Lochlainneach

Song of a Longship

Day 72 on Hy-Brasil

CATRÌONA POV

I felt the sting of Vekneira's stick hitting the socket of my left eye and was nearly knocked off of my feet. I quickly raised a hand to my eye and wiped off a bit of blood to keep it from going into my eye, all while Vekneira seemed to chuckle to herself. "You will not do well in battle if you do not see your enemy coming," she told me as I turned to face her.

"Well, I can certainly say tha' not bein' able te hear out of that ear doesnae help any," I told her as I wiped more blood from my eye. "Let's take a moment so I dinnae become blinded by blood."

"You won't have time for such frivolities in battle," Vekneira told me as she lowered her stick.

"Yeah, yeah. I ken tha', all right? But we're not in battle right this second, so I'll take the luxury while I can," I answered her, leaning my own stick against a stone while I went down to the creek to wash the blood off of my face. I had been among the Valkyries for about a month and in all that time, I had been training heavily to learn how to fight like them. It was exhausting, but being among them was the closest I could get to Freyja, so I humoured them by joining their training. In all that month, there had been no word about Freyja, so I couldn't deny that I was getting quite frustrated with the lack of information, but I bit my tongue to keep quiet.

As if on cue, I heard commotion coming from the center of the Valkyrie camp, and both Vekneira and I turned our attention to the sounds. "They must have returned," said Vekneira. A week before, a small group of Valkyries had gone out on a mission and were not expected to return for another week, which more likely meant that something had gone wrong. Vekneira and I exchanged a glance before we made our way towards the commotion. We found the Valkyries congregating outside of Herja's hut, and I could hear Alruna's voice asking questions to someone at the center of the circle.

"They were ambushed by the Dökkálfar. I found them in my travels," said a voice I did not recognise. This was strange to me, considering I had come to recognise the voices of all the Valkyries. "Göndul and Hildr were killed, and Hrist is nowhere to be found. Is it possible the Dökkálfar have taken her?"

"It would be unlike them to take hostages," I heard Herja's voice say. "Svena, go and find Catrìona to help Alruna tend to Lovisa's wounds."

"Lovisa?" Vekneira said with alarm, and then she began to push through the crowd. "Lovisa! Move aside!"

"Vekneira, do calm yourself," Herja said as Vekneira pushed through the circle, and I followed behind her when I heard my name.

"No need te look fer me, I'm right-" I began to say, but I froze in my place when I saw the figure behind the mysterious, unfamiliar voice standing over a bleeding Lovisa on the ground. She had red hair, and fierce green eyes that I hadn't seen in a long, long time. Those fierce green eyes met my silver ones, and a brief glaze of recognition crossed those green eyes.

"Who is this?" asked Freyja, much younger than I had ever seen her in all my life, even in photographs that my mother used to show me, but despite her youth, I recognised her instantly. This was my grandmother, the woman that raised my mother, told her stories and sang her songs of longships and Nordic myths. This was the woman who appeared mysteriously on the isle of Orkney, met and fell in love with my grandfather despite them being unable to understand each other, who travelled the world in a pre-rebellion time and eventually settled down in Scotland. Though her face was so young, her eyes were unchanged - but despite the fact that recognition crossed her eyes, she did not know me. "I said, who are you?"

"This is Catrìona of Scotland. She is a healer, and she has joined us as a warrior. She defeated Vekneira in battle," Herja explained to Freyja.

"Is that so? A Druid? I heard your voice. You speak like Druids," Freyja told me, distrust evident in her voice.