Maiden Wreath

Part 11

Four hours later I woke up on Erika's screams and shut my eyes open only to see me on top of Dalek, one hand ready to hit my knife in him and him putting up one hell of a fight.

"Wake up, woman!" he growled roughly, pushing my hands away from his chest. I yelped and immediately pulled back, the dagger fell into the floorboard. 

He sat up, brushing the grass off his tunic while he stared me in shock. "I thought you were joking when you said you..." his voice tangled. He pulled his hand through his brown hair and jumped on his feet, before yelling in full force: "Never will you carry that dagger in our bedroom!" Then he grabbed his jacket and almost ran out of the hayloft.

I couldn't believe I had done it again. Erika grabbed my shirt and pulled me back near her just as Hagen and Magnus appeared on the hatch. I stared them all blank, not fully understanding the irritation growing in me.

"I need air!" I uttered and ran out, pushing my two brothers aside, fearing I might choke if I stayed there any longer.

Unfortunately the dull light and wet cold air outside had almost no effect on my wellbeing. I still felt queasy and my heart wouldn't stop chasing my throat, rising higher and higher. I flaked out near our the old tree in the middle of the sheep fences where the herds were suppose to sit and keep watch, but there was no one there tonight. I didn't really care, all I wanted right now was sit here and keep breathing till that pain passed.

"You keep breathing like that, lass, and your ticker will give up on you." An old voice said next to me. I turned back to where nobody was suppose to be – Ole, one of the old counsels was sitting, back against the oak and smiled to me warmly.

"I peg your forgiveness," I whispered fast, eyes huge, "I didn't expect anyone to be here."

"Nor did I, lass, nor did I." He proposed I sit and offered me one of the blankets he had on his legs to warm him, which I gladly accepted. It wasn't chilly, but for someone just wakened from bed, it was still cold.

Ole was a kind man, but ruthless in his war campaigns. Me, who I had little knowledge of his power in war, had seen mostly his good side thus had no reason to fear him. "What's the use of fear?" he asked us once when we were kids. "Fear means you are already lost to your opponent – he will win." So, "no fear", was our catchword among children.

Believe me – mothers rarely approved the words when finding their kids on the top of the highest firs almost bare chest or with bloody noses as someone had picked a fight. They were supporters of "leave the war for practice time". You could hardly blame them – they needed us alive and well, not with yet another wound. The best remedy for stupidity was making us work twice as hard with those wounds and even if the small cut on your leg seemed not even worth mentioning, it did hurt as boiling water when carrying water up to the house.

His white hair looked tangled after his daughter had passed away on child birth few months before. But he didn't seem upset, only slightly sadder than before and he didn't take care of himself as well as he used to. I believe he wished to reunite with his family in the Great Hall of Valhalla, but even if he did, he never spoke of it.

Not as Jorun from the Sattle's farm. I purely hated her – every time we met on the road she would catch my elbow and slow me down to ask what I was doing and then rant on how all what I did was only for young people. But she was old and close to her death and that's how she said also to her man, when wishing him good night before reminding him it might be their last time they'd see each other. Commonly, a flood of ill wishes ran over me at that moment – I couldn't help but feel for the poor man forced to live with a wife like that. He had to love this woman very much, because it seemed this woman had no feelings left for him. Why else would she turn into such a menace to one she loved? She was a good woman really, but this one flaw made her almost unbearable, because instead of whining over life she should have embraced it and lived it in full. I just didn't understand what else could she want? They had six children and ten grandchildren. And she was long dozen younger than Ole.