Storegga Tavern

By Victoria Exner

The realm of Northland, somewhere between the nine ancient worlds and still full of magic, is difficult to reach, but for those who really want to travel so far, there might be a way.

After Ragnarok, there was the rebirth of the next world of Midgard/Earth. In a great slide, Storegga, a piece of the first world, Northland, slid into the space between the nine ancient worlds. Northland is a bridge to all nine worlds of Yggdrasil Circle, and the Northlanders, who possess many odd skills, magic, strange knowledge, and hidden talents, have casual contacts with the old world.

The ancient law of Northland is its essence. There is also an old contract and oath of nonintervention in Midgard. Not keeping this oath might destroy all there is. However, sometimes it is difficult to keep it.

The time changes, and the circle of the nine ancient worlds will exist only in the dreams and longings.

Power and knowledge are always dangerous as the Mage of Storegga says when standing on the Storegga Cliff high above the vortex of Maelstrom and looking over the Grey Ocean of Northland. What you want to know now you might not want to know tomorrow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477230718

Victoria Exner

I have enjoyed working on the manuscript of Storegga Tavern very much in the almost two years I was busy with writing it. Terry Pratchett created his Discworld out of nowhere, and Marion Zimmer Bradley found her Darkover in space—well, it is sometimes awkward to introduce a world of fantasy and give it its place, and I have found mine thinking about my childhood. I was born to an English mother and an Austrian Swedish father on 1945. I was married twice and am residing in the Netherlands.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Northland, the land between the nine ancient worlds and still full of magic is difficult attainable but for those who really want to travel so far there might be a way.

In the time the sailor and explorer Jon Thorkillson from the Old Empire in Midgard was visiting Storvik, the old city and harbour of Northland not far from the mythical, ancient and mysterious Road of the Worlds, he listened eager to all the tales of the North in the common room of his inn. In the evenings when the fires were burning high, there was plenty of food and drinks and people were telling many tales. There were not so many strangers in Storvik and mostly there did not happen anything exciting in this northern, tidy, hidden port. The regular guests in the inn were just always happy and welcomed a stranger to discuss old news, which regenerated to new news when being told to foreign travellers or merchants and they were always eager to tell all the tales they knew. For those very few visitors coming from the Old Empire the tales and sagas of the North were not only interesting but also very strange and rather mysterious because Northland was the genuine ancient part of the first world ever created by the Old Gods of Asgard.

Storvik was the biggest settlement and the only big city of Northland, situated in a long deep fjord that went some miles inside the cliffs. There was not so much space between the steep walls of the cliffs and the water edge thus the houses were all tall with many storeys, with steep slate roofs and many chimneys crowning them proudly. The town lined only the northern shore of the fjord because the cliffs of the opposite side were like a steep wall falling directly in the deep waters of the fjord and that made it an excellent harbour. Standing on the edge of the steep cliffs one could see the town below, long proud lines of dark slate roofs, towers and spires, streets and markets full of moving little spots like ants on a long stick with the only road out which led them inlands to the Road of the Worlds, the backbone of Northland and an umbilical cord with the worlds outside.

The Road of the Worlds was a very special road and as told and believed it was running all around the Yggdrasil circle of the nine ancient worlds. Asgard of the Old Gods, Alfheim of the elves, Vanaheim of the mysterious air Gods, Midgard the world of the humankind, Jotunheim of the Element Giants, Svartalheim of the dark elves, Nithavellir of the dwarves, the demon world of the fire Muspelheim and the scary realm of the Death, Niflheim.

For the Northlanders it was rather a disturbing thought which they put aside because this was very confusing. There was a barrier, a veil of time, space and matter shifting on the edges of Northland, a misty Nothingness. There was the secret and scary sea passage to Midgard, the World of humankind whose part this Northland once has been before the Apocalypse of Ragnarok. The passage through the Nothingness was shifting periodically, was dangerous and passable only with a skilled pilot from Northland, a member of the inner circle of the Guard Guild keeping the secret restricted only to three persons at time. Of course, there were wizards and witches who could theoretically point out the possible safe passage but they did not possess the skills of a seaman necessary to get through the gap in the Grey Ocean and nobody ever tried the Road of the Worlds, which was rather treacherous.

Somewhere on the Road of the Worlds, there were those nine remaining worlds nobody ever dared to enter anymore though the ancient invitation to usher its recipient into those mysterious realms was always present in the air and in the mind. Magic, the ancient wisdom from the past was everywhere. There were some few mighty magicians and sorcerers studying the old arts for many long years to reach higher levels of this knowledge which make it possible to use the abilities to master matter, time and space. However, they knew very well, there was always a high price to pay when meddling with this basic of existence and the study required many long decades of years, patience, talent and severe self-discipline.

Some forty-five miles northern of Aldeby, an important market place in the green country behind the cliffs where the Road of the Worlds joined with the Road coming from Storvik, a distance an experienced horse rider could ride in a day, there was the Crossroads. At this point, the Road of the Worlds coming from the South bent to the East and followed the Edge of the Old Wood to the ancient and secret realms of the Big Expansion. There was a huge stone circle where two other roads started. A narrow track winding in many bents and serpentines up the green steep slope of the Storegga Cliff and a bigger but not much used road through the woods; the Northern Road, leading farther to the North to the Waste Lands and the Void. The Northern Road or the Road of the Void as was its ancient name served some villages and hamlets farther up in the North and after some miles where little paths branched into the dark woods to the last settlements there was nobody who travelled any farther. No one ever wanted or desired to do that, there was only wilderness and icy desert and the Waste Lands waiting farther on and there somewhere in this rough and dangerous moors always concealed in grey fog and fading into the Void was the castle of Gudar the Immortal Demon. In the wicked realms there ruled the black magic, draugr and other nasty creatures.

Jon saddled his horse, gave the sailors his instructions and rode alone along the Fjord Road to Aldeby to explore. He left the city through the fortified East Gate guarding the gap through the cliffs of the fjord, which was the only connection with the country behind the fjord.

This road to Aldeby, almost 20 miles long and going through an intense inhabited area between Storvik and Aldeby was the heart of Northland. The little town had a big market square where the two roads joined, a long oblong square lined with low stone buildings with shops and agencies of the merchants with big store houses in the deep courtyards, a transit place for all the goods needed in the big city of Storvik. Jon took a room for the night in the Silver Bell Inn. It was the market day Laugardagr (Saturday) and the square was full of farmers, small sellers and folk from the nearby villages and far away hamlets all busy with selling, buying and haggling. Jon enjoyed a long stroll through the market and later in the evening a tasty dinner in the inn.

Anyway, he needed a full day if he was travelling to the Crossroads. In the early morning of Sunnudagr, he was already on his way to Crossroads. The known part of the Road of the Worlds going through Northland was not different from any other roads but the farther he came the more the road was deserted. The villages were scarcer, many of them situated in the sparse valleys off the road, the distances between those settlements were longer and finally there was no visible sign of any settlement as he rode farther northward. After forty-five miles on the Road of the Worlds, he came to Crossroads. It was a strange place. The traveller could hear the Eye of the North roaring, the mighty Maelstrom below the rim of the high cliffs on the left side. The Crossroads itself was quite a friendly place in a long but narrow green valley. He could see a nice manor-house on the right side, with six chimneys and sheep, horses and cattle in the meadows. There were no people in the fields, in the green meadows or on the lawn surrounding the house but smoke from the chimneys spoke about their presence. On the landside of the high cliff ridge, high up and clear marked against the sky there was another impressive old stone two-storey building with steep roofs above its two rows of windows and right at the back on the very top of the cliff on the edge above the Maelstrom there was a tall white tower. In the tower, there lived always the Guardian Ladies of the Cliff, Magicians and descendants of the famous prophet, the seer Völva. Jon did not feel much for exploring the North Road that disappeared in the dark woods and even less to continue his journey farther on the Road of the Worlds. He took the trail to the top of the cliffs because he was very curious about the last tavern of Northland, the Tavern of Storegga on the Great Edge of this strange realm, which was once long ago before the Ragnarok cataclysm a part of his own world.

The tavern was not like any other tavern. The house could be a former gentry’s house. It was quite impressive with a big iron gate between two elaborated pillars of an inner courtyard with stables and a long side wing. The two big bay windows in the front of the main building had wonderful stained glass panes, between them the arched dark wood door with two brass rings and a big clapper in form of a drum.

There were rumours and gossip concerning this particular tavern, people in the villages and hamlets whispering about weird guests, about the publican and mermaids. Not many human guests did spend the night in the tavern because of all the scary tales. Once or twice in the year, a caravan of merchants slept there, but where there are many people is also less the danger, at least so was the common belief. In the manor-house, down in the valley near the Crossroads lived a Lady and people respected her because the Mistress had once been a Valkyrie of the long gone Gods, a Valkyrie who chose for mortality because of love to a knight. Yes, there were a few more hamlets and villages in the deep woods in the northern and eastern direction, full of gossip, full of superstition and full of strange knowledge and hidden talents. Somewhere there in the deep woods lived the old witch Blavör, the breeder of Fenrir wolves from the past, a mighty witch who was a great rival of the wicked witch Brynna the Youth Vampire and envied her because of the Secret of the Youth. With Brynna’s sister Branna she was always ready for trying to discover it, search for it or steal the knowledge somehow but without any success. In the deep woods there were many trolls and draugr who loved the taste of human flesh. The woods were mighty and dark full of many secrets and mysteries.

The landlord Olaf of the Tavern on the Storegga Cliff and his son Bjarni talked about this all with Jon as the three of them sat there by the fire and enjoyed the tasty food and the famous cliff mead. Jon took a room in the tavern for the night because for the long journey back to Storvik he needed a full day to reach Aldeby on his way back.

You are safe here in the tavern sir, said the landlord. Just as he uttered these words the door opened and a very angry looking old tall hag entered.

Dear Mistress Blavör, how can I serve you? asked the landlord and bowed slightly.

Mead, croaked the old woman.

Jon was not a little surprised when he saw that the old hag emptied two huge tankards of mead. She was throwing poisonous glances at Jon, then went to the bar counter and ordered two large sausages. She took them swiftly, crossed the main room, opened the door and whistled sharp. Two enormous wolves appeared and each of them got a sausage. Throwing an even more toxic and very unfriendly gaze towards Jon, she left the tavern and disappeared in the woods together with the wolves.

Witch Blavör and her Fenrir wolves, said Olaf dry.

The next morning after a copious breakfast Jon left the tavern on the Great Edge of Storegga. In the North there was only the territory of Gudar, the Waste Lands where the Magic was the only way to survive and the Void too dangerous to explore alone or even to enter without a careful preparation. He rode the path down to the Crossroads and took the quite comfortable and more or less safe Road of the Worlds back to Aldeby and then to Storvik where his ship was waiting for him. The dangerous eye of Maelstrom, the roaring vortex of the North kept all vessels far from the coast in a safe distance and the realms of the Great Edge undisturbed and untouched appeared as not to be quite a part of any world at all when he was looking back through a telescope seeing the coast with its high cliffs, the deep fjords of Northland and the fjord harbour of Storvik disappearing in the fog.

The tall tower of the Edge of Storegga, the Great Slide, was the last sign of inhabited area seeing from the sea and stood like a warning finger on its steep high Cliff, a finger of a giant unseen hand, buried deep in the rocks and taming the vortex of Maelstrom.

High above the vortex of Maelstrom, on the steep Storegga Cliff stood its Keeper and Guardian Lynagh and looked far away over the sea. The vortex was roaring loud beneath the edge of the cliffs, rimmed with white foam as if wearing an enormous lace collar and the movement in the air which the vortex caused sang a strange wind-song without words. The Guardian and Magician Lynagh listened carefully to the voice of this eddy which she guarded so long time and somehow, however nothing changed or happened, she knew the old time as she knew it was almost over and a new unknown cycle of time waiting just now in this moment as she stood there watching the sea. There was, as she felt it, a subtle change in the cold wind and the song of the vortex sounded somehow different. The cold penetrating wind blew from the sea and the smell of fear in the wind got stronger. She shivered and wrapped her woollen shawl tight around her then she bowed deep to the sea and its raged eye below as thanks for letting her know.

CHAPTER 1

TAVERN ON THE

STOREGGA CLIFF

The door of the inn squeaked and the warm sunlight from outside fell through the opening the main room in; outside there roared the enraged water and the salty flavour of the sea hung in the air. A graceful elf stepped inside, the big bow strapped on her back, the quiver full of arrows with feathers dangled in a casual way over her shoulder. The slender feet tucked in smooth leather shoes, slightly bleached by the sun just as the leather gloves on her delicate hands. Grimhild threw her long light blond hair farther on her back and closed the door behind her.

Greetings to you landlord, how’s the business—

Oh well, it has never been better, fair lady. Some days ago we have had a gang of young warriors inside and all the mead has gone very quickly, but so did their money.

Saying this he laughed roaring, sounding almost like a ship’s horn in the mist and the crispy white clean apron stretched tight on his punch. He was a very imposing figure though, almost 7 feet tall he stood there like a little giant with thick bands of muscle that wrapped his arms and torso under his knitted shirt.

Please could I have some mead myself or is there really nothing left?

There is, of course there is,—there always is indeed, laughed the landlord. The fair lady striped the bow off her back and the gloves of her hands in the meantime. The publican came around the bar counter with a goblet full of golden mead, not forgetting himself for the company’s sake.

Well, so let’s have a drink and wait if somebody comes in today!

She let herself down by a wooden table in a niche retracing the grain of the wood with her fingers… .

The door of the tavern opened again. A blond and tall woman appeared, wearing a long black dress, a woollen shawl around her shoulders and greeted the landlord. It was obvious they were old friends. Then she came to the small table where the elf sat with her goblet full of mead.

Greetings elf, who are you? I am Lynagh, the Guardian and Keeper of Storegga. Not many visitors do come here indeed, not even travellers, because this is the End of the World here. Sometimes there comes lady Gunlödd to visit me here on the cliff, the Lady who lives in the Manor House below in the valley you surely have seen on your way up here. We who live here are like a big family all together. We come often together; outside by the Storegga Tower if there is some good weather in the summer and sit there by the fire on the Great Edge, but even more often we get together here in the tavern. If lucky, there is a traveller coming from the Crossroads to spend a night in safety here and such people always tell us the news from the worlds there outside, sometimes even a scald comes to us so far in the North. Well, if I feel alone, I always come down from the cliff to the tavern, although I do not like the landlord’s company very much.

She laughed when she said this last sentence and looked a bit roguish at the landlord.

He is acting a bit rude, you know, but he has truly a good heart our Olaf. With Gunlödd there below, living by the crossing of the Old Road of the Worlds and the Road of the Void,—well, anyway it is always good to keep together in this place. The Worlds Road going down there through the woods and along the Great Edge Cliff to the Crossroads and then in southern direction to a big city called Storvik is not as safe as it seems. There near the Crossroads our Lady Gunlödd lives, owing that large estate in the valley and the big Manor House as I have already mentioned. Our estates here are not very big, the cliffs here and the valley below…

When Lynagh met an elf, she was always very pleased. She let herself down on the bench by the elf girl and after having a little sip from a cup full with herbal tea that Olaf put without asking in front of her, she continued with her monologue to make the visitor feeling easy and home. She noticed the elf was rather shy and a bit very much standoffish. Well, Lynagh knew how to break such barriers making the people she liked to feel welcome and easy. She was always ready to make an acquaintance with an elf; she liked them.

She is a good woman, our Gunlödd, and a good warrior as well. She has to be because down there sometimes strange folk is passing on the Road along and there are always problems with the witches from the Iron Forest.

The elf was listening and drinking slowly and carefully her mead.

By the way, the landlord’s name is Olaf. I bet he growled and grumbled only to you and did not say his name. He never says his real name, which is not Olaf by the way; he does not trust it and believes that anybody who knows the very true name of other people can cause something bad to happen to them, able to cast a bad spell on somebody or even worse things. Most folk here does believe it at least, although… . It requires more then only knowing somebody’s name to cause harm. He even thinks that knowing the name Olaf, which as I already said is not his true real name, could bring bad luck. And well, I am a magician and therefore I am not afraid to say my name aloud and of course the superstition concerning the true names is completely wrong in a way.

Lynagh smiled warm at the elf.

Please, will you bring me more tea Olaf! she said. Vali and Caya, my wind hounds are still outside and they come always, as you know, to you into the kitchen. They like you very much and I know why. But please, do not feed them too much.

All this sounded so homely and uncomplicated. The elf girl made up her mind. She rose from her seat and bowed slightly.

Greetings Lynagh, Mistress of the Magic. My name is Grimhild and I am an elf from the Golden Woods in Alfheim. The golden orchids flower there to the end of the times, there is never snow falling down and all over the place grows the golden grass. There is never any green anymore. However, my great-grandmother said to me there comes once the Day and a new Period of Time will begin and the grass will be juicy green again and the trees letting brown leaves falling down in the autumn as they should do.

She sat down again and continued, I wanted to see the green forest once and the green grass; therefore I went out into the world outside. To see and feel the autumn, to see the snow the winter brings with, to touch the snow. She stared with a dreamy look in her eyes through the windows of the inn into the world outside.

The End of the World, I see— Grimhild smiled. I never wanted nor intended to travel so far at all… —. However, that beautiful forest down there in the valley and on the slopes invited me to enter it and so I came here to this tavern. The birds twittered so pleasantly and the air was suddenly so full of the smell of fresh roasted pig!

In this moment, the stomach of the elf grumbled boisterous and impatient and she looked sheepishly at Lynagh, feeling guilty of improper behaviour.

I haven’t had anything to eat for some time… when walking in the woods I always forget the time. I do not even remember how I came here… Could I invite you, Mistress of the Magic, to have a bite of tasty roasted pig with me?

Grimhild looked toward the publican, stood up and walked to the long bar counter.

Landlord Olaf, could you bring us both ladies some of your roasted pig. It smelled so delicious and tempting from outside!

Olaf became a little pale as the elf called him by his name but strove to smile friendly at the elf girl and said, Of course, you are welcome young elf. I’ll serve the meal immediately.

Thank you very much Grimhild, that is very sweet of you indeed, but well, I eat only very little as Olaf already knows, said Lynagh. You mentioned the woods below the cliffs, the woods that belong to the estate of Lady Gunlödd. Perhaps you already met her, did you?

The elf shook her head; no, she did not see anybody on her stroll through the woods.

Lynagh smiled as she saw the enormous appetite which young Grimhild showed when eating. They sat alone in the room because Olaf disappeared into the kitchen as soon as he served the meal. He ate many times a day especially when he just served a nice tasty meal to a guest and his appetite was aroused again; and even so he still rather enjoyed his excellent mead even more—and he could drink!

Yes this is the End of the World, the Great Edge of Storegga, the ancient slide; all is green here, there is plenty of water and in the winter is all under the snow! The Gap through the Nine Worlds, the feared Maelstrom rages there outside under the Great Edge and all is full magic. However, you do not need to be afraid. Sometimes there come the guests from the ancient worlds, from the worlds of the past, even from the ancient world of Asgard and even Jotunheim’s Giants do appear here occasionally. One must take care and be cautious in dealing with the Old ones. The old Giants are sometimes very wicked and they love it being evil and behaving cruel, ill and ugly. It is their nature and they are as they are. I hope you stay for a while here. Olaf has clean and comfortable bedrooms for the guests who come, pitiable, very seldom to us, not many humans anyway. If you want you could sleep in my tower if you prefer solitude, you are welcome there. I usually only work there and sleep in the tavern. However, there are times we have more guests, twice a year a caravan from Storvik comes here in this territory with their merchandise that is coming with ships to Storvik or is stored in the warehouses in Aldeby and visits the villages and hamlets out there in the woods selling and buying and in the summer sometimes come the travellers. Not so many of them I must admit. Sometimes there come very interesting people who come and go, they tell stories and sing their ballads. In the summer, they come to the fire on the Great Edge, in the winter they are here in the warmth and safety of the tavern. It is nice to meet you as well and I am very glad you came to us dear elf. Actually I was expecting somebody else, a warrior from Midgard, eh well, the old humankind world, from a far country called the Old Empire.

After a short time of silence while the elf was eating and the Magician thinking some private thoughts, the tavern door opened again. This time a young, very handsome and tall man with a long fair hair came in. His hair was plaited and tied together but the majority of the plaited hair already escaped the ties. His leather clothes were heavy damaged and worn out and his shoes did remind the observer that he had ridden a very long time without many breaks. Some scars decorated his face and his sword hung handy in the loop of his belt. He looked around in the main room and then went slowly towards the two women, since they were the only persons in the room.

Hearing the sound of the door the landlord appeared from the kitchen curious who it might be again. He observed suspiciously the armed stranger. Nevertheless, the young man was already introducing himself to the ladies.

Greetings, dear ladies, my name is Brannon, Baronet of Whitermore, and I am coming from a far country or perhaps a different world, from the Old Empire. I should meet a Lady Magician named Lynagh here. Do you know her perhaps?

Be greeted as well, Sir Brannon, I am Lynagh. Thus, you are the messenger sent to us. I have known already somebody will come here but I have expected a Lord whom I know for a very long time, from the time of my youth and whom I have always trusted. I think you know whom I mean.—You can trust Olaf, the landlord is all right and our man. Olaf talks not much generally, but he is a brave man. What is the message you have for us, please?

Well,—I have a rather sad message and unsettling news for you indeed. Certain Lord, we both know so very well, did fall in ambush some weeks ago and is imprisoned. We assume this trap was prepared and well planned by our enemies for some time. They are the same people he spoke about to you when you saw him the last time. I have been lucky to get away, however by bribery of the guards and now reporting the news and all what happened there to you, my lady. I am sorry if my appearance displeases you, dirt all over the body and smelly clothes, but the speed is important in this matter and not the looks. I am well known, even outside my country, as a messenger delivering with speed and without resting.

He bowed gallant to the magician and addressed the landlord, Could you bring me some food, and really a huge and rich portion please, anything will do, I haven’t eaten for days!

The publican disappeared into the kitchen with a growl. There were troubles coming if the Guardian intervened in the Old World but he knew she never would and normally she could not do anything wrong as she was always keeping the Old Oath. Only one exception could make this possible, if there was already somebody intervening and this was very bad and unsettling news already.

The Guardian and Keeper of Storegga turned her head to the messenger and said, O, dear Sir Brannon, your appearance doesn’t matter at all but anyway it displeases us surely not, you are a handsome and brave young warrior. I am only so sorry that my friend the Lord is imprisoned. Well yes, I have already heard some rumours about dark hordes and forces entering the countries of the Old Empire. They, as I have heard, have a false Prophet in their mid and the gangs of robbers and murderers are looting and burning the villages and towns, killing people and animals.—These are very sad and disturbing news indeed.

Lynagh sighed. The world did not change for a better one, it never does. A new start after the Great Slide, that enormous apocalyptic disaster, which destroyed all in the past times, seemed in vain. In the meantime, the female elf stared sadly in the air and sat silent for some time. Each of this three people seemed to think their own thoughts that were not very pleasant. Welcome disturbance came as Olaf appeared with an enormous portion of roasted pig, an indication that he liked the appearance of the newcomer.

This all are extremely vexing and bad news indeed. I hope Gunlödd comes up the cliff today, she surely should hear all about. Lynagh sighed.

Midgard, the world of humankind and the Old Empire were far away but in the old world all was suddenly in motion, people losing their homes and strangers invading and killing, strange dogma and peculiar Prophets destroying the old way of life. The structure of the Old Empire was collapsing.

Nobody knows what we can expect after all. Perhaps we should close the passage through our protective magic barrier again.

The young warrior Brannon and Grimhild the elf girl looked surprised and curious at Lynagh. All the strange talk of the Mage has not affected their appetite though, both on the edge of starving and Olaf’s cooking skills were famous and his meals known as a fairy tale to everybody’s tongue took them out of the real world.

Yes, said Lynagh seeing their widened eyes, there is a barrier of time, space and old magic with the gaps to other worlds. Even some Thursen and Joten participated in weaving this barrier in the past times when the first world of Midgard was young and this realm has been separated from it after the Great Disaster that dreadful Apocalypse of Ragnarok. They of course do enjoy something like that which can cause harm to everyone. The Giants from Jotunheim are rather foolish, silly and they act without thinking too much, but they are Gods as well, they are the dark side of the nature divinity. There are strong genes in us here, the very first mankind, culminating in mages, wizards, witches and many wise men and women keeping the divinity and magic of the Old Gods and Elements alive. All Northlanders live those fundamentals in an old way and no one, not the simple men neither the magicians nor the Old Gods dare ever to overstep the bounds of unwritten protocol of the Equilibrium of the Creation. Of course, there are always fluctuations and our oath allows us to mend only crude injustice in the balance or selfish conjuring causing deliberately to harm coming from our direction. Therefore, the help we can offer to the humanity of later creation is very limited. I am very sorry but if we overstep this limits we could easily destroy the existence of Northland, the realm between the worlds, and so ourselves.

Lynagh was very serious in saying this.

My friend, the Lord, had as I have discovered kept away some destructive influence and was fighting against something bad coming from Northland or maybe some other deliberately created dimension and it has to be cut off before it is too late. I can only try and promise to restore the balance, not more and not less and only if Northland is involved.

Lynagh was interrupted when Olaf appeared again bearing a tray with mead and honey cake which tasted always very good and even better when consumed as an addition to mead. The cake just ready baked and warm but not Olaf was the excellent baker. It was Nifl, his wife, who was the baker. His wife was a mermaid and she often sat down on the rocks where the Maelstrom raged. She sat there wrapped in foam combing her hair. Just like that as she sat there Olaf had seen Nifl (Mist) the first time. They met and there are stranger things which happen in life than a love between a strong young publican and a delicate sea beauty. The love comes to everyone just naturally when she is required, inspired and desired, just like water that always flows into lower places. She sang for him lovely songs and played her harp, he told her about the world there outside which he did not know very well himself but he had always some travellers in the inn telling tales as it is own to such public place. Travellers who enjoyed telling their tales about their journeys and many strange realms they have seen or heard about. Nifl was very curious hearing all this and wished to experience the life outside the sea. So Olaf brought her one evening into the tavern, he carried her in his arms because she had no legs only a beautifully sparkling fish fin. However, as she sat there in a tub in Olaf’s kitchen, it seemed rather like if she was wearing a long silk sparkling skirt. From this one evening, there became two, three and finally it became a habit for them and they spent many evenings together. Years passed because the time never has a break and finally three mermaids and one merman were born and Olaf and Nifl became proud parents. Olaf and Nifl led a very special marriage, half ashore and half in the sea. He had his beloved wife from sunset until the first cock crowed because if a mermaid remains ashore during the day, she dies. However, the Magician of Storegga Cliff found later an old spell that made it possible for Nifl to stay ashore, even in the bright daylight. The daughters and the son were half-human, they had legs and were at home both in sea and on the land. When there was only Lynagh, the Magician of Storegga alone or with her best friend, the Valkyrie lady Gunlödd in the tavern, Olaf brought always his Nifl into the main room. He made a wheelchair for her, actually a wheel-tub. Today however as there were some guests they both did not know at all, Nifl did not show herself in the guest room. Mermaids do not trust humans blindly and an elf was an unknown being to her.

Olaf poured the drinks for all and against his habit he took a chair and sat down enjoying the company. For something hung in the air, and a foreigner from Midgard as the people from Northland still called the Old World whose part they once were, visiting here in Northland were a seldom rarity. Even more because this young warrior used the Road of the World and came to no harm wearing the Great Seal of Storegga on his neck, the very own seal of the Mage Lynagh. He knew that Nifl was safe, because the wind hounds Vali and Caya loved Nifl and would always protect her and he, Olaf, was not far away. Three steps from the kitchen door.

The elves were very rare and almost forgotten in the present times and the appearance of this elf girl was surely something one could not miss. The forest people seldom left their secret realms of Alfheim and nobody knew where they were. Secret and protected places and if you have found the way against their will or even ignorant, it was more then certain you never came back again. That was a common knowledge, so no one was looking after them; people rather believed that they did not exist at all. The publican was not so much curious as cautious. There were two strangers in the same time and from far away here in the last tavern on the cliff.

How came all the gold in your home place and why all the natural green of the woods had disappeared? he asked the elf.

Nobody knows, answered Grimhild sadly.

Olaf did not use her name, Grimhild, for he was convinced that there was always a spell hidden in the name, a spell that can be even retroactive, when uttering the name aloud, you never knew. When we call someone with the true name, it is the same as if a person comes closer and closer, and the influence stronger and stronger. In the good sense, if one is a true friend but dangerous if one is hostile. Only his mother, Nifl and the Guardian of Storegga, knew Olaf’s true name. His true name was Gunnbjörn. Lynagh also knew the names of his daughters Freydís, Thjodhild and Gudrid and the name of his son, Bjarni. Nevertheless, the folk of the seas does not care much about hidden danger of true names. Whenever people spoke to him and calling him Olaf, he realized how many people use and know his name so he was rather content and pleased with Olaf—however he was not sure if it worked at all.

There was the visit of the wicked warlock from Ofeig Miðfjörður and the old Magician Morhan on Storegga Cliff being the cause why he also did not trust strangers at all. For he knew, overhearing the conversations of the warrior guards of the sorcerers, there were many very odd and wicked habits and black magic in the world and the power of the Nature and the Old Ones not always respected, not even the Ancient Law of the North were there entirely respected. During the three days as the both warlocks were guests in Storegga Tavern Nifl did not dare to come ashore, no, she did not even appear on her rock in the evening. That was very advisable, thought Olaf.

From outside there came the sound of approaching steps. All eyes were drawn to the door. The door opened with a squeak and a woman with long almost white blond hair wearing a long blue robe entered the tavern. Her face seemed tense. It was a face of a woman once very beautiful but already signed with the marks of a long life now, of many experiences and fights with danger. On her forehead, she wore a thin golden band decorated with runes and golden runes bracelets on both arms. She stood hesitating a moment in the door, throwing a quick and careful glance from her steel blue grey eyes at the group inside but relieved when she saw Lynagh.

She nodded to all and then turned her head to Lynagh.

Luckily I find you here. We should talk about the events of the recent days. There are strange creatures, daugr and trolls in the woods, hanging around and violating not only the people but also nature and animals.

Her eyes became dark with anger when she was talking about. Then she turned to the others and said, Please excuse my rudeness but I’ve had many problems with some vandals and villains in our beautiful woods, in the coppice behind the house and on the meadows beneath the ridge. You are foreigners here, she said to the warrior and the elf. I don’t know you. May I ask where you come from and what is the purpose of your visit here, coming so far to the North?

She turned her head facing Lynagh. Could it be the Earl of Vyon asks your help?

"Not only that,’ answered the Mage gently patting her friend’s hand who obviously was in a black temper and with a faint smile she turned to Olaf and asked him for a little refreshment.

Be greeted Gunlödd, warrior maiden of the Old Gods, she said then in a formal voice aloud introducing her in this manner to the elf and the young warrior. Thus evil and its creatures and servants crawl out from their hiding places. Yes, the times do change; indeed, I have felt it out there on the cliff. The evil forces in Northland also feel a strange shift of power going on and feeding something. She introduced then the young elf and the warrior from far away to her friend.

Olaf brought Gunlödd a huge steaming cup, a drink he brewed himself according a secret recipe. He brought full cups for all and Brannon and Grimhild sipped it curious. It was strong, it tasted of herbs and it spread intense warmth through the whole body. Gunlödd, Lynagh, Olaf and Grimhild looked expectantly at the young warrior, the messenger from far away.

Sir Brannon saw the questioning glances but turned his head and addressed Lynagh first.

First of all, I must tell you that the Earl of Vyon could not say much since he had only a very limited time to speak to me. We had had hardly a couple of minutes and there had been strange ears listening all the time but he was able to give me some news in a private code we had once created for such a situation and the hint where he had hidden the Great Seal of Storegga making it possible to enter the Road of the Worlds and to ride to Northland. It is very important that you know they got him and he will use the poison in his hollow tooth.

Both Storegga women and the publican gazed with admiration at the young man who mastered the treacherous and dangerous Road of the Worlds. The decision to find and use this passage required a great portion of