Where would a Valkyrie and penniless warrioress get a boat? They thought long and hard on the question.
"Hm, I have it!" Orveon said so loudly it startled some ravens away. "Instead of harvesting the wood for the boat we need, how about we buy one instead? All we have to do is steal some Viking treasure from the Jotuns."
"Why would Jotuns have Viking gold?" Freida wondered. "They trade with rocks, not gold. And Vikings get their gold from stealing it from people on the continent to the south."
"That's true!" said Orveon cheerfully. "But Jotuns like to kill Viking warriors who have lots of gold. Sometimes they toss all that Viking treasure, armor, and weapons into a cave somewhere before they dispose of the bodies where the ravens and Valkyries will find them. So if we go to a place infested with Jotuns, we can find some things the Jotuns stole- er a second time!"
"Can I keep some of the gold for some sheep?" said Freida. "When I retire from this whole warrior's bit, I'd like to be a steadholder."
"Why don't you go steal some sheep from some sissy kingdom like everyone else?" said Orveon.
"Er, no. Don't feel like it," said Freida. "Burning and pillaging villages is just plain mean. "
Orveon and Freida followed Orveon to the center of the island. At its heart, a deep glacial fjjord wrinkled the landscape. The sun struck the tree-lined valley at some parts of the day. But during others, it was nearly pitch-black inside because of the shade the steep cliffs cast on the forest concealed inside.
"Good old-fashioned monsters!" Orveon grinned. "Do you wanna wrestle some bears after this for fun?"
"No," snapped Freida. "Do you Valkyries ever do anything else than do battle for fun?"
"Er, not much! Or too much rather!" Orveon coughed. "But a feast that lasts for eternity does get rather boring after a while. Coming down to the human world to find trouble is much more fun than swimming in mead. After the first or second time the excitement kinda wears off."
"So what DO you like doing, Orveon?" Freida asked. She narrowed her eyes and kept a curled fist against her fist as they pressed low against a rocky ledge to get a better view of the landscape around them.
"Sketching dragons. Braiding horses' manes. Eating honey-coated grain treats. Er, what else?" said Orveon thinking. He counted off his fingers.
"Flying above the ravens. Fishing. Collecting different varieties of puffins for my secret ice-cave. Listening to bards sing at events and taverns. Riding on the backs of whales just for the heck of it. When they are in the mood to surface, I like to hop off one then the other to see how long I can stay on before they dive. I also enjoy letting rabbits out of traplines every once in a while. It's hysterical when the trappers find I swapped it for a walking plant monster instead. Those things spit acid like crazy."
"I take it you're not much like other Valkyries," Freida observed. "You like living too much."
"Yes, I'm not as formal as I need to be sometimes," said Orveon. "And unlike my brothers, I have hobbies besides collecting battleaxes. But speaking of formalities, there is something I need to do," said Orveon. He cleared his throat and traded his casual, relaxed pose for kneeling. He thumped one gauntlet-covered wrist against his chest and bowed.
"I will follow you to the end of your path, I will share your tent, partake in the joy of your victories, and the bitterness of defeat! I will aide you in battle until your day of death. Do you accept?"
"Woah!" Freida said scooting away and blushing. "That seems like pretty serious vow to me! Share my tent?! Not so fast you!" Freida mocked. She pointed up at Orveon's nose as if to scold him.
"It's the traditional oath," groused Orveon. "You don't have to read too much into it. Blushing maiden." The boy said more gruffly.
"Right!" Freida huffed with relief. While she was attracted to Orveon, everything was going too fast for her.
"Fine! I accept!" Freida ground out, blushing. "We will fight together, for glory or Valhalla."
"That is the spirit befitting an ally of a Valkyrie!" Orveon cheered. "So, you go first. There are only a dozen Jotun or so."
"You really do want me to die, don't you?" hissed Freida.
"Er, that'd be a good way for me to get out of my vow, but no," said Orveon with all seriousness. "Don't worry, I'll back you up!" With a little misgiving, Freida approached the valley filled with giants of the north.
After a bit of tough hiking downhill across rough slopes, Freida caught her breath in the shady forest of the valley. Descending hundreds of feet below where she had started from, the sun in the canopy overhead was just a mere pinprick- a glimmer in the corner of the eye. The woods around her were silent, even of ravens.
Freida felt nervous. Darkness deepened as the sun slid past the overhang of the overhead cliff. Growing yet more tense with an absence of sun, Freida slunk behind a sizable boulder. She walked around the rock, then skittered back in alarm. Torchlight had met her eye. There was a stout palisade wall ahead, lit with barrels of oil and an even brighter bonfire at the center of the village square. Houses made from timber and hide clustered in a palace-sized but modestly constructed village. Enormous figures loomed within the palisade walls.
"Let's climb higher into the rocks!" Orveon hissed. "Look there on the ledge above! That looks like a strong warrior to fight!" Orveon said pointing out one particular Jotun. Freida grimaced.
"Um, let's try to sneak around him instead!" she said scrambling for higher terrain. Freida climbed up the mountain. With her gloved hands and booted feet she scaled the rock face. Up and up, she climbed. Then Freida shimmied sideways to achieve a good lookout perch. This perch was a large ledge gashed into the knees of the mountain. From there, Freida good get a good view of what the bulky Jotun warrior might be guarding. He kept watch over a road in the valley but he kept a comfortable camp. There was a small hut lined with warm bear pelts, a banked fire, and a bountiful spring spilling into a cistern. But more interesting to Freida, amongst beautiful, bountiful blue flowers and long-stemmed green grass, an enormous treasure chest could be seen.
"Oh! Gold! Goodie!" Freida thought out loud to herself. Practically drooling, she dropped softly onto the soft earth and cracked open the chest. No one had bothered to lock it, and Freida bit her fingers to stop from giggling in delight.
"With this gold I would definitely buy some sheep!" Freida giggled as she stuffed handfuls of gold coins and rings in the box into a bag.
"We need a boat, not sheep!" Orveon whispered back.
"Don't be so stingy!" Freida snapped, narrowing her eyes. She tied a knot at the top of her small sack of loot to secure it, then threw the bag over her shoulder.
"Aren't you going to fight the warrior?" Orveon whined.
"No. Why should I? Sneak, sneak, sneak!" Freida whispered to herself for encouragement. Se gazed back over her shoulder. But effectively, there was no way back up the way she had come. Freida tried to scale the cliff face one-handed but gave up, panting. The bag of gold was just too heavy to lift.
"Orveon? You carry this!" Freida hissed. But she looked ahead of herself just in time to see Orveon hovering before an enormous Jotun warrior.
"Hey you!" Orveon announced to the Jotun cheerfully.
"We're stealing your treasure! Do you want us to keep it? No? Then fight, fight, fight!" Orveon shouted out as cheerfully as if he had been invited to a tavern gathering. Freida dropped the bag of gold and really whirled around.
"You really hate me now don't you?"
"Hey, you're a Viking warrior!" Orveon shrugged. "Act like one. Go for the glory!" With a grimace Freida ripped her borrowed weapon from its sheath.