Part 20 (2/2)
”And this is your reason to hate us. Surely you can see after all these years that we have evolved?” At this statement he looked unconvinced and he just folded his tree trunk arms, making the material on his black t-s.h.i.+rt almost tear with strain.
”Ok I don't buy it...something must have happened to you! You talk about the lengths man will go to in search of power but for what I have seen tonight there must be the same ambitions in your kind, or Draven wouldn't need a prison like that under his friggin' house!” At this I crossed my own arms but I winced as the pain shot down my back thanks to what Demon fingernails had done.
”Remove your top!”
”What!” I replied in horror.
”You need to be healed before he returns.” He stepped towards where I was sitting but I held up one hand to stop him.
”Its fine...looks worse than it is. Anyway, don't change the subject.” I was being foolish I know but I needed to feel the pain to be able to deal with Draven's temper. As though it would give me the anger I needed to challenge him on equal grounds, besides, since the last time that Ragnar had healed me I decided that it should only be left to Draven to touch me this way. Ragnar had clearly done quite enough for me already in the line of Draven's duty.
Ragnar just shrugged his indifferent shoulders before walking back to one side of the door frame to lean upon. This door I couldn't keep my eyes off as I was still waiting for Draven's fury fuelled body to walk through.
”Am I not right? Why need that place if none of your kind craves more power, enough to break the rules and defy Draven?” I continued with my argument but Ragnar seemed unmoved by my observation.
”There will always be those who feel the need to try and control a domination which is not there's to control.”
”You're talking about Draven's domination aren't you, because he is...is King?” It was even harder to say it out loud than in my head. I was still trying to process all that I had seen tonight but to add the day's events as well... then it became a whole new ball game. I had witnessed Draven's rule first hand tonight and I was terrified that I would forever see him in a different light. Would I still see him as Draven my boyfriend or Draven the supernatural King of a secret world?
”There is a big difference in how your world and mine are controlled. Yours has appointed many men as leaders to gain power how they see fit. In my world, we have but one great leader that is a direct blood line to the G.o.ds themselves, both beneath and above. His word is final and undisputed but most of all he does not exist purely to kill all those he cannot conquer because he already conquers all. He has no need to start wars for power like man does. He has fought our wars to protect the balance in which he was born....that is what makes him a great leader, that is the difference.” This was obviously something he was pa.s.sionate about as it was the most animated I had yet seen him get.
”And throughout history do you claim the same circ.u.mstances? Men back then were brutal in their quest for power, killing innocent people with little or no consequence and yet here you are trying to say we still operate with the same methods. Come now, you were a Viking were you not? You must see a difference!” Again he just shrugged his shoulder which made me lose my cool.
”That isn't an answer!”
”I agree the methods of man have changed through the years, yes, but now instead of men to fight your wars, man has created the means to destroy not only their own race but every living thing on a planet. A planet which does not belong solely to them. Which is worse, an army that destroys a country or a single man that can destroy earth by pressing a b.u.t.ton?” Ok so he had a b.l.o.o.d.y good point and one that was getting incredibly difficult to argue.
”You have a lot to learn, especially about our kind but you are smart and strong willed. This will help and is no doubt down to your gifts but it does not mean you are always right, young human.”
”I can imagine you would have sung a very different tune when you were human!” At this his face changed and I could almost see the memories of his human days fill his eyes with sorrow.
”When I was human my views were different, yes, but how I came to what I am now is the reasons they changed. My murder played a big part in that.” I gulped at the word ”Murder” and sadness replaced my frustration.
”What happened to you?” I said in a low voice, full of concern for my unlikely friend. I waited for a facial feature to tell me he was uncomfortable with me asking but there were none. If anything he just leaned back and looked casual on the door frame before starting his first life story as a human.
”My name is Ragnar Lodbrok and I was a Viking warrior who became King of Denmark and a large part of Sweden but it was short lived.”
”Because you were murdered for it?” The look on his face told me I guessed wrong.
”No, I was murdered because I chose a loved one over my throne, over the rule of my people and my need for power.” I was stunned to silence, so he carried on his heart-breaking story.
”Before I became King I had a family. My wife was also a warrior, we call them 's.h.i.+eldmaidens' and that's how I met her. She became injured in battle and when the wounded were rounded up one of my men discovered a woman lay in the dirt dressed like a man. I remembered seeing her fight and her skills on the battle field impressed me enough to save her life, even though she had been fighting against me. Her name was Lathgertha and she bore me five strong sons and an even stronger daughter. She had the beauty of her mother and the wisdom of a great leader.” He closed his eyes briefly, seeing his daughter behind closed lids, I imagined.
”She was my light, so she was rightly named Dalla which means 'brilliance' in my old language, Norse. It was my love for the girl that was to become my end.” I had tears welling up in my eyes and I hoped he couldn't see them from the other end of the room.
”Why, what happened to her?” I whispered my question.
”The English arrived on our lands and found Dalla and her mother by the river. We found the bodies but no s.h.i.+p in sight. My wife and daughter fought with the courage of an army as my wife's body was among the fifteen dead. My daughter was nowhere to be found but after torturing the only survivors, I soon learnt that she had been taken as a gift for an English ruler. The King Aella of Northumbria was to take her into his bed before probably killing her.” I gasped at the thought and Ragnar looking past it, ignoring my sympathy.
”My sons were all around the world on their own conquests and knew nothing of this. So against the better judgement of my advisors, I left my kingdom taking only two Knarr's and set out for your homeland.” Oh great, not only was I human, I was also English, making it a double whammy in the eyes of Ragnar. No wonder he hated me!
I had given up trying to hide my tears as soon as he had mentioned the death of his wife. I could just picture it, the two Viking beauties fighting to save themselves and each other. Back to back, taking them down, one by one they fell, only it was all to be in vain. I wondered how many of them were there and how different this story would have been if they had given up and ran. Would we even be having this conversation? Would he even be here?
”What happened when you got to England?”
”I took my small army and went to rescue my daughter but I was too late. I found her lifeless body strung from a tree outside the gates. She had not met an honourable death by the hands of that tyrant, so in a rage, I ordered my men into a suicide mission and stormed the castle. We did not get far and in my uncontrollable wrath, I had lost my senses. My men died for nothing and I had been captured only to serve an even worse fate.”
”What did they do to you?” I whispered before trying to sniff back yet even more tears.
”The king ordered me to be thrown into a pit of snakes, where they slowly bit me to death. Draven had followed my life with great interest because of my blood line. I am a descendant of Odin, G.o.d of war, and the leader of souls. It was therefore natural for me to take my place by his side. My only request was for my revenge to be carried out by the hands of my sons.”
”And was it?” I knew the answer as soon as I saw the s.a.d.i.s.tic smile creep upon his rough large lips.
”Yes, my sons fulfilled my wish and the wish of the G.o.ds. Aella met his end by the mighty blood eagle.”
”Does that mean he was eaten by birds?” I asked naively but when he laughed I felt embarra.s.sed.
”Well what is it then?”
”I think you have experienced enough horror for one night.”
”I'm a big girl, I think I can handle it!” He rolled his eyes at my stubborn behaviour before giving in.
”Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you! This method of torture and execution is performed by cutting the ribs by the spine before then breaking them. This is so they resemble blood stained wings... and then of course we pull the lungs out before pouring salt into the wounds but usually the victim had died by this point.” He said this so matter of fact that it chilled me to the bone. This just proved that my pig headedness had nearly made me vomit! He must have seen me turn green and proved that even Demons love stating the obvious.
”I told you so.” He said in a very satisfied tone. I gave him a fake smile that I added to a sarcastic look of disapproval.
”No wonder you hate me.” I stated shamefully.
”I didn't ever hate you.” He tilted his head like I had misread everything he had ever said to me.
”But you said...”
”I said I didn't like humans but that was never the reason I didn't want to be your bodyguard.”
”I don't understand, then why?” I shook my head as a natural reaction.
”Do you remember when I said you reminded me of someone?” I nodded and looked down at my feet as my face went red.
”My daughter had the same wilful sprit.” He also looked down to find his own feet and for a moment we shared in the same awkward silence for reasons relating to the same. This was named Dalla.
That was why he found it so hard being near me. I reminded him of the daughter that he had lost in the most awful way you can imagine and now he had to protect me. He was now forced to spend painful time around me. My guilt was unbearable.
”I will speak to Draven.” I was sure once he knew the circ.u.mstances he would relieve Ragnar from his duties concerning me.
”Why would you do that?” he looked confused.
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