Destined

"Leggðu frá þér byssurnar"

We rounded the corner, slowly halting in our steps. Ronan, this giant of a man, was on the  ground, lying on his chest, arms streched in a surrendering gesture. His face was pressed into the dirt by a foot on his neck.

I was astonished. Who was able to overwhelm and defeat such a mountain? I took the scene in front of me in. The foot belonged to a man who was dressed in mostly brown fur and thick leather. He was tall and lean, like the other eight men who were with him. All were heavily armed with battle axes, long spears and many different knives and machetes.

It was obvious, that they all belonged to the same group of creatures: their long thick hair was braided in intriguing designs, you could see all shades of blond and light brown. Their skins were pale and a few had freckles. Their eyes were of an extreme bright grey or blue, high cheeks and angular jaws. Immediately one thought came to my mind: vikings. I read about them. But could it be? The vikings were long gone! Long before earth changed. They belonged to the myths and legends, their traces spread across the northern areas.

But here they were, right in front of us.

"Íslendingur, why is my supreme commander lying in the dirt?", Gaisgeil's calm voice said with authority.

What did he call them? Íslendingur? Never heard this name. I saw an uneasiness settle on the men's face. Their fingers twitched around their weapons. A predator was amongst them, a bigger predator than they were. The instincts of non-Daonnachd creatures were aligned to know, if a dangerous threat was near. 

"Please", Gaisgeil waved them off as if annoyed and bored, "refrain your foot from my friend's neck... or I'll cut it off - NOW!" 

The man gawked incredulous. "I would be crazy if I did your saying! He is a Dhaoine, we could only put him down, because we caught him by suprise. If I let him go he'll go on a rampage. Don't want to die today..."

Gaisgeil pursed his lips. "You'll die anyway, if you don't follow my command, so enjoy your", his face morphed into his animalistic Creachadair, "last breaths", he growled.

Their faces twisted in fear. Slowly the adressed man took his foot from Ronan's neck, his eyes never leaving Gaisgeil. "Leggðu frá þér byssurnar", he voiced to his companions. Suddenly all the weapons were hurled to the ground. They surrendered without further resistance.

Ronan stood up, pushing the man who held him down. He staightened up, anger written on his face. He grabbed the man's fury collar. "One word from the Lord of Desa and I'll rip you to shreds", he hissed.

The next moment every man - except Conor, Ronan and the man Ronan held hostage - was on his knees in front of Gaisgeil.

"Please, spare us, Mylord. We didn't know it was you. We felt somebody invaded our lands and we wanted to see, if it's a threat to us!"

"Now you know, that I INVADED MY OWN LAND", Gaisgeil spat at them.

I have to give the poor men credit. Facing Ronan's wrath was terrifying, but the strangers held their composure, even on their knees.

This is how I vision the Islendigur.

"Ronan, wait with the shredding till the man told us where they live THAN you can have a little bit of fun with him", my destined mocked.

The ring leader laughed suddenly. "You fools! Don't you know, that pity doesn't exist in the Lord's vocabulary? He'll KILL US ALL, our wives and children."

Gaisgeil laughed openly without a care in this world, like he heard the best joke ever. I shook my head. Sometimes I thought he was really in a strange way bipolar.

He watched the brave man with a sparking interest. "Perhaps you are mistaken, good man. Perhaps today is your lucky day. Convince me not to kill you and your friends. The question is: what can you do for me? How can you be useful to me? Well, ... speak, save your lives."

My destined bent his head in a playful way, initiating that he was eager to hear the answer. Observing his reaction and words, seeing my destined in action, I understood why everybody feared him. He was always in total control, never caught by surprise, never at a loss. Always menacing and superior to the people he faced.

With one exception: Me. I laughed in my head. If the situation wasn't that serious I would have laughed aloud. Gaisgeil must have felt my changing mood because he turned his gaze to me with a raised eyebrow in question. My smirk made Gaisgeil's forehead wrinkle quizzically.

I supressed a laugh with my hand. All the present men were watching with equally expressions as my destined: pure helplessness. I couldn't keep it in. I burst.

"Hahahahahahha....oh Theos, stop your showcase of dominance. If I wasn't around you would have undressed to messure your ..."

"CALLIDA", I was interrupted by Ronan's cry who gawked me like I was crazy. Conor was surprisingly silent the whole time. He only watched with crossed arms. My destined waited to see, what's going on in my head.

I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you talk to each other like intelligent beings without threats and menace, without growls and baring fangs?"

"You!", I called the ring leader. "What's your name?"

The man look flustered and unsure. He searched Gaisgeil's face for his permission to talk to me. My destined nodded generously...like the kind man he was!!!

I massaged my temples annoyed and huffed. "Arnar, my name is Arnar", the man answered.

 "Arnar, an interesting name. I am Callida, the destined of the Lord of Desa, this nice man over there", I indicated to Gaisgeil. Now it was my destined who rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Arnar stiffened. "My Prota", he tried to bow, but was stopped by Ronan's grip.

I tsked. "Ronan, be a nice boy and leave Arnar alone, would you?"

After a short glance to his Lord, Ronan followed my request hesitantly. Arnar took a deep breath of relief.

"Now tell me, you spoke in a language I never heard before in my live. What kind of language is it?

Arnar streched his shoulders, unsure how to respond. 

Uh....we are Íslendingur, Mylady and it's our language. Our ancestors came to these lands after the big wave from an island in the northern seas."

Yes, the big wave changed everything. The water level of the sea rose,  islands and coastals around the earth were flooded. Horrible events of our past. Many humans and creatures died or moved permanantly because their home didn't exist anymore. The survivors fought for food, drinkable water and housing. Dark times that nearly nobody remembered...nobody except us Daonnachd..and evidently this man in front of me.

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Leggðu frá þér byssurnar= Icelandic= "Lay your weapons down" (Google Translator)

Dear Icelandic readers. Please, don't be mad at me, that I flooded your island in this chapter. It's only a post-apocaliptic fiction in my head. Your island is beautiful and I would like to visit Iceland soooo much...If you see any translation mistakes, please contact me.