopped now.'

'A bit too late.'

'How did you make it happen?'

'I spent most of the morning thinking about a storm coming in from over the horizon, and forcing us to head for land.'

'You just imagined it up?'

'For about three hours.'

'No wonder it took a life of its own.'

Once we were off the beach there started to be trees. They were quite different from the ones that I was used to. Instead of green needles for leaves these had far fewer rounder leaves. They came in all sorts of varieties, some were like spear heads, others irregular waves, some were almost round. The trees were mostly bushier than the ones on Straven, they didn't have the conical shape of the pine trees. Most of them had straight trunks for seven or eight feet above the ground before their branches spread out.

'Deer.'

'Where?' I said.

'Nearby, the trees grow like this where there are deer.' Noren said.

'We might eat well at some point then.'

'We can look later. Let's get some distance in.'

'After we've changed. I'm soaked to the skin. I was on deck when that last wave came over.'

'I'm nearly dry again, I was on the larboard oars, we didn't really get wet.'

I peeled off my sodden clothes and wrang the water out of them. Noren purposefully turned his back when I got down to my shift, but I wouldn't have minded if he'd looked. I put my other shift, skirts and bodice on, they were mostly dry having been in the battened down cabin during the storm. I put the battle gear on top, it was slightly incongruous with the skirts, but it was easier to carry it that way. Remembering what Jafnadr had said in the dream we'd shared about my father's fate I made a point of resting my bare hand on the pommel as we walked. It also helped to keep the sword from catching in my skirts. No rush to die, as Old Bjorn often said.