“My decision, Gunnar,” Hakon snarled warningly.
“Oh, I know it is,” Gunnar said, shaking his head. “Doesn’t make you any less of an idiot, Brother mine.”
***
“You can’t be serious,” said Sif, a few minutes later, when Hakon told her the news.
“You go with the column, Sif, and that is my command,” said Hakon. “Those witches will need you, especially if all else is lost.”
“And I needyou, you big lummox!” she said, punching him in the shoulder. “Can’t you see that? How will I go on if I lose you?”
“We both have our destinies,” replied Hakon. “My decision protects yours.”
“What if you both protected each other, you morons?” muttered Gunnar, but Hakon chose to ignore his brother.
“I mean it, Sif. You swore to obey me, do you remember?” insisted Hakon. Sif stared at him angrily for a moment then finally looked down.
“Yes, I did,” she admitted. “And I meant it. I will go with the column, and pray for your return.”
Hakon kissed her fiercely. “That’s my woman. I will see you again soon, gods willing.”
Sif held on to her man a moment longer. “Keep yourself alive. I’m not done being mad at you.” She kissed him again then patted his cheek. “Now go, before I decide to disobey you anyway.”
“I don’t think you want the consequences of that, my love,” warned Hakon half-jokingly, signaling to his brother that it was time to move. A moment later, they were jogging down the trail.
“You know, I sometimes think that you and Sif would be amazed at what you would learn if the two of you actually stopped and listened to each other,” grumbled Gunnar.
“This from the man who’s never had a serious relationship in his life?” laughed Hakon.
“Odin’s beard, I’ve been a spectator to one since I was about twelve,” Gunnar shot back.
The brothers slowed down as they reached the clearing where Gunhilde, Baedi, and Sigrid stood. Joining the Elder Sisters were Gunnar’s foster brothers, Ulf and Breca, as well as twenty or so young witches of the Ironwood, whose expressions ranged from fierce to fearful. They all looked determined.
It’s too few,thought Hakon with concern. But he wasn’t about to make that thought public. Instead, hestepped close to Gunhilde and asked quietly, “What sort of numbers are we likely to face, Lady?”
Keeping her voice equally quiet, she murmured back, “A thousand or more.”
Swallowing, Hakon nodded. “Well then, we bloody well make sure they never catch us, don’t we? You mentioned something about aid from forest folk as well?”
“One more step to the right and you’d be standing on forest folk, you monstrous muskox,” came a grumpy, raspy voice from near Hakon’s knees. “I swear, you’re as blind as your father!”
Astonished, the young warrior looked down to behold a figure who had featured in many of his parents’ tales.“Magnus!”he cried in delight, reaching down and picking up the protesting gnome to look him in the eye. “I’ve heard so much of you, I feel I know you! A thousand thanks for coming to our aid yet again.”
“Put me down, you overgrown oaf!” protested the gnome, straightening his hat and jacket when Hakon laughingly did so. “I wouldn’t have to come to your aid so often if you lot weren’t always stepping in it, would I? Good grief, it’s a wonder I ever manage to getanything done! Erm…anyway. Your parents are well, I take it? And Huw, and Astrid?”
Hakon sank low to speak to Magnus eye to eye. “They are indeed, Magnus. And they all remember you as a friend of the family. So that makes us friends as well.”
The gnome blushed furiously and toed the ground. “Lot of bother, that sounds like. Anyways, I’ve brought some other ‘family friends’ to help us as well. Magni, show yourselves!”
Suddenly, the glade was filled with the noise of numerous gnomes, all giving their hellos at once, appearing as if from nowhere.
Hakon wanted to burst into laughter, both from the comic sight before him and from the arrival of so many allies who would be so very useful in a series of forest confrontations. “Well met, all of you!” he cried, only to be answered by a chorus of gnomish voices.
“Hang on,” said Gunnar shrewdly, with a twinkle in his eye. “You called them ‘Magni.’ Magnus, are these your kin?” He paused, looking at the expression on the gnome’s face then gasped. “Magnus, are all of these gnomes yoursons?”
Magnus blushed a second time. “Well…I haven’t spentallof my time rescuing the big folk.”
***
