Page 14 of A Shield Maiden's Earl
Even so, shewouldbecome my wife soon and sleep within my lodge. It would be inappropriate for her to sleep elsewhere. I had not figured out the finer points of how that would work, but I put those thoughts from my mind for now and focused on preparing myself so that I might lay my eyes on her once more. It may seem like a small thing, but for me, seeing her, merelybeingnear her, was all I truly wanted. Craved.
After bathing and dressing, I went to one of the trunks carried in earlier and pulled out her prized shield and blade, wishing I could return them to her tonight. They were hers and should be with her, but alas, I had promised Bjorn and would keep my word, so I saw them carefully stored elsewhere in my lodge. Somewhere they would not readily taunt her in hopes that she liked what I would replace them with.
Then, after grabbing a shield, sheathing a family blade, and pocketing a ring that meant a great deal to me, I made my way to the shore and joined Ivar, who stood stoically amid celebrations already underway. Drums beat and flutes tootled a merry jig, as people chatted, danced, and sang. Adorned with flowers, bones, talismans, and other trinkets for our matrimony, and backdropped by a glittering moonlit sea, an archway flanked by torches awaited me and Freya. I could see my mother’s shield placed behind it as I had requested.
“Must you look so dire, old friend?” I said to Ivar, grinning. After accepting a horn of ale, I smiled at my people as they smiled at me, happy to welcome the bear into our den, for it was Freya Helvig, and she was a legend in these parts.
“I will look any which way I want,” Ivar grunted, forced to accept a horn of ale too when I furrowed my brow at him and told him he’d better. “And I will do so until she proves her worth.”
Though tempted to remind him that her worth was renowned beyond these walls and more so within them once she became my wife, I knew better than to have the same old argument with him. Not when he cast blame on her she knew nothing about, and didn’t deserve. To his mind, she’d not only laid a curse on our tribe long ago when she and her ship brought illness and death, but rejected me years later when I suspected,knew, that it had much more to do with her father, Bjorn.
“Might you at least share a horn of ale with me with less of a scowl, for are we not good friends?” I implored. “And is this not a night for me to find happiness even if not in a fashion with which you approve?”
It seemed my question shook him from his brooding because we did indeed end up sharing a horn and speaking not of my desire for Freya and all she would bring to our tribe, but of village happenings in my absence.
While always good spending time with my friend, I would be lying if I said I didn’t watch the gates, eagerly awaiting her arrival. Some small, worn part of me had stopped believing she might someday return and become my wife, and now it had happened. She was here and soon to be mine—if not in the flesh right away, then in little time if it were the last thing I did.
Sooner rather than later, I hoped, based on her near ethereal beauty when she finally appeared, and a hush fell over the crowd. No surprise, given the vision she presented. She worea green dress that complemented her coloring, a ring of spring flowers on her head, and her fiery locks spilled down around her shoulders. She had once again accentuated her luminous amber eyes with coal, and she wore the white Helvig bear fur draped over her slender shoulders proudly.
Going to her, I held out my arm in offering, hardly able to catch my breath at her beauty. At the fact that I would finally become Freya Helvig’s husband, as I had long dreamed. As I had wanted since I first saw her as a lad.
“You look beautiful, Freya,” I said softly before speaking loud enough that all could hear. “Welcome, Freya of the Helvig clan, born of the bear.” Though I need not say it, I would give her all her proper titles. “Fierce shield-maiden and seer of the north born of a strong berserker bloodline.”
“Many thanks, Soren of the Dahl clan, born of the wolf,” she replied dutifully, managing a small, grateful smile that she turned my people’s way. Slipping her arm into mine when I knew she would prefer greeting them with her own shield and blade, she still had an impressive sword for the matrimony sheathed at her side. I assumed it had been sent along in her trunks.
Once we arrived beneath the arch, with Sten stalking alongside us, I broke tradition and presented her with the shield before we exchanged swords and rings.
“This was my mother’s, and I want you to have it, just as I know she would have, before we exchange vows.” I held it out to her. “You are a shield-maiden, so you should possess a shield when you become my wife.”
There was no missing the flash of emotion in her eyes when she took the well-made piece carved with a fierce wolf baring its fangs.
“Thank you, Soren,” she said softly, admiring it. “’Tis a fine piece. I shall wield it well.”
After that, we resumed tradition as Freya presented her family sword to me with a ring on its tip.
“This is a gift from the Helvig tribe, a blade forged in our steel and wielded by my father, Bjorn Helvig, ‘The Ferocious’, born of the bear spirit and Ruler of the Berserkers, as well as a ring with the Helvig bear insignia,” she said loudly enough for all to hear, handing them to me. “May you wield and wear them proudly, Soren Dahl.”
I nodded with approval, praising the quality of both pieces as I sheathed the sword, slipped on the ring, and presented my sword and ring in turn after they were handed to me.
“This is a gift from the Dahl tribe, a blade forged in our steel, given to you by my mother, Aslaug Dahl, who never wielded it but had it made for you, Freya Helvig, so that you might wield it proudly when you returned to these shores and to me,” I said, to many murmurs of awe from my people and a look of surprise from Freya. “As well as a ring I had forged for you; may you wear the wolf as proudly as you do the bear, Freya.”
“’Tis incredible,” she praised, after gazing at it with pleasure. She slipped it on, then took the sword, impressed with its weight and the intricate design on its hilt, portraying the bear and wolf standing strong alongside each other. I could tell by her expression she had questions about it and my mother, but she set them aside for now and sheathed the blade so the ceremony could proceed.
Next, our wrists were bound together with a cord, handfasting us with a tied knot, while we exchanged our vows and finally belonged to each other as it always should have been. All the while, I was acutely aware of Freya’s warm wrist against mine, wishing it were her entire body wrapped up in my arms.
Although I couldn’t have that quite yet because I had made her a promise, she’d made me one too, and I fully intended to take advantage of it. So, after we exchanged vows and our wristswere unbound, I did not let her get away so easily. Rather, I finally did what I had wanted to do years ago when I reeled her into my arms, cupped her soft cheek, and closed my lips over hers.
While not a long kiss because people were already roaring with approval and ready for more celebrations, it wasn’t as short as she might have hoped, either. Then again, given the way she tensed initially and then softened against me, I sensed she might not have been opposed to continuing. Yet if we did, and I deepened the exchange, wrapping my tongue with hers, we might never continue with the evening’s festivities.
That in mind, however difficult, I ended the kiss slowly, pleased to find her eyes dewy with desire when they met mine. Which, in truth, made it particularly hard to pull away when all I wanted to do was scoop her up into my arms, carry her back to our lodge, and spend the next several fortnights loving her.
Instead, we made our way to the great lodge where a feast awaited, but first came Freya and me, sharing an ale and toasting the gods.
“Here is to Odin, our All Father, and Thor,” I said loudly enough for all to hear, holding up my ale. “Skald!”
“And to Freya, the Goddess of Love.” Freya held up her ale as well. “May she bless this union.Skald!”
“Skald!”Everyone roared and drank as we sat beside each other at the head table, and food was served. After Ivar sat beside me and Brynhild beside Freya, we enjoyed a fine feast of freshly caught game, seasoned salmon, flavorful cabbage stew, as well as a variety of other vegetables, bread, and churned butter.
