Ulriech had indeed announced that he would be marrying Olga, the redhead who always seemed to slather compliments and praise on him. No one seemed to be surprised, and the party went on for hours, well into the night.
Sophie spent the next few days, while Eirik was otherwise engaged with whatever secret he was working on, and she scrubbed her house from top to bottom. The kitten was growing and had already shown a knack for catching mice. The rats were too big for him yet, but once he grew just a bit more and packed on a few pounds, he'd probably be quite proficient at it.
She spent some time with Sabine, as well, telling her how everything went during the race.
"Eirik let Ulriech win," Sabine said, sitting in her rocking chair with some sewing in her hands.
"Eirik said Ulriech knocked him out."
"Ulriech could never knock Eirik out. That's pish!"
"I heard it from Eirik himself!"
"Well then he let him!" she said, dropping her sewing onto her lap.
"Why would he do that?"
"My guess is he wanted to force Ulriech to play his hand."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since you came here, Ulriech's blabbered to everyone about how he's going to marry you, even though we all know you'd never have him. But Eirik can't make you an offer if Ulriech was going to, so he let him win so Ulriech would have to ask you, or ask someone else. Thank goodness he asked someone else!"
"I've never been so relieved in my entire life." Sophie laughed.
"You would have just gotten up there in front of everyone and turned him down, wouldn't you?"
"Of course I would have!"
"Good girl!" she laughed, patting her hand. "Now Eirik is free to pursue you himself."
"He's never indicated that he wanted to."
"Sure he has!" she said.
"When?" Had she missed something?
"In all the little things," she said. "He trains you. He makes sure you have food. Last night he made sure you had something to drink. He stands up to Ulriech on your behalf. He stands up to his father for you. It's the little things."
"That doesn't mean he wants to marry me." Sophie said. "Those are things a friend does for you."
"Those are things I have never seen Eirik do for anyone else." the woman said. "And I pay a lot of attention to him, you know I do!"
Sophie laughed. Sabine had a little bit of a crush on him and never shied away from letting everyone know. "I know you do."
"That boy is so beautiful to look at," she sighed, closing her eyes to picture him in her mind. "Mm-mmmm-mm!"
"When you're finished fantasizing about poor Eirik," Sophie laughed softly. "I was wondering if you could make me another pair of those pants."
"They worked good, did they?"
"They were perfect," she replied. "If I hadn't been shoved into a rock, I might have actually been able to keep up with Eirik."
"A lot of those men don't like being bested by a girl." Sabine said.
"I noticed that," she said. With a long sigh, she realized she needed to get back to her house and put things back together. She bid Sabine goodnight and walked back towards her house.
"It's the plague!" a man on a horse shouted as he galloped past her in the street, just before she reached her house. "The black plague!"
"What?" she turned right around and followed him to the great hall where he burst inside and began shouting that the black plague was coming.
She was standing in the doorway when the chief and Ulriech finally managed to get the man calmed down enough to tell them what was happening. He had come from a small village south of Svangard and the plague was already starting to spread through the village. Three people had died and many more were sick.
"Have the planets aligned?" one of the elders asked, glancing at the others sitting nearby. Sophie rolled her eyes as they began discussing this and she walked to the front of the room.
"It's not the planets!" she said. "It's the rats!"
Everyone in the building started laughing at her and despite her attempts to explain, they refused to listen. Finally, Ulriech grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back to the door. "We don't have time to listen to this ridiculousness!" he snapped, pushing her outside and closing the door behind her.
Sophie ran back to Sabine's house and pounded on the door. When the woman answered, she told her what was happening and asked if Sabine had any trouble keeping the rats out of her house.
"I see them every once in a while," the woman said. "Why does it matter if I have rats? Everyone in town has rats!"
"They're what spreads the plague!" Sophie said.
"Are you sure? How do you know that?"
"I just do." she sighed. "You have to believe me!"
"You've been right about other things," the woman said. "What should I do?"
"Clean everything really well. Make sure there isn't any food left out or left where they can get to it. I'm going to see if I can find any more kittens."
"Kittens?"
"They can catch the mice and rats and the smell keeps them away."
"I'm supposed to keep the kitten in the house?"
"Yes!" she said. "I'll be back if I can find one,"
"Alright!"
Sophie ran to the lists, hoping to find Eirik there. He said he had something to do and wouldn't be able to train with her, but she hadn't seen him around town the last few days, and couldn't think of where else he might be.
He was in the blacksmith's shop at the far end of the arena and saw her coming before she spotted him. He walked out to meet her, noticing concern on her face. "What's happened?"
"We had a messenger." she said. "He said the black plague has reached Stromsfeld."
His face blanched. "Has my father been told?" he grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her along with him as he headed towards the hall.
"He knows. And he and Ulriech don't want to listen to what I have to say about it!" she said, pulling her arm free so he'd have to stop and talk to her. "I know I haven't been here very long, but I do know what causes the plague."
"What?"
"It's the rats!"
"Sophie," he sighed. "You can't be serious!"
"I am serious!" she snapped. "I know it sounds ridiculous to you, but it's the truth!"
"We don't have time for this!" he said. He turned and stormed off.
Angry that no one would take her serious, Sophie stormed off in the other direction. She stomped through town and down a small trail that led down to a small part of the river where she plunked herself down on the bank and crossed her arms with a huff.
She couldn't be sure how long she was sitting there, sulking, when she heard a strange noise behind her and she scrambled to her feet and turned around to see a blue swirling haze appearing before her. She considered running towards it and jumping through, thinking she would be transported back to her own time, but the sparks that snapped and jumped around the outside of it caused her some concern.
It was a matter of seconds before the blue haze dwindled into a puff of smoke that wafted away on the breeze and it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. She was still staring at it when she realized that Eirik was standing at the edge of the clearing, on the other side of where the vortex had been and the look of surprise on his face was undeniable. She sighed.
"Are you a witch?" he asked.
"No, I'm not a witch!" she snapped, returning to her spot on the river bank.
"Then how do you explain that? What was that?"
"I can't explain it, because I don't know what it was!"
"I don't believe you! You weren't even afraid of it!" he nervously skirted around the spot where it had been, and came to stand over where she was sitting.
She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "Sit down and I'll explain everything."