The Healer And The Boneless

Chapter 14

We reached their hidden training site. They had a couple of handmade sacks of people in the distance. Trees with red marks on them and a sack hid in a bark of a tree with all kinds of daggers and axes. Ubbe sat Ivor. "This is where you train? Why not train with everyone else?" I asked,

Ubbe was out of breath from carrying Ivar, "I still don't understand why you brought her," he says turning his body away from me and towards his brothers. "Because I said so, Ubbe. Stop whining and bring me my ax."  Ivar was losing his patience, I stood beside him. "We come here to talk. Privacy." Bjorn said taking out of a bow and arrow from the sack of weapons they have. I don't know why, but I had a feeling I needed to remember where they kept that. For future reference. I made a mental note to it.

"Or to talk Ivar out of doing things," Hvitserk said but a knife was thrown and it had scratched his forhead. One minor mistake and it would have stabbed him right in the eye. We all froze in our spots. Holding our breath, my gaze went to Ivar whose hand stayed in the air after he threw the knife. He too was shocked. "I did not mean to do that." He says, Hvitserk touched his forehead and watched the blood drop from his pointer finger. I walked to him and held my hand out to his forehead. He lowered his self so that his forehead touches the palm of my hand. I healed him and he thanked me.

"We went to England for a settlement and gold. Instead, we stole the saint." Bjorn chuckled to himself and the boys laughed. I felt a dark pitfall on my stomach. I am not a saint. Ivar called me and I stopped dueling on my fear. "Do you trust me?" He asked as he laid an ax across his lap and danced his fingers on the blade.

Did I trust him??? Probably not. But I do know that I'm willing to try, will I get myself killed in the process?? Who knows.

"Yes," I said, "good," he leaned forward with a taunting smile, I returned the look and he seemed taken aback. "Stand in front of that tree." He points ahead to a thick tree in the distance with the red mark and takes the ax with his left hand preparing himself to throw it.

Immediately it had sunk in on me. I played nervously with my hands as I walked to the tree, the fainted red mark and I met eye to eye. My legs were shaking so hard I was certain they would fail me. I turned around. He was focused. The boys stood away from him watching intensely. No one seems scared or as nervous as I was. I know one's things for certain, they need me. Ivar can't kill me. Even if he hit me and scratched me my skin will heal immediately. I fear worse things than Ivar.

He straightens his poster. He pulled the ax behind him, his chest was steady, I closed my eyes.

Instantly I felt the wind move on my right side and the hard hit of the ax hitting the wood. I let go of a breathe I didn't realize I held. I relaxed my shoulders and watched the boys cheer as Ivar and I made eye contact. I smiled. Normally this whole event would have scared me but I was oddly impressed. I want to learn how to throw an ax. I used to think knitting was cool and I always told myself I was going to learn one day, but maybe I'll set that goal aside for today. I walked back feeling light, "Teach me how to do what you did." Ivar raised an eyebrow, "You want to learn?" Bjorn ran to collect the ax. I nodded confidently. "Don't you think that once the world finds out about my abilities that they'll try to capture me?"

Hvitserk looked at Ivar, "she's right." Bjorn hands the ax to Ivar. "Stand in front of me. Listen closely,"
What Hvitserk said seemed to put Ivar in an uneasy state, I followed his orders and held back my excitement.

He laid a hand on my waist and the other on my hand. "You're going to throw it at the peak of your motion," he takes his hands away from my waist and places the handle of the ax on my left hand, "make sure your grip is good," Ubbe chimes in.

"Part your legs slightly, relax your shoulders." I relaxed, "no relax your arms, you're too stiff," he says shaking my shoulders. "Do not put your thumb on the back of the handle, it affects the spinning. Walk forward, loosen your grip on the blade-" I loosened the grip too much and it fell to my side. "Not too loose," he whines. I pick up the blade by the handle, holding it slightly, "walk forward, hold the ax in front of you. Does the blade align with the target?" He asked I lifted the heavy ax up, "I think so," I said, though I was almost sure it wasn't. I couldn't hold the ax correctly.