Shield Maiden Page 13

  Chapter Eight - Svartálfar

  The dark shapes sped through the evening skies towards Raedann and the children, who were now running as fast as they could towards the tree line at the bottom of the hills ahead of them.

  Ellette was the smallest, but also the most nimble on her feet and was first into the trees, turning back to wave the others on. Hild, bringing up the rear, was wheezing and panting for breath. Anna stopped and leaned across to help the younger girl along, but as she bent forward the golden horn stuck out from her belt so that it was in plain view.

  With a triumphant cry, one of the ravens tilted in mid-flight, banked and swooped downwards, claws and talons extended, reaching for the horn.

  “Look out, Anna!” Lar shouted a warning and swung wildly with his seax at the diving bird. The creature squawked in protest, snapped angrily at Lar and then, with a couple of mighty beats of its wings, was up and away again. It rejoined its companions, which now circled the children, passing over their heads to perch in the swaying tree tops.

  Anna, Hild and Lar caught up with the others and stood for a moment panting hard. They stared up at the ravens that were now high up in the trees all around them, jumping from one branch to another and making a terrible racket crowing and calling out.

  “What are they doing?” Lar shouted over the din.

  “They are sending a message,” replied Raedann, “telling their master ... or mistress, that we are here. Come, we must reach Gurthrunn.”

  He led the way deeper into the woods and up the slope that rose towards the hill fort. The birds followed, still crying out in their strident voices as they flitted and jumped from tree to tree.

  As she ran along behind Raedann, Anna was sure she caught something moving out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned her head there was nothing other than trees and brambles to see. Another fifty paces or so and it happened again. This time as she spun round to look, Anna spotted something dart behind a tree. Was it a person hiding there? She was about to call out to Raedann when Ellette squealed and pointed behind them.

  “There is someone chasing us, but they keep hiding when I looked straight at them,” she said.

  “I saw them too, but over that way,” Anna confirmed with a gesture towards the south. Raedann peered in the same direction, but now there was no movement to spot. He opened his mouth to say something when Hild seized his wrist and pointed to the north.

  “Over there, some sort of people, small and with dark-coloured skin.”

  Raedann nodded and frowned, “Ah yes; I saw them that time. But they are not people they are svartálfar or dark elves: creatures from the world of Svatalfaheimr. Vicious and cruel they are, but you don’t see them often at all. They don’t come out in daylight except at times of great need. Whatever that horn is, they are after it I would guess. Which means it must be important.”

  “Shall we ... just g-g-give it to them?” Hild asked in a shaky voice, “if they let us go, I m-m-mean.”

  Raedann shook his head. “They delight in causing harm and would not just let us go. They would take it and then kill us. We have to reach Gurthrunn.”

  The children gasped, staring with white, tense faces at Raedann. “Come on,” he said, “keep up!”

  He set off again, but as they ran on they saw more and more of the little dark figures, keeping pace with them on either side as well as following along behind. Anna saw one clearly only thirty paces away. He was smaller than a man, more like an older child. His skin was jet black, like the darkest of nights, but his teeth, which looked as sharp as needles, were a brilliant white. He ran along with his back slightly bent and his arms held out in front of him so that Anna could see the pointed talons on every finger. The creature saw Anna staring at him and snarled at her.

  With the swarm of birds swooping and diving overhead and the svartálfar running along on each flank, Anna had the sudden feeling that they were fleeing along a tunnel or into a cave. As soon as she had the thought she realised why. The dark elves were not just pursuing them, they were channelling them: directing their flight where they wanted the children to go. But where, she asked herself, was that?

  “Raedann they are letting us run. They are driving us somewhere.”

  The tinker nodded. “I know. Do you ...” he paused as he gasped for breath, “do you have your weapons?”

  “We’ve each got a seax; Ellette has a sling and Lar a bow.”

  “Well we might need them now - look!” Raedann shouted as he stumbled to a halt.

  Directly ahead of them lay a steep earthen bank - the base of the old hill fort. It was almost vertical at this point and impossible to climb. The svartálfar had brought them to a dead end. Now that they were cornered, the dark elves emerged from between the trees. Soon, Anna could count thirty of the creatures swarming towards them and as they scuttled forward they drew long, cruel-looking knives of curved black iron. Sharp and vicious weapons they were and Anna shivered in fear as she saw them.

  As the six humans backed away towards the bank, all around them the dark elves’ snarls changed into another noise. It started as a high pitched squeal and then it became what to Anna’s ears sounded almost like ... laughter. Yes, it was; the creatures were laughing at them!

  “Get behind me!” Raedann shouted as he turned to face the enemy. Drawing his long sword he gestured with it towards the approaching horde. The children huddled on either side of him: Anna stood next to him on his right, her seax at the ready. Lar stood beside her and placed an arrow on his bowstring. Ellette, on Raedann’s left, had her sling out, and beyond her stood Wilburh.

  The boy at first drew his seax, then put it away and fumbled in his pouch. In the blink of an eye he stood with his hands ready, holding in one clenched fist the iron symbol of Woden, father of the gods, and in the other a charm - a stick engraved with runes. He drew in a long breath and prepared to use sorcery. Hild, quaking and shivering, hunkered down behind Raedann. Yet frightened as she was, in one hand she held her seax and in the other her pouch of healing balms and potions.

  Until this moment Anna had not really thought through what her wish to be a shield maiden actually meant. The night before, when those huge black dogs had chased them back to the ford, it all happened so quickly she barely had time to react, much less think it all over. Now though, it occurred to her that what she was feeling at this moment was exactly how she might feel if she did one day stand in a shield wall with her companions around her, weapon in her hand and a deadly enemy closing in upon them. Her heart was racing, pounding away in her chest like the hooves of a horse thundering across a meadow. Sweat was pouring from her forehead and dripping down her face, but oddly, her throat was bone dry so that she could hardly swallow.

  “I’m frightened ...” she mumbled, turning to look at the travelling storyteller.

  Raedann’s gaze flickered briefly over her and she thought he was about to shout at her for being a scared little girl, but his reply surprised her.

  “Good! So am I. It means you are not stupid. But to be afraid you must be alive. If you want to carry on living, keep hold of your seax and don’t run. Here they come!”

  He was right. The dark elves had closed to less than thirty paces away. Then their laughter changed to a roar and a moment later the svartálfar were charging.

  “Use your bow!” Raedann shouted at Lar.

  Lar hesitated and was obviously just as scared as Anna.

  “Now boy - now!”

  Drawing back his bow, Lar released his arrow. It sped across twenty paces and caught a dark elf in the shoulder, knocking the svartálfar off its feet and flinging it backwards into a gorse bush. There was a whirling noise from Anna’s left and Ellette’s sling-stone bounced off another elf’s forehead and it collapsed unconscious on the ground.

  “Sunne- āblǣnden!” Wilburh shouted. There was a flash of blazing light and three elves screamed in terror, blinded by the blast that hit them head on.

  A second arrow left Lar’s
bow and another elf was hit - this time squarely in the chest. Watching it fall, Anna was certain it was dead. Then there was no time to think any more, for the svartálfar had arrived. One thrust a short spear towards Anna and she jumped to one side and then swung back with her seax. She felt her blade connect with the creature and heard it squeal in pain as it tumbled away from her. Another came on and its short sword clattered against her seax. The elf snarled at her and she could see its sharp teeth as it reached out to grab her neck. With their blades locked together she felt the claw-like hand tightening around her throat. Gasping for breath, she fought down a moment’s panic then reacted in the only way possible. She kicked him - kicked as hard as she could. The elf snarled again, but this time in pain as it fell away from her.

  Anna risked a glance around. On her right, Lar had backed off, giving him time to keep loading and shooting his bow, but she could see he had only two arrows left. ‘Twang’ went his bowstring and another elf was hit - but now Lar was down to his last arrow and there were six of the dark figures circling to his right, waiting for the last shot that would leave him defenceless. On her other side, Raedann was fighting a larger dark elf - perhaps the leader. Both had lost their swords and were grappling and wrestling with their bare hands. They fell onto the brambles at their feet and were now rolling under and over each other.

  Wilburh was still waving his hands around, but seemed exhausted by his efforts. The magic had terrified the elves and they had kept back from him, but now they could see he was tiring and maybe did not have enough strength to repeat the spell. Finding their courage they came forward again. Five of them closed in on him, their curved knives at the ready.

  Ellette had run out of stones and had drawn her seax, but as she prepared to fight with it, one of the elves ran at her and threw a javelin. It hit her in the arm and she screamed as she was knocked to the ground. Hild scuttled over to help her. A moment later it was Hild who screamed as a pair of evil-looking elves loomed over her, daggers ready to strike her down.

  “What do we do?” Anna asked herself in despair. “I think we are about to die!”