Northern Legends

Chapter 9

That miserable, masochistic idiot! In the hospital where she had worked, she had always been respected and esteemed despite her young age. Her colleagues appreciated her work, which she always performed with precision and perfection. How many tumours had she removed and how many fractures had she healed? Cassandra was no longer able to count them. And now she had to listen to a Stone Age man accusing her of barbaric methods?

Now she was very angry about not taking her surgical tools with her, especially her scalpel. It would be very satisfying to stick it in that guy's hand. But she had not come so far to be hanged from the nearest tree by the citizens of Cielon because of the attempted murder of her Jarl.

Cassandra and Hraerek fought a fierce duel of looks, and each of them wanted to be the winner. They were both so stubborn that no one wanted to give in.

"Stop it now, you two squabblers!" Hilda tried to calm them down.

"Come along, Cassandra. We'll see if my daughter's clothes fit you."

She dragged Cassandra into her sleeping chamber without a word, away from Hraerek, who would have preferred to wring her neck if she had said one more word. At the top, she quickly drew the curtain and put Cassandra on her bed.

"If you don't want any more trouble, you'd better keep your mouth shut"

"I was just trying to..."

"Sssh, I know. I understand only too well how you feel. "But in his present state, those are just wasted words. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about."

Hilda knew that her words would hardly satisfy Cassandra. She was without doubt a proud woman and was as proud of her art as she was of being a healer or surgeon, as she called it. Hilda searched for her daughter's clothes in the large chest. Freya had been a tall girl, but just as petite and slim as Cassandra. She had been with the gods for a long time, but it felt as if it had been yesterday that she had lost her only child. Wistfully she stroked the blue cloth of the dress. It had been Freya's favorite dress.

"Here, try this on. It should fit."

Hilda handed her the dress, along with a long white shirt. Cassandra began to undress and began to strip to the waist. The moment Hilda turned around and saw her back, her breath stopped. Oh, my gods!

There was a huge burn on Cassandra's back. It was clearly a dragon with outstretched wings, long tail and sharp claws. What had she done to suffer such agony? It was sitting right on her lower back and stretched from her hip to the underside of her shoulder blades. Many questions arose in Hilda's mind that she had only seen the tattoo last.

The blossoms and thorns of a blood-red flower entwined themselves over her hip bone down to her flat stomach. The patterns and lines were fine and precisely engraved and seemed so real that one could believe the flowers would live. She had seen few women tattooed before. Many of them were shield maidens who had the symbols of the gods immortalized on their bodies to honor them. But she had never seen anything like that on any of them, let alone branded.

Only slaves were tormented with such things, so that one always recognized their status and belonged to which master. Almost a hundred years ago it was also the custom in Lunedor to keep slaves, but this changed under the reign of King Rogar's grandfather. He freed the slaves and gave thousands of them back their lives and freedom. Many fled to build a new home somewhere in this world. Some of them stayed with their masters, but only because they were promised a fair reward for their services.

In the meantime Cassandra had put on the undershirt and also the dress. Hilda handed her a narrow belt so that she could fasten it to her waist. It looked good on her and emphasized her pale complexion.

"It fits well. I can move around in it."

"That's nice, dear. Here, take these two. They're nothing special, but they'll keep you warm."

Hilda handed her two more dresses, one in red, the other in gray. Also wool leg warmers and a thick woven scarf for her shoulders. Cassandra accepted them with thanks. Hilda leaned over to her and whispered softly in her ear:

"Never mind. Hraerek is just stubborn; he always has been. Wait until he calms down, then you can talk to him again. Many men react like that when they don't know or understand something."

She winked at Cassandra and, with a pat on the shoulder, pushed her back into her living room. Hraerek had meanwhile shouldered his equipment. He turned to them and let his eyes wander over them.

"And what do you think? "And what do you think?

Hraerek couldn't deny that. Yes, Cassandra looked like one of them, but she wasn't. With her fair hair and strange eyes, she stood out like a summer blizzard. Although there was something incredibly attractive about that blizzard.

Cassandra, on the other hand, still looked at him with disdain. She resented his outburst of rage, and that would surely remain so for some time. She passed him wordlessly and took her bundle. She stuffed her coat into it and tied the woollen cloth tightly around her head and shoulders. Only her long braid was still sticking out from under the shawl. It would keep her warm for the last hours of her journey.

"Well, can we get going?" Hilda suddenly asked, standing next to Cassandra in full travel gear.

"You will come with us?"

The question escaped Cassandra and Hraerek at the same time. Immediately they gave each other an angry look that made Hilda smile.

"Yes, I will come. After all, I have to be careful that you two don't kill each other if you get into each other again. Besides, I wanted to check on little Lars again. You remember Hraerek? Bjorn's son.

"Of course I know that little rascal. He's always at the practice range watching us."

"Very well. And while I'm in the village, many will probably come to ask for their usual medicine or be examined. And I already know who will help me!"

Hilda immediately put her arm around Cassandra's shoulder and looked at her with a beaming face. In Cassandra's face the surprise was clearly visible.

"You can't be serious! You want to have my warriors examined by a woman whose only skill is obviously mutilating her patients?!"

Cassandra's answer was not long in coming.

"Shut up! I never claimed to mutilate my patients. Just because you don't understand the medicine I practice doesn't mean you need to denounce it!"

"That's enough! There's only one screaming in my house, and that's me! And if you two can't get along, I suggest you stay out of each other's way as much as possible in Cielon! Cause I really have better things to do than run to town every day to take care of you two when you're at each other's throats again! Now let's go! Or else we'll only be in Cielon by night."

Hilda's words could not have been clearer. Neither Cassandra nor Hraerek said anything Only Fenris and Hjalmar, startled by the argument, ran quickly to their master. Although Hilda could not say the same about Fenris. The gray wolf snuggled closely to Cassandra's leg while Hjalmar did the same with Hraerek. She had never seen the wolves show their affection to anyone other than Hraerek. But here they seemed to make an exception. The gray wolf almost whimpered for Cassandra to pet him and she obviously liked to follow his request. She kneeled down next to him and started to scratch him hard behind his ears and on his neck. He even put his front paws on her thigh to be even closer to her.

What a beautiful sight! She knew that animals felt a good heart and that Fenris did this with Cassandra was undeniable. But if Hilda Hraerek's gaze was to interpret, disapproval was clearly written on his face. He looked down sincerely at Cassandra and Fenris while he had one hand on Hjalmars. Or was he jealous?

Translated with the help of DeepL.