Steelforged Legacy 2 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

When they left Hrefna’s house a few minutes later, Maude was clearly lost in thought. Casey, rather than interrupt her line of thinking, set about taking care of his errands. While he’d recently had the chance to refresh his supplies in Oakwatch, he still visited the market to replace what he’d eaten and check for anything of value there. The number of gold horns he still had in his pouch after looting Mikhail’s personal effects in the wake of their fight was more than enough to handle his needs.

He stopped into a shop that sold armor and was disappointed to find that the stock had taken a beating already as a result of the previous raid. Many of the drengr who had fought in the battle needed new armor or theirs repaired, so the armor-smiths were hard at work doing that. He could have a set commissioned, but it would take weeks to finish if he wanted chain, and the supply of spirit beast leather on hand was not sufficient to make any respectable armor. He needed something that could stand up to other drengr, Fomori, and spirit beasts after all.

Maude finally broke her silence while he haggled with a vendor over a smaller whetstone for use on his arrowheads.

Casey, we can find those easily enough if we need to. The set you bought a while back would work just as well for them.

Yeah, but those are your whetstones, Casey reminded her.

You used them to sharpen your skinning knife, so they are hardly mine. Maude sounded offended now, but Casey could hear the hints of amusement in her tone too.

Not anymore. My partner deserves to have her own set of care tools after all, Casey replied in his mind, turning the flat stone over in his hand.

It is sweet, Casey. But you really shouldn’t weigh yourself down with more things just for that reason. Besides, it’s not as if I need them. Without qi infusions in the stone, it won’t be able to do anything to help me. If anything, it just feels like a good back-scratcher but done over clothes as it’s not strong enough. 

Sighing, Casey shook his head and set the stone down, to the disappointment of the vendor.

“Thank you, but I will pass for now,” Casey said before turning and walking away into the crowd of the market before the merchant could offer the lower price that he’d been angling for.

Thanks, Maude, Casey sent her as he slipped between two older women hawking hand-pies out of baskets on their shoulders that smelled of sweet berries. I will have to keep an eye out for infused stone then. I want… no, I need to have the tools on hand to take care of the problem if you ever get damaged.

The conviction in Casey’s mental voice clearly surprised Maude, and she sent him a loving hug as he slid through the crowd and emerged onto the main thoroughfare.

So, what’s the next plan? Maude asked after a few moments of silent thought.

We pick up that big oaf Magnus and get on the road, Casey replied, grinning to himself.

What? Why? You don’t need to rush out of town, Maude replied in surprise. Casey took a leaf out of Maude’s book and projected the sensation of a hug and a kiss to his partner, getting a quiet and contented sigh from her.

There is no way I’m going to take a chance that the vision accounted for that. As soon as Hrefna mentioned it at night, I felt an urge to get moving. We aren’t going to be able to follow the road, since we need to keep an eye out for that island or any signs of the meteorite if it’s already landed.

But you don’t need to rush, Casey.

You don’t know that, Maude. If it’s already landed, then we are racing the clock to find it before someone else claims it. If it hasn’t come yet, then I want to find that island and wait there. That way, we can secure it as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there. The part of her vision about hunters pursuing us further has me wondering what else might be in the wind.

Maude sighed explosively, and Casey felt his vision double for a moment as he could see her within the stone room that was her center, throwing herself onto the bed in the corner of the room like a pouty teenager. The angle gave him a view of her muscular thighs and tight bottom, but her leather-wrap outfit was too tight to catch a glimpse of the soft skin he knew covered that firm bottom. Then the vision cleared and he could see the broad street in front of him once more.

I don’t like it, sighed Maude. But I cannot complain. I desperately want that meteorite. If my thoughts are correct and my mother sent it, then it will be sky iron. More of that material will push my path even further, and I can guarantee it will help you as well.

I don’t care if it helps me. It’s a gift for you from your mum. Of course I’m going to help you get it. Casey smirked as he was again treated to a vision of Maude, this time bounding towards him with a smile, and the sensation of lips on his cheek followed a moment later.

Fine then, let us do this. And when we have it secured, I’m doubling your reward from before. You made it to the bridge but still haven’t gotten a chance to rest. You’d better head back to the market and get Magnus a few apples, otherwise he’s going to be sulky that we are taking him away from his newest admirer already. Also, we need to stop by and leave a message for Arvid that we had to keep moving.

“As you wish, love,” Casey said with a small smile, turning about to return to the market and do as she asked.

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Magnus was not at all happy to be dragged out of the stable already, and neither was the stable hand who had been taking care of him. Casey pacified the first with a small handful of candied apples that he’d found, deciding to go big for his bribe to the elk. For the second, a couple of coins and earnest thanks to her for the work she’d done calmed the young woman.

Before collecting the elk, Casey had stopped by to leave a message for Arvid, as had been suggested. So once they had Magnus dressed in his saddle and tack once more, Casey led the animal into the street and out the front gate. The laborers had already finished re-thatching the building, and they had moved on since Casey had passed by earlier.

Following the road out from the city walls, Casey turned and continued north while Maude conversed with Magnus, the spirit woman having far more luck than Casey in getting the animal to understand their reasons for leaving when and how they did. Casey was fairly certain that Magnus was just pretending to be annoyed with him in hopes he had more of the candied apples hidden away. Which he did, but Casey wasn’t about to tell the animal that.

With the sun already beginning its descent, Casey only waited long enough for them to get out of sight of the village and past the second set of runestones that muffled the noise of the town before he cut west once more.

Maude had managed to convince Magnus to help them again, and the elk guided them to an animal trail that wended roughly towards the river.

Casey hadn’t realized quite how far away from the river that they had gotten during the walk to the village. The angle had been steady but small enough that he’d missed it until now. It took him and Magnus a good two hours before they emerged onto the bank of the river. Casey only stopped along the walk to gather some wild garlic in one spot when he spotted the familiar stalks, and at another location to collect a handful of small fungi that Maude swore would make good tinder when processed, something that she advised he could do at camp that night with his belt knife.

After checking the river to ensure that the oddly shaped island wasn’t within sight, Casey let Magnus guide him through the trees. They did their best to parallel the river and stay within sight of it. More than once, Casey checked the skies overhead and back down the river to keep an eye out for one of the flying longships that he knew the Bronze Fist used. They’d traveled far enough at this point from the bridge that he could no longer see it or the ship that probably still stood watch over the far end of that bridge.

Really wish that your mum had chosen any other river besides the one that acts as a border between the clan that is apparently nice and one that’s full of dick bags, Casey thought as he peered out around the tree to survey the river once more, having spent the last half hour walking far enough away from it that he needed to check for signs of the island they were looking for.

If I know my mother, this is an opportunity that she has seized. I’m sure she’d rather not draw attention to us, but if moments aligned, then she wouldn’t hesitate. The fact she could send a vision to the völva at all was surprising. It’s more warning than I would expect.

I’m surprised they haven’t sent you more help if they can, Casey finished his check and turned back to follow after Magnus again, pausing to offer the elk a pat on the neck and getting an affectionate huff from the animal.

I don’t want gifts from my parents to carry us through this. Maude’s voice was testy, but Casey caught the emphasis that she put on the ‘us’ in her statement. If I wanted that, I could have remained in Asgard and rode on the hip of one of my uncles during their battles. I want to earn my strength, just as you do, Casey. I think that is part of why my father decided to offer me the chance to come with you.

Casey thought about it, remembering Loki’s statement of ‘she’ll love you’ during their first encounter and couldn’t help but smirk.

Maybe he was right, Casey thought back to her. I know I love his daughter without question.

Flatterer. Maude huffed mentally at him before continuing. I wouldn’t be surprised if my father conspired with my mother on this. He knows that if he was the one to send something our way, I’d ignore it on general principle. I can’t ignore a gift from my mother, though.

The mention of mothers reminded Casey of something that had come up in the conversation before, and now was as good a time as any.

You mentioned before that your mother was Loki’s first wife?

A snort of amusement came from Maude then and Casey waited patiently for her to explain.

Well, yes. You know that I have half-siblings, right?

“Fenrir, Jormungandr, and Hel, yes?” Casey responded aloud, the quiet of the forest getting to him enough that he switched over from the silent conversation.

Exactly. Well, my father was a bit of a cad when he was younger. But when my mother found out about his infidelity, she forgave him because he was the one who admitted to it. Apparently, when Fenrir was born, my father decided that the child didn’t deserve to be a bastard child. He admitted what happened to my mother and Sigyn told him that he would take responsibility and marry Fenrir’s mother as well.

“So your dad has two wives?”

Three actually. My mother, Sigyn. His second wife, Angrboda. And then his third wife, Glut. Both my mother and Angrboda bore him three children, while Glut only gave him two. You might meet Glut’s daughters eventually, but they tend to stay with their mother, the sweet things that they are.

“So wait… Loki has a harem?” Casey’s question got a muffled giggle from Maude and he couldn’t help but laugh along.

More like he was bullied into one. Angrboda didn’t want to marry him at first, thinking him a cad for their tryst while he was married. She didn’t find out till afterwards. But Sigyn is known as a goddess of victory for a reason, and she won that argument. The only exception was that Angrboda refused to leave her sworn-sister Glut behind to be a spinster in the Iron Wood, so demanded Loki marry her as well.

“I bet family holidays are interesting,” Casey laughed. Magnus joined him in snickering as well. “I remember reading a story about a horse that he seduced as well?”

Oh, don’t mention that one to him. Father is still embarrassed about that one though he pretends to not care. Sleipnir is a good boy, but since his father was just a magical horse, he’s not recognized as a divine. Grandfather has been working with him, and the two have a strong friendship. I hope you and Magnus end up as close as those two, Maude advised between giggles. Father said that it was the peril of being a shape-shifter. Sure, it is what allowed him to wed and satisfy my other mothers—and I love my half-siblings—but there are definite flaws to it that he didn’t realize until too late.

Casey filed that particular idea away for another day. While he didn’t want to make cruel jokes about one of Loki’s children, there had to be some there about the former trickster god turning himself into a woman without thinking.

Something to get even with him regarding that parting shot he made when sending me here. The man really is a tool, Casey thought to himself with a small smirk. Maude said nothing to his plans, though he knew she could sense them. He took that as her tacit approval to prank her father.

Magnus letting out a loud huff broke Casey out of his thoughts. The elk had stopped some distance ahead of them and was looking back with a questioning tilt to his antlered head. The falling sun haloed the elk’s antlers, making them glimmer with the reflected light that lay behind him. Casey wasn’t entirely sure what the animal was asking, but he had a decent guess. He could feel the reason dragging at his bones as well, an exhaustion that had been haunting him since that morning after his exertions of having to run through the night and not actually taking the time to rest in town.

“Yeah, let’s find a place to camp. Not right on the river, since I want to have a fire to cook some dinner on. I’m beat. Can you find us a good spot that is sheltered, Magnus?” 

The elk huffed again, sending a billow of steam out of his nostrils this time as the evening chill was setting in.

“Would you do it for a candied apple slice?”

Another huff, and a narrowing of the elk’s eyes.

“Fine, two slices and an onion?”

The elk’s eyes glittered happily, and he tossed his head in a nod before turning to trot off the path and into the trees.

Really now? Offering him an onion right before bed? Do you have a death wish?

“I’ll sleep on the other side of the fire. If he does go off in the night, the fire will catch it. I wonder if you can light an elk’s farts on fire…” Casey advised in a low tone. Maude’s only answer was yet another laugh, a sound that brought only joy to Casey’s heart.