The Concubine - (currently Revising, Complete)

Chapter Ten

Meili

Eydis lay in the bed peacefully. I had not left her side since she was placed in her chambers. The fire flickered beside me as I took another sip of the water from the well Audhild had fetched earlier. Audhild sat at the edge of her bed, a devoted friend and the same tune I had heard Eydis sing filled the air.

"Vem kan segla förutan vind, (Who can sail without wind?) vem kan ro utan åror, (Who can row without roars?)vem kan skiljas från vännen sin (Who can part from their friend)utan att fälla tårar? (without shedding tears)." The mournful song intoxicated the room with sorrow.

I touched her shoulder. "Did she teach you this?"

"She did." Audhild smiled. "My King."

"Is she happy here?" I asked her.

Audhild's eyes shifted to the ground. "I dare to say, it would seem that she is, but Eydis a special woman."

"The answer is simple... yes or no?" I tried to ask sincerely but the irritation of her vagueness plagued me. "Audhild?"

"No, I do not think she is happy."

"Thank you." I stood from my chair and headed out of the door. My eyes had grown tired and we were to set sail at dawn. I look to Thorsten who stood with his sheathed sword on his hip. "No one is to enter this room unless I have given permission, not even the Queen."

"Yes." He answered simply. "Are you to sleep before the voyage?"

"I will try." I answered lightly.

Sleep would not find me. I sat at the edge of the town with my eyes fixated on the small brown hut. The Seidr, Kisla dwelled there and for months I paid her no visit. I wanted to know nothing of the future, but now at the peak of the night I could think of nothing else. I walked through the muddy road with the black cloak over my head. My fate called to me. I had to answer.

There was only a flicker of a candle coming from her place and the chant of her healers around her. Kisla was devout, from Uppsala and blessed by the gods themselves. I knocked twice on the wooden door and within seconds it was opened. The black haired woman stood before me, her face doused with black and red war paint. The feathers woven into her locks.

"King Meili the Brave." She smiled widely. "You have finally shown your face."

I bowed to her and the blood was spattered on my face by the feather. "Kisla."

"Come, we have much to discuss." Kisla moved across the room and sat in the chair with her legs crossed. "There have been seven full moons since you entered my presence, young King. Why?"

"The kingdom has been growing." I lied and for some reason I knew she could tell it. I shifted in front of her. "I have come in search of my fate."

"The kingdom has been growing indeed. The gods have seen it fit to bestow you with another child, only this time the mother is not your wife."

"I have come to ask of her safety."

"The Queen will do her no harm, the gods have forbid it." Kisla said confidently. "For the woman bears the next King of this Land, she will be safe."

"I feel uncertainty." I admitted.

"Of course you do." She tossed the runes onto the floor. "Take a drink of the mead."

The red headed healer handed me a round wooden cup full of mead black as night. I took to sips and abruptly the stinging hit the back of my throat. The cup was taken from me and remnants tossed into the flames. They erupted green and then disappeared only leaving two embers floating to the ground. "What is this?"