Frida

Chapter 17 - Guidance

Despite all of Floki's scary stories about wild men hovering the northern forests like wolves, she had stepped out of the house to get herself some fresh air. The night was black, the pale illumination of the moon being the only source of light for seeing anything out there. The air was clean and cool on her face, and she closed her eyes as she inhaled it deeply.

She tried to clear her mind from all of the thoughts about Floki not believing her, but she had difficulties.

How could she ever have made all of that up in her mind? How could she, having spent all of her life in Northumbria, ever have known anything about their god Odin?

Frida walked silently down towards the shore in front of her. The water made almost no noise as it washed up on the grey sand there, and she sat down on a rock close by, looking at the reflection of the moon in the water. It was almost full, she noticed, and she felt herself relax while sitting on the rock, being one with the silence surrounding her.

She caressed her stomach, and her mind wandered back to Ragnar, who was inside the house, intoxicated by the power of the mushrooms. In some way, she kind of wished that he had not eaten it, as his air had changed into a strange cloud of unfamiliar clumsiness and laughter.

She breathed out as she heard the cry of a raven above her, and her eyes quickly fell to the water. She suddenly felt a growing eagerness to speak to someone close to her, someone who knew her better than anyone else, someone...

Frida frowned when she realized that she was very far away from her Lady Liofrun, and that she would probably never see her again. Her mother too...

She felt her heart beat faster, and her breath seemed to become even warmer than usual, spreading smoky clouds from her lips into the night air. She did not really have anyone that could guide her in this journey she had stepped herself onto, the journey of becoming a mother, caring and nursing another human being that is too fragile to do anything on its own. Her mother could not give her advice on how to feed it the best, what to eat so the child would grow bigger, even such a simple thing as how to love her coming child she would never be able to ask her about.

Frida's body collapsed in surprise when she heard a twig snapping behind her.

She quickly turned around on the rock, scanning the forest before her with her eyes, but it was too dark for her to see anything.

Another sound of a twig breaking had her stand to her feet now, and she clutched her arms around her stomach, protecting her small baby bump. She could sense movement behind the trees West of the house, and she narrowed her eyes, straining them to see just the figure of what was moving out there.

She took a step backwards, almost falling over the rock she had been sitting on, when she saw to eyes in the darkness. Fear instantly raced through her blood as she realized that these eyes belonged to something really big, something tall, as the figure stepped closer to her.

Just when Frida was about to yell out for help, she finally saw the creature that was moving towards her.

It was a... horse?

A very tall, lean, and muscular white horse was slowly walking towards her, its eyes stuck on her face, its hooves almost inaudible on the ground. As Frida exhaled in relief the horse bent its head down, eyes still on her, while it gracefully trotted closer and closer. When it stepped out of the shadows completely, the moonlight made its fur glare in a mysterious, almost godlike manner.

Frida gulped down hard, before she too took a step towards it. "Hello?" she tried out in a small whisper, well knowing that the wild horse would not answer her.