Many days passed since Little Fish arrived in Svengald Chief of the Aesir’s home. However, it was the same Aesirfjord he’d visited as a child many decades before the Chief’s birth! Unknowingly, he’d somehow been tricked into returning to the distant past by the girl-child Mjarga now a young woman. Sunset had come again and as for many days, Little Fish waited to reopen the portal from this world in order to return to his home the Valley Realm.
Little Fish stood as if rooted to the soft earth by the lake near the Aesir settlement. Watching the setting sun for the telltale moment when light and darkness were in equal amounts. It was then the portal would appear. 'That was the easy part,' thought Fish.
Once the portal opened, using the power of the miraculous Fishscale Necklace the young man would only have moments to discern the many worlds to pass before him from the Valley Realm and then enter before it closed. Over and over Little Fish tried, but was unable to either find the Valley or keep the portal open long enough for him to pass through!
Upon the exposed roots of the now stout oak tree Chief Svengald said would be an elderly giant by the time he was born sat Mjarga. The Aesir called the young woman a ‘witch’ for her strange eye color and ability to ‘know things’ before they happened.
Speaking to Fish’s broad dark back Mjarga jeered, “It’s not going to work.”
Not turning to face his tormentor Little Fish replied, “Don’t you have some toads and lizards to cook in that pot of yours?”
Grinning fiercely Mjarga replied, “Why, would you like some for the evening meal? You’ll be eating with my family once more after you fail...again.”
At this point to Fish’s ears, Mjarga’s taunting reminded him of flies on a bloated carcass. “Just shut up already! I am trying to concentrate.”
Leaning back against the tree, Mjarga took in the beautiful sunset and the beautiful young man whose shadow fell upon her. He didn’t know it yet, but not a day had gone by since she laid eyes upon him as a little girl Mjarga knew he would be her husband.
She traced the strong lines of his shadow with her hands as it stretched across her lap. Her people called him the ‘Black Water Demon’ for it was he who dragged the Vanir villain Ragmar down to Nifelheim after breaking his word with Svengald the Red Chieftain.
He was no longer the shy older boy Mjarga remembered taunting. The only things which were as she remembered were his deep, dark skin and the enchanted Fishscale Necklace he wore. Now the boy was a young man, tall, broad shouldered and bursting with muscles which could not be hidden by Little Fish’s finespun linen tunic. His head was shaved clean except for a short thick black braid at the back of his head. Mjarga could not suppress her smile at the sight of him, but wouldn’t let Little Fish know her feelings. Not yet....
The moment of twilight came and as the portal between worlds appeared, Little Fish’s eyes lit up with white fire along with the Fishscale Necklace. World after world flashed before him and through the power of the Fish Scale, he suddenly saw a strange desert world with a vast palm tree forest being cut down by thousands of dark-skinned men. Something about the world was very familiar and then, twilight ended.
The portal began to squeeze shut! No matter how hard Little Fish tried to keep it open, inexorably the portal dwindled to nothing. Frustrated and with the Fishscale’s power still burning through him, Little Fish started to stamp his foot when behind him Mjarga stepped to ground and yelled, “Don’t!”
If there was any need of proof the young man before her had the power of a demon, Mjarga now witnessed it for herself! Little Fish turned towards her his eyes filled with white fire and the talisman upon his chest burned white like a small sun.
“Please, don’t stamp your foot again. You nearly toppled all the houses in the village last time. You will cause an earthquake if you do so now.”
Little Fish could not put words to how much he disliked the ‘Fire-haired’ girl. But her calm demeanor in the face of his power gave him pause. Unlike the young women in the Valley Realm, Mjarga did not fear him. In fact, she seemed to enjoy irritating him! Instead of stamping his foot in frustration, the young man slowly dug his toes into the dark soil of Aesirfjord. As he did so, Mjarga suddenly sank to her knees!
Surprised, the young woman looked down and saw her legs were now immersed halfway up her thighs.
“This is new!”
Looking up at the demon Mjarga then remarked, “Well, since it looks like I’m about to be buried alive, I won’t have to cook for you tonight.”
Little Fish smiled evilly and retorted, “That would be a blessing since you can’t cook.”
Now sunk to her crotch Mjarga snapped, “Is that right? You ate everything in your bowl last night!”
His visage turned serious Little fish barked, “Your mother cooked!”
Mjarga now waist-deep in the liquefied soil, folded her arms across her chest. Under the beacon-like light of the Fishscale, the young woman turned defiant hazel colored eyes upon her tormentor.
“That wasn’t... well..., it was my mother’s cooking. But that’s not the point!”
Suddenly baffled Little Fish growled, “And what is this ‘point’? Better talk fast because you don’t have much time left....”
Having sunk up to her shoulders, Mjarga was growing concerned. They often ‘argued’ and she enjoyed every moment of getting under the ‘demon’s’ skin. She had seen visions of them together as husband and wife, but there was always the possibility she could have misinterpreted. Still, Mjarga held her ground though it was rapidly swallowing her up!
“The point being ‘demon’, you won’t be able to leave Aesirfjord without my help.” Mjarga punctuated her statement by sticking her tongue out at Little Fish.
The sight of her pink tongue and defiant face reminded him of the little girl he absolutely despised as a young boy! Yet, seeing the young woman up to her neck in the dark soil with the same expression worn as a child broke Fish’s ire. The fiery power of the Fishscale dissipated and the young man burst into a fit of laughter. All of which did not amuse Mjarga whose face was just free of the soil’s surface.
“Oh, so it’s ‘funny’ now? Ha, ha, I’m laughing here too demon! Oh yes, this is really funny!”
Little Fish was in tears as the Village Headman Utsgald walked up the path with torch in hand said, “I see you two are getting along well as usual.”
Little Fish wiping the tears from his face, stood up and composed himself from the laughing fit out of respect for the older man who would become Chief Svengald’s ancestor.
Holding the torch out near a completely unamused Mjarga Utsgald remarked, “Looks like you had no luck again eh?”
Mjarga cut her eyes towards Little Fish and snapped, “This isn’t funny anymore!”
Looking towards the young man with the powers of a demon the Headman agreed. “I admit...Mjarga is one for testing a man’s patience. But it’s obvious the lass does it because she fanc....”
Utsgald’s words were cut off as Mjarga screamed, “Don’t you say it Papa!”
Utsgald bit his lip to both hold back the words his daughter feared uttered and to hold in his laughter. For all the power the Demon Little Fish possessed, insight into the minds and feelings of young women wasn’t one of them.
To assuage the look of questioning confusion on the young man’s face Utsgald said, “Mjarga, when you’re done playing with young Fish, get cleaned up and go help your Mother prepare the evening meal.”
Mjarga cut those hazel eyes back towards Little Fish and said, “Well?”
Rolling his eyes and giving a long sigh, the young man conceded. With a sudden pull of his foot out of the ground, Mjarga with a screech burst from the soil into the air. With a quick step, Little Fish was beneath her in time to catch the screaming girl. Cradled in his arms, a relieved Mjarga looked into Little Fish’s eyes as he did hers. There was an abrupt awkward moment between them and Mjarga head-butted Little Fish to make him put her down! Immediately she realized that had been a poor choice as stars filled her eyes after striking his rock-hard skull.
Utsgald turned away chuckling as Mjarga fell to ground cursing and holding her injured head.
Little Fish rubbed his eye and bellowed, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Mjarga stormed past her adopted father screaming, “It’s not funny!”
The Headman had to support himself against the strong Oak Tree as he failed to hold in his laughter. Initially, Utsgald feared for his daughter being interested in a lad touched by the godly or demonic powers. But the past weeks seeing the pair together made Utsgald certain they were a proper match. No man in the settlement now called ‘Aesirfjord’ could equal Mjarga. She was far too wise for someone a mere fifteen winters old. Her knowledge of things to come in addition to the supernatural powers left many a man (including himself) at a loss!
However, Little Fish was obviously cut from the same cloth as she. From his telling, he was not always this way. Apparently as a boy, he was tricked by ‘Death’ to jump into a sacred pool in his homeland that led to a place ‘beyond life and death.’ There, he met a powerful demon fish which gave him one of its scales thus forming a covenant between them. It was through the covenant, Little Fish gained his formidable demonic powers.
Utsgald was grateful, for it was Little Fish who brought the Red Chieftain to these lands and saved the settlement from the Vanir villain Ragmar. In honor of that victory, the settlers began calling themselves the ‘Aesir’ and named the land ‘Aesirfjord’ as it had been claimed by the mighty warrior chief.
The Headman also had not forgotten the sight of a younger Little Fish bursting from the night blackened waters of the fjord and dragging the villain Ragmar down to Nifelheim! All in all, despite every instinct which told him to fear the demon, it was Mjarga’s trust which kept such fear at bay. The reason for the youth’s presence during this time of peace was uncertain. But, Utsgald suspected his daughter Mjarga being at the root of the demon’s return....
To be continued....
© 2014 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved.
Replies