Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 17 - Unexpected Sacrifice

The evening was spent sheltered beneath the overturned oar boat, which Anja had laid up against a rock to create a makeshift lean-to. Veld kept a watchful eye either perched in the boat or circling overhead. Tokki's hands shook madly as he tried to dress himself. At least his clothes are dry, Anja thought as she helped Tokki fit the last few buttons. Skari was so shattered that he was able to do little more than climb beneath the oar boat and wrap himself up in his warm cloak. The evening was blessedly still, but Anja knew Tokki had to be warmed quickly to avoid falling into delirium. Skari was quivering in his own right. With no idea what the seer specifically needed, Anja set herself to building a fire. A dancing flame cured many ills. She collected several small, woody shrubs and laid spark to her tinder bundle. The shrubs would not burn for long, but she hoped the heat would get Tokki out of danger and revitalize Skari. As the brush crackled and took light, Tokki instructed Anja how to boil a restorative. She pulled a small tin pot and a bladder of wine out of Skari's pack and grabbed Tokki's apothecary kit. The kit had been ravaged by his work with the fallen ravens earlier in the day, but he still had a jar of cloves and some fresh thyme to make mulled wine. Anja set the pot to heating and added the herb and spice. In short order, the underside of the oar boat was awash in warming light and rejuvenating aromas.

The comforts had the desired effect and before the last shrub had been burned, both Skari and Tokki were alive with stories and even a bit of laughter. Veld caused much merriment as the raven hopped and quorked around the fire chasing tossed bits of tack and dried fish. After a while the raven departed. Perhaps he too had grown tired of the Dwarven tack and went in search of some late-season crowberries. There was another cause for optimism beneath the boat. They had already acquired two of the items they needed to fulfill the geise. They still needed to get a dragon's egg from somewhere and ultimately climb the Five-Cairn Pass to confront Katla.

"So Skari, where does one go to acquire a dragon's egg?" Anja asked, sipping lightly on a cup of the warm mulled wine. "The great market at Smoky Bay? Perhaps a trade can be made with a Pict merchant from across the sea?"

"Do you think they would take Dwarven tack in exchange?" asked Tokki as he placed a piece on the end of a sharpened stick to see if roasting improved the flavor.

Skari smiled. It was good that the children still had a sense of humor after so challenging a day. There would be more trials ahead.

"I have heard of a place. It is a place I have never visited, mind you, but there is a mountain south of here that is a nesting ground for all varieties of wyvern. I believe if we make for the Markar River and follow it to the south and east, we may find this dragon's aerie.

"A dragon's nesting ground..." Tokki mused. It sounded so foreign, like the lands across the seas that he had heard about from merchants and travelers that occasionally came through Fjallabak. He knew wyverns existed, but having never seen one, he had no frame of reference, no way to comprehend what stealing an egg might entail.

In Anja's mind's eye, she pictured herself standing toe to toe with a great green dragon. Arden used to tell her stories of dragons when she was younger. Tokki had been too small and would have been too scared, but once he went to bed, Arden had regaled her with the most incredible stories as they sat beside the fire. The stories were well known and told all over Fjallabak; Bjornan and the Withering Fang, Dragon Stew in Askja, and Anja's favorite, The Shield Maidens of Thor's Wood. Arden had always claimed that one of the shield maidens was named Anja. At that time, Anja believed it and lived it in her imagination as she slayed beasts and enemies with an invisible sword in the streets of Fjallabak. She now saw it as the kindness of an old man; giving her life meaning when, as an abandoned orphan, she felt so inconsequential. She missed the old barrel maker and prayed to the gods in Asgard that he and Magdali were still alive, somewhere.