The Dance of the Ocean and Moon [Book One]

Chapter Four | Saga

SAGA

Solveig of clan Asbjörn rode her dark horse, named Endre, through the forest, keeping the King's Road to her right, and the sun on the left. It was getting late, and she needed to get to Castle Black as quickly as possible; but given the unsavory characters she had run into since leaving her homeland, she wasn't so keen on traveling on the road. She preferred the shadows. Not that she couldn't handle herself, but she'd like to avoid the conflict if she could. The air was rustling the trees overhead; it was getting colder again. Suddenly the sharp sound of metal-on-metal pierced the air. It rung out through the forest and Solveig pulled her horse to a halt.

She closed her eyes and listened for the direction of the source. When the next clang of metal rang out she determined it was ahead of her, probably on the road. It was close, though, and she couldn't risk being seen. She jumped down from her horse and whispered, "Stanna kvar," for her horse to stay put, as she ran off into the forest. She ran until a low enough branch came to her attention. She sped up and jumped to reach it. Solveig used the momentum to swing her legs up onto the branch next to the one she was holding on to.

She climbed the tree quickly, hopping from branch to branch, getting higher and closer to the leaves. Finally, she reached the road to see two men fighting, one armored, one not, and another man with his knife to a boy's throat. She took her bow off her chest and pulled an arrow from her quiver, just in case. The two men fought until the one with armor finally stabbed the other in the chest and he fell to the ground. When the man turned around Solveig nearly gasped. For the armored man wasn't a man at all-she was a woman. A very tall, beautiful woman with short blonde hair.

Solveig's eyes widened, for she had never seen such beauty. She was astonished to see a woman who could fight, since she was told for years that Asger, her home, was the only place where women were also fighters. "Not another step closer, or the boy gets it!" the man with the knife called out. Solveig couldn't quite make out what he said, but it was clearly a threat; the boy with a knife to his throat was clearly accompanying the warrior woman. Without a second thought, Solveig pulled back on her bow quickly and released the arrow. It hit the man without fault and sent him to a heap on the ground.

Solveig hid behind the tree but poked her head out just far enough to see the woman. The woman was turned in her direction. "Show yourself!" she shouted. Solveig tried to translate the word 'yourself' when the woman called out again. "I demand you come forward!" Solveig thought she understood, but she wasn't about to reveal herself to the stranger. She did not know if the woman knight was friend or foe, though she certainly wanted to trust her. The woman knight was beautiful and fierce...and tall (her people weren't very tall, she was an exception herself); plus, Solveig thought there was no such thing as a woman knight in the south.

She waited silently for the woman to say something else, or come looking for her. But she only gazed into the forest, she didn't bother to look at the rustling tree tops. It wasn't long before the woman and the boy mounted their horses and rode off down the road. Solveig sighed, her heart was racing from both running through the trees and from the sight of the woman.

She took her time climbing back down and returning to her horse. It would be night soon and she couldn't spare much more time. But she also didn't want to catch up to the woman, she wasn't sure where they were going, and if she would be friendly or not. She continued to ride her horse into the night until even the moonlight was being blocked out by the thick foliage. She stopped when she could no longer see the path clearly, tied up her horse, and found a nice tree with thick branches to perch herself in.

She was up again with the sun and back on her horse without hesitation or even eating breakfast. She rode until she could hear the laughter and voices of men in the distance. She figured they came from the road and she decided it would be best to go deeper into the woods to avoid detection. But once she was past, and back on her path again, something stopped her. The thought of the knight woman running into the group of men and having nothing but her own sword to protect her. She didn't doubt her abilities, but it sounded like way too many people for one person to take on alone. And she could tell her boy-companion was no fighter.