Amor Fabula Ep. 03

That the man walks

And talks with me.

(unknown translation)

That twelfth I know, if on tree I see

A hanged one hoisted on high:

Thus I write and the runes I stain

That down he drops

And tells me his tale.

(Hollander's translation)

(Verse 156 of the Havamal, also known as The Words of Odin.)

Galmann the Great sat quietly on the thinly carpeted ground, with his eyes closed shut. He sat in the dark room that danced with the shadows from the two candles he had sitting on the table before him. The table was of oak, crafted well but not lavishly so, and had bizarre runes inscribed all across its top and legs. Galmann himself, in keeping with his mysterious and occult calling, wore a dark brown cloak with a drawn hood that masked most of his features, save for his bent crook of a nose and his manicured, but still thick black beard.

Opposite from where he sat, were four anxious teenage girls. From their mode of dress, it was clear they were of humble means, for they wore plain under-dresses of off-white and light blue tones, and apron-like over-dresses of pale blues, tans and yellows. From what the fortune-teller could see, the hems and sleeve ends of the young women's attire were only lightly embroidered.

Still, they were attractive enough, had young girls been more to his liking. He'd learned to keep his hands off of such young women, however, after one too many risky altercations with their male admirers, or worse, with their angry fathers. In a tiny hamlet such as the one he was in now, he'd have a great run ahead of him if the locals turned ugly and against him.

"What is it that you wish to know?" He asked, without lifting his head. Galmann, although dealing with the public as a livelihood, was nevertheless a man with much to hide.

Two of the girls looked to a third, as if she spoke for them all. They began tossing about the names of the young men they found attractive. The fourth was not interested in their babble, Galmann noticed, but instead, she was closely studying him. He found this one to be the most interesting, though he did not reveal this interest in any way.

"Ask him about Gunni!" One of the girls implored the third, urged her, really. "Please! I'll do any favor you ask!"

The third girl would be the one with the coins in her purse, Galmann soon understood.

"Fine, I will ask him." The third girl said, with a slight haughtiness. She turned to Galmann. "Drott would like to know if Gunni has any interest in her, and if he plans to make her his wife at the spring festival this year."

Galmann smiled at the request. Wherever he went, whether it was a great city or a humble village such as the one he was in now, it was always the same question from the young ladies. Did a certain young male favor them or not? He reached out to just under the table and retrieved a small pouch containing all of his little rune-stones. He set the pouch directly on the center of the tabletop. "Petition the gods, young lass, then shake the pouch containing the sacred rune-stones. After, open the pouch over the table to drop the stones. Be careful not to let them bounce off the edges, or this will bring you all manner of bad luck."

Drott nodded slightly, and with tentative fingers she picked up the pouch. She held it towards the ceiling of Galmann's tent, towards Asgard. "Goddess Freya, please answer my plea. Please foment love between Gunni and myself. Please allow me to take him in marriage, and to be a good wife to him, and to bear him many strong sons."

One of the others chimed in, "And make his cock virile and strong, like that of a studding horse!"

The purse-holder snickered, while Drott simply blushed. The pretty girl carefully shook the pouch and tipped its end toward the table. Galmann's rune-stones fell from it, bounced quietly and halted. Some were upside down, showing no rune. He quickly slid them away and returned them to the safety of the pouch. The ones showing runes he left where they'd dropped.

"Before I give you the reading, we agree that you've told me nothing." Galmann said. "You've told me nothing about yourselves and you've told me nothing about this boy Gunni. Is this correct?"

Three girls nodded, one girl observed.

She was becoming a distraction, this fourth girl. Was it possible that she could read his unique runes? Was she able to perceive his thoughts, as some mystics claimed to be able to do? There was something different about her, Galmann sensed. Something that was unique. Something he had never encountered before.

Shaking these diverting thoughts away, he leaned forward and concentrated on the runes. He said, "Oh, wisest of all gods, hear my plea as well. Lend me you wisdom, All-Father, and speak through me."

Visions began to emerge in Galmann's mind. Each rune on the table began to glow, each one crying out into his mind and yearning to tell its tale to him. There were many stories clambering for attention among the stones, but only a few of them were good. Just as he was about to open his mouth, and while ignoring the bad fortunes, about to give Drott a pleasant reading, he noticed the fourth girl.

She looked at the stones in awe, then at her three friends, and then at Galmann.

It was impossible! He thought. The gift of reading the stones had been granted to him by the Norns. Never in his travels had he come across another person able to see them glow. Who was this strange child sitting just across the table from him?

Galmann composed himself, by taking a deep breath and trying to clear his thoughts of the girl, before she confounded his reading. When he felt he was ready, he went back to his stones. "This Gunni, he is a tanner, yes? I can see him skinning the fur from some animal. Behind him is an assortment of skins stretched out on wood. I see him wearing a cap on his head. It is dyed in green and lined with fur. I can see a pile of, is it walrus' tusks, that his father and uncles will be taking to, is it Skiringsal? Yes, those tusks will be going to the trading center there. No, not in Skiringsal, but in Kaupang."

Three girls stated at him in wonder, while the fourth tried to pry the secrets from the stones with her eyes.

"Gunni wishes to travel to Kaupang with the other men, but he cannot." Galmann revealed. "He is not yet versed in the art of trading. He would be an inconvenient expense for the venture. He will stay here, but he will long for the travel, " Galmann looked over some of the unfavorable stones. "There will be some strife, between now and the time of the festival. He will not be aware of your attentions, dear Drott, because he feels abandoned and unworthy by the older men. As the date of the festival draws near, however, he will have recovered. It is he who will be seeking you out. At that time, he would welcome your kisses, and your heart."

Drott beamed with joy.

What Galmann did not add was that by then, Drott's heart would already be taken up by the lust for another young man. He could see Drott spurning Gunni at the festival.

The second girl was becoming impatient, as if she'd hoped to hear more negative results, and perhaps wanted to relish in Drott's discomfort. "We still have to see Kata about the hemming of those dresses. And we have to buy eggs."

Drott's eyes widened at the statement. "I nearly forgot about that. Please pay the man and let us be on our way."

The third girl drew her small purse from between her ample bosom. She made sure Galmann observed where it had come from. After opening the purse, she reached into it and pulled out a few small rounds of silver. She selected one and set it on the table. "Will this be enough for the reading?"

"Yes, of course." Galmann bowed his head. In any city of a decent size, the amount would have been a pittance. But out here, in whatever this village was called, such a trivial amount of silver could feed him for two days. "More than enough, young lady. I trust that my reading was accurate."

"Oh, it was." Drott admitted. "You even described Gunni's favorite cap!"

Galmann grinned, as the four young women started to rise and turn toward his tent's exit. "Girl, you there on the end, would you stay a little longer?"

The fourth girl gazed at Galmann with something approaching fear, while the other three were merely suspicious.

"I have no silver." She shook her head.

The second girl quipped, "He's not looking for silver. You'll be paying with your buttocks."

The other two laughed.

"I merely wish to ask you something." Galmann tried to sound calm, but in truth, he'd become very curious about her strange behavior.

The first three girls told the fourth where they were headed, and to catch up with them. It was obvious that they wouldn't be waiting outside for her. They left the tent and the fourth girl nervously returned to her original seat.

"So, what is your name, girl?" Galmann asked, as he stood up and walked around the table. Casually, he stepped over to the tent flap, where he peered outside to make sure her friends were indeed setting off. They were.

"Misty." The girl answered.

Galmann could move quickly when he wanted to. He leaned his body toward the table as if he were returning to his seat, when he suddenly shifted his weight and lunged at the girl. Galmann could see her fright as his body bore down on hers. He managed to cover her mouth with the fabric and pressure from his forearm. His hand quickly pulled out a dagger from his leather boots, and he'd pressed its fine edge against the girl's throat a moment later. "I have some questions for you, girl. It would be wise for you to answer them with truth. If you scream, or even make the intent to, I will cut your throat. Do you understand?"

Having no real choice, the girl nodded with eyes gaping in terror.

Galmann applied just enough pressure on the tip of his dagger to let her know he was serious. "Who are you and where do you come from?" He pulled his forearm away by a couple of inches.

"I am Misty, from Rahl-Thorpe." She nearly cried. "Please let me go."

Rahl-Thorpe, Galmann recalled, the town of the walrus. It was no wonder he hadn't been able to remember the name earlier. Who in their sane mind would give their town such an ugly name as that one? "How old are you, lass? And how long have you lived here?"

"Eighteen." She replied. "I have lived eighteen years, all of them here. I was born here."

Could he have been wrong about her, Galmann wondered. His head darted back toward the table, where his rune-stones still lay. "What did you see when you were staring at the stones?"

"Nothing, I saw nothing..."

"You lie!" He pressed harder on the dagger, hard enough for its sharp end to prick out blood. "What did you see?"

Tears streamed from the girl's eyes. "Please don't kill me. I saw the stones glow, and I saw shapes, but they weren't clear. It was as if people were moving around in a fog. I saw nothing more, I swear it!"

"Nothing more?"

"No!" The girl cried out.

"Do you know what you are?" Galmann asked. "Do you know who you really are?"

"I told you who I am!" She cried.

Galmann had seen many things in his travels, some wonderful, some deadly, but he had no idea of what he was dealing with here. There was one way he could find out, however. "Are you armed, girl?"

"No."

"I'm going to search your body for weapons." He declared. "If you scream or if you try to flee, I will stab you. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Galmann pushed her onto her back and straddled her lower waist. He pressed his hands on her middle, finding no hidden belt, then to her sides, where he found no hidden sheath. His hands groped upward, feeling only the girl's small breasts. He didn't even enjoy this, as he was still under the fear that she might turn into some kind of demon before his eyes. The fortune-teller slipped to the girl's side, feeling down around her narrow hips and her thin legs, then he rolled her onto her stomach. He ran his hands around the back of her, but could find nothing to disprove that she was what she claimed, a poor village girl who'd obviously been malnourished.

"I don't understand." Galmann muttered. "You should not be able to see the stones glow. How is it possible that you can?"

The girl had no answer for him.

"Sit up." He ordered, still threatening her with the dagger, but not as closely as before. "You said your name was Misty?"

With tears still in her eyes, Misty nodded.

"Move over next to the table. And tell me if the stones still glow?"

She did and she shook her head. "They do not."

"Have you practiced any magic?" Galmann asked. "Have you been hexed in any way?"

The girl looked at him angrily. "You are a madman!"

Galmann laughed, as he took a seat close by her side. "That is what my name stands for, Mad Man. Look at me." When she did, Galmann pulled the hood from his face. One third of his face was horribly disfigured as if he'd been in a fire. She hadn't been able to see it because of the hood and his beard. "This is what happens when I'm not careful. I gave a reading to a wealthy chieftain once, when he asked me if his wife had another lover. I answered truthfully that she did, and I gave him the identity of the other man. Instead of going to a time and a place where he would see their cuckolding with his own eyes, the imbecile confronted them instead. Obviously, the two lied to protect their own hides, and later the chieftain accused me of fabricating my reading. He had his soldiers beat me and douse hot oil on my face."

He paused to allow his words to sink into her thoughts.

"Do you truly not know what you are?" Galmann asked.

"I am what I've told you, and nothing more."

"You don't comprehend the way the world works." Galmann informed her. "Things are never random. They always happen for a reason. We will do a reading."

"Why?" Misty asked.

"Because I don't know what you are, either." Galmann explained. "I am putting away my dagger. You are free to leave, if you wish. But if you truly want to find out who you are, you will cast the stones for yourself."

As soon as the fortune-teller moved far enough away, Misty scampered out of the tent. She ran a dozen strides when she saw that there was still plenty of daylight left in the day. The girl could see the village standing just a short distance away from her. It would be a small matter to find a man of justice, and have the fortune-teller questioned and possibly arrested. She turned back toward the tent, finding that Galmann was now standing just outside, watching her just as she'd been watching him when he'd done his reading.

Misty had always felt different, as if she belonged somewhere else. No matter how hard she'd tried, she couldn't ever feel comfortable or accepted around the people of Rahl-Thorpe. And this man with his magic rune-stones, he might somehow be able to give her some of the answers to the questions that had always haunted her.

"Will you hurt me if I go back?" She asked.

"To the contrary," Galmann answered. "I am still afraid that you will hurt me."

"How can I hurt you? I have no weapon. I'm only a girl."

"I don't know exactly how, but the stones will know." He turned aside and held the tent flap open for her. "Perhaps this is a secret that you'd rather not know, once you are aware of its nature. But if you wish to know, I am interested in knowing myself. I just hope that in finding out my simple life will not become forfeit."

"But I have no money."

Galmann smiled. "Your buttocks are too scrawny for my tastes. I will not charge you for the reading, in either silver or flesh."

He ducked inside. After a long moment, she followed.

Galmann was seated on his end of the table again. Misty took a spot directly across from him. He'd already gathered his stones into the pouch. The small leather bag sat in the center of the table, as it had when Drott had reached out for it.

Misty stared at the fortune-teller, still expecting some kind of treachery from him.

"I almost wish to do a reading for myself, to see if I am about to die in the next few minutes." He murmured.

Before she changed her mind and left, she picked up the pouch. "Which god should I petition?"

"I would suggest the god of wisdom."

"I don't know what to ask." Misty fretted.

Galmann thought this over. "Let me make the petition then. Without releasing your hold on the pouch, allow me to put my hands over yours. Do you agree?"

"Yes."

Galmann's hands went over Misty's single one. "Oh, great and mighty Odin, wisest and most powerful of all the gods. I ask that you lend us your wisdom that we might discern what secrets are hidden within this young girl. Let neither her, nor your humble servant helping her, be harmed by what is to be revealed." Galmann slowly withdrew his hands. "You may cast the stones now."

Nearly overcome with dread, Misty shook the bag and dropped the stones onto the table.

"There are so many of them!" Galmann gasped. "They're nearly all facing up!"

"What does that mean?" Misty asked.

"Look for yourself, they're all glowing. They all have their own story to tell. This means that you have many stories within you."

"No." She denied. "I have no stories. I've lived here all my life. I've never traveled anywhere else. The stones are wrong."

Galmann studied the various runes. He chuckled with wonder. "Petition Odin to remove your namesake from your eyes. Ask that the fog, the mist, be removed and you will see what I am seeing."

She did. While she didn't truly expect to see anything, she did what she'd been avoiding so far and glanced down at the assortment of glowing stones. She nearly shrieked from what she saw there.

"What is it?" Galmann asked.

Misty explained that she saw half a dozen women in her mind; one brunette, one redhead, but the rest had the same dusty blonde hair that she did. They were all young and they were all crying. They all had their different stories to tell, but each and every time, the story ended in tragedy. "Who are they?"

"They are you." Galmann deciphered. "Each and every one those women is you. You have lived many times before and you have died a young death each of those times. At the time of your death, a god has come to intervene and kept you from being grasped into the clutches of Hell." He pushed one stone away from the rest and closer to the girl. "This one, this is your original self, your first self."

She studied the rune-stone. In it's images, she saw herself as having a voluptuous body and kissing a handsome young man in a grove of trees. She also saw a darkened longhouse and an aging brute warrior, her father during that lifetime, who conspired to have a son at whatever the cost. Misty saw herself being led away from her home and being taken roughly by her father. She saw her return to that same grove later that night, only to see her admirer's stricken face as he realized what had happened to her. Finally, she saw her lover storm off to confront her father. Her father murdered the handsome young man that night and buried his body in the woods.

"It's true!" Misty cried out, feeling her heart lurch and tears form under her eyes. "I remember it now! I was pregnant with my father's son!"

"Here is what happened after the baby was born." Galmann brought out another rune.

"I know what happens!" Misty screamed. "I murdered the infant. I waited by the sea for the news that my father had been killed in battle. But he hadn't been killed. He'd planned to come back, so he could continue forcing himself on me. And there was a shipwreck, and the Draugar came..."

"Child, look closer at this stone." Galmann interrupted her. "Look closely at the soul within the infant. Look very closely here."

She did, and a steady realization grew inside of her. "By the gods! The baby had the soul of my lover within him! How is that possible? How can I give birth to my own lover?"