Viking, me.

Chapter 24- "Let me"

Dawn broke as silence fell on the town. The pain hadn't subsided much at all but my consciousness was weak and I drifted in and out of sleep frequently.
I remember faintly being talked at. I wasn't in any shape to comprehend.

"I'm going to kill my brother"
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"A duel"

Voices came and went as I passed what felt like days in and out of consciousness. Hearing snippets of conversations along the way.

"He does not deserve to live after doing this to her"
"I agree" there was a pause and then the same voice again. "No matter who she is"
"Thank you for your support"

Sven held my hand the entire time. I could feel it. That constant warmth that was there when I woke and there when I fell asleep.  But the warmth that filled my heart when I could open my eyes enough to see his face was nothing but pure bliss. His stark features and worry knit eyebrows watching over me, my protector.

"Saoirse" somebody called, the warmth I'd grown accustomed too was gone. I woke in a panic. The pain considerably less prominent. I managed to get my eyes open. It was Helga, her straw like grey hair falling over her shoulders.
" you have to get up now" I hummed in response.

Sitting up I slumped forward. My body below my waist covered by bed clothes. Helga helped me up from the bed. My bandages had dried and the oatmeal mix was crusty. I sighed when I realised it didn't hurt as much as I though it would.

"come on now dear" she said helping me to a large tub of warm-ish water. She helped me out of my dress, as it was folded away from my breasts and down past my thighs along my pasty pail skin was now tarnished with pink splotches.

"Step in" I lifted one leg over the rim. The cool air rushing around my body. I found it very difficult during the first few baths to look at myself. I hated my body. My wrists destroyed and my left leg totally engulfed. But what hurt the most was my left breast and abdomen. Helga sponged some water over my shoulder.

"My my my, you are such a beauty" she cooed. Her withered fingers gathering my hair and laying it over the bath's side. Helga had become my mother. "You remind me of my son a once grate earl that ruled here" she continued.

"He had the most soft skin and the clearest eyes that saw beyond the things in front of him" she paused. Squeezing out the warm water over my neck. "He found the kindness in people and made them good, you remind me of earl Thorsten"

" what was he like" I ask quietly he sounds like an amazing man.  I skated my hands over the surface of the water.

"He was a strong leader, he brought peace and prosperity. He grew restless with the lack of production of food from unfruitful soil so he began raiding, he tried to find a place to trade with but found a beautiful woman and he fell in love"   Once she had finished helping me bathe she helped me out and she wrapped me up in drying blankets. She brushed her fingers through my hair. 

"But he was over thrown by a jealous comrade, he turned the village against him and when he retured with a pregnant wife he was cast out without as much as a sword" she continued to tell the story as I patted myself dry.
Helga had a slight bitter tone in her voice. I can understand her loss. My father and mother being killed had been the most difficult thing is ever felt with until now.

"His legacy is said to live on in the life
Of a beautiful young woman who would be about seventeen or eighteen years of age by now" my imagination was sparked by this, imagine it was me? I laughed in my mind. As if it could be!
My father had an Irish name, 'jarlath'.

"Do you have a good relationship with your father?" She asked. I shook my head.

"He was killed when I was very young, along with my mother" I said gripping onto the bed sheet around my bust.
She apologised.
"My grandmother said he was killed by a Norseman"
Her eyes watched me, a glimmer of something in her eye.