Void Bound Saga

THWACK!

The hard metal of the swords hilt, hit him in the face, hard, sending him to the floor and a cascade of blood to run down into his mouth. “Arrggh!” The young boy wheezed, the air viciously escaping his lungs, spitting out the iron tasting blood he looked up at his attacker. A grizzled bearded man towered above him, decorated with many of his own hard won scars. He looked disapprovingly down at the boy before him, “By Odin’s beard Bryn, if you want to come on a raid with me and your brothers, you WILL learn to be tough.” Blinking away the threat of tears the boy, Bryn, sprang up and readied his own small axe, wiping away at the blood still running down his face. “Yes, father... can we try again?” A gentle breeze from the sea ruffled the man's beard enough to show a small smile. “Now that’s better boy, another round before your mother skins me for keeping you from your bed.” Bryn beamed at his father's words and they began to fight once more in the warm light of dusk.

A loud screeching was his only warning before the mass landed on him, ensuring that Bryn wasn’t returning to his fond memories anytime soon. Blinking away sleep he focused on what had just awoken him, pale blue eyes peered up at Bryn from under a mass of unkempt brown hair, that framed a dirt coloured face seemingly too dark for his eyes. “Morning Hadi.” Bryn smiled at the boy ruffling his hair, as the boy made himself at home on top of the wolf’s fur blanket. “Afternoon and papa said to get you up to help with chores, because mama’s teaching us to fight bears!” Hadi said excitedly, illustrating his last words with a childlike bear impression. Brynjar smiled at the boy before shifting back under the soft and inviting covers, “Well then I don’t think there’s anything for me to do, so back to sleep.” This panicked Hadi who pulled at the man’s arm while Bryn continued pretending to be asleep. “Come on uncle Bryn, papa said that if you didn’t do chores then mama couldn’t teach us to fight bears!” The boy struggled to grab hold of the much larger man's arm. Hadi sat back on his haunches in defeat, when suddenly his uncle's arm stirred, if only to put him into a headlock. “You’re going to have to be quicker than that if you want to fight bears.” Brynjar chuckled at the boys meager attempts to get free before letting him go, “Now off with you, find your mama and learn to fight bears boy.” Hadi hopped down from the bed and raced through the door, reappearing a second later to make sure his uncle really was getting up from bed, before once again vanishing in search of his mama and adventure.