The Weaver and the Witch Queen

by Genevieve Gornichec

I don’t want to be taken care of, Gunnhild wanted to scream. I want to be free.

Sometimes saying nothing at all is better than speaking without seeing the entire picture, and I hadn’t seen enough to rule one way or another. I didn’t wish to curse you, and yet it seems I’ve done so anyway.”

Nothing in this life worth having comes easily.

There’s nothing that will cause you greater grief than trying to fulfill or avoid a prophecy.”

“People say things they don’t mean when they’re hurt and wish to make others hurt with them,” her mother had said once when Oddny was younger and had come crying to her after an argument with Signy. “You’re sisters. When two people know each other as well as you girls do, you know the exact things to say that will cause each other the most pain.”

“You’ll get used to being afraid. If you don’t feel fear, why would you need to be brave?”

When your patron calls you, they’ll judge your strengths and weaknesses against yourself, not against others.”

Gunnhild was beginning to see how bad this situation truly was. Trondheim and Vestfold were two of the most powerful districts in the country. It was unwise to make enemies of their kings.

“But the bigger question is, when the battle is over, how do we carry on? How do we put the horror behind us and go on living? It eats away at a person, little by little.” There was undeniable pain in his voice as he added, “Sometimes I fear that by the time the valkyries come for Eirik, there’ll be nothing left of him.”

“From the moment I was taught to leave my body and travel as witches do, I came back as often as I could. As a bird.”

“I’ve been keeping watch on you for many years. That I happened to be there for the raid was a coincidence: a good one for you, because I could help you escape, but a poor one for my mentor. She died that day. I wish I could have done more for you both. And for Signy.”

you need to leave your body to cast the spell?”

“I would rather have been loved,”

Until now, she’d been unwilling to admit that she was outmatched. That she could lose. And she hated it.

He’d done nothing wrong except to care for her too much.

But to me, you’ve been someone all along. You never had anything to prove.

She saw her foolishness now. It was folly to think for even one moment that this man could be anything other than what he was. What he had been born to be, and molded into. It was only when his horse’s hoofbeats faded into the distance that her heart slowed its rapid pounding and she sat down on the stump, put her head in her hands. What have I gotten myself into?

But in truth she wanted to remind everyone who she was. Remind her enemies, remind those who doubted her—King Harald, Queen Gyda, Thorbjorg, Katla, even Olaf, and Halfdan, whom she’d yet to meet—exactly whom they were dealing with.

Then their lips met and the rest of the world fell away.

And he said, “When I was born, my father gave me a daughter’s name. And when he died, I took my own.”

She could go back to the wilderness.

Or she could choose this. Choose them. Choose him.

the older and more seasoned fighter, was able to push down the hurt and the pain that had been showing so clearly on his face mere moments before. Able to lock it up and focus on the fight.

This night had pushed him to the brink. And she was only pushing him further.

Is this what they truly think of me? That all I care about is power?

“How will you ever master your fear if you won’t admit to feeling it in the first place? Embrace it. Wield it. Things are only going to get more difficult from here. But in the end, it shall be worth it.”

I don’t think the dead want us to die for them. I think a better way to honor them is to live.”

You mustn’t falter.

you married the most hated man in Norway. It seems to me you’ll need all the help you can get.”