Blekk Sturluson
Chapter 3: Blekk Sturluson
“Wake up you lazy rats!” Screamed a severe looking woman as she walked into your sleeping courters. “Chambermaids report to me in 5 minutes, the rest of you wake up and run along to your posts!” She screamed again and then disappeared into a different room.
“Who was that?” You asked Djúpvitr who slept two beds away from you.
“That was the lovely Vigdis. She’s responsible for the chambermaids and she takes great pride in that. Every morning she finds it necessary to shout about it, lest anyone forget.” Djúpvitr chuckled as she climbed out of bed and stretched.
“You’re just jealous you’re not a chamber maid yourself.” A girl who slept on one of the beds between you said.
“Are you talking about yourself now, Luta? A shame your trysts with lord Fandral didn’t earn you such a position.” Djúpvitr replied and the poor girl’s face lost all its colour, but she didn’t reply back. “Come, Svinnr. It’s time for you to meet the rest of the kitchen rats.” Djúpvitr said joyously and took you by the hand to lead you to the kitchens. Rydigg was already handing out orders to various people when you arrived. When she glanced over to the two of you, she called you over.
“Djúpvitr, you’ll go with Ange and Arnvid to collect the newly arrived supplies. Count the sacks of flour as well and this time make sure that the amount is the same as we had agreed upon. We ordered 42 of them. Once you’re done with that, you can start helping the bakers with the pies and breads.” Djúpvitr nodded with a ‘yes ma’am’ and took off with the two other girls. Then Rydigg turned her attention to you. “You were supposed to help with picking out the herbs and drying them, but for some reason lord Blekk decided he wanted to test your abilities right away. Egil will escort you to the archives. When lord Blekk is done with you, I want you to report back to me.”
“Yes ma’am.” You repeated what Djúpvitr had said. Rydigg nodded and turned her attention to another girl who had walked in.
“Are you the girl I am to escort to lord Blekk?” A tall Einherjar with sandy blond hair asked with a friendly smile.
“Yes, that’ll be me. Everyone I’ve met so far called me Svinnr.” You replied and to your great surprise the Einherjar grabbed your hand gently and placed a kiss on your knuckles.
“A pleasure, Svinnr. I am Egil Helgison and I am charged with the protection of the public library and the archives.” He replied with a smile. He then lead you outside of the kitchens and into the darker halls.
“Can I ask you something, sir Helgison?”
“Egil, please. And of course, you can ask me anything.”
“What is lord Blekk like?” You asked him with a bit of a blush. You didn’t want Egil to think you cowardly for already having doubts about your duties and employer.
“Lord Blekk is an honest man and generous to those who are generous to him. I wouldn’t necessary call him a kind man, but he certainly has his qualities. He likes to test his helps, especially when they are female. I don’t know why, but he seems to have a dislike towards the female sex, but don’t let that get you down. Lord Blekk appreciates spirit and hunger for knowledge above all else, so as long as you are willing to learn, he will treat you well.” You remained quiet. The fact that lord Blekk had a dislike for women was already a bad start, but if Egil was right and he appreciated hunger for knowledge, you might be able to survive. You didn’t dare to admit it to Djúpvitr, but you were quite excited to work at the archives. The archivist had knowledge over so many things people had forgotten about or had never even known about. Knowledge over all the nine realms, secrets of long lost kings and queens, artefacts with ancient powers and books as old as time itself. And now you would have access to them as well or at least you hoped you would. You were just thinking about being able to study the craftmanship of the Dwarves when Egil came to a stop by a door.
“Here we are.” He said as he pushed the door open and motioned for you to go inside. Just before you wanted to take the first step, Egil stopped you by grabbing you gently by the arm. “Don’t worry if he gives you a rough time. He always does that to see how resilient his helps are. Don’t give in to your anger, alright?” You nodded, but it was clear to see that Egil did not buy your portrayed self-assurance. “You like books, don’t you?” This time when you nodded, you didn’t have to fake its honesty. “Well, look at it this way. These archives are linked with the library. If you show enough resilience he will allow you to go there to read during your breaks.” You thanked the guard with a smile, which he gladly returned and walked down the stairs with more confidence.
It felt like you were walking down a tomb. The air was cold and pregnant with dust and the smell of old parchment and wax. The torches on the walls were sparse which made it look like you were descending down a pitch black hole. When you finally reached the even floor and your eyes had adjusted to the dim light, you were surrounded by various desks stacked with scrolls, books and leather bindings. You were in complete awe of the place. A smile crept up your face which escalated into a big grin as you gave your eyes the pleasure to witness the beauty of all the knowledge that laid before you. You were so lost in thought that you didn’t notice the tear rolling down your cheek nor the man watching your reaction with interest. When he finally decided he had seen enough, he cleared his throat which startled you.
“I take it you are to be the new help.” It was more a statement than a question.
“I am if you’ll have me.” You replied as you lowered your eyes to the ground as a sign of your servitude. Blekk Sturluson was indeed a very old man, but he seemed to be in great condition. He wore traditional Asgardian clothes as was he’s right, given that he was of noble birth. The most peculiar thing about lord Blekk, however, were his eyes. They were the colour of a stormy sky and held so much power, strength and wisdom.
“Rydigg told me you could read, write and do math.”
“Yes, I can my lord.”
“How so? Did you receive some form of education?” This made you blush, which lord Sturluson noticed. “Answer me, girl.”
“I’m sorry, I haven’t had an education, my lord.”
“Then how?” You took a deep breath to stall the situation a bit. You didn’t know whether it was wise to tell him the truth or not.
“A lot of traders live in the village I grew up in, because it’s located at the docks of the Fosselv. One of these traders handled in books from all over the realms and when he had caught me looking through a book, he thought I had come to steal it. He quickly realised I couldn’t read, but was looking at the various pictures to get some idea of what the book was about. I guess he felt pity for my situation, so he decided to teach me. Every day I would go to him to practice. He even gifted me a few books. I am forever grateful to him for allowing me the opportunity to learn and to give me the ability to discover my hunger for knowledge.” You thought the whole ‘hunger for knowledge’ would be a great way to get into lord Blekk’s good books, but his face remained unreadable as if your story hadn’t affected him in any way.
“Rydigg told me you just had your coming of age ceremony, is this true?” He asked after a long moment of silence.
“That is correct, my lord.” You said and to your surprise lord Blekk’s eyes widened.
“By the Norns, girl! Just of age and your thrown into this world!” You didn’t know how to respond to that, so you lowered your eyes once more to the ground. “Well, since Rydigg has forced yourself onto me, I see no other option than to allow you to prove yourself worthy of the position of help. Today I want you to sit next to me and show me your skills. If they proof satisfactory, I will allow you to handle the notes for various book-traders to add to the collection. I also want you to start on an inventory on the collection of artefacts.”
“Yes, my lord.”
And so your first day as help to the respected archivist started. He made you run around for no reason whatsoever to fetch this and that, things he clearly didn’t need in the first place. He was also displeased at the slow pace you had with your writing, but then when you moved faster, he was displeased by the look of the sloppy inked words. He made you count the amount of scrolls he had in a large chest that stood by his bed in an alcove. When you had reported to him that there were 72 scrolls, he didn’t believe you and made you count them again and again until he finally admitted that there were indeed 72 scrolls in the chest. He made you sort one of the bookcases in alphabetic order, only for you to resort them on topics, just like they had been before you had touched them in the first place. To conclude your day in other words: Lord Blekk Sturluson was a tyrant whom clearly didn’t like one thing about his new help.
“Girl, you can go back to the servants-wing now. I no longer need you.” Lord Blekk said after hours of pestering you about everything he could criticize you for. You nodded and turned to leave when he called after you again. “Tell Rydigg I will be needing your service tomorrow as well.” You nodded again, but this time with a small smile on your face.
Well, apparently he doesn’t think me as useless as he made me feel all day.
“Thank you, my lord.” You said with a smile and turned around to climb the stairs back to Egil to escort you to the kitchens to report to Rydigg. Strangely enough you felt happy. Blekk had been awful to you all day, but you had still been able to gaze into some scrolls and books. The list of books lord Blekk had ordered you to make, proofed to be very interesting as well.
This went on for two weeks. You would go to the archives, get pestered, leave and report to Rydigg about your day only to repeat the process again the next day. It was on the third week that Rydigg informed you lord Blekk had officially appointed you as his help. You were over the moon, especially because Egil had told you lord Blekk had never had a female help that lasted through the first week. You were humming softly when you found yourself cleaning out the cupboard of artefacts from Alfheim. They were delicate little trinkets, some even thousands of years old. You were so far in thought that you didn’t hear lord Blekk approach you, nor did you anticipate him scaring you by yelling your given name. You jumped and nearly knocked over the cupboard, but as soon as you saw the first trinket falling to the ground, you flicked your hand and slowed down its fall. As soon as you had done it, you realised you were in a lot of trouble. Tears came to your eyes as you thought of how short your time here had been, that was until lord Blekk opened his mouth and spoke.
“Are you just going to stand around like that, girl, or are you going to bring me the scrolls I asked you about?” He said with that harsh voice of his.
“W-what?”
“Don’t gulp like a fish like so. Where are the scrolls?” You were shocked. Every child who was born on Asgard and showed abilities in seidr needed to be reported and educated. Not doing so was against the law and therefor punishable by hundredths of years in the dungeon. It was rare for Asgardians to show natural and raw talent for seidr, that’s why they needed to be monitored and educated to control their abilities and that was also why the punishment on keeping it a secret was so high. And here you were, preforming seidr in front of a man sworn to be loyal to the crown. There was no way he hadn’t seen it, he couldn’t have missed it! And yet it seemed lord Blekk’s face was not the only thing that was aging, his eyes were getting cloudy as well as it would seem.
“I’m sorry, my lord, I’m afraid I feel quite unwell. I have placed the scrolls on your desk, next to the books on the healing properties of Yarrow.” For some reason when you looked up at lord Blekk you thought you could see concern in his eyes, but then when he blinked his face became unreadable once more. You weren’t even sure you had seen it at all.
“Good. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Go to the library and read something, like I know you have been dying to do. Perhaps that will help you to lift your spirits for I will require your service again tomorrow and no excuse will be made forgivable.” He gave you a curt nod and for the first time, you felt a warmth spreading through your chest for the man. He was very calm and collected, but he was also compassionate and perhaps even kind.
“Thank you, my lord.” You said and left the archives to do just as he had said, go and read.
You were just losing yourself in a book when a throat was being cleared. When you looked up from your book you saw a man standing there dressed in greens and blacks. He didn’t look very happy.
“What are you doing here?”
“Excuse me, I didn’t see you there, sir. I don’t mean to be disrespectful.” The man’s eyebrows went up in surprise.
“I had no idea that maids were allowed free time during their shifts. Nor did I know servants could read.” The man said mockingly.
“I assure you, my lord, I have permission to be here.” You said defensively. You then puffed your chest up a bit and spoke proudly. “I am Lord Blekk’s new help.”
“Oh my, you’re Blekk’s new pet? I always thought he had a thing for boys, but you seem to proof me wrong.” He chuckled, but your anger grew. Before you could answer though, the man continued. “I’m also no ‘sir.” He said. He came closer and you could clearly see a pair of emerald green eyes and raven black hair framing a pale face. By the look of his clothes this man was indeed a noble, but you hadn’t come across anyone who took offense to being referred to as sir.
“Excuse me, I admit I’m not familiar with all the proper titles yet. How would you like me to address you?” You asked politely, but that only seemed to anger the man more.
“Don’t you know who I am?” he asked rather shocked and irritated. You suddenly felt embarrassed, you had no idea who this man was.
“Forgive me, but I do not. I’m new here.” You said while looking at your feet.
“I would expect a girl whose eyes widen with such genuine interest when reading a book to actually have read the histories of Asgard at the very least.” He said with pure irritation in his voice. And that’s when you snapped.
“I would have if I was given access to those books! Sorry for disturbing you, my lord, I will take my leave now and bother you no more with my simple mind.” You said hatefully to the man and turned around without waiting for a reply. You knew it was wrong the moment you had said that, but you hadn’t been doing anything wrong! Everything was fine before this man decided to be an ass about nothing at all.
“GIRL! How dare you leave without asking for permission! Who do you think you are!” he yelled at you. You turned your head around and yelled back.
“I go by the name Svinnr and I am lord Blekk’s official help!” The man’s eyebrows went up in surprise, but before he could shout or say anything else, another voice yelled.
“Svinnr!” Egil yelled as he strode into sight. “Lord Blekk asked me to come and find you. He said it was important.” He said as he came closer. “My prince.” He said as he bowed before the man you had been screaming at earlier. Now you were truly dead. You had been screaming at the prince of Asgard and not just a prince, but the dark prince. No wonder you hadn’t recognised him! It was known that prince Loki kept mostly to himself, living more like a ghost than a person. Egil looked at you expectantly. You nodded and curtsied for the prince before following Egil, just before you could take another step however, the prince called your name.
“Give lord Blekk my greetings, Svinnr and I’m sure we’ll meet again.” He said with a big smirk that gave you the shivers.