As a group, we made our way back out through the broken barriers and out of Frigga’s and I could imagine the moments just before Frigga’s was breached.

Each of the patrons would have been waiting behind the rows of barriers, with gnawing fear gripping them by their core. They would have been able to hear the screams of the people rushing here from the settlement. With each passing scream, the patrons would have tightened their grips on their various weapons, stealing themselves for the fight to come. Some would be a little less courageous than others and would have to be corralled by their neighbors.

But not Freyda.

If she is, or rather was, anything like the fighter that Roy and rumor say, then she would have been thinking only of Frigga’s Tavern and the people within her walls. She would have given words of encouragement to those who trembled with each terrifying moment. She wouldn’t have been impervious to the fear that those around her felt. Nevertheless, she would have courageously waited to attack whatever enemy broke through those doors, her doors.

When we reached said dilapidated doors, I stopped in front of the right side door. There was a splintered half circle in the middle with the clawing marks webbing out from the edges from where the creatures pried their way in. It looked like a grotesque rising sun.

She failed, and my heart broke for her.

I know how hard it is to be a woman in this world; Even being a woman within The Guild comes with its challenges. Those challenges only compounded her sense of honor, one that usually comes with being descendent of one of the Founders within The Guild. However, it is each member’s duty to uphold the memory of those who came before us, be they a descendant or adopted into The Guild. As women, we do so with the added struggle of defying the expectations of our gender that is held by half of the world. And the consequences for defying those expectations.

Freyda watched as her family’s legacy fell around her. She and the men in that tavern probably fought as hard as they could. But she still had to watch her men fall to an enemy she couldn’t have had any understanding of, and yet she would have fought on. Because that’s the kind of person Freyda was. She would have fought until her last breath.

It is the only reason why those girls are still alive.

Freyda’s grandmother built the tavern with her sect of Bastards near the end of The Guild and The Crown’s union. It was once a place of refuge for The Guild members who were fleeing The Crown when Lord Kamen pulled The Guild’s support from The Crown almost a hundred cycles ago.

The Crown’s so-called justice for our betrayal was mighty and fierce. Frigga and many Guild members of her generation were killed during the split’s fallout.

Such a legacy to uphold, and for quite some time, Freyda was the pinnacle of Frigga’s Tavern Women. She had the support of many of the country folk in the area, which allowed her to provide The Guild with much-needed information over the years. But it was under Freyda’s time that this tavern’s legacy came to an end. She died with that sadness weighing down her heart and a blade in her hand.

Is this my fate too?

Shaking myself out of my morose thoughts, I brought my attention back to the door itself, versus what the broken door represented. I pulled the door to me and examined at the claw marks one final time. Using the door, I looked at the gouges from every which direction. The black and bloodied claw marks lined the middle of the door. Reaching up, I allowed my hand to hover over one of the main gauges in the door. They were just slightly larger.

Human?

Jonah came and stood beside me as Roy motioned for the girls to continue out of Frigga’s. “What are you thinking?” He asked in a hushed voice.

“That this the third settlement within The Tavern’s territory to be attacked in ten cycles,” I said, still looking at my hand hovering over the door. I finally pulled my hand away. “That these people were either slaughtered or abducted. And I’m not sure which is worse.” I turned away from the door and started to follow Roy and the girls, Jonah at my side.

“We have to keep them safe,” I said.

Jonah looked to me, walking in step “We will,” Jonah said confidently.

Jonah and I quickened our step to catch up to Roy and the girls. I was hoping to spare them the image of the slaughter line along the side of the building. Thankfully, Roy had the same idea and had positioned his body between the grim view and the girls, leading them towards the side of the meadow, slightly ahead of where we entered. As the girls walked through the treeline, Roy waited a moment for Jonah and me.

I stepped aside to let Jonah through the bushes and followed as he walked through the treeline. Roy brought up the rear as we left Frigga’s Tavern and the grotesque scene that was displayed behind us.

Once we cleared the first few rows of trees, I turned to Roy, ready for his recap of what he learned here. Jonah and the girls were a few paces ahead, so he started to lead the girls the short distance to where Tarik left the horses tied up. Roy would be able to catch him up later.

“So…?” I asked.

“Followed a few of those drag lines out of the meadow.” He pointed to a line of disturbed ground a few feet to our right. I followed his line of sight and started to walk towards the area in question.

“The drag lines are all spaced about the same. They lead out of the meadow, go past a few rows of trees and lead to this,” Roy said, gesturing toward the ground at our feet. It was a line of scorched ground. The drag marks led straight through the scorched line but the ground on the other side was left completely undisturbed.

“All the other draglines lead to marks like these?” I crouched down to look at the scorched line more closely. The grass was browned spreading out from the line, which was two knuckles deep.

“Yup,” he said

“How many?” I asked.

“Found eight in the short time I was out here. Could be a few more out there I didn’t see outright.” He motioned a quick circle with his hand “They wrap around the meadow, around Frigga’s.” Roy paused for a moment, pulled back into his thoughts.

Emotion kept creeping in on him in moments that I have always known for him to be serious and take emotion out of a situation. Every Bastard has their own tricks to get over the things we see. Freyda must have been important for her memory to break Roy’s serious demeanor.

“How did you know Freyda?” I asked abruptly.

“What? Oh, I… we” he stumbled over his words, still looking at the scorched ground before us. “She came to The Mine for a cycle back when she started out as a Bastard. She was making her way through the Guild,” he looked back to me briefly “like we did when we were younger.”

Roy looked back at the ground as if this confession between friends will be less heavy-hearted without talking face to face “I was just a little shit Flyer at the time but whenever I wasn’t running messages or climbing trees, I would watch the Bastards train. She was the only girl Bastard there at the time, but she was the fiercest woman I had ever seen fighting.”

He looked back to me with a half smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, one of the fiercest,” He said.

I smiled briefly at his compliment; being compared to Freyda was an honor. Freyda was known throughout The Guild for her time as a Bastard, as well as running Frigga’s Tavern after her mother. And she was his childhood crush.

“She could have made it,” I said, trying to bring some light to his darkened and sad eyes.

“No,” he said, resigned “you saw that hall. She did everything she could. But she’s dead.”

I reached out and put a silent hand on his shoulder. Roy wasn’t a man of sentiment, but hopefully, that action would be enough to give him some small comfort. He reached up and put his hand over mine. We stood that way for a few moments, both of us staring at the scorched ground, thinking of our fallen sister.

After a few comforting moments, we both turned away from the scorched ground and started to walk in the same direction as Jonah and the girls, back to the horses. It was a quiet walk, but Roy and I have never felt the need to fill the silence between us with awkward conversation. Instead, he was one of the few people were silence wasn’t awkward, but comfortable. It’s one of the reasons why we have been friends for so long.

As we walked towards Jonah and the girls, we were able to see Tarik climb down the tree beside where they were waiting with the horses. It seemed that Jonah was making introductions between the children. It was a few more moments before Roy and I could make out the conversation

“You were at Frigga’s when it was attacked?” Tarik asked Lorelle. He seemed genuinely concerned but also intrigued by the girls.

“Yes,” Lorelle said, without giving further explanation.

Tarik looked saddened by being brushed aside but seemed to accept it well. He finally saw Roy and me when we were just behind Lorelle and Ella and quickly forgot his previous disappointment. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a small journal. Flyers often act as message runners within the sects of The Guild and are given small journals to help them remember details and take notes while out on their tasks.

“Miss Stone, you’re back!” Tarik said excitedly.

“I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you,” Jonah said

“Why?” I asked.

“You told me to take note of things that stood out and that you would investigate.” Tarik waved his small journal in front of him as emphasis. “So I flew through the treetops around Frigga’s and noted things that stood out,” he said smiling.

“I also told you to fly high and stay safe because we didn’t know what was out there, ” I said curtly. His smile fell.

“But I did!” Tarik said in exasperation. “I flew around the tree line that skirted around Frigga’s and noted the burn marks on the ground. I stayed up and out of the way just like you told me to,” he said to excuse himself.

“I meant to stay put and note anything that you can see from your post,” I said, a bit frustrated with myself and the boy. If I were more specific, he wouldn’t have gone on his own, but if he hadn’t been so focused on proving himself, it would have been a non-issue.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.” He extended his journal. “I found a bunch of burn marks. I was so quiet that Roy didn’t even hear me when I was right over him,”

I looked over to Roy for clarification. Roy stepped forward towards Tarik, who took a worried step back.

“Show us the fruits of your insubordination” Roy extended his hand and took the map from Tarik. Tarik looks down, afraid he was about to get yelled at.

As Roy walked back to me he looked over the journal.

“Flyer’s got a good eye.” He chuckled. Roy handed the map over to me to look at. “Found the ones I missed. They were further back in the treeline.”

He stepped closer to me for a private word. “ And if he was up in the trees around me, I didn’t hear him”.

“Impressive,” I said.

Roy grumbled a yes. He stepped back and spoke loud enough to be heard. “Smart little Flyer, but he doesn’t seem to listen to orders quite well.”

“True enough,” I said to Roy, I looked over to Tarik. He was sheepishly standing there, listening and waiting. I approached him stone-faced, allowing him to feel my disappointment. He looked up and I could see his own.

“I like you Flyer, you got potential.” He started to smile at my compliment, that wasn’t my purpose here. “But not following directions is a quick way to get on my shit list.” The smile quickly vanished at the prospect. “ Be careful,” I said.

“Yes, Miss Stone, I’m sorry”

“Go get the girls situated with your horse,” I said, dismissing him. “You’ll be riding with me from here.” I turned away from him, allowing the verbal reprimand and my coolness to serve as punishment. Tarik nodded and walked towards the girls, leading them to his horse on the other side of the trail. Its traces were tied up to another low hanging tree branch across the trail.

Roy, Jonah and I came together in order to use this moment to the girls away so we could have a moment to all speak. I looked down to the map that Tarik made as Jonah looked over my shoulder

“Ten scorch marks,” I said.

“Like the others?” Roy asked, almost rhetorically; we all knew that these attacks were connected, somehow...

“Like the others,” Jonah and I said in unison. We made eye contact at our responses. What would usually be met with humor and jabs was met with a glimmer of sadness.

“There is one thing that’s different than the others,” I said, looking back to where Lorelle was mounting Tarik’s horse. As she settled, Tarik hoisted Ella up to Lorelle’s waiting arms. The little girl was settled in front of her older sister and quickly laced her fingers through the horse’s mane.

“Two things actually,” I said.

Jonah turned to me, “I was wondering when you were going to bring that up.”

“Well between mentally processing the implications of another attack, and calming the two traumatized children, I have been a bit busy,” I retorted.

“Chief will want to speak with them. At least the older one,” Roy said.

“Yes,” I said, resigned to the fact that I won’t be able to protect the girl from the barrage of questions that lie in her future. “So will the Council of Advisors and all the Lead Bastards”

“Just their survival will embolden curiosity from others,” Jonah said.

“I’ll talk to her,” I said. “See what I can find out now.”

“Perhaps your recount of the events will be enough” Jonah said, half serious.

“Unlikely,” Roy said. “But if we are going to figure this shot out, knowing what she knows is going to fill in a lot of holes,” Roy said.

“Let’s see what we can figure out between the settlement and the girls and then get back to The Tavern,” I said.

Roy and Jonah nodded their agreements, we broke our huddle and walked towards the children. The girls were set on Tarik’s steed, with him wordlessly waiting for us just in front of the horse.

“The settlement is just down the trail here,” Jonah said as he bounded up onto his horse. Roy and I quickly followed suit. I brought my horse to stand beside the girls and Tarik and extended my hand. Tarik reached up and together we hoisted him up behind me on my horse.

“Ready?” Jonah asked as Tarik got settled behind me.

“Yes. After you, Brother.” I said.

Jonah pulled ahead, with Lorelle leading her steed behind him. Tarik and I followed behind the girls with Roy pulling up the rear. As a group, we rode down the trail, following the abandoned items and death marks the entire way.