No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll

Author:Ana Mardoll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ana Mardoll

Finndís let her voice settle into a warm cadence that rose and fell in time with her horse's gait, the same lulling rhythm used by the traveling storytellers who plied their trade during winter in exchange for a seat by the hearth. "A long time ago, when dragons roamed the land—"

"Dragons still roam the land!"

She turned her head to glare at Rúni. "You said you'd be quiet. And, no, they don't."

Rúni was undeterred. "I can't stay quiet if the story is wrong, Finn! What about the last harvest-hunt?"

Torjei shook his head, chuckling; Finndís had long ago noticed he managed to find Rúni's antics much more amusing when they only inconvenienced her and not him. "That was a scrawny little scrap of a lizard, barely older than you, boy. We chased it north out of the fields. One or two sightings a year isn't the same."

"Well, they do still roam the land!"

Finndís shushed him with a hiss. "Fine. A long time ago, when packs of dragons still roamed the land, you could hardly keep sheep or pigs because they'd be eaten, and sometimes the shepherd too. Better?"

"Go on," Rúni said, the soul of solemn magnanimity, as Torjei turned red biting back a guffaw.

Finndís gave her shield-brother a sharp look, reflecting as she always did how lucky he was to be so handsome. Not being a child of royal blood, he had been allowed to participate in his fair share of friendly duels and his face already sported two beautiful scars across his left cheek, the deep craters proof of his bravery. She shook her head at both boys and averted her gaze before Torjei could catch her staring.

"The clans were divided," she continued, finding her vocal stride again. "Dragons and bears and wolves killed herds in the night. Bandits and brigands killed men. The people looked for a hero to lead them."

"Ooh, ooh!" Rúni leaned forward in his saddle, eyes sparkling with eager attention. "Grandmother Ásdís!"

She thinned her lips but didn't scold him for the interruption, deciding that if Rúni couldn't be coaxed into sitting still for his lessons, perhaps he could be tricked into them. "Yes, Grandmother Ásdís and her golden sword. Do you remember the names of her three sons?"

The trick fell flat, passing over his head like an arrow sailing beyond its target. "No. Where'd the sword come from? A great golden sword like that must have come from somewhere."

"It... came from the gods," hazarded Finndís, offering the official explanation with the slightest pause; Father was devout enough in his own way, but she'd yet to see anything in her own mundane life to convince her that such divine beings existed or cared about the affairs of the tiny humans below.

"Or from an extremely adept wand-wife," Torjei tossed in cheerfully, pushing his long dark hair from his face as the wind picked up behind them. "Or she found it in a dragon's hoard, or stole it from a sage."

Rúni stared at them, frowning as no further explanation came.

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