Norwegian Winters
"It's bloody cold!"
"It's Norvay ye idiot of course it's cold!"
"But never this cold."
"… Nils, ye've lived here all yer life, ye should be used to it!"
"But Piet, it's never been this cold before! I tell ye the vorld is coming to an end!"
"That's vat ye said last year."
"Oy! Wait up! Madam… er Sirs, please wait up!" A frantic voice suddenly called out. The two arguing Norwegians turned around to find three people walk up to them. (The horses had died a while back)
"Vat do ye vant?" Nils spat at the chestnut haired man.
"Do you know the way to Fredrikstan?"
Nils and Piet blinked slowly. "Vhy do ye vant to know?" Piet suddenly asked.
"Because we need a place to stay or else my vampire is going to freeze his toosh off and my friar is going to have seizures because he won't shut up about how my immorality got us into this mess." The two men stared at the foreigner blankly.
"Ye've got a vampire?" Nils finally asked. The foreigner (by now I assume you all know he's Van) nodded.
"Ye've got yerself a friar?" Piet asked. Van nodded to this as well.
"How tall is this Vampire?" Nils asked skeptically.
"Oh I don't know 5' 9" 5' 10" somewhere in there. Look we can talk later but we really need to get inside." Van said. Nils blinked then motioned for Van to follow. Van turned around to his companions.
"They are going to show us the way, come on!" Carl and Dracula quickly hurried over to Van.
"What are their names?" Dracula asked once he arrived at Van's side.
"I don't know."
"You didn't ask them their names?" Van glared at Dracula and shook his head.
"I think that there are more important things than names at this moment." He growled at the vampire. Dracula nodded and kept silent.
About two hours later the company arrived at a small town and were ushered into the nearest pub. Almost instantly hot gruel and warm beer was placed in front of them. Across the table from Van and friends sat Nils and Piet.
"Soo…" began Piet, "Vat did ve do to get ye hooligans out here? Ye aren't Norwegians, that much I now." Van gulped down his gruel and motioned for a huddle.
"Do we tell them?" He asked. Dracula and Carl bit their lips.
"I'm not sure, we probably should. As they are Norwegians, they might be able to help." Dracula said after a bit of consideration. Carl nodded in agreement.
"Ok." With that the three returned to their hosts. "We are here to extract revenge."
The Norwegians raised an eyebrow. "Revenge? Against who?" Piet asked.
"Uh, the Valkyries." Van said. Immediately the pub went quiet. Piet and Nils regarded him closely.
"Ye don't come here to hunt them, they bring ye here to hunt ye." Nils said quietly while drawing out a thin pipe and some tobacco. He didn't say anything while he readied his pipe and everyone waited in silence, once he was done packing it down and had it lit he turned to the group at large. "Before ve make judgements on these people, lets here their story? Vat do ye say?" The pub erupted in a loud cry. Van could only hope that whatever they where saying was akin to 'sure'.
"Ok, they vant to here yer story. Piet here vill be translating." Nils said as he sat down. Van, Carl, and Dracula exchanged looks.
"One of you two tell." Whispered a frightened Friar. Van looked at Dracula with a you-do-it face. Dracula sighed and looked at them pathetically. "You two are sad." He muttered as he stood to face to crowd.
"Ok, you all want to know why we are here right?" Nils translated it into Norwegian, the crowd roared, Nils nodded affirmative to Dracula. "Ok, I will tell you. We come from Europe!" A collective gasp went through the group but no one said anything so Dracula went on. "And where we are from there have been numerous attacks on our people, the attackers, we believe to be, are the Valkyrie." Another, louder gasp went out and some murmuring started. After a bit everyone settled down. "So we have traveled far and wide to get here, and not without hardships. All we ask is your cooperation. If you wish to aid us it will be most welcome, but I if you do not then we understand completely."
Suddenly somebody stood up and said something to Piet who turned to Dracula. "He asks if you are a vampire. He says that he has heard that you are and he demands to know all of your names."
Dracula turned a cold stare at the man, who, surprisingly, didn't back down. "He needs to learn when to speak and what questions to ask." Dracula spat, Piet wisely did not translate. "But I will answer his questions anyway. You may tell him that I am indeed a vampire, Nosferatu, and he may call me Dracula, my companions names are Gabriel Van Helsing and Carl the Friar." He motioned to each respectively. Not one soul stirred, fear was written on several people's faces, it appears that the stories of the great Van Helsing had reached Norway as well.
The man standing barked something to Piet who again turned to Dracula. "Are you not Vlad Tepes?" He asked. A shadow was cast over Dracula's face.
"I am indeed, but that does not matter. I am here to kill the bloody Valkyrie and whatever else stands in my way of that goal. Who I was is of no importance." Piet translated back to the crowd, though no doubt using softer words.
After the crowd dispersed they where shown to a spare room with three beds in it. Piet bowed a little to Dracula as he passed.
"I am sorry for Andor's behavior, he tends to be a bit brash at times." Piet said. Dracula shrugged but didn't say anything. "Um, Nils and I are here if you need anything." He said this to all three of them with that he gave a small bow and left the room.
Silence settled on the room as the three occupants quietly got ready for bed.
"No doubt they will be putting crucifixes and garlic on their doors tonight, along with nets outside their windows." Muttered Dracula as he sat down on the creaky bed with their over due library book.
"A net?" Asked Van.
"Yes, for some reason people got the notion that vampires had this need to untie knots… I have no clue where the idea came from… " Van nodded silently then glanced cautiously over at Carl. He had been remarkably polite to Dracula and himself, bridging on nice even.
"Hey Carl, you ok?" Van asked. Carl blinked and looked up in surprise.
"Uh, yes I am. Why?" Van shrugged.
"Nothing, you just seem… more warmer than usual. That's all." Carl nodded.
"Well… I figure since I am stuck with you I might as well be nice… besides, we're friends right?" A small smile flashed for about five seconds on Van's lips.
"Yes, yes we are."
A moment started… then stopped when Dracula made a grunting noise.
"Could we break up the mushy friends speeches? My brother gave them to me all the time."
Van and Carl glared at Dracula.
"Thanks for ruining a moment." Van muttered; a coy smile danced on Dracula's lips.
"Anytime Gabriel, anytime."
END!
Ok that's it for now... The beginning was fun to write, and looking up Norse names is a pain in the arse. Ok now you all have to review because I know none of you have read this chapter! Review Review Review!