Chapter 6 - A Predicament
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A Predicament
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"Hello?" came Sten's voice over a burst of high-pitched yapping. "Is something out there?"
"Yes," Rask answered simply, maneuvering his way carefully down the rain-slicked hillside. "Sten lucky Rask not hungry varg."
Nevermind that no varg on Rask's mountain would dare attack Sten, not with notes of his Song ringing up and down these slopes declaring the little human WelcomeWelcomeWelcome and under the bergsr?'s protection.
Anything that lived within range would know better than to touch a hair on Sten's head now — not if they wanted to remain living.
But as for the mountain itself…
Rask's mouth flattened. Some things were beyond even the bergsr?'s ability to control.
"Rask! Oh, thank Makros," Sten said as Rask drew near, his relief clear. He was wet and covered in mud, but otherwise appeared undamaged.
"Sten hurt?" Rask asked, just to be certain.
"No, I — well, yeah, a bit if I'm honest. Got turned around right before it started raining, sent me sliding down a muddy ridge in the dark.
Mostly scrapes and scratches, and I might've twisted my ankle.
But I'll be all right," Sten replied, sounding surprisingly pleased for someone so bedraggled. "Did uh… Did you come looking for me?"
Rask opened his mouth to answer but shut it just as quickly, the points of his ears burning.
Huddled under the dripping boughs of a tall pine, Sten was holding something close to his chest. The wriggling bundle of dark brown fur leaped from the man's arms, standing between its master and the approaching bergsr? as it yapped fit to wake the dead.
"Where Sten get small varg pup?" Rask asked, thankful for the interruption as Sten's attention followed the creature.
Sten laughed, startling the pup; its entire body going stiff and alert, before shooting its master an inquiring look.
"S'no varg," Sten corrected. "Just a dog, Rask. Shouldn't be any bigger than one of your goats when she's grown, and I've been told she can be trained not to bother them."
Kneeling on the sodden, pine-needle strewn ground, Rask held out his hand for the growling bit of fluff to sniff.
Humming slightly, Rask wove the freshly spun notes around his fingers, matching his melody to the Song surrounding them.
He made sure to leave small gaps, however; an invitation that left the pup tilting its head up at the bergsr?, simple curiosity swiftly overtaking its fear.
Not that it proved any less protective, nor even the smallest degree less loyal; glancing back at Sten before creeping cautiously closer to sniff at Rask's upturned palm.
Then it was as if a dam had burst, as the canine cheerfully licked and rubbed its jaw against Rask's fingers.
Her own melody joined in as well; bright, trumpeting brassy notes, before she leaped back to give a single, playful bark.
"What pup's name?" Rask asked the dog, but she leapt away, and it was Sten who answered.
"Well, according to our Bargain, I'm to deliver a bottle of br?nnvin to your cave each season for a year, right?
So, meet my messenger. Been calling her 'Messy' for short," Sten chirped brightly.
"Our Bargain never specified how much br?nnvin I'm supposed to supply.
So I thought, if I brought her up with me each time I visited and trained her to find you, then come Mistide when she's grown up a bit, she might just be able to carry a small bottle attached to her collar without too much trouble.
Won't hold more'n about a mouthful, but hopefully that'll be enough to suffice. "
"Big trust in one so little," Rask pointed out.
"Yeah," Sten laughed weakly. "Still the best idea I've come up with so far, though.
The whole village has been pitching in with all kinds of schemes, actually.
It's become quite the popular pastime at Ojson's pub.
One of the shepherds nearby had a fresh litter of pups for sale, and I guess a couple of the workers from the quarry clubbed together to get one.
Stopped by the house with her one morning before their shift.
Don't think I've ever seen Ma cry so much as when they told her it was for me, as thanks for uh… for what you did with the vaettir…"
"Sten too," Rask corrected him. "Sten very brave, Bargaining with bergsr? for help."
"Oh, that's…" Sten coughed. "Anyways, I figure that makes her partly yours, too. So if you have a different suggestion of what to call her, she's still young enough we can probably change it."
Messy gave a sharp bark, catching Rask's attention.
He glanced over to see the pup lolling on her back on the ground, wriggling happily in the thick layer of old pine needles carpeting the forest floor.
She half-rivaled a hedgehog for how many needles were stuck in the fur, and Rask didn't envy Sten the job of plucking them all out.
"'Messy' good name," Rask decided as the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile. "Rask can help train, if Sten wishes."
"Very much so!" Sten laughed. "She doesn't seem to listen to me."
"Then Sten bring Messy to Rask to learn to listen too." Rask nodded.
"Could Sten learn to listen somewhere dry and out of the rain?" Sten pleaded with those wide eyes.
"Sten come," Rask replied, finding himself unable to resist. "Rask's home not far."
"C'mon Messy," Sten said to the pup who'd wandered over to water the base of the pine, and was busy kicking old needles over its roots. "Let's go see this cave of Rask's, eh?"
He scooped the pup up, depositing her in a satchel slung across Sten's chest to hang at his hip, the tips of her ears just barely cresting the bag's mouth.
"Suppose we should crack on then?" Sten asked brightly, gesturing vaguely up the moonlit slopes of the mountain.
Rask took the hint, already preparing to measure his pace against the little human's as Sten continued to talk.
He enjoyed the sound of the man's voice more than he would've expected, a welcome revival after the past few weeks with only his goats for company again.
"So, what've — "
Sten's hand came down hard on Rask's shoulder, the bergsr? twisting sharply to catch him as Sten fell, Messy's sharp yelp as they lurched together adding to the confusion. He hissed while Rask righted him, favoring his right leg as he quickly checked on the pup.
"Sorry," Sten told them both sheepishly. "I uh… I may have hurt my ankle worse than I realized."
He was shivering too, Rask saw; the thin summer cloak Sten wore proving not nearly sturdy enough for the evening chill that lingered far later in the mountains.
"Sten must take more care," Rask muttered, reaching for the smooth metal of his cloak pin. He didn't meet the little human's curious gaze as Rask slung his cloak around Sten's shoulders, fastening it in place. "Rask not need Sten's mother coming up mountain after Rask, too."
"Yes, well… " Eyes locked on Rask's now bared chest and shoulders, Sten's hand made a furtive movement, smoothing over the weatherproof wool. "Uh, then just… tell me you've got a fire and somewhere to dump the water out of my boots, and we, uh — we needn't worry."
Unable to suppress the small hum of pleasure that escaped his throat at seeing Sten pull the bergsr?'s body-warmed cloak tighter around his smaller frame, Rask nodded, turning it into affirmation as he swiftly scooped Sten up in his arms.
"Oh. I uh… I forget how strong you are," Sten said softly as Rask set out, the human’s voice husky and tight.
He was fussing with the edges of Rask's cloak; twisting his fingers in the thick goat’s wool, tugging it tighter around himself, then twitching it open as if too warm.
Making an irritated noise, Messy wriggled precariously in her sling. Thankfully, Sten pulled it and her quickly into his lap before she tried leaping to the ground. Rask did not relish the idea of trying to chase the pup down while carrying an injured human.
They were fragile enough as it was.
"There!” Sten said to the pup after he’d arranged her a small pocket of cloak, nestled between the men's chests. "Nice and cozy, eh?"
From somewhere beneath the layers came a satisfied yap, and then a long, whining yawn, prompting Sten to flash Rask a soft grin.
"You'd tell me if I was too heavy for you, right?"
"Sten little," Rask assured him as his feet ate up the slope leading to his cave. "Easy to carry."
Sten laughed, though it was oddly strained. "Pretty sure you're the only one who'd say that.”
“Sten not wish Rask carry Sten home?” Rask asked, uncertain how he'd get the injured human back to his cave otherwise without causing further damage.
“No, no,” Sten replied, his voice was even higher now. “You, uh… you can carry me. Please. And, um…thank you?”
Rask hummed in place of an answer, thoroughly confused.
"So how did you know where to find me?" he asked as Rask carefully picked their way through the forest.
"Mountain say Sten coming," Rask explained, weaving around a fallen log. "Morning, noon, evening — no Sten. Rask thought Sten turned back, maybe change mind, go home. Then mountain say Sten hurt. Rask come look; make sure little human not varg food."
"You can speak to the mountain?" Sten asked, tipping his head just in time for a fat droplet of water to splash onto his cheek and slide down to his chin until he wiped it away.
"Mountain speak," Rask corrected. "Rask listen. All part of Song."
"Oh, yes… you uh, you've said that," Sten replied tiredly, leaning his temple against Rask's chest so that his beard tickled where it brushed over bare skin. "Didn't realize that included rock and stone."
"All — "
" — are part of the Song, right. I'm starting to understand," Sten said ruefully. "And by that, I mean I think I'm realizing how very little I understand anything."
"Good," Rask grunted, satisfied. "Then Sten already learning."
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"Where do you sleep?" Sten asked, his gaze traveling over the sparse chamber of the cave as Rask set him down. “And do you have room for me? Or…maybe something soft I can make a bed of?"
"What Sten mean?" Rask replied, thoroughly confused as he looked around the little dimly lit cavern. From where it hung in its baskets, the sullen amber light of the glowmoss cast the hard stone floor into stark relief, giving an almost sinister look to the goats milling about nearby in their pen.
Rask frowned. "Sten no sleep here."
"Alright, understandable," Sten said placatingly as Rask fetched the pitchfork and pulled a good amount of hay down from its netting strung high above the now-eager goats.
They'd spent the entire day grazing, the greedy things, and they'd be up again at daybreak calling for more. But that should be enough to see them settled for the night, leaving Rask free to tend to more important matters.
He checked the goat's water trough and pulled down the big wooden swing door over the entrance to the cave, securing everything for the night. The goat pen was latched, and the nanny goat who'd had no appetite this morning was eating just as hungrily as her sisters again.
"I can take my blanket and try to find a dry patch of grass outside instead if you'd prefer your privacy," Sten chattered nonsensically. "I swear — I really don't mean to be a bother, Rask. Only… I’m not looking forward to hiking back down this mountain after sleeping on a rocky cavern floor.”
"Then why Sten make fuss?" Rask said, returning the pitchfork to its stone peg before unlatching the door beyond the goat pen. "Rask's home much better. Sten come inside, then see."
Rask reached for the little human and picked him up again handily. Sten's arm looped easily across the bergsr?'s shoulders, Messy giving a muffled yip from within the depths of her sling.
"Not sure I'll get used to this," Sten chuckled nervously. A sound that quickly dropped to a soft gasp as Rask ducked, carrying Sten through the smaller door set in the back of the cavern and properly into the bergsr?'s home.