Huldra

It had been a long hard day for Erik, he had been out since early morning fishing in a lake a few miles outside of his village, and had yet to catch a single fish. He would cast out his line and wait, and wait, and wait for sometimes more than an hour before reeling in to find nothing had taken a fancy to his bait. After a few more castings of his fishing line that wielded nothing again, he gave up and sat down under a tall pine, frustrated at his lack of catch.

‘Why are there no fish!’ he muttered to himself. Erik’s family were poor, and relied on fish to eat and to make their living by selling them to the rest of the village. Erik’s father had been fishing on this lake for years, and was the breadwinner of the family. He had taught Erik how to fish, a very simple yet hard technique called handlining, which did not include a rod, only a line. He had shown him the best spots on the lake to catch fish, and taught him to be patient. Sadly, a few months ago, Erik’s father had passed away, and so Erik, the eldest child would now have to provide for his family. Though since his father’s , he had been catching fewer and fewer fish, and for the past couple of days, not even one had been caught. Which did not bode well for his family.

Erik thought about what would happen if he was not able to catch any fish. They would have but to leave, and move to the cities and find work there. Though Erick did not want to do that, he loved where he lived. The open wilderness and the freedom that it gave him. The clear skies and fresh air, and all his friends. All of which would be lost if they moved to the city, where they would have to work in the mills and factories. He had heard stories of the cities, the cramped condition, the long hours and the low pay. And he did not like it one bit.

Erik put those thoughts to the back of his mind, and looked out onto the lake. It looked to him like a long flat mirror, with the blue sky and the distant mountains reflecting in it. Surrounded by thick pine forests, which went on for miles around the lake. Erik got up and made his way to the lakes edge. He was a large young man, standing perhaps six feet tall with a stocky frame, which made him look older than he was. As reached the shoreline, he could he see his reflection in the clear water. He had a pale milky complexion, with dark brown hair that had neatly combed before he came, but had messed up as he became frustrated with his lack of catch. He had a beard, much like his father. But oddly, despite his dark brown hair he had a copper beard, much like his Mothers hair. Erik then picked up some flat stones, and began to skim them across the lakes surface. The first made three skips, the second four. But the third, he managed to get seven skips, though his best was nine.

After a few more skipped stones, Erik made his way back to where his fishing gear was, and was determined to try again. He grabbed his line, and made his way other to his basket where he kept his hooks and bait, and prepared his line. He removed his old bait, and took out a fresh maggot from a small pouch in his basket, and impaled in on his hook. He then returned to the water’s edge, and unwound about two feet of his line from the spool, and begin to spin it in a circular motion to build up momentum. Before he threw his line however, Erik heard a rustling behind him. He turned around suddenly to see what it was, but he could not see anything. Curious Erik put down his line by his basket, and headed up to investigate the noise.

‘Hello?! Who’s there?!’ he shouted out, hearing it echo.

No reply came, he could hear only the sound of the wind rustling in the tree branches and bushes. And songs of bird’s callout out to one another. Erik shrugged, figuring that it must have been some animal that had now scurried away, and turned around to get his line. But the he heard the noise again, this time it sounded closer. Erik turned back around, and headed further up the bank towards the bushes, sure that it was not an animal.

‘Who’s there?! I know you’re here, so come out! I’m not going to hurt you!’ A moment of silence followed, before the rustling began again. Then, something came out of the bushes. And it was not what he had expected.