Chapter 4: Of Midgard and Gaia
The cold had started to set in and Freya realised how little her armour did to stave off the biting chill, and the only part of her body which kept relatively warm was her feet due to the fur boots provided to her. She rubbed arms in an attempt to keep warm but the heat generated quickly dissipated amidst the howling wind. Seeing that she was shivering and her teeth visibly chattering, Harald got off his horse and took off his fur coat to give it to her. Freya shook her head at first but when she saw him standing there insistently, the Burmecian took the coat with trembling hands and wore it immediately. It slipped over her red coat easily and it was as snug as a glove. Once she had calmed down, the man hopped back onto his steed and looked at Freya.
"My men didn't bring an extra horse. Why don't you ride with me?" Harald offered.
"That's alright, I can walk," Freya replied while hefting her newly-found spear.
"Suit yourself. I'll go back and let my father know to expect you. Just follow the road and you'll find our town, Tamdrup. Be careful if you see any more draugrs. They've been rampant recently."
"Harald, I've been meaning to ask."
Harald looked at Freya and asked, "What is it?"
"These…draugrs…do you know what's causing them to run rampant?"
"I do not know," Harald replied. Looking over his shoulder to see some of the riders help the injured women, he added, "But this isn't the first time we've had draugrs scouring the lands. What about it?"
Freya followed his gaze and looked back at him again. "Odin has asked me to help find the cause and put a stop to it."
"Did he now? Seems like a task beneath a warrior such as yourself," Harald snorted.
Freya nodded her head but said, "Perhaps it's for a good reason. After all, how can I refuse a god?"
"Wise words, Freya Crescent," said the man with a smile. "You do what you need to do, I'll see you back at Tamdrup."
With that, Harald rode off with the riders following after him. The injured women rode along with the riders as well, leaving Freya behind as she watched them gallop down a path that disappeared into the forest. As the sounds of hooves slowly disappeared, she found herself feeling rather alone all of a sudden. There were no sounds of birds, the air was suddenly still, and the only sound that accompanied her was the very distant crashing of waves. While the windchill had subsided, the air was still cold enough to make her pull on the fur coat tightly.
As Freya made her way down the forest path, she occasionally stopped to admire the trees and bushes she came across. In some areas, the Burmecian could see creatures that she had seen before that had large antlers. They stared at her intently as she walked past and she steered clear of them while continuing down the beaten path, not wanting to confront it if she did not have the need to while still eyeing them cautiously. She nearly stumbled into a fox that had crossed her path as she looked behind her, causing the creature to dart into a nearby bush while also making her gasp loudly in surprise.
Further down the road, Freya came across an elderly woman looking as if she was searching for something. At last, she stopped by the base of a tree situated by the edge of a small pool of water, looking up at what looked like a bunch of foliage with white berries growing out of it. When Freya approached the old woman, her footsteps startled her and made her turn around quickly, almost slipping on the slippery ground. Instinctively, the Burmecian reached a hand out to grab hold of her and pulled her back up. After calming down, the old woman smiled at Freya and shook her hand.
"Thank you, my dear," she said kindly.
Freya nodded apologetically and said, "I'm sorry to have startled you. Are you alright?"
"I am, thanks to you," the old woman answered. She cocked her head and tried to get a look at Freya's face, but she pulled her hat down further to hide it. "You don't look like you're from around here."
"I'm not," Freya said in a furtive manner.
"A humanoid giant rat. How very interesting," the old woman mused while examining her hands, feet, and Freya's swishing tail. "I've seen many strange creatures roaming about but none look quite like you. Where're you from?"
"Burmecia," replied the Burmecian as she tried to hide her irritated voice.
"Burmecia?" the old woman tapped her chin and muttered. "Can't say I'm familiar. Has to be a very faraway land. What is it like?"
Freya maintained her silence for a bit before looking up at the sky, which had started snowing lightly at that point. "It rains a lot, a lot of sand in other parts. I'm finding my way back there."
"Doesn't sound like a place from this side of Midgard. I'm sure you'll find your way home eventually," the old woman said while following her gaze. She pulled on Freya's sleeve and pointed at the foliage bunch on the tree she was looking at earlier. "Can you be a dear and help me harvest them? I need it for my recipe."
Freya nodded silently and with a mighty jump, she leapt onto the branch where the foliage was growing on and tried to pull it off. However, it took several tries to rip the whole thing out and she winced in disgust as the berries felt disgustingly sticky. After jumping off and landing next to the old woman, Freya handed the foliage and its berries to her before walking over to the pool of water to wash her hands.
"Thank you, dear. You know, good help is hard to come by these days. These people can't appreciate that a little help goes," she paused for a bit before concluding, "a very long and dramatic way."
"Just doing what I can," Freya replied modestly, though she had an odd feeling about the way the old lady said things. "Have you seen any undead around here?" she asked as she stood up while checking nearby for some leaves to dry her hands on.
"There are undead aplenty around Tamdrup, Freya Crescent. It is quite disappointing that Halfdan hasn't quite figured out the reason for their appearance yet. Perhaps you will."
Freya raised her eyebrows. "Wait, how'd you know my - " she turned around to confront the woman but she had mysteriously disappeared. "Name" her voice trailed off.
Her eyes darted back and forth as she scanned the forest for a person but there was no one to be seen. Feeling not just chills from the wind, Freya went on her way with quickened pace. The journey out of the forest was mostly uneventful save for a few roaming draugrs which she easily dispatched. It seemed like they were headed in the same direction as well as if they had somewhere to go. Following their general direction, she sprinted across the snow-covered ground which eventually turned into leaping bounds. Freya deftly avoided trees and rocks in her way, eventually reaching the edge of the forest in a few minutes.
What greeted her was a wide plain where a town of wood and stone was situated by the side of a river. The most notable feature Freya could see was a great hall that sat atop a mound at the centre of the settlement while several other buildings sat at the foot of the mound. Fire had broken out in several of the houses and were threatening to reach the hall. The gatehouse was in ruins with its massive wooden doors splintered and pushed inwards, and parts of the defensive stone wall had collapsed. An army of the undead were flooding into the town and Freya could see some human archers shooting from watchtowers that dotted the stone wall. On the ground, they formed a shield wall to hold back the draugrs and managed to stall them by the stairs that led to the great hall.
Gritting her teeth, Freya ran towards the town while images of Burmecia flashed across her mind. With her grip on the spear tight, she leapt into the air, and with a mighty yell of fury, flung her spear at the closest draugr she saw. Caught unawares, the creature's head exploded into rotting pieces of flesh and bone as the spear punched through the ancient iron helmet and embedded itself into the ground in a shower of dirt. When the Burmecian landed, she plucked the spear from the ground and leapt backwards as another draugr swung a hammer at her. A group of them turned around to face her, issuing challenges at her with guttural grunts and teeth-chattering sounds.
She fought and dodged her way into the town itself and cut down any of the undead creatures who pursued any women and children they came across. Freya protected them as they made for the safety of the great hall while some soldiers came down to help her, one of them being Harald himself. With sword in hand and several warriors with him, they cut their way through the draugr crowd and met up with the Burmecian.
"Freya, thank Odin you're here!" he called out.
"Are you alright?!" Freya asked in return. "What's going on here?!"
"I don't know, I've never seen draugrs form armies like this before! You have any idea what's going on?!" Harald asked while decapitating an undead that got too close to him.
Freya ducked underneath a hammer swing and lunged her spear at her attacker's chest. It fell backwards but got up again after a few seconds. "We'll figure that out later! Right now, what do you need help with?!"
"Just keep them away from the longhouse!"
Seeing the crowd before her, Freya took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Placing her fingers on the brim of her hat, she started mouthing some chants. Green and purple lines of energy started swirling around her and caught the attention of Harald. He wanted to ask what she was doing but seeing an undead trying to ambush her from behind, he flung a throwing-ax at it and forced the creature to stumble sideways and fall. It bought Freya enough time to open her eyes and flung her what looked like a ghostly spear at the closest group of draugrs. Almost instantly, an ethereal dragon head erupted around the group which was accompanied by a flurry of cherry blossom petals that appeared out of thin air. A second later, this was followed by multiple slashes that cut the group down piecemeal into rotten chunks of flesh and bones.
Once the petals evaporated, Freya gave a small smile and charged forward to continue the battle. "I still got it," she said to herself.
As they thinned out the crowd that had gathered near the steps leading to the longhouse, the low rumbling of a war horn being blown could be heard in the distance. At first, there was one, but it was soon followed by another, and then a third. Freya, who by that point was panting hard from all the fighting, stopped when the draugrs stopped their assault to look towards the direction of the three blasts of horn. Her ears twitched and focused at the direction of the sounds but dared not take her eyes off of the undead creatures. Suddenly, they started shambling out of the breach in the wall and gathered in the plains outside of Tamdrup.
Dumfounded, Freya rushed to one of the breaches to see an army gathering at the far end of a road. Then, she heard cheering coming from the watch towers and behind her. Looking around, the Burmecian saw Harald running to her side with a tired smile on his face. A group of soldiers joined him, their breaths visible in the cold air. Most were covered in black blood and their armours were broken in several places but they stood tall as if their wounds did not hinder them. The draugrs rushed to meet their new foe while the archers from the towers started firing at their backs, taking a few out in the meantime.
"Who's that?" Freya asked while leaning tiredly against the wall.
"The king of Vestfold. We'll meet him soon enough," Harald said. "Come, let's finish them off. After that, we can have proper introductions."
The surviving soldiers of Tamdrup rushed out from the town to strike the draugr horde from the back while the newly arrived army charged forth from the forest. Riders on horseback were the first to make contact and the undead proved themselves unable to withstand a cavalry charge that trampled them to the ground. They managed to cut down a few of the riders but it did little to slow their fury. In just a few short minutes and as the sun started to turn a shade of bright orange, the last draugr was put out of its misery by Freya running her spear into its head. Right in front of her was an imposing broad-shouldered man on horseback with a braided blonde beard, his pair of piercing blue eyes studying her from behind the visor of a gold-lined helmet.
Freya retracted her spear and the corpse crumpled onto the ground. Unsure of who he was or what to do next, she stood there quietly and planted her spear into the ground. Seemingly amused, the man grunted and leapt off his horse. Two soldiers immediately came over to attend to the steed while he walked over to Freya. He was about as tall as Sir Fratley, probably slightly taller than him even. The way he towered over her and blocked the sun made her gulp her saliva silently, but she could not help but lift her head up a bit.
"Now then, who is this creature in red?" he asked in a deep and booming voice.
"This is Freya, father," Harald replied from behind her, causing the Burmecian to move her head slightly. "Freya, this is my father King Halfdan, son of Gudrød and ruler of Vestfold."
"Freya, do you mean the goddess Freyja? Is this a disguise?"
"No, my lord, my name is Freya Crescent. I'm a mortal like everyone else," Freya answered instead, her voice as calm as she could afford it.
"You speak our language even though you do not look like you're from around here," Halfdan said. He gave a crooked smile and nodded his head lightly. "What are you anyway? I've not seen such a creature or person such as yourself. You are certainly no elf or dwarf. Which realm are you from?"
"I'm a Burmecian, my lord. I'm from a world called Gaia."
Harald scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not familiar with it. I feel this makes for a good conversation topic over a meal. Seeing as you have helped save my town from destruction, it is only right to invite you to join us."
"I would be honoured, my lord. Please excuse my intrusion upon your place," Freya said while finally genuflecting in front of him.
Halfdan gave a booming laugh. "I like your modesty. Harald, tell the cooks to bring out the mead and prepare our finest lambs! Get up, Freya Crescent, let us hear more about your tales later."
It took two soldiers to drag Sir Fratley around. He had refused to walk and his body seemed to hang limply in their grasps and his feet dragged across the ground. The nurse at the infirmary had administered him some potions to heal him of any injuries, yet he still did not want to move. Rather than drag him all the way to the dungeons in the rain, the soldiers put him on a makeshift stretcher of planks and tied him down with ropes. Even then, Sir Fratley did not respond to them, not even so much as a complaint that they tied his hands a little too tightly. All he ever did was stare blankly at the sky while his mouth was moving as if wanting to say something but no words came out of it.
While on their way to the dungeon that was located by the palace and underneath a newly constructed barracks, one of the soldiers noticed two ravens that were perched on one of the statues outside of the palace. Their gazes followed the two slowly, and the soldier frowned before turning his attention forward. When the soldiers were out of sight, the ravens followed just out of sight, stopping only when they entered the dungeon through a steel door. However, there were barred windows for each cell, so the birds could still see inside and follow the soldiers. When they reached the last cell at the end of the building, the ravens perched on a nearby wall and again, they observed silently.
The soldiers put the stretcher down and one of them opened the cell door. They untied Sir Fratley and picked him up by his arms. Dragging him over to the only bed, the soldiers laid him onto it, and the bed immediately soaked wet from rainwater. As the two soldiers started leaving the cell, one of them turned to look at the dragon knight. He sighed softly and shook his head, prompting the other soldier to look at what his partner was sighing at.
"Poor guy," the sighing soldier said softly.
"He was warned," said the other one monotonously.
"I know…but it's still devastating to see a loved one perish like that. I know how he feels," said the first with a haunted look in his eyes.
The second soldier snorted. "Then you know why we must punish Alexandria."
"And you think that is the best way to do things?" asked the first soldier sceptically while closing the door behind him.
"It's the only way. I had family in Burmecia and Cleyra, Dan. All dead and for what reason?" the second soldier growled.
As the soldiers went on their way while still debating with each other, one of the ravens landed on the sill of the cell window and peered at Sir Fratley. His eyes moved and took notice of the strange visitor but he just remained motionless on his bed for a while until he shifted onto his side and stared at the wall instead. A few seconds later, he started weeping and sobbing uncontrollably, and he slammed his fist into the bed. The second raven joined in and they both observed the grieving dragon knight.
"You've come to mock me, haven't you?" Sir Fratley asked in a hoarse voice. "Why do you have to be so cruel?"
"We have done no such thing, Sir Fratley of Burmecia," the lighter-coloured raven said.
With a gasp, he stopped weeping and turned his head to look at the birds. Wiping his eyes, he asked, "You talk?"
There were a few seconds of silence before the raven answered, "Yes, and we come with news from Midgard."
"Get lost," Sir Fratley mumbled as he looked away again in disinterest.
"It pertains to your lover," the darker-coloured crow added.
"Do not mock me. Freya is dead. The dead can't speak."
"In this world, she is. But she is alive and well in Midgard, her spirit has been given a new body by the Allfather."
"There is no Midgard…and I haven't heard of an 'Allfather' before. Leave me to grieve, I've lost what meant most to me. Unless you have proof Freya is alive as you said, I will not hear anymore of it," Sir Fratley said, his voice rising in anger.
"Very well, Sir Fratley of Burmecia," said the lighter-coloured raven.
"We shall return soon with a message from her. In the meantime, stay alive for her sake," the darker-coloured raven added.
The ravens quickly hopped back into the rain as the dragon knight flung a pillow in their direction. Seeing that Sir Fratley was not as receptive as they would have hoped, the ravens then circled the skies for a bit to observe movements that happened in the streets of the ruined city. They quickly took notice of the soldiers that had brought Sir Fratley to the dungeon and flew in closer to see what they were doing. Upon landing on the fountain located in the middle of the square before the palace, the ravens saw the soldiers confronting another.
"Dan, Donnell, that you?" the third soldier asked.
"Michael, what're you doing out here? Shouldn't you be guarding the prince?" Dan asked.
"Oh, uh…" Michael stuttered a bit but quickly composed himself. "Minister Lysander visited the prince just now and he, uh, needed something from his house."
"What sort of thing exactly?" Donnell asked suspiciously.
Michael attempted a casual chuckle and said, "You know, he's an old rat, he needs his meds and such. The prince told him to retire but he's not having any of it."
"Oh, yeah, that's Lysander alright. Sometimes I think he's too stubborn for his own good," Dan replied. "Reminds me of a certain someone, doesn't it?"
"Lord-Commander Demetrius?" Michael asked automatically.
"I was about to say Donnell over here," Dan said while gesturing at his compatriot. "But that works too."
"Hey, I managed to stay alive this long exactly because I'm stubborn! It's a quality," Donnell shot back with crossed arms.
"I'm sure it is," Michael said. "Look, I gotta go get the old rat his stuff before he chews me out again."
The ravens noticed some movement from the side of a building and saw someone peeping from around the corner. It was a hooded figure whose face was obscured by the cloak but they could see that it had brown fur instead of the off white sported by the rest of the Burmecians. The figure slid into the shadows as the two soldiers walked past it and went down the stairway that led to the residential area. Once they were out of sight, the figure ran up to Michael.
"We must hurry, your highness," Michael said to the hooded figure. "The sooner we get those supplies, the quicker we can get out of here. As soon as the storm subsides, it's gonna make it harder to sneak out of the city."
"Who're those two?" Puck asked as Michael looked around for Lysander's house.
"Just my colleagues from the same unit. Funny how we all survived the war," Michael answered. He frowned and said, "Damn it, Lysander never told us which house was his."
"How about that building over there?" Puck pointed a finger towards a building to the right of the staircase that led to the palace.
Michael's gaze followed his finger and muttered, "That's the vault, your highness."
"Well, a couple of days ago, Lysander told me he's sheltering temporarily in a secure location. Worth checking it out perhaps?" Puck suggested helpfully.
"He told you that? I'm not sure if that's the case but we can go take a quick look. Should've just told us from the get-go," the soldier said in an annoyed tone.
They ran over to the door of the vault and pushed it open. Surprisingly, it opened up without any resistance and the two saw that the cramped interior had an out-of-place wooden bed situated among other valuable paraphernalia. At the foot of the bed was an end table with some writing material placed on it. When they searched the drawers, they found some potions and some dried rations in the last drawer along with a sabre that was sticking out from under the bed. It was highly ornate but the scabbard was broken in half.
"Out of all the places, why'd he choose to live in the vault?" Michael pondered as Puck looked around for a sack to store the supplies.
"I don't know, but I do know that the sabre belongs to him. I remember seeing something like that before," Puck replied as he pulled on an empty sack that was buried underneath some gems.
"Do you know how to use a weapon, your highness?" Michael asked while retrieving the weapon. When he saw the prince shake his head, Michael looked at the weapon in his hand and handed it to him. "I hope it doesn't have to come to that, but at some point, you may need to defend yourself."
Puck looked at the weapon and raised an eyebrow. "But that's what you're here for, isn't it? To defend me?"
"I swore on my life to protect you, my prince, but I only fear that I can't do it forever," Michael said grimly.
The prince looked at the weapon again and back at his bodyguard before saying, "You hold on to it. You do better with a weapon than me anyway."
Michael hesitated for a bit before nodding. "As you wish, your highness."
Minutes later, the two emerged from the vault with Michael hauling a sack over his shoulder while Puck closed the door behind them. The ravens were still by the fountain watching in silence but this time, they were noticed by the prince. However, instead of saying anything, he followed Michael closely as they made haste to the residential area and kept to the shadows as much as they could. The ravens did not follow them this time and instead flew to the field just outside of the city where there was a large graveyard located some distance away from the main gate. They flew down low when they saw a burning torch in the area.
A Burmecian resident was spotted thrusting a spear into the dirt by a freshly filled grave and hanging a pointy red hat with wings on it. Immediately, the ravens knew who it belonged to. Once the task was done, the resident quickly left the premises, giving the ravens the opportunity to fly in and remove the spear. The spear itself was heavy but the ravens lifted it up together as if it weighed as much as a feather. They took to the skies at a steady pace and disappeared into the waning storm before anyone would notice what had just happened.