"(Name), wake up!"
Not again.
"Please, (Name)!"
I open my eyes and shoot up, hitting my head against a set of metal bars. "Where am I?" I groan, rubbing the tender spot on my forehead. I look around, taking in my surroundings. We were surrounded by woods in what seemed to be the dead of night, the only light coming from the fire of the few torches set around the square.
"And SOLD, to the two men in the back!" The men stand and make their way to the front of the crowd; they stand a head taller than the rest of the bidders.
"Wait!!" My head snaps in the direction of my brother's voice. He's sitting in a cage similar to mine, frantically shaking the bars as the men draw closer. The auctioneer unlocks the cage and pulls him out, shackling his wrists and ankles. At this point, the men are right in front of him, and he raises his head to meet their gaze. "Please," my brother's voice sounds fragile as he folds his hands and pleads with them. "Don't take me from my sister." The man with the frizzy up-do scoffs at his request and shifts his intimidating gaze to me, while the one with scars on his crooked nose slightly furrows his eyebrows.
The first man leans down to get eye-to-eye with Klaus, and growls in his face, "Houl yer whisht and move your arse." He roughly grabs the chains connecting his wrists and starts to drag him away, while the other tosses a bag of coins at the auctioneer.
"(Name), no!" My brother attempts to fight his way back to me, but the man is a lot taller and stronger than him. They disappear into the crowd as the other men push their way to the platform.
"400 coins for the girl," the man on the pedestal moves on, "She can work in your household as a maid, or perhaps as a nanny for your children. She is also of child-rearing age, herself."
"I'll take her for 400!"
"450!"
"600!"
Hold on...!
As the numbers rise, so does the noise. I cover my ears and shrink to the back of my cage.
Then, just as quickly as the noise grew, the crowd quiets. I open my eyes and begin scanning through the men below before they come to rest upon a man standing on the platform, dressed in a floor length, red fur coat, holding the auctioneer off the ground by his neck. "Give me the girl."
"You can't just come here and threaten the caller!" A man speaks up from the crowd. Another tall man with glasses appears behind him and swings a long staff at his legs, breaking them at the knees.
A boy with silver hair and pale, purple eyes stands over him as he screams in pain. "I don't believe we asked."
Faint whispers arise from the people below, "Are they the Ghosts of the Sea...?"
"The Norse Vikings from that old warriors tale? It can't be. They all died out hundreds of years ago."
"Yet, here we are," a shorter, blonde haired man smiles sweetly at them, the look in his eye almost threatening.
The first man throws the auctioneer into the crowd, and grabs the giant axe that had been held in straps from his back, swinging it around his body before jabbing the hilt onto the wooden platform. "We are the Meren Haamuja (1)," he begins. "I am Hersir (2) Mathias Køhler, and we are not requesting for the girl to be turned over to us, we are demanding it."
"You have no right!" The auctioneer spits in the dirt below.
As soon as the saliva leaves his lips, he falls to the ground, a deep slit in his throat. The men around him scream as blood pours from his mouth and his wound. "Lukas, you were supposed to wait for my orders! I'm the captain," Mathias quietly stomps his foot and whines. Lukas, a man with a white cross barrette and a blank, blue stare rolls his eyes as he wipes blood from his blade.
Where did he come from?! I didn't even see him move!
"You won't get away with this!" A voice from the crowd speaks, many of the men below yell in agreement.
Mathias sighs in annoyance as brushes his hand through his hair, which bounces right back into place. "Berwald?"
"Mm." The man with glasses nods, and begins to swing his staff, beginning to slaughter the, mostly, unarmed men from the crowd. One man pulls a small dagger from his side and rushes toward the staff wielder, only to be skewered from behind by a long spear, held by the silver haired boy from before. "Damn you," the man falls to his knees.
"Behind you, Emil!" The short, blonde haired man from before yells, and a loud gunshot rings out. "That one almost got you."
The boy blushes slightly, continuing to swing his sword, "Thanks, Tino!"
My body freezes as I watch the last bidder fall to the ground. The five man stand in place, shoulders heaving to catch their breath. Tino is the first one to break the silence, one hand on his hip, the other brushing through his hair, "Now, was all of this really necessary?"
"They threatened us first!" Mathias insists.
Lukas, once again, rolls his eyes at his leader, "I do believe that you're the one who picked up the caller by his throat."
"I did what nee-"
"Needed to be done, we know," Emil exasperatedly finishes his sentence as if he's heard the saying a million times before.
"And the girl?" My heart jumps into my throat as I meet eyes with Berwald, and they all turn their gazes to look at me.
The Hersir is the first of them to walk up to my cage, patting the bars as he grins cheekily, "I say we keep her."
"Mathias, she's not an animal! You can't treat her as if she's pet," Tino scolds.
"Don't you think she'll just get in the way?" Emil adds to the conversation.
"M-My brother," I whisper.
"She's trying to say something," Mathias quiets them, "What was that, min skat? (3)"
"They took my brother."
"They bought him," Lukas' blank stare seems slightly sympathetic as he sighs.
"But you can come with us, and we'll protect you!"
"Mathias, think about what you're doing for a second," Emil interjects, pulling him back by his shoulder. "Not only are we Vikings, but we are wanted Vikings. The Kingdoms would reward a man and his crew their weight in gold for our heads. Do you really want to drag her into that?"
The leader listens, turns to me, and then back to Emil, "So, you're suggesting we just leave her here?"
The men all exchange glances, and Lukas shrugs indifferently, "We could at least unlock the cage."
"She's a child! She'll be brought right back to an auction block if she isn't careful!" Tino shakes his head.
"Exactly," Mathias leans down to be at eye level with me. "She's a child in need of protection. Who could protect her better than us?"
"Her mother?" Emil crosses his arms.
"The raiders killed my mother before we were brought here," tears well in my eyes and I pull my legs to my chest as I begin to remember the events that took place in my village.
I hadn't had time to process the deaths of my mother and Luca before now.
My shoulders begin to shake violently as my breath escapes me. "They burned our village, they stole us from our home."
"Whoa, are you alright?" The confidence in Mathias' eyes change to a look of concern.
"T-They cut off his head and broke her neck!" I screech, my heart pounding, "She was facing away from me, but in her moment of death, she was staring me in the eyes!"
"Calm down, girl! Open the cage!" He pulls at the door frantically.
Emil shakily grasps the lock of my cage, "Mathias, it's locked-"
"I said open it, goddammit!" He stands, grabs his axe and raises it above his head before swinging it down upon the padlock with force I've never seen. As the metal lock flies from my cage, he swings the door open and pulls me out, pulling me into his arms with a firm but gentle grip. "I've got you, min skat (3), everything's ok," the deep rumble of his voice in his chest grounds me. I bury my face into him, the fur along the collar of his coat tickles my face, and the smell of the ocean fills my nose.
I'm finally able to catch my breath.
Mathias holds me until I stop trembling. The other four don't say a word to each other, they sit, and they wait. He holds his finger under my chin and gently pulls my face up, "Are you alright?" I nod with a sniffle, and he cups my cheek with his large, calloused hand, wiping a tear with his thumb. He turns and looks at his crew, "She's coming with us, and I don't want to hear a single word about it."
They all nod, and begin walking away. "Where are they going...?"
"To the boat, søde (4)," he smiles, grasping my hand gently as we walk together.
"Are you sure I can come along?"
He tightens his grip, just slightly. "Of course, min kære (5)."
I stop in my tracks and my hand slips out of his. "Why are you helping me?"
He doesn't answer me for a second. To me, it looked like he was reminiscing on the past. "I know what it feels like to be alone in this world," he smiles. "We all do." I avert my gaze to the four men who started to disappear further down the path. "I made an oath," he says, gently patting the ring wrapped around his upper right arm. "If I were ever given the opportunity to spare someone else of this pain, I'd do anything to make that happen."
I run to catch back up to him, and grab his arm tightly. "Thank you for saving me." He pats my head with his free hand, and escorts me down the path and through the woods to the boat.
As soon as we arrive at the ocean, my eyes open, wider than they'd ever have before. Their boat was the strangest ocean vessel I've ever seen; it shared little likeness to the Viking ships in my history books. They were often described as long, wooden boats with a sail in the middle, and dozens of oars.
The Meren Haamuja, was a long wooden boat with giant sail, however, it seems they had taken influence from pirate ships and added a cabin onto it, and the edges were gleaming with a beautiful, silver metal. The bow of the boat, made out of the same substance, had a beautiful woman adorning it. Her hand was outstretched, as if to point her crew onward. Emil, who got into the boat just before us, extends his hand to me. "Need help?"
"S-Sure, thank-"
"Not from the likes of you," Mathias puts his hands under my arms and lifts me up like a child, placing me into the boat beside the silver haired boy.
"Really?" He deadpans.
Mathias turns his nose to the sky and steps onto the boat, awkwardly leading me to the small common area outside of the cabin where the rest of the Vikings had gotten comfortable. He sits down on the floor of the ship and pats the spot net to him. "You can sit here, next to me."
I nod and sit down, followed closely behind by Emil, who sits directly across from me. After the boat sets sail back into deeper waters, Tino and Berwald join us, as well.
Over the course of the next few hours, I sit in silence as I listen to the men bicker and laugh together, all of them sharpening or polishing their weapons. Finally, in an attempt to make conversation, I gesture to the silver woman. "S-She's gorgeous."
"Her name is Freyja, Goddess of Love, Battle, and Death," Emil bluntly informs me without averting his eyes from his spear-weapon.
"It would've been more logical to have Njǫrd on the bow, considering he is the God of the Wind and Sea," Lukas adds. "But Mathias insisted on Freyja."
"He said she was nicer to look at," Tino giggles.
Berwald, who has said all but four words in the last three hours, shakes his head, "He can speak for himself."
"Freyja is the most beautiful Goddess, why would we not want her leading our men into battle?!" Mathias counters.
"Do you see any other Vikings in these waters, Hersir?" Emil questions, exaggeratingly gesturing to the water around us.
"I thought the Vikings had died out hundreds of years ago..."
They all quiet and look at me, then to each other. "That's because they did," Mathias states calmly.
After a few seconds of trying to process what he said, I turn to look at him directly, "Then how are you guys here? Are you just descendants attempting to keep the culture alive?
"Not exactly," Tino shines an embarrassed smile.
I cock my head to the side with a raised eyebrows, and Emil groans, "We are real Vikings, simple as that! Now, stop asking questions."
"I just want to understand-"
"There was a tear... in the sky."
Translations:
1. Meren Haamuja- Pronounced "Meh-ren HA-mü-ya", it is Finnish for the "Ghosts of the Sea"
2. Hersir - (Local) Viking Military Commander
3. Min skat - Danish for "My Treasure"
4. Søde- Danish for "sweetie"
5. Min kære - Danish for "my dear"