Egil's family
Chapter 4: Egil's family
“I thought I had the day off?” You asked Egil as you left the library. Desperate to take your mind of the prince and his smirk that promised nothing good.
“You have, but lord Blekk asked me to make sure you were alright. He told me you had a tiring day.” You huffed, but did not reply to his statement. Tiring was not the word you would use to describe how your day had gone. Not only had you risked everything by using seidr in front of your employer, but now you had also yelled at the man who was feared by all. In your defence, you had no idea what the dark prince looked like. Prince Thor was easy to spot and all the girls talked about him, but the dark prince was hardly ever spoken a word about. There was even a rumour that prince Loki had gone insane a few years ago.
“I’m sorry you had to run into the prince.” Egil said after a moment to try and change the topic to get some sort of reaction out of you and when you looked up at him, you could see worry in his eyes.
“I…. It wasn’t that bad.”
“You don’t have to lie to me, Svinnr. I saw how you were trembling.” He said softly.
“Yes, well, that’s what you get when someone is that intimidating. In truth, though, I was mostly angry at him for insulting lord Blekk and his awful attitude. I was trying really hard not to punch that smirk of his face.” That made Egil laugh. “But I did yell at him and I don’t know what to do now. He’s the dark prince after all.” You went silent for a long time while you walked through various halls.
“Tell me dear, would you like to have dinner with me?” You looked at him quizzingly.
“Surely, I am expected to eat with the other servants like I always do.”
“For any other day you would be correct, but this is your free day, isn’t it? You can do whatever you want to.” He said with a warm smile, one which you couldn’t help but return.
“It might be my free day, but what about you?”
“Oh, don’t worry. While lord Blekk ordered me to look after you, Serk was ordered to take my place at the doors.” You groaned softly at that. You did not like Serk at all. Every time he was on duty he would either embarrass you or shamelessly flirt with you. He had gone as far as to explain in detail the route to his chambers and the things you would do together when you would arrive at his doorstep. While Serk was a shameless bastard, Edgard was the one you really disliked. In all the time you had gone to the archives and back to the servants wing, he had not uttered one word to you. He didn’t have to, because his eyes told you just how much he despised you. You didn’t know why he felt this way, but the silent treatment and his enormous size were doing nothing other than make you nervous and frightened. Out of the three, Egil was the only one you were always happy to see.
“Where would you like to go? We could have dinner here at the palace in the lower dining hall, we could go to a tavern in the city or I could show you the soldier’s barracks and take our dinner there?”
“Do you know any good taverns in the city?” You asked with an excited voice. You might have been to the capital hundredths of times, but you had never gone anywhere other than the markets.
“I can see you have made your choice.” He chuckled and grabbed your hand to drag you outside, through the gardens. “I hope you’re not afraid of horses, my lady.”
“What?”
“Surely you don’t want to walk all the way to the tavern?” He asked curiously.
“Well,…. No, but I didn’t know guards were allowed horses.” That made Egil chuckle again.
“While some guards are gifted horses after their training, others have no need of them. I would be one of the latter, given that I am an indoor guard and therefor don’t need a horse. But my last name has earned me some privileges.” He said with a beaming smile.
“You’re of noble blood!” You said in shock. You would never have guessed! It did explain why he seemed to be more civilized than his colleagues, but then why was he not a part of the royal guard or the royal army?
“I can almost feel all the questions oozing out of your ears, dear.” He suddenly said. “While I am of noble birth, I am only the fifth son and while my eldest brother will inherit everything and my second eldest brother will marry a beautiful noble lady, I am free of all duties. I’ve always wanted to be an einherjar and I am happy with my position as it is.” You were looking at the man with such fondness that you had completely lost track of time. Before you knew it you had arrived at the soldiers’ stables. Egil had already called out to a stable boy to bring him his horse when he turned his attention back to you.
“I know it’s not proper, but I do hope you’re not opposed to sharing a horse?”
“Oh, no. that’s fine. I wouldn’t know how to ride one anyway.”
“Well, when you get another day off, make sure to find me so that I can teach you.”
You didn’t know why Egil was being so kind to you, but it felt good. There was just one other person who had ever showed you the same kind of kindness that Egil was doing right now and that was the book-seller from your old village. Thinking back on Alvi and his sweet little family made your heart swell with happiness and soon a tear escaped its prison and rolled down your cheek.
“Have I said something wrong?” Egil asked with such concern that it only made you more weak and soon other tears started falling as you quietly sobbed. As you closed your eyes you could feel Egil’s arms surrounding you and pulling you against his armoured chest. He soothed you with sweet words and soft caresses on your back.
“I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He said quietly against your temple. Finally you found your voice back.
“Don’t apologize, you buffoon. I’m not upset, I’m just really happy you’re here and treating me so kindly.” Egil chuckled at your taunt and squeezed you more tightly against him, then he let out a long and dramatic sigh.
“Then, I suppose I’ll have to start treating you poorly from now on, given that my kindness will only ruin my armour with your tears.” He said with amusement clearly evident in his voice. You laughed and gave his chest a soft swat.
“Get me to that tavern, before I decide to steal your sword and ruin your armour with a few holes in it.” That made Egil laugh louddly, but he did what you asked of him and helped you onto his horse before mounting it himself. You rode to the city in a comfortable silence and reached the tavern just before your stomach made its presence known with a rumbling sound which made you blush and Egil smirk. The tavern was already filled with various people drinking, eating or making merry and the whole place felt incredibly warm. You had expected people to look at you both quizzingly, but none seemed to pay any attention to you, which felt nice. Even though you were wearing your grey servant-dress, you didn’t feel like one in here. In fact you felt like everyone else, normal and in need of a drink, a hot meal and some good company.
“So tell me, Svinnr, how is it being lord Blekk’s new help?” Egil asked after ordering for you both a meal and some ale. Technically you weren’t allowed to drink any alcoholic beverages from your father, but no one seemed to care around here in the tavern.
“It’s great whenever lord Blekk decides to leave me be and not pester me about little things. It was however very kind of him to give me this day off. I believe he’s slowly growing to like me.”
“Norns forbid! I must congratulate you though. The last girl who had been chosen to be his help, decided cleaning chamber pots for the rest of her life was preferable than working one more minute under lord Blekk.”
“Well at least she didn’t die.” Egil looked at you with a confused expression on his face. “Serk told me this story about a few servants who had mysteriously disappeared a few centuries ago and that lord Blekk kept their skulls in his vanity cabinet.” Egil pulled up his nose and grunted.
“Don’t ever believe a word that comes out of Serk’s mouth. To be honest, Svinnr, I don’t like the way he threats you.” You just shrugged.
“I think he’s just bored and therefor sees flirting with me as some sort of entertainment. Edgard is the one who truly scares me.” Just saying his name made a shiver run down your spine. Egil wanted to say something else, but just then a woman came to your table to bring your food. You had told Egil beforehand that you didn’t know much of the food you could get in the capital, so that he could order for you both and you were glad to have said so, because the food that was being shoved under your noses smelled divine.
“Remind me again of what it is I’m about to devour.”
“Well, my dear uncultured girl, this is Lapskaus. A stew made out of various meats and turnips inside of a bowl of bread. You’ll love it, I know you will.” He wasn’t wrong. The meal was incredibly rich in flavour and you ate with vigour. After you’d had your fill you talked and talked and you quickly hang on every word Egil said as he spoke of his training and the various adventures that came with being a young guard. He was just about to finish a glorious tale where he and some comrades were unravelling the whereabouts of a mysteriously disappeared cart, when the door of the tavern swung open with such force that everyone quickly turned their gaze upon it. A big, bulky red-haired man walked in followed by two other men.
“Ward! Your best ale if you please!” Shouted the redhaired man. You could hear Egil grunt loudly at the sight of the newcomers, but what displeased him so, you did not understand. That was until one of the men looked in the direction of your table and smiled as if he had known you for years.
“Little brother!” He shouted as he walked over. Apparently it was true that he had known one of you for years.
“Fandral.” Egil said without the warmth his words would normally have. The man, Fandral, huffed but made no further comment on his brother’s tone. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
“Fandral, this is lord Blekk’s new help Svinnr. Svinnr this is my older brother Fandral.” Egil said after a long sigh. He also stopped looking you in the eyes.
“Oh, nice to meet you lord Fandral.” You said with a smile that quickly turned into an expression of slight shock when Fandral grabbed hold of your hand and kissed your knuckles ever so gently.
“The pleasure is all mine.” He said while flashing you a brilliant smile that had caused many ladies to swoon before. You briefly thought back on Luta who had been sharing Fandral’s bed for a few nights in the hope to get a promotion to his personal chamber maid, but she was still seen carrying buckets of water up and down the halls as a cleaning lady. “I must say dear brother, I had never suspected you to be capable of catching the eye of a goddess.” Fandral carried on and even though you didn’t want to, your cheeks flushed bright red.
“Don’t joke about such titles, Fandral.” Egil said with a tone that bordered on hostile. You quickly changed topics.
“Egil has been kind enough to show me this tavern and introduce me to new and delicious food.”
“Did he now?” Fandral chuckled and slapped his brother hard on the back. “Isn’t he a marvellous man?” He didn’t wait for a response as he simply sat himself down at your table. “Now tell me, fair maiden, what have you done to warm old Blekk’s heart so that he has decided to keep you in his service?” Your cheeks heated up again, but now it wasn’t just out of embarrassment. You were getting angry. What was wrong with these men that they thought so evil of both lord Blekk and you?
“Don’t answer that, Svinnr. He just loves to jest and fool around with people.” Egil said reassuringly, but Fandral simply tutted.
“Now, now, brother. Let the lady speak for herself.” That was it. That was all the bratty behaviour you could tolerate from this man.
“I’m sorry, lord Fandral, but I’m afraid you are mistaken. I am not a lady, but a servant as you can so clearly see and to answer your earlier question in honesty, I did not do anything out of the ordinary to gain my position as Lord Blekk’s new help. Although I understand you have a different understanding of what would and would not be considered ordinary or appropriate. Furthermore your brother has indeed been a marvellous man, an adjective I wouldn’t be so prone to describe you however, my lord.” You finished and to your great joy you could see a proud smile on Egil’s face and a look of shock on Fandral’s. You were pretty sure he hadn’t had much experience with being turned down by a woman.
“My, my, had I known you were this silver-tongued I would have provoked you more.” A voice said and when you turned to see whom it belonged to, the whole world stopped and held in its breath. Prince Loki and his older brother Thor were standing by your table with the two other men lord Fandral had accompanied.
“Who’s your friend, Fandral?” Prince Thor asked, clearly choosing to speak to the older brother rather than the younger one, who was actually your friend.
“This beautiful fire is the lady Svinnr.” He proclaimed and his voice still sounded shocked, but also a bit hoarser.
“Well, lovely Svinnr, I am prince Thor, as you might as well know, and these are Volstagg and Hogun. My brother Loki you seem to have already met.” Thor said as he too grabbed your hand and kissed it gently. You however kept your eyes to the ground. It was not right for a servant to look any high nobles into the eyes. You had made an exception with Fandral because you knew you were safe with Egil around and he truly was being unbearable, but Thor and Loki were of royal blood and therefor you could definitely not look them in the eyes let alone speak so carelessly to them.
“And Egil, I’m glad to see you’re in good health.” Thor went on.
“Thank you, my prince. I wish we could stay and make merry with all of you, but I am still under lord Blekk’s orders and he has asked me to make sure Svinnr is well and taken care off. Right now, I am afraid I will have to escort her back to the servant-wing so she can rest.” Egil said as he stood up and gave you an encouraging look.
“She looks to be well and a pleasant night with friends can only make her better.” The red-haired man who Thor had introduced as Volstagg said. He actually looked as if he genuinely meant his words and his smile seemed to be friendly as well.
“Any other night, my friend, but Svinnr has been feeling rather poorly today and I would not like to receive a scolding from lord Blekk for returning his help feeling worse than before.” He chuckled but his mirth didn’t reach his eyes.
“Well, I don’t wish to get you both in trouble.” Volstagg said and you were certain that he had actually meant it. He then bid you both a good night. His companion Hogun hadn’t said a word all night and he seemed content to keep it that way. You curtsied for all the lords and did an even deeper curtesy for the two princes. Everyone had seemed to accept your departure. All but one, who was smirking from ear to ear as you righted yourself again.
“I am pleased to have seen you again and on such short notice.” He chuckled, but then he leaned in closer to whisper into your ear. “I am already looking forward to the next time.”