"Cmon fresh meat! Get to getting!" A man with a horned hat shouted at us from above
Training for us had began in groups, only one month after my training with Jarl. Saga made me study runes everyday before group training started, she said it would "help me communicate with the other kids" ….they all keep their distance anyway. Either from dislike that someone like me is the "chosen" or from being too scared to get close to me because i'm "chosen"….. well at least I learned a lot of new words.
"What are you spacing out for dummy!" A familiar voice whispered from right behind me, doing her best not to yell. Let me rephrase, everybody but one person decides not to interact with me, Helga.
"I was just thinking."
"Well you better quit thinking before you don't have a head to think with!" We conversed back and forth
At first I thought she was a bit mean but I noticed she doesn't talk to people she doesn't like so when she lectures me like this that means she cares.
"Just pay attention before we both get in trouble!"
She was right, we were all standing in seperate lines and spaced apart, the younger kids placed in front and the oldest placed in the back and with me being the youngest at 9 years old I was in the very front.
"You there!" The man pointed right at me
"What is your name?!" The man yelled, his face full of anger.
"….it's røkkr."
"Ohhhh… so it's you….interesting, very interesting. Do you think you're above the laws here?" He asked
"No, sir." I answered
"Then why do you act as such?!" His voice echoed through the practice hall
"Can you clarify, sir." I responded
The man raised his eyebrow, like my question offended him or something.
"I see…..Carr! Step into the field. Røkkr, follow him."
What? What is trying to d—
"Both of you, pick a weapon of your choice!"
….I know exactly what he's trying to do. I slowly walked to the field, this white stuff still abundant all over the ground, it's not as cold though….
"I've been waiting for this day y'know."
Carr smirked at me as he made his remark. Well, that's fine….I've been waiting for this day too.
There was a barrel full of weapons and both of us stood on the opposite sides of it. It was full of swords, spears, shields and even a whip….I think it's a whip.
"We don't have all day now!"
I quickly picked up a random sword from the barrel, Carr picked a spear, still looking at me giving that same creepy smile.
"Stand in position!"
I positioned my feet
"Ready your arms!"
I raised my blade
"Fight!"
Carr lunched his spear at me with no time wasted, I moved to the left dodging his attack, leaving a large gap between us, he stepped forward and swung the end of his spear trying to hit me from a distance….it's slow, it's all so slow. I put my blade up to block his attack.
[Crack]
The bottom part of his spear chipped.
"Striking wood against steel isn't a good idea y'know." I said to taunt him as he did to me before the fight started.
"You little shit!" He screamed as he thrusted his spear
Instead of dodging I wanted to try something.
I ran and slid under his legs as his weapon struck towards me, I quickly turned around and knudged the hilt of my sword into his side, his face turned red and he took a couple steps back.
"F-fu-fuc—
I punched him in his face before the words could come out of his mouth, unfortunately I didn't have the strength to knock him down but it stunned him.
"You, there I finished your sentence."
"Bastaaarrrrd!"
He recklessly charged at me, no spear in hand….why does he seem so slow? Is it because I fought with jarl for the whole month before this? All I did was study and fight…. Now that I think about it… I'm not scared, I haven't been scared for awhile… actually it feels good, fighting with jarl, studying with saga, talking with Helga, making weapons with Egil, even this little squabble. All of it feels good.
I was dodging Carrs punches while deep in thought. Right, left, uppercut, left, left, right, he used basic patterns unlike Jarl, it's like I could feel his movements before they got close. I closed my eyes and tried dodging, I felt the air his punches produced before they could hit me. "Straight, right, uppercut, kick, body.
"Why can't I hit you!"
I somewhat wondered that too, how come the more he punched the easier it was to dodge for me but for him shouldn't I be easier to hit if he's paying attention to the way I'm dodging?
I don't know but I think it's time to end this.
"Stay fucking still!"
"Sure." I said
While holding my sword out I just stood there as he charged at me, but he quickly noticed and tried to stop his tracks, nearly impaling himself…. Really good thing he didn't. The tip of my blade cut his stomach a tiny bit, blood dripped down his pants, he started to panic causing him to fall back.
"H-how dare yo—
I quickly pointed my sword at his face
"This means it's over right?"
I looked up at the man with the helmet, his face seemed confused.
"Y-yes…. I Announce the battle has ended!"
[Wooooooooohhhhh!]
Everybody in the practice hall roared, why were they so happy?
"Yeeeeeeessssss!" A screaming redhead charged and crashed right into me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"I knew you could beat that asshole!" I laughed really hard when she said, but the training didn't end there.
1 month had passed, my body is starting to gain a bit of muscle. Saga gave me this wooden slab to carve on so I think I'll write my progress here.
2 months had passed, I'm getting used to more weapons than just the sword like the spear, axe and Hand to hand combat, Helgas gotten really good too, she sure is Jarls daughter.
3 months had passed, We've started doing group excercises, like climbing steep cliffs and hunting rabbits and dears….I don't like it. I understand I need to kill them so I can eat but it doesn't feel right, it's either me or them and i hate that….. sometimes that's just how it is it seems. Jarl has also decided to train me and Helga in our free time…. No breaks for us I guess.
4 months had passed, I seem to be getting along with the other children, the ones who were scared to come near now approach me with smiles on their faces, even Carr seems to be coming around... that's only for time to tell.
5 months had passed, Jarl has been beating my ass but I'm getting much better at defending against his attacks, he uses a different weapon or uses the same weapon in a different way every time we fight so it's hard to get used to, he says I'm doing good but I don't exactly know what that means. They also gave me this thing they call a "tattoo"…..I'll admit I was scared at first, I was reminded of very unpleasant memories….but I am a warrior of odin, I cannot be scared of swords let alone a needle. It hurt a lot but they told me it had great meaning, the top part of my fingers were now as dark as night and in the middle of both hands they drew a small little tree with many branches, they said with this I am now a full-fledged warrior.
6 months had passed, they say it's supposed to be sumɑr but it's only getting but it only seems to be getting colder and colder. We lost a scouting team when they went to search for food, Jarl and Saga say it was because of a storm but they seem to be lyin'.
Good things have happened since though, I learned this white stuff is called snow, I knew what ice was before but have never seen snow, apparently they're similar. I'm getting along well with all the other kids too, they say that this was the last month of "beginners training" and we get a 2 month break before the next training. They'll be throwing a celebration tonight…. I don't want to go. There will be lots of people that I don't know, only reason I was okay with training with others was because I had to, this is different. Helga said there will lots of food and fun things to do, she keeps buggin' me to go so I might as well just to make her happy….. I owe it to her.
"Tonight is a big night! It's time to get ready little one." Egil shouted from afar.
I stopped carving into the wood and put down my knife.
"Gotcha!"
[Night of the Celebration]
"Cmon cmon!" Helga dragged me by my hand through the crowds of people, the night sky glimmering with stars.
Many tents were set up with different activities to do at each one, a stick with something bright on top stood right outside the tents. It looked like a dancing light.
"Sho whac yu wann zu firs!" Helga asked me, a mouth full of berries she previously had in her right hand.
"I dunno…." I responded
But right as I answered something caught my attention, it was a hole in the ground and they were putting spears in and pulling fish out, right next to it was one of those big dancing lights with a lot of logs underneath it.
"I wanna do that!" I pointed at the hole
"Fishing?" She said clearly, finally finished with her food. "All the festivities and you wanna go fishing?" She looked at me in confusion
"Yea…." I slowly nodded my head up and down
"Well…. I gues fishing can be fun at times, let's go!"
She pulled me right over to where they were "fishing" and quickly went up to the two men by the hole.
"Hello lads, would you mind lending a spear?" She asked politely
"Go get your own spear! Can't you see we're busy?!" The man yelled
Helga lifted her eyebrow and crossed her arms
"A bunch of pricks I tell ya!" She yelled back them, but they just ignored her. "Ughhh, wait here røkkr, I'll go get us some spears and I'll be right back. Wait by the fire!" She pointed at the dancing light to the left of us.
So this is called "fire"?
"It's very pretty…." I whispered
I inched closer and closer to it, it's bright light engraving itself into my eyes, I kept walking near until I was right in front of it… what exactly is it? I wonder what it feels like, I slowly reached my hand into, closed… and closer and before I knew it my hand was fully submerged in this bright light…. It didn't feel like anything, I waved my hand around in it. It really inter—
"RøKKR!" Helga screamed as she pulled my arm out the fire. "What the hell are you doing! You'll have burns all…over…..your…..arms….."
She slowed down her words as she inspected my body, she lifted it up my right arm up, put it back down, turned it side to side and just stared at it blankly.
"T-there's nothing here…. D-did it not feel hot?" She asked, stumbling over her words as I used to.
"Hot? Was it supposed to feel hot? it didn't feel like anything though." I answered
"Ha…ha…hahahaha! As expected of Odins chosen!" Her confused face turned into one of pride and joy faster than one could snap their fingers, she grabbed both my hands and swayed right then left… what is she doing?
"Uhhhh, why are we moving like this?" I asked
"It's called dancing you dope." She giggled
"Here hold my hand." She grabbed my left hand and placed it down, then my right and placed it upwards.
"Just follow my lead" she said.
She started moving her feet in a certain way, I just followed the same pattern as she said and soon we were both swaying right and left, front then back then repeat. It was the same movement over and over but i couldn't stop laughing, I couldn't stop moving, I wanted it to last forever.
"W-…..what is the this feeling." I whispered to myself
"Hm? What do you mean?" Helga asked, a gentle smile on her face.
I didn't think she heard me but is it ok to tell her? ….of course it is, it's Helga.
"I dunno exactly what this is but I feel really happy, the happiest I've ever been, like I don't ever want this to stop."
"It's called having fun!" She shouted as she twirled around using my arm and then pulling back into me.
"Fun? What is fun?"
Her face seemed to droop a bit but still keeping that same gentle smile, like if she was sad or something. She pulled me closer to her chest
"Fun is when your happy doing something…. Are you happy right now?"
"Of course!" I said
"Then that's all that matters." She responded
I was confused by her words, I didn't really know what any of it meant, but we both just laughed as we danced the night away.
"W—— U—! Wa— —P!"
Huh, what's goin—
"RøKKR! WAKE UP!" Helga was shaking me awake while screaming at hard as she could
"Wait what's—
"Let's go!"
She grabbed my arm and started running full speed, pulling me out of my hut, the sun of next morning beaming down on my face. Why was she acting like this? What was goin o—
It felt as if everything froze in that moment as I payed attention to my surroundings, the villagers running and screaming. Men, women and children alike. People In cloaks I've never seen before and most importantly of all
The dancing light was covering everything…..
𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕠𝕟 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖