The Troll's Trove Ch. 37

Chapter 37 - Ol' Bendle

Brynis rubbed her hand. Hothr's million icy teeth gnawed at them. Snow began to sift from the late autumn air.

"Wh—wh—wh—when are we going t—to get to the inn—n—n." Misty plumes blossomed from Eric's lips.

"After sunset." Donnar scowled at Brynis. "We should've been there by now."

"We didn't have to stop earlier! We could've caught up to the others," Brynis snapped. They'd passed the last of the camp litter left in the wake of the other horn hunters some leagues prior.

"And walked all night?"

Bryn's eyes narrowed. Her lips compressed. She double-timed several strides ahead of the boys.

"Gods above Donnar, do you really have to antagonize her? She's acting all funny as it is."

"Girls do."

Bryn's lips trembled. She whirled on the boys. "Fine! You don't want me? I'll go back. Hope you freeze to death!" She marched between the boys. Her shoulder slammed Donnar's chest.

"Lokul's curses, Donnar!" Eric grabbed Brynis' wrist. "Bryn, don't go."

Brynis yanked her hand. Eric held on. "Let. Go."

"Bryn."

"Let go!" Brynis screamed. She ripped her arm free. She scrubbed her writ as though it were dirty.

Eric staggered a step back. "Bryn, I didn't—"

"Don't touch me." Her breast heaved. "Ever!"

Eric's eyes grew wide. He backed away a second step.

"Come on, Eric. We don't need her."

"But—"

"Come on, Old Bendle's place can't be far. I can smell smoke."

The two moved off. Eric glanced Brynis's way more than once. She stood, anchored to the spot.

Brynis began to tremble. She pushed her hands down her torso as though scrubbing off some invisible, filthy oil. Damn, damn, damn, damn!

Bile rose in her throat. Oh Freyja, help me! A tear burnt a track down her check and froze and she sank to her knees. The pommel of her Pa's sword dug into her side.

Her fingers curled about the hilt to shove it aside. Her hand locked upon the pommel. A trickle of ethereal strength wormed its way through her glove. Pa.

Pa, the Father. Pa, the husband. Pa, the woodcutter. Pa, the provider. Pa, the man. Pa.

Brynis surged to her feet. Her legs trembled. She forced them forward. Each stride grew stronger, more determined.

The snow and evening thickened. The wind screamed and blasted her eyes with ice. The boys became shades somewhere in the lead. When it came in sight the light from Bendle's place was just a wispy glowing ghost.

Old Bendle's place was all of two buildings, a barn and a longhouse. The snow-covered yard was packed by a thousand treads. Ice clung to the eves.

Bryn slipped and slid her way up the porch. The wind tore the door from her hand and it rebounded from the wall with a loud bang.

With effort she wrestled the door closed. The close heat of the inn's great room set to work upon the ice that had turned her clothes into stiff, frozen planks. Within heartbeats beads of water dripped down her face. She trudged to where the boys argued with the innkeeper, Bendle, she supposed. Their words could barely be heard over the rolling roar of voices coming from deeper within the room.

"I told you, there's no space, not even on the floor."

Someone pushed through the crowd. He shouldered past Donnar. Donnar staggered into Brynis. Something burbled in Brynis' stomach. She swallowed it back down.

"Forget the loft, what about the common room or-or the barn?"

"I'm sorry, I'm all full up. You should go home. Raum'll make you sorry. Whatever possessed you fool kids to go after that horn anyway?"

"What about—" Brynis forced herself between the two boys. Eric shot her an uneasy smile. "—food. Can we get something hot?"

Bendle laughed. "What food?" He waved to the crowd. "You idiots have already eaten me out of my winter's stores."

"We can pay double," Eric said.

"Double for nothing is still nothing."

Donnar's shoulders slumped. "Come on. Help us out. You've to give us something."

"No. I don't. Now out with you." The big man herded them towards the door.

Brynis was the last of the three to move. She had to tilt her head to meet Bendle's eyes. She ignored the filthy, greasy feeling that crawled across her skin. "Bendle, please. It's cold. We'll freeze."

Bendle hesitated. He hooked his thumb back over his shoulder. "If you'll leave. If you'll promise to leave come morning and head back to town, I'll tell you."

Donnar coughed but nodded. Eric looked at the floor. Bryn's eyes never left Bendle's.

"There's an old place up the pass. Half a league, no more. Nothing left but the foundation an' cellar. The cellar's out of the wind and it don't leak. Hunters an' trappers, them that won't afford a bed, use it. Them keep it stocked with firewood.

"But you kids must promise to go home come mornin'. Raum ain't the only horror in Gejsern. There's something else there. Something worse than a troll."

Donnar snorted. "What could be worse than a troll?"

Bendle stared intently at the young man. "Some say it's Raum's Ma. Some say it's Gudrun herself. I don't know. I don't care to know. But whatever it be, it's nasty.

"A troll will kill you before it feasts. Whatever this is, it eats you alive. I've heard the screams."

The freckles looked as though they might pop off Eric's pale face. "From here?"

"No, not from here. But I too was once a young fool."

Bryn shoved between the boys to the door. "Come on. Let's go before we get too warm." The door dragged her onto the porch as she opened it. The wind buffeted her.

The snow in Bendle's barnyard was trampled thin. Laughter rang from within the barn. Beyond it the snow climbed to Bryn's knees. She struggled up the slope.

The boys overtook her the second time she fell. Donnar helped her up. She bit her lip but didn't scold him. When Eric fell she offered her hand. He hesitated before taking it. She heaved him to his feet. Together the three fought the snow, the mountain and the wind.

As evening wore into night the wind died. Snow still sifted down. When she was sure she could go no further Brynis collapsed against a low, ice covered wall they'd come upon. She panted. Her inner garments stuck to her skin. Steam seeped from the gaps in her clothes.

"Over here," Eric called. "I think we found it. The old cellar I mean." He stood within the space cordoned off by the same wall Brynis leaned against. It was so dark now that while he was no more than a few strides distant he was merely a shadow amongst shadows. If it hadn't been for the all-white backdrop he would've been invisible. As it was he was nearly indistinguishable from the remains of the decayed building's hearth and crumpled chimney.

Eric tromped heavily upon something. A hollow thud sounded. He kicked at the snow.

Brynis reached Eric before Donnar. Together they heaved open the half-shattered trap door. Despite the black that greeted her Brynis descended the old stair eager to get a fire started.

"Nachtlich's shroud, it's dark in there." Donnar dropped his pack in the snow. "I've got a torch."

Brynis descended another few steps. "I'm getting out of the wind." A greasy, meaty smell, like an armpit, met her.

"Whew." Eric waved a hand in front of his nose. "You'd think—" Eric's words were interrupted by a loud woof. In the near impenetrable blackness Brynis had the impression of something big, black and immensely heavy.

Whatever it was it hit her. Brynis was driven back into the stairs. The back of her head knocked upon a step. Lights flashed behind her eyelids.

Desperate to flee her fate Brynis rolled to the side. An empty void opened beneath her. A big, hairy black ball of muscle, teeth and claw slammed into the stair where she had been.

"Bryn!" Eric screamed.

Brynis' pack slammed into the stone floor. Her head whipped back. Thunder sounded in her skull. A kaleidoscope of sparks cascaded before her eyes.

The beast gathered itself. Brynis tore at the hilt of her Pa's blade. The blade had cleared its sheath no more than a hand-span when the beast charged.

A black shadow hurled through the trap-door. Steel and wood skewered the nightmare above her. Momentum knocked it from the air and rolled the shadow back on its haunches

A roar sounded and hot spittle splattered Bryn's face. A heavy-handed swipe tore the spear from Donnar's grasp. The shaft smashed against the wall and shattered. Donnar tumbled from the stair.

The beast leapt. The black form drove onto Brynis' blade and its mass ripped the hilt from her hand. She whipped her head to the side and the blade's pommel struck sparks against the floor where her skull had been.

Nearly thirty stone's weight rammed into Brynis flattening her pack and temporarily realigning her bones. Pa's seax drove deep in the black-bear's breast.

The bear flew into the air. The beast spun, batting about at the hilt protruding from its chest and bawling.

Brynis rolled away. A paw caught her pack. The force of the blow lifted Brynis into the air and hurled her into a wall.

The bear sprinted up the stairs, exploded through the remains of the door, bowled over Eric and expired.