We rode on, Duncadda taking point, with Waelden and I flanking Ethel. Herne trotted along behind Ethel’s mount, Roan. We were then followed by wise old Eldhors, who strode on with the clackerty wagon, needing little guidance. A crow sat on the otherwise empty driver’s seat, calling the occasional ‘Hrost’ to the world, and acting like he was boss. He was not. But he was a brave bird.
And Ethel. Ah, by Bema she had been shaken by that Troll! She was subdued, though answered when addressed, but her head was low, and her eyes a touch glazed. She was a brave girl, clever and determined. But the Troll attack had scared her. She had frozen. Only her papa’s command for her to flee with the wagon had broken that.
Now I had long since grown to love Ethel as if she were my own. If asked, I would say I could not wish for a better child. An emptiness in me had been filled by her fast acceptance of me in her father’s life, and in her own. We could not have worked as a family had that not come to pass. She was my daughter, as well as Waelden’s. My ‘cub’, he would sometimes tease me. “Well she does ‘wolf’ down any food she can find” I usually replied. And we would laugh. Were she in the room, Ethel would usually howl.
Now, we needed to both watch her and give her space, as she thought upon her own vulnerabilities. She was skilled, aye, but nowhere near a seasoned adult with a bow or knife. She had the potential of a warrior, she certainly had a warrior spirit, but she was certainly not invulnerable. Ethel knew that, of course. But I pondered if this was the first time she had been unable to live up to her own expectations?
Waelden glanced across at me, his own eyes echoing my concerns. But he shook his head very slightly. Our girl knew we were here for her. She would fight her way through.
We continued at a steady pace as the day wore on. The rolling planes of the Wold giving us mostly clear views for miles around, through the hills and forests of the East Wall ever loomed in the distance. A few times Duncadda raised a hand to halt us, and he and Waelden would make a quick scout ahead. On one, Ethel rode a bit closer to me and said “I’m alright mama. I can still look after you.” She grinned a little. There was a bit more colour in her face.
“And I can look after you, dearest.” I replied. But I wasn’t certain that was quite true at that moment.
When the men returned she spoke to her papa. “Hey, no more leaving me behind, papa. I’m up for whatever lies ahead”
He ruffled her hair, and she made a face, as he drew Ealfin close. “Whatever you say, pumpkin.”
And we were back to normal. Almost.
A silent Duncadda looked often to the East. It had to be his memories of that time he nearly died? It was hard to know how to help. But then he had often been a loaner, self reliant, able to care for himself. I couldn’t help wishing he was a bit more open to us.
And we passed close by Eorl’s Hallow. No time to pay visit on this journey, but Waelden bobbed his head, acknowledging the place. The first time I had seen it was on an early journey with him, just after I had met Ethel. I remembered that day with warmth….and then there was a flash in my head as if a candle had been snuffed out. I clung to Wynn, as she sensed my distress, and drew to a halt.
Waelden turned and came to my side, concern in his voice. “What’s wrong, Ylffa?”
I could feel an oppression, as if something old and deep was pressing me from all sides. There was a dank, musty smell, rotting leaves, corruption, the scent of shed blood. “Found you at last” a woman’s voice echoed chilly. “
“Not so” Another voice was there, and a growing sense of warmth. I could see something silver, with bright blue eyes. “I have foiled you before at a cost. You will not touch another of my cubs.”
There was a screech or two from the crow on the wagon. And the darkness was gone.
I swayed in my saddle, as Wynn turned her neck to bat her mussel against my leg. Waelden was alongside to steady me.
“Are you alright? You almost fell off.”
I grabbed his arm for a moment. Warmth and life were flooding back to me.
“I am fine. It was only a brief thing.”
“Too much riding. You need rest. We shall soon be at Floodwend.” he said reassuringly.
Ethel drew close too, worry on her face. “That weakness again, mama?”
I nodded. “But it passed swiftly.” I was thinking Waelden must be rueing bringing me along on this trade mission. And yet…..we were drawing close to an answer?
Duncadda called out from the trail at the brow of the hill. “Come and look,” he beckoned us forward. “A red sky. Blood has been spilt in the Mark.”
Leaving Ealdhors and the wagon on the trail, we three rode up to the edge to join our friend.
“But it’s beautiful,” Ethel blurted out. “And there are the towers of Floodwend.”
Indeed. Floodwend lay but a short distance ahead. The crow took to the sky and circled above us a few times, giving his familiar call. Then he flew east.
