Everything is quiet, and I can faintly hear a ruckus coming from the mead hall, and that is the last thing I hear before falling asleep.
Maybe it was for the better if Frey hadn’t heard my answer...
April 7th, 1001 AD
I awoke the next morning to find I was no longer in the barn that I had fallen asleep in but back in my bed at Noma’s house. The white kitten Frey had given me the night before curled up into a ball at the foot of my bed.
I had been given my own room over time, Noma thinking it was needed as I am now an adult woman. She paid one of the men in the village to make me one about two years ago.
The room is cut off from the rest of the beds, and I at least have furs hanging up in the doorway for some privacy. Though, when it is just me and Noma I spend much of my time with her. I feel I don’t need the furs hanging up between us.
I can’t be sure it will stay that way with the sudden intrusion of men after these last four years of peace. I might want a door to put up instead of the furs I have now.
I sit up slowly, my body feeling heavy, and I rub at my eyes. Before long I hear a crashing noise coming from the other side of my closed off room. It sounds like a pan being thrown or dropped.
I flinch, the sleepiness easing from my body at the loud noise.
I then hear Noma yell, “You damn bastard! Leaving me alone for all this time to run this village while you were out farming and pillaging and having the time of your life! I should choke you! And now you’re complaining of where your shirts are! They’re gone! I gave them all to Ellie for hunting!”
Oh great...Now I’m getting pulled into one of their fights. The person Noma must be fighting with is her husband, Arvid.
I hear Arvid growl before he hisses, “All of them?! Why did you give them to Frey’s little English whore? Those were mine. You made them for me.”
I then hear a slap, the sound echoing in the room and Noma growls back, “Watch your tongue, Arvid! Don’t you dare disrespect her in this house. She has helped me more than you these last four years. And no, I didn’t give them ALL to her. I saved you two. They’re up in the loft.”
Arvid grows silent, and Noma complains, “Ah, there goes everyone’s breakfast. You ruined it. Now you can explain to your cranky sons when they wake up hungry of why I can’t feed them.”
“They’re adults. They aren’t young pups anymore, we do not need to feed them. Leif can go to the mead hall to eat and maybe Frey too. They are capable of finding food. I didn’t tit feed them in England,” Arvid grumbles, seeming to be much tamer after the slap, though his reply was still snarky.
“Don’t you dare start on me about that again. Not another complaint on how I fed the boys for too long from my tits. I can remember the boys weren’t the only ones enjoying the milk,” Noma replies, making me blush at how bold her tongue was.
Arvid remains quiet, probably not daring to speak fearing Noma will spill more secrets from her loose tongue if angered any more.
“Yeah, well I still like breakfast,” I hear Frey complain and walk into the room, the floor creaking. “All we have been doing is hunting on our own and farming for food for far too long. It would be nice to have a break.”
“And Ellie’s isn’t a whore,” I hear Frey grumble, sounding grouchy.
“I can agree with Frey. I’m sick of hunting, and I have missed mother’s cooking for once." I hear Leif also complain, yawning, having probably just woke up from the fight. “And father, who knew you were a tit lover, and also a lover of their milk?”
Frey laughs at the joke, and I hear a smack and grumble coming from Frey.
“Disrespectful boy,” Arvid growls.
“Arvid! What have I told you? Do you want to spend the night in the barn? If not, keep your hands off Frey,” Noma hisses.
So noisy...I should have known when the men came back that everything quiet and peaceful would cease. They are aggravating Noma, I can tell. It's as if I can feel her blood boiling from here.
“You have Runa to cook for you,” Frey grumbles and complains to Leif. “Just go to her down at the mead hall. She will be eager to feed you.”
“Yeah, well about that. Runa is a damn cheater. I don’t want anything cooked by her,” Leif hisses.
“Cheater?” I hear Arvid ask, sounding stunned by Leif’s words.
I stand up from my bed, my feet hitting the floor and I am hesitant to go out, seeing as my name was mentioned not once but twice, but I pull back the furs and step out from within my little room eager to hear what is happening.
Immediately, I see the pot that was thrown, and food is scattered everywhere on the floor. I step over that and once I come out of my room, I feel like I am being watched. Those pair of eyes were no doubt Frey’s.
“She confessed that she slept with one of the men in the village while I was away,” Leif huffs. “And we got into a fight last night about it.”
“Who?” asks Arvid. “Who did she sleep with?”
“The butcher,” Leif replies, sounding bitter. “It was a fling, she said. It only happened once when she was lonely and thought I was dead, so she went and cozied up to the butcher. But I don’t believe her.”
“Adisa?” I ask, stunned. “Runa slept with Adisa?”
Leif glances up at me, and he asks, “Adisa?”
“Oh...I meant Langley. Adisa is his real name,” I correct myself.
I see Frey’s eyes narrow slightly, and he asks while staring at me, “How come you know his real name?”
“I sometimes talk to him,” I reply, my answer seeming vague as I don’t want to mention I have been dealing with him with trade for some time now.
Frey or any one of them might stop me from freeing my friends…Or worse, link Bard’s disappearance with me.
I hear Noma chuckle at the men, and she says, “Langley is quite popular with the ladies here. He’s different. I bought him as a slave, and he always has interesting stories and tales to tell. He is also exotic and well mannered. So, the women often chat with him and like to know his stories.”
Noma’s eyes glance towards Arvid as she says the next part. “And unlike some men, he’s smart.”
“Don’t talk about him anymore. I don’t want to hear anything more about him,” I hear Leif complain as he walks away. “It hurts my pride.”
“I don’t like the sounds of this man,” I hear Frey state, sounding bitter.
“Well, leave him alone,” Noma warns, her eyes narrowing into a glare as she looks at the men. “That goes for all of you. He’s not like us.”
“Then, what is he?” Arvid asks. “A human? A leech?”
‘Leech?’ I think confused.
“Not quite either of those. He has the blood of a wild cat,” Noma answers him.
“Wild cat?” Leif asks, exasperated.
“Yes. And no doubt he is stronger than both of you...Even probably Arvid,” Noma says. “If you want to get hurt, go for it. Mess with him or insult him and see what happens. I once saw him take down two berserks for me with no problem.”
The men get quiet, their pride of being “strong” seeming to be hurt as their own mother and even wife tells them that Adisa could beat them in strength without question.
“Langley...Or as Ellie calls him Adisa, is truly a wild cat.” She chuckles some more, and she grabs my arm and starts dragging me away into the other room and away from the men.
“Well, Ellie and I are going to get ready and go into town. I think we need a break and since you men are home, you three can take over.” She smirks and turns away, and this little break does sound nice... but there are still the events of yesterday I should be worried about.
I wonder if Margaret ever got to tell Adisa?
As I walk side by side with Noma, the village seems livelier since the warriors have returned. They have also brought back multiple crops and fruits, as well as money, jewelry, and gold.
From what I hear from the talkative villagers doing trade this morning, they only suffered the
loss of two warriors.
They were men who I didn’t know, and during one of the fights with the Saxons, they had simply vanished and were thought dead by their comrades.
The families of these two men were distraught and cried when they hadn’t returned. One of them was a mother of a child four years of age. She had found out she was pregnant right after his departure and gave birth to a son.
She is the only one not around in the village. I have seen her face from time to time and her child’s face.
As Noma roams the village looking at what to buy for tonight’s dinner, I spot Adisa who is in his usual spot.
With Noma temporarily distracted by different kinds of meat, I wander over to Adisa’s table, and his eyes lift to me briefly before going back to chopping meat.
I clear my throat before I ask, “So are you still doing trade with that man?”
“He never came this morning,” Adisa replies.
He then says, “I hear you never found him from your friend. And that he is missing.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, my fists clenched tightly.
His eyes wander back to me before he asks, “Are you looking to buy, Miss Ellie? I don’t see anything for you to trade today.”
“No, I just came to speak with you,” I reply. “And to warn you.”
“Warn me?” he questions, his eyebrows knitting as he stops working.
“Yes, that Leif, one of the chieftain’s sons, has found out about your affair with Runa,” I state.
Adisa chuckles before he says, “Oh, has he?”
“So, it’s true?” I ask him, not really believing it.
“Yes, Miss Ellie. It is true,” he confesses. “She was warm and invited me to her bed. And as you know it, this winter was a cold one. Where I come from, snow does not exist.”
“Do you love her?” I ask him next, not really sure why I am asking such a private question.
“No,” he replies, losing the grin. “I don’t care for the people here. It is only a primal instinct that surfaced between man and woman. It is not love.”
“Oh, I see,” I mutter. “I don’t mean to pry about your personal life. I don’t know why I asked, really,” I say awkwardly, glancing away.
I see Adisa stare at me before he asks, being blunt, “Do you like me, Miss Ellie?”
I feel my cheeks heat up almost immediately, and I reply, “No...I mean as a friend, yes.”
“Friend?” he questions, his hand slipping from the knife, and he leans forward towards me a little, his eyes growing lighter with the sun shining on them.
“Does your husband know we have become...friends?” he asks in a hushed whisper, leaning more forward, his breath against my ear sending shivers down my spine.
“Yes. But he isn’t really my husband,” I mutter in reply.
“He isn’t?” he asks next, leaning back, and I’m not certain why he had grown so close to me.
He grins slightly, and he says, “He sure looks it to me.”
“What?” I question, confused, and he then points with a clawed fingernail behind me.
I turn around hesitantly to see Frey and Leif a few feet behind me. Leif has a look of disgust, and Frey has his lip curled.
Oh...fuck.
Not seconds later, I see Frey, the taller of the brothers, come walking towards me and Leif following shortly behind him.
Adisa only grins, seeming to like the trouble he has caused.
How could he be grinning with two angry wolves leering at him and ready to rip his belly open?
Once Frey gets closer, he snarls, slamming his hands down on the table. “Do you think you can flirt with her so openly in front of me and have nothing happen to you? You’re lucky I don’t gut you.”
Adisa still grins, and he replies, “Why would you be so angry with me? She just told me you aren’t lovers. So, therefore, she is without a husband. She’s a free woman.”
“She bares my mark on her neck.” Frey growls in irritation, his nails lengthening and scraping the wood.
“It’s just a mark. I can place a mark on anything and call it mine,” Adisa provokes further. “In my culture, we only bite a woman to try and tame her, not put a claim on her.”
His eyes shift from Frey to Leif, and I can see Leif’s normally happy-go-lucky face is twisted in a scowl. “I bit that fat woman working at the mead hall to tame her. I believe it worked.”
‘What was he thinking?!’ I think my heart stops in my chest, afraid for him because of the two angry wolf brothers.
I see Leif’s eyes change almost immediately and he goes to lunge over the table separating them, but Adisa is quick and moves out of the way and comes out from within his shop. Leif crashes into the wall and he shakes his head but immediately stands, showing his teeth to the man.
“What…I just called her fat?” Adisa says, purposely provoking the already mad blonde, and I somehow can still feel Frey’s anger directed at me as well. “It’s not a bad thing. Just means she is wealthy...quite wealthy.”
“You know that isn’t why I am angry,” Leif growls, stalking towards Adisa after getting up from his foolish move, but this time with Frey as a backup.
One brother goes to the other side trying to corner Adisa.
“Oh, is it because she invited me to her bed to help keep her warm?” Adisa questions, walking backward, not seeming to be worried about the two men he is provoking.
He has no fear, but every step he takes seems planned, the muscles rippling under his skin, his eyes seeing every detail and his mind calculating everything in seconds and reading their actions simultaneously. The treading of his feet are fluid and graceful like barn cats. He is no doubt like them and nothing like a wolf.
I also notice other things…There is no fight of weaponry, but this is a battle nonetheless, and one between skilled warriors.
However, I never knew of Adisa’s history or skills of battle, but I now know he is well experienced watching him. Or perhaps it is his beast giving him these skills.
“Well, she was doing all the warming. I suppose you already know that, don’t you?”
Leif begins to change without question, and I watch this being the first time I saw one of the brothers change in front of me.
His face begins to change, bones start to crack, and his flesh parts and the seams revealing fur. Just like Bard looked when he was beginning to change. I get a quick flashback, my heart racing, and my stomach twisting.
But unlike Bard, he gets to change fully, and he rips off his flesh, chunks landing on the ground and just like that his wolf appears with a fine layer of blood and slime on his gray and black speckled coat. His change is quick, much quicker than Bard or the other boy Frey had killed.
Adisa grins before he runs off and Leif growls and immediately takes off after him, running past Noma who also holds a look of bewilderment at what is happening.
Seeing Leif tells me his wolf was like Frey’s, however their coats are what set them apart. Leif is just as frightening as Frey, but the brothers are on a whole different level than Bard and that young man Frey had killed.
I don’t think much of Frey’s wolf but thinking back to when I shot him with arrows, I didn’t comprehend how large he is…I had made him smaller in my mind, but remembering now, he is just as big as Leif, if not bigger.
Leif is massive and fearsome, his body the size of farm horses, and his wrinkled muzzle reveals teeth the size of small daggers.
Bard was definitely a lot smaller than Leif yet Bard would have been just as deadly as Leif to me.
Frey was careful that day when I was a child not to show his teeth or scare me but seeing Leif now…
I hear Noma call out before following after the men, dropping the basket in her arms, her tone full of worry, “Leif!”
Frey goes to follow, and I can tell from his anger it won’t be long until he too changes into a wolf.
“Frey!” I hiss, walking up to him and trying to grab his arm, “Don’t get involved.”
; “Why shouldn’t I get involved?” he hisses and looks down at me trying to remove my hand from his arm.
His eyes are bright and wild, not to mention predatory. “He was flirting with you right in front of my eyes.”
“SO what!” I hiss.
“You’re my mate,” he hisses back. “I marked you the day I brought you home.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, just like Adisa said!!” I hiss. “We aren’t husband and wife and never will be! I hate you!” I scream at him, becoming frustrated.
A mark did not tie my fate to his.
His eyes are wide, and he stops tugging at my arm. He holds a look of uncertainty at first, and then there is silence.
“I see, lass,” is all he says. “So that is your answer.”
He looks away, and I let go of his arm, the wild look from before disappearing and a calm washes over him.
The words that left my mouth, I did not mean. Everything was just happening all at once. I don’t truly hate Frey...our relationship is just odd, but I know I don’t love him.
So maybe this was for the better?
He gives me one last look before he says, “Then, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” I ask him, my body trembling for some reason.
“For bringing you here. Everything,” he states, his tone snappish. “I should have left you where you belonged. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“Then, why did you?” I snap at him, scowling.
“I already told you why,” he snaps back. “But I should have just left you there to waste in England. I should have known you’d never fit in here and I should have known I would traumatize you into hating me and everything else!”
He then begins to storm off, and his words somehow sting my heart. My throat tightens, and I start to feel lightheaded.
Then all of a sudden, we hear a crash coming from the woods and a deep sounding roar like nothing I have heard before. It even turns Frey’s head and stops him from walking any further.
That roar doesn’t sound very good, and I start walking towards it before running to see what is happening with Leif and Adisa. Also, Noma who followed shortly after.
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