Vengeance in the north (part 2)

Vengeance in the north
part 2

She stepped over the threshold into the small cottage, the fire burning inside casting a gentle warmth upon her cold skin. She looked at the family cowering in the far end, the young mother holding her two small children close and doing her best to keep them from looking at the woman who had forced herself into their home. Nalokha removed her cloak and placed it onto the many furs that lay across the floor; she sat down and held out her right hand towards the small family as she addressed them.

“It was very kind of you to change your mind about letting me stay here for the night” she said with a smile and her voice was calm, yet there was an undertone of irritation. “Had only your husband been so wise, but as you saw, he chose his fate when he drew his blade and tried to force me to leave. At least you got to see him one last time before the scavengers will come to feast on his carcass.”

They had arrived at the small cottage hours after nightfall and the man inside had begun to shout at her and her warriors. The man had recognized them; he had heard stories told by his grandmother about a woman so fair and so beautiful that the northern lights envied her. A woman in the most crimson of red, with hair as black as the night. The people of the north still remembered how she had brought death and despair to their once so quiet life.  The man, wishing to protect his family, had drawn his rusty southern made sword when she had approached him and asked for one night in the warmth. She had laughed, ordering her men to take the blade from the man and cut of his head for his insolence. Now the man’s body lay motionless just outside the door and her warriors had brought her the head, thrown at the family’s feet. She could feel the fear, the anger and especially the despair in the three family members hiding in the shadows. After what seemed to be an age she gestured for the woman to have one of her children come closer to her, the woman refused. Nalokha nodded to the guard standing beside her and the huge man stepped over the furs and took the child with force, placing the small boy in front of his mistress. Nalokha eyed the child from head to toe, she reached out and dried the tears from his cheeks and speaking with a soothing voice she said:

“There, there little man. Your father was weak and such men are not worth remembering as fathers. What is your name?”

“I…Iskhridr” the boy stuttered his name between the sulking.

“Iskhridr, a strong name, a good name. Tell me Iskhridr what would you say, if I told you that you could become greater than your father, greater than all men in the north.” She smiled at the child, caressing his cheek.

The boy looked at her with widen eyes and for a moment she could see the hatred he felt for her, but that did not matter. After a moment he stopped crying and looked at her, as if the young child had become a man and had made a choice that would change his life.

“I would avenge my father” he said coldly, looking straight into her eyes.

“Powerful vows to swear for one so young, you do understand that I cannot have that come true. The people here once feared me, now I’m part of legends and stories told to keep the children from behaving rudely. But that is to change my dear, it all starts here, today.”

She stood up, took her cloak and fastened it around her shoulders. Raising the hood she turned to the guard and speaking in her native tongue she gave him a simple instruction before she stepped outside into the early morning: “Kill them”

The screams from the mother filled the cold morning as the warrior struck down the young boy with his sword, blood splattering across the furs. Her screams came to a sudden stop and shortly after the screams from the baby she had held also stopped. Stepping out from the cottage the man dried his blade upon the blanket of the baby he had just slain. He nodded to his mistress and walked towards the rest of the men by the campfire outside. They were busy preparing for departure; it was still a long way to their final destination. Taking what supplies they could from the cottage and impaling the bodies of the small family onto pikes before they set the cottage on fire. Nalokha drew her cloak tighter around her, she felt good, and most of all she felt strong again. Thinking back on the brave men and women who charged her a few days earlier she laughed. The victory at the pass had proven one thing to her, she was now more powerful than her cousin ever could imagine.

“Soon enough…” she said to herself as she looked at the roaring flames and for a moment she thought that she could see a gaunt like figure standing in the flames, looking at her. She shook her head and turned to the sleigh awaiting her. Walking across the snow she felt a strange feeling in the back of her mind, a feeling of being pursued.