The Healer And The Boneless

Chapter 9

"I am so sorry, I can try to heal him but I know it won't work," I said sobbing with tears and stepped further away from Ivar as far as possible. 

"Stop your crying. I think I know someone who can help you with your gift." She gives me a soft smile. My tears and heaving chest has calmed down. I felt my insides go soft. She has a motherly smile and I can't remember anyone giving me that smile before. "I will give you a week to learn how to use your powers otherwise, I am going to execute you to the Gods, maybe they'll teach you how to use your powers," He says with a sarcastic smile. Lagatha turns around and tells Ivar to leave me alone. "I am sure you were busy with another task." She firmly nods her head before turning her head back to Ivar.  When I stepped outside, Eria stood there talking to another girl. I was desperate to have someone hold me. I rushed up to her but I immediately regretted it when her friends scattered far away from us. Isolating us. I didn't want people to start to ignore her the same way they ignore me. "Nevermind." and I walked away from her. I can hear her start to follow me. "No, wait what happened?" I hear her call out to me and I only walk forward. "Nia!"  She calls. Please stop. You don't want to be near me. 

She yanked my hand hard and forced me to face her. "Go away!" I yelled. I lied. 

Please don't go away. 

She doesn't let go. She doesn't let go of the grip of my hand. She pulls me into her chest and wraps her arm around my back firmly. My head dug into the safe place of her neck. I sunk in. I sobbed like never before. I let everything flow out of me like a cup of water overflowing with water, I spilled over her.  We sunk into the ground together. "You have to be strong, Nia." She whispers. My grip on the back of her dress tightens and I only cry harder. I don't want to be told to be stronger. I already knew I had to be strong. "Just h-hold me." 

"Okay, okay. I am here it's okay." She coos and gently rocks me. I cried until I had no tears left. I looked up and she smiles. "Now, your eyes are going to get sick." 

I couldn't force a smile. "You have to bathe. Tonight we have a sacrifice for the Gods." I get up and help Eria. "Ivar has mentioned it," I said. "Great! you have to dress in white. Do you have a dress? A white one." She says and links her arm with mine. "I have nothing,"  she frowns. "It's okay, you can borrow one of mine. It might be a little big on you but its better than nothing."

She brings me to her cottage and it smelled like flowers, like the smell after rain, like fresh grounds, new beginnings, and hope. I sat on her bed and I felt like a ghost as I watched her draw the bath. "I don't know what Ivar told you. I don't know if you want to talk about it now or tomorrow or in a week from today. I just want you to know you can trust me." I wanted to tell her but even moving a single muscle in my head tired me. I'm just glad she was here with me. The comforts she brings me feels like what I imagined love feels like, or what I prayed it would feel like.  She tests the water inside the bath and then walks over to me to hand me the white dress. "Your bath is ready, I'm going to get you tea for your sick stomach." She says and marches towards the door. 

"I don't feel sick," I said, she turned around and gave me a look that minutes ago would have made my stomach nervous but, now it only makes me numb."Trust me. You'll feel it."  She slips out into the daylight and closes the door. I am left alone again. I stripped off from my old clothe and stepped into the bath. 

it is not hot enough. 

Still, I was grateful for the bath, for the dress,  for Eria. I sank under the water until it engulfed me. I held my breathe until it burned, and when I couldn't take it anymore more I reached for air. I came out of the bath and dried myself before putting the dress on. Eria was right, it was big on me. I shrugged my shoulders and waited for her to walk in. 

When she came back she got dressed and she fixed my hair into a braid styled like Lagertha. She had the tea close to the fireplace. I smelled the tea and it made me sick. When night finally came the whole village walked to the middle. A shirtless boy was saying his prayers while kneeling down. Everyone surrounds him. Eria and I were the last ones to arrive. 

On either side of the boy were two tall wooden towers, lit at the top. Eria held my hand. "I have a tendency of running away," I say suddenly say. "Well, when you feel like running away just hold my hand tighter." In the distance, I can see Ivar being carried  over like a King, his face painted white and a sinister smile on his face. Bjorn and Ubbe tie the boy's hands to the towers. Like when they crucified Jesus, except he was on his knees. Ivar stands behind the boy with the help of Hitverserk. "This is what happens when you betray me in the middle of a battlefield!" He screams and finds me in the crowd with ease. "Or if you lie." he laughs. Eria eyes me with concern but I only look forward as if it wasn't to me to who he was talking to.  He grabs the knife and hoovers it over the blazing fire, reality sunk in and immediately I wanted to throw up my own organ. I grabbed Eria hands and held it tight. 

Ivar cuts the men back in half, and the boy screams with agony. The sound of skin being cut open made my ears cringe. Then he digs his fingers into his back and pulls the skin off. Ubbe hands him the hax, Ivar ferociously starts to take out his organs, he tears out his lung and tosses inches away from me. Blood spatters on the bottom half of the dress and I close my eyes. It was getting hard to breathe. 

"MAKE HER LOOK!" He yells so harshly  I opened my own eyes and looked at him in the eyes. He was unrecognizable.  He rips out the boys rip cage, so it looked like bloody wings when the moonlight hit. Then the rope connecting him to the two towers were lifted along with him. And there he hung. Blood dripped all over the dirt and Ivar showered in it. He licked some of the excesses off his hand. I looked away and Ivar called for me to kneel under the hanged body. Lagrtha appeared again and told Ivar I have seen enough. Eria and I took that chance to walk back to her warm cottage. I sat on her bed and I felt all colors leave my body. Eria walks over to the fire and pours the tea for me and her. She looked too well put together after what we just witnessed and it stunned me. She hands me the warm cup. "How do you look so... Like if all of this was normal or okay." I said baffled and kind of angry. I didn't mean to sound it. 

She shrugged her shoulders and took a long sip. "I don't know, I've seen this a lot more than you have I guess. People tend to grow used of things.. even horrible ones." She points at my cup and tells me to drink. 

"I know you're too stunned to drink or think or feel right now, Nia. Trust me that drink is to help you deal with it tomorrow morning." I shrugged and choked down the drink. It tasted bitter and it made me want to spit it out, but I forced myself to endure it. 

"Why did Ivar say that you were lying." I didn't want to answer. I just wanted to fade away. I don't remember crawling under the covers or when I fell asleep, I just let the darkness consume me again. 

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Thank you for reading! Please make sure to like, comment, and share!! It would mean the world to me and Nia :)

you're the light

ps. tell me what you think so far...