Chapter 2 I become a Warrior

The impact of our blades caused my arms to shake. Calder fought with his usual ax, and I, my sword. His swings are well aimed and unpredictable, but I wasn't backing down. 

For four miserable years, I've been training with Calder. Being his only female student, he loved to humiliate me in front of the others. He was the kind of jerk who thought women didn't belong on the battlefield. If it wasn't for Bjarni, he would have refused to train me. He was stuck with me, but he made the best of it by beating me up every chance he got. 

As big as a bacraut as he was, he was the best fighter in the clan. My abilities are tied to a sword or a bow, but Calder could fight with anything. Swords, axes, spears, arrows, you name it. Give him a handful of pebbles and he could whip up a deadly slingshot. Putting that much power and skill against a frightened 12-year-old wasn't exactly fair. But I wasn't a frightened anymore, and it's about time he knew that. 

I block a swing from his ax with my sword, and kick him in the chest plate. His dark eyes widen in surprise as he stumbles back. But the evil storm in them returns as he charges me. I duck beneath his swing and cut into the side of his leather armor. He grunts as he feels the trickle of blood on his side. His eyes burn as me as he catches his breath. 

The rest of the Warriors in the field have stopped dueling to watch us. No one in their lifetime has beaten Calder before. Their interested eyes don't bother me. I want them to see what I can do. 

Calder raises his ax and charges me again. He is not the burliest warrior, but he makes up for that in agility. The perfect balance of strength, speed, and brains. 

Instead of ducking I brace myself for impact. He aims the blade of his ax right at my neck, not caring at all if he kills me. I put my full body behind my sword as it hits his ax. The impact makes my teeth chatter. I whirl around and nail him in the face with my bony elbow. He howls in anger, holding a hand over his broken nose. I take the opportunity to rip the ax from his hand. The point of my blade goes to his throat. 

Calder slowly removes the hand form his face. His nose looks slightly crooked, and I hide my smile. That face was too handsome to belong to such a cruel man anyway. The field goes quiet except for the chirps of birds in the distance. We both breath heavily as we eye each other. His blonde hair sticks against his forehead from sweet. Dirt scratches his perfect face. He glances nervously at the other warriors who watch us with his jaw clenched. He knows he is defeated, and he hates it. 

"Congratulations, Princess." He growls at me. I hated that nickname, so of course, he called me that all the time. He used the word "princess" to suggest my weakness. Jokes on him, because this princess is holding a sword to his throat. 

He reached into his pocket for a golden medallion on a string. He continues to glare at me as he puts the medallion around the blade of my sword. I feel the weight of the gold as it slides down the  blade to the hilt. I pull back my sword and examine it. The circular pendant was pure gold. Intricate designs rimmed the edges. In the setter was our clan badge;  a wolf's head. Beneath that was an arrow pointed up. I recognized it as the ruin of Tyr, god of battle.  

"You've earned it." Calder says through clenched teeth. I smile, and hold the medallion high in the air. The drengr around us cheer as I walk through them. I was the first out of all of them to earn this medallion, even though I was the youngest. And a women. 

As I walked home, I peaked over the edge of the fjord. A salty ocean breeze greets me. The land across the water rises in sharp, green and grey peaks. The water is a calm, dark blue. Below, I can see our docks and ships, with men bustling around on them, bringing in today's fish. Our clan settles at the top of the fjord, overlooking where the river meets the ocean. 

My house is a short walk from the training fields. It is a typical house, low to the ground with grasses growing on the roof, making in blend in to the surrounding land. Dark wood and stones formed the walls of the house. As I got closer, I noticed smoke rising from the chimney, and breathed in the delicious smell of my mom's cooking. 

To the side out the house was a smaller building, where our weapons and farming tools were hung neatly up on the walls. The house was surrounded by multiple fenced in pens holding sheep, pigs, a cow, and our three horses. The animals were out in the fields, grazing. At night, we bring them into a stable attached to the back of the house. 

I opened the wooden door, and see my mother sitting with Uncle Bjarni at the table as dinner cooks. 

"Ah! The drengr returns!" Bjarni smiles at me. 

"You'll never guess what happened today." I say, leaning my sword against the wall. I pull of the pendant and set in on the table between mother and Bjarni.

"Odin's eye! Is it really?" Bjarni picks up the medal and runs his giant thumb across it. "Oh, what I would pay to see the look on Calder's face!" He laughs, and stands up to hug me. 

Mother picks up the gold in her hands. "Oh, Eira. You father would be proud of you." 

"I know, I know."

 It was hard at first, without father. I was still a little too young to help mother around the farm. She was a great farmer, but it was still hard being alone. Bjarni kept us as much company as his duties as Chieftain would allow. He didn't try to replace father, but he helped us whenever we needed. That was all we could ask for. Now that I'm older, I am able to help out more with farming, and bring in food from hunts. Above everything else, now, I could protect us. 

"Keep this fighting up. Perhaps one day I'll send you on a quest." Bjarni smiles. Mother's eyes widen in horror. 

"You aren't serious!" She glares at him. 

Bjarni shrugs. "She's a strong young girl, she could handle it." I nod eagerly in agreement. Mother is about to protest, but she glances towards the kitchen, and get ups to get the food before it burns. 

She comes out with a whole chicken roasted over the fire, with sides of onions and beans from her garden. We all grab plates, and take our seats around the table. 

"So is this all you're here for?" I say after swallowing a piece of meat. "Eating our food?" 

Bjarni finishes chewing before finishing. "Your mother's cooking is irresistible. But I have come for another purpose."  He wipes his greasy hand on his pants. Mother frowns at his table manners. "Your mother has reported your cow missing." 

I think back to when I walked home. I had seen the cow paddock, but I don't recall seeing the cow. 

"Do you have any idea what happened to it?" I look from Mother to Bjarni. 

Bjarni's beard drops to a frown. "Stolen. By the direction of the footprints,  it was the Skalaviks, no doubt."

Fury boils inside me. Our clan was always at odds with the Skalaviks. They were a much larger clan, but had poor farming grounds and fishing spots. Whenever they ran out of supplies, we were the first one's to be hurt by their desperation. 

"Are you going to send Flotnar?" Flotnar  was the name of our sea faring warriors. Of course, the south new them by a different name; Vikings.

Bjarni shakes his head. "Right now is not the time to start a fight. This season has been poor. We have to focus on stocking our supplies." Deep lines wrinkle Bjarni's face. I hated seeing the toll leadership took on him. 

"Eira." Mother is looking at my intently with her eyes. "Don't do anything rash. Bjarni will take care of it."

"Since when have I every done anything rash?" I grin. Mother shakes her head at me. She knows me too well. 

After eating, I walk down the hill to the water side cottages. They fished instead of farmed, so the houses were closer together. There was a ledge just big enough to fit about ten huts comfortably. Behind them, the land sloped steeply for a few more feet into the water. Of the side of the ledge, the land sloped more gently, leading to the docks. The sound of water brushing against the rocks calmed me as I knocked on one of the cottage doors. 

I only waited a moment for the door to open. A young girl my age with curly red hair greeted me. 

"Get your brother and horses." I say to her. A smirk stretches on my face. "We're going for a walk."