I saw Signy turning her head to see who was calling her. Hearing her sighing, she turned her head back to me before starting again with the petting. She gently moved my head off her lap, before standing up and helping me up as well. It turns out it was the old man Signy called 'Hakun' before. He made his way over to us quickly, helping Signy to stand me up.
"Hakun, what is it? I was spending time with Arne. Why are you calling my name?" Hakun eyed her spitefully.
"We need to go back, the raid is starting up in 7 days I believe. How well is Arne? Can he fight?" He stared directly at me before Signy scoffed.
"He still needs help to stand up, he obviously can't fight you fífl!" She glared at him while pointing at me. Hakun looked awkward before continuing.
"The the tokt is starting, we are breaking the treaty." He said solemnly. Signy looked at him agitated before yanking me forward into the camp, grumbling about it being 'too early' and some more things I couldn't hear. After we went through the camp, we went inside a new tent much whiter, much bigger than the other ones.
We walked in to reveal a tall, pale woman. I couldn't see her face as she was hunched over a small table with her snow-white hair draped over her face as her hands were busy tinkering around with...something.
"Völva, I greet you." Like with the 'Jarl' she dropped to her knees and brought me down with her. I slightly raised my head to glance at the woman and she didn't even acknowledge us, much less look at us. We kneeled there in silence for god knows how long, before Signy finally spoke up.
"Völva please, I humbly request for you to lend your krefter, I beg of you." She placed her head on the floor while placing her hands folded in front of her. With Signy no longer paying as much attention to me, I lifted my head and stared at 'Völva' in curiosity. I don't know why, as I was still weirded about this situation but it was too late to look back down because her head snapped up as her eyes met mine.
With emerald-green eyes that pierced my very soul, I froze in place as she looked over me. Abruptly standing, she continued to stare at me while stumbling over the table, in the corner of my eye I could see Signy shaking like a leaf. Finally stopping in front of me, she grabbed my face with both of her hands and widened her eyes even more.
"Why, you should have...I saw it. They told me!" She whisper-yelled while being two inches away from my face. Signy finally sat up slowly before facing 'Völva' and shakily began to speak.
"Völva, please... heal my ástin mín. We will be continuing into the mainland and he needs his strength. I very humbly ask of you." Not even sparing her a glance 'Völva' began tapping her foot aggressively. Suddenly, she threw my head back a bit before making her over to the table, picking up a small box I didn't even notice. Then she turned and glared at Signy.
"What are you still doing here?! Leave my presence and allow me to do my work!" Signy got up and proceeded to scramble out of the tent, abandoning me with 'Völva' who was busy rummaging through the box. I audibly swallowed when she suddenly glared at me before walking up to me and ripping open my tunic, revealing the barely healed arrow wound on my chest. In fact, it didn't even look fully healed as it was open near the bottom, and slightly oozing blood. My mouth was gaping as a looked down at it 'How did I survive? And why didn't they even bandage the wound' me being alive is a miracle with this horrid wound or scar. I didn't even feel that much pain considering how it looks.
'Völva' glared at the wound like it owed her money, before grabbing an item out of her little box. It looked like a small, leather pouch with a cork on top. Holding it, she pushed me down and squatted next to me at my side, before opening up the pouch. She placed her hand above my wound, then poured a strange greenish-purple concoction into the opening of my scar.
All this was happening as I was making strange noises in protest, but still being unable to talk. But my strange noises would soon change to screams as the concoction burned it was through my body. It spread and spread giving me unimaginable pain, dwarfing when the arrow was actually inside my body. I thrashed around on the ground, occasionally hitting 'Völva' but she didn't even move.
"AAAHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME-ARGH! AAAArghh...What?...." The pain suddenly subsided, giving me instant relief. But more importantly, I could hear my own voice, my own words. When the pain finally fully left me, my mind was still reeling with phantom and I was still saying random words in my mental pain. As I was heaving and huffing 'Völva' just stood up and went back to her small table. Still delirious, I rolled around on the ground in a botched attempt to stand up. It ended just being me rolling around in a half circle for a moment before crawling forward a bit, being pushed by the momentum of my failed attempt to stand up.
I ended up bumping into 'Völva's' table, prompting something to fall and bump my head. I heard the stifled laughter of 'Völva' above me, but I ignored it and once again attempted to stand. Finally, I managed to get to my knees, but couldn't move more as I felt no strength in my body and my eyes were blurry so I stared at the ground and attempted to take some deep breaths. In my struggle, I saw a small, shiny piece of metal on the ground.
In the reflection, I saw a face. A strange, black-haired man with slightly overgrown stubble that was too short to be called a beard. I couldn't see what the face was properly so, once again curiosity got the better of me and I picked up the metal to really examine the strange face imprinted into it, and there I saw silver eyes staring back at me... Is that my face?