Chapter 13 - Lost in the Dark

Chapter 13

The first rays of the morning sun shone through the curtains when I woke up. Carefully I removed Samu’s arm from my waist and got out of bed.

On my tiptoes I made my way over to the window and took a deep breath from the fresh and crystal clear air outside. Was it day five today? I asked myself, wondering just how quickly I had adapted and lost track of time. It was the third day without the Jarl and his men and I couldn’t help thinking about Yorick. Thoughtfully I touched my shoulder. ‘I have a bad feeling right here.’ His voice suddenly echoed in my head and I felt a chill running down my spine. Was he alright?

My thoughts were interrupted by steps and a low moan. As naked as mother bore him, Samu stepped around the room divider and stretched his back. Screwing up his face, he massaged his shoulders, slowly swinging his arms. Then suddenly a grin spread over his features.

“Mylady has anyone ever told you just how magically beautiful you are in the light of the morning sun?” he asked and bowed slightly.

A little embarrassed I turned around to face the sun again. “No, that is new to me.” I managed to mumble back, feeling ridiculous.

Samu Haber actually had the hots for me. From the corner of my eye I watched his perfectly shaped body while he kept stretching his arms. This was by far the weirdest and most surreal experience of my life. Somehow it even felt more surreal than being stranded in a completely different time and place.

Turning back to watch the foggy streets around the main hut, I took a deep breath. We had to set up an escape plan. A good one. One shot was all we got at this.

Slowly I rubbed my face with my hands, running my fingertips along Samu’s arm that was suddenly wrapped around my waist. Jesus, he was bruised! Carefully I lifted his arm by the wrist to kiss the completely discoloured skin right above his elbow.

Suddenly there was a loud yell from somewhere inside the house and I gave a start despite the warm body that held me so comfortably.

“Elida Alvarsdottjer!” It was Idun and she stood right behind us only seconds later in a night-dress, her axe over her shoulder.

“You have to come, Elida!” she simply snarled, obviously agitated. Grabbing my arm, she nodded at Samu. “Get dressed and come downstairs, we might need your opinion as well!”

With that she pulled me along and into her own bedroom where she simply threw a shirt and a dress over my head without halting.

Still fighting with the two layers and a few cords and knobs, I almost stumbled across my naked feet on our way downstairs. But all my thoughts came to a dead still when the main door was suddenly yanked open and I saw Aevarr limping inside in the half light of the breaking day. There was a flesh wound on his forehead and he was barely able to stand. My heart sped up its pace. Was he alone? What on earth had happened to all the others? It had been a large group of over a hundred men!

Yorick! Where was he?

Like a sleepwalker I fought my way through the people that came to gather around Aevarr.

‘I have a bad feeling right here.‘ Yorick’s words came to my mind and I swallowed hard. Jesus Christ, don’t let him be dead! I was nearly unable to breathe all of a sudden. It had been my idea! I had send them to the Black Castle and now they were defeated or dead and I … It was my fault! I had killed them.

Hands grabbed me when I was almost ready to sag to my knees. Idun’s eyes were sparkling with furry. Of course, I was the one that had most probably killed the greater part of her clan! Staring at her, I couldn’t help wiping a few stains of her husband’s blood from her face. She was talking to me, but there was a loud rushing noise in my ears and I gazed at her in complete shock.

I had killed them all!

The resounding slap came out of the blue and I blinked a few tears away, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

“You have healing skills, don’t you?” she urged, still shaking my slightly.

I blinked again, trying to give a nod. I had to renew my first aid course every six months to keep my certificate, of course I had a few healing skills and also a good deal of knowledge compared to the rest of them.

“D’you want me to try and stitch up his wound?” I heard myself croak and nodded in the direction of her husband.

She furrowed her white brows, pushing me towards the still open door.

“He will heal, the Gods have always been with him. Follow me!” Waving any other comment aside, she started walking. “Oddgeir!” she shrieked across the room before she stormed off.

Without knowing what to say or do, I stumbled and hurried after her. The cold wind outside hit me like another slap in the face. My feet almost instantly turned to ice in the cold mud of the small street we crossed. Idun was still stomping ahead with her axe over her shoulder and her long hair fluttering in the rainstorm that was about to break lose any minute.

With her foot she kicked the doors of one of the stables open, pushing two tired horses aside. My heart almost skipped a beat, when I spotted feet on the floor behind a haystack. Looking around, I realised, that this was actually the stable where Yorick and I had had our first real and friendly talk only a few days ago. The mere thought hurt me somewhere deep inside and I tried not to think about the young man that had somehow saved me. Quickly I followed Idun that was by now kneeling behind the haystack. The sight hit me out of clear sight and I felt my knees giving in.

Yorick.

God, he was pale! His face was covered in sweat and blood, a broken arrow stuck out precisely between two marginal notches of his cuirass. Bad memories started to surface from the deepest depths of my subconscious mind. The accident long ago, Matias. His hand reaching for mine. The look in his eyes and the unexpected landslide that tore us apart. His sudden scream, fading away. The sight of Matias’ shattered body at the bottom of the hill.

“He lost too much blood, most probably he won’t make it.” Idun said in a very calm and emotionless voice but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was mourning. “If there is something you can do for him, do it. I will be back with Aevarr to plan the funeral. Odin awaits him.”

With that she got back on her feet. “Oddgeir will bring his medical devices for you and prepare him for the cremation if you fail. He’ll be with you for the warrior’s terminal breath.” She patted my back. “From the first moment he worshiped you, sacred woman. And I am sure he would have liked to die close to you. You were special to him, even though your time together was rather short.” Again she nodded at me. “Odin is as proud of him as we all are.”

She left me with my breath caught in my throat. I hadn’t even realised that I had actually started to cry. Only when the sight of his motionless body on its cold bed of straw became blurry all of a sudden, I tried to brace myself and quickly wiped my tearstained face. He was alive, Matias had been dead when I had finally reached him during the big storm that had interrupted our hike so many years ago. I had been no older than 16 and it had changed my life forever and taken me years to get back out into the field and hiking. But this was a different situation. I was here to help and maybe this time I stood a chance.

Kneeling down by Yorick’s side, I made a quick examination. He didn’t give a sound or even a little flinch when I opened the leather knots of the breastplate. Maybe Idun was right after all and he was at the brink of death already. But not on my watch. I wouldn’t let him die and if keeping him alive was the last thing I would do on this earth. Stubbornly I rubbed my cold hands.

I knew pretty well that they actually were proud of him, of his dignified and painful death. Soon they would start preparing him, dress him according to his status and burn him. They would drink and celebrate his death more that they had most probably celebrated and embraced his birth. Carefully I ran my hand over the dark raven on his forehead. Christ damn it, let Odin wait!

Lowering my face to his chest I tried to concentrate on his low and unsteady heartbeat. It was there, at least that. His shirt and pullover were soaked with fresh and clotted blood and when I carefully cut the few layers of cloth open, I saw the infected and raw skin around the entry wound of the arrow. Taking a deep breath, I examined the wound itself and the dark wood that stung out, thick and almost grotesquely deep.

I had to dab the wound, maybe cauterize it. But first of all I had to remove the arrow and that worried me beyond measure. With a lot of effort I managed to lift Yorick’s upper body a few inches. I shovelled hay underneath his back and grabbed a blanket to keep him in this position and examine the young man’s back. There was no exit wound and I rubbed my face flutteringly, before I put another horse blanket over Yorick’s ice cold limbs. With my eyes closed I felt my way over his shoulder and around the place where there would have been an exit wound if the arrow had penetrated through his complete upper body. I felt nothing, maybe the wound wasn’t as deep after all? Carefully I grabbed the broken wood, moving it the tiniest bit.

A low whimper escaped the unconscious man’s lips and I let go immediately. He didn’t wake up, but it was obvious that the injury caused him a lot of pain.

“He asked me not to remove it.” I almost jumped out of my skin when I suddenly heard Aevarr’s deep voice behind me.

“You could have burned it out after removing the arrow!” I stared up at the tall man that approached me slowly and still limping.

Aevarr shook his head and offered something to me that he had fetched from the small bag on his belt.

“He would have died right away.” He stated lowly and nodded at the iron arrow head in my hand. “We removed a few of them from other men’s body parts, but none of them survived. They’re huge and fired from large ballisters. See those spikes? Four spikes, these things are toothed. I have never seen something like this in my life.”

With horror I turned the four-spiked arrow head in my hand. The head itself was almost as long as my middle finger and it wasn’t shaped like a triangle but in a weird way like a pyramid with four strong spikes at its bottom. If I dared to remove this horrifying weapon from his shoulder, I would send him to his beloved Odin at an instant.

Considering my possibilities from all angles, I tried to make up my mind.

Pulling it out would – in the best case – destroy most of his muscles, almost his complete pectoralis major and minor. But I was even more concerned about his blood vessels. I looked up at Aevarr that had fallen silent and simply returned my gaze.

“He made me proud and I will see him in Valhalla.” He gave me a smile and I felt the sudden urge to jump back on my feet and hit the tall warrior with all the force I could find.

“I’d rather prolong his earthy life if it is my power.” I growled back and stared down at Yorick’s shoulder.

If. There were too many If’s.

If I wasn’t mistaken, the wound lay below the subclavian artery. Carefully I felt around his collar bone. If that was the case, the worst of the inner bleedings would come from the smaller branches of the vena cephelica and the vena thoracica.

But even in the best case I would cut the muscles and this would cause his arm to become unusable. If – before he eventually drew his last breath - I had the chance to stop all the bleedings, cauterize the wound and cure the infection of course.

Helplessly I turned the awful arrow head in my hand. Then suddenly an idea formed in my mind and I looked back up at Yorick’s brother.

“Bring him inside, I need boiled water, a fire and the sharpest and smallest knife you can find.”

Aevarr raised his eyebrow at me in amusement.

“Are you making me a servant?” he asked and grinned. “Don’t let this reach Idun’s ears, you insolent God-sent little thing.” With that he turned around. “I’ll get a few more hands to carry him.”

Still rubbing my own hands, I remained on my knees next to Yorick.

Maybe I was here for a reason. Maybe because he didn’t only need me to convince the rest of his clan to settle in Ireland but also to save his life. If that was my purpose and fate, I would accept it.

Oddgeir gave me a strange glare when I returned to the great hall with four men carrying Yorick’s lifeless body. He waved Aevarr closer.

“He will be with the Ancestors soon, why don’t you let him go?” he asked reproachfully even though he knew that I could hear him. Aevarr shrugged and gave me a close look.

“You said it yourself, Oddgeir, in her and the man we found Embla and Ask.” He answered pensively. “When he was hit, Yorick told me to take him back here and let her take care of him. He even made me swear to trust every word she says and support whatever she might decide. That woman is sacred to my brother and even though he is longing for Valhalla just as much as any of us, I will respect his wish and trust her.”

The face of the old man had turned completely emotionless. Then he nodded at me and sat down close to the table where the other warriors had placed Yorick.

“Get her everything she needs.” He yelled in a coarse voice without taking his eyes off me.

Suddenly Samu approached. He paved his way through the audience around the table with his gaze fixed on my face and didn’t even give Yorick a second look.

“Something came up.” He whispered close to my ear and grabbed my arm to pull me away from the crowd.

I struggled against his grasp, looking up at him furiously. Didn’t he realize that I was about to carry out a surgical intervention that would most probably kill one of the few men that actually believed in our value to this people?

He obviously didn’t, I could see the sparkling in his eyes.

“What is it?” I hissed, following his constant tugging.

Suddenly he stopped, bending down in my direction. “I found this.” He handed something over to me covertly, smiling all of a sudden.

I raised my eyebrows in confusion, staring at the tiny piece of reed. There were letters carved in it, but I didn’t understand the meaning.

S A W M SA.

Sawmsa? Asmwas? Confused I looked up at Samu. “What is that?” I whispered and he grabbed it from my hand, crumpling it in his own.

“That’s a code.” Excitedly he kissed my lips. “Sail Away With Me by Sunrise Avenue! The lads are here as well! And they are trying to contact us!”

My heart sped up its pace. “You think so?” I whispered, grabbing his shoulders.

He nodded and smiled broadly. “They are here.” He repeated in total conviction.

“How do we get in contact with them?”

Throwing a gaze around the crowded room, Samu winked at me. “You got tons of saving and praying to do, I assume. Maybe we should ask some of them to take me back to that weird place where they found me. I could meditate and try to talk to Tim and Thor. And leave a message for my friends on the way.”

“Tyr and Thor.” I corrected absent-mindedly, nervously kneading my fingers. “Can you please take good care of yourself? Don’t act stupid and promise me that you will come back to me.”

He put his hands on my face and pulled me in for a kiss.

“Promise.” Smiling he kissed me again before he took my hand and walked over to Aevarr, Idun and Oddgeir.

I grabbed his fingers tightly, trying to think about the best possible way to convey this idea to them. Looking over at Yorick, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have time to think. He needed help and he needed it now. I had to be quick and bold.

“I will try and help Yorick, but Samu and I agreed that we also need divine concourse.” I held Idun’s stare. “Guide him back to the place where you found him and let him meditate. Let me take care of Yorick’s body and the wounds, but let Samu fulfil his duty as well. We need the Gods’ assertion.”

Maybe she had not realized it herself, but Idun’s head gave a nod unwittingly and she exchanged a gaze with her husband before she turned to Oddgeir.

“What is your opinion?” she asked the old shaman and he waved Samu closer with his walking stick.

“I will agree.” He answered, touching Samu’s forehead with the stick. “You shall return to us before sundown. Send three men with him.” The shaman nodded at Aevarr before he looked at me. “And now, my child Embla, godly companion of Tyr, take a knife and proceed.” His frail hand pointed in Yorick’s direction and I looked up at Samu, shivering all of a sudden.

“You’ll do your best.” He assured and kissed me again. “And even if he dies, didn’t you tell me that it is their deepest wish to die in battle?”

“It is.” I sighed and buried myself in his embrace. “But I can’t let him die.”

To look on Samu’s face changed for a second and he looked at me intently. Then he nodded and stepped back with a smile.

“Your heart is far too big, woman.” He whispered tenderly, before he followed Aevarr and three of his men to the big entrance doors.