The man’sgáktishows us that he is a farmer.He is an impressively built man with thick brown braids and beard.He throws the bloodstained axe on the ground to show he is a friend.
“The wolves of war have come.Light the fires.Call the outsiders to come within the palisade walls.”
Rundas goes to tell his family to douse the fires and move into hiding in the tunnels and holes.He blows his horn as he goes.The sounds of men standing up and reaching for their swords filter through the night air.
“What is your name, stranger?”
“I am Theron, Son of Rebane.I did not come here to hide—only to warn you.Now that is done, can I pick up my axe?”
Heikkinen grins.“You’re a farmer.I doubt you would be of much help to us during battle.”
Hefting the huge axe in his hand, Theron says grimly, “I can swipe off the head of a reindeer so swiftly the creature still thinks itself alive.I will fight with you.”
“Here.”I throw Theron my shield, which he catches with some skill.“Let us fight side by side.We will show the Carpathian-Karelian alliance who is stronger: the god of war or the goddess of death.”
The sound of dying men is all around me.
It is so hard for me to remember what happened in the darkness of the deepening twilight.
No warrior would engage with me.No matter how hard Heikkinen, Theron, Rundas, and I tried to force the invaders to fight us, we failed.They would bat our swords away with their shields and flow around us like rapid water.
Swarming over the palisade using poles and scaffolding made from spruce tree trunks, the soldiers were more like wasps or hornets than men.
We had no choice but to take the battle outside the gate.But only once we’d left the safety of the palisade behind did we realize that’s what the invading army wanted all along.
Something behind the ravening hordes was watching us keenly.A tent set on a platform raised up high on the shoulders of twelve tall men.I saw a pale hand slide out of the tent flap and beckon one of the Carpathian soldiers to come closer.The man would listen intently and then issue the order.
And the orders were to leave certain Fell-Sapmi warriors alone.
We were completely overwhelmed in the end.The other men of my tribe were cut down like reeds.Only a handful of males were left alive.We are the tallest, brawniest, and handsomest of the Fell-Sapmi warriors.
Spears lowered, the soldiers clad in wolf pelts corralled us together, poking us with spikes until we had no choice but to cluster into the animal pen.
Four other men are already huddled in there, trying to keep warm while we attempt to block out the sound of the dying.I can tell from the way their eyes and brows slant like eagle wings that the prisoners are from other northeastern tribes.
These men have sick-looking skin as blue-white as the surrounding snow, and they are shivering as if they have a bad fever.And yet, for all their suffering, they still live.
A man with silver-blond hair falling over his shoulders speaks some of our language through chattering teeth.
“I am Artim, son of Järvi, of the Nentsy people.If you are hungry, mybjelkierwill bring you meat.”
“You brought a white dog with you to war?”Heikkinen scoffs.
Hearing its name, a fluffy white dog emerges from underneath a blanket of snow and goes to lie with Artim.The man stops shivering as the dog’s thick fur covers him.
The two men slumped next to Artim have shorn their black hair close to the scalp under thereindeer skin caps.Like the rest of us, they are magnificently built and as handsome as princes.One of them says something in a strange language.
Artim translates.
“He is Jaecar and next to him is Ifan.They are the sons of Lars.They are from the shores of the black sea in the south.”
I point to a very young man curled up in the corner.He looks miserable and shy.A fresh warrior with no notches in his sword blade.He gives us no name, nor does he speak.
“Enough with all the introductions.”Heikkinen sounds irritable because he is alive and his sword is still in his hand.“What are theseperkelewolf-fuckers going to do with us?”
“Do I have to say it slowly for you to understand, brother?”I want to smack his dense head.“We are to be sacrificed to the death goddess.”
Artim nods.“Juo,juo.All of you will be taken tonight one by one?—”
