Princess of Illea

Chapter 1: Iasc

I halted as i realized what I had stepped in.

"Crud," I cursed under my breath as I checked the bottom of my mule skin boot. My older brother, Baldr, turned to see why I had cursed.

"That's not just crud Iasc, that's some serious sh--"

"Supper!!" Momma hollered from the house. I chuckled at my brother's foul mouth. We both knew Momma hated words of Hela, and Baldr was almost caught in the act.

We both ran inside, pushing and shoving each other the whole way. I'd trip him and leave him on the ground, then he would grab my ankle and Id fall face first into the dirt. It went like this the whole way to the house.

"Stop killing one another, there's food for everyone!" Momma hollered from the porch. Her dirty blond hair was in a messy braid, long against her back, with strands of hair framing her face. She wore a simple brown dress with wolf skins draped over her shoulders. She wore the sheep leather boots I had made for her birthday last year. She wasn't the prettiest woman in the tribe, but she was my favorite. She had thick, tough skin but her heart was as soft as freshly fallen snow. She was mother to many but ma'am to most.

When we made it inside, my other two older brothers were already throwing punches for the first turkey leg, so naturally Baldr and I joined the dog fight. Now my oldest two brothers heard the ruckus and ran across the yard from the pig pen to join in on the fun. This kind of dinner war was a regular occurrence in a house of six viking boys. Mother had seen it many times before but always hated it...

"Tell them to cut it out!!" Momma yelled at Papa who had just walked in the door, covered in dirt and snow. He smiled at her, gently brushed a hair from her face and whispered, "I guess it must be good." He abruptly turned from her and joined in the dog fight, ripping bread from his sons' hands. The hound dogs were having a field day, lapping up the scraps that were being thrown in the fray. Mother's temper was boiling now. I noticed her reddening face and new the real show was about to start. I stepped away from the table slightly, expecting what was coming next. As fast as a mountain lion, Momma gripped the edge of the table and flipped it, sending half of the boys and all of the food to the ground. The boys left standing began hooting and hollering at the ones on the ground until momma grabbed their ears and dragged them out of the house.

The two she grabbed first were my oldest brothers, Leif and Magnus. Momma always expected the most from them since they were the ones who would lead our home someday... they'd get it the worst. They would probably end up sleeping with the pigs tonight. I shuddered at the thought of the warm animals and the cold mud...

After throwing them out, Momma went for her next victim, my next two eldest brothers, Harald and Gorm. She grabbed their ears and dragged them out the door too. Cursing under her breath the whole way out. She gave Gorm an extra kick on his rear as he fled the scene.

'Odd.' I thought, 'Normally Momma had those two clean the table flipping mess.'

Momma then grabbed Bladr's and my ears. "This." She pointed to the ground now covered in food, dishes and dog slobber.

"Clean. Now." She said with a huff.

We both rubbed our sore ears and stared after her in bewilderment as she stormed up to Papa and gave him a good hard slap across his blonde, bearded cheek. Baldr and I watched as Papa rubbed his chin. It took everything in us not to laugh. Momma normally didn't go so far as to slap the man of the house. This table flipping thing happened at least four times a week. What made this night different? Noticing the smirks from his youngest boys, Papa turned and stormed out the door towards the barn. Momma watched as he disappeared into the dimly lit barn, then grabbed a roll from the floor and threw it out the door. The dogs chased it and leapt out the door, momma then slammed the door, turned to us and stormed up the stairs to her room.