Drenched Hems (Ida's Legendary Battles Series #2)

Ida Holst sat on her chestnut colored warhorse and looked to the gray skies as her and her warriors left the small village they had ransacked. None looked back at the now burning village that trailed thick black smoke into the sky and towards the mountain where things that would forever haunt their memories lived. They had come to raid the village, spill some blood, and move on, but after the tragedy of the night before they were riding for home.

Ida and her men rode slowly, them and their horses were weary. It had taken every ounce of her charisma to convince her tired and shaken men to still attack the village. That even in the face of horror there could be some silver lining to it all. The hardest part was telling them to burn the village and not let a single soul escape. There could be no survivors reporting that their numbers were so diminished. It would lead to an attack on them before they could get home, and she wouldn't have that, but she would also not threaten a village and then not show.

The bloody task was ended, and they would be home in three days. Four at the current pace. Ida convinced herself that all they needed was some rest. So much so that they broke travelling to make camp once the mountain was out of view. There was no celebration, no companionship. Just food and sleep. When Ida woke up in the morning though she had found over half of her remaining men has rode off. Roughly two hundred and thirty warriors had been reduced to just over a hundred.

“Cowards!’ she cursed, though in all truth she could hardly blame them, after the trolls and the culling of the village, she may have ran off too had she not been in command.

“Chief.” spoke her only remaining lieutenant. “With so many gone I would like to send out scouts should the deserters tell what happened and draw attention our way.”

Ida just nodded. Her lieutenant nodded back and made his way towards the men who were breaking camp. Ida grimaced at the ground before growling angrily and making her way towards a large rock jutting from the earth.

“My remaining warriors!” She called. “You who have stayed strong with me through these horrors! You who have stayed by my side! You are to be heavily rewarded when we return to our home!”

Her warriors stopped what they were doing by this time and turned to listen. They began to shout and cry cheers of good fortune in her name. That slowly faded as Ida began to make motions to settle down.

“You have done well in this last day, and it is by my will that we have faced such tribulations. Had I simply listened and believed what you all had said we would not be in the shape we were in. Let us bring these supplies to our people, and learn from this experience! We can't let this be a defeat, but a victory! We are more than warriors! We are survivors! We are ruthless! We must not be taken lightly!”

Again her men shouted and cried out her name. She had always been good at speeches, even short ones. She knew just what to say to increase her warriors morale. She also noted that a goods night rest had helped many of her warriors and had put them in better spirits

“Prepare your horses, in an hour we ride!”

More cheers were let loose before her men began packing their gear and preparing their horses. Several men having packed early and rode off to scout at her lieutenant's orders. Ida grinned and made her way to her horse so that she might pack up her own camp and prepare to ride. On the hour, as she had said, Ida and her warriors left camp, headed towards a forest, and one of the longest rivers in Denmark. It would not be long after crossing the river, a half day's hard ride at best, before they would be home.

They went at a slower than normal pace so that the scouts would have an easier time finding them. And within a few hours several of the scouts had returned without any real news, which was good, they figured, no kingsmen were on their way to crush them from behind. Yet, the two scouts sent ahead had not returned, and an hour later Ida ordered a few scouts ahead to see if they could find their missing companions, or find what had found them. They would need to know as soon as possible if the kingsmen, or perhaps worse, were waiting for them.

After another few hours Ida sent two more scouts, but those didn't return either. They traveled even slower now, afraid that there would be an ambush once they reached the river, and Ida dare not send any more warriors forward, they were dangerously low on numbers as it was. However the forest began to thin and the river came into view. There was no one around that they could see, no blood, not even hoof prints in the loose dirt of the road along the river.

They made their way down to the only bridge for miles and made their way over it in groups of three. They stopped and gathered in their surroundings. This was the only clearing before they hit thick forest again only a couple hundred feet away. This was screaming set-up, so Ida threw some hand signals into the air telling her men to throw their hoods up, as she did the same. Her lieutenant appeared at her side, hood already up.

“I would like to suggest we make camp. Our slow pace has brought us here hours before nightfall and the men could use more rest.”

Ida said nothing for a long time as she continued to scan the treeline. Something was wrong, she could feel it, but there wasn’t much use in going further into the forest. Camping with the river at their backs made it harder to be flanked as well. “Okay.” she said with a hard nod. “Tell the men we will camp along the river tonight and we ride hard tomorrow at sunrise.”

Her lieutenant nodded and moved away to tell the rest of the men who were relieved to say the least. Ida smiled towards her men, they also felt as if something was off, their guards were up she could tell. They would eat well tonight but sleep poorly even with several men taking watch throughout the night. As they made camp Ida watched the treeline. Something, she thought, was watching them but she could not locate where it was watching them all from. It was due to this that she volunteered to take first watch with a handful of her men.

This was fruitless for her however as nothing happened. They all made their rounds around the camp and took their turns warming themselves by the fire in the middle of the campground. Soon it was time to wake those on second shift and Ida found herself happier than she had been in quite awhile by the thought of sleep. As she drifted off she could have sworn she heard a melodic humming coming from close by but was to exhausted to really think on it and promptly fell asleep.

She was unsure of the time when her only lieutenant woke her. She knew it was still night, and that fact alone made her snap awake.

“What is it?” she asked a little offended at being woken, but still urgent figuring there was a problem.

“We have a visitor.” he said simply. “I think some kind of gypsy.”

Thankful that it was just a beggar and not something terrifying like elves or goblins, Ida sighed. “What do they want?”

“She hasn’t said, I only woke up a little bit ago for my shift as it is. Several of the men are missing and though their belongings are still here, and she keeps humming to the men leading them around the camp.”

“Well surely you ordered them to stop.”

“They won’t listen to me. They follow her around like some kind of Goddess.”

Ida frowned at this and rose from her bedroll and began to don her armor. “I want you to go out there and talk to this gypsy. Find out what you can, I will be out in a moment.”

Her lieutenant nods at this and makes his way out of her tent, as he closes the flap behind him Ida hears the humming again. It was very pretty, and she felt lighter as she listened to it. She finished donning her armor and stormed out of her tent only to stop in her tracks. Across from the camp from her, surrounded by about seven men, was a blonde haired, fair-skinned woman with shining emerald eyes.

As they shuffled about trying to get her attention she turned her eyes to Ida and gave a stunning smile. She looked to the ground and took a step forward towards Ida, as she did she began humming louder. Ida had began looking around for her lieutenant but as the woman hummed she found she no longer cared and kept focus on the woman who was approaching her. She wore a pretty blue long sleeved dress that was dripping wet from the hems at her wrists and feet. Like she had been standing in the river and reaching into it.

“What is your name lady?” Ida asked when the woman stopped in front of Ida. Many of the men groaned at this, muttering that she had all the luck. Ida grinned at them but kept her eyes locked on the gypsy who was humming quieter now.

“Gala m’lady.” she said with a smile. Her voice made the men fall back in a synchronized swoon and Ida laughed at their antics.

“Gala? Do you know the meaning of that name? Gala?”

“I dont m’lady.” she said a little hesitant.

“It means “enjoyment” gala, I see the name fits well.” she looked to her men again and smiled at them before looking back to Gala. “My name is Ida, so no more of this m’lady business.”

“Very well Ida.” Gala replied, before starting to hum for a short moment. “Would you like to join us? We were just about to go for a swim. Weren’t we boys?” She looked behind her where the men were beginning to talk amongst themselves, shaking their heads as if coming out of a daze. She began to hum loudly and gave them a sideways glance before repeating herself “Well? Weren’t we boys?”

The men all smiled back at her and their whole bodies began to relax again, once more they were hanging on her every word. This sight made Ida a slight bit nervous, and made her start thinking. Where was her lieutenant? Curious and concerned enough to voice it. She turned to the man and spoke sharply, a tone that meant she would not be ignored.

“Where is Alvar? I sent him to see to our guest.”

The men, hearing her sharp tone, snapped out of their reverie and turned sharply to her, as if seeing their leader for the first time.

“Ah, he was harassing this lovely woman and so we dealt with him, didn’t we boys” spoke one of the men. The others all grinned and then, realizing what they were telling their leader, and seeing the now angry scowl she held, made them drop their grins to expressions of fear. Before Ida could determine exactly what they meant, the lovely Gala began to hum once more and all eyes turned to her.

“Master Alvar was speaking harshly to me and the men and so they confined him to his tent, he is very safe.” Gala began humming her melody again and walking towards the river as the men shot relieved glances at one another.

Ida grinned and followed Gala and the men. She wished to speak with Alvar, but the intoxicating beauty before her beckoned her with every single note from that perfect looking mouth of hers. She stopped thinking of Alvar, he was safe, her men wouldn’t lie to her after all. Gala began down the riverbend and without disrobing she entered the water. Her already drenched hems seemed to drip heavier until she was almost fully submerged and her hems were no longer visible.

The men took no time in undressing and jumping into the water, but Ida instead viewed the scene from the top of the bank. She was beginning to realizes the camp was eerily quiet, and that many of the bedrolls were empty, too many.

“Coming?” hummed Gala to her. Ida grinned at this but shook her head.

“I’d quickly drown in this armor.” Ida replied indicating her full plate armor.

“Well take it off.”

Ida laughed and shook her head. “You think it’s that easy to get me undressed” she said with a hint of challenge in her breath. She wasn’t looking at her men now, but instead her eyes were locked onto Gala’s. The woman was up to her neck in the water now, and she looked at Ida with a sly grin.

“I do.” she said with confidence “Come to me” she said seductively and began to hum loudly again. Ida stared helplessly at her and found her foot was starting to step towards the river. As her step hit the ground she heard a loud gasping not far from her. She turned her head and saw Alvar pulling his full armored self out of the river slowly, coughing and wheezing. She began to turn towards him when the humming grew louder. She turned back to Gala and was taken aback, her men were all gone except one.

Gala was beckoning with one hand to Ida as she hummed, the other arm was holding the last man below the water. He thrashed, through the mass of bubbles you could hear screaming and gurgling. His splashing grew weaker and weaker but the sound of the man drowning seemed to linger in the air. As she watched this she realized she was still walking. She glanced down the river and saw all the bodies, too many to count in the moonlight, slowly floating downstream. When she looked back the man had stopped moving and was now passing Gala slowly to join his companions.

“Come to me…” Gala purred, and Ida felt herself moving a little faster. Her legs weren’t responding to her, but her mind was sharp now, she realized what was going on. She gave a shuddering breath and locked eyes with Gala once more, stepping into the cold water. She relaxed her face and held her arms out towards the woman, a devious smile on her face. Gala grinned, showing her teeth. They were horrible, sharp and green, and as Ida got closer she noticed the dress was gone... as were her legs. Her entire lower half was no longer human at all but that of a fish? Ida sighed and stopped just out of Gala’s reach.

“Come to me!” Gala screamed moving towards Ida now with a look of rage and hate. She was on top of Ida in a flash, and before Ida could realize what was happening, she was underwater. She struggled, but the arms of Gala were so strong it was as if a boulder pinned her under the river's surface. She tried to reach her feet, but she was disoriented, and she couldn’t seem to find her own bootstrap knife. Things were beginning to become faint, refusing to breath in the water, she also became still, hoping she could trick what she recognized as a nixie, a river maiden, into letting her go before she fell unconscious and drowned.

Gala kept her arms firm on her back though, and Ida knew it was the end. Then, it wasn’t. The sound of metal rang above her and suddenly the arms that held her down became loose. Ida lost no time in thrusting her feet down into the mud and propel herself to the surface. She choked in air as she looked around for Gala only to see Alvar beside her. She attempted to smile as she breathed heavily only to start coughing violently. She could barely move, the armor in the water was heavy, and she felt weak. She did not have the strength to fight the mud and pull herself out of the water.

“Where is she!” Ida gasped, only to feel hands on her back again. She screamed and tried to move but she was stuck in the muddy river bottom. She calmed quickly, however,  when she realized the arms were not pushing down. Before she could figure out what was happening Alvar had her and was tugging her with him through the river, pulling her from the mud with a willpower she had not seen before in her trusted lieutenant.

As they neared the river bank she could still feel the arms on her back. Alvar noticed them too and grinned waiting until the water was at their knees before stopping to let her get her own footing. He removed the two arms from Ida’s back, both severed at the elbows, and tossed them to the shore with a laugh. Ida drew her sword awkwardly and turned back to the river. Gala sat in the middle of the river, blood draining down her torso in fast red streams from the stumps she now sported.

She said nothing however, she just screamed angrily and dove underwater and disappeared. Ida turned to Alvar who held his own sword, only for Ida to realize the sword was broken to the base. He grinned at her and held out his hand to help her onto the river bank. They climbed to the top before Ida threw herself onto the ground and rolled onto her back, looking at the moon.

“Alvar.” she breathed.

“Yeah?” he asked out of breath.

“You are no longer my lieutenant. You will be a general in my new army, and at my side for as long as you will ride with me.”

Alvar chuckled and nodded. “My sword is yours” he replied.

“Your sword is broken” Ida said, looking at to her future general.

“Saving your life.” he reminded her with a grin before looking to what was more of a hilt than anything before throwing it into the water. “I’ll get a new one.”

Ida smiled and the two began a raucous laughter that continued well into the night as the remaining fifty men began to crawl from their tents fully armed and ready, albeit too late, for a fight.