Battle Scars (Mericcup Story)

Chapter 1: Ship at Sea

Princess Merida, first born descendant of the Clan Dunbroach; She was known for her bravery and fierce personality. At the moment however, Merida felt more uneasy than she had before, well almost as uneasy as she had been before.

The fire haired, scottish royal was aboard a ship bound for a distant -yet familiar- land. As the craft neared the rocky isle of Berk, crowned with it’s thick fog and thunderstorms that wrapped around the mountains, Merida felt her stomach churn. She had a feeling of weightlessness upon the ship, as if she were in a dream, or were trapped in a memory from when she was a wee lass.

She had been no more than four when her family had last visited this clan so far North. They were here to renew the peace treaty between the people, a sign of respect that vikings would not hold ignorance to.

The young princess sighed, leaning over the side of the boat and allow her hair to wrap around her head like a burning shield. She knew not why she was nervous, Merida barely remembered the island, except that it appeared more like a glacier of ice than a land built upon sharp mountainous peaks.

“Merida, are you alright dear?” came a calm female voice, that of Queen Elinor, Merida’s mother. The question was followed by a steady hand placed on Merida’s shoulder. Her mothers cold hand was a comfort among the nonsense going on inside the young girl’s head.

“I’m fine Mum, really. I suppose it’s just been a while since I’ve been aboard a ship.” Merida stood, shrugging away any feelings of jitters still remaining. She looked down at her mother -the princess had grown to be about an inch taller than her mom- and smiled as best she could.

Merida had grown to little less than father’s height, but retained her mothers fare features and feminine frame. Her hair had grown to around the small of her back, still twisting into its tight curls as it always had.

It was clear when looking into her sharp eyes that although she was beautiful, the newly twenty-year-old princess was still a force to be reckoned with.

The queen, her hair slightly greyer and her face a bit more aged, wrapped her daughter in her arms. “I’m happy you came.” She sighed. It had felt like so long since the two had spent time together, Merida had recently taken on the job of training the castle guards in archer; The queen had been away visiting the Macintosh clan.

“Oh Mum,” Merida sighed into her mother’s dark brown hair, leaning slightly into the older womans embrace “I’m glad I came too.”

It was true. Merida had always loved the sea and being with her mother and father aboard the ship gave the family an interesting opportunity to bond.

Suddenly somewhere on the other side of the ship a loud bang was heard, followed by a surprised scream and echoing laughter. “Those boys,” Queen Elinor laughed, her eyes shut slightly. “Let’s hope we get to Berk soon.” Merida noticed how tired her mother sounded, but decided not to question it. She’d seen her mother in a much worse shape than any level of seasickness or sleeplessness could create.

Merida left her mother to deal with Hamis, Hubert, and Harris. Her 9-year-old triplet brothers. They had never quite grown out of their rebellious streak, similar to their older sister. Still they were much more boisterous than the princess could ever manage.

Merida went around to the front of the ship, dodging the chickens that had escaped their cages from the brother’s prank. Merida’s father, King Fergus, was one of the men trying to round up the brood of chicks and hens.

Merida laughed, her hair tumbling over her shoulders and across her face “Dad!” she hollered, running over to grab as many chicks in her arms as she could. Placing the chicks back in their box she sealed it before they could escape again. “Lucky thing those rascally dogs aren’t here.” Her father’s large black dogs were going to come along for the journey, but a hunting party borrowed them from the king the morning before the ship set sail.

“Aye, those mutts would be having far too much fun.” Her father laughed, his voice was loud and deep and echoed into the distance across the vast sea. Once the last of the fowl were rounded up King Fergus set for the front of the ship, his large artificial leg clanking against the wooden boards.

“Dad, how much farther do you think it’ll be?” Merida asked, spanning the horizon with her eyes, although dense fog had continued to roll in.

“It Won’t be that much longer, can’t wait to get your feet on dry land?” Her father quizzed, removing his helmet to run a hand across his balding head.

“I could care less about the land Dad. I just wanna see some dragons.” Merida’s excitement radiated from her voice, making the king smile. He loved seeing his daughter so enthused.

“Don’t worry dear, we’re just about there.” He smiled, placing a hand on his daughters shoulder as the ship began to enter the fog.