slinking away from the carcass, mauled and injured, but its belly satisfied. The snow was red with blood. “How could one girl do this much damage?” he thought aloud.
The sun had just risen above the east forest when he walked around and inspected the assortment of bodies. Twelve wolves, two naked headless bodies and one horse lay dead in the glittering snow. He came closer to the mound that was obviously a horse and started to unstrap the saddle to give to the girl. When the saddle slipped from its back, he stood stunned, as beneath the snow, the horse’s colour was dapple-grey.
Vanor awoke from the nightmare of the previous fight, crying for Freckles, until she realised she was not in the snow but rather in a warm bed with a girl cleaning her wounds. It was a small room and the only light was a flickering candle next to the bed. The pre-dawn light could be seen through the window but it had not reached the room yet and she watched a bird land on the window, trilling an early morning call. The girl washed the cloth in a basin again and turned back to Vanor.
The girl’s hair was a soft dark brown and fell over her face as she moved. She made a small intake of breath as she realised that Vanor was awake. Gathering her composure, she said, “Don’t worry, I’m helping you. My father the innkeeper sent me to clean your wounds, although with the amount of blood you’ve lost, you’d think that it was a lot worse than it is.” The peasant outfit that Dorothy wore rustled as she stood up and rinsed the cloth again.
Vanor looked to the wound and realised she had no more pain from her leg. “Yes, I seem to heal really quickly. My name is Vanor by the way,” she said in a croaky voice.
“Oh, here’s some water,” said Dorothy handing over a mug. After drinking the water, Vanor felt refreshed but she felt the unease of the calling that was pulling her more urgently to get a move on.
“By the way, how did I get here?” Vanor asked as she gulped down another mug of water.
As Dorothy rinsed the cloth again she replied, “A knight left you in our care earlier. I don’t know who he is but I have seen him here sometimes.” Dorothy looked back to Vanor on the bed and realised she was getting dressed. “Where are you going? You’re not healed yet,” Dorothy cried out as she tried to get her charge back into the bed.
Vanor looked at the girl and knew that she did not know where she was going but needed to go now, otherwise it would be too late. “I don’t know but I do know that I have to go. I’m sorry but I have to leave now.” She walked around Dorothy, picked up her gear and half stumbled down the stairs though she was feeling a lot better.
The other patrons were not awake yet so the innkeeper set the fire going for their breakfast and was about to go back to the kitchen when Vanor stumbled down the stairs. He looked at her with mouth agape, surprised when she asked, “What do I owe you for the room, Sir?”
He stared at her in disbelief and replied, “Someone who was carried in close to death only four hours ago, bleeding from a deep wound is now fit, healthy and ready to go back out to God knows where, who are you girl?”
Vanor looked at him and replied, “I have found that I do heal easily, but I need to travel now. Please, I would like to pay my bill now so I can get going.”
The innkeeper looked at her perplexed, “Ummm, well actually the knight who carried you in paid for your room and Dorothy was happy to help so no payment is necessary.” Vanor looked surprised, and after asking the innkeeper for some fresh bread from the kitchen and leaving a thank you note for the knight, she left the inn just before the sun rose.
Tom the sheep farmer, with his sheep leading the way to the markets at Ruthin, passed close to where Vanor had entered the road and wondered what had gone on with all the wolf, horse and human tracks in the snow. So far he had had a bad morning with his wife being sick and he having to get his own breakfast. How could she, when she knew that he had a big day today? His dog had to be beaten to go out in the snow, and his son had run off in the night to get away from him.
He was trudging behind the sheep when he noticed something glowing in the snow and went over to investigate. All the sheep had walked around something on the road. He stopped for a moment and saw a shining blue longsword that looked very expensive. With greedy eyes he reached down and grabbed the hilt and lifted it above his head.
For a moment, nothing happened and then his hand sizzled and he felt the pain through his cold fingers. Dropping the sword he plunged his hand in the snow to ease the burning. His day had not improved, and he removed his now burned hand cursing to the Gods for his bad luck. He chased the sheep away and thought of ways to pay back everyone who had caused him misfortune this day.
Vanor realised that her sword was missing and knew that she had it when she had hit the North Road, so she planned to quickly return for the sword without wasting too much time. She arrived just as the sun was rising and within minutes found her sword. A strange smell of burnt flesh was in the air but she could only see sheep tracks on the road. She was always amazed at how her sword glowed as soon as she picked it up but anyone else who lifted it got a bad burn on their hand.
Maybe the Old Man who had given it to her years ago had put a blessing on it that made sure no one stole it from her. As she was pondering the strangeness of that meeting so long ago, she heard a snarl and looked back just in time to see a wolf pounce on her with teeth bared. “Not again,” she thought to herself, as she fought to stay in control. The wolf had torn a large gash in her sword arm and it was bleeding profusely, so she quickly swapped the sword to her other hand. “This doesn’t look good,” she thought. She rolled up onto her knees, and punched the wolf in the nose. It yelped and backed away for a moment but then circled her looking for an opportunity to attack.
Blood dripped down her sword arm and Vanor knew she had to end this fight quickly or be at a disadvantage from lack of blood and dizziness. She baited the wolf to let it find an opening that did not exist and she attacked again and again. Finally the wolf lunged at Vanor and with teeth bared tore at her shoulder, but Vanor was ready. She plunged the sword deep into the chest of the wolf and was taken to the ground by its weight. She had lost all her strength and she found she could not get out from under the dead wolf. She closed her eyes to stop the world from spinning and fainted.
As Kajn bundled the last of the contents of the dead warhorse’s gear into his own, he heard the sounds of a fight behind him. He looked over to where he had come off the North Road; someone was fighting a wolf. He leapt onto the black and urged him into a gallop heading towards the fight with sword drawn. When he was close to the road, he couldn’t believe his eyes as the girl he had rescued the night before was fighting a wolf with great skill and determination. Before he could reach them, the wolf leapt onto the girl, but she was ready and plunged her sword through the body of the wolf, trapping herself beneath it.
He raced over to the girl and jumped from the saddle throwing the wolf from her body. She was unconscious again, but with new wounds as unbelievably the old wounds had healed. He wrapped the wounds with part of the sleeve of his shirt and carried her to the black, mounted and mumbled to himself, “This is becoming a habit.”
Back at the tower, the Old Man’s eyes were furious again. “You say you found her and took her to the inn first? What were you thinking?” Kajn winced and tried to appeal to the Old Man. “She wasn’t on her horse, and you didn’t really give me much of a description, and I really didn’t think that she would be this beautiful,” he blushed.
Vanor was unconscious on a marble platform, with her wounds bound. Kajn walked over to her and stroked the side of her face gently. “She is alive and she seems to have healed herself easily within a few hours. What makes you think she cannot do it again?” he said quietly.
The Old
