The Tale of Oknytt & Gray Gnomes: Book 1 of the Ella Trilogy

By Catarina Hansson

The Tale of Oknytt and Gray gnomes is the first book in the Ella trilogy about the girl Tora. Tora is the daughter of the former king and queen of Nordanland. In addition, Tora is a powerful seer and healer who is slowly discovering her powers. The story is set in Nordanland where evil forces are trying to take over. In the Ella trilogy we follow Tora and her friend Wolf in their fight against gray gnomes, oknytt and black magic, all spiced up with a few splashes of Aesir faith. The name of the series refers to the special crosses of magic that run through the story. In addition to The tale of Oknytt and Gray gnomes, the series also includes The tale of Gealdors and Runes and The tale of Dragons and Flatfeet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: May 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823082549

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© 2023 Catarina Hansson. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 979-8-8230-8255-6 (sc)

979-8-8230-8254-9 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 05/09/2023

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© Drömboken AB and Catarina Hansson

Cover illustration © Katri Hansson and Tim Hansson

Also by Catarina Hansson

The Tale of Gealdors and Runes

The Tale of Dragons and Flatfeet

In Swedish

Tigerspår

Several teachings aids

To my grandchildren

CONTENTS

To begin ...

Names in The Tale of Oknytt and Gray gnomes

Notes on the Aesir faith

Ella’s family

1     The Flight

2     Three Ravens and a Seid

3     Black Elves, Dwarfs, and a Hairpin

4     Fala Village

5     The Truth

6     The Attack

7     Nifelheim

8     Jarl Olav

9     Spells and Rats

10   The Flight

11   The Boy Tore

12   Gealdors and Ellacrosses

13   Wolfpelt and the Oknytt

14   The Army Assembles

15   The Siege

16   The Assault

17   Viva’s Cottage

18   Party and Market

19   Blood Moon

Words to know

TO BEGIN ...

Soon you will be reading about a girl called Tora who lives in Nordanland with dwarfs, giants, humans, and elves. But there live also bad people and creatures like the oknytt and the gray gnomes. Have you ever seen a gray gnome or an oknytt? No, they’re not very common here, but there are a lot of them living in Nordanland.

Oknytt are rather short creatures with long, floppy ears. They have small, black eyes and yellowish skin. As soon as anyone approaches, human or animal, they become virtually invisible—the oknytt can blend into their surroundings for brief moments, and this ability makes them excellent thieves and spies. Oknytt are vicious but fortunately quite gullible.

The gray gnomes are also quite short, but muscular and strong. They each have a very large nose with which they can track down most things. That’s why they often work on finding things and sometimes even people.

I thought I’d tell you about an animal that you may not have seen before, the glutton hog. It is without doubt the biggest wild boar I have ever seen. A glutton hog is huge, of a blackish-grey colour with black eyes, and covered in prickly hair. Quite grumpy rascals! So you must be a bit careful when talking to a glutton hog. It might be good to know if you come across one.

We can’t talk about who lives in Nordanland without mentioning Tora, who is the main character of this book. Tora is a young girl who is a seid. A seid can see into the future and help the sick. But is that all she is? One day everything changes for Tora, and she must flee her home. What will happen next? I’m not going to reveal that to you here, and for now you can read about Tora’s adventures in peace and quiet.

NAMES IN THE TALE OF OKNYTT AND GRAY GNOMES

NOTES ON THE AESIR FAITH

Odin is the leader of the Asgardians. He is the god of warriors, can see everything that happens, and is very wise. Odin has two ravens, Hugin and Munin, and the horse Sleipner, which has eight legs. Valhalla is Odin’s castle where he receives Vikings who have died in battle.

Thor is, among other things, the god of thunder and the protector of mankind. He is strong and rides across the sky in a chariot pulled by goats. Thor’s hammer is called Mjölner.

ELLA’S FAMILY

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1

THE FLIGHT

T ora is out in the forest fetching firewood when she hears screams from her grandmother’s cottage. She makes it back to the cottage just in time to see Grandma being carried away by a crowd of people screaming Witch! Witch! Tora hides behind a big rock so they can’t see her. She doesn’t understand what’s happening. Why are they taking away grandmother? And why are they calling her a w itch?

Tora knows that being accused of being a witch is very serious, almost like a death sentence. She must do something to help Grandma, but what? She is just a frightened child. When the people disappear towards the village, she sees that the cottage is on fire. She runs into the cottage to get as much as she can. She takes some of her grandmother’s books that tell how to cure various diseases. She also takes some dry bread, a few pieces of dried meat, and an old sweater. The fire spreads quickly in the little cottage, and Tora has to run out again.

Tora sits under a large spruce tree with branches hanging down to the ground. She looks away towards the village and tries to see her grandmother. In the middle of the square, a big fire is burning. Suddenly the smoke blows away. Now Tora can see her grandmother in the middle of the fire, in the midst of the flames. But the smoke comes back, and Grandma disappears again.

Three women had said that grandmother was a witch who bewitched both people and animals on a farm so that they became ill and died. They claimed that a draug, an evil spirit, had told Grandmother to let her three ravens fly around the farm three times and crow. After that everyone on the farm died.

Grandma has had her three tame ravens called Ash, Soot, and Black since they were baby birds. The three kind birds don’t kill people or animals. Tora cries quietly so that no one will hear her. She is alone in a dangerous world full of scared people. Her mother and father died a long time ago. Now her grandmother is gone too. Not even Grandma’s old cottage in the forest is left.

Eventually, the fire in the square is extinguished as she watches. Everyone who has come to see the witch burned at the stake goes home. Well, Grandma wouldn’t have liked her sitting under the tree crying, so Tora wipes the tears running down her dirty cheeks and crawls forward. She picks up the bag holding the only things she owns and goes back to her grandmother’s cottage, where she has lived for the past eight sun-turns since her mother and father died of fever.

As she gets closer, the pungent smell of fire grows stronger. The cottage has burnt down until only the chimney and part of one wall remain, black with soot and fire. Smoke is still coming from the warm ashes as Tora carefully walks around what is left of her home.

"Grandma, it’s Tora! I know you