Of The Sea : John Murphy

Fish Glorious Fish

With the sight of camp in the distance, my heart raced out of my chest. I untied John Murphy from my saddle and tossed Adrian the rope, giving my horse a gentle nudge and pushed up from the saddle, shooting off in a gallop.

The horse slowed as we got to the pebbled shore and came face to face with a single archer.

I jumped off and the archer immediately recognised me, pulling back and taking the reins from me as I ran past.

"Bo!" I called out loud through the camp.

Heads turned to look at me as I ran past.

"Mama!" A voice yelled from the distance.

I perked up and smiled when his tiny body came into view.

He stumbled out of a hut and hobbled as quick as he could towards me. I ran to meet him in the middle and swooped him off his feet, pulling him close.

"Mama's missed you so much, oh, you've gotten bigger already!" I smothered him with kisses all over his face.

"Ma..." He giggled, pushing my face away with his small hands.

I smiled gently and tucked an arm around him more comfortably so that he was sat at my hip.

Edith and Áki came from somewhere behind me to greet me.

"You were only gone over a week, Thea." Edith smirked, clasping my shoulder. "Calm down."

I sneered at her jokingly, shifting Bo in my hold and giving him a kiss on the cheek in which he squirmed with a grin.

"What progress have you made." I asked the two who I had left in charge of the camp.

"We repaired some o' the huts, we got a food station up and workin' and the dock's half way done." Áki pointed to each area.

I nodded. "Good, we should work on building some walls next."

"Is that the prisoner?" Edith crossed her arms and looked Murphy up and down.

"Yeah, his name's John Murphy. Don't know what Anya wants with these people." My facial expression tightened as Adrian and John entered camp premises.

"He's very clean." Áki observed. "Small."

"I wouldn't mind getting in on that." Edith sighed. "Getting sick of the big beards and rough hands to be honest."

Both Áki and I shot her a bewildered look.

She shrugged and walked away to the food hut.

"That woman..." Áki shook his head, also pardoning himself.

As Adrian led him in, my men hooted and whistled at Murphy. All of them knowing that he was our payment to a place in this country.

Murphy's eyes stayed on me as he walked past, occasionally flickering to Bo.

I set my son down and asked him to help Edith with the fish while I went to get Murphy situated.

"Shrimp, get Sanna to look at your wounds." I ordered, stepping into the empty wooden hut.

He nodded and left without hesitation, his stomach growling on the way out.

I sat in the silent room with him, not having a word to say to each other.

"That your son?" He asked finally.

I lifted my eyes to look at him then back at the ground, ignoring his question.

"Okay... next question, are you guys Vikings, or...?"

Again, I refused to answer. What was I even doing in this room? I could easily have someone else watch him. But then again I was comfortable sitting on the floor, resting my leg muscles.

"Stop talking." I mumbled.

"I'm just curious is all." He said, leaning his head back into the wall. There was something about the way he spoke. It never sounded sincere and always like there was something humorous behind his sentences that only he understood.

His lip was always quirked but he wasn't smiling, not really.

Pretty soon he would probably die seeing as though I'm tossing him into the hands of Anya. Better not get too used to him being around.

I heard some pebbles crunch outside and I looked up to see Bo with a wooden bowl in his hands. "Mama?"

I scrambled up to my feet and crouched in front of him. "Bo! What are you doing in here, it's not safe for you!"

"Aren't you hungry mama?" He frowned, holding the bowl towards me.

I sighed and looked at the cooked fish, onion and grain.

He was always thoughtful of others, it pained me to think that that would change about him as he grew older.

I smiled and took the bowl from him, ruffling his hair. "Yes of course honey, thank you."

He hugged me tight then sat down beside me, watching me expectantly.

I glanced awkwardly between Murphy and Bo who were both waiting for me to do something.

"Mama, is he danger?" Bo asked innocently, pointing at Murphy.

I stared at him long and hard. I wouldn't really call him a danger to us but from what Adrian told me, this guy was willing enough to kill a young girl. Though, to be fair, is something anyone from the Sea Clan is capable of, but it didn't seem like his people were like that.

"Are you a threat, John Murphy?" I asked him cooly.

"Are you?"

I turned back to my son. "Not to us darling. Just stay with me okay? "

The boy nodded and clutched my arm, snuggling into me as I ate my meal.

"Am I gonna get any of that?" Murphy asked, eyeing up the food that was going into my mouth.

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes. "Didn't I tell you that it wasn't my job to feet you?"

"Come on, please?" He begged, from sitting he got to his knees with his bound hands extended. "I've barely eaten since I got on this god forsaken planet."

His stomach growled audibly and his hands shot to his abdomen in attempts to silence it. Bo noticed and fidgeted, his hands tightening around my arm. I looked down at him to find him already staring up at me, his eyes wide and begging for me to do something. "He's hungry..."

John's eyes shifted from Bo, like even he understood what my son was saying. "Please."

I rolled my eyes and put my half finished bowl of food down. I licked my fingers and picked up my child. "This bowl was empty when I left it." I muttered, stepping out of the room and into the cool air outside.

I set Bo down and he ran off to do what he does while I tied the windowless hut shut so that there was no escaping for my payment.

"Thore!" I called to the warrior who was working the nearest on weapons and such. "Keep an eye out on the new comer."

He nodded and got back to heating his sword.

I stretched my back out and breathed in the crisp air that was lately not quite cutting it.

Now I await for the transaction to happen, hoping that it would be quick.