Bodil

Erik and I walked in silence. I wasn't sure what we would talk about anyways. The last few days had been so strange, and now we were walking though the forest together alone, escaping an unimaginable situation.

"Erik, You keep telling me you have been all over, any idea what is ahead of us, how far?" I was tired and wanted to sleep in safety.

Sighing Erik said, "I'm unsure to be honest, a map would be welcoming."

"We need to find a safe place to rest... I need to rest." I admitted.

"You are not alone there. I won't lie, my legs are sore and tired." He chuckled a bit, turning back to me flashing me a smile. Without any notice a flurvin ran in front of us in a rush. It turned his head towards us and for a moment I swore it was looking into my eyes. The beast was like a dog, but instead of fur like a dog, it had long mossy covered hair. It's snout was also longer then that of a dog, and its teeth hung out of the sides of its mouth, sharp and ready to tear into its prey. Instead of sticking around to try and eat us however, it darted off int the trees and kept running.

"Oh, that's a great sign." Erik said.

"Yeah, what do you think its running from?" I asked him. He looked at me thinking.

"Let's not find out." He started to walk away and stopped, pulled me down into the bush once again hiding.

A tall man dressed in brown leather armor carrying a bow walked out from the trees. He stood for a moment looking around. He wasn't a young man, but didn't look old enough to be considered an old. His hair was dark and cut short, standing up in spots. His eyes a dark brown, but his ears were incredibly strange. They were elongated on top, with silver clips along the edges. I have never seen anyone with ears like that before. Without thinking I stood up. The man snapped his head in my direction pulling his bow and arrow up just as fast, aiming directly for my heart. I raised my hands and stepped to the side. He said nothing but kept his arrow aimed for my chest and watched me step out.

"My name is Bodil." I introduced myself.

He looked at me up and down, and then aimed for the bush. He had heard Erik behind the bush and was ready to kill him as well. I motioned my hand for Erik to stand. He followed my request with his hands showing as well.

"Erik." I said to the man hoping he would understand we meant no harm and wanted to sperate in peace.

"I thought you would of been alone." The man said to me lowering his arrow.

"What?" I was confused. "What do you mean? Who are you?" I questioned him.

"I'm Sullevan, and you are who I think you are, my search is over." He slid his arrow back into his quiver and slung his bow over his shoulder. "Do you know what your fathers name was, Bodil?" He asked me with a sigh of impatience.

I thought for a moment. Why would he ask me that? "Gunnar." Why did I say that? I was annoyed with myself.

"Gunnar? You are sure?" His expression was hard and he seemed to be concentrating.

"Gunnar." I said again, and this time I knew that something was making me speak the truth. "What are you doing to me?" I asked Sullevan.

He seemed surprised. "A truth encouragement spell, to be fair I have been lied to enough over the years, I simply go straight to the point now." He bent his head slightly. "Ranger Sullevan," He sighed, "And I have been looking for you, Bodil for a long time." He smiled and nodded. "We must leave."

Erik stood in front of me. "Oh, I don't think so." I pulled my axe out from under my cloak, there was no way this man was going to take me after finally becoming free. I stepped beside Erik.

"I won't be going anywhere I don't want to be going." I said, the Man catching a glimpse of the axe.

"Where did you get that?" He asked me intensely, looking at the axe.

"No where." I said.

He nodded and then continued, "I was asked to track you down by the Dryadalis Clan."

"What is Dryadalis?" Erik asked. "Do you mean forest folk?"

Sullevan scoffed. "I mean Dryadalis. Elves if you wish, a common name used by common minds." He was annoyed and made no effort to hide it.

"Dryadalis? Myths? People of old that disappeared before the awakened did?" I asked him.

"Does it look like we disappeared to you?" He asked.

I shook my head, there was no way this was an elf. How could it be? Where the hell have these people been hiding for the last few hundred years? "Alright, so you are a Dryad, and you have been searching for me? Why?"

"Gunnar and I were friends, you could say." He told me.

"Gunnar? My father?" I asked slightly shocked to hear my father's name after such a long time.

"Your parents were apart of the dryad community more then they were of their own, the awakened." His face was serious.

"I think you have the wrong Gunnar's daughter. My family were no heks." I said to him.

Nodding, looking as if he was expecting me to doubt his story he pulled out a small dagger. "This was you fathers, it has your families crest on the hilt." He held it out to me.

Taking the dagger and turning in my hands examining the crest. A wolf sitting tall, its tail curled around its legs. Behind it was a single eye, a spear stood in the center of the eye. I shook my head. "I have no recollection of this dagger, or that crest." I handed it back to Sullevan. He took it hesitantly. I could tell by his face he was confused.

Shrugging I sighed. "Do you have any water we can share? Or food? We left our group in a hurry."

Sullevan looked at me, his expression changed from confused to determined and grasped my wrist. He whispered something I didn't understand. Immediately my wrist began to grow warm and Sullevan's hand began to glow green. Images started to flood my mind. Images of my father and a woman fighting with swords and shields casting...magic? Fire, wind. It was coming straight from their palms. Then softer images of them sitting in front of a fire with friends, laughing and drinking, with Sullevan. And then Twin babies laying beside each other, a boy and a girl. My brother. My twin brother. The words repeated in my mind as other images passed by. I could feel my heart getting faster, and faster. I pulled my wrist away from Sullevan.

There were tears on my cheeks. I stared at him in silence. He nodded.

"I am sorry, Bodil. I felt that maybe if I shared my memories with you, you would understand faster that I indeed do have the right Gunnar's daughter." He said to me softly.

"My brother? He died, didn't he?" I asked him. I tried to remember as hard as I could, the day that Uri and his men attacked the farm. Yes, my brother was there with me, so what was Sullevan talking about?

"My brother died along with my parents at their farm, many years ago." I said.

"Your half brother died at the farm that day. There is more to your story that you may know, or remember for that matter. Come with me, I will bring you to the city of Cinneadh. The city of the Dryadalis. There you will learn more then you may want to know. Gain answers you may have been looking for, or need for that matter."

I didn't answer him, I turned and walked a few steps away. I needed to think. In a single week, things have changed rapidly in my life. Now magical memories, and elf warriors? My brother... What was his name?

"What was my brother's name, Sullevan?"

"Your twin brother?" He asked me.

"The one I never met," I said,

"Bjorn. Your mother called him Bjorn. You two were only together for a few days. Then your father took you and left. I am unsure that I am supposed to reveal this information to you, or if you would rather hear it from someone you are...related to?" He asked.

Related to? Is it possible I actually have family? "Who would that be?" I pressed.

"A cousin. A second cousin to be precise. The son of your mother's cousin." He informed me.

"Oh." I wasn't sure what I expected but it wasn't a cousin. "I meant the brother I did know. What was his name?" I asked again.

"You did not have another brother, Bodil. The woman you thought to be your mother had a son, but he was not your brother by anything but name. From what I have learned, you and Bjorn are the only two children your father sired." He said softly.

"Oh" I said again. "I do not question the man in your memories was my father, I could never forget his face. Where was my fathers magic when he was attacked by Uri? Why didn't he use it then if he was able to use it in that battle you showed me?" I asked.

"Your father refused to use magic after he and your mother were forced to separate. He saved your life, Bodil by not using it that day. Just know that. " He said sadly. "Your parents were important to me."

"Forced to separate?" I repeated his words.

"Yes." Was all he said.

"Okay, take me to this dryad city, and I will decide from there what I believe or not." My father was defiantly the man in Sullevan's memory, I couldn't argue that. The woman I did not know, but when I thought of her face, how much she looked like I did. Her dark hair, her eyes... It was hard not to believe she could be my mother.

"Good, we leave now." Sullevan said, "You are being followed, and we shouldn't have waited this long as it is."

"Followed by who?" Erik asked.

"A creature that I can not fight alone." He said flatly, "A nidhogg. And why it is following you is a question I can not answer."

"A nidhogg?" Erik asked in disbelief. "As in a creature of chaos? They are also myths."

"So was magic until days ago, Erik." I said.

He stopped laughing and looked at me irritated. "Right. Well, let's get going then. Don't want to run into any more fairy tale creatures."

"Sullevan, where the men that attacked us nidhoggs?" I asked.

"No." He said hesitantly. "They were men of dark magic. We call them Olc Fir. Roughly translated it means men of evil."

"Oh, is that all?" I said laughing. "Evil men, magic memories, lost brothers? What will be next?"

Nodding, Sullevan agreed. "Your story is one that is unusual, Bodil. No one can argue with that."

I had nothing else to say, those words were truer then anything else.

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