Chapter 16

Rika moaned and moved slightly. Then she coughed several times and cried out so that those watching knew she was injured. Finn spoke to her again and this time she opened her eyes and saw him. She managed to say his name between coughs.

"We'll get you home, love," Finn told her. He wanted his mother, the healer, to be able to help her to recover.

She nodded slightly and as her coughing fit stopped, she seemed to drift off into sleep. The men in the party set to work making something on which they could put her and carry her. Nels had a leather bag of carpenter tools and did much of the work of fashioning the thing they needed. When it was ready, they carefully lifted the girl onto it. Although it was all made of branches bound together, it was like a stretcher of canvas. With one man at each end, it was not difficult to carry Rika.

She was not the only one who needed to be transported. The old dog Snort was lame after his long walk in the woods and the men soon realized the dog might not be able to keep up with the search party. Nels, also carrying his bag of tools, lifted the dog into his arms and carried him for a while. Dogs liked Nels and this one gave the big man a lick on his face, making him laugh. Unlike some people, dogs never made fun of the big red-head, and he appreciated that.

When the group reached the village, more people gathered around, looking and asking questions. Rika was taken inside Esther's house and the process of caring for her began. Finn stayed until his mother chased him out of the house because he was in the way. Ayanna joined her, while Grace took Rebekah to the other end of the long house.

Rika did not wake up again by nightfall, which worried Finn. What if she never woke up again? What if she developed the lung condition from inhaling river water? What if her internal injuries were life-threatening? She could die! Of course, she could have drowned in the river but had not. For this Finn was thankful.

When the boys brought the animals back from the meadow, they were concerned for the ill woman too.

"Is she going to die?" Kol worriedly asked Finn. Niklaus, who was standing nearby, said nothing, but he listened for the answer.

"Mother is doing all she can. You know she has healing powers," Finn said.

"Is Mother going to make us some supper?" the boy asked. He was always ready to eat.

"You won't starve," Finn growled. "Go check on old Snort. He got all worn out from searching for Rika."

Kol showed as much concern for Snort as he did for Rika. He left to go to the house of the family who kept the dog. Niklaus remained, keeping his brother company.

"Mother can make her well," he said in a serious tone.

"I believe that too," Finn told the boy. "Was everything alright with the animals?"

"They're all fine. Finn, does the werewolf trait give Rika more strength to get well?"

"I'm not sure about that. The wolves are strong and heal quickly, but Rika has never changed into one."

"Why do the women never change? I mean, except for Lady Greta."

"The women don't want to change, Niklaus. Nobody wants them to go through the transformation."

"Because it hurts?"

"More than that. Because they can't have children afterward."

"Why not?"

"The transformation is violent and very disfiguring. If a woman is expecting a child, she will lose it. Since the full moon comes every month, clouds or not, the woman never has a chance to grow a baby in her body. So, the solution is for her never to cause anyone's death so she will never turn."

"Oh. So, a female warrior like Lady Greta will never have a baby, even if she gets married."

"Some have a child or two before putting themselves in a position to have to kill. Or not unless she figures out a way not to turn for the necessary number of moons."

"Is that possible?"

"Who knows?" Finn shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't concerned about that. The questions annoyed him until he realized that Niklaus was trying to distract him from worry about Rika.

"Are you and Rika going to have children?"

"We're planning on it. I like the idea of having children."

"You'd be a better father than our father," Niklaus said, making a face of displeasure.

"I certainly hope so. I don't believe in beating the children for any little thing. I know he picks on you mercilessly sometimes, but he also was pretty mean to me and Elijah from time to time when we were younger. He'd get angry and lash out at one of us if we didn't meet his standards. Sometimes we didn't know what those standards were."

"He doesn't treat you and Elijah like that now. Or almost never."

"I know. He's got you to beat on, I guess."

"That's not fair!"

"No, it isn't. He'll probably smack me around now for marrying Rika."

"You're as big as he is. You can hit him back."

"It's not that easy to do, Niklaus. He is my father, after all. And he's an important man in this community. I have to show him respect."

"He's not the leader here," the brother pointed out.

"I know, but he is one of the lesser leaders. And he is the leader of our family." A man called Dane One-ear was the overall leader of the settlement, but he had men like Mikael to keep order. Dane One-ear was a battle-scarred old man now. He had children and grandchildren in the community, none of whom carried any werewolf trait.

"I don't know why it is so important for us to be trained warriors," Niklaus said. "We're farmers and hunters. Our only enemies are the native people and most of the time they stay away from us."

"It's tradition, Niklaus. We are Norsemen. Ours is a Viking heritage. We should know how to fight. In Europe we would also be traders and raiders. We would capture people to be slaves."

"Or wives like Mother." Niklaus knew many of the stories told by the older folks who had been adults before starting the journey that had landed them in this place.

"Mother says she fell in love with Father after she was captured. Maybe he was nicer to her than he usually is."

After a short while, Finn could go no longer without finding out how things were with his young wife. He entered the house and found his mother sitting beside Rika's bed.

"How is she doing?" he asked, guessing that whatever spell she and Bennett's Wife had been casting was finished.

"I think she is better to some degree. I don't mean she is all healed. She isn't, but she has more strength now. And I believe we have healed her lung wound. She was also bleeding somewhere in her belly and we think that has stopped. Let's allow her to sleep."

"Thank you, Mother," Finn said with relief. He kissed her cheek. He then sat beside his wife, holding one of her hands and watching her with love.

A/N I know this is not a popular story, so I thank each of you who have been reading it. I was never a fan of Finn, but I thought he deserved a story. There will probably be only a couple more chapters.