Chapter 173: Servant of the Axe, 73 – Wood Runes
Few items seem as useless as wooden runes of Wood. You might as well carve the words “I am wood” into a log. But, such wooden logs, properly infused, burned longer.
It had taken my two days, ore three wheelbarrows, worth of work to get the ti to imbue those logs. The palm-sized tokens still shattered, and if anyone noticed that there were imbued logs among the more mundane lumber, nobody said anything.
Honestly, the one I was proud of was the one I’d put the rune of fire onto. It smoked and smoldered for an hour or so, leaving behind a log of blackened coal-wood. Perhaps, just perhaps there was a balance to imbue that would provide for self-lighting kindling.
But there was little enough ti for those experints. They needed shingles and planks and boards and then so fool (it was ) told them that I could make the wooden core of shields.
That was work they wanted their sons learning, and so I tried to teach. With my low Charisma, it was a process of repeated lectures and demonstrations and assigning tasks. So of the children were better at fletching, so at the making of spear hafts.
“Do any of them show a general aptitude for working with wood?” one of the huscarl asked .
“Not a single one.” I admitted.
.....
“Ha, good! Easier to make a warrior from a man who knows his hands are for killing rather than making chess pieces.”
“Actually, two of them seed quite pleased with their ability to make fishing poles.” I said.
“Ha! Turgrim and Falseff. Please tell they aren’t out testing them.”
“In fact, I recomnded a spot along the river for them to do so.”
“Bwa ha ha! You, stupid slave, have been duped. You’ll not see those two nor their female cohort Lisha until just before dinner call. I would not like to be the one to tell Lady Ingrid that I’d told them to take the day off.”
“I doubt I shall enjoy it myself.”
“Relax, friend. She’s not likely to take your hand off. At least, not on this first offense.”
My left hand involuntarily flinched. I didn’t understand that. You’d think it would be both, or neither. There were diagnostic tools available through my System, at costs that just... you know, at the rate I age I might get them so century or other. Talk to when this book is a millennium or so old.
“Comforting to know.” I said.
“Don’t worry; they’ve fooled better n than you will ever be.”
Was THAT so? I was tempted to... but no, that would endanger the others. I was trapped by them, they were trapped by , all of us together. And we were...
Oh? We WEREN’T powerless, then. Thank you, Truthspeaker Oath.
So, it was just a matter of finding out what power we had, and using it properly.
Mistaking my thoughtfulness for anxiety, the huscarl laughed and left. “It is better to be than you.”
Oh, we’ll see how long THAT attitude lasts, I thought.
#
“So, what power or powers do we have?”
Madonna stretched her feet out. “The Lady Ingrid watches us like a hawk.”
“Which, given the looks so of those guards give us is probably for our own protection.” Kist said.
“You there! We can make you a woman if you want, or you can co and work on arrows. Your choice.”
I sighed. “Just be mindful of it.”
I walked off to make arrows. How long ago had it been, on the wall with the Chanter, teaching him about the basics of making arrows into enchanted objects?
One thing I am certain of, no arrows were nad that night, unless such nas were “cussed thing”, or Slicer of Fingers. It was precision Agility work, where traits like Nimble or Dexterous were of more use. But... it was obvious which of us had done the work before, and who was just relying on their System. In fact, that second group was perhaps seven or eight of ten soldiers.
I opened a System list. This was going to be difficult to do manually, but I realized that I had a wealth of information available to . No, not about the rits of won, and the tales of almost caught the Fenris, or their rembrances of the pirates discovered on the island two years ago.
No, I could gather data on their skills, or lack thereof. Who used their System to watch for intruders, instead of their own senses? Who ate balanced als, and who avoided their vegetables to save room for ats and sweets?
Suddenly, the defenses of the Jarl’s long house were not looking quite as formidable. Not weak, or at least not yet, but not quite so hard to escape from.
And the biggest crack was one I should have expected. With the death of two thanes, the remaining three were each trying to prove themselves more valuable to the jarl. Each took a day rotating through the duty of speaker for the town, and each had their own image of what that looked like.
Tomas would free people who spoke sedition against Odmund, who would claim as his own taxes declared by Svein, who just wouldn’t enforce decrees proclaid by the other two. Each had their own faction that supported them, which would also rotate in and out of the bureaucracy, with the sa divisions as were displayed by the thanes themselves, if not actually worse.
All we needed, I thought, was a reason for one of us to go to the town regularly, and assess the mood of the common people. Given that they were supposedly calling the town councilors the ‘Theater of Puppets’, there seed to be so discontent there. Discontent that we could work with, at any rate, rather than the quiet grumbling.
And what HAD happened to Igrun Sivert? If she were not here at the long house, the only other place to secure her would be in the town.
There wasn’t that much town to search. If we could get there, I was sure we could find her.
#
That third day, Erin Roarson, first widow of the late huscarl who would have been thane, attempted to kill herself in the river. I was tasked to watch her.
“I’m not suicidal.” She told . “I just slipped on a rock, and had trouble standing again.”
“Then this should be easy.” I said.
“How so? Can you get knitting needles? And so yarn?”
“I don’t think so, they were very clear about tools. Perhaps a walk in the garden, or into the woods?”
“I don’t like the woods, they are dark and dangerous.”
She tapped her fingertips on her thigh. “I think I can visit the garden, at least. The sight of living things can’t hurt.”
I left my stick, or small log, it was about three fingers in width, along one of the rows between the turnips and the walkway.
“What nonsense are you attempting?” she asked .
“I’ve imbued the stick with nature mana.” I explained, “In essence, it’s a concentrated force of plant life. In theory, by leaving it here, what mana leaks out of it will be absorbed into the turnips, helping them to grow faster.”
“Good luck with that, most of our turnips die during cold snaps. I tell the other ladies that a garden below the snow line would grow better, and they mock as though I were a farr.”
“That sounds harsh.” I said.
“That is the nature of mankind, and thus womankind as well. Anything that is different must be changed until it is the sa. That is the fate that awaits you and your girl-friends. Not just the **** and hard labor, they will break your mind and spirit as well.”
“Is that what they’ve done to you?” I asked.
“What? No, little one. I’m not broken. See, so long as you have hope, they can’t crush you. Not entirely. In the end, they can only break the parts of you that they can reach. Like this left ankle of mine. On the day after our wedding, when I realized the mistake I’d made, I attempted to run away. Didn’t make it far before the gods struck down. Turned the ankle on a stone and broke it. Bone splinters through the skin.”
“I’ve had those before. Painful.”
“Aye, and then so. But my point is, I’d have broken the other, if it ant I’d never have to see him again. I’m not exactly sure, but I think I’m happy he’s gone, even if it ans dining on pea soup without the little bits of ham. Even if I live my life as a spinster, I live without him, without ... this.” She indicated the entire hostead.
“Is that what you and they speak of? Are you planning an escape?”
“I don’t know about planning, but we’re sure that escape is in that mix, sowhere.”
“I thought so. I want in.”
#
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