Chapter 25

Hey guys here is chapter 25! Thanks once again for all the great reviews! I've been dealing with a lack of motivation and I appreciate your patience. Please review and let me know what you think! I'd really appreciate it. :)

Freyja's POV:

I rolled over on my sleeping mat for what felt like the millionth time that night, simply being unable to get Agnarr and I's kiss out of my head.

His lips had been very soft. I grinned to myself.

I sat up and threw the covers off me, tiptoeing past Helga out onto the back porch. The sky shimmered with a thousand tiny stars, and my mind wandered to England. I'd wondered what the villagers thought of my disappearance. They obviously had discovered Father's body by now, and hopefully given him a decent burial, but were any of them still wondering about me? Or had the daily hum drum of their lives once again captured their attention. I had never had many friends there, except for the village priest, who was always kind to me, but he had passed away shortly before the raid.

I wondered if they were looking down on me from the Lord's kingdom, praying for my protection and well-being. I heard the door squeak and turned to see Kai ambling towards me. He sat down beside me and rested his head upon my lap.

I stroked his ears, smiling to myself as I leaned back against the wall of the house.

"Can you believe it Kai? In less than a month I'm going to be married to a chieftain, a pagan chieftain."

It wasn't that I didn't respect Agnarr's beliefs, but I wished, as I had many times before, that I could freely share my own with him without having to fear for my safety.

I decided to put the topic from my mind, further thinking on the subject would only irritate me more.

I turned my thoughts to my wedding dress. I had been driving Helga mad for the past two weeks with my indecision. I don't know, it's just that none of them had felt...right.

I wished Magni would be there, and there it went my thoughts turned once again onto a subject that I was trying to lock away. I wanted so desperately to see him, but now I feared I would never get the chance. Plus, I would probably never be able to convince Agnarr to take me. The Northmen held strong suspicions about the woods, believing it to be inhabited by all sort of mythical dangerous creatures. They even believed that those who had been exiled to this forbidden place, eventually became one of the creatures themselves. They even often referred to exiles not by a human name, but instead they simply called them wolves. As a Christian, I held none of the Northmen's superstitions, but it was very likely that the forest held less of the mythological dangers such as wolves and bandits, not to mention I hardly knew my way around it or where Magni would be located.

I shook my head and tried to put such thoughts from my drowsy mind and headed back to bed with Kai following closely behind me.

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The next morning I awoke to the sunlight streaming in through the cracks in the wood and sank more into the covers, not quite ready to get up yet.

"Freyja!" Helga sang.

"Time to get up!"

I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over my head.

All of sudden the fabric was yanked away from me and I was hit with the cool early morning air. I weakly attempted to reach for it back, but Helga had already dragged it out of my reach.

"Get your clothes on! Get ready! Breakfast is on the table!" I sat up and stretched, still having no idea how Helga could be this cheery, this early in the morning.

Kai nudged me good morning and I scratched his ears before getting to my feet.

"Helga what has gotten into you" I yawned, still trying to wake up. It was two weeks until my wedding and I felt the closer and closer the day came, the more and mote hyperactive Helga got. You'd think it was her own wedding instead of mine.

I knew she was only excited for me but I found myself stepping outside the house more and more simply because I needed a break from all her energy.

"Come, you simply have to see what Agnarr brought you."

She quickly took my hand while I was in the middle of a yawn and pulled me towards the front of the house.

There on a chair, lay the most beautiful dress I had ever set eyes upon.

It was of a deep emerald color which had shimmering tiny round and white ornaments hanging from the hem running around the waist.

"It was his Mother's. He hoped you'd wear it to the ceremony since you remind him so much of her."

"Really?"

"Yes, you're quite similar in many ways, brave, curious, and even perhaps a little foolhardy." She winked with a grin as she said the last part.

I thought back to the incident of the wolves and the sheep, how I'd risked my life, charging into the fight armed only with a stick and without so much as a plan.

I admit it wasn't the brightest of moves but, in my defense there hadn't exactly been time to stand around, tapping my foot, and pondering the best course of action.

I decided not to answer Helga's comment, and instead gently plucked up the dress from where it lay.

I held it up to myself, quickly discovering that it was way too large.

Helga seemed to guess my thoughts and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. We can shorten it and pin it up in places so it'll fit."

I nodded, only half-listening to her as I continued gaze at the dress.

I had no idea Agnarr had thought me similar to his mother, and if he did why didn't he say anything earlier?

I made a mental note to ask him about it later today, he had invited Helga and I to have dinner with him and Bryn.

I handed the dress over to Helga and she sat down one of the benches and began looking the fabric over to see what parts needed to be fixed.

"Helga, I'm going out. I'll be back later."

"Very well" she muttered, without looking up.

I slipped out the door into the sunlight and hurried down the street. I halted when I came to the edge of the woods where I had last seen Magni.

I took a deep breath. If I didn't try to find him now, I never would.

"The Lord ia my shepherd. I shall not want. Heleads me to lie in green pastures. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, your rod and your staff the comfort me..." I chanted to myself as I stepped into the woods.

As I continued a little farther on, I saw a bright red apple sitting in the middle of a pile of a leaves.

"Hmmm that's strange" I said. As I reached for it there Whoop! Whoop! sound. I screamed as I was suddenly snapped up into a net, where I was now hanging at least ten, fifteen feet off the ground.

"Oh...brilliant!" I snapped sarcastically to no one in particular.

I fumbled around, trying to reach for a sharp branch nearby that would probably do the trick. As I stretched and stretched my arm out, groaning with the strain of the reach, I suddenly heard a twig snap.

I looked around the silent forest, spotting nothing. I shrugged, perhaps it was simply a small animal passing through the bush, and resumed my attempt to snag the branch.

Then suddenly I heard it again, and this time it was closer, I knew it was. I strained my eyes as I peered deeper into the forest.

"Hello? Is someone there?" I called.

No answer.

Another snap.

"Whose there?!" I called out again, fear and panick beginning to rise in my chest. What if it was a bear or worse, bandits?

Suddenly, a wolf materialized from the bushes. No, wait, it was a wolf...person? The figure was short, probably a child, and carried a wooden stick with a nasty-looking metal spearhead on the end. The body was human up until the wolf face and the irrational side of me began to wonder weather the rumours really were true, that the exiles really did turn into other creatures. I shook off my fears, there had to be a logical explanation.

"Who are you?" a voice came from inside what I'd discerned to be only a mask. A very human voice I might add.

"I'm sorry to trouble you and I mean you no harm. I'm only looking for a friend of mine."

The figure removed the mask and the face of a boy about nine or ten gazed back at me. His face was covered in dirt and his clothes had several stitched up patches in them, giving evidence that he probably couldn't afford to wear anything else.

His eyes probed mine curiously, as if searching for weather or not I might be trustworthy. When he seemed to have come to a conclusion, he climbed the tree the net was hanging from, and began to saw at the rope with a dagger.

"No wait, wait!" I called out, but it was too late. The rope snapped and I went tumbling to the ground, landing on the dirt with a loud thud.

I groaned as I pulled myself up, pretty sure I'd bruised my tailbone.

The boy climbed down from the tree and continued to gaze at me, tilting his head inquisitively as if he didn't quite know what to make of me. He was about average height for an adolescent and rather thin with messy dark hair and blue eyes.

After a few tense moments, I felt I had to break the silence.

"My name is Freyja. What's your's?" I stretched out my hand and gave him a reassuring smile. After a few more hesitant moments, he took a step forward, shaking it lightly and leaving some dirt on my hands, though I didn't mind.

"Wulf (Wolf)" he grunted, standing taller at the mention of hia name, as if he was proud of it. Wolf, an unsurprising name I guess since he lived in the woods away from the Karls.

"Can you help me Wulf? I'm looking for a friend. His name is Magni, Magni Olafursson."

Wulf thought a moment before replying.

"I don't help Karls. You're kind are the reason we're banished here." He picked up his spear to ward me off, it's razor sharp edge pointed in my direction.

"We?"

"Me, my Father and the rest of the bandits. We're forced to fend for ourselves out here, some days we have nothing to eat at all."

"I'm sorry Wulf, but believe me when I say I'm not like them."

He scoffed.

"You're all the same. You, that wretched chieftain, all of you, you don't care about anything but yourselves!"

I was shocked at hearing such hatred and anger coming from one so young.

"Now leave this forest or else my Father will hear of it."

He came closer to me with the spear. I saw there was no point in resisting, even if he was just a child I had a feeling he'd make good on his threat if I didn't leave soon.

I put my hands up.

"Alright, I'll leave." He escorted me back to the edge of the woods and once I had stepped out into the fields, I was given one last heated glare before he scampered away and disappeared into the woods.

I spent a few moments looking after him before shaking my head and heading back towards Helga's.