Eric Olafson, Neoviking 18a

*Chapter:  18 INTERLUDE 3*

Gretel was not very happy with the developments lately. She urgently needed new dresses. Her supply of sweetmeats, favorite drink, hot chocolate,  were running low. Isegrim sat brooding in his chair by the fire and stared in the flame. Lothar and Tyr played in the High Hall, running around the long, stately table giggling and yelling. Suddenly Isegrim bolted up in his chair and uncoiled his whip."Cease that mindless foolishness at once!" Tyr stopped, but Lothar kept on. "I am your favorite. I can do what I want, can I not Mother?" She got up and said."Play a little less noisy." Isegrim glared at her. "He ignores me, and you condone his behavior?  Eric my firstborn slew a Fangsnapper with a knife younger than him, and while doing so burned his back.  I beat him many times and never was there a tear or a cry from his lips. Yet this favorite fruit of my loin's dances around a table like a nitwit, giggles and laughs like a girl and defies my word?" Isegrim's voice became louder with every word. Gretel said."Speaking of that failed abortion, is it not time we invite his future bride over so you can ask for another advance to the dowry?" Isegrim growled raised his massive hand, she retreated." Don't you dare Isegrim, unlike that dumb blonde you married first; I made sure you won't do the same to me. As you know, I have collected evidence of all your crooked deals and crimes. Should I die or come to harm. The Elders and the clan leaders you robbed screwed and stolen from will all know the truth. Including how your father and Erik Gustafson really died." Isegrim grabbed her by the throat and pulled her close. "I found your evidence and know you hid it with your sister. Your sister met a miserable end, I believe the hungry Nubhirs did not leave much after she told me everything I needed to know. He pressed tighter causing Gretel to cough and gargle.   Her eyes grew large, she was no small woman, but there was nothing she could do against his Nordic strength. Isegrim pulled her even closer. "Do you think I would let you blackmail me forever?" He suddenly let her go and pushed her away. "I let you live for now as I don't like to make a fool of myself. I declared to the world that Lothar is my favorite. Of that, I am beginning to change my mind!" Gretel was still fighting with her breath and father was screaming. "Lothar if you are still there when I turn my face I will roast you in the fireplace right now!" Harkun silently appeared and stood there like a rod, on the bottom of the stairs his nose in the air. Isegrim took the papers, the PDD and a box with documents from his servant." Is that all?" "Yes, your Lordship. Her sister was very descriptive. It was all there. I also found a key card for a safe deposit box at a Holstein bank. There are additional papers and documents there, or so her sister said." Gretel came up. "That's right Isegrim! You may get some but not all. I have damning material on you at a place you never imagined, there is instruction with it also!" "And neither can you. We both can no longer leave this place." "I don't have to, if anything happens to me,  a friend will open, publish, and give to union police. There is evidence of a murder plot while will not sit well with the Elders or the Union." Isegrim looked towards Harkun, and the man sniffed. "I have similar evidence of your string of crimes, woman, that will assure the noose of a Union executioner." She hissed." Damn you Harkun! One day!" Isegrim snipped his finger. "Have you been able to find out where Eric is yet? He seems to have disappeared." "Your brother has severed all ties to your son and rejected all control of Ragnarsson properties and businesses. All matters now controlled by a lawyer on Pluribus." "Did he go to Hasvik again?" "No your Lordship. It appears that the Eldest has accepted him as a student and they are presently at the Pillar." Father plunged back down in his chair. "Of course, Ilva knew him, and the old wizard was there at Eric's naming day. If only half of what they say about him is true" His voice trailed off. Gretel said with a meek voice. "Who is this Eldest?" Father stared in the fire. "The Holy One, the One who has talked to Odin and in return gained a very long lifespan!" "Gods don't exist!" She snorted. "For your and my sake, I hope you are right. " Father glared at her and sighed. "We are too much alike, Gretel. Maybe that is why I don't kill you. You are but a woman, but your heart is as black as mine. Sometimes I think you planned it all from the beginning." She nodded. "I have my dear husband. I have! This is a cursed world for women and twice as cursed for those born to Low men. I did not want to scrub stinking bloody hides for the rest of my life. Stomp bare feet in urine to soften and tan leather. Yet this is a Nubhir Cleaners daughter's lot. I saw that cursed blonde in her pretty dress not even seeing me. I saw your father descending and killing everyone." Her voice became as hard as steel. "I swore myself I would be there one day and she would be dead. I know of the secret power my womanhood can have over men, and I knew of a young stupid but strong firstborn. One of an old clan but a poor clan, yes you Isegrim. The Olafsons old and noble by name, yet so poor they had to huddle together in the Community room of their minuscule burg as they could not afford to heat the rest of it." He nodded as the flickering flames of the fire stylized his face with even harder lines. "Indeed and I knew it was forbidden to lay with a Low man's daughter. I was young and the promises and secrets of a woman's touch so arousing." "Oh and arouse you did indeed. You were promised to Ilva Ragnarsson by ancient pacts, just as you made with Sif's father. And you broke it by bedding with me! Your father would have killed you if he knew the dishonor you brought upon the House Olafson!" She laughed Isegrim clenched his fists. "You evil wench blackmailed me already back then to tell it all if I did not follow thy bidding. " Her face gleamed with pride. "For all your swagger and strength, in a woman's hand who knows what she wants you men are nothing but pawns. Yes, I am much smarter than you! You even killed that blonde whore on my bidding." She laughed. "You killed her for me like a well trained Nubhir Wolf." He sunk his head and stared at his hands." I have done this indeed, back then I actually loved you." Isegrim, Isegrim. You never loved anything in your life but yourself and to get your pecker exercised or sucked." "It is you who loves nothing, Gretel. I just told you that I had your sister killed and there is not even a tear in your face. Your sister perished after she was questioned and you know that and yet you remain calm." "She was a chess piece, Isegrim, just as you are to me. For my reward, two billion credits are waiting!" Her eyes glittered. "Do you know what you can do with that kind of money? You could buy every burg and every boat on Nilfeheim, or hire a band of mercenaries and kill everyone and take this planet as your own. You could buy yourself a nicer and warmer world, and there would be enough change left for a comfortable, luxurious life!" Her face turned hard again." Now tell me again of this Eldest and how you plan to get that money from that walking cum stain!" He is out of our reach there, Demon woman! You may not believe in gods, but Skallagrmsson is four hundred years and holds the empty Inner Circle. He is no dumby either, and if he decides to interfere with an Elders decision, it is changed. He has mystical powers that allow him to see into the minds of others and always predicts the future correctly." "What a load of superstitious Nubhir poop!" Harkun eyed her disapprovingly." You may think of yourself as a clever woman but you far from it. You possess no power over me or my life and my service is with Isegrim alone. You are still a sniffling, crying, soft-fleshed woman. The cursed Off-Worlders call it Psionics. I assure you these powers are quite real and the Eldest has such gifts in spades and four hundred years to hone them. " Gretel could not argue against that."She had never met anyone with Psionic powers, but she watched enough GalNet shows to know they were real. "Will he give Eric such powers? " "No Eric was tested at the school like any other student." Isegrim said."His PSI index is as low as those of most Nilfeheim Norse." She shrugged."Then as soon as he returns, he will live on the Burg, and we will make sure he changes his mind, won't we Isegrim?" Isegrim stapled his fingers." If he comes back, he might take the Ancient challenge.  Then he will challenge me and probably win.  If so then he will own everything including this is Burg. She blinked angrily. "Everyone says Eric needs to be sixteen to do that? Why not accept the stupid challenge and get it over with now. He is still a kid, you can easily kill him in a challenge, and we have the money." Isegrim stared at his whip. "You are right Harkun. She is but a weak woman and as smart as she thinks she is. She knows nothing about our traditions and the power of the Elders. The children of Low Men are not educated in those things after all." Harkun declined his head. "The Eldest is training Eric how to master in the Ancient Challenge. The Old man takes students very rarely, of those he does take only a few survive, but those who do become legends like Eric's Grandfather or Elik the Ironfist Olafson, Isegrim's great grandfather. I hate Eric as much as you do, but he is already a deadly master swordsman. Did you know he received training from Curt the Outcast?" Isegrim ignored his wife and looked towards Harkun, "I can't help it but to feel a spark of pride. He is the fruit of my loin, and his name is spoken with great respect anywhere but in these our halls." Gretel coughed."Are you saying you fear to face that thin failure in a fight?" He pointed his finger at her."Never call him failure again. When I see what your womb had produced as sons. Eric, my son, is thin because he was not fed on the tables as it was his right by your blackmail. Yet he showed the strength of my house as he killed not one but two Tyrannos. Eric swam against Rock Sharks. Go see the recording when he fights the Steiner boy. Then look at the footage I got from Hogun as he kills four men and maims a fifth. Go look at it! He is growing fast, and I can see the hatred towards me in his eyes, I might not be able to best him now, what he will do to you and Harkun once he bested me does not need much imagination. Curt the Outcast declared Eric to be the best pupil he ever had, and there is no living being on this world who can match Curt the Outcast, he was off world and  fought a thousand monsters and won." Gretel realized that there was a severe threat to her own life growing said."So we must prepare a trap. He will return here, and we will be ready for him. We lay him in irons and administer poisons and potions to rob his strength, and I will get off-world psycho drugs to make him say whatever we want. He is no match for me." "And you will use the same drugs on me! I will not allow you to get this yourself." "Oh, but I already have!" Harkun nodded.  I know.