The Arctic Ch. 03

The frozen mud skinned her knees, instantly staining her dress red.

"Get up," he snarled, pulling the rope so hard it cut off circulation in her hands and Eira yanked back. Ash slapped her hard enough she felt the sting for several minutes, despite the cold air numbing her face. He pulled her to her feet by a handful of her hair.

"Do not do that again," he growled in warning.

"Apologies Captain Ash...I tripped." He released her and they trekked forward. People sneered and muttered degrading slurs as she continued. Ash's pace seemed to increase and Eira was dragged along behind him. She scanned the crowd, suddenly spotting several people pulling up the hoods to their cloaks. She frowned, unable to shake the sudden feeling that something was about to happen.

Ash was so focused on where they were headed that he didn't notice the figure that moved through the crowd like liquid. Eira felt someone grab her from behind while another figure cut the rope that connected her wrists to the rope in Ash's hands. Ash whirled around, swinging his axe while the hooded figure blocked with an axe of his own. Eira flailed in the man's grip, he squeezed her in response.

"What is going on? Put me down!"

"We are here to help you," he growled and she recognized the voice of Tyrst, he threw her over his shoulder and shoved his way through the crowd. Warriors surged forward, each cut off by more cloaked figures keeping them at bay while Tyrst rushed passed them.

"Where are you taking me?"

"There is no time to explain," Tyrst argued. Eira watched as battle pursued around them, a few had lost their cloaks and she realized she recognized none of them. Tyrst ran into the woods, away from the village where yet another cloaked figure sat waiting on a black thoroughbred steed. Eira knew he was a thoroughbred from his height and slim build. He threw her onto the back of the horse receiving a neigh in protest at the sudden weight dropping down.

"You must ride fast and stop for no one! We will meet up with you as soon as it is possible." Tyrst tore the cloak from his body and secured it over Eira's shoulders.

"Keep your head down, stay off the roads and may Odin protect the both of you. Take this." He cut her hands free and thrust the dagger into her hand. Before Eira could ask another question, he slapped the horse's rear and it lurched into motion. Eira wrapped her arms tightly around the person in front of her. The size and shape revealing her identity.

"Astrid?" The entire safety of her being was now in the hands of a little girl?

"We do not have time for this," she snapped.

"What about Nicholas? Where are you taking me?"

"I will explain everything, for now you need to just shut your trap and hold on." Eira felt a small sting of anger at the fact this child was speaking to her with such blatant disrespect. Instead she bit her tongue and gripped tighter, hoping she made the right choice.

The Sun was just starting to set over the horizon as the horse slowed to a gallop, eventually Astrid pulled the horse to a stop and after sliding down the side of the horse she helped Eira down. They had been riding for almost two days, having only stopped long enough for Eira to dress into warmer clothes.

"I...I don't understand what is going on. Why did you help me?" she finally asked. Questions had been eating at her since Tyrst had picked her up and hauled her off, Astrid had insisted they keep riding to stay ahead.

"Not all wolves hate Elves Eira. Some clans have evolved, we are ready to make peace, end the generations of hate and war and fight against the real enemy."

"And who is the real enemy?"

"The Giants and Ogres, are you aware that the boundaries of their lands have expanded these last ten years?" Astrid demanded.

"That is impossible, there are barriers in place."

"Barriers that have been shifting...weakening, and instead of just admitting it and trying to strengthen it, the problem is being ignored. We have done everything we can, but Elves are the ones who possess the magic. Nicholas thought he could get your father to listen...Olaf ignores the problem just as much as your Father did."

"If the barrier breaks?" Eira dared to ask. Astrid finally looked over and made eye contact, a look so grave Eira felt the very blood drain from her face.

"There will be years of endless bloodshed."

"Where are we going? I do not recognize these parts of the forest."

"We are going to my village. My Father and Nicholas will meet us there."

"Why do we not return to my Kingdom?"

"I simply follow orders. Do you plan to badger me with questions for this entire trip?" Eira clenched her fists but kept herself under control. Astrid had Eira gather some kindling while she went to fetch water for the horse and let him eat. Eira cleared off a nearby log while Astrid pulled some dried meat and biscuits from the bag on her saddle. Eira hadn't realized how hungry she was until she tasted the food. She consumed it in a few cold bites and thanked her.

"We need to let Thor rest a big longer and we'll head back out. It's a few more days ride before we get there." When Eira asked her why she named her horse after the God of Thunder, she simply smiled and informed her that in her village, the horses named themselves then offered no further explanation. Eira hoped she made the right choice by following Astrid, but she felt there had been no other choice; had she stayed behind she would probably already be dead. After a short rest they saddled back up and headed out towards Astrid's home. Eira had never been this far from her own home except for the two times a year they visited the Kingdom of the South. She had only ever left the borders once besides that, and that had been on a dare. By the time they rested for the night she was barely able to hold her eyes open any longer. With all the events adding up and the adrenalin having left her body days ago she was feeling toll it was taking. The snow had stopped falling, but she helped Astrid set up the small tent and rolled out some furs and blankets.

"Would you like me to gather wood for a fire?" Eira offered.

"Why would you do that? It is dark outside, do you want someone to find us?" Astrid demanded, tone condescending. As though that was something she should have thought of herself.

"You cannot think they would still be following us, do you?"

"I am taking no chances. That is Polar Bear Pelt, it will keep you warm through the night." Eira climbed between the furs, and struggled to get comfortable. She had never slept on the ground before, but she didn't want to mention that to Astrid. The girl already thought she was a spoiled princess, and her lack of knowledge of the world didn't help matters much either.

"How can I ever repay you for what you have done for me?"

"Shut up and get some sleep." Eira closed her eyes and obeyed, unconsciousness taking her the moment she closed her eyes.

~~~~

Astrid handed her the flint and steel from her pocket.

"You do know how to start a fire, don't you?" If she had access to her magic she knew a spell to conjure flames, but that was useless to her.

"I am sorry, I do not." Astrid took the tools back and demonstrated the proper angle to strike it and how the tiny spark would set the fire. Astrid ripped some dead moss from a nearby tree, the material somewhat dry and she handed it all back to Eira.

"This ought to catch fire quickly, then you'll want to stick it under the wood pile. I am going to check the snares real quick." Eira's stomach growled at the thought of breakfast. But first thing they needed was a fire. She set the materials up the way she had seen Astrid do and repeated the action.

It took several minutes before she managed to stoke the spark to a full flame. She practically held her breath as she carefully transferred the moss so that it was under the stack of carefully stacked branches. By the time Astrid returned she had three hares hanging from some rope, all their necks snapped.

"How much do you know about preparing your own food?" Astrid asked cautiously.

"Almost nothing. I grew up in a house where we had staff to do these kinds of things." Eira confessed, embarrassed at how helpless she felt. Here was Astrid, a younger girl, capable of more independence that Eira thought possible. She felt like a spoiled entitled princess and that was not the kind of leader she wanted to present herself as. It was almost overwhelming, the gap in her knowledge and she felt ashamed for having never thought of it before. How was she supposed to be a Queen? How was she supposed to take care of her people if she was not even able to take care of herself?

"If you are willing to teach me, I am willing to learn." Astrid stared at her for several minutes, studying her. Whatever she saw there helped her make her decision, she nodded and slapped the stiff bodies on top of a slightly flat rock.

"Alright, pay attention because I do not have the patience to repeat myself. Take this one and copy what I do." Astrid handed her the dagger that had been given to her upon their escape. Eira took the corpse and kneeled beside the rock.

"Since I already snapped their necks, you do not have to kill it. But I will show you how to gut, skin and prepare them. First you are going to want to hold him up by his ears and just massage and squeeze from chest down and repeat. This way any waste the little guy has in his innards will end up on the ground and not in your meat. Next you are going to want to make a small cut here. But be careful, if the hare has been dead too long this is going to be hard instead of soft and if you cut too deep, you open their bowels, thus ruining the hare. Once you have cut through the fur, make sure to peel it back to expose the belly. The initial cut should be shallow, and once you're through the meat, you want to hold your knife at a horizontal angle as you work your way down." Eira's hands shook as she tried to be both gentle and strong enough.

"It cannot feel anything, it is quite dead." Astrid announced. Eira nodded, her uneasiness with the task apparent; but she continued until her hare matched Astrids. A few beads of sweat gathered on her brow and she wiped them away with her forearm. A sharp metallic smell tickled her nose as she punctured the hare's body. Eira gagged at first, but managed to keep her stomach calm as she slit the stomach open, revealing all of its internal organs.

"Now, you are going to want to reach in there and rip everything out. Be sure to get their dirt track out too." Eira took a deep breath and plunged her hand right into the cavity, the organs were elastic and firm and yet delicate and soft at the same time. Holding down a wave of nausea she grabbed a handful and pulled out the mass of organs, surprised at how easily they disconnected from the body. She tossed them beside the pile that Astrid had and picked her blade back up she used the tip to pull out the dirt track as Astrid had showed her.

"Now, we are going to skin them. And I should mention we can sell these if you can manage to do it gracefully. You want to snap their legs just below the first joint, and cut them off. They sell for quite a bit of coin in the market places as well." Eira winced at the sound of the hare's legs snapping, the effort almost smooth with the right amount of leverage. She watched Astrid as she took one of her smaller throwing knifes and simply dissected the feet from the body. Eira's hands were covered in blood and it took all her strength to focus on her task instead of the blood soaking into her nail beds. Once her hare was without feet and organs, Astrid showed Eira how effortless it was as she peeled the fur away from the limp lifeless body, making sure to cut the tail off as well. Without the feet, the fur slipped off the body with little yield, and they cut off the head once the fur got to that end

"We will get back to that later. Now, if you were to make stew, you would want to cut here along the joints, separate the meat into smaller pieces then cut them off the bone. Although most of the meat is here, below the 3rd rib so you can honestly just discard the rest or pick more meat off if you feel up to the task. We are going to roast them over the fire so I am going gather some water to wash up and gather what we need to cook these. Do you think you can handle the third one by yourself?" Eira nodded as she repeated the steps she had done with the first hare. It smelled, it was disgusting and gross but it felt good to finally be contributing to something. She did not like having to depend on everyone else to take care of her. Especially in such dire situations, her father had prevented her from really learning much of anything; if she wanted to be a better leader than he was, she was going to need to learn to survive first, then figure a way to save her people. Despite her age and attitude, Astrid had been quite patient and a very good teacher.

Eira gathered more wood while she waited for Astrid's return, snapping really large branches by slamming them against ground. Her body ached, crying for rest and pampering but she ignored it. She did not want to be that ignorant or helpless again. And if she wanted things to change she knew she was going to have to stop being so afraid, she was going to take this opportunity to learn as much as she could. These skills would be helpful for her journey home. She wasn't sure where Astrid's village was, but Eira knew that once they were there she planned to go home to her Kingdom, whether Nicholas permitted her to or not.