An Unexpected Midsummer's Eve
Part 2 of 6
Sometimes in school I was very embarrassed of my family. We were odd, simple as that.
Mom was the daughter of Olof and Gunhild Fjällgårda, the owners of the Fjällgård outdoor museum and they lived and breathed their work. It is basically a very old family farm that can be traced back to the Viking era, and sometime in the beginning of the 1900s my family decided to rebuild and conserve everything in some way. I never really cared about it, so excuse my lack of knowledge. Anyway the result was the Fjällgård outdoor museum and with it came grand middle age themed celebrations every big holiday and once every year they hired people from Gotland to come up and hold a middle age week. In other words a lot of things from the medieval era, even though they sometimes threw in some Vikings and such.
It was kind of awesome, but the problem was that it didn't end there.
It was one thing that mom loved clothing me and my siblings in different clothes from different time periods, that was pretty fun and it was always awesome to carry a sword or a bow. No, the problem was our dad, he was a fanatic.
He was worse than mom, grandma and grandpa combined. Which might not mean much to anyone not concerned, but believe me: that is a lot.
Not only were we to carry swords, oh no, we had to wield them too, the same thing with the bow, knife and sometimes even the axe. He even made us try if we preferred long bow or short bow, one-handed sword or long sword and once forced us to try a battle axe, war axe and even a freaking war hammer just for the sake of it. Why? None of us ever understood, but we grew up with it, so we never realized how weird it was until we started school. Johannes and Johanna got the worst of it of course; being the eldest, but then Therese and me. Therese was rather small compared to Johanna, so with her he concentrated on stealth and hunting. I knew I wouldn't get off that easily though, since I was even bigger than Johannes when he was my age and since I had no talent in blocking what so ever. I knew he was planned on getting me dual swords, dual swords, as in two heavy steel swords. Not fun I tell you.
You think this sounds kind of bad? Well, that's just half of it. Wait until you hear about the survival exercises and training camping.
I only got to go on one, but I know Johannes and Johanna had been on plenty. He was always extra hard on them.
He literally dragged us out in the wild only to teach us how to survive it. Now it sounds cool, but believe me: it wasn't. It was painful, cold, late nights and early mornings. It was holding watch and hunting, fishing and lighting a fire without lighter or matches. We weren't even allowed to bring phones or music player; it was in lack of a better expression, positively medieval.
I was only 12, but it is surprising how much you can learn when you don't have a choice. But even though I never in a million years thought I would say this, I was extremely thankful for all of this after that one event 2005 on midsummer's eve.
"Therese, come on!" the demand came from a black haired boy standing impatiently in the middle of the flower field. The tall yellow flowers reached his knees and he was eager to return home to escape the mosquitos and bugs, but his sister did not seem to share his sentiment.
She stood still with her head faced down searching intensely for a different kind of flower than the yellow ones, making her auburn hair fall down her face. When she heard her brother's annoyed cry she simply gave him a quick glare through the locks before turning back to the flower. It was absolutely ridiculous how seriously she took those flowers.
Ivar huffed grumpily when he received her look and turned his attention to the flowers as well. Maybe if he could help her find the remaining blossom the ordeal would be over faster. His face lit up at the sight of a small purple flower hidden behind some grass by his foot. "Here, it's purple, come and see!"
Therese's head whipped up and a big smile made its way over her face while she rushed to her brother. Happily she picked the small purple flower and proudly held her small bouquet in a tight grip.
"Great, okay, now can we leave?" Ivar said gesturing for her to move.
She shot him a quick grin before sprinting off, leaving him behind him.
"HEY!" he growled in annoyance and rushed after her, "THAT IS SO UNFAIR!"
He tried to run after her, but soon realized it was futile – Therese was probably the fastest runner in the whole landscape, even when she was barefoot. In a few seconds he decided it was not worth losing breath on something like that. She could hardly return home without him anyway, their father would throw a fit if she did. So instead of sprinting after her he deliberately slowed his pace even as he walked, giggling while doing so. The one who laugh last, laugh the loudest.
When he finally reached the stream through the forest he stopped. Something felt awfully odd, like when you walk into your room one day and someone moved everything a little bit to the right. He remembered Therese doing that once to him after he ate one of her chocolates from her advent chocolate calendar, it was surprisingly uncomfortable and similar to the feeling he had now.
The stream was being weird he thought, it was sort of bigger and stronger. Had it always been that broad? He could not remember, but surely not?
Bewildered by all this he walked a bit up streams just to see if there was something there that could answer his questions, but instead all he heard was the sound of screaming and shouting. It was fearful, he noted, and intrigued he hurried even further up streams to see what was happening.
A big tree had fallen halfway across the stream and a desperate person was hanging by it, the strong currents trying to pry him lose and devour him. Ivar was in chock for a moment; didn't he know how to swim? The person looked older than him after all, with long brown hair and even some scruff. The frightful cry for help, because Ivar assumed it was for help, made him guess that the man indeed did not know how to swim, and even if he did his heavy clothes and the strong current would do him no favors.
Quickly he ran up the bank until he stood right in front of the tree and the person. "HEY!" he shouted, "HOLD ON, I'LL HELP YOU!"
The young man looked up and met his eyes; he looked very distressed and shouted something back. Ivar could not understand a word, but it was a bit muffled by the water so he figured that was why. Ugh, why had he not taken his phone with him?
"WOAH, CLAM DOWN!" the man was panicking, it was easy to see, but then Ivar realized why: the branch the man was hanging on to was breaking. "Shit!"
Quickly he gestured for the man to stay put, and then he ran further up the stream. Ivar figured that, since he was a good swimmer, he could jump in and swim towards the tree. The current would be strong, but if he started further up he might still make it to the tree.
"Dad is going to kill me for this," he complained quietly and rapidly removed his clothes and shoes before plunging in.
The water was cold against his skin, but he told himself to suck it up – if he can swim in ice holes during winter he should certainly be able to swim in a stream during summer.
"HOLD ON, I'M COMING!" he shouted, and he could hear a muffled cry in response. Good, that meant the guy was still there.
It was hard to maneuver in the water, but it was possible. When he saw that the tree was finally straight in front of him he braced himself for the impact. The twigs dug themselves into his skin and for a moment he wished he had left on his shirt at least. "Okay," he said weakly, "okay, this far this good." It hurt, but he could handle it.
The guy was on the other side of the tree trunk still holding onto the branch and carefully Ivar made his way closer to him. Their eyes met when Ivar was right in front of him. The guy said something again and Ivar realized he did not speak any language he was familiar with, but that did not matter, "my hand," he tried, "take my hand!"
He reached for a far as he could but it was not enough. The dark haired guy did however understand what was happening and also tried to reach for the outstretched hand.
They were so concentrated on reaching one another they failed to notice the branch breaking.
Ivar and the other man had just gotten a firm grip on each other's wrists when branch snapped in half. Ivar gasped in pain when suddenly he was the only thing holding the long haired person from being drifted away and the force of the new weight pressed him painfully onto the tree.
"Hold on!" he pressed out and used his other hand to get an extra grip on the wrist. The guy gasped for air and groaned but also managed to get a hold on Ivar's hands with his other hand. Ivar tried to pull him in, but the current was much stronger than the 12 year old boy and his muscles gave in. "Shit!"
Where in the world was Therese when you needed her?!
Their eyes met again and they both looked pained. Ivar could feel his grasp slipping and they both knew that it would not hold for long. In a split second Ivar made his decision, "dad is so going to kill me," he said, and in the same moment the grip slipped he pushed himself over the stem and desperately followed the young man down the stream. They both screamed and shouted muffled cries and tried to reach each other again.
Ivar managed to grab a floating branch, maybe even the one that had broken, and desperately tried to push it towards his newfound friend who was struggling to keep his head over the surface. The young man did grab it and now they both held it for their dear lives, but surely they should have passed the bridge and Therese by now? The two figures continued to shout things two one another and to however might be nearby, but later Ivar would not remember what words he had chosen.
"IVAR? WHERE ARE YOU?" was he hallucinating? Therese's voice sounded so very far away. "IVAR!"
Ivar could see that his companion was bewildered by her voice and started to shout something in that language again. The branch became unstable.
"HOLD ON!" he screamed when it seemed as if the man would let go of it in his panic, "JUST HO-…" the water drowned his shout as the branch shot through the air the moment he let lost his grip of it.
Shit, he thought. "TAKE MY HAND!"
What in the world was happening? Where was Therese? He could hear her, but when he looked around she was nowhere to be seen. Shit.
"IVA-…" Therese voice suddenly disappeared, as if someone had pulled the plug from a stereo.
"THE-THERESE?!" he roared, "THERESE?!"
Shit, shit, shit, shit.
The man was barely conscious when Ivar got a hold of him and Ivar's own strength was close to its limits.
"You got to be kidding me…" was that a waterfall?! This definitely was not home!
For a moment Ivar war certain he was going to die a painful death and so would his nearly unconscious buddy, but then he saw his possible salvation: there was a big rock in the middle of the water just by the edge of the waterfall. It looked sharp and hard, but it was ground.
'Dear God let this work', was his last thoughts before he once again braced himself for an unpleasant impact. He held the young man with his left arm, which was only possible because the man in question was surprisingly short and rather small, and prepared to hold the rock with his right arm.
Ivar was as ready as he possibly could be, but of course it was not nearly enough.
I don't really remember what happened, just that it hurt more than anything I could ever imagine.
The rock hit my stomach and the current was so strong I couldn't move. The sharp edge broke through my skin and I could see my own blood mix with the water. I could barely breathe and my firm grip on my unknown companion twisted my arm painful way, I remember praying for it not to be ripped off.
I fought with my right arm, trying to pry myself away from the rock, but the result was almost worse. My flesh was torn and suddenly I found myself on the opposite side of the rock than he I was holding. The awkward angle caused my shoulder to dislocate and I could feel a bone in my arm break.
The grip I had on his leather belt was not natural, by hand had frozen, I couldn't move it. It was almost as if my hand had been set in that position and then turned to stone. I could only scream in pain. All I wanted was to let go and fall down that waterfall. All I wanted was to rest.
That was when I heard shouting. Loud masculine shouts, determined and strong. My vision was blurry and I think I might have been half unconscious, but I did feel a small glimmer of hope when they turned up on either side of the edge and tossed ropes from side to side, creating… well something to hold on to.
I don't remember the rest. I just remember being carried away afterwards; still aching so much I could not even have my eyes open. I remember beards and full grown men that weren't taller than me, some was even shorter.
Then I everything became black.
I woke up sometimes, but I never stayed away for more than a few moments.
I felt so cold, but everything was so hot! Sometimes I couldn't breathe.
I dreamt of horrible currents and water. It was hard to drink the water that was offered to me and more often than not did I choke on it.
Once, however, I did manage to stay awake for a little while.
The one I had saved was sitting on a chair next to me and watched me intensively. He was younger than I had first thought, but still much older than me, maybe like Johannes or older.
His brown eyes lit up when he saw me watching back.
He said something with a big smile on his face, but I didn't understand a word. Then he shouted out the door before kneeling down in front of me, pointing to his chest, "Kili, he said, and then pointed at me.
It took a few seconds for me to register what he meant, but then I realized he was asking for my name. "Ivar," I answered hoarsely. I was surprised over how weak I sounded.
"Ivar!" he repeated with an even bigger smile than before and tried to say something more, but my eyelids were heavy and soon I was fast asleep again for another day.
It was painful and unpleasant but it was also how I first met Kili and the rest of the line of Durin, and that, I could never regret.