The sunshine leaked in through the many small gaps in the wall. Hanna awoke feeling well rested. This was something she had needed for a long time. She was lying in a wooden bed with a straw-filled mattress. It wasn’t like home, but it was miles better than sleeping in the wilds.
“Oh, you’re awake!” Said Olof, sounding both happy and terrified. He was carrying a bowl of porridge with a spoon stuck in it. He felt deadly tired and probably looked like it, but he tried to not let it show. “I was just going to leave this here” he said, almost mumbling.
The girl shone up at the sight of breakfast and grabbed the bowl. “Thanks” she said and dug in. With his hands now empty, Olof seemed uncertain what to do with them. After an awkward pause he decided to just let them hang by his sides. He cursed to himself. Why was it so hard to act natural around this girl? When they had gotten here yesterday his mind had been racing. It got so bad that blood had begun to gather up in unwanted places. Not that things got easier when he had heard her drop that poncho of hers. She had come out from around the corner wearing the new cloths he had gotten her, minus the boots. He of course had to stand bent over like a moron just to hide what was going on below his waistline.
The worst thing was that she had given him this teasing look, like she knew exactly why he was bent over. In the end he had managed to calm down and tried to play it cool. That had worked sort of okay until it was time to go to bed. They had stood by his bed and this potent silence had filled the room. It felt like they both thought about what would come next, and his heart had beaten like mad. His palms had been sweaty and his lips dry. Somehow he had finally found his courage, licked his lips and inhaled to say those dreaded words. Sadly, she had been just one moment faster.
“So, where will you sleep?” The girl had asked innocently, with five single words shattering all his unspoken hopes and desires. Feeling like an idiot for imagining them sharing a bed, he had done everything to hide his misunderstanding.
Before he knew it, he had blurted out “The floor”.
The girl had giving him a sceptical look. “Are you sure?” She had asked. “Is there no better place for you to sleep than the floor?”
“No, the floor is fine” he had insisted, opting for some machoism in a futile attempt to save some face. At the same time there had been this voice in his head, cursing and insulting him.
“Okay.” She had said, her voice trailing off as if she was somewhat disappointed. And that had really sent his head spinning. Had he misunderstood? Would she had responded to his advance? Was she just teasing him? In the end he had barely gotten any sleep. The worst part was that today was combat practice, which he sucked at as it was.
While he brooded over the tragedy of yesterday, the girl had gotten fully dressed. She had found a piece of string somewhere which she had used to tie up her hair. With her new hairdo and dressed in her new clothes she looked like a completely new person. Kind of like she almost fit in. But not really. Her eyes still made it very clear that she had seen and known things that he would never see. Why did that make her so attractive?
She walked out of his house but stopped in the doorway. She turned around and looked him in the eyes. He felt himself swallow. “Do you know where Björn is?” She asked, and the sun lit up her hair as if it was on fire.
“I guess you could try the house where we prepared the skins yesterday”, was his reply, his mouth going dryer by each syllable.
“Will do” she said and waved. And then the door slammed shut and she was gone. Fucking hell! Thought the boy. This is absolute torture. Determined to find his way back to his normal self, he pushed all thoughts of the girl away from him. He was already late for practise anyway.
As Hanna walked out of the stuffy house she was greeted by the invigorating sight of a village coming to life in the early hours of a beautiful day. The air had a crisp feel to it and the wind was slightly cold. The sun had just begun warming up the earth and there was still morning dew on the ground. She took a deep breath and thoroughly enjoyed being in the moment. She thought back to the previous night and chuckled. That boy could really be dense. Lucky for him he wasn’t too bad to look at. She thought that she had sent out some pretty clear invitations, but it was as if he was determined to get them wrong. Oh well, she thought, that was his loss.
The place where they had prepared the skins was sort of nearby to Olof’s house and she quickly made her way there. It turned out that she was a lot better at navigating when she could actually see. Björn was standing outside, rummaging about in a backpack. He waved and greeted her when she got closer. Standing by his side was one of the elders, the less-old woman. What was her name again, she thought. Karin?
“I was supposed to give you some equipment yesterday” Björn said as she stopped in front of him. “But apparently someone else had access to the keys.” He continued.
Hanna didn’t know what to say so she just smiled sheepishly. After a second or so of her smiling stupidly, Karin lost her patience and butted in. “I heard something interesting yesterday”, she said. While she spoke, her hand reached out uninvited and pressed against the place where Hanna had been stabbed by Mud-girl. Björn watched the exchange with a confused expression but said nothing. “I heard that you got stabbed just about here”. Her eyes studied the Hanna’s face carefully and no doubt noticed that she wasn’t in any pain. “And then, to everyone’s surprise, you got up a minute after as if nothing had happened…”
Hanna thought about what to say, but Karin wasn’t really waiting for answers. “Send her to the rest of the kids, I’m sure she’ll manage.” She said, looking at Björn.
Björn looked slightly annoyed at that and sped up his rummaging in the backpack. As the girl focused she could just about make out him swearing over hotshots wasting the time of the common folk. Karin seemed to have heard something as well, because she snapped around with fire in his eyes.
“What was that?” She asked with a challenging tone.
“Nothing” said Björn meekly and kept his gaze at the backpack.
“Thought as much” Karin said, and walked away. There was almost a slight swagger to her walk.
When she was well out of earshot Björn breathed out and turned towards Hanna. “Did you get much rest?” He asked her, his eyes full of innuendo.
The girl was unfazed by this. “I could ask you the same”, she said. This got a laugh from the man.
“You are nestling in quickly” he remarked. When the girl looked at him with confusion he decided to elaborate. “You have been assigned to the village’s reserve troops. They are training as we speak.”
The girl stood flabbergasted. She had accepted the deal with the elders because she thought that meant a roof over her head and not having to fight for her survival. This deal had sure gotten south fast.
Björn took the backpack he had been poking around in and handed it to her. Apparently it was what was missing of the equipment she was supposed to have. The girl took a quick peek inside and saw a small hatchet, a tiny knife, and what she guessed was some primitive version of a fire steel. There was also a water skin and a thick blanket.
“Thanks” she said and felt that it didn’t really do her feeling of gratitude justice. This stuff was pretty much her most important lifeline, perhaps more so than the village itself, at least if it was going to send her into combat.
“Don’t worry about it” said Björn and walked off. When he saw that the girl wasn’t following he waved her along. “Come on” he said. “This will be fun!”
The training grounds was located on the outskirts of the village, on the side opposite to where they prepared the skins. It was an open square surrounded by houses, with fresh straw spread about on a large patch in the centre. The straw was probably meant to cover up the mud that was everywhere in the village, but if it was, it was doing a so-so job. In the middle of it all was though looking woman. She was littered in scars and her very posture oozed danger. Her hair was a fiery red that was cut short, and her armour were of leather with metal plating. Strapped to her body was a grand assortment of knifes. The girl counted and there where at least a dozen of them. All in all, the woman bore a striking resemblance to the mud-diver of yesterday. The girl didn’t like that at all.
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Around the woman stood a bunch of teenagers, attentively listening as they were being yelled at. Most of them where new faces but among them was both Olof and Mud-girl. With the mud cleared off her and in broad daylight her features were easier to discern. Hanna could grudgingly concede that she looked sort of attractive, if you weren’t put off by self-absorbed assholes. There was a slight smirk to her smile, as if she knew a most curious secret. Complementing that was a broken nose, with a short horizontal scar right where it was bent. Together, it gave of an intriguing aura, as if she had experienced something more than others and grown from the experience. Lucky bastard, thought the girl.
Olof stood near her. He had a focused look in his eyes, and he seemed intent on absorbing every word that the woman screamed at them. It gave her a feeling of nostalgia, like being back in the army again. It was a set-up that she knew well. The yelling part was meant to make sure everyone tried their beast, and to make sure no one got any funny ideas. Of course, they usually needed some sort of reason for the yelling, but put a bunch of teenagers together and they created enough reasons all by themselves. The trick to taking it well was to not take it personally, and to understand what they were actually saying. Olof didn’t look like he had figured that out yet. He was definitely taking it personally. He flinched to the rhythm of her insults, the woman’s pointing finger a metronome that his eyes followed closely. Poor guy.
The woman eventually seemed to lose some steam, and Björn took that has his que to interrupt. He walked up to the woman and spoke a few words. At first the woman glared at him, but when she saw the girl in his tow she smiled. Hanna got the feeling that the woman knew they were coming. Björn turned away from the woman and walked back to the girl. He patted her shoulder and wished her good luck as he left, not looking her in the eyes as he did so.
“I’ve heard you are pretty though” said the woman, her eyes focusing on Hanna. “Apparently you were walking minutes after being stabbed by my daughter.” Her last remark sounded like an insult, and judging by the glare she gave her, it was aimed at Mud-girl. The smile that she got in return was forced and ironic. Their relationship was apparently not all hugs and kisses. The woman locked eyes with her daughter for a second, before she turned towards Hanna once again.
“From now on, you will be coming here every weekday. In return, I will try my best to make you somewhat useful to the village. If I ever find you anything less than thankful for this honour, I will personally make sure to instil some gratitude in you. Is that understood?”
Her speech sounded rehearsed. It was hard to tell if it was because she sat at home rehearsing it, or if it simply had been delivered one time too many. Judging by the smile on the surrounding teenagers, the girl was willing to bet it was the latter. Also, she had a hard time imagining the woman standing at home in front of a mirror, reading written down lines from a paper.
The woman brought her out of her musings with a heavy swat to her head. It didn’t really hurt, but it felt deeply humiliating. The girl took solace in the fact that she at least hadn’t fallen over. “Wow, this is a promising start”, said the woman ironically. “Let me make this clear: You do what I tell you to do. And if I ask you something, you fucking answer”
There was a clear hint of menace in the woman’s tone. Hanna felt a shiver along her back, but she knew this dance. Don’t do stupid stuff, give the right answers. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
“Yes… sir?” Shit, she thought. I never had a female officer before. Does this village even have officers?
Lucky for her, the woman only chuckled at her mistake. “We don’t have rank here”, the woman said. “Birgitta will do”
The girl was confused. Wasn’t that the name of her daughter?
Birgitta senior sighed. She must have seen her confusion. “Yes, I named my daughter after myself. Do you have a problem with that?”
That’s healthy and non-confusing, Hanna thought. This meant that Mud-girl would be keeping her nickname, it could be shortened to “Muddy” at least. Or maybe she should just call her number two? The girl only barely held her laughter.
“No, Birgitta” she said.
Birgitta took Hanna’s compliance as a sign that she had gotten her point across and moved on. “Now, why don’t you introduce yourself to your fellow reservists? Name and where you come from should suffice.”
The girl froze. She had not expected this. What would she even say? “Hey all. My name is Hanna”, she began. So far so good, she thought. They were all looking at her. Olof had a sympathetic look in his eyes. Muddy in turn was glaring daggers. Hanna smiled at her. “I’m happy to be here”, she said. “I recently woke up in the valley. No clue how I got there, but now I’m here!” She tried ending it with a happy tone.
All of them, including Olof and Muddy, was looking at her with doubtful eyes. Maybe she had been a bit short on detail, but what could she really have said? Some off the teenagers had begun giving off a different kind of vibe. It was hard to tell if it was fear or anger, but it was definitely directed at her. A few of them where whispering, and the commotion quickly spread in the group. Hanna felt uneasy, this was clearly different from normal curiosity. Something was definitely going on.
Before anything else happened Birgitta broke the tension by clapping her hands together. This seemed to be some sort of signal, because all of the teenagers snapped to attention. Hanna followed suit. Whatever had just happened would have to wait until this was done. Birgitta went on to introduce the focus of today’s practice, close quarter fighting. Apparently the standard equipment for the armed forces of the village was a spear, but those who knew how to use them was also given a short sword and a shield. Today they would be working on how to fight when the opponent was to close for the spear to work well, meaning this was sword and shield practice.
Birgitta instructed everyone to fetch a sword and shield, and all of the reservist ran off towards a nearby building. Hanna didn’t really know what to do but decided to stick with the crowd. That was usually the right answer. Once inside the building the girl found rows of neat shelfs, lined with armour and weapons. She had been the last one to enter due to her hesitation. By the time she had gotten to the shelves everyone was gathered around, only a few shields and swords remained. She couldn’t really tell a good sword from a bad, but she was willing to bet that all of these left-overs were pretty shitty. Hanna grabbed one of each at random and tried to walk out. Olof stood in the doorway, blocking the way. He threw a look at her equipment before he silently changed her shield for another of the remaining ones.
“The strap was broken on that one. Now hurry up!” He said, a slight nervousness to his tone.
They sprinted to catch up with the rest, who was already forming a half circle in front of Birgitta. She grabbed a volunteer from the waiting teenagers. It was a puffy boy with thin hair and a defeated look. He stood before her, his hand white from how hard he gripped the handle of his sword. At her instruction he swung his sword towards her side. Before the sword had gotten halfway to its goal, Birgitta stepped into his swing and slammed his hand away with her shield. At pretty much the same time she slammed her sword-hand into his ribs. The sword flew from his hand and the boy fell over.
“The essence of close combat is to get in real close, and then to make sure you hurt them. There is too little time and too little space for any story time duels. Stick them in the gut. If you can’t, then take whatever is in the way, and stick it in the gut!” The woman had a smug smile as she ended her speech. She looked as if she had just gifted away some sort of profound wisdom to her young students.
Hanna was less than impressed with her teaching-skills and did her best to make sense of what had happened. She had dabbled for a couple of years in boxing and Wing Chun. She wasn’t very good in either, but what the woman had done looked somewhat similar to what her Sifu was constantly nagging about. Redirecting force or has he had said it: cutting through the centre-line. The woman hadn’t stopped the force in the boy’s swing, she had just made sure that it wasn’t a danger to her by changing its path somewhat. And in the same time she had positioned herself really close to his torso, making sure he had a hard time striking her as well as giving her nice and easy access to his vulnerable stomach. Before she had moved, her knees had been slightly bent and she seemed to be standing rather lightly on her feet. Once she had moved, too much had happened at the same time to be really certain, but thinking back, Hanna could just about imagine her movements. She had probably pushed off with enough force to completely shift her centre of gravity, keeping one foot on the ground as support. In essence she had been falling towards the boy’s arm, her core rigid to make sure the momentum of her lunge added to the force of her blow. It was a solid move, but it also meant she had to hit her target in order to not lose her balance. Maybe it was a worthwhile trade off. At such close distances she was pretty much bound to hit something.
Once the boy had somewhat recovered, Birgitta told everyone to form pairs. With the addition of Hanna to the rooster, their numbers were now uneven. That meant that poor puffy-boy got to stick to his current sparring partner. He had a pained look in his eyes. Hanna on the other hand had quickly snatched Olof. He didn’t seem very happy with their pairing, but he didn’t voice any complaints. Hanna looked at the sword and the shield in her hands. She hadn’t held anything like them before, but she was starting to feel a budding enthusiasm in her heart. She genuinely wanted to learn using these. That enthusiasm waned somewhat when she saw Muddy walking up to Olof, saying nothing as she pushed him away. She continued walking until she stopped right in front of her. The way she held her sword and the relaxed confidence of her posture suddenly seemed very intimidating. On her face was a big smile, but it didn’t hold a lot of warmth. Her eyes had a hungry look.