Erik Ragnarsson returns

Erik Ragnarsson returns

(5011 OTT ) Eric Olafson, Neo Viking Chapter 7 Erik Ragnarsson returns

Erik Gustav Ragnarsson, the grandfather of Eric Olafson returns to Nilfeheim and his Burg. He hides behind traditions to bring justice to Isegrim Olafson.

I was surprised to see Harkun my father's manservant standing outside the schoolyard next to the large black Volvo. My first thought was that father was here. An invisible fist of ice cramped my heart making me feel sick to the stomach.

To describe Harkun all you would have to say is gray. His shaggy hair was thin and the color of burnt wood ash. Even his skin somehow looked gray; perhaps it came from the dark grey leather overcoat and the lighter gray linen suit beneath. His nose often reminded me of a Tyranno Butchers hook, and I was certain it was almost as sharp. His eyelids always seemed three-quarters of the way closed, and due to his thin, tall stature, he managed to look at everything and everybody with an arrogant displeasing stare. The only person spared from his stare was Father. Harkun did not speak about private or personal matters to anyone, and no one in the clan questioned his utmost devotion to Father. Looking down his nose at me, he said this with utmost displeasure, "Your father sends the family flier to get you, your Grandfather is here and wants to see you!" Harkun managed to convey hatred of this errand. Sometimes I wished I could tell him where to stick his hook nose, but not now. Grandfather was here in person, and I honestly looked forward to seeing him. After we landed right in the main yard, another thing was immediately evident. Not only the dark red Olafson flags with the yellow Wolf heads were furling in the wind, but also the black Ragnarsson banner with the silver falcon head. Only the oldest clans used heraldic symbols associated with our Earth heritage. The servants and clan members that were here now wore their festive garments and either Olafson red or Ragnarsson black. There were many more black clothing than red.

In the yard stood two gigantic figures both decked out in their finest. Father and an even bigger man also wearing red, Uncle Hogun, my godfather. Both of them approached the flier after it landed and I stepped out. Father waved Harkun away after we climbed out of the flier. "Leave us! " From the corner of my eye, I saw my stepmother standing in the window of her drawing room watching us.

Fathers' hand grabbed his whip, and it uncoiled, the tip of it falling to the Duro-Crete stone ground and said. "Your Grandfather is here.  If you so much as open your mouth without my permission while he is here I will break every bone and use glowing irons to burn your tongue, do you understand?" I smiled at him. "You better kill me right here and now, Father, for I will tell him what happened to Mother that night!  I remember every detail of it!  This time he is not a powerless shadow.  This time he is here!" Father howled and smashed his fist into my face sending me back against the parked flier. Before I even slid to the ground his whip snapped across my face. The burning slash across my face from the whip completely overpowered pain from the blow to my face by his fist. "You insolent whelp, I will teach you respect and obedience!" I fully expected the next blow, but it never came.

Hogun held fathers arm with ease and with his bottom of the barrel voice, "I am Olafson, and I stand against you before the Elders. I held my tongue for way too long." Father was about to strike his brother, but he knew he would lose that fight and said. "You are the second born and not the voice of Olafson. You are no longer welcome at my burg!" "It is not your burg yet!" A new commanding voice said! My grandfather appeared at the entrance to the Main building. He strode with large steps towards us, his hands on his sword, half drawn and he said. "Isegrim Olafson rise your cowardly whip against me, I dare you!" Father actually dropped his whip and stepped back. The expression of fear in my father's face was more soothing to my pain than anything the doctor or the nurse could have administered. I got up, trying to ignore my spinning head and my blurred eyesight. Burning pain made my face feel ten times bigger than it was. Grandfather looked at me." It grieves me more than I can express to see you like this grandson! "Hogun said with urgency in his voice." Patriarch let me take Eric to the still room. He is losing a lot of blood!" "Yes, Hogun. I shall deal with matters here. "

Hogun scooped me off my wobbly feet like a weightless toy. The doctor sighed as he finished, "You should consider divorcing your parents as soon as you can. I am sure I can get you a ticket on a space bus to Holstein, there is a federal court. The Union has programs available!" Hogun stood in the back of the still room his arms crossed before his massive chest. The doctor was no small man, but he appeared like a child next to my uncle, whose underarms were thicker than the doctor's thighs. "I would take care of my nephew, and he could stay with me at the Inn, but our traditions don't allow me to interfere." Hogun spread his arms. "He is my older brother, and on Niflheim, anyone born after the Firstborn son has little to say in family or clan affairs!" "I am well aware of Niflheim traditions." The doctor responded while he removed the Derma Patcher from my face." There are only fourteen doctors on a world of millions of savage Neo Vikings, and I am one of them for over forty years now, but I stitched and treated this twelve-year-old boy more than almost everyone and almost always for horrible wounds caused by that cursed whip of his father!"

"Well his Grandfather is here today, and I have never seen the Old Patriarch as furious as he was just now. I would be surprised if he leaves enough of my brother for you to patch up., but those are family matters and should not be discussed with an Outsider." "Let us hope for the boy's sake you are right. I would love to get this sadist on my table just once. I'd stitch him back together the ancient way and all traditional with needle catgut and no anesthesia." Hogun grinned." I am not sure what you meant exactly, but it sounds real good to me!"

The doctor looked at me and smiled but was still talking to Uncle Hogun. "I can fix the physical wounds easily enough, but I tell you if that keeps going on, Eric will need serious psychosurgery to fix its mental damage and I hate Psycho Surgery!" He then shut off his field screen and this time addressed me. "Blood refilled, skin patched, teeth fixed and a general maintenance tune-up in the vitamin and mineral department. You're as fit as a horse again!" "I think the Hesten clan has a horse in their crest." I said." It is a sort of beast is it not? But I am not sure why I am supposed to be as fit as one?"

He waved me off with a smile. "It is an ancient Earth expression and where I come from horses are part of our culture and heritage." He looked past me and perhaps past Niflheim "I think it's time I think of retirement and go home to Kentucky. I haven't seen a horse in ages." The doctor said to Hogun." I am at the Inn later today!" Then the Doctor shimmered out, and Hogun turned off the GalNet terminal and closed the cabinet where it remained, out of sight, until needed. Uncle Hogun was always a very tidy and orderly minded person, so he gathered the Derma Patcher and the other things the doctor had used,  and put them away in the medical cabinet and said." We better go back and face whatever happened."

He looked around. "Since no one else is here It could be no one got wounded. Are you ready?" I nodded. "Yes, Uncle Hogun and I would really like to live with you and Aunt Helga. Thank you for thinking about it!" He smiled at me. It was a warm smile I knew even if his enormous beard hid his face as Uncle Hogun's smiles always reached his eyes.

The Grand Hall of the Burg was an impressive room with a very high ceiling, massive chandeliers made out of the fish bones of Tyrannos. There was a long dark table with 40 upholstered chairs on each side. The hewn rock walls covered halfway up by incredible expensive real wood paneling. The lavish use of natural woods one of the most costly materials and nowhere to be found on Niflheim gave witness of the age-old affluence of the Ragnarsson clan. Beyond the big table stairs of only two steps, but as wide as the hall lead into the Great Chamber. The largest fireplace in the entire burg was in the Great Chamber. There was always a fire burning, by decree of the first clan chief who build this burg. Today to honor the return of the Burgs lord long blocks of soak stones drenched with Tyranno oil flickered with dark orange flames and filled the air with a fragrant scent. Grandfather sat in one of the high backed leather seats by the fire. Father stood next to the chimney, and both wore sinister expressions. No servants or other household member was present. Since mother died, I was not allowed to be here.

I instinctively looked towards the well-concealed crack in the paneling, behind it the secret passageway leading to the undercroft and basements. I was almost certain I saw someone move behind it. Grandfather smiled as he saw me. "Eric, my Grandson approach and sit with me. We are discussing clan business and traditions!" He then waved at Hogun. "What I have to say involves you as well so honor me with your presence." "What honor could an Inn Keeper offer?" Father snorted looking at his brother. "Honor is a state earned and bestowed upon by peers and not a commodity you attain by gaining rank and title!" Grandfather said. Then he pointed with his gloved hand to the chair next to him. "Sit down Eric!" I expected to find my father lying in his blood or thrown out of the burg but not this tense but otherwise calm scenario. Grandfather straightened in his seat, and his hands cramped around the ends of the armrests making a gnarling sound. "Isegrim I know what happened to my daughter. I know you have beaten her to death because you lusted after a worthless wench that is nothing but a Nubhir hide cleaner's daughter!" He said that looking directly towards the small crack in the paneling. We all heard the outraged hiss from behind the wall. "I know you treat your firstborn like an outcast because he has seen your deed and you sired a bastard of no significance with that wench who is now listening to man's business behind the walls!"

Grandfather got up and yelled. "Greifen, Harkur!  Release the Nubhir wolves and let them into the basement and the walls. Anyone that comes out the old passageway other than the wolfs you cut up for bait!" A part of the wooden paneling swung open with a creaking sound, and Gretel Hemstaad in a red dress stumbled into the room. Her cheeks flaming red and her fat face outraged." I am the Lady of " "Silence your wench, or I shall deal with her the traditional way for spying on clan business!" Grandfather's hand fell on the hilt of his sword and Father actually uncoiled his whip and roared. "Leave now and be silent. I will deal with your insolence later!" She sobbed, bit her lower lip and left with a rustle of a dress.

Grandfather sat back down. His voice was loud and vibrated with great authority. "Nothing happens within these walls without me knowing it!  This place is still the Ragnarsson Home! As a father I would like to kill you, take my revenge on you. As a Union citizen, I want to have you arrested and hung for murder. To see you twitch and kick on a nice rough length of rope, I would give all my wealth and my right arm! "But I am also the last of the Ragnarsson clan, and I am an Elder. We do not call the Off-Worlders, and we stay true to our laws and the traditions. My beloved wife could not give me a son before she died and Eric is the last that carries Ragnarsson blood. When you married my daughter, I was content that the Ragnarsson clan would cease and continue in the Olafson clan. Your clan is of the old lineage, and I looked forward to the merging of our families. Instead of traditions and old lines, I should have listened to my daughter."

He sighed deeply and continued." I am also an Elder and by most sacred oaths I took and by my very honor must uphold our traditions. While it is without honor to beat a woman to death and you are guilty of murder by the laws of the Union there are no ancient laws of this world that you have broken. You are by the same traditions the father of Eric and nothing in the Old book can change that. I made Eric the sole heir of all that is Ragnarsson., which includes this burg, farms, ranches, boats, ships, and submarines. Every mine, stocks and every credit in every account will be his the day he turns sixteen! You were there Isegrim as I made this vow on the crib of my newborn Grandson and no Ragnarsson has ever backed out of a pledge, and I shall not be the first one." He paused and looked at me. "Eric I am an old fool. I was full of love, hope, and pride when I saw you for the first time. I made a foolish vow, one I regret now very much. But both as a man and a Viking I must see it through even if it kills me inside.  I hope one day you understand!" Father's face changed to a cold smile. "Indeed I was there when you made that runt of mine your heir and handed me all this on a silver platter!

He laughed."Yes, old fool!  I have beaten your daughter, my wife and on many occasions as she did not adhere to our traditions and often rebelled against my will and word, but I do not need to justify to you or anyone on this world why I chose to end her life.  She was, after all, only a woman!  One might say it is your fault not to raise her properly and to accept the rule of man." The older man's face showed deep sorrow and regret." I have learned that the Vikings of old, the tribe on Earth respected their women and that Leif Erikson the man who founded the Viking movement and led our ancestors to this world knew little about the culture he tried to revive." He clasped his hands. "Be that as it may, in the many ages we have made this world our own and the ideas of a small group over the passing of millennia became our sacred traditions. I admit I have put the love of my daughter on occasion above my dedication to our traditions. It is not you who stand judgment over me. "

He took a deep breath to calm himself and said, "Now hear this as it is my word. I hold you to these traditions you hide behind like the coward you are!  Should you fail to punish your wife according to them, I shall hear of it?  Should you transgress against even the smallest step against anything that is in the ancient Book, you will no longer be protected by them, and I, personally, will drag you beyond the gates of this burg and tie you to the rocks so the crabs will tear you to death, bit by bit! Do you understand?" Grandfather said in such a thundering fashion that fathers' face no longer displayed that sickening smile, but open fear again. He nodded. "I do!" Erik Gustav stared at him with burning eyes. "Be aware that you admitted murder to me!  Should you from this day forward step anywhere on Union ground or leave this world, I will have you arrested, and my fondest wish comes true!" Father grunted." I have no desire to be a slave to the degenerate weak off-worlders like you are!  I am content to be on Niflheim and need nothing the outside offers!"

"You are a fool, Isegrim there is strength and power out there far beyond your comprehension, but you know well about the Credits you like to spend and the ales you drink they come from beyond this world." Grandfather looked at me again." By our traditions, he is your firstborn and not Lothar. While you have the right to choose anyone as your heir in your home, this is not your home!  It is mine and will be his. By our laws the day he completes the ancient challenge he will inherit!" Father laughed. "That is the day all that is yours will be mine!  I am the clan Chief and Eric's father, and he must obey my will! The day after he inherits it will be all mine, and there is little you can do!"

"Eric could challenge you!  As your rightful firstborn he can challenge you!  Then all that is yours will be his, and I predict that whatever I would have done to you would have been merciful compared to the payment he will take for his vengeance!" Father roared with laughter. "This weakling, this failure.   I will rip him to shreds the second he turns sixteen!  There will be no challenge!" Grandfather leaned back and put his hand on my shoulder keeping me from getting up, and he said." A weakling that kills a Fangsnapper with a kitchen knife beats Sigvard the strongest in his class to an inch of his life and dispatches Rock Sharks and Tyranno Fins by the age of twelve. I agree with you to him you will be no challenge by the time he reaches sixteen! "

Father stopped laughing as he heard that and clamped his whip. "These are four long years, and at any time I could decide I don't need all these trappings of luxury and return to my Burg and turn this insult of a son into a bloody smear!"