Kingdom of the Elves pt. 8
The Skittish swiftly embraced the terms Matilda offered the moment she landed on their shores. Leif Drakke, the Leder of Skitt, welcomed her with open arms and visibly sighed in relief at the prospect of her assistance. He candidly shared the daunting challenges he faced — coping with famine-stricken subjects and the ever-looming dread that the Kingdom of Hammea, positioned just to the northeast, might seize the opportunity to attack and annex his lands while he struggled with the repercussions of the three-year winter.
“How have you been sustaining your people?” Matilda inquired, her keen eyes noting the multitude who warmly welcomed her, though they represented only a fraction of the entire Skittish population. Concern etched across her features as she contemplated what fate might have befallen them if not for the provisions brought from Halvoy’s recent trade and the life-saving glassfarms.
“Rats, horses, waterweed,” he listed, his gaze cold, and his face gaunt from the hunger that ravaged his lands. “And the infants who failed to survive the winter.”
The last bit of information nearly made her retch. Before she could voice her disgust and rage, he continued.
“The gods already punish us for it,” He said with a sigh.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“There is a plague moving through our dwindling numbers,” he said, pausing to organize his thoughts and words. “They call it the freezing fever. It comes unannounced and gives little time to be detected. Within a few hours, anyone who suffers it becomes stiff wherever they lay. Victims usually seek warmth before they lie down. They freeze slowly from the inside beside the hearth they find.”
She frowned. No one had brought a message of this fever to Halvoy. There were islands her father ruled very close to Skitt, and she wondered if they, too, suffered from the fever.
“Does it take everyone? Old and young?” Matilda asked, concerned she would not get enough men to occupy sixty longboats.
“It claims the children and the elderly,” The leder responded. “We have found ways to slow it down, but no cure as of yet.”
“I see,” She replied, managing to suppress her excitement at the news. “I will send a raven to my father and ask that he put our healers to good use in reasearching a cure. What do you do to slow this fever?”
“Suspending the afflicted in water the instant they start craving the presence of fire helps,” He stated. “It is as though the fever compells them to seek what will kill them… Strange things have been occurring since that loud sound that came before these clouds which loom over us. The world might be ending…”
“Not on my watch, leder,” Matilda interrupted. She had only barely begun her life. The world dared not come to an end before she reined in a new era for her people. “Thank you for speaking of this fever. I will ensure my men avoid eating one another during this raid.”
Matilda and her men spent two days in Skitt, rounding up nearly five hundred strong warriors who would board the longboats she brought with her. To her delight, they were all battle-hardened warriors. The Skittish were Northmen as well, but they were independent from Halvoy, choosing to be led by a leder of their own. She was displeased that the Northmen were divided in that manner. It fell to her to unite the Northmen under a single banner, much like the Jasil had done. Skitt, Las, Fak, and the Kingdom of Hammea were hers to rule, but first, she needed the alliance of the Skittish before annexing their domains under her empire. She pondered the possible names for her empire, one that would rival the might of Gemma in the south of Ostenus.
She considered naming it Nordia — Land in the North, but she decided it was boring and uninspiring. She toyed with Halvmark — Half Field but dismissed the idea behind the name. Halvoy was named for the people who relocated from an island in the Quivering Ocean; half the people on the island settled on the peninsula, which then became Halvoy. There was nothing half in what she intended to do. In the end, she couldn’t come up with names for her empire, and she turned her attention to the ships, which were being prepared for the voyage to the west.
“Are they not beautiful?” One of the newly appointed captains from Skitt, Valdemar Echo, asked.
He was the first Skittish apart from Leder Leif to speak to her, and she considered shunning him. Something about his bold approach drew her in and she found herself granting him audience.
“Indeed, they are,” She replied with pride, her hair dancing in the wind. “With them, I will dominate the world.”
“The world is much too big to dominate with ninety-nine ships,” Valdemar pointed out, pulling her out of her vain dream. She was annoyed at his rebuttal and thought he was one of those men who counted her incapable of achieving anything because she was not born a man. “You will need this many ships in ninety-nine places, princess.”
She relaxed her frown and turned to look at him. He had long, black hair and deep green eyes she found herself lost in. He was handsome in a rough way, with a few stubbles and not a fully grown beard like many of the Northmen. His collars were fastened together by two hooked pins shaped like crescent moons. Like the other Northmen, he appeared very neat and properly dressed in his warrior outfit. Unlike the Skittish, however, there were no signs of thinning on him. He appeared very healthy.
“That is a lot of ships needed to conquer two continents and an elven island we’re not sure even exists,” She said with a light-hearted laugh. It had been a while since she felt small in the presence of another.
“Why do you think the world only has two continents?” He asked, his expression unreadable.
Her teacher never taught her anything about places other than the ones in Ostenus, so she did not have anything to back her claims except for the history she knew. “We came from Orijendo to here, so that’s two known continents.”
“You may be right, you may be wrong.” His wording sounded quite familiar. He said nothing more.
Matilda was getting close to being visibly enraged. “Have you been to other continents apart from Orijendo and Ostenus?” She asked.
“To the others, I have been,” He responded, “But this one, I have only seen.”
Yes, he’s mad, she thought. “But you are right here!” She ponted out, a little too loudly because she saw that many paused what they were doing to look at her. “You’re here,” She said, just audible above a whisper, “how can you then have only seen where you are? That sounds like words from a madman’s mouth.”
The instant the words left her mouth, she realised why his phrasing sounded familiar. She had known only a single mad person her whole life.
“Vessels can be replaced,” She recalled, her eyes widening at the realisation that she was talking to her old teacher whom everyone had forgotten.
“Vessels can be replaced,” He repeated with a smile.
Before he could say more, she ran to him and wrapped her hands around him. She felt tears stream down her face. The tears she had held in for years let themselves out. He smelled of beet and mint. Many stopped to watch her, but she did not care. She definitely had not been hallucinating from eating fish that ate capsponges.
“Everyone forgot you!” She sobbed. She was a little girl all over again. “Everyone but me,” She said, still embracing him tightly. She felt him embrace her back, and her heart melted while butterflies fluttered their wings in her belly. “I knew you would be back. Why did you leave?” She asked.
“My job was done,” He stated. He did not say anymore, so she asked another question.
“And why are you here again? Why this time?”
He broke the embrace and used his hand to wipe her tears. She felt giddy. This was the only person she would allow to treat her with such tenderness. Her shield. Her protector.
“This one was paid, and he has come to fulfill what was asked of him,” He said in his usual cryptic manner. “His job is done once more.”
She frowned and took his hand in both of hers. “No! I want you with me!”
“This one can’t choose for himself. A price was paid. A job was done. A man must leave!”
Matilda looked deep into his green eyes. She remembered the man who taught her had green eyes as well. The only consistent physical feature she could see. “How much will I pay to have you stay? I can hire you for the raid!”
He smiled. “You learn too quickly, little princess.” Then she smirked at her. “Hiring a man of the shadows is expensive. A hefty price is charged. A hefty sum is paid.”
Matilda grew frustrated at his unclear response. “Just name it!”
He nodded. “The girl’s dreams,” He stated.
“I do not understand,” She said, turning up her brows.
“For a price, I demand your dreams.”
His request sounded expensive, and she pondered deeply, reflecting on what she had to lose and what she stood to gain. Her dreams were lofty. She wanted an empire that cut across the lands of the Northmen and the west, and ultimately, she desired Ostenus. Believing that was the price she needed to pay, she agreed to Valdemar Echo’s terms.
“I trade my dreams in exchange for your service,” She said.
He smiled widely at her, and his eyes shone for a moment. “A contract is sealed, a dream is sold, and a man is hired.”
What have I just done? She asked herself.
