Ryka and Luka
I try with my best efforts to stay awake, as my eyelids begin to droop, "Come on Ryka, you have to stay vigilant!" I mutter to myself, my stomach twists into knots, my heart beats out of my chest, Thor's mighty hammer smashes my head, I grow more anxious as each hour passes, and staying inside isn't helping. Wolf, my mother, and the search party should have been back by now, with my father walking behind them. They would have chased the Whispering Death off the island, and they would all be arriving home safe and sound. "Where are they?" I question with concern. I can't stay in here, I finally decide, I need to go find my father and bring him back home.
I throw on my winter gear, they are still soaked from earlier, but I don't care at this point. I follow the other Vikings' footprints up to the trail, I slow down at the sight of two of my uncle's men. If they saw me, they would just escort me back to the house, so to avoid being seen I take one of my dad's shortcuts. As I race through the trees, I feel myself being engulfed by the evergreens that indicate that I'm getting deeper and deeper into the forest. I spot the Whispering Death hole, I observe the area to make sure it was clear, and I investigate to find any clues to see if my father came back this way. "There has to be something here," I think to myself, I look around until I my eye caught one of my dad's arrows. He was definitely here; I walk over to retrieve the arrow. Beside was a small pool of liquid in the snow, I bend down to get a better look at it, it's… it's blood!
I look up to find a trail of blood heading north, I think for a moment, "My father must be hurt and he's leading me to come find him." I continue to venture further up the pathway, my heart is racing again, I can feel chills traveling down my spine, and I wasn't sure what to prepare myself for when I arrive at the end of this trail. "Please Dad, please be okay." I mutter softly. When I arrive, I see my dad sitting at our old campsite, he managed to build a small fire in the fire pit, and is leaning against a bolder. "Dad!" I cry as I run to his aid.
"Ryka?" my dad mumbles. "It's okay Dad, I'm right here." I reply encouragingly. I kneel down beside him to check for any damage, he has a good-sized gash just below his diaphragm, it looks like tried to use a ripped up strip of his cloak as a substitute for bandages. From my judgements it only lasted for about thirty minutes, and it desperately need changing. I remove my backpack from my shoulders, I take my equipment out, I had gauze, a cloth and a ceramic bowl. I grab a handful of snow and let it sit near the fire to melt, so I can use the water to clean my father's wound. "Dad, what happened?" I ask as I try my best to hide the panic in my voice.
"Ryka, I had that Whispering Death chasing after me for about a good ten, fifteen minutes, then I turn to look back to find that he had quit following me. I was afraid that he tried to make a shot towards the village again, so I ran back for it." He pauses for a minute to catch his breath. "That's when I stopped myself, I heard another dragon call out. I couldn't see it though. It sounded like this dragon was fighting the Whispering Death." I continued to carefully remove the bloody cloth as he was telling me his story. "I waited until there was absolute silence, when I arrived at the scene the other dragon had disappeared. I spotted the Whispering Death, it was bleeding and was left for dead. I didn't want him to suffer, I carefully walk towards him to put him out of his misery, but before I could shoot him with my crossbow. His tail smacked me and cut me up pretty good" He chuckles with a hint of embarrassment.
I just continue with my work, I didn't even know how to react to the situation, and my mind was fighting the urge to cry. "Ryka, look at me," my Dad requests. I just sit here, trying to keep myself contained. "Ryka, please look at me," he pleads, "Ryka, it's okay if you want to cry, I'm right here for you." I try to concentrate on my task, but I feel the warm tears building up. I was becoming frustrated with myself with the wrapping of these gauze. "Ryka look at me," he takes his hand and turns my face and we lock eyes. "It's going to be okay, I promise." I see the look on my father's face, he's no fool, he knows just as well as I do that the infection in his wound is getting worse, and even if we did make it back to the village he wouldn't have made it due to his blood loss. I can't fight it, the tears are streaming down my face, "Come here," my dad gestures.
I sit right beside him, he strokes my hair, and kisses my forehead, and he wipes the tears from my eyes. "Ryka, you're going to be a great chief someday, one of the best in all of Wenslock history I wager." I watch as his chest begins to rise up and down slowly, his breathing is becoming harder with each breath. "Ryka, you're my strong girl, I love you."
I just continue to lay with father silently, "I love you too Dad," I whisper softly as more tears began to form. I lay there as still as I could be, as my father took his last breath. When I could no longer hear his heartbeat, I silently burst into tears. "I'm so sorry Dad, I'm so sorry."
