The Barbarian

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"What do you mean with you can't help her? Maybe you will know how to when I cut your head off!" I hear a male voice yell. Not just any voice.
"No!" I scream but it barely comes out as a whisper. I don't know who he is yelling at but I don't want someone to die because of me. I try to look at him but everything is blurry.
Suddenly I hear the sound of heavy footsteps coming fastly closer to me.
"Y y you are awake?" He is stuttering? I didn't expect to ever hear him stutter.
"Thank the gods" I hear his voice break as he says that. I do not have time to think about it since his arms wrapping around me come as an even bigger surprise. I feel him plant a soft kiss on my forehead and put his head into the crook of my neck.
"Fuck you scared me. I was afraid that you might not wake up." He sounds as if he is about to cry? What happened? Why is he so emotional?
I feel his warm embrace suddenly leave me. I have to say that I kind of miss the warmth of his body.
"You can leave now. It would be nice if you could bring some meds for her recovery." I can hear him say in his usual cold tone.
"O o ofcourse my Jarl." A male voice stutters. Jarl? He is a Jarl?
I feel the bed dip again. His warm hand comes up to my forehead.
"You do not have fever. That is good." He says in his usual voice. He speaks softer than towards the man though.
"Are you able to open your mouth? You should drink something."
I part my lips slightly and realise that he is right. My throat feels very dry. Suddenly I feel a cold cup on my lips. I take a sip. That sip feels amazing and I hastily try to drink more. Bjorn helps me by holding my head. I take in a deep breath after gulping the water down.
I feel Bjorn wipe away the water that spilled on me at my poor attempt of drinking it.
"Can you open your eyes?"
I slowly try to and it works better than by my last try. My vision is still slightly blurry but I manage to make out most of Bjorn's face. I can tell that he is smiling. He takes his thumb on my cheek and caresses it.
"Don't you lose consciousness like that ever again." He chuckles.
"I lost consciousness?"
"Yes after I told you that- ehm anyway do you want to eat something?" Why does he suddenly change the topic? What did he tell me?
"What did you tell me?"
"It's not important. You are still weak you should relax now."
I try to remember what happened. As I think of it I look around and realise that I am in a big, expensive looking room. That's when I remember the ship room.
"We were on a ship." I whisper.
Bjorn turns around and looks at me. "You are recovering fast." He chuckles as he brings me a bowl of something.
"I ate this on the ship."
"Yes you did. You liked it a lot so I made some for when you wake up."
"Thank you Bjorn." He looks slightly surprised at me. But why? That's when it hits me. I never called him by his name before. He told me it shortly before I lost consciousness. Bjorn son of Ivar.
The moment replays in my mind. "Tell me are the rumours true? Am I really that frightening?" He said with a chuckle before everything turned black. No, no this can't be. I am with one of the most feared men I ever heard of.
As he reaches out to me I lean away. I see his jaw clench.
"So you remembered?"
I only shake my head in approval. I hear him sigh.
"And you think that I am as the Bjorn from the rumours?" He says in a disappointed voice?
"Is it true that you killed your father?"
He takes a long look at me before answering.
"Yes." He says in an emotionless voice as he looks at me.
I gulp slightly and look down. How can a man be so heartless? Will he kill me too with so little empathy?
He reaches out to me again but I again flinch away. He looks at me angrily but leans back. His eyes pierce daggers into me though.
He takes the bowl and hands it to me. "Are you able to eat on your own?"
"Yes." I whisper.
"Alright. I will send a maid to look after you." He walks to the door and takes one last look before leaving with a pained expression?
Ugh I don't understand that man. Why does he act like the hurt one? I thought he has no feelings. He is so confusing. He doesn't show the smallest regret of killing his own father or anyone else but at some moments he acts so caring and I just-
"Good day." I hear a soft voice say. I lift my head to realise that I didn't even notice the girl come in.
"Good morning." I say back with a small smile. The girl smiles in return.      "I was send by the Jarl to look after you."
"Oh yea right."
"Do you need some help with eating?" She asks kindly.
I look down to the bowl in my hands.
"Uh it's fine I can manage. Thank you."
"If you need help you can call me. I will make a bath for you in the meantime." She says with a smile.
"A bath will be really nice. Thank you." I say as I take a spoon of the milk.
I eat quickly since I like the meal a lot. This time it seems to taste even better. Bjorn is a good cook. I chuckle in my mind.
"The bath is ready my lady."
"Oh you can call me Mila." I chuckle.
"That is a beautiful name. I have never heard it before. The Jarl said you are from far away."
"I am. I am from the east."
"Oh. How come you speak Norse so well?"
"My mother was Norse and she spoke it with me."
"Oh so you know two languages?"
"Yes." I blush. I do not like to brag about anything and I am not comfortable with  being special.
"That's impressive. I should bring you now to the bath tub before the water gets cold though and then you can tell me a lot more about your culture and where you come from." She seems so excited about meeting someone from another land.
"Do you want me to bath you or would you like to do it on your own?"
"I would like to do it alone." I blush. I never feelt comfortable with someone seeing me naked. Not because I dislike my body but because I simply do not like others seeing it.
"Well I will leave you to it then and if you need anything just call me I will be in the kitchen making dinner."
"Thank you- um what is your name?"
"Thyra." She says with a smile.
"Thank you Thyra." I smile. Thyra means helpful in Norse and I think that the name really fits her well.
As Thyra leaves I lean into the warm water and close my eyes. This feels so good. I spend the next hour inside the tub and once I am out it's already dark outside. I see that there are no clothes left for me. I could call Thyra and ask for some but I don't want to bother her and I feel so tired. I hope that Bjorn won't mind if I take one of his shirts. Soon after putting it on and cuddling into the fluffy sheets and furrs I can feel myself fall asleep.