<span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(176, 101, 0)"> b06500 <br/>
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Red looked like it took him two scoops to finish their stew offered his way. His large eyes watched the girl approach him, offering him a share of her food. Once she scurried off, he approached her bowl and emptied its contents into his own, before drinking from it as before. He would eat a horse later, he reasoned. He left large foot prints in the hard packed dirt and didn't dare stand on the berm that had been erected, for fear of causing its collapse.<br/>
<br/>
The groups all began to settle down to sleep and Red moved back towards the path they had come, his eyes tensing as he strained them into the darkness.<br/>
<br/>
The wind picked up, suddenly. Loose dirt flung up and stunned eyes. It was a constant wind, flattening the grass in one direction. The canvas tents rippled in the wind and Lia especially was battered, having not settled down in a tent. Anything not pegged down to the ground threatened to be blown away. The horses all snickered, shifting, presenting their asses to the wind to protect themselves from it. Even the fire in its pit flickered as the flames danced, before being snuffed out. <br/>
<br/>
Despite the darkness, a thick mist filtered in, from ground to the tops of the long grass, moving on its own accord, despite the fierce wind that blew. It seemed to surround them. Red felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.<br/>
<br/>
BOOM...BOOM...BOOM. The steady crack of noise came down the path, from the direction they had traveled. The moonlight seemed to shine bright and an old woman wandered out of the mist. She was stooped over, nearly in half, leaning heavily on a staff. Every step, every contact the staff made with the ground, echoed the boom from the contact. Lightning crackled with each contact, leaving a circular scorch mark on the ground.<br/>
<br/>
"Eg songane søkte," She sang, her voice that of a young woman. "Eg songane sende, då den djupaste brunni, gav meg dråpar så ramme, av Valfaders pant. Alt veit eg Odin, kvar du auge løynde. Kven skal synge meg, i daudsvevna slynge meg, når eg helvegen går, og dei spora eg trår, er kalde, så kalde. Årle ell i dagars hell, enn veit ravnen om eg fell. Når du ved helgrindi står, og når du laus deg må rive, skal eg fylgje deg, yver gjallarbrui med min song."<br/>
<br/>
The soldiers faces blanched at her sight, one man screaming, throwing down his weapon before running East, down the trail yet trodden, disappearing into the mist before anyone could stop him. <br/>
<br/>
"Du blir løyst frå banda som bind deg." A deep, booming voice answered the womans. It took a moment, but then Red stepped out onto the path behind the woman. "Du er løyst frå banda som batt deg." He answered.<br/>
<br/>
With all eyes on the old woman, Red had taken his top cover off, leaving wearing naught but his kilt. His upper garment revealed a deep secret. A pattern of scars, all an inch long and straight, covered his chest. They followed the semi circle his collar bones formed, row after row of scars, from shoulder to shoulder. The last row was just above his nipples. And on his right arm, a series of similar sized scars stood out, these ones in the shape of an X.  There were 3 rows of these, each 10 across, with two X's on the fourth row, halfway down his bicep.<br/>
<br/>
He stared after the woman, even as she stepped into the fog, only the BOOM...BOOM...BOOM of her staff could be heard, until that too faded into nothing.<br/>
<br/>
Red breathed heavily, staring after her, before turning and calmly walking over to his discarded clothes and weapons. He dressed and armed himself once more then returned to the pathway. He reached into a pouch at his hip, and it rattled as he rummaged in it. He pulled his hand out and caste the bones marked with runes he held in them, watching as they fell across the pathway.<br/>
<br/>
Apart from the scorch marks in the dirt, there was no other sign of the Old Woman.<br/>
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<div class="bbCodeBlock-content">No one can speak this language.<br/>
I do not speak Old Norse, so we'll see where this head!<br/>
The song this is based off: <span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube"><span><span data-s9e-mediaembed-iframe='["allowfullscreen","","scrolling","no","style","background:url(https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/FnkTuHP9q3o\/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% \/ cover","src","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FnkTuHP9q3o"]' style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FnkTuHP9q3o/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover"></span></span></span></div>
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