Line of Time

Viking Big Brother

I sat at the table in our house's cooking area with my mother standing over the cooking fire. She turned around and looked at me, she smiled as my feet couldn't touch the floor and I looked at the distance between my tip toes and the wooden floor. She then looked at my clothes and shook her head.

 "A little girl shouldn't be wearing her brothers hand me downs... Cristal you should be wearing a dress." Mom told me as she walked towards me and cleaned her hands on her apron and then looking at my clothes.

A long brown shirt went to just before my knees, badge pants were tied at the bottom with leather strips and furry leather boots were on my feet. A black cape was wrapped around my shoulders and my light blonde hair went down to my chin. It was loose and feathered and spiked in areas.  My shirt was tied shut with a piece of leather.

"You look like a boy..." She said as she looked me over and remembered when my brother was my age.

"Speaking of boys, can you go wake up your brother, I know he was busy last nigh but he has to get up." She said with a chuckle as I hopped off the chair and ran down the hall to his room.

I made sure to keep quite as I opened the door and creep inside. I looked around his room. Wooden walls and floor. A small window and weapons scattered everywhere, on the walls, floor and corners. I saw his log frame bed with a bunch of animal furs pilled onto it, I heard his snoring that sounded more like thunder and then looked out his window, still staying where I was. The sun was already climbing high into the sky and he was still asleep. Mom was right he did need to get up, I had been up since sunrise. I smiled as I tiptoed towards his bed, I held back a giggle once I saw how funny he looked when he was sleeping. Stretched out in a way that made me wonder how he managed that when he slept.

"Mathias!" I said as I jumped up onto his bed and he shot up like a lighting bolt. I smiled as he almost fell off his bed, then he looked at me who was sitting on his lap.

"Cristal, what are you doing here?" He asked as he was still haft asleep.

"Mom says you have to wake up." I said as I hugged him and after a minute he hugged me back as he woke up more.

"At least you woke me up, but did you have to wake me up so early?..." He said with a yawn. I smiled at him and he sighed.

"Who am I kidding if the sun's up you're up." He said as a smile came back to his face and he picked me up and got out of bed me now over his shoulder like how he carried an animal from one of his hunting trips. He was already dressed and walked down the hall and then put me down. Grabbing a red cape and throwing it on and putting a belt with a sword attached to it as well. Ran his fingers through his light blonde hair, brushing it up to one side so it was out of his eyes and it stayed there in an unnatural spiky look.

"Morning Mathias, sorry I sent the little monster after you. Oh and before I forget, we're almost out of meat, so could you go hunting later?" Mom asked as Mathias nodded with a smile.

"Come on, were going to have a great day." He said as he picked me up and went out the door then put me up on his shoulders. I giggled at the sudden change of height and held on to the back of his hair, being careful not to mess up his spikes. We walked through the small village and passed a lot of people then a group of boys, looking the same age as Mathias called from the docks as we passed.

"There you are!" One called.

"It's almost noon, how lazy can you be?" Shouted another.

Mathias chuckled as he walked down the steep dirt path to the boys.