Daughter of the Witcher Ch. 09

What are you both so afraid of?"

They made no answer and Gunnar stopped eating and placing his elbow on the table; he held his head up with his chin and looked at them expectantly.

Finally, it was Nala who found her tongue first -- as was usual between them, they came to learn.

"We feel lost," she said before she looked down, "and -- and we have felt this all of our lives." She looked over at her sister, who nodded and then SHE looked down as Nala continued.

"We do not know how to do much of anything and -- well, Tirga told us that all Kurtadams must do something as they live their lives so that all of the people may gain from it -- like the cooks over there."

"So you mean as an occupation? As a job?" Margit asked and they both nodded.

"Well that is why you were given over to me," Margit smiled, "I will teach you as we go in many things, and if you can somehow find the courage to look my husband in the eye, I am sure that he will teach you as well. He will not harm you."

The pair looked as though her words caused them to be even more fearful, if it were possible.

"I cannot understand this," Margit said, "You have only just met him. Why do you look as though you fear for your lives?"

There was more painful squirming from the pair, but neither of the humans were about to let the matter rest. Finally, Nala did her best.

"We heard Tirga say to you that we are to be servants to you if you wish and -- "

Margit shook her head, "I would have preferred it if she had said only 'helpers', if the other word is all that is needed to turn you both into quivering rags.

We will have to see how it might be done, girls. But the way that I think to do it, at least to begin, is that we take you into our home as, ... well new-found and distant relations of a sort. I think that it might go even easier for Gunnar and I if we think of you as another pair of daughters."

Bremma almost squeaked as she raised her finger toward Gunnar, "Mistress Margit, I know nothing about anything, but, ... "

She looked down for a moment and then gathered what little of her courage remained in her for this, "He is fearsome to us. He carries scars and when he moves, I - I want to run. He -- he frightens me."

Nala nodded and Margit's mouth fell open for a moment.

Gunnar had been eating as he listened, but he stopped then. "There are Kurtadam warriors. I have seen some of them. I may be wrong, but some are likely larger than me."

He leaned forward, doing his best to smile a little, "Have you ever seen them?"

The girls nodded. "Yes," Nala said, "but we try to stay away from them, so we do not ever go close by."

"Have you ever seen one if he is in the human way that you all can look?" Gunnar asked, and they shook their heads and then wondered at why he smiled the way that he did then.

"I think that, if you had seen that, then you would likely see them looking like me -- with all of these fine wonders that I carry. You only have not seen it because of their fur."

He laid his spoon down and placed his hands, palm up on the table, one each in front of each of them.

"Here is my first lesson to a pair of frightened young beauties," he smiled, "Try to gather as much courage as you think that you might need for it and lay your hand on the top of mine. Go on, you will see that I am warm to the touch and that nothing terrible will come of it."

He chuckled, "And you can take comfort when I say that if I were to do anything bad to you at all, I would have to fear facing something afterward which might cause me to fear badly enough myself to almost piss in my breeches if I were to give it enough thought."

They stared at him.

"Go on," he chuckled, "Touch my hands."

They leaned forward and looked at each other for a moment and then their hands came to his very slowly and cautiously.

Bremma's was there and gone, like a mouse who jumped to seize a crumb and then run away, but Nala was more purposeful about it and seeing it, Bremma's hand was back.

Gunnar closed his fingers over their hands slowly and he smiled, "So we are well-met finally."

He opened his hands and they took theirs away.

Bremma had to know and she gathered more courage as she watched Gunnar eat again. "What is there which could cause one like you such fear? I cannot think of anything."

"Hmm?" He looked over as he finished the mouthful of his meal and swallowed, "Oh, a simple fear it is, but well-founded. I fear Margit's wrath more than anything in the world."

His reward for it was to watch them blink for a moment and then they laughed while Margit nodded.

"Remember something if you grow afraid of him," Margit said, "Between us, we have raised two children and one was a girl. For a little time, we had her childhood friend living with us also. Neither one feared him or had any cause to, and the only thing which they had that you lack is to have had him in their lives from the beginning."

They chewed on it for a moment and then Nala asked, "Where are your children now?"

Margit said, "Our daughter is far from us, but Gunnar has seen that she will come to us here in a time. Our son lives here. You will meet him soon for we see him at almost every other meal."

She smiled then, "That was not a fair thing to say, I am afraid. But we see him most days at some time."

"He is the young human," Bremma said in realization, "the one we have seen." She looked at Margit, "He is very nice to look at, Margit, and very, ... "

"Very handsome," Nala said, finishing Bremma's thought for her.

"So now that we seem to have gotten you from hanging onto the table by your nails from your fear -- which was unfounded -- what remains to be said to put you at ease?" Margit asked.

"We are sorry," Nala said, "but, ... Tirga said to us that we are to serve you, and among the people, it, ... we do not know much of humans, a -- and, ..."

Margit's eyebrows rose to her hairline then as the thought came to her.

"No one has ever asked it, a - and we are afraid," Bremma squeaked again.

Gunnar clearly had no clue, so Margit said, "Among their kind, a richer one or a noble may keep servants. They are not slaves and there is usually some, ... agreement to it, but a servant is a part of the home and often it means, ..."

She leaned forward and took their hands in hers, "Do not fear for that, girls. Let us think that you are as new daughters to us instead."

She held their hands a little tightly for a moment, "Among our kind, a father who is worth anything does not do that with his daughters."

Gunnar's jaw stopped in mid-chew and he sat looking at them for a moment.

He swallowed then. "I have gone from one place to another here and never left my seat. I came here to eat a meal and then I am told that I have daughters and now ..."

He shook his head as if to clear it. Looking at the two of them for a moment, he turned to regard Margit.

He raised one finger. "These are not my daughters - no matter what you might need to hold in your heart so that this might go a little easier in your mind.

So do not look so horrified at some thought which they put in your mind with their nervous quivering. What you speak of is their way with servants, not ours.

I have no servants nor do I wish for any. And even if I did, I am certain that I have come to an age where I can manage my own urges. Do not insult me with the notion that I could not manage my urges with a daughter - or a pair of orphans who come to my household in need and fear.

I have brought my own girl from a little stick-girl to what she is today. In the doing of it, I did far more than I think that any father might for a young girl who had her need to know of things - and still I had no thoughts of what is raised to my face here."

He looked from one twin to the next, his eyes boring into them each time, "You are not my daughters, not even a little close. You are someone who needs a little help and guidance which Margit seeks to give.

I have little time for your foolish notions which you then turn into foolish fears.

Do you know where the monks kept their vigils here as they moaned and chanted their stupid prayers?"

They both nodded, their eyes almost brimming now.

"Good," Gunnar nodded, "One of you - only one, and I do not care which one it is, will be there in one hour to meet me. We will be alone there, that one and myself and I will begin to give more things to think about so that these thoughts will no longer have a place to form in your minds.

After the beginning at what I will teach, you will leave me there and return to Margit to help her with the evening meal.

No one will harm or use you, but I can tell you this: if I have two more to my house now, then for certain when I have my bath this night, someone will come to wash my back for me.

I have not been able to make a sauna yet, so I must make do with only the first part - the bath. Surely I do not ask for too much."

He stood up and walked off.

They watched him walk away and Margit nodded to herself. "Gunnar is right. You do not even need to hold most of these thoughts in your head, and though he did not say it in so many words, I was being caught up in your fears."

She smiled at them, "There is no need to fear him at all. You only need to get to know him, and I can see that he is setting the stage to begin with you both. He seeks to force you in some way to get past your uncertainty, that is all."

"But, ... Margit, "Nala began, "wash his back?"

She nodded, "I see what he means. You will not die from it. Where we lived before was his homeland and I grew very used to the ways of his kind of people.

Most there hold no mystery or strange thoughts over their bodies. A sauna is a room made hot as a steam bath. You bathe first and then sit in the heat for a time, either all alone, or with family or even guests. After a while, you go out and cool off. It is very healthy, but while you re there, you wear nothing of course.

And no one cares. They are not there to stare.

But he has not got his sauna yet, so it is only a bath and a backscrub. I will be there the first time to show what you must do and how.

If nothing else," she smiled, "it ought to clear up your notions about his fearsomeness a little.

I think that you will find that a lot of work which must be done every day, and the business of living as a family will soon remove the need to grow fears in those lovely heads. You will be too tired and bored with it soon enough."

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By the time that they'd had their evening meal, the girls were tired. Margit had begun to work with Bremma at the paddock and Nala had survived her first exercises with a wooden sword that Gunnar had made for her. Despite her worry, it had been little more than simple exercises, learning to hold the practice sword and spoken lessons from Gunnar.

The two stood with Margit as Gunnar eased himself into the tub and though they had even more to stare at for a time, they even lived through the backscrub.

Margit gave them Koten's bed and his room to begin with and she sat with them a little before she left them for the night. They had questions about how Margit and her family had come to be there and she told them a little.

Margit's stories quickly became something which the twins wished to hear about every night.

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It was night and once again, it was raining.

Not only raining, Louhi mused to herself as she stepped onto the deck from below, it was teeming. So why were they still sailing and not anchored somewhere? Who could ever even see in this mess?

She pulled her cloak around herself a little more tightly and put up her hood. Stepping to the rail, she looked back and she could just make out the dark hulk of the other boat back there, following faithfully behind and not far off.

Thorvald was there in what had become to Louhi his usual place for this trip, since she almost never saw him anywhere else. And just like any other time that she saw him, he didn't look happy and it caused her to wonder if such an expression was even possible on that face.

"Why have we not stopped for the night?" she asked, "Are there no good places to anchor in?"

The seaman turned his head for a moment, "I know the waters from here to where you want to go better than I know the tits of my favorite whore, and I know those ones well, trust me. As for places to anchor, ..."

He shrugged,"I know plenty of them, Mistress. Only it's not something that you'd want to do here." He sighed and looked down for a moment.

"From here all the way through the Baltic, I'd love to see weather such as this; enough of a wind to move us well, and plenty dark enough for us to hide in while I curse the fool on the other boat for the way that he chose to split the crews."

He turned and looked back a moment, "For sailing an almost overladen washtub such as this, I have the best crew from among those that we had. The number of people he carries is not all that much for handling her, and the horses in the hold are almost as good as ballast.

I'm carrying most of the people, and I also have to carry your large acquaintance down there, and when he moves, Mistress, believe me, I feel it from here.

My problem -- the one which I carry in my mind tonight at the least, is how far we might go in the dark here not all that far off the shore. As soon as it gets lighter, I'll pull us out much farther and if the gods give me the wind I'll be looking for then, both boats will hang every bit of woman's laundry that we can find up if it will give us enough speed for the run right down the middle of the Baltic."

He spat over the rail to check the wind for a moment and then he looked at Louhi as he pointed off into the darkness to their left, "All along this shore, while we hug it and run, cutting all of the corners as best we can, there are two kinds of Northmen -- fishermen and pirates - since the trade in both professions is good enough.

Farther out, the pirates have faster boats than this one by a wide margin, because they are all Vikings. It is another worry of mine. If we make it through them, we'll be looking all sorts of others in the face I fear; more Swedes, Germans of all sorts, Slavs as thick as flies the farther we go and maybe even Goths. Some of the milder ones are fisherman AND pirates, depending. You can tell their preferences by the type of boat they use."

He spat again, "It is all a matter of degree. If the hunting as gone well hereabouts lately, then why come out on a shitty night such as this to try to stop us? It wouldn't be worth the work and the hazard.

But if you're hungry and if the fish aren't running, "he sighed, "A man will do as he must to keep himself and his own alive, neh?

They say that you and the lovely one the other boat have some kind of powers. If the talk has any truth, Mistress, I'd love a bit of help if we're seen. Between the crews, I've got the worst fighters."

Louhi understood it then, and it was worse than Thorvald knew.

"Thorvald, what do you know of the people you carry? Most of them, the men, they are fighters, though they are better on dry land and on horseback than they might be on a pitching deck. But most of them are here, on this ship."

She looked back for a moment, "I need to think of the others and the horses."

She walked toward the rear hold, thinking, and she almost walked right into another figure there on the deck because she'd been looking down, lost in thought.

Louhi started, looking up, and she saw a truly miserable and forlorn face.

"Your pardon, Mistress," the woman sniffled as she shivered uncontrollably from the cold, "Is there a place that you know of here where I might go? I am sorry to even trouble you, but I have nowhere else.

My man has thrown me out into this rain, and none of the others in the hold will let me stay. I've been sitting on the steps down, but they told me to be off so that they could close the door and it was little shelter anyway.

I've tried to go and ask the crew, but they told me no also. My clothes are soaked through and I am wet to the skin."

Louhi knew that it would have been no good to ask the crew anyway. There were not enough places for them all to sleep as it was and they split the spots, one man sleeping in the bedding of another while he was on deck and working.

A thoroughly wet and cold woman in with them now would call for a lot of strong drink for them all and then what a disaster that would be to get them on deck and able to work once more.

Louhi looked down. And that was if she was willing.

"Why have you been cast out?" she asked in a little disbelief.

Who would throw a poor woman out on such a night?

The unfortunate groaned a little, "They are all angry with me," she said miserably as she began to add her tears to her unhappiness, "They say that I've been a gossip and that I tell tales about them all, especially the man who I thought loved me." She hid her face in her hands and she almost wailed.

Louhi didn't know the rangers and their families well at all, but she wondered at this turn.

"Come," she said at last, "I do not know if you would be welcome in the place that I think of either, but it is worth the asking, if nothing else."

She took hold of the woman's sodden cloak and led her to the other hold. The woman groaned to herself but said nothing.

She stood on the bottom step in the next moment, feeling the warmth of the hold as she hid herself a little by standing behind Louhi.

The woman stared at what she saw there by peeking out around the tall blonde. Off to one side, there was a curtain of rough cloth hanging, but from the other side of the hull all the way to far past the middle, she saw the basilisk, and lying with most of her front on the tail of the beast was the she-troll.

Her eye was drawn to the way that the end of his long tail slid over the troll's bottom and looking farther, she saw, ...

The troll was suckling the beast, and it was plain that she was more than a little enthusiastic about doing it.

Louhi cleared her throat and Gudrun stopped to look back as the basilisk looked up.

"Is there but a little room down here for one more?" Louhi asked, "This one needs shelter this night at least. She is wet through to her skin."

Gudrun tried to see who the other person was for a moment, "Draw your hood back," she said, and it wasn't a request.

The figure looked at her own sopping shoes and the puddles of rainwater that she was leaving on the rough planking as she pulled back her hood, not being able to hold her head up. She still shivered, though at least she wasn't quaking as much from it.

"Please," she said.

Gudrun was surprised, "Gitte, is it? Why are you not with the others? Why have you come? Do you seek for more to talk about to everyone?"

Gitte was about to say that her worthless man had thrown her out, but she bit it back, remembering all of the angry words which had been thrown at her by the others.

She sobbed, "My fault." It was all that she said as she hung her head.

Gudrun kissed the shaft of her lover and then she got to her feet and grabbing one of the rough packing cloths, she walked over carefully, trying not to hit her head or step on anyone, "Take your wet things off and dry yourself with this."

Gitte looked horrified for a moment and then she began to try to move toward the curtained-off area.

"Not there," the troll said, "Chiorstan sleeps there with her babe. Do not think to go there and disturb them. Take that all off. Surely even for high humans such as you, there is a time when keeping cold and wet things on becomes a stupid notion."

Gitte hesitated and Louhi nodded, "As they are now, your things are more of a danger to you than a help. We are all the same in our want to be warm, are we not?"