Fear and Love

024

MYSTIC FALLS,
1000 A.D

From the door of his small hut, Finn Mikaelson watched his daughter, Kenna, as she gathered some flowers into a basket. He smiled as she happily kneeled down in the grass, not paying attention to anyone else. Finn adored his daughter more than anything, she was a bright light in his sad life.

When he looked at her he was reminded of his older sister, Freya. The two were very much alike in the way they acted. When Kenna was younger she always held a certain mischievous look in her eyes, much like Freya once had or a look he had seen frequently in his younger brother, Kol.

Finn frowned slightly when he thought about Freya, he vividly remembered the day his sister was taken from him and how their own mother had barely even tried to stop her from being taken. He had been lucky that he had been able to keep his daughter for sixteen years. Deep down he knew there was only so much he could do to hold off the curse that his own mother had been responsible for. She was the first born of the generation and with that came the same curse that took Freya from him.

"Kenna," Finn called out to his daughter, "go help your grandmother prepare the food please."

"Yes father," Kenna replied, smiling brightly as she stood up and happily skipped off towards her grandmother's home.

Kenna's mother, Finn's wife, had died when Kenna was born leaving Kenna and her father behind. Since it was only the two of them, they would often join Esther, Mikael and the others to eat.

The whole family adored Kenna, her happy personality could put a smile on all of their faces, even her grandfather's. While Mikael was often cruel to most of his children, he absolutely adored Kenna and would do almost anything for her.

It seemed the only one that did not like her was Erik, her Aunt Aria's husband. No one really knew why Erik was so hateful towards the young girl but it wasn't much of a shock. He seemed to despise all of his wife's family.

As Kenna approaches her grandmother's hut she sees Esther sitting outside. "Kenna," Esther said to her granddaughter with a smile. "Would you get that basket for me?"

Kenna nodded and grabbed the basket, following her grandmother inside the hut. She sets the basket down as Esther looks at her over her shoulder.

"If you're going to practice magic then you need to be more careful," Esther said to Kenna. The young girl gulps, averting her eyes and looking to the ground. "I saw you earlier. You are fortunate that it was not Erik who saw you."

Kenna nodded in understanding as she moved to begin helping her grandmother prepare the food for later. It was common knowledge that Erik hated magic and, as the earl of the village, he was within his rights to execute anyone found to be practicing magic.

Erik's hatred for magic forced the witches of the area to practice in secret. Ayanna was one of the most powerful witches in the village and had to pretend that she was simply the village healer in order to escape detection. Most of the witches were careful and rarely got caught, even the reckless Kol was a lot more careful with his magic.

By the time the family had eaten the sun was just setting so Kenna decided to head down to the river. She kneeled down by the river, looking around to ensure that she was alone before she waved her hand over a patch of dead flowers. She smiled as they sprung back to life before her eyes.

As she spent time practicing she failed to notice that she was being watched. Behind her in the trees, two witches watched the girl doing magic. The older, dark haired witch smirked as she watched Kenna levitate a stone over the water. She nodded at the blonde witch behind her and the blonde took a deep breath before walking back towards the village, tears threatening to fall as the older witch began mumbling a spell behind her.

The blonde witch reached the almost empty village and headed straight for Erik's house. She took a deep breath as she approached the hateful Earl and as she spoke to him, she forced the tears away when she told him that she had seen Kenna doing magic.

If she had another choice she would take it, but she couldn't do anything else.

Erik was overjoyed at what he had heard and only days later he had Kenna arrested and sentenced to death.

"Aria cannot change his mind," Finn said to his daughter, his tears falling freely down his face. "He will execute you at dusk."

Kenna closed her eyes for a second, she knew that she was not walking away from this alive from the beginning and had accepted her fate. "Nothing was going to change his mind," Kenna said with a sad smile. "There is nothing you can do now," she added as she reached out for her father's hand, gripping it tightly. "I love you, father," she said as more tears fell down her father's face.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

Erik Godwinson was a hateful man. He believed that all witches were evil and as a result he would not allow Kenna a swift death. But he would allow her one chance, a chance to die with dignity.

According to viking customs: if an individual died with dignity, meaning they did not cry nor did they need to be retrained, then they could enter the gates of Valhalla.

Erik would allow Kenna a chance to prove that she was worthy but it would not be as simple as kneeling before a swinging sword. For this crime, only the worst death would suffice.

The Blood Eagle. One of the most painful deaths one could suffer.

When done correctly it could last for hours and the whole time Kenna would not be allowed to scream, cry or beg otherwise she would never enter the gates of Valhalla.

When dusk came around, Kenna was escorted out of her cell and her fate was declared in front of the whole village. Her restraints were removed and she willingly walked the torch lined path to the platform at the end.

She stared confidently into Erik's eyes as she stepped onto the platform. Taking a breath she turned to face the crowd in front of the platform. Her family were at the back of the crowd, watching on as Kenna prepared for her death. Their emotions were clear on their faces.

Looking around one more time she kneeled on the platform in between two standing wooden poles. She placed both of her wrists in the grooves on top of the wooden poles in order to keep herself steady.

She breathed calmly as she felt Erik step up behind her and so it began.

He smiled cruelly as he ripped open the back of her dress, baring the skin of her back all the way down to her waist.

His cruel smile would haunt her family, the smile he wore as he sliced open Kenna's back, pulling the skin from her flesh.

She bit her tongue as Erik used an axe to detach her ribs from her spine, ripping them open. Blood slipped from her mouth as he lifted her lungs from her body and flipped them over her shoulders like the folded wings of a great eagle.

During the whole process she didn't scream nor did she cry. She calmly waited for it to be over. When she finally felt herself fading, she could not feel a thing. As she felt herself going, she looked up one last time to see her distraught family. She gave them one last smile before she closed her eyes and took her last breath.