2. Ivar
"Put her down, put her in the bed." I ordered Hvitserk, he was carrying the girl I had found and ultimately saved.
"You can't just keep a girl."
"I'm saving her." I snarled. "Now leave."
"What are you going to do? You can't help her. You couldn't even carry her!" Sigurd laughed. I threw my knife and it hit the wall by his face, he rolled his eyes and shoved his way out the door with my other brothers following.
I got a cloth and started to clean up her face, those men had done a number to her. She was bleeding pretty bad from her side, they had stabbed her – hoping she would die there in the woods. The one was so fat I'm pretty sure he broke a few of her ribs, but she hadn't coughed up more than a few mouth fulls of blood – so I wasn't sure if she had a punctured lung or not. I was going to have to ask Floki to bring Helga – she could fix anything. I would just have to get her through the night.
"You're going to have to take off her underdress." Ubbe sighed coming back into the cabin.
"I thought I told you all to leave." I snarled at him.
"And let the poor girl die, Ivar?" Ubbe said kneeling down beside me, pulling her tattered dress up over her. We both looked away, pulling the blanket up so it was covering her lower half- the rest of the dress covering her breasts. We weren't complete animals.
At least not right now.
He helped me stitch her up and stop the bleeding, I nodded a quiet thank you before he helped me put her in the small bed that I had set out for her by the fire so she would warm up. I would have to send for new clothes – these ones did her no good, they were basically rags. She started to come to and I looked down at her, taking a drink of my water.
"Ég hef mat. allt sem þú þarft að gera er að fara upp." I said accidentally startling her, she jumped up and spun around with the blanket in her hands.
"Ég heiti Johanna." She muttered fastly."ég tala bara ensku."
She only spoke English. She was a Christian, what a shame I saved her then.
"I see." I sighed taking a sip from the cup. "That's okay, I speak English."
"Who are you?" The small girl asked before falling onto the floor, I got down and went to her – making sure she was alright. She was weak, she would need some of the stew I had prepared.
"I am Ivar. Now, rest Johanna, you had a rough night." I held her head up and put the cup to her lips knowing she would need some sustenance, I grabbed a small bowl filled with the hot soup and checked to see if it was too hot for her.
"Please, don't hurt me." She gasped putting her hand on mine, I froze staring at her for a moment – I had never been in such a trance like the one she was putting me in. Maybe she was a witch. I put the small bowl to her lips and let her sip at the stew, I could see her start to perk up but she still couldn't hold her own body weight.
"You need to rest, I'm serious." I scolded when she sat up again.
"It's okay."
"You're injured, you're not going anywhere." I said as I caught her looking at the door, she laid back down – her mind still in thought. I wasn't afraid of her running off – even if she did that just meant she wasn't under my protection anymore and that wasn't my problem.
"I am fine." She lied a moment later.
"I had to stitch you up, you got blood everywhere. I'm still not sure you don't have a punctured lung, you coughed up so much blood. Get some sleep, you need all the rest you can get."
"I have to go home." Her voice was weak, she wouldn't be awake much longer.
"This is home now, until I make sure you're okay – atleast."
I was right, she was out in moments. I got undressed, leaving my undershirt on just in case and pulled myself into bed. The next few days went slow, she didn't wake for two of them and I had Helga feed her what Floki called Green Poison. She promised it would fix her and she'd wake soon.
On the third day she did, but she was still in a fever. Helga and Floki had just left, so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I put my hand on her forehead and it felt like she was burning from the inside out – what was I supposed to do?
"Ivar..." She whimpered, her small boney hand grasping my shirt. I was surprised she remembered my name but I could not revel in the fact because she was still dying infront of me and I could not go get Helga and tell her that the fever had not broke and I had no idea what to do.
What did mother do when any of us had the fire inside us? What did she do? A lot of water – check. Stew – check.
Cold water. I had to immerse her body in cold water – that'll stop the fever. I looked down at the irons on my legs, knowing that I could stand and walk with the help of my crutch – but could I carry her to the bath that I could fill with ice water from the rain trough outside?
I filled the bath with the ice cold water, even bringing in shards of ice to make sure it stayed cold, praying to the Gods that this didn't fail me.
If I failed at this, I would have to kill her just because she bared witness to what was going to be the most embarrassing moment in my life. The bath was ready and I was already tired, it took a long time to fill the bath with the ice and water.
I got up, steadying myself on the wall before putting my arms around her – picking her up slowly.
My legs wobbled a little, the irons didn't completely keep my legs locked into place – I knew that was something I had to fix but I didn't have a rush on it. I held her into my arms, standing for a moment with her in my embrace, her face against my chest as I took a weary step forward. I wasn't breathing – I couldn't breathe – I was too scared.
Two more steps and my knee buckled, I almost fell but by some strength from the Gods I managed to stand up straight – keeping my balance. For potatoes as legs I was doing very well. Two more steps and I was almost there, at least if I fell now – she would land in the water.
My legs collapsed, causing me to kneel by the bath – glad that I had gotten to my destination. I slowly lowered her into the water, not even bothering to take off her dress. It was basically rags anyways, could use the water to clean it up a bit. I muttered a curse to myself as I forgot to ask Helga for any clothes for her – how she didn't see I needed it anyways was beyond me but I would figure something out.
I sat with my back against the bath for what seemed like forever before I heard her start to rouse. I turned and her eyes opened and her face wasn't so red.
"I'm... Cold..." She whined, moving a little.
"Your fever." I said putting a hand on her face, her fever had gone down. I had done it. "You awake?"
She nodded, sitting up a little. "My body hurts so bad. What happened?"
"you were attacked." I said laying out a cloth for her to dry off. "can you get out yourself, or do you need my help?"
"I Don't know." She said honestly. She tried to get up but ended up collapsing back into the water. "The dress.."
"Take it off."
She looked at me this time with the redness of embarrassment on her cheeks. She wrapped the cloth around herself, patting herself dry as she stood – her weak legs allowing her out of the bath.
"Go to bed." I said tending to the fire, hoping it would keep her warm. She would have to get out of that dress if she wanted to keep any warmth. She laid on the small makeshift bed by the fire, but I could hear her shivering.
"You wouldn't be cold if you took off the dress." I sighed getting into my bed, taking off my boots and pants – again leaving my shirt on just incase I had to get up.
She stayed quiet andI laid down facing the wall, tired and just glad she didn't die from the fever– but now it wasn't my fault if she died because she refused to take off theice cold and soaken wet clothes.
