Bound by Blood

Prologue

893 A.D.

A calm night. A still sea. The cold, salty wind dances across the lips of the crew mates, as everyone is huddled around a woman towards the tail end of the longship. She lays on the rough wooden floor of the deck as her face beads in cold sweat. Snippets of her long, brown, and braided hair stick to her face. Her legs are spread, with her ankles propped up on short wooden barrels, as her dark gown slips down towards her thighs, with another woman between her legs, in the manner to deliver a child. The gowned woman appears to be in extreme agony as she grips with all her might into the hand of a man close by to her, who is talking to her in a voice to calm her down.

"Solveig," the voice calls out. "Solveig! By Odin's wolves, you've been closer to Valhalla than I. Do not lose the light that burns you so bright now!"

"Brynjar, I--," the woman begins to reply. But she is cut off by the same man.

"You are giving birth to a beautiful baby. They will live forever in our name and bring great pride to us all. And we must be there to see it." There's a moment where all seems to be frozen. The two lock eyes with one another and the loving energy they've conducted for one another has found its way to click with the hearts of the others surrounding them, as their faces light with soft smiles. He leans in and kisses her on the head as they then give another nod of approval to each other. Solveig takes a deep breath and pushes on the other woman's command. 

After what seems like ages for her to spring the life of a newborn baby, out comes its head. Brynjar begins to exclaim in excitement, until he realizes his wife is not yet done writhing in pain. "Solveig? My love what is it?" She lets out another cry of pain as another child pops from between her legs. And soon, followed by another.

Solveig, out of breath, watches as the woman holds all three babies with a broad smile across her face. "Hilde. My dearest sister." Solveig lets out a long sigh in attempts to get her breath back on track. "How do they look? Healthy?" Hilde smiles and nods exuberantly before returning her attention back to the babies. Solveig shifts her attention to Brynjar. "My love." She reaches over and hands him an short dagger. "Sever the cords."

"With haste, my love," Brynjar replies. He takes firm hold of the dagger and cuts the cords at their appropriate length, as the three children soon begin to cry, as they take their first breaths of air. He hands the dagger off to another crewmate while standing his wife up to her feet. "How do you feel?"

Solveig's eyes light up with warmth that has never filled her eyes before. "Incredible. You and I pair together better than Freya and Odin." She caves into her husband's warm embrace. Hilde walks over with a baby wrapped in warm cloth and hands it to her sister.

"Sister," she begins, "do name this one. He has your eyes."

Solveig takes hold of wailing baby who upon contact, quiets down to a whimper. His bright blue eyes glistened in the pale moonlight, gazing into his mother's eyes. "Asmund. You shall be named Asmund, be it you're the divine protection of this clan and family." The crew goes buck wild in celebration and bang their mead horns together. But their celebration is cut short when lightning rips through the air and they are pummeled by heavy rain. Without hesitation, the crewmates assume their positions on the oars and lower the sail. They scramble to take control of the ship when the sea's violent waves throw them left and right.

Another lightning strike shatters through the air and crashes on the ships head, killing two of the crewmates. Solveig takes a stronger hold of Asmund in one arm and the other latched onto Brynjar. She shouts for her sister. "Hilde! My children, where are they?! Hilde--!" She is cut off when the ship's side rams into a nearby rock. When she looks back up a chunk of the ship is gone and her sister is nowhere to be found. After a few moments pass for Solveig to register what has happened, she is sent into a screaming panic when Brynjar holds her close to calm her. Out of indirect rage, she lashes out on him, demanding he unhand her, just as the longship glides along the water and is cleaved in half by another large rock.

The force of the impact was too strong to bear. Solveig is staggered as she stumbles backwards and hits her head on the edge of the ship, knocking her out cold with Asmund barely in her arms.