laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Rurik stood on the narrow balcony and looked over the city to the distant mountains.  Snow still covered the peaks beneath a clear, blue sky.  He thought about his father.  Sturl had been dead for some eight years now, yet it seemed like only yesterday he stood on this very spot with him.  He still missed him.

“Sire,” Edgtho said, emerging from the doorway.  “You have a son.”

Rurik grinned, clapping his friend on the back.  “His name shall be Nils.  Inform the people the throne has an heir, then return here to me.”

“Yes, Sire.”

Soon, the sound of the crier drifted up on the Onebron breeze.   Edgtho returned to stand next to him at the railing.  Rurik turned to him, glaring.

“What, you think yourself equal to the king, now?”

“That depends,” Edgtho said, “on whether we are talking or hunting.”  He turned and smiled.  “When I hunt, I at least remember who's hunting who.”

Rurik broke into a wide smile with the memory.  “Remind me to have you executed for sedition.”

Edgtho produced a pipe from inside his surcoat and began stuffing it.

“You're getting brave.”

“Getting?  Feh.  Herdis will be in bed for several days at least.  Besides, I'm not actually in the palace, am I?”

“You let one of her maidservants see you, and none of that will matter.  She'll make sure that you're remorseful long before she's done with you.”

The two men grinned and stood in silence for a while, enjoying the cool breeze after the long months of snow.  Soon they were joined by an elderly woman, who walked up to the railing with the same familiarity Edgtho had shown.  Both men watched her as she closed her eyes and lifted her head as if to drink in the fresh air.  Though obviously much older than her two companions, she showed no sign of frailty.  Long, platinum hair that had once been blonde and the inevitable wrinkles were the only clues to the many winters she had seen.  After a long while, she lowered her head and opened her eyes.

“Grimnir smiles on your son, Rurik.  He will be a great warrior, legendary among your people.  He will see the kingdom through great trouble.”

“That is great news indeed, Hismena,” Rurik replied.

“Such success does not come without a price, though.  He will cause you great personal grief to mingle with your joy.”

Rurik sighed.  “Very well.  If that is his fate, I will see it through.”

“We don’t usually have much choice,” Edgtho said.