Battle Through the Nine Realms - Chapter 13 - A Strange Man (Patreon)

Magnus looked at the cart of goods they were taking home with them.  A single mule led by one of Reinn's thralls seemed content to plod along the dirt path.  

Thora walked between Magnus and Valgard, an arm encircling an arm on each of them.

Silence beyond the sound of cartwheels turning and the occasional braying of the mule had been their companion as they walked for the last hour, content to feel like things were finally getting better for them all.

“So… Brennor says he will swing by our place the next bath day,” Magnus said as he glanced at Valgard.  “I told him I would mention it to you.”

The brown hair man nodded, looking like the odd one out as the two blond-haired ones walked to his right.  

“We should be fine with getting a few things done each morning.  I’ll start preparing some things as well for your training.”

Thora glanced from side to side at the two men and shook her head as she smiled.

“When did everything change, and my two greatest treasures from the gods start getting along?  If you two aren’t careful, I might think you don’t hate each other anymore.”

Valgard snorted and nudged Thora, giving her a smile. Then, he leaned forward and looked at Magnus, giving him a simple nod.

“Einar has changed.  Whatever sense got knocked into him, he is a different person. One I can begin to respect because he has earned it.”

Saying nothing, Magnus was going over the things he had planned in his head. 

There was enough food in their cart, combined with the little bit of meat they had and whatever milk the goat would offer, that gaining mass would be possible.  He needed to see what the training Brennor and Valgard had planned so he could implement some kind of weight training.  The good news was the work in the field would keep him in shape on the cardio side.  It was the other training that was going to possibly seem weird.  Not knowing what training Vikings did, if any, meant it would need to be kept a secret for as long as possible.

“Son?”

The squeeze on his arm made him look at the two adults, each with their eyebrows scrunched and waiting for an answer.

“Sorry… I was thinking about last night and that fight and what Reinn said after.”

Thora spat on the ground ahead of them, and Valgard chuckled.

“You put the Lendmann in a tough position.  Twice now, you earned an honor that his son hasn’t gotten.  Everyone saw and heard your attempt to convince the boy to accept the defeat due to his drink.  Only Odin knows why Guat acts like that.  He poisons his own reputation and that of his fathers by his actions.”

Bobbing his head, Magnus said nothing.

It’s completely the mother’s fault.  She is wearing Reinn out and pressuring her son to be an idiot… 

“So again, I’ll ask, what did Hrein say about Avitue?” Thora repeated.

“Oh,” Magnus replied with a grin. “She will bring that goat soon.  I’m not sure she’s the woman for me, but she is very pretty.  The problem is her father.  I’m certain I don’t want the man to be upset with me.”

Valgard let out a howl of laughter and shook his head a few times.

“When we get home, perhaps you can smack me in the head with a stone,” he said, winking at Thora, who rolled her eyes. “If it worked for Einar, surely it can work for me.”

***

“I need to speak with young Einar. It will only take a moment and in private.”

Valgard was frowning, and Thora wasn’t excited about leaving their son alone on the path with Arngrim.  It appeared the wild-looking Viking had been waiting for a while at this spot, judging by the number of holes his staff had created on the road.

“I demand you tell me what it is about,” Valgard said as he moved between the man and Einar.

Picking at a stick that was twisted in his beard, Arngrim frowned, blowing air out of his lips and making a raspberry sound.

“It’s humorous how the man who thought nothing of the boy and let me borrow him many times in the past suddenly wants to protect the one the whole village talks about,” he replied, leaning against his staff.  “What I say is between us, and we will not leave this spot.  You can go out of hearing range, just remember who helped feed you three years ago when you spent all your money on drink.”

Valgard started to move forward, and Magnus stepped quickly and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. 

“It’s okay. Whatever it is, I can tell you later.”

Cackling like a goat, Arngrim shook with glee as he watched the boy take charge.

The now-protective man studied Magnus and then nodded, motioning for Thora and the thrall to move toward the house.

“Just remember, drink nothing he offers.  It would twist your beard if you had one tighter than his.”

Valgard’s statement made the robed man cackle even more as he produced a leather skin from under his robe and shook it.

After the three had gone to the house and Arngrim and Magnus were alone, the old man moved closer, walking around and studying the boy.

“You’ve been touched by the gods… I can see it. The power radiates from you.”

Magnus’s mind felt overwhelmed by the words that he was hearing, and the knowledge that someone could somehow sense or see what had happened was scary and a relief at the same time.

“What do you mean you can see power radiating?”

Waving a weathered hand, the blue eyes sparkled in the sun as the hermit leaned in.

“Like any mother who can smell their own child, I can see the power of the runes.  I feel the power of the gods!” he shouted before laughing like a goat again.

Crazy people were hard to read, and Magnus was trying to decide what to do at that moment.  With a world filled with magic, it made sense for someone to be able to see or sense something like this.  He knew people crafted runes and that others put them inside the eight different spots where a person’s body could house them.  The tattoos that came were the symbol of power and being filled with it.

Odin’s gift wasn’t visible yet.  No tattoo would be seen, he said, until he turned sixteen or something like that the All-Father had informed him. Yet the way the older man with that long hair stared at him told Magnus there was intelligence in those eyes.  

“So what do you see?” Magnus asked, crossing his arms and doing his best to look relaxed.

Cackling again, the man poked him in the chest.  

“You are different from the boy who complained every time I asked for help.  A spark was always in you, yet not like now. A roaring fire has been lit.  Signal fires often burn bright like this, warning of what is to come.”

Like a magician, the empty hand suddenly held an object in it.  It was a piece of normal stone and etched on it was a single rune.  

Studying it as the older man held it out for him to see, Magnus’s mind tried to make sense of it.  It looked familiar, yet he couldn’t understand the power behind it.  A faint amount, barely a raindrop compared to what he felt with Odin was in it.

“You know what this is, don’t you?”

Nodding, Magnus shrugged.

“It’s a rune.  What kind, I’m not certain.”

Snorting and rolling his eyes, Arngrim flicked his hand outward, and the rune was gone.

“Yes, it’s a rune, and you’re a fool if you aren’t surprised that I have one.  Do you have any idea how much that one is worth?”

Frowning, Magnus felt the problem of not knowing the world or the real value of money.  They used copper, silver, and gold here, with ten coppers being one silver, and ten silver being worth one gold.  Gems had been mentioned, but no one had done more than talk about their desire for gold and gems.

Valgard earned one silver per day.  That was about the lowest most earned, and when Reinn had mentioned he would now make two silver per day, it had made Thora and Valgard both extremely happy.  Osvif had mentioned that if he could become a blacksmith or one of the other craftsmen in town, he could make up to five silvers a day there.  

Food was difficult, as a single meal in the town ale house could cost five coppers and wipe out half a day of work, making eating anywhere but home expensive. This left the problem of runes. They had to be worth gold and at least ten, if he guessed.  

“Multiple months of work for someone like Valgard.”

Grunting, the man frowned and nodded.  

“Yet you act like you aren’t impressed with me showing something so valuable,” he replied. “Tell me, Einar, do you know why the troll came into our land?”

Shaking his head, Magnus knew he didn’t.  He had spent a lot of time wondering about that, and many of the men had discussed it.  Watching the wolves that had run away when they ran into it reinforced the idea that whatever magic kept them on the other side, it wasn’t pleasant at all.

“It was you! That pig you killed!” Arngrim exclaimed.  “Where was the other half? What did you do with the organs and entrails?”

Sighing, Magnus knew exactly what he had done.  He hadn’t buried or really done more than hide the meat.

“How is it my fault?”

“The blood and the meal drove the troll to endure the pain of the barrier! It could smell and see it.  It could taste it! You’re lucky it didn’t follow your stench all the way back to your home and kill you all!”

The man was livid and, when he finished speaking, poked Magnus in the chest with his finger.  When he did, a shock of something electrical jolted the pair.

In a moment, the scowl on Arngrim’s face was gone, and the man’s expression changed completely.  Eyes were now wide instead of narrowed, and his mouth was open, displaying some missing teeth.

“Impossible! How—”

Moving faster than Magnus had expected, the man reached out and grabbed both of his shoulders.  As he did, the sleeves of Arngrim’s robes moved up toward his shoulder, and tattoos on both arms became present.  They glowed with a yellow light, and the man’s eyes went wider.

“Ha… gam…guh… da…” he fumbled over words before finally being able to speak. “Odin, what have you done?”

Knocking the man’s hands free from his shoulders, Magnus realized that right now, his secret had been revealed, and while he trusted Thora because she was Einar’s mother, this older man was a wild card.  Obviously powerful and stronger than most probably believed.  The question was why he lived out here like this and what he was going to do with whatever knowledge he had just found out.

“Your rune slots… they’re all active… you’re not even sixteen yet!”

“What does that mean?” 

Frowning at being interrupted by whatever thoughts Arngrim had been working through, the man’s eyes locked onto Magnus’s.

“Tell me… did you see him?”

Magnus heard the different tone of the question that had been asked.  It was like a thirsty man hoping to hear there was water in a well someone found in a desert.

“See who?”

Frowning, Arngrim shook his head and wagged a finger at Magnus.  “Don’t play dumb with me.  Did you see the All-Father?!”

Sighing, Magnus felt the weight of whatever was being forced on him at this moment.  Multiple times now, it was like someone put things in his path, making him choose how to respond.  Each time, the same answer was to charge ahead and attack head-on.  

Is this another test? Has Odin put this man here for a reason?

Arngrim had power and wealth.  He had a runestone that he showed off as if it was nothing, merely a test of knowledge. Everything seemed too obvious that things had been put in place for his arrival.

The urge to go into the barrier.  Finding a pig and defeating it.  The boon that had been given so he could escape with his prize.  Finding out that the remains he left after killing it ended up bringing a troll into this side of the barrier.  That very troll he seemingly summoned fell by his hand.  Now, the village and even the Lendmann were behind him, and training Einar would never have gotten was going to take place.

There was no doubt at all someone was pulling the strings.

Left with no other choices, it was time to see who had who by the balls.

“Why should I tell you anything?”