Garrick does not have the morning he expected
“The sun is rising”, Cordell remarked unnecessarily.
The length of his sword was stained red by the eery morning light, as though it had already been rammed deep into the body of his enemies.
Garrick could see that the sun was bloody well rising. In fact he was entirely sick of Cordell’s incessant commentary on everything. And as for waving that ruddy sword around everywhere like he was some sort of ancient hero, it was really a bit much.
Garrick had been enjoying an extremely pleasant sleep indeed, free from the terrible nightmares that had haunted him for months on end. His best friend these days was a frothy tankard of ale. A few of these (well perhaps slightly more than a few) and no longer could she scamper through his dreams, tangling her tiny cold fingers in his beard. He was free.
Now he had been wrenched from his warm bed, dragged from the arms of his sleeping wife and made to tramp around in the cold for hours on end, when probably the good Father and the Countess were holed up in some warm corner of the ship, while he had to search about the whole blasted countryside for them.
He stole a quick glance at Radomir, though the sideways movement of his eyes in their sockets caused an intense flash of pain and nausea to ramble through his body.
The man’s craggy face was set in an impenetrable expression, although if one looked closer they could notice the tiny movement just above his massive jaw as he rapidly clenched and unclenched his teeth.
Garrick would never have believed it to be true, a priest! And the Countess who had always seemed to him to stand above them all, unreachable on her pedestal of purity, looking down in vague amusement as they clumsily stumbled through their dirty mortal lives.
He had not noticed anything strange between them, but Cindra with her sharp eyes had remarked that the kiss the Father had given her that night under the mistletoe was anything but pure.
Thinking of Cindra he realised that in fact she had not been sleeping when he left, but sitting in up in bed, her eyes red and bleary. When he had kissed her farewell her face had been warm and clammy, sweaty curls plastered to her forehead. Perhaps she had another nightmare, he mused. She seemed to be sleeping very badly these days. It was probably the baby, it was more restless with each new day, and he knew it would not be long till it came.
And here he was parading about in the early hours of the morning with a thumping head and a churning stomach. He sniffed with irritation.
“Ouch!”, he cried causing Steen to turn to him with an inquiring look on his honest face.
“I have icicles growing inside my nose it’s so damn cold out here!”, he exclaimed in annoyance.
Steen snorted, “Yes me ‘Lord, fer sure it’s bein’ terrible cold out here”.
He winked at Garrick conspiratorially, chuckling softly, “And I must be confessin’ I also have them nasty little bastards bein’ frozen up in this here nose of mine. Tis’ bein’ a most unpleasant experience. Not painful mind yew, but sort of prickly”.
“And my head Goodman, my poor aching head. Had I known we would be prancing about in the wee hours with swords and torches I would not have had so many tankards of ale last night”, he rubbed his head, scrunching his face into a grimace of pain for emphasis.
Steen nodded sagely, an expression suggesting that he was remembering the mornings he had awoken in a similar condition.
“Oh my God!”, they heard Cordell cry out further ahead and both he and Radomir broke into a frantic run.
Garrick’s sword was instantly from its sheath, the cold of weight of it reassuringly in his grip. His tender conditions forgotten he ran forward, his feet pounding into the soft snow beneath.
He saw what had drawn Cordell’s outburst lying up ahead, half sheltered from the snow by the folds of the worker’s tent. They were together, it was as he had expected.
It was strange that they hadn’t chosen a warmer rendezvous spot. It had been a bitterly cold night and Garrick knew from personal experience that there were plenty of hiding places throughout the ships. Cindra and he had explored quite a number of them.
Cordell and Radomir reached the huddled figures first, standing there for a moment. Garrick noticed Cordell’s sword drooping uselessly at his side. Then his addled brain realised how strange it was that the two had not responded to the men’s cries, how strange it was that they had lain there in the snow all through the night.
Radomir gave a strangled sob and fell to his knees beside one of the figures.
Reaching the others Garrick saw that he was crouched beside the unmoving figure of his wife.
Her skin had always been pale, but now it was completely bleached, the only colour leant by the cuts and bruises that covered it. Her soft golden hair was spread about her still-beautiful face. Her arm was entwined with that of the Priest’s whose face was also drained of colour, but there were no visible signs of violence on him. He looked peaceful, his features soft as though he were merely sleeping.
The whole scene was stained a bloody red by the pallid rays of the winter sun, struggling their way through the branches of the dead trees around.
“Oh God… Valeriya… what has he done to you?”, Radomir sobbed between his clenched teeth.
He had grabbed her limp bod, wrenching her arm from Harndall’s and pulling her against him.
Her head lolled away from the large body beside, back towards where Harndall lay and Garrick could see the large, wound on her throat.
“My poor darling… my poor Valeriya. He will pay… he will burn in hell for what he did!”, Radomir was muttering, his face twisted into an ugly grimace as he began to roughly stroke her body with his large clumsy hands.
Suddenly her eyes snapped opened, and she gazed directly up at Garrick in mute horror.
She moaned, recoiling from Radomir’s touch as he began to pull her closer to him.
“She’s alive… thank God she’s alive!”, Radomir cried yanking at her body as she lost conciousness again.
“We have to get her back to Goodwife Cade! She will know what to do. Come on you fool! Don’t just stand there like an idiot. Bring the torch this way!”, he growled to Steen who was standing nearby an expression of shock written across his features.
He pulled Valeriya roughly from the ground wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Didn’t you hear me! Move you imbecile… the Countess needs assistance immediately”, he roared at Steen, clutching tightly at his wife.
She began to whimper, struggling weakly away from his broad chest but he only clasped her to him with more force.
“Don’t worry darling… you’ll be alright. Your Radomir is here now and I will take good care of you. He can’t hurt you anymore. You are mine again now”, he murmured to the shivering girl in his arms.
Garrick had to suppress a shudder staring at the wildly, possessive and disturbingly jubilant look that stole across Radomir’s face.
“I trust you men can take care of his body”, he hissed, gazing with loathing at the forlorn crumpled figure of the priest.
“Come on, let’s go… you walk ahead so I can see where I am putting my feet!”, he ordered Steen and the they trudged off into the snow leaving Garrick and Cordell with the body of Harndall.
Garrick turned back towards Cordell who was still standing above Harndall, staring oddly at the corpse at his feet.
Suddenly he straightened up and shouted, “Garrick! He just moved… he’s alive too! Only his breathing is very shallow, I did not even see it before”.
He fell to his knees beside the priest, gently shaking his shoulders, “Father… Father, can you hear me?”.
There was no response, but Harndall’s hair slid away from his face a little and both men noticed the neat puncture marks in his neck.
“It looks like things aren’t exactly the way they seem here”, Cordell said, once again irritatingly stating the obvious.
He began to carefully put his hands beneath Harndall’s prostrate body.
“Come on Garrick… will you help me lift him?”.
Garrick sighed and bent down, on creaking knees to get a grip on the man’s body. It had definitely not been the morning he had expected.
So the beginning of season 2
Sorry it took so long… I was at Nine Inch Nails again last night otherwise it would have been up then (they have been to Stockholm twice in the last three months… it’s been awesome!!!).
And just a note about the snot icicles thing… for all of those who don’t live in cold places… yes when it gets cold enough your snot actually does freeze. It is so gross. Your nostrils kind of stick together in a spiky way… ugh. So now you know… and knowing is half the battle
.
Gah!! You are so lucky.
And the snot freezing sucks… a lot. Buh.
Oh, right. Sure. Radomir is all ‘concerned’ now. Pah. The vampire chick didn’t do anything you haven’t done, pal. I love how the first reaction is to blame the priest? The priest? Are you serious. No more medieval crack for you, Radomir.
Yes, I know. All characters have many sides, but for his sudden switch and hypocrisy… he gets no sympathy from me, LOL!
OMG Nine Inch Nails!! I saw them like 100 years ago when I was a grunge teen in a big flannel shirt.
I’m so old. So is Trent Reznor, though, so Nah!
I had to laugh at the snot icicles… I was thinking that was something you probably only learned last winter. I remember the wintertime in northeastern Ohio… I don’t know whether it gets as cold there as it does in Stockholm, but I certainly had the experience of snot freezing in the nose on many occasions. And oh, when you get inside and it starts to melt! And you don’t even feel it because your face is so numb!
As for the story… This was totally a season opener. I can’t believe they are alive! I was so convinced Valeriya was dead. I thought Harndall would live, however, just spacing out until the others found them there.
But I think it is a bad sign if they are alive. If it is snot-icicle cold, then they should have frozen to death.
Also, I am getting more Team Radomir every time I see him. That first picture… he is looking good there. And he does love his wife — in his pitiful, selfish, egotistical way. But he does. And he called her darling! And he called himself her Radomir!
It just sucks that she is so obviously in love with Harndall.
But I think we can forget about all of that until we find out what effect this attack has had on the two of them. She did seem to recognize her husband though.
And one final thought I had… could it be that Cindra’s nightmares are coming from the fact that she is carrying Garrick’s baby? It will be interesting to see whether they stop after it’s born. (And if it’s a girl, and it looks like the mysterious dream woman… creeeeepy…)
Yeah they’re alive! I hope Radomir doesn’t hurt her further by manhandling her so. And I hope he is nice to her from here on out. I’m still definitely team Harndall though. Radomir has a lot of redeeming to do.
I wonder if they are vampires now…uh oh…a priest vampire? That’s gotta be conflicting for him!
Poor Garrick looks like he is having a rough time lately. I love how he is just bumbling through the snow complaining of snotcicles.
Oh and I love the first picture. Awesome with his face upturned and the scar. And then the sword glowing red. He looks very noble and like he’s just about to go into battle.
What a great post, I’am so happy that Valeria and Harndall are alive.
Trent Reznor is so hot… there is a man with a very fine nose.
Mao… sorry… your comments keep going into spam for some reason but I am retrieving them so if you don’t see one straight away up it will be up soon.
It is actually not sooo cold in Stockholm. It doesn’t usually get that cold. It’s probably colder in Northern Ohio.
But yeah… the snot thing is so gross. Especially when you come inside and it all just runs out. It brings a new level of tolerance to relationships… “Hi honey I’m home” *big kiss* “ah sorry, I just got snot on your face”.
Both Harndall and Valeriya were lucky… Merila wasn’t finished with Harndall when Valeriya interrupted them, and she didn’t feed as much on Valeriya as she would have because something about her blood made her feel sick.
Tiana… I love that picture too! I think Cordell is really cute in a clean cut, new guy sort of way. He is a bit younger than some of the rest, so still quite keen (He is 22 whereas Garrick is 27 and Radomir is 28). Steen is only 18 though. And actually Eallair is 23 which is maybe why he is having a bit of trouble with the whole ruling thing. Harndall is young too… 22).
Could Valeriya be pregnant? I’m trying to remember whether she has slept with Radomir since she lost her baby. I think they’ve been keeping him away from her, haven’t they?
Ooh I am glad to know everyone’s ages. I did see Garrick as being older than his friends, maybe because his wife is so much younger than he. (Wait, what about Lochan?)
Harndall is only 22? Maybe it’s the Jesus look, but I was thinking in his thirties at least. But being so young, it makes it a little easier to understand his problems. This is kind of his “first assignment”, isn’t it? He hasn’t been tried before. Poor guy.
My main characters are getting well into their forties now. It doesn’t seem so old to me since I am married to a 45-year-old, so I have to remind myself that in 11th century terms they are getting well past their prime. Mel Gibson and other modern actors notwithstanding, many of the big heroes of yore were quite young men, in their early twenties or so. A 45-year-old Sigefrith or a 45-year-old Eallair (or a 45-year-old William Wallace) might not have been able to do what they did.
Valeriya hasn’t slept with Radomir, or anyone else for that matter since before she lost the baby.
Actually I got the ages a little bit wrong, since I realised some of them have aged since they arrived (funny how that happens
. I have put up a page with their ages on it here, because it is going to be a while till I get the family tree thing going.
40s doesn’t seem old at all to me either… I think now about 70-75 is when you start to get old. And I really mean start… I plan on living till 120
. But in those days it was getting pretty old and people would have started to have lots of health problems, especially if they had been out fighting battles… old war wounds start playing up. But that doesn’t mean I think you should start to kill of your characters (please don’t!). Not everything can be totally realistic, otherwise too many of the characters would be dying.
Yeah… poor Harndall. He is in a bit over his head. The other older priests at the monastery who survived, wanted to stay behind and help the people in what is going to be a difficult time for them, under a dictator ruler. They thought Harndall should go (and he wanted to go) because even though he was young, people liked him and felt like they could trust him with their problems (and might I add, they had faith in him). But poor guy, he’s been in a monastery since he was a kid, with no contact with women except for occasionally nuns and now he is thrown into this sort of situation. It’s pretty hard for him.
Thank you for that page with the ages. It was interesting information — and suprising… Hepsie is 17 and already wonderful! Imagine how she’ll be at 30!
But more than anything I loved the pictures. They may be a round-up of pictures from previous chapters, but they were sweet, sweet, sweet all grouped together! Even a last glimpse of Boots. *sniff*
When I made Hepsie and Cindra and made them the same age I thought it would be an interesting contrast. The midwife’s daughter who grew up in poverty and had to work hard every day of her life and the spoilt daddy’s little girl who has been given everything she ever asked for. And I have ended up loving both of them.
It was fun with the pics… sort of a montage of the “first season”