The daughter of Fraya

Part 2

Freya had three children with the black rider, two sons and a daughter. Her sons were born first, twins by the name of Grayson and Damon. They grew up to be taller than their father and if you didn't know them it would be difficult to tell them apart.

Grayson had the qualities of a great ruler, if he married a woman with a good mind. For he, some would say, had none. He was always out to prove he was the best. He boasted and paraded and drank with his comrades. He was loved by all ,especially the woman and excellent in hand to hand combat and weapons but as far as wisdom or knowledge goes those were buried under a rock unlike his brother.

Damon was the quiet one, clever as the day was long for he was always nose deep in a book. He knew the history going back centuries and when it came to strategy, no one could compare. If he ruled, the kingdom would truly prosper, as long as nobody invaded. The young price and no mind for violence and so his training was long and if it wasn't for his expert marksmanship he would never have passed.

3 years after the brothers were born the kingdom was blessed with a princess, well no...... for the daughter of Freya was no blessing. She much like her mother had excelled in training and would beat even her brothers and eventually her father in combat. No one match her skills with sword, staff, dagger or bow. She was patient and quick, skillful and precise. A perfect combination of her Father and Mother, A truly beautiful and deadly creature. But unlike her mother or her brothers she had no talent with people.

Commoners had no love for this brut that loved war and blood and the forest. Not even those who understood violence and the rush it brings, understood the princesses need or desire for it.

Soon the brothers turned 21 and a week after the celebration Freya decided that one of them should take the throne. But which?

A contest could not be held for Grayson would win a combat challenge and Damon would win a challenge of the mind. So if it were to be a challenge, it would have to be one where both stood on equal ground..... since that would never happen Freya decreed that both brothers would rule together and whoever's first born completes their royal training first would be the next ruler after the brothers.

Elena, daughter of Freya however was growing restless for she would never have the throne nor did she wish to have it and so her role would be one of adviser until she married. But Elenas heart was on the Battlefield not in the Keep. At 16 she is the youngest ever to complete the royal training and she grew tired of the same routine that after it. She would spend her days training with the guard or she would ride her horse as far as he could run. If it wasn't enough she would climb off and start running until her lungs felt like they would tear from her chest. She would exercise until her body broke down just to get rid of the ever growing energy and frustration.

This frustration and need to kill started one day when she was in the rings sparing with Hendrick, son of the guard captain, when she turned 15. She would mock him and he would charge only to find himself on the ground. After the third time his father stopped the fight telling Elena that she needed to finish her opponent and not toy with them.  So the next time she threw Hendrick she came at him and started punching him, the more she punched the more alive she felt, she didn't want to stop so she didn't. Her vision became unfocused and her mind went dark. Hendrick woke up 4 days later in hospital. 

As time went by her irritation and frustration would grow and if she didn't find a outlet,  desire for violence and blood became uncontrollable. It consumed her very mind each and every day, her father thought that a stronger opponent might help and made her fight the best in the land. Five opponents against one, the fight didn't last long and she was pulled off the last one before she killed him.

One night Freya come to Elena's room and sat down on the bed. Freya slowly looked at her daughter and saw her soul pacing up and down like a caged wolf.

"Tell me" Freya whispered.

Elena closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose before saying "At first It's just an itch that soon has my legs shaking and it feels like if I don't run, if I just stand still my body is going to rip itself apart..... and.... and I can't.... I can't control it. The itch just grows and soon I can't think, I can't move and even if I run and train the whole day it doesn't go away.  But when I fight it's like it slowly vanishes, with each punch it grows weaker but it never really leaves. I never get to the part where I'm free of it. No matter how long I fight, how many people, how tired i am after the fight..... it doesn't go away."  She pulls her knees to her chest and starts to rock herself. 

"I just want to smell something else except blood. I want my heartbeat to be slow and steady, not racing and beating like a racehorse. I want to feel somethings else beside this anger. " She exhales and opens her eyes.

Freya looks away from her daughter. She knows that feeling, She's felt it before if only for a brief moment. The day she met her husband, as soon as they started fighting she felt it and it consumed her. Only after her body was too tired to move did the feeling vanish and she hadn't felt it since.

"Even now?" She asks

"Even now." You can hear the tiredness she feels, you can feel the desperation in each word.

Freya stands from her daughters bed and turns to her. "Sleep now young wolf, stop pacing and let your mind drift to the woods. I'll talk to the others, maybe together we can tame that beast before it finds itself in trouble" and with that she kissed her head and walks out leaving her daughter to wrestle with her demons in the cover of night.