Merciful || Ivar the Boneless

s e v e n

Ivar woke up screaming from another nightmare. The drops of sweat running all over his forehead, neck and shoulders. He was breathing fast and with minutes going by his breathing slowed down.

The sun was already up and by the noise from outside, it was quite busy on the streets of Kattegat. People were trading animals, foods and other necessary things. Just another regular morning.

Ivar sat up and uncovered his legs. He hated the look of them. Two skinny boney legs that didn't match his upper body. Useless, yet they were still there, being a part of his body. There have been times when he wanted to get rid of them. "Just cut them off!" he would scream in agony. The countless days full of pain and screams.

"You are special not in spite of your legs, but because of them," he heard the voice of his father telling him that. Ivar sighed and slowly got dressed. While doing that, someone knocked on his door. "Come in," he commanded.

A tall almost bald man with a crazy eyeliner and a big beard came in. "Here is the cripple boy," he said to Ivar.

Ivar looked up, raising his eyebrow. "And there came an old fool," he answered with a straight face.

"Why don't you stand up, come here and tell it to my face?" Ivar couldn't hold it in anymore. He started laughing and clapped his hands together, so did the tall man standing in front of him. "Floki!" Ivar was still laughing. "Ivar!" he called him his name before embracing him.

"What are you doing here?"

"The birds in the woods were singing about some girl who came to Kattegat. I was curious. I heard you were keeping her under your wings." Floki raised his eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like Ivar I know," he pointed out.

"I should kill those birds," Ivar answered totally ignoring the look he was getting from Floki. Floki let out a chuckle. "Here he is. Will you show her to me?" Floki asked with excitement. "She won't tell you much, Floki." Floki scratched the top of his head. "Maybe she will," he giggled.

"Follow me, then," Ivar told Floki and crawled out. The hut Eira was staying at was just a few meters away from Ivar's. Ivar didn't bother knocking, he just pushed the door in front of him. He looked around, but there was no sign of Eira.

"Where is she?" Floki asked him as if he was supposed to know where the girl was wondering. "I have no idea. Let's look around the hut," right when they went out, they heard a noise.

Both men looked up, in the direction where the noise was coming from. She was on the roof watching something. She didn't notice them because she was looking the opposite way. She was watching the forest.

"A little bit strange, isn't she?" Floki said joyfully because he loved crazy, strange people like him. "Oh Floki, you have no idea."

Eira rolled over, sliding down the roof, bouncing off of it, jumping down and successfully landing on both of her feet. That view was magnificent. She was moving almost as if she was one with the air. So light, so easily and carefully at the same time. She flipped her hair, so she could see properly. Her eyes stopped on two men watching her. One face she already knew. Ivar. The other face seemed familiar from somewhere, but she had no idea from where.

They were waiting for her to come to them. So, she did. Eira made slow steps, stopping few feet from them. "I would like to introduce you to somebody."

"This is Eira," Ivar moved his head in her direction, "and this is Floki, my dearest friend." Ivar watched her reaction. She nodded but something in her face was applying she recognized Floki. "I once met a family of farmers far away from here. They had a little daughter named Eira. What a coincidence," Floki smiled. Eira was watching her fingers nervously, her eyes ticking from side to side. She was trying to remember.