Merciful || Ivar the Boneless

e i g h t

 10 years ago:

“Ragnar, we need to hide in front of the thunder that is coming.”

“How do you know there is a thunder coming?” Ragnar raised his eyebrows watching Floki.

“Don’t you hear Thor screaming? He will be soon beating his hammer,” Floki chuckled.

The two men went through a big field straight towards a small house right behind that field, in the middle of nowhere. They were walking two days and even though they were quite young, they needed some rest.

As Floki said, it started to rain. Not just a light raining, it was a heavy rain pouring from the sky. “I told you so,” Floki yelled at Ragnar, laughing like crazy. Ragnar just shook his head smiling, following Floki.

“Should we knock?” Floki asked Ragnar. He just shrugged his shoulders. Floki did. “Who is it?” a voice of a little child came from inside. Both men exchanged looks. Ragnar was smiling because he loved children.

“My name is Floki, and I am here with Ragnar,” Floki said loudly, so the kid inside would hear him. “I am not supposed to talk to strangers!”

“Good girl,” Ragnar smiled. “You know our names, so we are not strangers anymore, are we?” Floki asked. He didn’t get an answer, instead, the door opened a little. A small girl with two braids was looking at them. “What is your name?” Ragnar kneeled in front of her, so he would be as tall as her.

“Eira,” she answered with a smile. “Where are your parents Eira?”

“They went hunting, but haven’t returned yet,” she looked worried.

“Well, we can go look after them,” Ragnar told her watching her face changing from little worried to excited. “Yes please!” she immediately answered with a few tones higher voice. Ragnar just nodded and stood up. He grabbed Floki by his shoulder, “we have a job to do,” he told him and Floki just shrugged his shoulders. They didn’t have to go very far because they heard a scream.

They ran in that direction and found a man sitting on the ground, soaking wet and growling, not trying to scream out of agony. The scream was coming out of a tiny woman kneeling in front of the man, trying to figure out how to help him. Ragnar with Floki ran to them. When they were closer, they noticed the man’s leg was trapped in an animal trap.

“Please, can you help my husband?” the tiny woman asked right away. “I don’t need a help,” he hissed between his teeth, too proud to admit he actually needed one. “Don’t listen to him, he is just too stubborn.” Ragnar grabbed the trap and with all his strength he opened it. Floki helped the man to get up. When he was standing on his own, Floki grabbed him under his left arm, Ragnar did the same on the right. The tiny woman was right behind them.

“We live not far from here,” she told them. Ragnar and Floki knew it would sound strange if they said they have already been there and met their little daughter. Ragnar just nodded, holding the man’s weight.

“Mommy, daddy!” Eira was smiling at them. Floki and Ragnar put the man down so his wife could treat him. “Who are you?” the man asked them and looked them up and down. “My name is Ragnar, and this is Floki.”

“I am Gunnar, and this is my wife, Hertha.”

* * * * *

Eira woke up, her eyes wide open. Her heart was beating fast, yet she was quite calm, smiling. She remembered. Floki was the man who saved her father.