Helna the Viking – Part 3: HELNA, #3

By Pier Maria Colombo

Helna, a young Norse girl, has finally connected with the wolf spirit Waya, and has learned to wield her powers. But the world is about to be thrown into chaos once again. With a war between tribes on the horizon, Helna is called by the ancestors of the Sequoyah to take on a seemingly impossible task. To accomplish it, she needs guidance from both the world of the living and the world of the spirits; and an army.

Can Helna convince the other tribes to join her in her quest, and will she be able to be their leader in a war that will change the lives of many forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seagull Editions
• Release date: May 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223123798

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

DEEP IN TOUGHT

Wohali sat beside her, carving a piece of wood into a cylindrical shape. For most of the previous day, he had worried over Ama and Unegi; particularly as the rest of the tribe were not happy with their presence. However, they were eventually given a place at the fire from one of the female elders, who had said no child should look so frightened as they did. They were fed, but the pipe was not given to them, and that was a clear sign that they were not accepted here. This was not a good sign for Helna’s attempts at making peace with the Ahuli, to reform the tribe of the Wuhanv. That morning, she asked Wohali about the traditions of diplomacy here; Vikings did not have a high level of diplomacy, and most things were settled with a fight. Helna did not really know much about settling anything without that.

He had not spoken much, only coming here to carve whatever he was making, deep in focus on his work and barely glancing at her. Helna decided to stand up, and take her own walk; perhaps some time on his own would give Wohali a few ideas. Sigrid was probably still asleep in the healing tent; having been through quite a lot recently, she had needed a lot of rest to regain her strength. Grey, the wolf, had started feeling better already, but was not strong enough himself to return to his cave. Helna had gone to see the pack, and allowed Waya to reassure them their alpha would be fine.

Helna wandered into the fields by herself now, not worried for her safety at all. She knew her father would be displeased that she was so convinced of her own invincibility, but with Waya so easy to call to her side, she did not feel that her thoughts were wrong this time. After all, no Viking she knew had such a powerful spirit to fight alongside them.

Nor had they the voices of their ancestors behind them. If she could convince Yansa of what the ancestors had told her, she knew that she would get him to end the war between the Ahuli and the Sequoyah. The Wuhanv would return, more powerful than they had ever been. No tribe around them would be strong enough to overwhelm them; particularly with Helna standing at the helm. Yansa might not be particularly inclined to hand over his crown, but she knew that Wohali, at least, would see it as a weight removed from his shoulders.

The day was warm, the sun beating down, but Helna had gotten more used to it. The ice and cold of her home felt far away now, as if it had been a completely different life. Some people she had known; she could no longer picture their faces in her mind. It was a strange feeling, losing so much of her home so quickly, even in her thoughts. The tastes of the food, the smells of the village; they were all difficult to picture now, all difficult to remember. Yet, she knew, that she would know them the moment she encountered them.

The smoke of the fire grew smaller as she continued walking, just allowing her own thoughts to run rampant. If she did manage to call for peace; if she did manage to merge the tribes, then what would she do? Would she remain here to rule, or ask them to return with her to Livzak, to reclaim the city from her sister and Seleda? Her heart was pulling her back home, but she did not know if she could truly ask that of these people. It would be a perilous journey, and a battle was certain upon her return. Could she truly ask the Sequoyah or the Ahuli to give their lives for her own people?

Helna thought that it was unfair that all of these questions lay on her young shoulders, but she could not really argue with fate. She had been given great power, and now she had to be accountable; she was no ordinary young girl. Hers was no longer the destiny of other women she had known. No rearing of children or caring of the home would lay in her future, only battle and strife. For a moment, she wondered whether she would have a choice otherwise, if she could go back to a normal life after all of this was over. However, she knew that that would not come to be, if fate is what had bestowed Waya upon her. Her life had been forever changed by this gift that her father had given her.

She sighed and looked up at the cloudless sky, wondering if she really had any idea whether she knew what she was doing. There was no real plan, and it did not seem like Wohali had one, either. There was no-one to ask for advice, except for the ancestors. Helna was not sure how to contact them, nor what questions she would ask if she did. Yet, Wohali had been Onacona’s student before he had died, and that meant that he had to know something. Maybe he would teach her a ritual to reach the ancestors, and she could ask them how to speak with the Ahuli. Yansa had been spirit walking before – she had seen him, after all, and that meant that the ancestors must have known him.

With that realization, Helna allowed herself a small smile. That was something to do, at the very least. Up until now, she could only wait for any inkling of an idea to come to her, and it had made her quite restless.

She decided to turn and walk to the wolves’ cave. She often checked in on them, and decided that now was a good time to do so. Wohali would not be expecting her back for at least an hour; if he even realized that she was gone. He had seemed to be so deep in his own thoughts that he would not come out of them for some time. Even if he did, he was likely to go and see Sigrid before he did anything else. The cave was about twenty minutes’ walk from where she was now, and she spent that time locked in her mind, sometimes kicking at a rock in her way.

Finally, she was climbing the side of the hill towards the gaping mouth a quarter of the way up. She could hear yips and barks from inside; the pack seemed to be in a better mood than they had been the previous day.  From the smell that Helna quickly picked up as she got closer, their hunt must have been successful during the night.

The alpha female, named Blue for her eyes, quickly popped up when Helna reached the entrance. The pack became quiet; careful, but continued their activities quickly when they realized that it was only her. Blue even rubbed her head against Helna’s side, like a dog asking for a pet. Helna laughed, before she took a seat on a nearby stone. The wolves let her be, no longer curious over her presence, and she simply watched them. It was something that comforted her, to watch their routines, their play, their behaviour; it helped her to get her mind off of everything that was happening around her.

There were several puppies, and she could only tell who the mothers were by their physical appearance. In general, all of the wolves seemed to work together to look after them. It was an interesting difference between them and humans; aside from the more obvious barbarism of their feeding habits. Helna wondered if it was the medallion that made her want to be here so often; Waya must have appreciated being among her own kind for a while.

The villagers had been upset with Helna’s insistence that they had to make peace with the Ahuli, yet had accepted her explanation of the ancestors’ advice. She had finally convinced them to at least consider it, and she would need to speak with them again that night. It would only be possible for them to go with her leadership if they gave Ama and Unegi a chance to smoke the pipe. They were young, but surely old enough for that. They would need to win the respect of the tribe in order for that to happen, and Helna needed a plan for it.

She wrung her hands together and shook her head. This was supposed to be a place for her to escape from those thoughts, but it became more and more difficult for her to do so. A puppy scampered up to her and bit at her feet, making her chuckle. It clearly wanted to play with her, and she looked over to Blue to get her permission to do so. Blue watched the puppy intently, but turned away with a satisfied flick of her tail, indicating that she didn’t really care about its proximity to Helna. She leaned down to stand on her knees, and scratched the puppy behind its ears. It bounced around her, nipping at her feet and barking in a small voice. It made a warm feeling settle in her stomach, and she felt a glimmer of happiness blossom inside of her. Helna chuckled as she played with the puppy, even when its sharp teeth grazed painfully over her arm and drew droplets of blood. The puppy immediately stopped, and began to lick at the wound with deep concern. Helna pulled her arm away, and showed her appreciation of the gesture by rubbing its head. Soon, however, it found amusement in a rock that rolled across the cave floor, and turned its attention to that instead.

Helna decided that it was time to return to the village, to speak with Wohali, or to, at least, begin to work out some kind of plan if he was still in that strange head space. She patted Blue on the back as a way to say goodbye, and made her way into the fresh air outside. The wolves’ den did not smell particularly wonderful; but Helna did not mind that so much. She could feel Waya’s disappointment radiating from the medallion that she had not been let out this time, but Helna felt that she needed all of her energy right now.

As she clambered down the mountain and came closer once more to the new village; some of it still being built, the thoughts drove themselves into her mind one by one again. She needed Ama and Unegi to prove that they deserved respect, and that they could be trusted. There was no guarantee of that, of course, but Helna believed that they would not betray her. They seemed like frightened children, and no more; there was no agenda or hidden motive behind their agreement to join her. Only the wish for true love to be allowed to flourish.

Helna wondered if destiny would allow her to find love, too, or if she would have to sacrifice it forever. Her father’s fate was to be a warrior, and he had married; surely it was not impossible for her to do so, as well. Yet, Helna had never truly felt that feeling of love that she had heard so often described. She had met many handsome men, but had never thought of having their children, or living in their homestead, or simply being with them every day.

Mostly, it was something she just could not envision for her future, and so she let her train of thought move in a different direction, although down similar lines. She had her suspicions that Wohali was falling for Sigrid; even though Sigrid could only speak a few words of his language. He spent a lot of time around her, although they had no