Alwilda IV

“Excuse me,” she said, coming to a man who looked the best dressed out of the group. “Would you mind telling me why everyone looks like they’re at a funeral?” He looked up at her from his posture of despair on the deck.

“That’s because everyone is, or just was. What do you want anyway?”

“I would say to rob you but it doesn’t look like there’s much around here to rob. Whose funeral was it anyway?”

“Our captain’s, so if you don’t want to rob us get lost. I’m not in the mood to chat at the moment and I doubt anyone else does.”

“But I’m curious about how you’re going to deal with the situation. That way I can tell my crew what to do if I ever die. I’ve never thought about dying before, I would hate for my crew to be put in an awkward position by my death,” Alwilda said. The man glared at her.

“Have you no idea how much you are bothering me at the moment?”

“No, and I don’t really care,” Alwilda declared. “You still haven’t told me what you’re going to do.”

“Elect ourselves a new captain, now get lost.”

“Will you be the new captain, or could I be?” Alwilda asked, her face now looking calculating. She looked around at the ship, now properly taking inventory of her surroundings. “You have a pretty large crew here, and a nice ship, though not as nice as ours. So what do you say? Interested in joining forces under me?”

“No, now go away,” said the man. Unfortunately his head was at a level, while he was sitting on the deck, that Alwilda’s foot could connect with his jaw.

“Wrong answer, you see I have decided that I am taking over both this ship and this crew. If you would like to fight me for them I am willing.” The man wasn’t actually capable of answering from where he lay, spitting blood on the deck. The rest of the crew of course had gathered around by now, both the men from the ships crew and Alwilda’s crew. The men grew quiet when they saw Alwilda standing over their fallen second in command, regal and victorious. Slowly, very slowly, they joined in the cheering of Alwilda’s crew.

“Does this mean that I am accepted as this crew’s captain?” Alwilda asked them. The men looked around, they were surrounded by girls who were heavily armed, at the moment things were friendly but they could only guess what things would become if they said no. They cheered again, a little more weakly, but it was approval nonetheless.

The king of Denmark had returned to his kingdom and was now listening to reports on matters that his ministers thought of as important. Prince Alf was absent, though he was supposed to be in attendance at such things. He never went to public affairs unless he was ordered to, specifically, by his father. Many of his father’s advisors cited these tendencies as proof that the monarchy was going to take a disastrous turn in the next generation. There was nothing they could do about it however. Prince Alf was the only son that the king of Denmark had, and therefore was the only possible heir.

“There is a new pirate crew that has been preying on our shipping that we might want to do something about, Your Majesty,” said the eldest and most trusted attendant of the king. “They were only pests before but they have now gained more men and are becoming a problem. Our trade revenues are shrinking quickly and if we don’t do something soon our treasury will be completely depleted.”

To be continued...

Alwilda III

“Now that’s a woman I want to meet. Sounds like you had a narrow escape. What did you do after you surrendered anyway?”

“They looted us, took our food, clothing, weapons, anything that they could use. They even shredded our sail so we couldn’t go after them right after they left.”

“So they were even professional, impressive. You better not tell father about this, I don’t think he would be as happy with this story as I am. He doesn’t look for entertainment so much as success, don’t worry I won’t tell him. You can go back to your ship now.”

Alwilda had changed over the months since she had left her fathers castle to sail the seas. She was now rougher, as was the rest of her crew but that was only to be expected. They were fighters now, hardened, scarred, and battle ready. Alwilda still hadn’t lost her regal air; she still spoke and acted with great authority, something that became very useful when ordering around prisoners on captured ships. Being able to speak with authority was a life skill now. They had nearly destroyed the shipping of Denmark now, when they sailed next to another ship the crew sometimes surrendered without putting up any fight at all simply because of what they had heard of the all female crew. A lot of the stories were very overblown and Fastvi had spent a few days sulking because she had heard a crew talking about how she killed children and ate them. It was a mental picture that Alwilda and the rest found very amusing in connection to their most proper member and they still brought it up every once in a while.

It was therefore without fear that they approached a ship on the ocean one day. It wasn’t baring any mark of being from Denmark but Alwilda had long since decided that any ship sailing in Denmark waters was a target, whether it was actually from Denmark or not. Alwilda and the rest of her crew, other then the ones who were sailing the ship, lined the side of the ship, heavily armed. They had discovered long ago that intimidation right from the start helped a lot. It was a dejected scene that met their eyes however. Not one person on the other ship so much as stood, or picked up a weapon to defend the ship even though they looked like they had been through many fights.

“Hey, ship, we’re coming aboard, if you value your lives you won’t resist,” Alwilda called halfheartedly. It was formula now for her to yell that but in the face of the enemies’ despondency it lost a lot of its edge. Alwilda looked at the others and shrugged.

“Standing here won’t do us any good,” Runa said, shrugging back. “But I don’t feel much like robbing them at the moment either. Can’t we at least ask them what is wrong and then make a choice?” Alwilda nodded and sheathed her sword.

“I’m curious as well,” she admitted. “Everyone wait here for me; make sure they don’t attack me. I’m going to go over to the other ship and see what’s what.”

Alwilda would have been more happy had she been walking into a trap, it was what she expect. As it was she felt almost let down when no one even moved a muscle to respond to her stepping onto their ship. Everyone on the entire ship seemed so sunk into depression that even being attacked by as odd a crew as Alwilda’s couldn’t move them from their gloom.

To be continued...

Alwilda II

“There isn’t a single person here who won’t do as you order, Highness,” said another voice. It came timidly from behind Runa and she moved to show Kadlin sitting there sewing.

“If you want to join our conversation you can just speak up without being so scared,” Alwilda told her. Kadlin had been Runa’s servant until she had been invited a place on the crew. She still hadn’t grown used to her new freedom to speak her mind. Alwilda was surprisingly democratic about some things.

“Yes your Highness,” Kadlin said, her head still lowered respectfully.

“Alwilda, please, if father hasn’t disowned me already he will soon.” The evil smile on Alwilda’s face spelled horrible things for the future politics between Sweden and Denmark.

Prince Alf of Denmark sat in his throne while a naval scout knelt before him. Prince Alf’s father, the king, was away to another country at that moment as an envoy and Prince Alf had been left in charge of the working of the kingdom. No one could think of a single objection to this since Prince Alf was the future heir to the throne anyway. Well Prince Alf could think of a reason why he shouldn’t do the job, it was boring, and a lot more hard work then he liked. It wasn’t that he was lazy exactly; it was just that he only liked expending energy when he wanted to. At that moment however he wasn’t exactly as bored as he normally was. He was being entertained by the scout’s report.

“So after the whole ship of young women descended on your poor, helpless, heavily armed ship what happened?” he said, his head propped on his hand.

“They weren’t exactly unarmed themselves, Your Highness. They knew what they were doing with their weapons, and they outnumbered us. They had a lovely young lady who seemed to be their captain and she headed right for our captain, with her sword out. We were all fighting, but I have to admit that they might not have taken them as seriously as we should have. Their captain killed ours, and some of our crew is dead as well.”

“Did you at least manage to kill some of them as well?” Prince Alf asked, though he could guess the answer already by the way that they scout still hadn’t raised his head to look at him.

“We injured some, but there weren’t any deaths on their side. They attacked just too quickly, without any warning at all. They even made us treat their wounds after the fighting was over.”

“How could they make you do something like that?” Prince Alf still looks only entertained; there is no annoyance in his face at all.

“They told us that they would burn our ship and throw all of us into the ocean if even a single member of their crew died. I have never seen such merciless girls before. They couldn’t have been more then seventeen, any of them and yet they were totally heartless when dealing with us. Their captain, the lovely woman I mentioned earlier, actually threatened to cut out my tongue.”

“Was she joking?”

“Not with her blade pressed against my lips, I don’t think so, Your Highness.” Prince Alf bursts into outright laughter.

To be continued...

Alwilda

The Swedish castle was buzzing with gossip, and for a good reason Princess Alwilda had run away. It wasn’t completely unexpected for anyone, though it was something to talk about. From the first moment that she had met her future husband, Prince Alf from Denmark, Alwilda had taken a passionate and irrational dislike to him, and they had only met that once and for a short time. Alwilda wasn’t the sort of person who would sit still and be married off to just anyone. She had declared that she wouldn’t be married and no one had thought that she wouldn’t do something like this.

The court’s true shock was twofold, first that the young ladies of the court for the most part had gone with Alwilda, and second the mode that they had left by, boat. When people thought of well bred young ladies they didn’t think of boat as the transportation of choice. They lacked privacy, elegance, and required a lot of hard work and experience to sail. The boat they were using was stolen from Alwilda’s younger brother and had already been provisioned for a trip that her brother was supposed to take. It was the word among the nobles that it had been heard that Alwilda’s brother had sworn to track down his sister, both for the honor of the family, and to retrieve his boat.

Meanwhile the girl who was raising such a fuss was already well out to sea and enjoying herself greatly. Surrounded by her friends and likeminded girls, with no prospect of marrying Prince Alf, and total freedom, it was her idea of heaven. She was probably only sixteen or seventeen and few of her crew was older then that. They weren’t totally ignorant of ship sailing having lived with it their whole lives. Alwilda knew even more then most, possessing an inquisitive turn of mind which had led her to find out as much as she could about the workings of ships.

“Where are we going to go now?” a girl standing beside Alwilda asked. They were both wearing simple dresses but you could tell by the way that they spoke and the way they carried themselves that they were used to wealth and power.

“I was thinking we might head towards Denmark,” Alwilda said casually.

“I would think that that would be the last area you would want to go towards. Do you want to go to Prince Alf after all?” Runa demanded. It would be a lot like Alwilda to cause all of this trouble and then go and do what everyone wanted her to.

“Not at all, we must have some way to support ourselves and I propose piracy. Preying on my father’s ships would grant me no pleasure and might cause unfortunate encounters with people we know. What better ships to prey on then those ships belonging to the country I detest most, the country I was supposed to be wedded to.”

“You weren’t supposed to be wedded to the country; you were supposed to be married to a man,” said Fastvi, coming to join the conversation.

“It’s the same thing when that man is the crown prince,” Alwilda complained.

“You could have been very happy; do you know how much most fathers would give to make their daughters a queen? I know that I wouldn’t complain to have the opportunity that you have just thrown away.”

“I don’t need your lecture Fastvi, you sound a lot like my father some of the time. Why did you even come if you don’t understand why we left?”

“Because I’m your friend of course, I cannot allow you to simply go sailing off into trouble without me,” Fastvi smiled. Alwilda couldn’t stay angry long in the face of such words and that smile.

To be continued...

A ghost story, kinda VI

“If you give up the money won’t that be giving up what you worked so hard for?” Annemarie asked.

“Don’t be stupid girl, what use is money to a dead person?” Mrs. Williamson snapped. “So long as those stupid descendants don’t realize the money is gone then my enjoyment won’t go away.” She laughed in a very unpleasant way and Annemarie instantly felt sorry for what ever it was her nephew had had to put up with while she had been alive. “Those fools have now lost the house, I was born in this house and soon it will belong to total strangers. The last thing that I would wish is for some disgusting workman to find my riches. At least I approve of the use young Daray will put the money to.”

“Are you sure you won’t come and live at the house when it’s bought as well?” Daray asked. “It’ll be bought with your money after all.”

“Unlike you young man, I have no interest in cutting myself off from society. I will remain here and entertain myself with the new people who will live here. I have grown used to meddling with the living and I doubt I could give it up now. Now young lady, Annemarie was it? Go around to the back of the house and dig under the parlor’s widow box. I will go with you of course; you’ll find a shovel in the garden shed.”

“Why couldn’t the lawyer do this?” Annemarie complained.

“Because this seems unethical somehow, and I’m not so greedy for money as to go digging in people’s yards,” the lawyer snapped. “I’ll be leaving now; I want no part of this. Come out to the car when you are done.”

I envy Annemarie greatly, I must admit, to go digging for treasure on Halloween night with two ghosts as her only company. It is there we must leave her. There is a horseman of writing that comes to haunt this story known as writing and any good narrator would flee like a rat from a sinking ship. I hear there is a good piece being worked on right now about some ninjas and I think I will head over there immediately and look for work. My pride as a narrator however dictates that I clean up some lose ends.

Annemarie became independently wealthy after this night. Not because of the amount the old woman had saved in her lifetime, which while for the time had been a large amount but in truth was only about ten thousand dollars. However it was the largest amount of old currency found in a very long time and in action resulted in a large surplus of money even after the purchase of the house.

The house Mrs. Williamson lived in went through many owners, most of whom only lasted a few months before deciding that the house was just too unpleasant feeling to live in. In the end she met her match however when a family called in an exorcist. Nothing was heard of her after that.

Daray wandered around some, but he always came back to what he rightfully thought of as his house. He sometimes visits Annemarie but she complains because of his melodramatic timing. He can’t seem to resist showing up at midnight during thunderstorms. So this story comes to an end I have to rush, because I told the hiring office I would over in ten minutes.

A ghost story, kinda V

Annemarie wasn’t special or anything like that, actually it was the exact opposite, like I said it’s better that I tell you about these things because there was no way Daray could have said that to her face. Annemarie was there and could be talked to. That was all that had been necessary for her to be tapped to be of use to them.

I have also realized that due to stereotypes you most likely think that the house Daray wants to hold onto is a place that is special to him. Nothing could in fact be farther from the truth. He didn’t even find it until after he was already dead. No one enjoys being homeless, not even a ghost, and finding an abandoned old house he had simply moved in. He tried to keep it in good shape as best as he could, there are only limited things that can be done by ghosts and it was impossible for him work on the outside of the house because people would have noticed. The best that he could really manage was preventing doorways from squeaking and dusting. Even though he had no living connection with the house however he had grown used to living there and wasn’t keen on giving it up now that he had been taking care of it for so long.

They drove up to an old Victorian house, with a foreclosure notice pasted on its door, and the lawyer motioned for Annemarie to get out. The lawyer produced a key and they went in. This house wasn’t as well cared for as Daray’s was, the door did actually squeak and Annemarie nearly jumped out of her skin the first time she stepped on a lose floorboard.

“Are we trespassing,” she asked. This was a very silly question since the lawyer had had the key, but if I haven’t made this entirely clear; Annemarie isn’t a genius, though nor is she stupid. Besides it had been a strange night already and I suppose I have to allow her some credit for being able to think at all. Never having been in a situation like this myself I can’t say how I would have reacted.

“No, I am in charge of this house for the family, they moved out a few months ago. Lawyers shouldn’t break the law and I try not to,” the lawyer said, but she didn’t sound insulted by the question.

“We’re here to meet the person said I wanted you to meet,” added Daray. “Mrs. Williamson, where are you,” he called out into the dark and suddenly there was a tall, thin, old lady in front of them.

“It’s you Daray,” she said and she looked him over with obvious disproval. “Didn’t I tell you to dress in proper clothing the next time you came to see me? And who is this?” she asked, peering nearsightedly at Annemarie.

“I’m Annemarie, but as to why I’m here, you’ll have to ask Daray that,” Annemarie said.

“We’ve come for your money Mrs. Williamson. You said I could have it if I could find someone to pick it up,” Daray said. “Unless you’ve changed your mind of course and decided to allow your descendants to find it, they are still looking for it aren’t they?”

“They are, and they won’t have a penny of it. I earned that money and saved it well. Not one cent did I spend that I could save in my life, nor did I trust it to any bank but kept it safe in this house. No sooner am I gone then my ungrateful nephew sets about to find where I had kept it. I have watched with the greatest enjoyment as they have worn themselves out over the last century, and they still haven’t given up.”

To be continued...

A ghost story, kinda IV

“You’re there, no particular reason. You’re the only person I could think of as having walked past this house every single night. As for the whole Halloween thing, well that was for my own enjoyment,” Daray grinned at Annemarie. “I’ve always wanted to do something like that to someone, since I’m a ghost.”

“If you’re just wasting my time I’m leaving,” Annemarie announced. I can’t say that I like her lack of patience; I mean how many chances do any of us get to talk to a ghost at midnight on Halloween. Annemarie is wasting a fine opportunity, but I can’t get through the page to tell her as much so to continue.

“Wait, I do have my reason. I need help, it was merely the timing that was decided for my enjoyment, well and I was random about who to ask as well,” Daray admitted. “I want you to buy this house so I can keep it.”

Now before the reader throws down this story with disgust, I would like to assure you that I know how ridiculously cliché this is. As I said at the start of this story there are things from convention that will slip into a story even when one has no intention of including them. Besides, I am simply telling the story, so don’t blame me.

“I work at a fast food joint, something you seem to know, do I look like I can afford a house?” Annemarie demanded.

“No, but I know where some money can be found, you know these things after you’re dead but they don’t do you any good because I would like to see you try to dig up money when you pass right through the ground,” Daray said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“So you want me to follow you to this money and then buy this house? Why? What do I get from it?” Annemarie demanded. For this I like, it’s hard to get a main character who is this blunt and straightforward, and not willing to help people for the sake of helping people. This is the sort of character I can respect.

“You can have any money left over, there should be some,” Daray said, shrugging. The last time I checked there was a lot, unless her family has finally actually found it of course, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen, they’ve been looking for the last two hundred years after all.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Annemarie admitted.

“I should take you to meet someone,” Daray announced. “The lawyer will drive you there; I’ll come with of course.”

While Annemarie, getting steadily more confused, is bustled into a car by a bossy ghost and an authoritative lawyer I suppose I should offer more commentary. After all, once again I am feeling like I’m not doing my job and I can’t have that. Daray certainly can’t be trusted to tell the reader about this stuff, though I’m afraid he’s the one who told Annemarie about what was going on during the car ride. Daray isn’t very reliable and tends to leave out details when he gets excited about something.

The lawyer works for a family who used to be rich, but are no longer. They own the house he has been living in, as well as a large house that has been mortgaged as much as it could be and is going into foreclosure. The lawyer had come to inspect the house before sale and had found Daray in residence. Rather then kick him out, which apparently had been her original threat, she had agreed to try and help him keep the house somehow, which is where Annemarie had entered into their plans.

To be continued...