When Ivar meets a girl with flaming red hair and eyes that cannot see, he begins to wonder how a sightless girl can see so much beauty in the world... And in him.
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Ailbe could feel the thoughts racing through her mind as she tried to sleep. She could hear her mother scream as her arm was harshly tugged but she couldn't see what was happening or who was there. The streets were filled with cries and pleas for mercy as her pregnant mother tried to protect the weeping baby in her arms. Ailbe pushed her younger sibling behind her, but she could hear them all sobbing. Why?
Then she heard it. That deafening sound that permeated the surroundings. She didn't have to see to know what had happened. Her father was dead. The Saxons had killed him.
Every night it was the same dream since it happened five years before. She could sense it all vividly, and for once she was glad that she could not see. But before she could be thankful, more dreadful memories of that day would flood back to her.
"Mother-"
"Don't." Her mother rasped, her voice full of tears and harshness. "Don't start with me Ailbe."
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know if you needed my help." She sniffed back her own tears, trying to offer her mother a sympathetic smile but failing awfully.
"Do you know when I could have used help?" Her mother raised her voice into a yell that made the gentle teen flinch. "When Saxons were murdering your father!"
"Mother-" She tried again.
But this time, her mother was quick to respond with fury in her heart. "You're not my daughter! No daughter of mine would be so weak! Look at you, you couldn't lead. The truth is, I should've left you out for the wolves when you were born."
Though she knew her mother was consumed by grief, the words still bled her like a blade. She'd heard people whisper the same thing many times, but hearing it from the woman she loved most in the world made her heart sink to the floor. Her hand clutched the open wound on her stomach as she began to sob, running to leave the room.
That very day, a sword had cut a scar into her stomach that would remind her of that day for the rest of her life. She'd earned it by protecting her sisters. And though she feared she may pass out from the pain and loss of blood, she couldn't stop herself from running for her life.
That was the first time in her life that she ever felt truly alone, and the first time that she considered whether or not they were all right. Sometimes she wished she'd never been born at all.
Though it was still dark, Ailbe rose from bed and dressed herself, wrapping a thick cloak around her shoulders to shield herself from the cold.
She hated those dreams, the ones that haunted her sleep. They tormented her every night.
Slowly, she made her way outside, sitting in the gentle night breeze and enjoying the cool air. The silence was blissful and the briskness even more so.
