~The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both~
- James A. Michener
I gave Falco a grateful smile as he gave me a huge portion of my roasted kill, I bit into it, groaning at the taste of the perfectly seasoned and tender flesh, Falco and Svend were amazing cooks, they could make anything taste heavenly.
"Oh my word, how can this taste so good?" I asked aloud and Falco blushed at my words, I winked at him, chuckling at his flustered look before I turned my attention back to my meat and dug into it.
My attention was drawn from my meal even as Bjorn rose to his feet and began his tale.
"The northern continent is a beautiful place with a multitude of intruging folk tales, this is expected considering our rich and diverse cultures, today I shall tell you the tale of Bjorn the Iron Arm, a famed hero of the north, the first chief of my tribe, the Ibhere tribe of the north continent and precisely the very same warrior this humble man was named after." He began after taking a huge swig from the wine skin he held in his hands.
"It was said that Bjorn the Iron Arm was an illegitimate son to the leader of the ihlosi tribe, the most fearsome tribe at the time, unlike the current 13 tribes, the north continent had just 5 large clans. Bjorn was born under the energy of the Noble Bear.... at least that was what a gypsy who told his fortune at birth claimed." He said with a shrug, I chuckled, giving Ryuu a grateful smile as he handed me a goblet of wine.
"His mother died from difficulties during the birthing process. When his father the chief asked for his fortune from the gypsy, he gave him a quite troubling response.
"The ultimate goal is indeed to unify...
But for unification to take place there has to be a taking apart, this way there would be something to bring together.
There comes a time where rather than uniting...a taking apart might be the miracle we seek.
The child shall be the one to take apart....he shall be a great man."
This were the Gypsy's words to the Chief, however the chief did not understand his words at the time and jumped to his own conclusions." Bjorn paused at this to take another swig of wine even as Annia laughed softly beside me.
"The words of Gypsies and fortune tellers are always vague... I believe it's in their job description... their words if true would only be understood after a long time...or deciphered by people with rare wisdom, it was the same way the one who had read armuke's fortune had spoken words which we only now come to understand." Annia began,
"She shall bring you more honour than any male child ever could...she alone shall tame the fury of the Ice, her name shall be known, feared and respected throughout the lands, she is one of the most important part of a great destiny, she will face much tribulations but as her sire, you must protect her and raise her to be capable of overcoming all challenges.... She shall fall once but fear not...she will rise again when that happens... she shall unlock her true potential, never to be defeated again.
Let the kingdoms and the continents rejoice for the fury of ice is born...All hail."
"These were her exact words to the great general and our late Lady, puzzling at the time...it is only now when she has grown up to be the only survivor of the ice technique, bearing the prestigious ice core and popularly called the Ice-wrath, the fury of ice do we now come to slowly understand her words... taking her words into consideration... this is only just the beginning of armuke's destiny." She concluded fondly, making the warriors around me look at me with much admiration, Annia despite her young age was like a mother to me especially after my mother passed away at war, alongside my uncle and aunt, Daerev's parents. I chuckled at her words, mulling over them, it was my first time hearing it in such detail, father had told me of the fortune teller but I never cared enough to ask about her words, I didn't like the idea of my destiny already being set in stone, I rather believed that my destiny was decided by me alone and not fate or whatever it is gypsies believed in.
"The words of the Gypsy greatly troubled the chief that he brought the issue before his council, after much deliberation it was decided that Bjorn was bad news and could not live as the chief's son hence he was disowned by the chief and made a slave of the tribe." Bjorn continued.
"A foolish move, if I was the chief I would keep him close and make him trust me so much that it'd be easy to kill him should he do anything untoward...or he could have just killed him immediately to prevent future problems. This is why I do not support having fortunes told at birth, the child will either have to bear a lot of expectations at a young age or suffer immensely if the fortune was unclear... bearing in mind that every decision we make In life has the ability to change our future, the future is not set in stone, every path you take has a different out come, the chief's actions was probably the trigger needed to set this destiny in motion, if he hadn't known of the child's future he would have raised him as a son and there would have been the possibility of him taking another part....in any case, disowned by your father and made a slave at birth, even when his mother is no more....a pitiful child indeed." I commented with a disappointed shake of my head, my Generals nodded in agreement with my words.
"Once again.. your insight never ceases to amaze me General." Bjorn said with a wink at me, I chuckled at his words.
"And for a warrior Bjorn your flowery words never cease to irritate me." I replied, my warriors roared with laughter as Bjorn gave me a wronged look, I stuck my tongue out at him playfully and he rolled his eyes at my childishness.
"You know sometimes I forget that you're just a babe 15 years of age.... and then you go do this and remind me again." He taunted me jokingly, I shrugged with a slight smile at his words, I wasn't offended, he knew I could only act this way around the few people I trusted.
"Anyways...as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted..." Bjorn began again.
"Your head would make a nice decoration on my room wall... don't you agree Bjorn?"I asked innocently, cutting him off, his eyes widened and he gulped audibly, giving me an apologetic look, I smirked before motioning for him to continue his tale.
"When Bjorn was ten, he was naturally unskilled with the sword, so even among the slaves he was treated as the lowliest of them all, tired of enduring such harsh treatments, he tried escaping his tribe, running into a forest, Bjorn was bitten on his right hand by an extremely poisonous snake, the poison was deadly and naturally he should have died but the young Bjorn, determined to survive chopped off his right arm with an axe he had carried along with him to stop the poison spread...it is said that his heart wrenching screams of pain could be heard from a very far distance. The slave hunters who had also heard the scream, believing Bjorn had encountered a savage beast and lost his life returned to their tribe to report his unfortunate end.
At this same time the same Gypsy who had told of his future passed away leaving behind a note for the chief, his note read
"The one who takes apart is the hero of our time, from his lineage will come the hero of the future...two of the same blood, one a destined ruler, and the other one that maketh and shieldeth a ruler, one soul split between two of the same blood...the destiny...to unify...in the end the one who takes apart shall beget the one who unifies...as I have said, in order for unification to happen, there must first be a taking apart... one must first happen for the other to also take place, just like light and darkness, there must first be darkness in order for light to shine through...with this in mind... darkness isn't always a bad thing."
"This was the message the Gypsy left for the chief, no one could quite understand the meaning to this words. Meanwhile in a completely different part of the northern plains, Bjorn woke up among a group of outlaws who had rescued him and treated his bleeding stump, after seeking his permission, an iron replica of his arm was formed, made from the rarest metal ore, his new iron limb served him better than his lost limb and soon after 10 summers of unrelenting practice Bjorn became an undefeatable saber master wielding the famed jagged moon saber with his iron arm....and thus began the legend of Bjorn the Iron arm, the man whose great feats brought about the division of the five great clans into the thirteen tribes we have today" He concluded, I hummed, swirling the contents of my goblet slowly while mulling over his words.
"The division of the five clans into the thirteen tribes...that must have been the taking apart the Gypsy spoke of, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing indeed, as I know it was actually a good thing for the people of the northern plains who had been living under intimidation from the powerful clans." Falco said chuckling, I nodded.
"As the Gypsy said... darkness isn't always a bad thing, darkness is necessary in order for the light to shine through...
two of the same blood, one soul split in two... siblings probably.
One who rules and the other maketh and shieldeth the ruler...seems like a king and the king maker his protector.
The unification of the tribes of the northern continent is probably the destiny.
From Bjorn the Iron Arm's lineage which means they will probably be from the ibhere tribe.
Bjorn's taking apart had to happen for them to put together the numerous tribes...an interesting destiny indeed, perhaps even as interesting as mine... something tells me that the light the people of the northern plains seek is not too far in the future... Perhap I will get to hear the tale of this two siblings soon." I thought aloud as everyone looked at me in shock, I raised a brow at them and Bjorn sighed in wonder.
"No one has been able to decipher the Gypsies words to such extent...at least not until now and you didn't even take much time to ponder over it , indeed as Annia rightly said only those of rare wisdom can understand the vague words of fortune tellers... you have my deepest respects General." He said with a deep bow, the others copied his actions and I scoffed rising to my feet.
"Just some random assumptions Bjorn...do not take my words to heart... however should I be correct, I shall let you return home to assist the fated siblings, I shall prefer hearing a recount of the tale from someone who personally experienced it...till then, you'll have to endure staying by my side." I teased him, he chuckled.
"I owe the northern plains no obligations, my loyalties are with you, I pledged my life to your service because I believe in you, I shall honor my vow as long as I live." He told me firmly, I chuckled as I walked away slowly but came to a halt throwing him a look.
"One's origins cannot be denied Bjorn, should your people require your service, this General wishes for you to answer their call... that way when you leave this world, you shall find a place of rest among your ancestors, many thanks for the intruiging tale northman." I replied throwing him a wink before turning around and returning to my tent.