Bothvar Beorcolsson
The footsteps pick up as they get closer. They’re nearly on top of me. I bang my weapons together sending the clang of metal howling along with a mighty roar. “Bring it on. It’ll take a lot to kill me. Just ask the antler creatures if you can still find one alive.”
Suddenly, figures crash out of the forest and surround me. Spear points are held out against me as I see white fur-clad warriors wearing helmets and wielding the typical round shields we all use, but they wear no sign of who they are. They’re just painted white. They have me surrounded. I twirl around and snarl. If it is a fight they want, I’ll give it to them.
“Halt,” it doesn’t surprise me to hear a woman speak, but whether it is a Valkyrie, a Wolf, or a cannibal still remains to be seen. Women fight just as much as men in most of these villages. But I doubt it is the cannibals. The Bone Eaters would not stop to talk, they would’ve attacked.
“Why do you carry a yeti?” One steps forward with what little is exposed by the helmet covered in leather. Her voice sounds familiar and I believe she’s a Valkyrie.
“That is my own business, Valkyrie!” She sniffs. It was just a guess, but I must be right as she cocks her head up. “And will you show your face, stranger?”
The woman removes her helm and my eyes go wide as I recognize her. It doesn’t feel that long ago when we met here in these woods, when I was just a boy. But it was so long ago. When Thorkel was alive, leading our little crew of friends into trouble. I remember her being taller. “You are… Amalasontha, are you not?”
Her eyes narrow as she takes me in. “Who are you, stranger? Remove your hood.”
I pull back the hood of my cloak. She searches me but still does not recognize me. Have I truly changed that much? I reach up to stroke my long and wild beard. It has grown much since I left. It is nearly down to my chest and it has not been exactly well groomed. “What is your name, stranger?”
“I am Bothvar, son of Beorcol,” I say.
Her eyes widen, then she steps closer and looks into my face. “You… You could be him, but you do not look like him. Your skin… It is dark. Much darker. It has a stony gray color to it. Why is that?”
I look down at my hands and it has been such a long time since I have really taken notice of my appearance. My skin looks the same as it did yesterday, but compared to her, it looks a lot darker. It’s drifting closer to the yeti’s black onyx skin than to a Northern human color. “Must be from either the mushrooms I eat or the cave water I’ve been drinking. I’ve been living in a cave in the Northern Mountains since the end of the raiding season during my self-exile.”
“We have heard of your disappearance, if you truly are who you say you are,” Amalasontha says as she flips her head to the side to get a string of her blondish, whitish hair out of her face. It has grown longer since my wedding.
Behind her, one of her warriors steps up to Amalasontha’s side and takes her helmet off as well. She looks familiar too. She brings her hand to her chin and rubs it. “His eyes seem to be the same as Bothvar’s. His hair is dirty and has grown wild, but I think it’s the same color. But he is a lot bigger than Bothvar. Much broader shoulders, and his arms are much thicker. He’s a lot taller than Bothvar.”
“I am Bothvar Beorcolsson,” I snap back at the girl and suddenly my eyes go wide as I recognize her. “Tonna? You cut your hair. It was longer at my wedding.”
Her eyes narrow suspiciously. Then I step up to her. “I remember the first day we met back at the river with my brother, Thorkel, and our wives, Arni and Asfrid, along with Vog, Solmund, Griotgard, and Skardi.”
Her eyes go wide. “It is you. For the love of the gods, that was so long ago. What are you doing here with the yeti cub? What has happened to you?”
“Blue-Eyes’ family was killed by these fiends with antlers that stalk in the night. The yeti call them Shadow Stalkers. She needs a new home. Her father, Longhorn, told me they came from the Southern Mountains and there are more there. I am taking her there.”
“You speak with the yeti?” Amalasontha asks, her eyes widening.
“Well, that’s debatable. I speak with them as well as I can. They talk through their hands and bodies. It is easy to get wrong and can be confusing,” I say, looking down at Blue-Eyes as she sits there, clinging behind my leg, looking at them.
Tonna bends down to her and uses her hands with her words. “Do not fear, young one. You are safe with us.”
Blue-Eyes reluctantly releases my leg and moves out from behind me. She hesitantly walks towards Tonna.
“You know their language?” I ask and this time, I’m the one surprised.
“We have had many dealings with the yeti to the south. They are not that different from us,” Amalasontha says.
“Yes, I learned that to be true,” I say with a nod.
“And how did you come to befriend the yeti?” she asks as Tonna pulls out a ration and hands it to Blue-Eyes. The little yeti wearily looks at it and then up at Tonna before returning to the food. She quickly snatches it out of Tonna’s hand. She sniffs it. Sticks her tongue out and tastes it before she eats it. Then she looks around and snatches up some snow to hand back to Tonna. Tonna smiles and takes the snow from Blue-Eyes.
“I was hunting and came across a bear. The bear and I fought, and I came out victorious. It was a good fight. I went back to get a sled and the Shadow Stalkers, as the yeti call them, were trying to steal my bear. They are tall, thin, dark creatures who dislike the sunlight and only come out in the dark. Monsters with a head like a skull of a deer with antlers on top. Their bodies are blotched in dark hair with sickly decaying skin. They scream like the dead and have teeth and claws as sharp as swords. They’re wickedly fast and crazy strong. I thought I was going to have my last fight after they swarmed me.” A bitter chill goes down my spine, and I try to shake it off. Just thinking about those fiends makes my skin crawl. “Then Longhorn, the yeti father, came roaring out of a cave nearby and together we defeated the fiends. I was badly injured and passed out. When I woke up, I was wrapped in fur in their cave. White-Hair took me in and healed me with the mushrooms and the cave water. I salvaged what I could of the bear and shared it with the yeti, discovering they had cubs. A yeti woman I’ve called White-Hair; Blue-Eyes, the little girl cub here; and Snubs, a little boy cub. That felt like a long time ago before winter came in full swing. I spent most of the winter spending time with them, learning their ways, and trading with them. I grew quite fond of them, and we developed a strong bond. That is until the fiends overran and killed Longhorn, White-Hair, and Short-Snubs. Fortunately, Blue-Eyes got away and came to warn me. I was too late to save them, but I avenged them and killed the Shadow Stalkers. All of them, including the ones at their cave.”
“I see. The yetis have a strong sense of kinship, and they view gift giving as a sign of respect. You give to them and they’ll give back. I am surprised a man like you could put aside his lust for a fight to befriend the yeti. Most men would hunt their kind,” Amalasontha says with much distrust in her tone.
“Bothvar was always different from the others,” Tonna says with a smile. “The day we met, he and his now wife were trying to prevent his brother and friends from harming a little hare until I intervened.”
I laugh. “Such a long time ago, that was. I was a foolish child.”
“But you still have the same heart,” she says as she looks down at Blue-Eyes who walks over to her and picks at her boots. Tonna leans down and picks up Blue-Eyes and the yeti girl wraps her arms around Tonna. “Now, mother, we should help find this child a new home. That is what our mother would want. This little cub, like us, is a child of the forest. It is the right thing to do.”
“I don’t know, my child. Our responsibility is to defend our home. We cannot leave it unguarded,” Amalasontha says.
“Then let me go. I can lead Bothvar to the other yeti,” she says.
“I don’t know…”
I hear many footsteps in the distance from the East. Blue-Eyes hears them too as she clings to Tonna. I turn to face them, pulling out my sword and ax.
“What is it?” Amalasontha asks, as she puts on her helm and draws out her weapon. Her sisters in arms also prepare to fight.
“Many footsteps from the East are heading in our direction,” I say, gritting my teeth.
I step before the others as a scream erupts from the trees. The woods are thick, but I can just make out something between tree trunks. Shapes dart between trees as they stalk forward. That’s when I see antlers.
The fiends have followed us here. I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all!
No. Not fiends. They’re far too short and slow. Men with antlers on their helms. Not all, though. One is wearing what looks like a boar’s head, but I can see that it is hollow with the eyes of a man inside. They must be Bone Eaters.
It’s a raid then. Maybe a few hundred. But they have no honor. They eat the flesh of other men and women. Despicable.
I’ll kill them all. My rage boils over while I let loose a roar that makes even the trees flinch and charge at them. However, I hesitate as the first Bone Eater storms into the opening. He is wearing the face of his victim, stretched over his own face. The hesitation gives him enough time to slash his blade out at my throat…
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