A Wizard In Midgard Read online

  "What do you mean, 'only'?" Gar asked, with a wry smile. "Every woman moves the world a fraction when she bears and rears strong children-and every woman has access to a depth of timeless power that men can only dream of, the power of the void, from which women bring forth Life." Alea found reason for indignation; it gave her a hold on herself again. "Not all women are witches!"

  "No, but all women are magical." For a moment, Gar smiled into space, reminiscent, and Alea felt a stab of jealousy. She scolded herself for it on the instant-it was no concern of hers, which women he had enjoyed! She had no interest in him at all, other than as an aid to survival!

  Then his gaze returned to her, and he became grave again. "There have been women who have changed the world far more directly, and as greatly as any man. When you say that you could not submit to degradation, you are also saying that you have integrity and strength of character. No one of such courage should have to submit to such exploitation. No one of any kind should."

  Her heart fluttered, but she hid it with a jibe. "Would that be part of this new world your peace would bring us?"

  "I certainly hope so," Gar replied.

  She was startled by the notion, then regarded him narrowly. "You can't change the whole world overnight, you know."

  "No, but I can make a start," Gar told her, "though it will probably take a lifetime. Offhand, it seems to me that the dwarves, giants, and slaves have common cause."

  Alea frowned. "How so?" Then she stared. "You mean they all hate the Midgarders? No!"

  "You don't hate them?" Gar asked evenly.

  "Well ... yes, for what they've done to me, and more for what they would have done if I hadn't run, or if they catch me," Alea said slowly. "But as a giant would hate them? My own people? No!" However, she remembered how gentle, almost sympathetic, the giants had been to her, and felt a qualm of guilt.

  "What of those who haven't escaped?" Gar asked. "What of those who have been caught and brought back?"

  "After the way they've been punished, they won't have spirit enough left to hate anybody." Alea shuddered at the thought of the lifelong punishments that awaited her if she were caught, then turned her mind away from the worst of them. She wouldn't remember that, she would not! "Anyway, what matter if they did all hate the Normals? What good would it do?"

  "Yes, what good," Gar mused. "That is the question, isn't it? After all, it's one thing to hate, and another to do something about it."

  Alea looked up, shocked. "Do something about it? What?"

  "Make a change, of course." Gar smiled. "But for that, the dwarves, giants, and slaves will have to join together."

  "That's impossible," she said flatly. "How can they league when they're leagues apart? The giants are in Jotunheim, to the west of Midgard, and, the dwarves are in Nibelheim, hundreds of miles to the east! The slaves are in between, sprinkled throughout Midgard, seldom out of hearing of their masters! How could the three nations even talk to one another? Besides, they wouldn't if they could, for they fear and hate one another too much for any but the harshest speech."

  "There's always a way." Gar smiled as though he already knew of one, though he only said, "I have to admit I don't know what it is yet, but there's always a way to set people talking."

  "How can you say that when you don't even know these people?" Alea cried.

  "I can say it because I don't know them," Gar replied. "I'll have to learn much more about them before I'm willing to admit there's no way to set up dialogues between them--and I suspect that once I do know them, I'll be able to think of a way to induce them to band together."

  Exasperated, she scoffed, "You think you can do anything you want, don't you?"

  Gar turned grave. "No. There are many, many things I can't do, and I know it. They're the things that ordinary people do every day and don't even think about. Sometimes they don't even realize how much satisfaction those mundane, common things give them."

  Alea stared at him, at the sudden bleakness of his face, and felt the guilt rise, and with it a surge of tenderness that surprised her, a yearning to fill that inner void that she suddenly sensed in him, to comfort this huge, capable man who seemed all at once to be powerless, defenseless, tossed about by the gales of chance.

  But that sudden rush of feeling scared her, shocked her; she forced her heart to hardness, so that it wouldn't be hurt. "If I can't do those everyday, human things, though," Gar told her, "I'll do the odd things I can-and some of them are very odd indeed."

  Fear of her own tide of feeling made Alea's voice harsh. "How will you do them?"

  "I won't know until I've talked with people of all three nations," Gar said.

  "What then?" Alea challenged him. "Even if you can make them talk with one another, what can you do?"

  "Yes, that is the question, isn't it?" Gar stood up, shouldering his pack. "After all, there's no point in trying to make a change if you don't know what change you want to make, is there?"

  Alea stood up too. "What change do you mean?"

  "There's only one way to find out," Gar told her, "to ask them. Let's find a dwarf, shall we?"

  One morning when they pitched camp, Alea frowned up at the graying sky and said, "It feels as though we've only been walking half the night-but we've been hiking northward for six weeks now, and the nights should be growing longer again."

  "Nights become shorter as you go farther north," Gar told her. "We've come more than three hundred miles, so we've lost an hour or two of darkness."

  Alea transferred her frown to his. "You must have traveled a great deal, to know that." Envy sharped her tone.

  "Oh, yes," Gar said, intent on the fire he was lighting. "A very great deal."

  The tilt of his head couldn't hide the bleakness in his face, and Alea's heart went out to him as she realized the cause of his traveling. What could have happened to make so huge a man lose his home?

  Any number of things. She had begun to realize just how ingenious people could be when it came to meanness and cruelty. She spoke a bit more gently. "If we've lost darkness, at least we've lost people, too. It's been ten days since we've seen a Midgarder band, and eight since we've seen a giant."

  He had been fishing in a stream, quietly and alone, but they had heard a deep voice from a nearby grove calling in a mother's tones, with a lighter voice, a mere baritone, answering. Even so, Gar and Alea had stepped farther back into the shadows of the trees before they moved past, as silently as they could.

  "It has been peaceful," Gar agreed. "I think we could even begin traveling by daylight."

  The words sent alarm through Alea, but kindled a longing too-to be able to see more than a few yards ahead! To see an enemy that might be coming! But caution prevailed. "There are still the dog packs and the pig herds."

  "The dogs find us by night, too," Dirk reminded.

  "Strange that the hunters didn't." Alea frowned. "We've only seen three bands, setting out on the day's patrol or pitching camp, and they never looked our way."

  "Something else on their minds, no doubt."

  Alea glanced at him suspiciously; his tone was too casual. But there was no way he could have anything to do with the minds of Midgarders, so she let it pass. "You mean any band coming this far north won't be looking for us?"

  "Not likely," Gar agreed. "Don't mistake me-we'll have to be even more watchful than we have been-but I think we can start traveling by daylight. We'll have to, if we want to march more than four hours a night."

  "True," Alea said reluctantly. "We'll have to slumber when the sun does." -

  "We'll have to shift our sleeping schedule bit by bit," Gar said. "We've been awake six hours, to judge by the stars, so let's nap for an hour or two, then walk till mid-afternoon and see how long we can sleep,"

  "That could work," Alea admitted, "but we'll be starting very early tomorrow."

  They rested for a while, eating a light meal, then set off again-but they had only been walking a few hours when they met the giant band.

 
9

  There were eight of them, and two of the giants were balancing the ends of a pole on their shoulders. Slung from that pole was an ox. Each giant carried a bow or spear in addition to the axe at his or her waist.

  "Run!" Alea caught Gar's arm.

  "Oh, I think we're far enough north that there's no danger of their mistaking us for spies," Gar said easily. "We have come into the North Country, haven't we?"

  That brought Alea up short. "If you're right about our having come more than three hundred miles, yes." She wasn't sure, actually, but she'd heard that the border of Midgard was three hundred miles or so to the north of her village.

  "Well, we've met giants before, and they were peaceable enough-as long as we were. You're right, though, it might be better for you to stay hidden until we're sure." Gar started to angle toward the giants.

  Resentment flared into anger, and for a few seconds, Alea glared at Gar's retreating back with pure hatred. How dare he make her feel so small! She ran, caught up with him, and snapped, "If you're not afraid of them, neither am I!"

  The warmth and admiration of the look he gave her quelled the hatred utterly. "You have courage, Alea, and that's more important than being fearless."

  She managed to glare at him anyway, uncertain whether or not she was being complimented. "You seem awfully sure that they won't try to kill us!"

  "Not quite sure," Gar replied, "but if what you've told me about the North Country is true, I think they'll at least be civil."

  "So it will be my fault if they attack?" Alea demanded. "Oh, no.- It will still be my fault." Gar grinned. "After all, you would never be as foolish as L"

  Alea had to work to keep the resentment and anger going. Then she had to work to keep her fear from showing, as they came onto the same trackway as the giants.

  By the gods, they were huge! But when they saw the travelers wading out of the grass onto their road, they halted, and the two bearers laid the dead ox beside the track. No one drew an axe, but every right hand rested on a belt by the axehead, and every left hand moved bow or spear a little to the fore.

  "Hail!" Gar held up a palm, imitating the giants' accent as well as he could. "May your road be smooth!"

  "May your road be soft," a woman in the front rank of the giants said. By her. gray hair and lined face, they could see she was the oldest present. "Where are you bound, strangers?"

  "To Nibelheim," Gar answered. "We dare not cross Midgard to go there. I am Gar, and this woman is Alea." Alea stared. A woman, be spokesman for a hunting band? "Have we come into the North Country?" Gar asked.

  "You have indeed." The giant frowned. "Do you not know where you are?"

  "No, for we've never been here before, and have only rumors to guide us," Gar said. "What lies before us?"

  "Moor with outcrops of woodlands, and a broad river," the Jotun said.

  "There is a ford a day's journey north of this track," one of the men informed them.

  "We heard a dog pack in the distance," a younger woman added. "They did not come near us, though."

  "I don't wonder at that," Alea muttered.

  "But why do you not dare go through Midgard?" the spokeswoman asked. "Are you renegades?"

  "You could call us that,", Gar said slowly. "We are escaped slaves, who dare not go back."

  "Too tall for the Midgarders, eh?" The woman nodded. "We've heard of that. You don't look much taller than most Midgarders to me, but I hear they have very little patience with a few extra inches."

  "Oh, you may be sure of that," Alea said, her voice almost a whisper.

  The giant woman's gaze focused on her, frowning, and Alea felt her blood go cold. "What did you say, lass?" the woman asked.

  "I said, 'You may be sure of that,'" Alea answered more loudly, "and I'm a grown woman, not a lass!"

  "Gently," Gar hissed. "Don't start something I can't finish." But the giant woman inclined her head in grave apology. "Your pardon, young woman. To us, all Midgarders look much the same, and you're young enough that I couldn't say whether you were fifteen or thirty."

  Alea could only stare, thunderstruck by such courtesy in a person of authority.

  Gar's elbow in her ribs jarred her out of her trance. "Accept her apology," he muttered.

  Alea gave herself a shake. "Your pardon for my sharpness, Great One-and I thank you for your courtesy."

  The woman smiled gently. "Call me by name-I am Riara. You sound as though you're not used to it."

  "I'm not," Alea said shortly. Then the desire for sheer fairness made her jerk her head toward Gar. "Except in him. His name is Gar, and I'm Alea."

  Gar looked down at her, pleasantly surprised, and might have said something if the giant woman hadn't spoken first. "A pleasant meeting, Gar and Alea." Riara's face creased with a smile. Then caution returned as she asked, "Why do you wish to go to Nibelheim?"

  Gar turned back to her. "We have spoken with giants, and found that most of what the Midgarders teach their children about your folk is false. Now we wish to talk with dwarves, and learn if there is any measure of truth in that set of tales."

  "Well, we do not know the tales, so we cannot judge of that for you," the giant woman said, frowning.

  "We know the dwarves, though," one of the men said. "They are as good a folk as we, though their ways are not ours."

  "Still, you have the right of it in that you must see for yourselves," a third giant said. "Beware, though, for the dwarves will."

  "Will beware of us?" Gar nodded. "Well, they might, if they have fought the Midgarders as long as you have."

  "You do not sound like a Midgarder, though." The older woman eyed him with suspicion.

  Alea spoke up. "It is because he tries to speak as you do."

  "I do that," Gar admitted. "I thought it a sign of respect."

  "And a slighter chance that we might misunderstand you?" The older woman smiled, but it was only a quirk of the lips. "Speak as you would without such effort."

  "Why, then, this is how I sound," Gar said, without his imitation Jotunish. "Can you understand me clearly?"

  "Aye, but you still do not sound like a Midgarder," the woman said, "nor even like the woman who accompanies you."

  "That's because I'm from far away," Gar said, glibly but truthfully. "I came into Midgard as a friend, and was forced to my knees and enslaved within minutes."

  Alea stared at him in surprise.

  "It would seem your companion has not heard of this," the giant woman said.

  Gar shrugged. "There was no reason to tell her. She has troubles enough of her own."

  "But I asked." The giant nodded. "You must have known nothing of Midgard indeed-or you must be a mighty fool."

  "A fool I am," Gar returned, "for I believe that giants, Midgarders, and dwarves can learn to live with one another in peace."

  All the giants shouted with laughter, and the sound struck Alea and Gar as a physical sensation.

  When she could bring her laughter under control, Riara wiped her eyes and said, "Foolish indeed! We giants might live as friends with the dwarves, but the Midgarders would never cease to attack us both! Don't mistake me, they would cheerfully enslave all of Nibelheim if they could-but I would not call that living in peace."

  "No, nor would I," Gar assured her. "Of course, you might choose to enslave them."

  The last chuckles cut off as though by the blow of an axe, and a giant rumbled, "That is not our way."

  "Even if it were, there are too many of them," Riara said. Gar didn't look convinced.

  But Riara nodded. "You must indeed be from very far away, if you know so little of the Midgarders-and so little of us. Nay, come home with us, wayfarers, for if you insist on going ahead with your folly, you might as well have a night or two under a real roof-and you surely must learn something more about Jotuns."

  Alea stared in amazement, then stepped back and a little behind Gar out of fear.

  Gar, though, only looked surprised. "We are honored, good woman-but dare you trust Midgard
ers among you?"

  "Only two of you, and so small?" Riara waved a hand to dismiss the notion. "Be our guests, strangers, and let us show you that giants are not monsters."

  Fear made a taste-like metal on Alea's tongue, fear made her belly clench, nearly cramp, and she could have screamed with frustration when Gar gave a courtly bow and said, "How good of you to offer-and what a mannerless churl I would be if I declined!, Thank you, thank you a thousand times for your hospitality. We will be very pleased to accept."

  "We will be pleased to have you," Riara said, smiling. "Come with us, then."

  But Alea seized his upper arm in a grip so hard and unexpected that it made him wince. "How can you feel safe among people so much bigger than yourself?" she hissed.

  "I am supremely conceited," he whispered back. She glared at him, knowing it wasn't true.

  "If you'll excuse me a minute," Gar said to the giant woman, "my companion needs a word in private."

  Riara nodded, her face stolid. "Of course. Step aside; we'll not listen." And she turned to discuss the event with her friends. One or two glanced at Gar and Alea as they moved a few paces away, but they turned back to the conversation resolutely, determined to honor privacy.

  "You may be able to fight a dog pack," Alea told Gar angrily, "but you can't fight a whole village full of giants!"

  "Oh, I can fight them," Gar told her. "I'll lose, but I can fight them. Still, I don't think I'll have to. Even if they do become angry with us or try to imprison us, there are always ways to escape."

  Alea scowled, suddenly aware that there was something he wasn't telling. "How can you be so sure!"

  "If I can escape from a Midgarder farm," Gar told her, "I can escape from a giant's pen. They're not even used to trying to keep people in."

  "How do you know that?" she asked suspiciously.

  "You heard them yourself--they don't take slaves," Gar told her. "Besides, they look to be the kind of people to whom hospitality is sacred. Still, I can understand your reluctance to spend a night among them. I can escort you to a safe hiding place, then go back to follow the giants' trail to their village." Alea felt a sudden determination not to show the slightest sign of fear in Gar's presence. "What you do, I'll do! But by all the gods, you'd better be right!"