Oremgoth

TOVA

I turned nineteen years old today.  I’ve been living in the castle for thirteen years, learning what it takes to be Queen, wife of the High King.  My teachers have not all been kind; I have scars across my shoulders from one of the harsher teachers who believed children needed to have information beaten into them. 

My favorite teacher is Lady Ulka, the current Queen of Oremgoth.  She teaches me about her duties, how to be a high bred lady and how to support my husband in politics. 

I also have history and geography lessons which I hate.  The teacher is a mean wizard who has no patience with my stumbling over the pronunciation of towns and villages I will probably never visit.  He stands over me and shouts, his foul breath making it hard for me to breathe.  I study hard so that these lessons are not overly long.

My favorite classes are the ones outside.  I take riding lessons from Olf, the groom.  The castle keeps horses, but also keeps a dozen Sleipner beasts, the eight legged horses that some royalty ride.  Sleipner’s can only be ridden by one person.  They are incredibly loyal and don’t tolerate any other rider, with the exception of Birgir.  He can ride anything.

Bo is my sleipner.  He is an amazing creature and the one I usually run to when one of the King’s illegitimates or his concubines are bothering me.  He is the perfect companion, quiet and sympathetic, nuzzling my tears away and being just naughty enough to make me laugh.

I also take fencing lessons, warrior lessons, archery lessons and defense lessons.  When I am done with those, I take lessons on war strategies and needlepoint.  My lessons are well rounded.

From my teachings I have learned that Oremgoth is made up of four kingdoms: Jotum, Nidavelle, Heimed, and Skaldic.  I found out that I was originally from Nidavelle, the land of forests.  Skaldic is North and entirely on a peninsula on the sea.  It tends to be in perpetual winter, only thawing out a few months out of the year.  Jotum and Heimed are where much of our agriculture comes from and Heimed tends to be a bit milder in temperature, it being further south.  Together these four kingdoms make up the High Kingdom of Oremgoth of which I am to become Queen as soon as I am married to the High King.  That blessed union will be in one year.

I woke up this morning five minutes before one of my ladies in waiting, Liv, who is in charge of getting me up and ready.  I woke up and stretched, jumping out of bed and using the privy.  When Liv came in, I was already dressed in fine woolen undergarments and a heavy velvet dress in a baby blue color.  Underneath I was lacing up leggings that went up my thigh to protect my legs from Bo’s course hair. 

“Lady Tova!” she exclaimed.  “It’s your birthday.  You can not wear your ordinary dress for a day like today!”

I tipped my head at her.  “Do I get today off, or will I still be instructed?”

Liv shrugged.  “I would imagine that you would be allowed to do what you wish, it being your birthday.”

I gave her a huge smile.  “Good!  I want to take Bo for a very long ride.  And then I want to eat only sweets for my lunch and I definitely do NOT want to share any part of my day with Knud or Sten.”  Knud and Sten were sons of the High King by his favorite concubine.  They were older than I and took special delight in tormenting me.  They were punished for their last hijinks, catching me and lighting my hair on fire, and they were appropriately apologetic for about twenty minutes.  They went back to terrorizing me almost immediately and I have not forgiven them for what they had done.

Liv curtsied.  “I will do what I can, miss.”

I grinned.  “I know you will.  Thank you!”

My door burst open, and I knew who it was before she said anything.  Lady Ulka was always a presence and did everything over the top, including entering rooms.

“Tova!” she said, embracing me and covering me with her artificial scent of jasmine and vanilla.    “Happy birthday!” She pushed me back and looked me over and then pulled me to her again for another hug. I gave her a hug back.  I loved Lady Ulka.  She has been nothing but kind to me.

“What are you wearing?  It’s your birthday.  You need to wear something beautiful and fancy to celebrate.” She shot a baleful glare at Liv who shrank back.

“Liv tried to get me into something fancy,” I came to her defense.  “I want to go ride Bo.  It’s my birthday so I want to spend most of it in the woods, riding through what’s left of the snow.”

“She also doesn’t want to see Knud or Sten,” Liv said, tentatively.  Lady Ulka grinned at me and picked up a strand of my heavy hair. 

“Yes, they are very naughty boys.  But your hair grew back beautifully.”  She ran a hand down the side of my face.  “And your scarring is gone.  I wasn’t sure but the Medicine Man was correct with the herbs.”  She lowered her voice.  “I would have flayed them alive, but my son is more lenient with his current heirs.”

I flinched.  I knew that my first job was to provide King Erik with a legitimate heir.  If he was to die without an heir, Knud would become High King.  And God help our kingdom if that was to happen.

I heard my chamber door open, and someone else entered.  I smelled spicy sausage and warm bread and knew it was Inga with my food.  Her sole job was to supervise the preparation of my meals.  Throughout the years there have been a few that have attempted to poison me, including one of the King’s own concubines.  She was hung in the courtyard for treason, her body left all winter, frozen and providing food for the carrion birds. 

“Did you bring enough for two?” Lady Ulka shouted out to Inga. 

“Yes, m’lady,” she answered.  “I received the message from your courier.”

“Good,” she answered, leading the way out of my closet, abandoning her quest to get me into something fancier. 

I was excited to find that she was eating with me.  When she was acting as my teacher, she was all business, imparting her knowledge in a frantic attempt to turn me into a good and supportive queen for her son.  When we ate together or spent time outside the classroom, she was funny and gossipy.  I loved listening to her, and my stomach usually hurt from laughing.

We sat down at the table I usually eat at alone, unless I am invited to some state dinner.  That has been happening more and more lately, as I’ve been coming of age, but my future spouse, my High King, barely looks at me during those.  I heard him one time outside my chambers, arguing with his mother.

“Go see her, my son.  She will be your wife one day.”

“She is just a child.  When she becomes of age, she will be a vessel for me to shoot my seed and plant my future heir into.  Nothing more.   I do not care to get to know her.”

I was probably eleven when I overheard that conversation.  I remember crying and Lady Ulka being chagrinned that I had overheard.

“He is right, I am a child,” I cried to her. 

“I was eight when I was taken from my parents and brought to the castle for King Erik’s father.  He was thirty-five.  We had a huge age gap, but we grew to love each other,” she tried to comfort me.  I knew that King Erik’s and my age gap was only eighteen years but to a ten-year-old, that seemed ancient. 

She patted me on the cheek.  “When you’re older it won’t seem like such a big deal,” she said.

She was wrong.  I was nineteen which made King Erik thirty-seven.  He was too old and too angry for me.  I didn’t want to wed him, and I didn’t want to bed him, but I was a woman in Oremgoth.  We weren’t given any choice in our future.  I was especially trapped because a soothsayer predicted that I was going to be the one to unite the four kingdoms.