All Your Fates (Currently editing/updating)

Chapter 11: Calling the Norns ~ Randy Astle

“Hello,” I stuttered, staggering to my feet. Ouch—that hurt!

“Melker!” it was a woman’s voice, “what are you doing?!” She walked into the hut. I couldn’t believe it.

“Pepper?” I asked. She was wearing some kind of leather tunic, the same length as mine, and no make-up for once, but it was definitely her. Those emerald eyes, that mouth, those breasts…

“The baby’s supposed to be ready! What have you been doing?” She scooped up the child—he was done now—and wiped him off with her skirt. Ewwww.

She saw me gawking at her and paused. “What are you staring at? Get moving! Let’s go!” She thrust the naked baby at me. There was no other way out that I saw, so I took the child, that thing pointed right at my face, and kind of looked around for something to do with him.

“Um, Pepper, so where are his clothes again?” She just looked at me, reached down into his crib-box and threw some kind of pelt at my face. Yuck—it was wet of course, and now my face was too. “Oh, geez, whatcha do that for?” I whined.

But she didn’t say anything, she just sat down—legs spread wide, I noticed—and picked up the bent scroll, practically hissing, “And if I ever catch you touching one of my parchments again I will chop your finger off.” I started to chuckle then realized she was serious; she was even fingering a small metal blade hanging from her belt. I gulped. What kind of universe had I stumbled into? “The only reason I don’t do it now,” she continued, “is because we’re late for the naming ceremony and,” she smiled approvingly, “you did well satisfying me this morning.”

What?! Not again with that. Then it hit me. I looked around at the little room. A basin of water. A table. The chairs. The bed. A baby in a crib-box. This was our – house. We must be – a couple! With a kid!

Great—even if I found Emma I was shacked up with this, with…

I was supposed to be with Pepper. The thought came back in my head. Right when I had Emma, when I found one who wanted to be with me, Pepper butted in, into my mind and literally into that universe.

And now here she was, in all her leather-clad voluptuousness. Did I do that? Did those thoughts send me to a universe where Pepper and I were… Where we…

“Pepper, what’s going on?!” I blurted.

She stood. “If you’re trying to be cute, Melker, it’s not working. You will refer to me as Damen Sigrid, as required in your marital covenant and renaming ceremony. Or I will exact the punishment.  Understood?” Marital? It was even worse than I thought! What other punishment could possibly top that? Still, the thought wouldn’t leave my head . . . you’re supposed to be with Pepper…

“Be outside in one minute,” she said then stormed out of the house, er, shack. So here I was, alone with a baby that evidently came from me and Pepper, living in a shack under constant threat of becoming a medieval John Bobbitt, and no way to know how to start looking for Emma. I thought about climbing out a window and trying to set out after her, but Pepper was probably as good a potential clue as I was going to get. At least she knew who I was (here) and what was going on, so it was probably best to just go with the flow here for a while and see where she was taking me. Besides, when I’d tried to do things my way before, well, see where that got me?

It turns out wrapping the kiddo in the deerskin, or whatever it was, wasn’t so hard. I think I had it inside out at first—hair normally goes on the outside, right?—but saw there was a kind of belt on the skin side, so I turned it around, swaddled him up so it was nice and fuzzy inside, and stepped out into the daylight like a pro.