"Fragment" by Robert E. Howard (1969)

Originally appeared in Bran Mak Morn, 1969.

Plot: Bran Mak Morn is travelling in the land of the red-beards (Vikings) under his alias Partha Mac Othna (which he also used in "Worms of the Earth"). He passes a guard to find a tall woman sunning herself on a boudler by the sea. She accuses him of spying then challenges him to a wrestle. Bran is surprised by her she-cat fiercity. She claims to be the original inhabitant of the land, and sister to the wind and sea.

Monsters:

None.

History: There is a possibility the woman might have proven to be a goddess figure of some kind. David C. Smith & Richard L. Tierney went with this kind of woman/goddess in their pastiche novel For the Witch of the Mists. The fragment did not have an outline with it so we'll never know. Some of Howard's attitudes towards women in this story might not be PC these days.

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