Snow fell lightly about Ygdis as she strode up the river trail. The forest was quiet, the Antler's quiet rushing several paces away, the birdsong, and her own breathing were all she heard. The snow soaked up everything else, a blanket over the world. She kept an eye on the undergrowth as she walked. Though she wasn't traveling far from First Fork, she stayed wary of potential threats. The slavers likely had returned to their ships and Ygdis believed Grenwin when she'd said the Others wouldn't linger; still, maintaining her awareness of her surroundings was vital, no matter how close to home she was.
Birds trilled about her, darting from branch to branch above or flitting through the undergrowth. Their presence was reassuring; if there was anything Ygdis needed to be concerned about in the area, the birds would give her warning. As it was, they seemed to be enjoying the light summer snow. A heavy flutter of wings came from her right as a black-beaked raven alighted on the bough of a soldier pine, the limb bouncing lightly up and down and shedding powdery snow.
Ygdis eyed it; it eyed her right back.
Warg. There was too much human in the raven's mannerisms: The way it turned its head straight-on to look at her was a strong tell.
"Quit watchin' me," Ygdis growled at it.
The raven chortled at her, bobbing its head, black eyes gleaming.
Scowling, Ygdis kept herself side-on to the bird as she reached for her sling with her opposite hand. "Last warning," she said lowly, "Leave me be, warg, or I'll end that pretty bird's life here and now."
The raven's chortling stopped and it straightened, as though affronted. It blinked at her, the feathers atop its head ruffling up.
Her fingers slipped a stone into the sling and she whipped it up and around. The pebble flew true, cracking the raven's skull before the warg had a chance to react. A bundle of black feathers fell to the earth, wings and legs twitching in death throes.
Frowning, Ygdis knelt by the bird, drawing her knife and putting it out of its pain. "Warned you," she whispered, feeling numb. She'd never had to do this before, though her mother had insisted she act as though skinchanged animals were threats unless she knew the skinchanger herself; Ellir's owl had visited soon after and her mother had greeted it as a friend. This, though, hadn't been Ellir. Tying the bird's carcass to her belt by its legs, she rose and continued on her way. No sense in letting it go to waste.
It wasn't long before Ygdis spotted an earthen promontory jutting out over the river, a lone weirwood atop it, the tangle of its wrist-thick roots extending below the waterline where the flow had washed away the soil and stone between. Trudging through the ankle-deep snow off the trail, she pushed through the underbrush until she was walking up over the river. From here, Ygdis could see clear up and down the Antler, and the fork was visible on the far side. She had only a little attention for those things, though.
The weirwood had been carved in the likeness of a painfully familiar woman. She wore a flowing dress of smooth, white bark, the bared skin of her arms, shoulders, neck, and face slightly darker against it. Her hair, once spun copper but now worked in the weirwood's aged flesh, was all one long braid that fell across her front, and her face was nearly a mirror for Ygdis's own. Though her eyes were white wood polished smooth, Ygdis remembered their vibrant blue, the shade of a deep summer sky.
Unbidden, tears came to Ygdis's eyes. Old grief welled up in her as she knelt, pulling her pack off and rummaging about. She tried not to look at the likeness of her mother as she set a little clay dish on the roots of the tree, setting a bundle of dried herbs atop it. Opening the small coal box on her belt, she carefully drew a lump of still-hot charcoal with a pair of grasping sticks, placing it on the herbs.
Fragrant smoke curled up around the coal, rising past the falling snow. Despite the light breeze, it hung thick in the air between Ygdis and the carving of her mother, a veil between the two.
Resting on her heels, Ygdis set aside her pack and steeled herself. She stared at the clay dish, unwilling to raise her eyes to her mother's features just yet. As the herbs smoked, she turned everything over in her head, not sure where to start. The sounds of the forest around her seemed to fade as she thought. Ygdis wasn't even sure why she'd come here. This was foolish of her, after the raids, to head out on her own. She wasn't a fool; why, then, did she feel shame?
Gods, Misa's probably worried about me. Inella, too. Gren's gonna be pissed that I left without telling her.
Her belly curdled as she realized that she was being a fool, coming here. Ygdis's eyes rose to her mother's watchful gaze and she felt the long years since her death with sudden keening.
"Mama, I miss you," Ygdis said, as though a child once more. Her lip quivered and she clutched at the knees of her trousers. Her mother only watched her, waiting for Ygdis to continue. Between the smoke and the tears blurring her eyes, Ygdis could let herself believe for a moment she was really there, standing in front of her, taller than the world. Drawing in a shaking breath, Ygdis said the first thing to come to mind.
"We lost Hacken. Not sure what happened to 'im. He was out hunting downriver and never came home. Gren and I looked for him. We couldn't find anything." A part of her had grown accustomed to the losses over the years, the dwindling of their people from the days of Ygdis's youth. Another part still mourned for the kindly elder. Not knowing what had happened to him only made it worse; for all Ygdis knew, the Others took him, and he didn't deserve that fate.
"We have a newcomer, too. A stranger with real witchery, mama. Her name's Maia. I think you would've liked her. Sometimes when she talks, she sounds a little like you," Ygdis's tone rose in imitation of Maia's high, lilting speech, "We should do everything we can to see to each other's health and wellbeing. We're social animals, Ygdis, it's in our nature. We're strongest together."
Through the smoky haze, Ygdis imagined her mother's lips quirking up in a small smile. Ygdis smiled back, her mood lifting a little.
"We had a raid the other day. Grenwin took a bad hit, but Maia saved her." The words still stung as she recalled the battle. "I've never seen the like before. Maia said she gave Gren her blood, but that doesn't explain the light that shone, or why Gren's face has a scar now. And there's the sword, too."
Ygdis thought her mother looked interested, now. She was interested herself, she could admit, curious about the reasons behind the mystery. "The blade is long and curved, and Mama, it leaks fire. It's not orange or yellow like it ought to be, it's red and black, and the blade glows the color o' blood down the length o' it. And," Ygdis wet her lips, her belly doing an odd flip as she recalled what Maia had said of it, "Maia said it talked to her. In her head. As though it were skinchanging her. I said something cruel to her then, in the moment. Something I feel I can't take back. Gods, I may as well have told her to get over it. I don't want to be that kind o' person, mama."
She had to look away from her mother, then, staring out over the Antler and to the forest on the other side. Ygdis couldn't bear to see the disappointment she knew to be there if she checked.
"I promised Luta I'd teach her our ways. I've not been doing well at that. She's learning more from Gren and Misa than me. I, ah, I challenged Teagj for leadership, instead."
Flicking her eyes up to her mother's stern features, Ygdis felt pinned by an imaginary glare. Hurriedly, she rushed to explain.
"You don't understand, mama! He took our home, and your things, and he acts as though nothing has changed when everything is falling to pieces! He says that you'd approve! I know you wouldn't, I know you'd have sent more o' us out to look for Hacken and the others who've vanished! Instead, he sits on his ass all day pretending to look strong! I hate it! I hate him!" She hated the petulance in her tone, the way she sounded a child making a tantrum. She needed her mother to understand. Fishing her necklace out, Ygdis held her obsidian before her, "He gave this to Maia to turn into a weapon! She said she'd almost destroyed it! I only have it now because she said I ought to keep it!"
Wind rustled past Ygdis, sending the red hands of the weirwood shaking against each other. If she let her imagination guide her, Ygdis thought she heard a whispered question in that soft sound.
"What would you do in his place?"
It may as well have been an echo of her own innermost thoughts. Perhaps it was just that.
"I would do more," Ygdis insisted, "Teagj, it's like he's just given up. He's still strong, but he won't do anything, won't take action when he should. All he does is jab at the rest o' us and pretend to be king. I'd send people out to try and find trace o' Hacken, have Maia build us a wall like she offered, and…" Ygdis scrubbed at the moisture in her eyes, "I don't know. Gods, maybe I should just back off. I'm so angry at Teagj, I just want to wring his neck." Her hands raised and she pretended for a moment she was doing just that; the thought didn't bring any of the satisfaction it had the day before.
"You are uncertain." The whisper came again, soft and insistent.
"Maybe I am," Ygdis looked up to her mother's stern gaze, refusing to quail before it. "The world is uncertain. The Others attacked us; Maia saved us with her magic. Slavers raided us; Maia fought alongside us and healed Grenwin and the others. Next time something happens, we need to be ready to act, not just to take the blows as they come. That's why Teagj isn't a good chief. None o' us know what to do, aye, but we cannot do nothing at all! At least Maia is trying! Why can't the rest o' us try, too?!"
The words came from somewhere deep within Ygdis, from a place her thoughts rarely tread. This, she knew with certainty, was the reason she challenged Teagj. It wasn't for her mother, or for her childhood home, or her desire to see Teagj hurt. A part of Ygdis despised the way everyone pretended everything would be well if they acted as though it all was. Things were not well. First Fork needed to change, or it would die, one disappearance at a time. Who would be next? Luta? Dagmoor? Misa?
Ygdis couldn't bear it. This was what enraged her, the true source of her enmity towards Teagj.
The whisper came again, louder. This was not her mother's voice.
"Will you act?"
Ygdis stood, nodding to her mother. She felt sure of herself, certain of her purpose. She felt centered once more. Her voice was confident as she declared, "I must. If I don't, none will. Thank you, mama."
Closing her eyes for a moment, Ygdis took a breath. When she opened them again, the hazy smoke had cleared, the herbs burned through; all that remained was the carving of her mother's likeness in the weirwood. Birds chirped and the breeze rustled through the trees around and no whispers came. She bent to retrieve the dish, tossing the coal out into the river, and picked her pack up before setting off towards home.
Her thoughts echoed with her revelations as she made a quick pace back to First Fork. The snow was falling more heavily by the time she'd made it to the clearing beyond the village, the scents of smoke and cooking clear to her nose, the sounds of the daily work greeting her ears. As she made her way back into town, someone peeled away from where they'd been resting against a building and approached.
"Girl!" Old Luta's call was sharp, the woman storming towards Ygdis with a furious expression. "Where have you been?!"
This morning, Ygdis might have crumbled under the assault. She felt so sure of herself now that the elder's anger washed over her without effect.
"Talking to my mother, Luta." Ygdis's voice was cool and calm.
Luta's eyes widened and she let out a shrill cry, "It is not safe to travel alone!" Her stormy eyes fell on the raven hanging from Ygdis's belt and her brows furrowed, "And what is that?"
"Warg was watching me; I told it to stop, gave it plenty of warning." Ygdis shrugged, trying to step past Luta, only for the elder to step in her way and thrust a finger into her chest.
"You killed a skinchanged animal?! Ygdis, that is-"
Ygdis interrupted her, meeting the other woman's eyes. "It is what, Luta? I gave more warning than I needed to."
"It is cruel," Luta finished, voice thick with horror and secondhand shame. "It is what has caused Grenwin's pain, or have you forgotten? I had thought you cared for the Ice Wife."
"I do," Ygdis shrugged, "And I haven't forgotten anything. Leave Gren out of this, and get out of my way. I have business with Teagj."
Luta's eyes widened and her brows rose, "Ygdis, no. You are not fighting him. None will hold it against you if you stop this now. Please."
Looking at Luta's fear, Ygdis realized this woman was part of the reason why Teagj was the way he was, and why he took so little action.
"You're part of it. The problem dragging First Fork down. You won't do anything to stop me, will you?" Ygdis glared at her. Luta's mouth opened slightly, confusion on her face. Ygdis spread her arms wide, "Go on. Take your chance to do something, for once! Stop me." She took one step forward, all but shouting in Luta's face, "Do it! Fucking do something!"
Luta took a step back. One hand went to the hilt of her knife, resting on it; her eyes, though, were wide and uncertain, even fearful. The look there made Ygdis feel powerful. For years and years, she'd been afraid of Luta; now, that had been broken.
"I used to respect you, you know," Ygdis said lowly as she took another step, forcing the graying woman back once more. "I thought, because you and Teagj and Dagmoor were my mother's favorites, that I could trust in you to know what is right and to do what must be done. But, I see now, you are weak, Luta."
Shaking her head, Luta hissed back, "You know not o' what you speak. Put this foolishness behind you, Ygdis. Please. For all o' us."
Luta was pleading with her. She truly had nothing. She may well have been nothing for all the resistance she put up.
A barking laugh burst from Ygdis. "Foolish? Aye, I can admit I have my foolish moments. Leaving to speak with my mother, that was foolish o' me. What I plan to do is the furthest thing from foolish. Last chance, Luta. Get out o' my way."
Anger sparkled in Luta's eyes as they turned hard and flinty; the muscles in her neck stood out as she clenched her jaw. She threw her fist at Ygdis, painfully slow. She was unpracticed, sloppy, and Ygdis caught the hand easily. The strike hadn't even hurt. They both looked there, Ygdis's own surprise reflected in Luta's face.
Ygdis bared her teeth as Grenwin tended to do in situations like this, then squeezed slightly, grinding the bones of Luta's hand just enough to make the older woman wince. Ygdis made a show of looking down to Luta's other hand, where it rested on the hilt of her knife, then back up to Luta's eyes. Whatever Luta saw in her expression caused her to raise that hand, showing it to be empty. Words were beyond them now; Ygdis took the woman's shoulder and pushed her aside, then released her and continued on her way without another word. A moment later, she heard indignant spluttering from behind her, but Ygdis refused to look, or even to acknowledge the woman any longer.
She found most of First Fork sitting about the village fire, the heart tree observing from its rise behind them. As Ygdis approached, Misa was one of the first to spot her, shooting to her feet. Inella did much the same a moment later, the two wearing identical expressions of relief and worry.
"Ygdis!" Misa called, rushing over to her. "Where have you been?! Nobody's been able to find you!" There was moisture in her friend's brown eyes as she threw her arms around Ygdis's shoulders.
Ygdis pat her on the back, "I'm fine, Misa. I was just talking to my mother, that's all."
Inella shook her head, disappointment on her face.
Shooting a glare at the woman, Ygdis told her, "I don't need your approval, Inella. I needed something else, and I got it. I'm fine."
Hild and Gudrid, tending to skewers of meat and smoke-racks over the fire, both watched her with inscrutable expressions. Frerthe and Lorni sat off to one side, too busy with each other to pay Ygdis any mind, and Jorni tossed knucklebones between him and Dagmoor. Neither man cared to check the outcome, absorbed in watching the confrontation.
Scoffing, Inella stormed back to the fire, unwilling or unable to say what she wanted to Ygdis's face.
"Misa," Ygdis tried to calm her tone, but some of her anger still leaked into it. "Please let me go. I need to talk to Teagj."
If anything, that only provoked Misa to hold on tighter. She clung to Ygdis, shaking her head into her shoulder.
"Please, Ygdis. Don't do it. I know you're angry, but this, it is not going to end well." Turning her face up to meet Ygdis's eyes, Misa's tears flowed freely. Her voice lowered to a whisper, and she didn't seem to realize she was speaking at all.
"A spark lights a conflagration that consumes the world; the lives of men will be as kindling when Winter falls; I see pyres burning where cities stand; of our people, only an ember's ember will stand through it all. We will not see the thaw."
Ygdis shivered; Misa spoke like this sometimes, her eyes going distant and her voice empty, as though the words were all that mattered. The first time she'd done this, she'd said Ygdis would lose her mother and her family. The second time, she'd said a bear would come from the north and be as kin to her. Misa had been right both times, though not in any of the ways Ygdis had thought. What, then, did it mean when she said that?
Taking Misa's shoulders, Ygdis gently pried her off. There was no use in asking Misa what she'd meant; she'd never remembered saying anything in the first place. Taking a deep breath, Ygdis shook her head, deciding to move on.
"I have to, Misa. If I don't, First Fork is going to die slowly. Teagj is not the chief we need now."
Misa's face fell, her spirit crumbling. She took a step away from Ygdis, muttering, "He's in his cabin." Then, she turned and ran towards the hall, passing the door and rushing into Maia's traveling shelter.
Ygdis's heart twisted at her friend's pain. Misa didn't understand, not if she thought that asking nicely was going to stop her. This was Ygdis's doing and she would need to make things right. Steeling herself, she set off towards the chief's cabin, towards her rightful home.
She didn't bother knocking on the door, instead taking the handle and pulling it open. "Teagj!" Ygdis called as she entered, "Where are you?"
"Back here," Teagj's answering call came from a side room, the room her mother used to spend long hours in. Her office, she'd called it. The memories came flooding back as Ygdis strode towards it.
Within, Teagj was sitting on a stool before a wide desk, staring at something in his hands. Ygdis didn't get too good a look at it before he set it in a drawer and slid it closed, but it looked to be a rectangular slab of glossy black stone, about the size of Ygdis's hand. He turned on the stool to face her, his expression a mask of conflict. His shoulders were slumped and his face was drawn with stress.
"Ygdis." He greeted her neutrally, eyes wary. "What do you need?"
His attitude stoked the flames of Ygdis's anger, roaring bright and hot in her breast.
"To fight you," she snarled, "You might have been a good chief once, but times are different now. We need action, not…" Ygdis tossed her hands in his direction, scowling, "Not to sit on our asses thinking about the 'good days.'"
Teagj's brows furrowed and his lips set in a frown. After a long moment, he nodded.
"You are right. I have not been the leader First Fork needs. Mayhaps I never was."
The admission sounded genuine, honest. It drew Ygdis up short, surprise overcoming her anger.
"What?"
Teagj took a deep breath before blowing it out through the graying hair on his lip. "I swore an oath to your mother when I took her place. To lead First Fork as best I could, to protect and care for our people, and to see that you were raised as any other among us would be. I have failed her, I have failed First Fork, and I have failed you."
Gods, he was sad. Ygdis realized with a start that what she'd taken as a fire driving him was just embers. He had been putting up a front for everyone else; it almost seemed he wanted Ygdis to take charge.
"Aye, you have." Ygdis found her tone softening despite herself. She'd not expected him to just admit that she was right.
"That said, we will still fight. You must still prove that you are willing to do what must be done." Teagj stood straight, becoming the indomitable chief once more. A grin quirked his lips up, "To add some spice, let us make a wager."
Ygdis felt she was on the backfoot, somehow. How had this happened?
"What wager? What do you possibly have to offer me, Teagj?"
Teagj gestured about the small room, at the cluttered shelves, the boxes stacked against the walls, but it seemed he meant more than the room itself.
"If you win, I'll teach you everything your mother taught me. I'll tell you her secrets, why First Fork is so important, why we cannot leave." His face took on a roguish cast, "I'll tell you why she left."
Why she left.
The words echoed in Ygdis's head. The world felt like it was spinning, toppling over, shattering around her. She left. She left me.
Ygdis's voice came out a child's whimper, "Mama left me?"
Teagj's face turned solemn and kind as he moved to put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Aye, Ygdis. Your mama left us all. I will tell you why if you can defeat me."
"Why can't you tell me now?" It sounded the plea it was.
He shook his head, frowning down at her. "I'll only be released of my oath should you defeat me and take my place. Take your mother's place. It must be your choice and your effort made. I cannot simply give you what you want, much as it pains me. Boudeca made it clear that if you were to follow her, you must be willing to fight for it. I think it was her way o' giving you a chance to live a life away from her."
Ygdis was stunned. This… It was all her mother's plan? To leave her, let her think she died, to speak to a false grave? Who had she been talking to? Struggling to rally, she shook herself.
"And if you win?"
Teagj shrugged, "Things go back to the way they were. I tell you no more than what I have already. I feel it would be a loss for all o' us."
"It sounds like you want me to win," Ygdis said slowly.
"I do. I will not make it easy for you, but if you are capable, I believe you might be the leader First Fork needs."
Staring into Teagj's dark eyes, Ygdis saw only honesty in them. Her thoughts were whirling around the inside of her head and she clung to the fading certainty she'd faced Luta with.
"I'll take your wager, then."
Nodding, Teagj clapped her on the shoulder once. "Good woman. Go prepare yourself; I'll be out soon."
Ygdis left the cabin in a daze. Outside, Grenwin was waiting for her, arms crossed and expression stormy; beside her, a drowsy Maia, dressed all in black with little white buttons down her front, eyed Ygdis with curiosity.
"It's time, then?" Grenwin asked her.
Nodding, Ygdis had to drag out the "Aye" from within.
Maia yawned, her wings drooping. "S'rry, just so damn tired. I swore I'd heal you and Teagj after the fight. Thought you ought to know."
Had the winged woman said that minutes before, Ygdis might have snapped at her for offering to heal the chief. As it was, she just nodded. "I see."
"Let's get you ready, then," Grenwin took Ygdis's shoulder, gently leading her towards her cabin. The space between passed in a blur and then they were inside, Grenwin dabbing fingers in a bowl of ochre paint before running them across Ygdis's face.
She felt the paint cling to her skin, cold at first, then warming. She tried to focus; Teagj's words had shaken her to her core.
She left. They echoed over and over through her scattered thoughts. She left me. Why did she leave me? Was I not good enough? Did I disappoint her? Why?
"Ygdis," Grenwin snapped her fingers before Ygdis's eyes, drawing her attention. "Focus. You're distant; what's happened?"
"Mama left me," Ygdis whispered.
Grenwin's eyes widened, her brows climbing. "Left you?"
"Oh, shit," Maia hissed from where she sat next to Ygdis, drawing her gaze. Maia's strange features were open and earnest with the surprise and realization she felt. "Yesterday, while we were sewing, Inella and Luta got into an argument about Boudeca." Maia looked between Ygdis and Grenwin, "Inella made it sound like she was still out there, that she left for something precious to her. Luta tried to shut her down and they almost came to blows over it."
Ygdis felt a strange pang. "What?"
Maia nodded, continuing, "Inella was furious that you and Misa had been lied to for most of your lives. She looked about ready to throw Luta in the fire before I, ah, tried to calm the situation. They went and talked it out in the big house. After, Sigrid raised the idea that Boudeca left, and when she said it, she was viscerally disgusted."
They all knew already.
She clenched her fists, grounding herself in the sensation of her fingers straining.
"I… I see," Ygdis said slowly, nodding. "My thanks for telling me, Maia."
The small woman's eyes flicked away to look past her, a hand rising to rub at her shoulder, pinching and twisting the black fabric between her fingers.
"Uh-huh. Guess I should've told you sooner; I got sidetracked with other things. I think, maybe, there's been some miscommunication lately."
This felt like one of those things Maia said when she was trying to say too much at once. Ygdis didn't have the wherewithal to decipher the meanings, choosing to take it at face value.
"Aye, maybe there has."
Turning back to Grenwin, Ygdis saw her green eyes were tight with concern. The scar across her face looked like she'd smeared ash there, and into her hair. It looked unnatural.
"I'm well enough to fight, Gren, I swear it."
Grenwin squinted at her, then nodded, lips pulled tight. She didn't believe Ygdis, but she'd support her anyway. The she-bear seemed at a loss for words.
"I think I'm ready," Ygdis said after a moment of silence. She made to stand and Grenwin moved aside. Her pack was lying against the wall, her spear propped up next to it, and she took up the familiar leather-wrapped wood.
Without waiting on her sister or Maia, Ygdis left the cabin, making her way up to the fire. A space had been cleared for them and Teagj lounged on the ground. The rest of First Fork was standing or sitting around, eyes turning towards her as she approached.
Teagj stood, standing straight while speaking loudly and clearly, an air of ceremony about him as he hefted his twin hatchets. "Who comes to challenge Teagj, son of Gromyr, son of Teagj?"
Ygdis swallowed, shouldering past a glaring Luta as she pushed into the battleground. "Ygdis, daughter of Boudeca, daughter of…" She trailed off, realizing she didn't know her mother's mother's name.
Teagj repeated after her for all to hear.
"Ygdis, daughter of Boudeca, daughter of Moruga! Why have you brought this challenge?"
Ygdis found her focus, a part of her mind noting down that Teagj knew her grandmother's name. "First Fork is dying. We need new leadership. Something must be done."
"Something must be done!" Teagj bellowed out for everyone. "Come, then! Do what you must."
The gathered people were quiet as Teagj set himself in a battle stance. Ygdis lowered herself in turn. Above them, a soft hoot marked the start of the fight.
Teagj charged, long strides eating the distance between them, hatchets held ready to the sides. Ygdis set her grip high near the spearhead, swinging the butt around to counter as she danced to the side; Teagj grinned, hooking the haft between his hatchets and pulling it from her grip. There came gasps from all around as she released the spear, lest she slice her fingers on the blade, and it fell to the snow.
Then, Teagj backed off with a glint in his eye, raising his hatchets in the air and turning to bellow triumphantly at the watchers. Scrambling forward, Ygdis went for her spear as his back was turned, only to catch a reversed strike on her shoulder from one of Teagj's hatchets as he spun with a knowing grin; pain blossomed there and Ygdis heard Grenwin shout something indistinct. Teagj roared back at the Ice Wife, one of his boots coming up to kick Ygdis in the face; something inside her nose crunched and blinding pain erupted there.
She was kneeling in the snow, one hand propping her up, the other holding the pained wreck of her nose; blood dripped past the fingers of her gloves and fell down to splash red against white. Someone was moaning in pain, a low sound. Her head still rang from the blow.
How? How did this happen?
"Cruel?" Teagj crowed loudly at someone in the crowd. "You think me cruel? Watch! My generosity is boundless!"
A strong hand caught her under her arm and pulled her up to her feet. Teagj thrust the haft of her spear back into her hand and gave her a shove. Ygdis reeled back two paces, blinking past the pain in her nose.
At that moment, everything narrowed. Ygdis no longer heard the others, no longer saw First Fork, no longer felt the cold air on her face and the hot blood dripping down her lips and chin. Teagj stood there, the cause of her pain, the target of her ire. A howl tore free of her throat as she ran at him, spear raised.
Teagj's grin faltered as she smashed the flat of the spearhead against his wrist with a loud crack. He shouted, dropping the hatchet from that hand, backing up a pace to gain distance. There, he watched far more warily, all trace of performance gone.
Two for you, one for me. The words floated through Ygdis's mind. She saw Teagj set his right foot in the snow, readying for a charge. His left hand hung limp, though he kept his arm raised; he'd use it to shield himself, she knew. Her own legs tensed.
She sprung forward as Teagj charged once more, spear held low in one hand, the other flashing towards the hilt of her knife. She had just the time to draw it before they crashed together. She felt more than heard the snapping in her chest even as hot agony tore through her, Teagj bearing her down to the ground and landing on her right arm, which cracked twice with searing pain. Tears blurred her vision and she realized her other arm was still trapped between them.
Teagj grunted, then coughed. He rolled off of her, the bloodied hilt of her knife sticking out from his chest, over his heart. Something in Ygdis froze solid at that; the flaring pain could not stop her from pulling herself closer to him. It looked a mortal wound. Teagj's eyes turned toward her, his mouth open in surprise. He whispered something, too low for her to make out. People were shouting, screaming, drowning out his last words.
"Teagj, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
A small hand came down atop Ygdis's head, interrupting her, and the pain receded as she felt bone and muscle and sinew reshape themselves to their proper positions within her body. Another delicate hand, attached to a cuffed wrist adorned with small white buttons at the end of an arm garbed in black linen, pulled the knife from Teagj's chest with a spray of blood and tossed it aside; he grunted, wheezed something, and the hand came back to rest over the wound, heedless of the crimson staining pale skin. Ygdis saw a strange silver dust pouring from Maia's skin like water, vanishing into Teagj's parka.
He began to breathe easier, the taught lines around his face relaxing. "Maia," Teagj murmured lowly, looking past Ygdis, "That's twice you've saved my life. Hope we don't have a third, no offense."
Maia's response was cold as ice as she replied, "I swore to heal both of you. Were it not for that, I would leave you both just well enough for you to heal at your own pace. I was told this would not become a fight to the death. What the hell were you doing, kicking her like that when she was down?"
"I wasn't down," Ygdis grumbled. "I had it."
Deceptively strong fingers wound through Ygdis's hair with an iron grip, forcing a grunt of pain from her as Maia lowered herself before her to meet her eyes. "You," Maia hissed, "Drew live steel. You escalated this." Maia shook her hand and Ygdis's head as emphasis and was none too gentle.
"Without me, Teagj would be dying, and you and everyone else would have to contend with the fact that you killed him. Do you have anything you'd like to say in his final moments? Think fast, because now he's gone and it's too late. Oh, and by the way, you'd be drowning in your own blood right now, so don't worry about outliving him."
Ygdis's belly curdled. What could she say to that? Maia was right. Gods, she'd even forgotten her promise to heal them both; in the moment, Ygdis had needed to win more than anything else in the world. Winning meant pulling her knife in a move that could have, would have killed her. Winning meant killing a man who'd raised her as he would his own daughter.
Until I ruined that, too.
Teagj sat up, fingering the hole in his blood-soaked parka, rubbing his fingers together and looking at the red staining them with an odd expression. The look in his eyes as he turned them towards Ygdis was thoughtful. That she saw no anger or hurt in his gaze was a balm to her self-inflicted hurt.
"Maia, enough." Grenwin's husky tones drew the winged woman's mismatched eyes. "She knows."
Maia looked back to Ygdis, scowling at what she saw on her face. "I'm ashamed of you," she said acidly before releasing her and moving away. More loudly, she addressed the crowd, "Is this farce really how you choose who leads you? You set two of your best against each other and hope whichever is less dead at the end is up for the task?"
Teagj moved to kneel next to Ygdis, checking her over with an intense look in his eye. "I've seen what I need to." He extended his hand to her in an offer to lift her to her feet.
She took his wrist with a firm grip and he pulled her up with him as he stood. Ygdis felt a peculiar hollowness inside her, as though all of her passions had fled from her, leaving bone-deep exhaustion behind. "Teagj, I… I shouldn't have pulled my knife. I don't know what I was thinking."
"I was in your way and you needed to get past me," Teagj said the words simply, as though he knew. He regarded her with an evaluating look, "Your mother oft told me of what that felt like to her. Am I wrong?"
Slowly, Ygdis shook her head.
Teagj shifted his grip on her wrist, raising her hand into the air.
"First Fork!" He bellowed, cutting Maia's shouting short. He turned slowly, forcing Ygdis to do the same, to see the faces of her people. "Ygdis, daughter of Boudeca, daughter of Moruga, is your chieftess! My hall is hers! My place is hers! Will you accept her?"
For a long moment, nobody said a word. Maia stood nearby, red-faced with fury, Grenwin at her side with a hand on her shoulder. Then, Luta came forward to meet them, glaring at Ygdis. There was a scowl on her face and resignation in the set of her shoulders.
"I accept her," Luta declared sourly. "The daughter of the Redtail and the Greenhand will lead us."
At the edge of the crowd, Ygdis caught Symon's shocked spluttering. Spying him between Hild's impassive features and Gudrid's openly concerned expression, Ygdis saw the Dornishman having some kind of fit, his eyes wide enough to see the whites all the way around his dark irises, his jaw working uselessly and his hand pulling hard enough at his beard to pull patches of it free.
"I accept her," Inella called, echoed by Misa's quieter voice. Wyck shouted the same, then Herrick, then Jorni and Lorni both; Hild and Gudrid called it out as one while Frerthe grinned widely as she declared her support. Soon, only Maia and Grenwin had failed to speak up.
Grenwin hadn't taken her vibrant green eyes from Ygdis. Her face wore a storm as she growled, "I taught you to win, and I had no desire to watch you throw my training to the wind." Her disappointment stabbed a dagger at Ygdis. "You did not need your knife. You did not need to let Teagj have the control he did during that fight. Of the two of you," her eyes flicked to Teagj before coming back to Ygdis, "I thought he the more likely to try to kill. I do not like that I was wrong."
The dagger twisted, tearing at her heart.
"Grenwin's right," Maia muttered. "I've seen the two of you fight like whirlwinds. What were you doing, Ygdis? Was this just a way for you to actually kill Teagj and get away with it? Play that you're a worse fighter than you are and pretend it was an accident?"
The accusation stung. "No!" Ygdis shook her head, raising her free hand defensively, "I, this wasn't what you think it was, Maia. I had to prove myself to him, or he wouldn't tell me of my mother! We talked about it, he and I, before we fought!"
A disbelieving scoff came from the winged woman and she shook her head, turning away and taking long strides back to her workshop. Her wings stood out, snow-white feathers straight and rigid, sharp as knives against the black of her coat.
Grenwin watched her go for a moment before shaking her head, returning her attention to Ygdis and Teagj, and then to Luta.
"Any o' you still going to try to fight each other?"
"No," Teagj answered simply.
Luta scoffed and shook her own head, "It is over. No harm will come to Ygdis over this."
Grenwin's hard gaze turned to Ygdis. "And you, sister?"
"I'm done," Ygdis replied in a small voice, unable to meet Grenwin's eyes. It hurt, this disappointment radiating from the Ice Wife. Ygdis felt that she'd done something to drive a wedge between them and she didn't know what to do to fix it.
"Good. I'm taking Maia and Misa down to Antler Point. We're leaving tomorrow and should be back in four or five day's time." Grenwin's anger came through in her tone and she bit out a moment later, "So you know, we are going to have a long talk after we return."
Ygdis nodded to her, unable to find anything to say. With that, the Ice Wife stalked away, heading after Maia. A part of Ygdis felt betrayed, asking why she was leaving her in favor of the newcomer. Couldn't Grenwin tell she needed her strength?
"Luta," Teagj said to the elder, "We can tell her now. We can tell her everything."
"Everything?" Luta asked, clearly disbelieving. "What makes you think she can handle it, after that?"
Teagj shrugged, "She can. She's Boudeca's daughter, through and through." Pitching his voice to carry, "Dagmoor! We'll be in Ygdis's cabin! Bring us meat!" Lowering his voice again, he clapped Ygdis on the shoulder. "Come, I promised you answers and more. That's what you wanted, right?"
As Teagj gently led her towards his- no, it was Ygdis's home again- Her cabin, she wondered at that. Luta followed close behind them, kicking at the snow. She was still upset over what happened between them earlier; it seemed a thousand years ago, to Ygdis.
"Yea," Ygdis's voice rang hollow and false in her ears as she turned her head to watch Grenwin walk away, "That's what I wanted."