* * * * *
Of my trip to Jomsborg, I will condense as much as I am able.
During the four days it did take to journey from Chios to Vrana, I did repair and modify the English longbow as Brother Iosef had hoped. Even so, I did keep keep the map, the ash, and (most of all) the golden arrowhead secreted away.
At Vrana, I did rest and resupply for a day and a half. The letter Brother Iosef had written to the chaplain of the fortress did gain me access to the Templar commander, who did prove most hospitable. Among other things, he did give me a change of clothing more suited to the temperate climes ahead (as opposed to the Bedouin's robe I had been wearing since first I left Egypt).
He did also write a letter to the commander of the sister-fortress at Klis, to where I did journey next on a naval vessel of the sea-going Narentines. For the latter did work in conjunction with the Templars of Klis to protect Adriatic shipping from Muslim piracy!
At Klis, the fortress commander did give me several sacks of gold coins with which to bribe the Jomsvikings to my cause. And, should monetary inducement prove insufficient, he did also give me a bottle of Venetian glass containing an amber-colored liquid.
"Irish whiskey," he did explain: "From the Norse-founded port of Limerick. A Burgundian wine merchant did pass by this way, last year, selling many such as these. Claiming that bottled whisky was proving most popular. A strange notion, to say the least!"
I did ultimately disembark at the seaport of Trieste, where a coterie of Templars from the fortress of Ljubljana I did find awaiting me. These did accompany me, via the Brenner Pass, into Austria. And, from there, through the Bohmerwald*, to the foothils of the Krkonose' Range. Also known, locally, as the "Mountains of the Giants."
There, after three long weeks of hard travel, I did take my leave of the legendary Templars. For, I had been expressly told by Brother Iosef (during our final farewell on the docks of Chios):
"You must be sure to arrive alone. For, mercenaries though they be, still are the Jomsvikings distrustful of large companies of strangers."
Thus, did I proceed through the secret pass, alone. Except, of course, for my saddle mount and pack mule. Yet, even as I proceeded, I did feel like I was being watched!
On my second night of traversal, I was rudely awakened by the panic-stricken whinnies and brays of my saddle mount and pack mule. And, these, they did issue in time with another, far louder sound. That of thunderclaps too rhythmic--and increasingly too close--to be natural!
Then, suddenly, everything did go dark.
When next I was able to see again, I did look upward. And, there, I did behold the most beauteous visage I had ever glimpsed. That of a blue-eyed, golden-haired giantess wearing a helmet that did resemble a swan-winged tiara.
"I am Skogul," she did proclaim: "Captain of the Jomsborg Valkyrjur. And, you are trespassing! Give me one good reason why I should not crush you to a bloody pulp, here in the palm of my right hand."
"My name is Ilya Muromets," I did shout upward in reply: "And I do seek an audience with the jarl of Jomsborg. The Varangiant known as Svyatogor!"
The giantess did arch her eyebrows in amazement for a moment...before grinning and proclaiming:
"Then, you do seek an audience with my father."
tbc
Giantess World
Chapter End Notes:
*Bohmerwald: German for "Bohemian Forest."