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Sage
I sat by the edge of the pebbled shore, dabbling my feet in the water. The shape outlined our home perfectly. Here, where I was sitting was where dozens of our people piled onto boats set out to raid other places. It was also where I sat and sulked about how I never got to go. I practiced day in and out and my skills in fighting were better than anyone my age, males included - yet, I was never allowed to go on raids. I kicked a rock in frustration and watched as it flew into the water.
My mother always encouraged me to take up fighting, “You must always be prepared, for one day, you will need to fight - and when you win that fight, you will rule.” My father would call her crazy and tell me that all I needed to do in life was marry well, bare children and look after my husband. What would he know? He was a lazy drunk. My mother's advice always sat better with me.
Whenever I would reflect on my childhood, I would remember little tidbits of wisdom that my mother gave me. It never made sense at the time but I tucked it away in my mind, in case a time ever arose where it was useful. As I grew older, more of her revelations were starting to make sense.
“Sage,” I heard my name being called from a short distance. I turned to see Helga. She was a nice girl, slightly older than me, and in charge of the women's chores in our village. She had no interest in fighting or going on raids, she was more of a simple woman. The kind my father wanted me to be. “Yes?” I looked her way, flicking my feet to dry off the water. “We need your help in making the next meal. Our men should be arriving home shortly and it’s all hands on deck, i'm afraid.” She gave me a kind smile. She was understanding and sweet, unlike some of the other women here that treated me badly because I was different.
“Sure,” I smiled at her, standing to follow her into the communal hut. This was a place where women prepared all the food, mended broken garments for their children and the men of our community.
As I prepared the meat, slapping its heaviness onto the table in order to get rid of any lumps, I heards snickers. I kept my head down but averted my eyes to the noise. As usual, it was the same two that it always was. Frida and Bodil. Bitches. I moved onto the next food item, bread. I stirred the contents together to make the dough and continued to knead it. More snicker. I felt anger rising in my body, boiling to the surface. I usually kept it inside, but not today.
I threw the dough onto the table hard enough to make a loud bang and glared at their disgusting beady eyes, both sets were now on mine. I cocked my head to the side, ready to take them both on. They stood back slightly and then looked at eachother erupting in laughter when I didn’t make a move. With that I bounded toward them both, pushing Frida to the floor. Hard. “Hey!” Bodil looked at me, with her arms crossed, “How dare you!”
“Ha, your next.” I charged at her, grabbing her hair. She did the same. I kicked her to the ground and held her there with my foot. “Back off, Bitch!” She roared, attempting to kick me off, but I was stronger. Laughter erupted from my stomach, “You should have taken fighting lessons.”
She scoffed at me, her thick eyebrows pulled together, “GET OFF ME.” she yelled, as Frida came up behind me, ripping my hair. I screamed in pain, as she held a chunk of my blonde locks in her palm. “No need for fighting lessons when you're naturally talented.” She looked at Bodil and they both started laughing.
My lip curled up in a snarl as I punched Frida in the face while swiftly kicking Bodil in the stomach at the same time, leaving them both hurled over in pain. “Enough, girls! the boat is pulling in!” Scolded Helga as she ran toward the water. I leaned over Frida, pulling a pocket knife from my clothing and holding it to her neck, “If you ever test me again, you better be better at fighting.”
I left both of them lying there and followed her hastily, “Bear!” I called, not being able to contain the smile on my face.
I watched the boat pull in, rushing to it, excitedly awaiting my friends return and the gifts that he had brought me from the latest raid. As the boat became closer and my vision more clear, I noticed that something was different. Bear wasn’t waiting at the bow, ready to greet me. I waded into the water to get a better look. As the boat finally hit the shore, men piled out of it, Bear's father close behind them, holding something, a figure. It was Bear.
My heart dropped. The realisation that he could be dead hit me like a ton of rocks.
“Father!” I called desperately, running to his side. Bear’s father had become like a paternal guardian to me since I had lost my own father to drunkenness, and my mother to death. My fathers useless shell of a body was always planted somewhere in the local tavern, never ripe for battle or to contribute to my raising. “Is Bear dead?” I began to weep.
“Hush child, he is not dead.” He replied, shrugging my hand from its place on his arm. He rushed to the pebbly shore, placing Bear upon it.
“What is wrong with him?” I pleaded for an answer.
“He is just sick. We’re not sure why. All you can do now is pray that he heals quickly.” he assured me as he wiped Beard hair from his forehead. It was both bloody and muddy.
I kneeled by my friend's side as people fussed over him, day and night. I never left my spot beside him, moving his lifeless body, wherever they chose to move it. Finally it was settled that he would be placed in a yurt by the oceans shore to let the fresh air aid him back to health. I dabbed at his paled face, beads of sweat dripping down his cheeks. He was wrapped in animal skins, keeping him warm. I knew from my reading, that in order to keep down a fever, a combination of keeping warm and applying a cold cloth would do the trick. I looked out at the shining moon, aware of how late it must be. My eyes grew heavy and I gave into their will to shut, resting my head on the ground next to Bears.
“Sage?” A small voice said in the dark only moments later. My heart fluttered at the sound of my name on his voice. I had always loved him as a brother, but lately, I had begun to feel something more.
“Bear?” I blurted urgently, rushing to his side from my place on the floor.
He groaned, clutching at this arm. “Yes.” I heard a shuffle, “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” I smoothed his brunette hair from his eyes. I had always been jealous of how perfectly his hair sat, where my own unruly blonde locks, had a mind of their own.
He sat up, moaning in pain. I was quick to support his back, placing soft cushioning behind him. “I think, I remember something...”
I took some flint and used it to light the candle that was placed besides his bed. He began to unravel the cloth that protected his wound, gagging at the sight of it.
“My guess is that a blood sucking erchant bit you, when those good for nothing vikings of ours were having another party.... and from my readings, that is what the infection looks like. If it continues to spread...” I looked away, holding in my words as long as I could, trying not to share my emotion. “well, it won’t be good.”
“What are you saying?” He moaned again, re-wrapping his arm.
“Let me do that,” I said, taking over the task. “Do you have any memories from that night?” I peered up at him, intentionally fluttering my eyelashes and tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
He gazed at me, as if beginning to realise I existed in more than a sister way, “You look...”
“Yes?” I prompted.
“Different...” He shook his head, as if trying to shake off any new thoughts and come back to the original topic, “I do have some distant memories...” he recalled, “I was standing at the bow of the ship one moment... the clan was having a party... and the next thing I knew...” He shuddered. “All of a sudden, there was a splash in the water, and when I went to inspect what the sound was, something grabbed a hold of me. I couldn’t pull away. And the pain...”
“It’s okay. You don’t need to talk about it now. Rest some more.” I flustered over him, making sure he was comfortable. “Here, have some Lagar to take the edge off.” I said, handing him a jug.
As the morning sun made its way into our resting place, I stirred, attempting to wipe the sun's rays out of my eyes. When that didn’t work, I rolled onto my side.
“Agh, is it morning already?” sighed Bear, pushing his hair from his eyes. I sighed, looking at his beautiful appearance. If only he knew how I pined for him.
“I’m afraid so,” I smiled at him, sitting up.
“I want to tell you what else happened...” He said, turning to me and yawning, his dimples making an appearance. My insides did flips at the way they looked, creased into the cheeks of his heart-shaped face.
“First, breakfast.” I announced, standing to my feet and pushing open the door covering of yurts entrance, “You are looking a lot better today, let's keep it that way.” I smiled his way as I made the journey to the meal preparation hutt. The first person I saw when I entered, was Bidol. I glared at her, picking up a piece of bread and not breaking eye contact. She backed away from the table as a grin played on my lips. Next was Frida, who had a similar reaction, though decided she would brave talking to me, “Hows Bear?” Her voice trembled, though it was obvious she was trying to keep it together.
“What’s it to you?” I snapped - offended she dare ask about my Bear. She smoothed her garments and turned to leave. Guilt built up slowly inside me, but I couldn’t take back what I had said, so I did the same.
When I returned with a selection of meats and bread, I placed the cloth that held it all together, on Bear's lap. He looked down as he picked small crumbs from the bread, rolling them between his index finger and thumb. “Now can I please tell you the rest of the story?”
I crossed my legs in my comfortable place on the floor.
“Of Course, go ahead.” I stared at the food that was going untouched on his lap, the urge to say something eating away at me.
He fumbled with the matter in his lap some more, before finally speaking,
I watched him quizzically as his face twisted and turned, “I don’t know if I should tell you. I fear you may judge me.” he mustered.
“After all your attempts at telling me, now you're going to shy away? What are you bothered by? When have I ever judged you, my friend?” I urged, slightly annoyed by his insinuations.
“When you are telling me I am wrong or stupid.” he replied sarcastically with
what will, he could manage to speak.
“And that is when you are wrong and stupid,” I nodded my blonde locks as a smirk made its way up my cheek. I rolled my eyes to hide it.
Bear hesitated before speaking “Fine, I will tell you what I saw.” He looked into my eyes with his warm coco gaze, a colour concoction that looked as if it were mixed with honey. “Last night while everyone was feasting, I was watching over the ship” He paused, looking for a reaction...
I screwed up my face. “You already told me this part, you are such a bad storyteller! What magical thing could have happened by the water, that you believe I will find so outrageous?” I shook my head and began to stand, with the intention of walking off to gather more food, as his would have gone bad by now, and I was building quite the appetite.
“Wait! I was bitten by a Mermaid.” The words flew out of his mouth with great enthusiasm and landed on a sore spot in my brain. Fury exploded before I could even process the danger he would have been in and how those useless good for nothing men celebrated while he was being attacked.
I whipped around, my hair landing sporadically around my shoulders “You were bitten?! Why did you not warn the coven? Are you insane? We are under attack! What kind of future leader are you making of yourself if you can’t even warn your clan of a Mer attack?!” Outraged, I began to pace the quarters... “I must tell the others... you must!” the words came out more harsh than I intended. He winced, looking ashamed.
“There is more... just listen to me and you will understand!” He rose, overtaking the volume of my voice.
“What is there to understand Bear? You were bitten and did not warn the others. You failed your duty as the king's son! We could have used the appropriate measures to heal you, had you told us.”
“There was a mermaid,” he proceeded despite my rageful rambling.
“You already said that Bear, This is no new information.” my voice was getting raspy, I wanted to trust his words, but he was making it hard.
“No, there was a different kind. She was beautiful.”
“Beautiful? Are you delusional? I think we need to hit you over the head right now and call it a day! You have obviously lost your mind... They are all the same Bear. There are no different kinds. Mermaids are Mermaids. They attack, we attack.” I paused for effect, “They killed your mother! What more do you need in order to see them for what they are?”
“I know they killed my...” he choked on the words, “mother...” Ashamed at the realisation, that he had been mistaken into thinking that this one was different, he hung his head.
I looked at him, finally taking pity, “My friend... my brother, I am sorry to be harsh, but you have to know the way it is. You cannot stray from your people. You must know who the real enemy is.” I took the cloth from last night and dipped it in the water a few metres from us, ringing the remaining droplets from it and pressing it on his forehead once again. “I will leave you now to rest.” If I was to be kind to him in his state, I needed to process this new information and iron out my anger.