Steelforged Legacy 4 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Waking with a start, Casey sat bolt upright on his bedding. The cot he’d been sleeping on shifted under him and nearly dumped Casey off when he flailed.

Casey, what’s wrong? Maude asked in a hurry as he struggled to not end up on his ass.

Not responding at first, Casey took a moment to calm his racing heart. The dream, because now that he was awake again he could recognize it easily, had been both so real and so hazy at the same time. It had been both uplifting and terrifying at the end.

Casey, speak to me, partner! Maude insisted and her voice in his mind again, so different from the shifting voice from his dream, abruptly jarred him out of his thoughts.

Patting over his rumpled blankets, Casey found the seax laying to one side of his pillow. He’d taken to keeping Maude beside him at all times, even when he slept. Despite being surrounded by friends and allies here, it still made Casey a bit anxious to be surrounded by people rather than alone in the wilds like he had been.

The touch of cool, familiar metal under his hand helped calm Casey’s racing heart. Swinging his legs over the side of the cot, he set bare feet into the grass and pulled Maude into his lap. He could feel the concern radiating from his partner, and instinctively wanted to quell it.

Dropping into his meditation, ignoring the fact that he was half-dressed at the moment, Casey settled into his center where the pool of qi that he used to fuel his growth sat.

The large pool was half full of glimmering grains of metallic sand, and as Casey studied the pool, the dancing gold and silver fire of his Soulforge dropped a small handful more of precious condensed qi sand into the basin.

A glance around told Casey that the room was much like it had been the last time he had delved into this world. Carved of dark stone, with a bed in one corner and stone chairs against one wall. The basin of his qi reserves took up most of the rest of the room, with the floating Soulfire hovering over it.

What had changed was the grooves in the wall. A rushing, rustling wind raced out from the Soulforge and dove into one wide groove in the wall nearest to him, and he could hear the faint grating whirl as that wind scoured the channel, slowly clearing it of blockage before returning to the Soulforge to hand over the impurities it had dislodged.

Remembering why he had come here, Casey reached out to his connection to Maude and gave that shimmering cable a tug. It was partially an invitation and partially a demand, one that Maude was happy to comply with.

A moment later, a weight settled into Casey’s lap as Maude materialized in his center, appearing there in her flesh form.

The leather-wrap outfit that she wore was simple, a single length of leather that was about a foot wide wrapped around her body, starting with one thigh and enclosing her hips in a bundle like wrapped shorts before corkscrewing higher to lift and compress her full breasts much like a sports bra or compression top. The strip ended at the back of her neck, and while it had been plain when he first met her, delicate filigree in bright silver decorated the edges now, a mark that her power was growing.

Maude’s once-tanned skin was now shot through with iron gray streaks, as if her flesh was alloying with forged iron. Another sign of her growing strength. Warm, sky-blue eyes glimmered with concern while her mane of long, black hair fanned out behind her, only restrained by a simple iron hairpiece at the back of her head.

“What is it, Casey? You shot out of bed like something had bitten you…” Maude murmured, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around his head comfortingly.

“A dream…” Casey murmured, his racing mind slowing and calming while he dwelt within the seat of his power. “No… It was a vision, I’m almost positive.”

“A vision? Did one of my family send it?” Maude asked, her voice hardening for a moment, even as her arms tightened protectively around Casey.

“No,” Casey said firmly, and Maude relaxed almost immediately. “Not unless one of them is a woman who likes to speak in riddles?”

Maude looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.

“The only one that I know of who might speak in riddles in a vision would be Grandfather, but he rarely intervenes in anything when he can get someone else to do it. He’d pass a message to one of my brothers who would have sent it… What was it?”

Casey took a deep breath, the soft sensation of his lover’s body against his further assisting him in grounding himself after the visions he’d seen. Then, when he had control of himself once more, Casey began to speak.

He described how the dream started, with the flying longship and his view of a happy and healthy world. And then spotting the distant stain on the horizon.

Next came the urgent desire to find out what was wrong, and his race to that destination. The way the world shifted from healthy to dying to dry and gone made Maude shift nervously, but it was when he got to the horde of Fomori, she stiffened.

“That would make sense,” Maude growled as she leaned into him more. “That many Fomori would taint the land for miles just by being there. Their foul blood and flesh being spilled by their own kind would only make it worse. The black ash you saw was likely magic of their own, or more likely flakes of their corrupted qi. I’ve heard from my uncles that they spread those ahead of their army to sicken enemies.”

“And the woman?” Casey asked, his mind whirling still, though far slower than it had been.

“I doubt she was Fomori,” Maude said firmly. “Between what you were told and the fact you described her as perfectly symmetrical, I would expect she is either a type of evolved spirit beast, a drengr from another nation, a goddess of some kind, or maybe a breed of elemental.”

“I thought all the gods were on the divine plane fighting the main force of Fomori there?” Casey asked curiously, his arms wrapping around Maude’s waist to steady her when she wiggled on his lap.

“They are, at least all that I know of. There might be one or two walking the land right now, but I say that more because I cannot guarantee how any of the gods can or will act.”

“Probably a smart thing, given how Loptr acts,” Casey snickered, getting a small laugh from Maude in return.

“That is accurate. Father is unpredictable and some would even say crazed at times. But he has been getting better, from what I’ve been told,” Maude said, though she sounded a bit worried despite that firm statement.

“I don’t think it was Loptr,” Casey said firmly. “I have a feeling that he wouldn’t have hedged or been mysterious, especially since it involved my connection to you. Your father didn’t and still doesn’t strike me as one to carelessly risk his family.”

“Fair,” Maude murmured thoughtfully. “What else can you tell me about this woman you saw? Besides the fact she had an odd pattern to her skin and four arms?”

“The weapon she carried was strange,” Casey said slowly. “She had a traditional shield, well-made and bound in iron… but looked like she had uprooted a young tree to use as a club.”

“Sounds like something my father or Mother Angrboda’s kin would do…” Maude murmured thoughtfully. “The jotunn can vary as much as humans in how much care they give to their equipment, but I’ve heard more than a few using trees as simple clubs. What else?”

Casey thought for a long moment, trying to remember more details about the dream-vision that he’d had but they slipped away because of the nebulous nature of dreams even as he tried to grip them tighter. 

“She had red hair and eyes,” Casey murmured a moment later. “I remember thinking of metal in the forge when I saw her hair. But her eyes were darker, like the skin on an apple or a cherry. They reminded me of rubies, actually.”

“Really now?” Maude asked in surprise, and when Casey glanced her way, he saw her nose wrinkling cutely in thought. “Those are traits I’m not familiar with. None of the Aesir or Vanir have hair like hot metal… Auntie Freyja has red hair, but it's more russet as she tends to shift between blonde and red depending on how angry she is.”

“Her hair shifts with her temper?” Casey asked, momentarily distracted.

“Oh yes,” Maude assured him. “Auntie Freyja is a woman of diverse passions, she is a goddess of both love and war.”

Casey nodded, remembering something that he’d read about that in the past. Maude was content to let him think, just snuggling into his lap for several minutes while Casey turned over the vision. His memory of the dream was fading, but he clearly remembered the voice telling him to train his Legacy, to grow and become stronger for a conflict yet to come.

The image of that many Fomori is still terrifying, Casey thought silently, his arms tightening around Maude’s waist protectively. We both need to grow stronger, this is only one step along the road we walk. I can’t get complacent now that we have joined the Roaring Mountain.

Even within his center like this, Maude could sense his thoughts, and she placed a gentle kiss on his temple.

“You should prepare,” Maude urged him. “You still have that chit for the bounty on the grass lion, and coin to spend. Now is the time to refresh your supplies and talk with your allies. Einar and Vibeke seemed in quite a rush to get moving on finding their spirit beast companions last night.”

Casey nodded once, twisting his head to meet Maude’s eyes.

“You are as wise as you are beautiful, my goddess,” Casey murmured, drawing a faint blush onto Maude’s cheeks.

“Don’t you forget it!” Maude replied a moment later, her eyes dancing with mirth before she leaned in to claim a kiss.

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Despite having drank a fair amount the previous night, neither Einar nor Vibeke struggled to wake the next morning.

Casey was only halfway through breaking down his tent when Vibeke popped out of hers with a ‘good morning.’ Einar emerged from his tent as well minutes later and into the watery morning light.

What surprised Casey, at least a little bit, was the fact that Einar was the only one to emerge from his tent. He knew that the big man had previously dallied with Arna and some of the girls from his clan, and he’d seen the trio flirting with Einar the previous night. But it looked like his suspicions about Einar’s interest in Vibeke were showing true, as the big man had slept alone despite some rather blunt flirting the previous night.

While they’d been celebrating the night before, seniors from amongst the Roaring Mountain had circulated, welcoming the newcomers and offering advice. One of the things they’d told each of the successful aspirants was that they would be assigned rooms in the Mountain now that they were officially part of the clan, and that their uniforms would be issued by the clans quartermasters when they presented themselves.

It had been made abundantly obvious that the Roaring Mountain was not going to hold anyone’s hands. With the level of training and trials that they went through to earn a spot, the former aspirants were expected to be able to fend for themselves now, and grow within the clan.

Magnus surveyed their work in packing up their tents and breaking down the campsite from the bed he’d made in the grass in front of Casey’s tent.

“What do you think they are going to do with him?” Einar asked in a low tone, nodding towards Magnus. They were all being quiet in deference to the others still asleep in their tents.

“What do you mean?” Casey asked curiously.

“I know that the Roaring Mountain is focused on the idea of spirit beasts as partners for all their drengr, but how far does that go? Do you think they have rooms with a stable adjoining for your partner? Do they have massive barns for all the spirit beasts? How do they keep them from fighting each other?”

Einar’s questions brought Casey up short, and from the look on Vibeke’s face, she was wondering the same thing.

“I hadn’t considered that,” Vibeke murmured thoughtfully.

“I didn’t see space on the upper levels for folk to get spirit beasts through the halls, and I didn’t see one when I went to speak with Queen Runa, but that might not have been her private rooms we were in,” Casey added after a moment more of thought. “Something else to ask about when we go by the quartermasters.”

“You still want to go out first thing?” Einar asked, quirking an eyebrow at Casey. “Don’t want to take a day or two to put our feet up and relax before we launch into training?”

“Do you honestly want to wait any longer than you have to before finding your Tinderfox?” Casey asked back, both eyebrows pointedly raised.

“Fair,” Einar chuckled. “I know I cannot wait to meet my partner, but Vibeke feels the same way!”

“That I do, so quit talking and get back to work!” Vibeke prodded with a good-natured scowl.

Since Casey had his storage belt that had been gifted to him from the Roaring Mountain, he was the first to finish packing his things up and moved to help the others.

Once they had everything packed down into their packs, he also banished those into his storage belt.

“No reason to carry them around right now,” he reasoned. “They’ll just get in the way. Ready to see what our chits are worth and get some new gear?”

The grins on his two friend’s faces was all that Casey needed to see, and they set off across the grass of the central valley toward the westernmost of the four peaks of the Roaring Mountain. 

Despite the early hour, with the sun only just now gracing the edges of the peaks with golden light, there were already many busy at work.

The tables where last night’s feast had been held were still strew with food, drink, and sleeping revelers. From the look of it, about half of those that had been celebrating had simply slept where they fell.

Passing through the dozing throng, Casey snatched up an end of bread, dug out the still-fluffy interior and stuffed that into his mouth before he began packing meat and cheese into the hollow.

“No reason to let the food go to waste out here like this,” Casey mumbled around the mouthful of pungent sourdough he was chewing.

Einar grinned and nodded, while Vibeke rolled her eyes, but both followed his lead and prepared rough sandwiches as they walked. Magnus trod delicately between the sleeping revelers, lifting whole loaves of bread, fruit, and what Casey thought was half of a berry pie, without slowing down as he followed them. The Gladewalker Elk ate with abandon, even stealing an apple right out of the hand of one of the sleeping men.

With a snack in one hand, the trio plus the elk crossed over the ring-road, calling morning greetings to those they passed. While the locals had been standoffish before, they were polite and welcoming now. Casey wondered if that was because he already wore the colors and symbol of the Roaring Mountain, but eventually dismissed it as unimportant for now. 

The quartermasters was open already, with several clear, white baldrsteinn hanging from the front wall to illuminate the sign over the door: a pair of arms crossed, one holding a sheaf of grain while the other held a sack by its neck. The twin front doors were already open and Casey could hear voices from within, so he headed inside.

From outside, the building was a simple, two story affair that reminded him of the different shops he’d visited in his travels. Stone lower floor with a wooden upper, whitewashed to protect it from the weather and capped with a thatch roof. The building itself was only about thirty feet long and maybe fifteen across, but the symbol above the doors was the one they’d been told to look for.

Upon entering, Casey was greeted by a pair of long counters that ran on either side of the main floor. There were spaces for easily a dozen people to stand behind them on either side, with wooden dividers to separate each ‘stall’ up to shoulder height. The floor of the building was worn flagstone, and it had the feeling of an old-time bank. This feeling was further reinforced by the massive iron-clad doors at the back of the room, set into the solid stone of the cliffside.

“Ah, looks like our first round of the new clansmen are here!” called out a jovial voice from his right and Casey glanced that way to find a smiling woman of middle years, her dark brown hair just beginning to show faint threads of gray at the temples.

“Good morning to you! And yes, we are part of the new group coming in,” Casey replied with a wave towards Einar and Vibeke, who were still studying the room curiously. “My friends here need their uniforms, we all need our room assignments, and wanted to cash in those chits we got from the hunt earlier.”

“Smart,” the older woman said, her smile only growing wider. “Get it done first thing before the horde shows up with sour moods from their pounding heads. Drengr may be powerful and wise, but you lot still can be felled by a bit too much mead. It just takes a lot more than for us mortals!”

“It just means that we can enjoy it a bit longer before we have to take care,” Einar interjected with a grin as they crossed the worn floor to the counter the woman stood behind. “My companion forgot to mention but we also need to purchase supplies and some necessities too. While he already has a partner, we two still need to go in search of ours.”

Einar finished his statement off with a sweeping gesture towards Vibeke where she stood to his left and slightly behind.

“Easy enough to handle. I assume you are going to be traveling as a group?” the older woman asked as she flipped open the large, leather-bound book in front of her.

Casey could feel the faint ripple of qi from the pages, reminding him of the record books that they’d seen only the day before when they officially took their oaths of intent to join the clan.

Those books will be bonded together, to keep and share the records here, Maude said quietly into his mind. They are simple, but powerful tools for recordkeeping. And also make quite a bit of sense to use, so they can service more than one person at a time.

“All right, Drengr,” the older woman said, pulling out an eagle-feather quill and setting it beside her book. “Did you want to take turns, work separately, or handle this as a group?”

The three drengr shared a look, but before any could speak, Magnus huffed from his spot behind Casey. The noise drew the older woman’s attention and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the rare spirit beast in front of her.

“Together, I don’t mind taking turns and we need to coordinate what camping supplies we get,” Casey interjected when he saw her surprised look, hoping to distract the woman from asking too many questions.

“Yes…” the woman said, forcefully dragging her attention away from the majestic sight of the young Gladewalker Elk. “Ah… you said you had chits? Let's get those taken care of first.”