Shield Maiden Read online

  Chapter Seven- Flight

  Come on, this way. Quickly!“ Ellette hissed and led them towards the ditch that marked the southern edge of the land belonging to the village.

  Bending over to stay lower than the top of the wheat, the children scampered through it until they reached the ditch. They slid down into it, splashed across the trickle of a brook that ran along the bottom and then reached the barrier formed by a wild tangle of blackberry bushes on the far side.

  Behind them they could still hear the commotion as the search for them continued. Anna felt really odd. They were being chased by their mothers, grandmothers and aunts - people who loved and cared for them - led by Iden who was supposed to watch over them all, and yet, hearing them beating down the corn and having seen the rage and madness in the priest’s eyes, she was suddenly terrified of being captured.

  Ellette had found the gap in the bushes that the children used when playing in the woodlands to the south of Scenestane and was already through it, followed by Wilburh, Hild and finally, Anna and Lar. On the far side lay a sheltered dell, a dip of ground overshadowed by huge oak trees. Here they crouched down and caught their breath.

  “We should be safe here,” Ellette said.

  “Unless one of the grownups remembers playing here when they were children,” Wilburh commented gloomily.

  “You are a cheerful boy aren’t you?” Lar said.

  “He has a point, though,” Anna put in. “Even if they don’t, what if they ask one of the little ones. Do any of them know of this place?” She looked around the shadowy glade at the other four.

  “I ... I think my cousin Martha might remember. I brought her berry picking here last autumn,” Hild said.

  She had no sooner spoken than they heard a shout from beyond the bushes and an answering call from further away.

  “Let’s go!” Anna said, and this time she led the way, running further into the woods, hurtling through brambles that snagged their clothing and tugged at their hair. Hild yelped as thorns whipped across her face leaving a gash that started to bleed.

  They pressed on through more trees until they burst out onto the road a fair way south of the ford. Panting, they stopped to gaze northwards, but as yet could see no sign of any pursuit.

  “Well hello!”a voice called behind them.

  All five of them jumped in shock and turning around saw Raedann standing not ten yards away, leaning on a staff and studying them. The children stared back, afraid to speak, not sure if Raedann was affected by the same spell that Kendra seemed to have woven over all the adults in the village.

  “Raedann?” Anna said tentatively.

  “Yes, it’s me,” he answered with a smile.

  “Are you ... all right?”

  “Of course I am all right!” he answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Anna turned her head and whispered to the others, “What do you think?”

  Wilburh shrugged, “He seems himself.”

  “How can we be certain?” Lar put in.

  “We have to trust someone, we can’t run forever,” Hild gasped, still breathless.

  “Can I help?” Raedann asked. Whilst they had been talking he had walked up to them and was standing right behind Anna. She turned back to stare into his face then took a deep breath and spoke.

  “Raedann, we need to show you something.” She looked around at the woods further west across the road. ”But not here. Over there, come on,” she pointed and making for the trees, reached down and pulled the horn from her belt as she ran.

  “So, what do you think?” Anna asked a few minutes later. They were standing in another hidden glade deep in the woods. Raedann was examining the horn. Even in the subdued light the instrument glowed with a golden light that seemed to radiate from it as he turned it over and over in his hands, examining the strange runes inscribed upon it. He shook his head.

  “These are not Anglish runes - not our language. Yet they are similar,” he said at last as he squinted at them. “I think ... I think they are Dweorgar. Not human. Not then from Midgard, but perhaps forged in Nidarvellir - the world of the dwarves. These words here are all that I can recognise and they say something like ‘Use to summon greatness’. Or ....” He hesitated and then said, “Yes, something like ‘Blow to summon mighty aid.’”

  “What do you mean it is not from our world?” Anna stared at the horn. “How did it get here?”

  “There are many who travel between the Nine Worlds, who climb up and down Yggdrasil: the world tree. It came here with one of them maybe. Or was stolen or captured in battle. I do not know. Perhaps Gurthrunn would know. I think you should go to him.”

  Anna shook her head, “I am not sure. We don’t know him. How do you know you can trust him?”

  “Oh, I did not say I trusted him,” Raedann laughed. “Not completely. He has his own reasons for being here and his own ideas of right and wrong. But he is not evil. Point is, child, who else can you trust when the world you thought you knew has turned upside down and those you love hunt you down? This Kendra woman you talk about? She seems to have your people under her spell. Would you trust her?”

  Anna looked at the other children, “What do you think?”

  “Everything changed when we found that horn, Anna,” Lar said. “The dogs attacked, Kendra appeared and the villagers all altered. You only have to think how the men looked when they went off to dig, like they were under a spell. It has to be something to do with the horn. Maybe ... I don’t know ... maybe Gurthrunn would know why.”

  “I suppose we don’t have any choice,” Anna nodded. “If this is made by the dwarves then maybe only Gurthrunn can help us. Come on, let’s go see him. Raedann, can you lead the way?”

  “Of course. He lives in the old fort atop the hills to the west of here. Come, I will show you.”

  They headed off deeper into the forest, avoiding the farmsteads that lay to the west of Scenestane. From stories Raedann had told in the past Anna knew he meant the hilltop fortress of the old folk, those who had lived in these parts hundreds of years before her own people came here. As they walked along, Raedann spoke of the land as it had been before the Romans invaded, full of mysterious Celts, druids and warlords, who made weapons of bronze and who had built barrows - underground tombs covered by mounds of turf – in which to bury their dead.

  “It is these folk who made the fort we travel to. Our ancestors found it long abandoned, ransacked and conquered by the Romans maybe, and already being reclaimed by the woodlands and wilds. Such places are welcome refuges for those not of our race: elves and dwarves and others. We must be careful ... we must be wary,” he said, stopping to peer up into the sky, staring for a moment and then carrying on along the path.

  They seemed to have been walking for ages. Above them, the sun had started on its journey to the western horizon, casting long shadows as they hurried along. Wilburh caught up with Anna. “What do you think the villagers will do when Iden tells them we have the horn?”

  “I wish you had not said that,” Anna said, although she had in fact been thinking the same thing. Normally, if her father found out she had gone beyond the village border, she would get a thrashing or be given extra chores. But nothing was as it had been before the mysterious Kendra had arrived and goodness knows how her father would react now. It didn’t bear thinking about.

  “What is it, Raedann?” Hild asked, for Raedann was again pausing to look up into the skies. Whenever the trees parted above them he seemed to be searching for something.

  “I am not sure ... I thought I saw something. Come on, let’s carry on,” was his only answer.

  They continued along the path. The ground had started to climb, rising slowly towards the hills a few hundred feet above Scenestane.

  Sometime later, when the westering sun had begun to turn the clouds pink, they reached the edge of the trees. Here the forested area was interrupted by a number of large strips of barley and wheat surrounded by grassland. Scattered farmhouses were v
isible a couple of hundred yards in both directions, but to keep in the cover of the woods would mean going a long way out of their way, so Raedann took a short cut, leading them out across the grass.

  On the far side, the ground climbed more steeply and on the nearest hill they could see, half hidden amongst a belt of trees, the old earth fort they were making for. Built in three levels, one above the other, each level had once been protected by a wooden palisade, but as they got nearer, even in the fading light Anna could see that these were now mostly decayed and rotten.

  “That is where we are heading,” Raedann said, turning to face them all and smiling encouragement at Ellette. “Won’t take us long now, little one ...” His voice trailed off and he gawped up at the sky.

  Anna swung round to look in the same direction. At first all she could see was a single dot far away. Then it was joined by other dots, five more ... no, ten. No - more than ten - there were twenty now! The dots came closer and grew larger until they were black shapes in the sky. Then, as they closed upon the children, the shapes became clearer and Anna saw they had wings and beaks. They were birds: huge black ravens in full flight and swooping towards them. Anna’s heart lurched in her chest, because everyone knew ravens were omens. A single raven might suggest someone was about to die or that a king might lose a battle. But twenty all together? It could only mean something truly terrible was about to happen.

  “Run!” Raedann yelled.

  And run they did!”