Chapter 9
Tal and Milla stood before the entire Far Raider Clan. They were standing next to their appointed Friga's or adopted fathers. Milla stood next to a large man who looked to be in the prime of his life. The man had apparently been Milla's first Friga. Rallen was his name. His stern yet gentle gaze fell on his adopted daughter with a certain pride that Tal slightly envied.
Tal had yet to make his new father proud. The man standing next to Tal was none other than the famous Grim Forkbeard. His three-pronged blue dyed braided beard was the only feature that Tal needed to recognise the man. A long time ago, Grim had offered to adopt him out of politeness. Tal had obviously declined but who knew that Tal would someday take him up on his offer?
"Give to the Clan a symbol of your loyalty," the Crone announced as she continued the ceremony.
Milla stepped forward and took her Merwin horn sword. She then drew back her sleeve and sliced her arm. Blood trailed down her arm as it coated the sword. Milla held up the bloodied sword and handed it to the Crone.
"Blood and Bone," she said as she took the sword.
Turning to Tal, she repeated the announcement.
"Give to the Clan a symbol of your loyalty,"
Tal stepped forward and stayed completely still for a moment before he took out his sunstone from under his furs. The stone was dormant. Tal focused on it and it started to pulse Violet. The crowd looked on in curiosity as Tal offered his stone to the Crone. They had no idea what it meant to him.
"Are you sure Tal?" the Crone whispered.
Tal nodded since he didn't trust his voice not to crack if he spoke. The Crone nodded and took it from him. She held it up and spoke so all could hear.
"Light and heart," she said giving the stone back to Tal.
Tal looked to the Crone for his cue. When she nodded her approval, Tal stretched his hand towards the top of the mast and beckoned for the sunstone to come to him. The dim stone shook itself free of the mast and fell feebly to the deck, not able to summon the strength go to its caller. Tal lifted his violet pulsing stone and held it high.
He commanded it to stay on top of the mast until he came for it. The stone obeyed. It floated slowly towards the top of the mast as if it reluctantly obeyed its master's order. When it secured itself to the mast, Tal held up both his hands and closed his eyes. He wanted to relish his last act of magic as a Chosen. The pulsing Violet light slowly stopped pulsing and went dormant for a moment.
Then in a brilliant flash of light, the stone flooded the whole ship and the surrounding area in pure white light. The Icecarls on the deck shielded their eyes as the new light stung many eyes. Tal opened his eyes and saw the light. It was done. He was now no longer a Chosen.
The Crone stepped forward presenting to the whole ship their new members. A wild cheer went up from the crowd as they waved their hands and shouted out their welcome. Icecarls started to move to fetch the food they had prepared. Others went to fetch drinks and soon there was music and dancing erupting all over the ship. The Crone kissed Milla's forehead in blessing and sent her off to the party on the deck. She did the same for Tal.
"You are now an Icecarl. Protect the Clan, serve your people and bring honour to all of us," she said before retreating to her cabin.
Tal watched the party from his vantage point on the upper deck. He watched as the party became livelier as a sort of organised dance began. A ring of crewmates danced wildly around the mast as onlookers engaged in competitions of sorts ranging from arm wrestles to drinking to simply feasting on the endless food that seemed to come from everywhere. Tal watched on as everyone congratulated Milla. Drinks were offered to her and selski meat was shoved in her hands. He felt happy for her. She was home again.
Tal looked up at his shining sunstone and tried not to connect with it. He was an Icecarl now. He had to act accordingly. The problem was that he just didn't want to feel like an Icecarl right now. Slipping away quietly to the sleeping deck, Tal found a bunk and took it. He closed his eyes and thought of nothing but his breath. After two thousand breaths, he groaned as he realised that he would get no sleep. Lying awake in his bunk, Tal couldn't help it as he thought of random and yet troubling thoughts.
The first thought that came to him was really more of a realisation. He was now an Icecarl. He had joined a Clan. Tal didn't just have to prove himself to Milla as he had thought. He had to prove his worth to the whole Clan. Shuddering at the thought, Tal curled up into a ball for extra warmth when he caught sight of his bare ring finger. Taking a breath, he tried not to let his feelings get the better of him. He had given up his ways for a reason. That reason was Milla. She was worth the sacrifice.
"Tal? Are you asleep?"
The voice was unmistakably Milla's. Her tone had a slight wisp of yielding to it, which made Tal consider it. Had she come to give him more instructions? She probably was going to tell him what they would do tomorrow and when they would have to wake. Yet Tal didn't believe so.
"Is the party over already?" Tal asked not turning to look at her.
"Everyone is still enjoying the celebration. The Vitska has made much of the Clan more disorderly. I was looking for you but you managed to disappear," Milla said.
Her voice had grown louder which meant that she had moved closer. Tal felt her take a seat on the bunk. Her legs drew up and Tal turned to find her lying down next to him. This was unusual behaviour for her. Still he didn't face her to find out why.
"Why have you come to find me?" Tal asked trying to understand her motives without looking at her.
"You are my partner," she replied.
"Your partner? Are you talking about the Life Bond?" Tal asked confused.
"No," she replied quickly, "A partner is a companion that you train and live with. This is a type of training that we undertake to teach us that we are part of a whole. We can't survive by on the ice alone," she explained.
"I see…You came to fulfil an obligation," Tal sighed.
"…I came to be with you," she replied.
Tal felt a slight twitch of hope in his chest. Had she finally forgiven him? He dared not believe it. He turned to face her to look into her eyes. He needed to read her. She could not hide the truth in those green depths.
"What are you saying?" Tal asked as he looked deep into her eyes.
The hard warrior had retired for now. Tal could see the maiden was now lying next to him. Despite this, Tal pressed on. He needed to hear her express her feelings. More importantly, Tal knew that she had to come to terms with them. She looked away as Tal kept his penetrating gaze on her. The warrior slowly crept into her eyes. The maiden must have been intimidated.
"I wanted to make sure you had not become drunk," she said with a complicated mix of the warrior and the maiden in her tone.
It seemed that she was trying to defend herself at the same time trying to explain herself. Tal softened his gaze and reached out for her hand. She let him take it reluctantly. they shared a moment before Milla spoke,
"Why do you do always want to hold my hand?" she asked curiously.
"Don't you like it?" he asked moving his thumb over her knuckles.
"It's…it's unnecessary," she replied neither answering or rejecting. She merely stated a fact.
Tal raised her hand to his face. He closed his eyes and relished the warmth.
"The need to hold someone…The need to trust…to confide," Tal said softly "That is why I desire to hold your hand. It is neccessary for me to feel that you feel the same way. Even of you are troubled about the intimacy. I can still feel your desire,"
Milla slipped her hand away gently. She felt the heat rise in her. The same heat that had propelled her to feel for Tal. The same heat that started everything. It was starting to become all to much to handle.
"Enough…Enough for now Tal," she said gently not wanting to offend him after making him explain himself.
Tal nodded and closed his eyes. He could finally feel free to rest now that he knew what she really thought. With Milla next to him, he felt secure. He may have lost his sunstone but he gained something else. It was a fair trade.
Sleep time came and went. Milla and Tal had never slept so well. They both had come to find common ground. Milla faced her worries and resolved to come to grips with her newfound feelings while Tal promised not to push so hard now that he knew for certain where he stood with her.
After waking from their long awaited peaceful slumber, they dressed and Milla took Tal straight to the armoury.
"Now that you are one of us, you must be armed like one of us," Milla said showing Tal various bone carved weapons.
"The Ice is unpredictable. You must always be prepared. The first rule to surviving on the Ice is to have a partner. You protect your partner, your partner protects you," Milla went on. "Since we do not carry sunstones freely like the Chosen do, we must rely on weapons to protect us,"
Milla picked out a small wide sword. The blade curved at the tip and had no visible hand guard. The handle was roughly wrapped with a long thin strip of what looked like selski hide. Milla handed the sword to Tal as if knowing that the weapon would suit him. Tal drew it from its worked hide sheath and found that it was quite balanced. It was much lighter than the longer steel swords he had trained with at the Castle.
"You have trained with a blade," Milla said. It wasn't a question.
"Yes I have. How did you know?" Tal asked sheathing the blunt sword.
"You have held my hand often enough for me to notice the calluses on your palm," she answered.
Tal smiled but stayed silent. Did she just make an attempt at a joke? Surely, it was more of a sarcastic remark.
"What will you use? I noticed that the Crone took away your sword," Tal asked changing the subject.
"I will find something. You should pick out more weapons. Icecarls prefer to use their weapon of choice but we also train in other weapons lest we need to use them,"
Tal browsed the walls of the armoury. Strange and foreign weapons were displayed on hooks fixed into the wall. There were spears of all types stacked into large barrels and axes of all shapes and sizes littered the place. After a moment of choosing, Tal picked out several weapons. He chose a straight sword, a pair of bladed gauntlets, a small hatchet and an odd weapon he didn't recognise. He chose the weapon on a whim because it looked decorative.
Milla had also chosen her arsenal. Her experience with the weapons was clear. Tucked away in her sword belt were several different shaped knives. Apart from a similar looking sword to Tal's machete strapped to her back, Milla also carried a wicked looking double bladed axe. Tal moved back cautiously as she neared him with the large weapon.
"That axe looks familiar," Tal said thinking back to their first fight.
"It is the same one I used when we first fought," Milla confirmed "I thought it would be best for you to train with this weapon and feel what it is like to wield it,"
"I think I'll pass," Tal said nervously as he thought back to the horriying feeling f being under it.
The hatchet he chose looked harmless compared to the double-handed butterfly axe but he would take his chances with the smaller cousin than to train with Milla's intimidating weapon. After picking out a few different spears, Tal and Milla hiked out to the deck and climbed the ladder down to the ice. Icecarls scurried everywhere around the ship. Tal took in the site and found it to be quite homely. There seemed to be a sense of purpose to everyone's actions. There was also a certain flow about the way they carried out their daily duties.
A group of women were chatting loudly and laughing merrily as they sat around a hole in the ice. They were holding the ends of a net that had been cast out into the hole. One of the women occasionaly tossed meat into the hole. Tal wondered what they could have been doing when they reeled up their nets. Luminous bulbous creatures wriggled in the nets. Tal recognised them to be the same luminous creatures floating in the lamps in the hallways of the ship. The group were fishing for glow jellies.
"Where are we going? Aren't we going to help them?" Tal asked as he watched everyone go about their duties.
"We are training today. Our duties will come tomorrow," Milla said.
Milla led Tal to a clearing where strange equipment was set up. A dull echoing thud could be heard as many pairs of Icecarls crossed weapons as they sparred. Across the field of spaced out partners, were large targets where spears were being thrown. A man walked up and down the lines of the spear throwing Icecarls occasionally correcting their technique. Milla clapped her knuckles as they approached. The man returned it.
"So it is the boy's first time to our training field," said the man who Tal recognised as Rallen, Milla's Friga.
"You'll find no use for magic here boy. That is the Crone's domain. I would wager that this pup has yet to hold a real weapon in his hands," Rallen said mockingly.
Tal felt the sting of the insult but didn't say anything. He didn't want to make a fool of himself just yet.
"He's had some training with the sword," Milla said in Tal's defence.
"So you say, Milla, but if he has then why does he need you to speak for him?" Rallen asked in a patronising tone.
Milla fell silent at the hidden reprimand. Clearly, this man had a special relationship with Milla to have such an effect on her.
"He is her Friga…" Tal thought.
"Milla claims that you have some skill with a real blade. Show us your fabled skill boy," Rallen taunted.
Obviously, the man was trying to humiliate him. Tal had expected such behaviour but he kept his head cool and tried to diffuse the situation.
"I don't have a lot of skill as Milla graciously thinks so. Perhaps if I were to train with real weapons I might become as good as you," Tal said attempting flattery.
Rallen smiled in an amused way.
"Perhaps his real skill is with his short blade! He could have only won you over with such a flattering tongue Milla," the man said laughing at Tal's pathetic attempt.
Milla looked away slightly embarrassed however she kept silent. Tal saw that the effect of the reprimand was still binding her to silence. It reminded Tal a little of the relationship with his father. Although Rallen was only her adopted father, Tal could see that she only held her tongue out of respect for him.
"Save your kind words for someone who has ears for it boy. Your words mean nothing to me. You are not an Icecarl in my eyes! You are just part of some master ploy of the Crones. You do not belong here," Rallen said accentuating the last words.
Milla was shaking slightly. Tal could see her hands trembling as she tried hard to restrain herself from speaking out. Before Tal could do so, a hand clasped his shoulder and he turned to find Grim standing by him with a stern look on his face.
"Such heavy and insulting words do not fall easily on my ears," Grim said evenly as he glared at Rallen.
Tal wondered what his adopted father was doing. Had he just come to his defence?
"Do not pretend to defend this selski sprat Grim. He does not mean anything to you either!" Rallen spat.
"He has earned his place among us. Even if he was not my adopted son, I would still stand by his side," Grim said loudly so all could hear.
The Icecarls that were training stopped to watch the confrontation. Before more words could be missed, a crowd gathered to witness the bout. Tal was expecting a slight awkwardness during his first days in the Clan but this was a full on confrontation. All around him were people who gathered with similar feelings of detestation towards him. They obviously were trying to come to grips with the Chosen boy Joining their Clan. Tal knew that this was his only chance to prove to them that he could be one of them. This had to be settled here and now or it would never be resolved.
"I admit I'm not one of you. I do not know your ways but I know loathing when I see it," Tal said so all who gathered could hear him.
"Let us settle this. How can I prove to you that I am worthy to be here?" Tal asked addressing Rallen.
Rallen looked surprised that the boy had addressed him in such a manner. This was not part of his plans to humiliate him.
"What makes you think you can prove anything boy? Our Icecarl ways are not the easy ways of the pampered and spoilt Castle dwellers," Rallen said.
"Are you afraid that Tal would prove you wrong?" Milla said finally speaking up.
Again, Rallen was surprised. He had not planned to find his daughter speaking against him. Things were escalating and unless someone controlled the situation, a fight was going break out.
"Perhaps we can make a wager," Tal said before swords could be gripped tighter.
"A wager? What could you possible have to offer?" Rallen spat.
"I will wager my exile from the Clan," Tal said.
A ripple of discussion went about the crowd as Milla shot him a look. He could see her tension rise.
"I would accept that wager but it is not for you to decide boy. The Crones would forbid such a thing," Rallen said scoffingly "They would also forbid a wager from you," he added quickly as he saw Milla about to protest.
Milla shut her mouth and shook silently. Tal could see the anger in her eyes. The constant put downs from her Friga were forcing her to obey out of respect for him.
"Then I will wager my exile," Grim said surprising everyone.
"You can't!" Tal said rounding on him in surprise.
As much as he was thankful for the gesture, Tal didn't want to involve anyone else.
"You would choose exile for this brat?" Rallen asked unbelievingly.
"I, Grim Forkbeard, wager my banishment from the Far Raider Clan," he said for all to hear.
Another ripple of discussion went around the crowd. Then the crowd started to jeer and whoop their acceptance. The situation had grown into something bigger. It had escalated into a high stakes fight. How had it come to this?