A Whisper to the North

Chapter V ✠ Old Ties

Una could not believe her ears, was this true? Did her father really kill his mother? How would he know such a thing? She still had his knife to his throat, but she eased off of him and took it away from his jugular.

"How would you know if my father killed your mother." Una hissed as tears still streamed down her face.

Frey sat up and wiped his own tears.

"How would you know if my father killed your father then?" He asked bitterly.

"I saw it happen ten years ago this moon," Una said, feeling the cold of despair come over her.

Frey's head shot up, and his eyes widened in shock.

"So, it is true then, that we are talking about the same men. It was exactly ten years ago was when my mother reached Fólkvangr. I saw it happen too, I was only nine, but I can recall it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday." He looked down at his hands.

"My mother was only trying to protect me." He began to cry as the tears fell in his hands.

Una stared and watched Frey slump forward. He rested his hand on his forehead. His golden hair was loose out of the pleat he had yesterday, and it shielded the view of his eyes crying helplessly.

"There was a fight, and I thought I could be a man... and I went out there with a sword. I was foolish and thought I could kill him, so I ran out trying to cut him down." His voice got soft.

"And my mother...she ran out in front of me before my sword could hit your father's blade, and he impaled her in the heart." His voice cracked.

Una suddenly had a flashback of seeing her own father's demise. He was sliced through the heart with a sword as well. She could see it in slow-motion, the man who severed her sister's head and mother as well. It was a bloodbath. She remembers him now. Frey looks just like his father. Una's eyes widen, and she stands up off of the bed and stares at Frey, quietly weeping in his hand. He must have been like Una, keeping his emotions so closely guarded, but they had both cracked today.

"It's all my fault...if I hadn't have tried to prove myself to my father, my mother would be alive, and I wouldn't be here right now." He sighed and looked up at Una, unafraid of how he appeared.

Frey's face was splotchy, and his hair stuck to the dampness of his tears. He blamed himself as well. Just like Una had seen the Danes coming, they could have escaped. She sees now, if what Frey said is true, what had happened. It was an eye for an eye. Only Frey's father killed everyone she ever loved. If she had known that her father was a murderer, perhaps she wouldn't have had so much hatred in her heart that has turned her bitter through the years. Even she would have exacted this kind of revenge if it had happened to her.

"Your father was a good friend to my father. They were enemies initially, but one day they met their match. They couldn't beat each other. They were even. My father admitted this to me not long ago before I left home. So, instead of waring, our fathers allied to defeat their enemy, the Saxons from Mercia. I didn't know you were the daughter of Cynan. I thought my father had killed your entire family."

Una's heart skipped. He knew the name of her father. The word Cynan had not been spoken aloud much since he was the King. Not many people knew of his proper name, only those whom he knew personally. Una tried to recall the strange times that her father went away. She never knew why, and he would never tell her. It was always some business that Una could not understand. He would leave the kingdom for sometimes months at a time. That is when Una's brother Eurion began to learn how to rule in his father's absence.

"Your father was very kind to me," Frey said, looking off in the distance.

"So, I couldn't understand why he took my mother away from me. Did he really think I would hurt him; I was a child!" His voice got hoarse again.