Brother band-
1
Strange Girl
So this is a story I've had on my laptop for a while and I've been trying to get the courage to post, and well, now I am. So, please, read and enjoy and don't forget to hit the little button down the bottom. This is a rewrite of hte Brotherband books with my own character in there and with a few twists.
Disclaimer: I don't own Brotherband or any of the characters, except for Aleina. :)
"This is the person who knocked out three of my guards?" Erak asked looking pointedly at the other five guards who had bruises on their faces. One of them stood up straighter and kicked the small looking woman in the knees. She stumbled forward, spreading her feet about to keep her balance, her chained hands moving in-front of her body.
"She's not as weak as she looks, Oberjarl," he snarled. "She used a strange fighting style." Erak raised an eyebrow and stood up from his chair, walking slowly towards the girl who stood up straighter, squared her shoulders and narrowed her deep sea green eyes at him.
"What's your name, girl?" he asked bending slightly to be at eye level with her.
"My name is none of your business," she snarled, her voice had a strange accent in it, one that the Seawolf had never heard before. He stood back and looked the girl over.
She had long black hair that was woven into two plaits; her eyes were guarded and alert with a slight oval shape to them. She wore clothes that no woman he had ever seen wears. Black boots, with an impossible long heel, tucked into the boots were grey/blue jeans, she wore a top that revealed her stomach and an eccentric sparkling thing attached to her navel, in the shape of a dragon fly. Around her neck she wore a black leather band and five bangles on her right wrist and four on her left wrist that jangled when she moved her arms. Wrapping around her left arm were black vines that weaved around each other.
"Do you know who you're talking to?" he asked pacing around her, watching with interest as she slowly moved around as well, her legs staying the same width about, with her front leg bent at the knee.
"Obviously someone with a high opinion about themselves," she scoffed. "You must be the leader of…" she trailed off not knowing what to call the village she had seen. It was different to anything she had ever seen before.
"Yes, I am the leader, but not just of this village but of the whole country of Skandia," Erak nodded, intrigued of how her mind must work, behind her guarded eyes he saw the wheels turning in her head, churning all the information she has gotten from the way people talked, moved and what not. 'This girl really isn't what she appears,' he thought.
"Skandia?" she questioned, tilting her head to the side, the move almost made her appear innocent. If it wasn't for the five bruised guards behind him, for the bruises forming on her face, the cuts bleeding slightly on her arms and cheeks then he would have believed that she was innocent.
"You haven't heard of it?" Erak inquired stopping in-front of her crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, it sounds like a country from where I'm from but…I don't think I'm there…" she muttered, almost as if she didn't want anyone else to hear her speak.
"Where are you from?" the Oberjarl demanded. Now either this girl was telling the truth and she truly had no idea where she was or she was a very good liar who was acting as a spy for another country.
"Japan," she answered in a 'duh' tone of voice she looked at the confused face of the gruff man before rolling her eyes skyward and cursing. "Shit! That really did happen…but what was that light?" the query was obviously not meant to be answered and was just her talking out loud but it fascinated Erak.
"Right!" Erak announced loudly clapping his hands together shocking the others in the room. "If you promise not to attack members of my guard then I will let you go and we can have a long chat and decide what to do with you and if you tell me your name." The girl bit her lip, glanced at her chained hands and then around her, calculating the odds of escape and assessing all of her options.
"Fine," she agreed. "I swear on the Honour of my family that I will not try to escape nor will I harm anyone…unless they start it?" she questioned looking up from under her eye lashes making Erak laugh.
"Alright, if my men start it you can defend yourself," Erak agreed. 'That's fair…and she has a bit of Skandian spirit in her,' Erak thought to himself, an idea forming in his head that would change the course of Skandia and maybe other countries.
"Good…and my name…is Aleina," she finished. "Now, unchain me, Oberjarl." A smirk crossed her face before changing into a full smile. 'I might like here, after all,' she thought.
Two year later
"So…the Brotherbands are being chosen today, pa," Aleina muttered playing with the end of her belt.
It had been two years since she had travelled through dimensions and ended up in Skandia, she had taken to calling Erak 'pa' since he took her under his wing and trained her in the use of swords, axes and other weapons however, she preferred to fight with smaller weapons and her own style of fighting. She spent a lot of time over the two year period trying to find information about how she got there in the first place and how she could get back, but she had no luck so far, and if she was being honest with herself she didn't really seem to care all that much.
"Hmm," Erak agreed eyes shifting over the paper on his desk as the girl who was nearing womanhood paced in-front of it. Her skin had lost a little bit of its tan but kept its natural olive colour. Her hair had grown even longer and she now wore it up in a bun with two daggers through the top. Her arms where more toned, her figure was well shown by the clothes she wore; all in all she would make a fine wife one day to a very lucky man.
"Don't 'hmm' me!" she snapped slamming her hands on the table eyes blazing with fury. Or a very unlucky man. Erak finally looked up at Aleina, one eyebrow raised. "You promised I could join!" her voice took on a whinny edge to it; he then also remembered that she was still childish at some stages and it was best to get her out of it quickly.
"Aleina, I said if I thought you were ready," Erak answered standing up and walking around the desk to stand next to his adopted daughter, he placed his large hands on her shoulders. He could feel the tense muscle underneath his paw like hands.
"I'm ready!" she exclaimed. "I've been training for two years with all types of weapons, my endurance, stamina and strength has increased tenfold and not to mention the fact that when I first came here I knocked out three guards." She crossed her arms over her chest and just stared at him, no emotion on her face to let him know what she was thinking.
"Aleina…I'm worried about how the boys would react," he explained honestly. "They might taunt you, exclude you and overall torment you." Aleina did raise an eyebrow at that comment and couldn't help the scoff that left her lips.
"Pa, when you first started training me your men taunted me," she saw the look of fury cross his face, he had become rather protective over Aleina after three months of her being under his wing. "Don't worry I handled it…sort of."
"That's how you got that massive cut on your stomach was it?" Erak asked, furious that his men would do that.
"It's wasn't deep and I was all right," Aleina waved her hand dismissively. "Now, please let me join the Brotherband." Aleina let her features fall into an almost innocent look. Erak looked at her before looking away and rolling his eyes.
"Fine, but don't come crying to me if you can't handle it," Erak mumbled he started heading for the door when Aleina started chuckling.
"Me? Cry?" she questioned inbetween chuckles. "That's hilarious you should tell that joke more often." Erak shook his head opening the door leaving the Japanese warrior from another world laughing in his office.
"I have a feeling I'm going to regret agreeing to let her join the Brotherbands," Erak grumbled running his hand over his face. "What have I done to those poor boys?" he asked no-one as he walked down the hall.
Aleina walked through the door with Erak in-front of her, blocking her from view. She wore tight brown pants, tough brown fur boots, and a tight fitting black top with a fur vest over the top; she had a bag slung over her shoulder with her weapons in it, the top of a blade poked out. Across her back she carried a Long Bow and a quiver of arrows. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement as she eyed the boys assembled for the choosing.
"Oberjarl, what are you doing here?" Sigurd queried before his eyes snapped to the small frame behind his Lord.
"Hiya, Sigurd!" Aleina chirped happily stepping around her adopted father who moved to sit behind Sigurd. "How's it going?" her smile on her face was more like a smirk.
"Fine," Sigurd gritted out before spinning on the Oberjarl a look of fury on his face. "Please explain." He pointed to the girl who everyone was staring at.
"Don't be so stiff," Aleina pouted moving to stand next to Stig in the group of sixteen year old Skandians waiting to be picked into a Brotherband. Erak raised an eyebrow at the person he put in charge of the Brotherband program this year round.
"I thought I told you," he shrugged. "Aleina is going to participate in the program this year, she's sixteen and she has the skill."
"A woman?!" one of the members gathered around Aleina exclaimed forcing her to roll her eyes. "But women are weak." Aleina felt her eye twitch at that comment, her temper flaring to live, and her hands clenched beside her a vicious glare entering her eyes.
Erak looked down at the group and sought out the boy who shouted out. He felt sorry for the poor boy who brought about the wrath of Aleina, he shook his head as he saw the angry look on the strange girls face and had to force a laugh down.
"Yes a woman so get over it," she snarled in the direction of the voice. "And I dare whoever said that to stand forward and say it to my face!"
"Actually, how about we bypass that part of the test and just get on with the choosing?" Erak suggested. "And Aleina, we don't really need any of the candidates wounded before the actual tests start." Aleina sent a wink towards Erak before smiling at Sigurd.
"But Oberjarl Erak-" Sigurd started but was cut off as Erak slammed his hand onto the arm of the chair.
"Do you have a problem with my daughter being here?" he asked in a calm voice.
"Daughter?" Stig muttered from next to Aleina. "Since when did he have a daughter?"
"Since now," Aleina muttered to him, Stig looked down at her forcing Aleina to look up at the giant male; she nodded her head at him before looking away. 'Damn! I'm never going to get use to the height of these Skandia's…..they're too tall,' she whined in her head, a pout gracing her lips.
"She's going to be interesting," Stig muttered silently to Hal next to him who looked around his companion and looked the girl over, silently wishing her to be in whatever Brotherband she was in, for they were both outsiders and it would be best to stay together.
Sigurd looked around before shaking his head.
"No, sir!" he replied before facing the gathered group in-front of him. "Alright, it's time to nominate leaders."
And so, two people were chosen to be the Skirls. Aleina looked over Tursgud, he looked completely arrogant and Aleina hated him instantly and she guessed he was the one to shout out before. The other one was Rolland, he seemed nice enough not to arrogant but she hardly doubted that he would pick her to be in his Brotherband.
There was another person nominated but no-one wanted to second it. His name was Hal, the boy who was half Aurlean and Aleina studied him now as the two Skirls picked their team mates. He looked intelligent and a very good leader. 'So, he's the one who sailed in that ship the other day,' she thought, his eyes were calculating the other members left at the end of the choosing, apart from herself, Stig and Hal there were six other members.
Twins, Wulf and Ulf, a thief she had heard quite a lot about named Jesper, a very tall person named Ingvar who looked very optimistic, a smaller looking Skandia, who was quiet Edvin, she believed his names was and then there was the clown, Stefan. 'This will be a very interesting Brotherband,' she thought. 'We're one member short but…I think we have a good shot.'
"Alright, you remaining nine get together, you're a Brotherband now so start acting like it," Sigurd growled out. Aleina looked at him, with a warning look in her eyes; if he dares to undermine this Brotherband just because she was in it then there will be hell to pay.
"So, we get the woman," Stefan laughed leaning his arm on Aleina's shoulder. "Nice." Aleina shrugged her shoulder removing he's arm from her.
"Not that it'll help you," Tursgud sneered. Aleina turned around, glancing briefly at Erak before taking one step forward then two before she was in-front of the male.
"Let me make this very clear," she said voice calm. "Underestimate me and it'll be the worst mistake of your life." The other boys in his Brotherband snickered at the little girl who only just came up to Tursgud's chest.
"Strangely, I'm not scared," he smirked leaning down to be level with her. "How about you go and practice your act somewhere else…better yet…." He trailed off whispering in her ear.
Aleina turned around, wiping her chin with a smile on her face that slowly turned evil, took one step forward before swinging around fast and smashing her fist into his nose. She smiled brilliantly as she looked down at him.
"How about you do that yourself?" she asked tilting her head to the side.
"Aleina!" Erak exclaimed with a shake of his head as the girl looked over to him. "What did I tell you?" Aleina pouted and crossed her arms over her chest with a huff.
"But he said some really rude things to me," she explained. "And my honour was at stake." Erak sighed and rubbed his forehead. 'Really, what have I done to those poor boys?' he asked himself watching Aleina move back to her Brotherband who were watching her warily.
"Nice punch!" Stig smiled holding his hand out for a high-five which Aleina gladly accepted and smiled brilliantly up at the giant.
"So, what happened to having the girl on our side not helping us?" Stefan asked with a raised eyebrow as Tursgud stood up wiping his nose clean of the blood. He opened his mouth to retort before Sigurd growled.
"Enough!" his voice boomed. "Every Brotherband is to choose their Skirl and the name of their Brotherband." Aleina looked over each member of her Band and smiled knowing exactly who she wanted to lead them, and who she wouldn't mind taking orders from.
"I think Hal should be our Skirl," she told them plainly. Hal looked up at her in surprise; she met his eyes and winked causing him to blush lightly.
"Why me?" he asked before everyone else just smiled and nodded their head in agreement.
"Because you seem to be the best person for the job," Ulf or was it Wulf said with a shrug of his shoulder.
"And I think our name should be the Herons," Stig exclaimed. Once again Hal looked up in surprise and opened his mouth to ask why when Sigurd asked them for their names.
"Herons?" Tursgud scoffed. "Why you would want to be a bird that eats big dumb fish?" Edvin turned to face Tursgud and he's Team, a slight smile on his face.
"Isn't that what a shark is?" he asked. "A big dumb fish?" Aleina noticed the smile that broke upon Hal's face. She looked around at all the members and knew that they would make one hell of a Brotherband.
"This is going to be very interesting," she muttered, Ingvar to look at her with furrowed brows.
"What do you mean?" he asked leaning down slightly. Aleina shrugged her shoulders casually.
"Nothing," she replied, turning her powerful gaze to her father who raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes as her lips turned from a half smile to a full one, that wasn't seen often.
'This was a very bad idea,' he thought to himself.
