Daughter of the Witcher Ch. 03

***By the Tenth Century, the peoples of Northern Scotland, the Faeroes, Orkneys and Shetland Islands all found their ways of speaking being supplanted by a language that is today known as Old Norse. The more southerly groups regionalized this even more with what is now known as Norn, a rather insular variant which is now extinct other than as a flavoring in the language they use today.

As the Witcher's Daughter and her friends head out onto the road again, they run into a pair who even manage to add a little of a Gaelic flavoring to that.

It's likely not correct, but that's how I hear them.

0_o

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It had taken another full day to get much more out of him. During that time, Cuilén sometimes appeared to be a little catatonic. He spent the rest of the night weeping softly and during that time, Louhi and Annikki never left him, just holding him if they could and often crying themselves from the intense feelings which came to them from him. Later on, he just sat in silence, looking into space with only his occasional blinks, his breathing, and the almost-continual tears which ran from his eyes.

He was not totally unresponsive later on. Cuilén would look if spoken to and his answers to questions were most often only silent nods or slow shakes of his head. But it was the early afternoon before he would speak in much more than monosyllables.

Before then, however, Louhi had gone to pay for another night and the extra cost and even a little more once she'd learned that Cuilén had a horse. She asked to be shown which one and that was when the innkeeper had tried for a little more coin out of her, saying that it was required because of the brushing of the animal because he was so large.

Louhi had looked, "This one?"

She pointed again then, wanting no misunderstanding, "This horse here?"

The man nodded, knowing that sticking to his guns this way often spelled the difference between a fee and an even bigger fee. But he found himself being backed up against the back end of someone else's horse on the other side of the aisle then.

"That animal has not seen a brush in several days," Louhi snarled as she pointed back, "He has no water, and I see no feed for him. He stands with his saddle still on him. How do you brush a saddled horse? What is it that you charge for, the shade or your stories?"

The animal behind the innkeeper decided that the presence of someone back there was not wanted and the kick which came an instant later left the man groaning on his face.

But it didn't get the angry woman out of his hair.

"I will pay your fettling fee, but no more and when I come back in an hour, that animal will stand there brushed, fettled and fed - and there had better be fresh water in front of him, innkeeper."

The serving woman from the night before watched from the doorway and though she and the innkeeper were married, they weren't married to each other, not that it had stopped anything between them. So she felt a little justified in wanting to storm out then to deal with the woman's demands herself.

And she found herself in a pile of shit then – in a literal sense.

She hadn't seen the dropping that she must have slipped on, though she'd held up her hem as she'd come out into the stables in a bit of bluster. All the same, she now sat in the scraped-together pile which had not been removed yet that day. Louhi said nothing; she only smirked as she walked out.

She found Cuilén looking uncomfortable and wanting to push Annikki away when she returned. "I want nothing now," he said, "You are so lovely to me, but I, ..."

Louhi knelt and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Not all loving is only fucking, Cuilén. You know this yourself, or you would not have been so high in your wife's view. I see what Nikki seeks to give to you."

She leaned down and kissed his forehead for a moment and then she sat back on her knees again. "Nikki is a little close in size to the one that you grieve for. She wishes to know what that one looked like and she wants to give comfort in a way that she can. She knows that she cannot be Gretta, but I see that she wishes to be as Gretta to you for this time. Allow her this, if it is in you, and I think that it could help a little."

Louhi ate a little of what remained and then she changed her clothes, almost knowing what she would find when she returned to the stables.

When she returned, Louhi saw a more contented animal who wore no saddle, had been brushed and was now watered and fed. But there was a new issue then.

"When I last looked, there was a sword in a scabbard tied to the saddle and I see none there now where the saddle hangs over that rail. Unless you know ways of some strong magic, I would say that it has been taken. I want it. Please give it to me. I do not think that you would want to have to explain anything else to the man that you sent to us. Or am I wrong?"

The innkeeper looked to be about ready to panic. He looked around a little frantically and then he ran to the doorway which led to a bit of a paddock and beckoned for Louhi to come there.

She saw the stableboy there, looking to be engaged in trying to practise a little swordplay against an imaginary foe of some kind. It might have looked a little impressive to some, she thought, particularly the girl who stood watching him.

But a stablehand playing at something with a sword is most likely to only result in damage to the sword or the man and while a stablehand might sometimes need to use a sword in his defense now and then, it wasn't the same thing as being proficient with the thing at all. As well, most swords - even the ones belonging to Northmen - tend to vary a little in length between 33 and 36 inches long and weigh in at rather close to two and one-half pounds.

What this lad was swinging around looked to be somewhat longer and by his motions and the way that he most often swung it only once, seemed to have difficulty in stopping the swing, and never practised a reversal told Louhi that the blade likely weighed considerably more.

"Set that down," she said, "it is not yours and if it is harmed, you will work a long time to repay your master for what he would need to pay me for the ruined blade."

The young man spun around and dropped the blade in his surprise at being caught doing something other than working. Louhi rolled her eyes and stepped out to retrieve the blade as the man stared at her.

Picking it up, she noticed that it was indeed heavier and that the crosspiece of the guard was not the simple welded bar slotted to fit over the tang, but was bent in a U-shape with the points facing the tip. She was a little more surprised to see that the tips were sharpened themselves. Whoever Cuilén had killed to get the weapon must have been a fairly large man and one who had a fair bit of strength and skill – or fancied himself to have had.

Her eyes fell to the edges and she felt a brief want in herself to hurt this fool for damaging the thing. If he'd tried to hack at a piece of wood, ...

But then she noticed that the nicks were old and the thought left her.

"You should not touch what does not belong to you," she said, "it will hurt your master's business if the patrons feel that their belongings are not safe in his care." She placed the point against the ground to get the length and then she swung it overhand once with a whoosh that left the blade as a semicircular blur as it came around.

The man backed away, but she smiled at him, "It is a little long for me and too heavy for you."

"It's not too heavy," he said, "I –"

"It is not too heavy to swing once," she said, the smile remaining, "but now you speak as a man who feels a little insult when I meant nothing of the kind. You were playing at sword work and from it I saw that you rarely if ever get to touch a blade. If you spent any time at sword work, you would not want to play at it much. You might have strength, but not in your wrists and arms from swinging a long blade, friend. And sword work is a grisly business and often goes on and on long after you would stop to rest. Where is the scabbard?"

He pointed and the young woman held it up, "Here," she said.

Louhi walked over and as she took it, she smiled into the brown eyes of the girl, "Do not wish that he was any good at this if you care for him. Wish only that he finds the chance to be good enough at it to keep himself and you safe if he holds your heart at all."

The young woman looked down, blushing furiously and Louhi chuckled, "I might have hit a tender place there. Are you together?"

"No," she girl whispered, "but, ..."

"Then I will not make him feel any more foolish," Louhi grinned a little as she turned away and walked back to the stablehand.

"If you have the want to know more, then you might seek out either an armorer if this place has one, or ask at the town guard, if there is one of those. But I think that your time would serve you better to do your work and then work at something sweeter with the girl there, friend."

She walked away, stopping only to threaten the innkeeper if she heard too much noise over the lad wasting his time. "A stableboy works better if he does not feel ill-used. I think that he only wanted to try and no harm has been done while he showed off a little."

But she saw only ire in those eyes as they looked past her, "The one he played for is my daughter, Mistress."

"Oh," Louhi said, a little disheartened for the lad, "Then all is lost."

She walked away.

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"Are you better, Cuilén?" she asked when she returned, "I want to be away from here before midday on the morrow or I will likely kill someone. Where will you go?"

He sat up, looking like hell with his red eyes and he shrugged after a thought, "I have nowhere to go. I came here and seek work. It has been a week and none here trust me enough to even scythe down grain for them, though that is what I see being done everywhere around here. Where do you go?"

"We wanted to go to Iceland," she said, "a further ride to the north and west until we run out of land and can find a ship to take us and our horses. But after learning what I know now from your sad tale over the night, I find that I do not want to be in a cold land this winter. The harvest begins here. It will not grow warmer the farther that we go, and I want no part of being stuck on the north shore – wherever THAT might lie in this land."

She chuckled to herself after a moment, "And I would guess that before I get to speak where the people understand me well again, I will have to go through more places and learn new tongues which I have no wish to know."

Annikki sat up and tried to get her hair out of her face, "Where do we go then, Louhi?"

"I guess that we go south once more and search for a place until the spring," she said.

Annikki threw herself backwards onto the bed again with a groan, "We had enough trouble going north. The people and the fools who try to rob everyone, I have no wish for – "

Louhi chuckled, "To see the men that you left behind you again?"

Annikki sat up with her eyes brightening, "I'd forgotten about them."

"Look here," Cuilén said, "I have no plans and can find no work. I would come if you would want me along. Maybe you will not be so much troubled by men when you do not cast your eyes down then."

Louhi walked over and leaned down to take his chin in her hand gently, "Cuilén, I find no wish in me to leave someone such as you behind me. It was beyond my hope to hear this from you. Nikki, tell your thoughts. Are we three now?"

Annikki nodded so that her hair flew, "I'll want him along in the forests later."

She giggled as Louhi began to get undressed again and Cuilén looked at her with no comprehension there on his face, "What do you do now?"

Louhi made no reply at first as she continued to disrobe. Then she stepped closer and pushed him onto his back and then with him down, she moved up higher over him on her knees.

"I want you in the forest now," she smiled, and as she settled herself down, bringing her sex to his face, she tousled his hair a little gently and rather slowly, "I look even less like your love, Cuilén, but I also want to give you some comfort if you would allow it."

He made no reply, but he began anyway.

Annikki watched from the other side of the bed as she ate a little. After a few minutes of hearing Louhi sigh, she moved and stroked the hardness that she saw beginning to stand once more. She moved a little more and caressed one of Louhi's breasts.

After a long and gentle kiss, she said, "He is ready now if you wish for a slow ride. This one can give a good loving to your cunny, but also, he can reach your heart, my love."

Louhi groaned softly, "I know, sweet one, and if it is alright with you, that is what I want from him now."

Annikki nodded and helped Louhi off to get positioned before she went back to eating a little as she watched them.

They left the next morning, three friends heading south.

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They found that they could make a better day's travel if they stayed away from a lot of the towns. Most of the time, they lost an hour at least out of a day just in negotiating winding streets in and out. It grew cooler at night, but it didn't get really cold and it was far better and cheaper than having to listen to idiots in most of the inns and the odd official who seemed to find them because they looked as though they weren't from the area.

That was when a fool would step out in front of them to make a demand for a toll or some other nonsense.

It helped if they rode through a place with Annikki and Louhi riding with their cloaks thrown back, since they certainly didn't look like a pair of lost maidens off to the market to buy a ham. There had been a couple of incidents when the men of a fortified town had come forward to cause a little trouble, but the sight of a large and tattooed Pict riding with them went a long way toward clearing up any little misunderstandings.

Even so, it had happened that they'd sometimes been accosted out on the road in a lonely place, and the first thing that Louhi demanded to know was whether there were any women who would miss the robbers that night.

The question always seemed to bring out the bravado in the worst of the dim-witted and that was usually all that Louhi wanted to know. More than once, a man had stepped forward saying something about selling them to slavers or demanding to have all of their money or something just as inane. She didn't listen most of the time, using the delay to get a feel of them.

More often than not, a little over half of the time, there was someone there brandishing a crossbow or a longbow to back up the oaf who'd made the demand, a little apart from the rest who held blades. But the bowstring would choose that time to let go inexplicably and the oaf would look back at hearing the bowman's cry of alarm. The instant that he turned back was his last every time.

"You should see to your dead," Louhi would say as she nudged her horse forward looking grim with her sword in her hand and the others would step back to let them pass. But Louhi knew that most people like that often need the lesson driven home and if she felt a little of it and the startled bowman stood close enough by, she'd lift his head from his shoulders for him without a thought as she passed before anyone could move.

Sometimes it started a fight with the rest of them jumping in, and those times, due in large part to the man in their party who drew his long and heavy blade then with a cold grin, they left none alive. They always looked to see if it had been a profitable day of robbery to that point for the men and if that was what they found going through their purses, they took almost everything, leaving at least something small behind so that it was not clear that they'd robbed the robbers before Cuilén dragged the corpses off the road and into the nearest ditch.

At night, they took the watches in turns and though the women had traveled together long enough as a pair to have developed the curious circumstance where women living together often have their menstrual cycles fall into some sort of line, they made sure that Cuilén often received some of their care somehow even if they couldn't exactly be carefree with their loving. All three got as much loving as was wise in the dark of a strange place, most often only two at a time with the third looking watchfully outwards into the dark of the night from a ways off.

Annikki was affectionate to Cuilén if they were alone together while Louhi was on watch and she did see to his needs as well as her own a lot of the time, but it was Louhi who, ...

Well, it was Louhi who always made the extra effort. It was Louhi who always asked to know more of how Cuilén was feeling and not just trusting in her senses or in her observations of how he seemed to be coping. She was aware that he still sought to fill gaps and unknowns within himself, yet she also knew that he'd likely say nothing about them and struggle on quietly within himself as she supposed that anyone would under the circumstances, though with her quiet help he was just beginning to remember a few things and he was very thankful to Louhi for it.

To Annikki, he was someone who she just trusted implicitly; a large man who, since learning of his strange past had proven himself a staunch and particularly fearless ally who could be counted on if needs must. But to Louhi, he was all of that and more.

Louhi loved a good rollicking fuck in the woods as much as any girl, she supposed, and she loved that with the lost Caitt even more, since that was what he had been when he'd been taken, just a dreadfully poor one. But it was with Cuilén the impoverished Caitt from the Island of Unst that Louhi the witcher's girl learned the love of a man at last.

When she lay with him, the actual act was almost a forgone conclusion in some way, shape, or form, but the main thing to her was the way that he held her and made love to her, often incredibly slowly and yet in a way which Louhi found kept her trembling in his embrace. No matter how it went between them; fast and needy or slow and deeply, Louhi had no defense against it. She felt so much more every time.

"Cuilén," she hissed so softly to him one night when by her count of her days it would not have been wise to enjoy coitus with him, "I have learned to please a man in any of a few ways in my time. Like this, with you between my loins and only rubbing against my little white rabbit, I am as helpless for you as any other way. I've never had this before. What do the mothers and fathers on your cold and windy island teach their sons to make them such men?"

His answer, as she later learned, was typical for a man like him. He looked at her and then looked away in thought for a moment, "Well there is not very much to do in the evening in a place where the sun can take weeks to set sometimes, Louhi. We call it the summer dim. The other side of that is that it never really gets light for just as long besides a little glow in the sky around midday in winter, and, ..."

"And what?" Louhi asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well the women still need to be kept pleased, don't they?" he'd smiled and she'd hugged him tightly then while she chuckled.

The dynamic between them was evolving, though little was said if anything. Out on the road every day, there were times when Cuilén rode in a little silence as he sought to think it through for himself. He knew how he felt, but he was having trouble over defining things and he didn't want to upset anything; not trusting himself with being able to ask in a clear enough way that might get him what he wished to know. If he knew that, he reasoned, his life would become much clearer and simpler. Better in one way and a little worse though not bad at all in another.