Falling {Ivar the boneless}

Chapter Three

When Felicity woke she immediately felt the cold temperature. She wondered how long she had been unconscious considering it wasn't this cold when she left. It didn't look any later in the day either.

She sat up and looked at her surroundings, she was in the exact same place as when she blacked out, wherever that was. She rose to her feet and felt her joints ache as she did so, her body feeling like she was hit with a truck. She began a slow pace downhill, keeping an eye out for literally anything that could be useful.

In time she came across the shoreline, this was good news, she was closer to the town now. As Felicity walked along the sand she started to notice little trinkets hung up in the trees.
She looked in the distant and saw a shack of some sorts, as she got closer she noticed more and more trinkets and nick-nacks string up all over the place.
She found herself drawn to a little green crystal that seemed to glow in the sunlight, as she reached out to touch it a blur sped past her head, screaming she turned to see what it was and found an axe embedded in a tree behind her, Felicity whirled her head around and saw a man dressed in strange ragged clothing charging towards her, another scream left her mouth as she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

Before Felicity could get too far she ran, more like body slammed into another person, both of them falling to the sandy ground. When she looked up she met the eyes of a woman, long blonde her cascaded around her and her dark brown eyes landed on Felicity.

She began to talk in a language Felicity didn't know reaching out to her, Felicity scrabbled back and clumsily rose to her feet.

The women spoke again and when Felicity didn't answer she seemed to realize that Felicity had no idea what she was saying.

"Are you alright child?" The woman asked,
"Where am I?" Felicity asked her.
"You are in Kattegat" the women answered.

"Helga!" A voice shouted and the man who threw the axe at emerged from seemingly nowhere, instinctively Felicity backed up a few steps, prepared to run if she had to. It was then she noticed the extreme difference between their clothing and hers.

While Felicity was dressed appropriately for the weather in a thick raincoat, jeans, and boots, these people looked like they were on their way to some medieval convention.

"Who are you?" The man asked her,
"I'm Felicity, Who are you?" She asked, her panic becoming evident in her voice.

"I am Helga, this is my husband Floki, it is okay child you have nothing to fear" the woman, Helga said, her voice soothing and gentle.

Felicity thought she was going insane, what kind of names were Floki and Helga, why were they dressed like that, she couldn't possibly be in Kattegat but where the hell else could she be.

"You said I'm in Kattegat, whereabouts in Kattegat?" Felicity asked them.

"You are on the outskirts the town is a few miles behind you" Helga answered taking a small step towards her.

"You are English" Helga pointed out, Felicity nodded.

"What are you doing in Norway?" Helga asked, taking another small step forward.

"Travelling," Felicity said. Noticing Helga taking another step towards her, she was so close Felicity could almost reach out and touch her.

"A Christian traveling here?" The man, Floki spat, looking at her in disgust.

"I'm not a Christian," Felicity said, offended that this strange man would make assumptions about her.

"Then what are you!" He asked, pointing a knife at her.

"I'm human" Felicity answered matter of factly, by the look in Floki's face she guessed he didn't quite understand sarcasm.

"I don't believe in god or any other religion," Felicity said.

Floki seemed surprised by her answer and seemed to look at her with less hatred than before.

"What about Odin?" He asked her.

Felicity knew who Odin was, she had read about Norse gods and Greek gods and all different kinds of religions but Felicity was someone that needed proof of things like that.

"I know who he is, and who Freyja and Thor and Loki are, but I just don't know enough to believe in anything," Felicity said.

Floki seemed impressed by her answer and put his knife away. Felicity relaxed a bit more when he did so, not feeling as threatened anymore.

"You are so thin my child, are you hungry?" Helga asked her, reaching her hand out to Felicity taking her hand.

Felicity shrugged and Helga pulled her towards the shack.

Inside Felicity thought she was losing her mind. No sign of modern technology, everything looked handmade and the house was lit up by candles.

Suddenly a thought crossed Felicity's mind that she tried so hard to neglect.
'What if I am in Kattegat, just not the same one I woke up in this morning'

Felicity tried to ignore that thought, she was just tired and hungry she argued with herself. There is no way she somehow time traveled into the past where things like their clothing and their gods made sense. There is no possible way that she was not in any time but her own.

But she couldn't ignore the obvious signs, the way they talked and dressed and lived. It was not normal for this century.

As Helga put a bowl of some kind of stew in front of Felicity she dared ask the question she had been most dreading.

"What year is it?" She asked the couple. They looked at her in confusion before Floki answered.

"The Christians say that it is 723 a.d," he said.

Felicity felt her stomach drop and her heart leap out of her chest.

"723 a.d," she echoed.

The pair nodded.

Felicity couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it, Felicity had never believed in such childish things as magic, they had to be insane. Or she had to be dreaming, she hoped she was dreaming.

Felicity put her bowl down, hands shaking as she did so.

"Are you alright child?" Helga asked her. Felicity nodded and rose to her feet.

"I need some air," she said, her voice weak. Before she could even make it towards the door Felicity's world fell into blackness.