Voyage Of Destiny

They walked for more than an hour. The contractions were becoming more frequent and she wanted to scream each time, but she restrained herself and uttered only a suffocated lament, so as not to frighten her husband. But he felt how much she suffered, because her hand squeezed his arm so hard. The force of her grip matched the pain she was feeling. Until she finally let go.

"It’s time, take me inside," she said, breathless.

Great Eagle entrusted her to the expert hands of his mother-in-law and the aunt. They lay her down on the soft bed as her mother explained how to breathe to relieve the pain a little. But the pain became more and more intense and excruxiating, her breathing increasingly labored. The two women helped her get onto her knees, she was soaking with sweat and at the height of the pain she arched her back and let out a cry that was heard throughout the camp. Then everything was over in an instant. The baby was born. When she saw her small creature, the labor seemed like a distant memory to her, all the pain had already been forgotten.

After the umbilical cord had been cut, they gave her another root-based infusion which the Natives called the "root of birth", because it stopped the bleeding caused by childbirth. While Forest Flower took small sips, the two women took care of the newborn girl.

They washed the baby and the little body was rubbed with aromatic herbs and greased with a mixture of fat and red clay. They wrapped her in soft skins and laid her in the crib. The umbilical cord was entrusted to the grandmother, who wrapped it in sage leaves, placed it carefully in a small leather bag decorated with natural pigments and hung it on the outside of the cradle. This amulet would accompany her throughout her life and beyond.

At the moment of her birth a falcon flew across the camp and, kissed by the sun, it looked as if it were golden. The newborn’s first wail was joined by a long powerful howl coming from the sacred rocks that stood not far away, behind them. Great Eagle and the rest of the tribe watched its flight as it went towards another figure standing there motionless, looking in their direction: it was a wolf. When the falcon reached him, they both disappeared beyond the rocks.

The Shaman prophesied:

"This falcon has flown beyond the confines of our mountains. Towards that wolf, the pioneer, the free spirit of nature intact and wild... " the man stopped suddenly, Morning Dew had come out with the news of the birth.

"You can go in and meet your daughter!" the woman announced. Great Eagle entered the hut, he was excited and the sight of that little creature filled his heart with such great joy that it gushed from his eyes too. He waited for the women to go out, then took the little girl in his arms and told his wife about the flight of that falcon at the moment of her birth.

"I think Great Spirit has suggested her name to you, Golden Falcon is perfect for the daughter of a great chief," Forest Flower approved.

"Let the Great Spirit’s will be done!" he said satisfied. He knelt down next to his wife and handed the little girl to her so that she could suckle her. As he stood there watching his daughter's first meal he thought there could be nothing more wonderful than the sight of a mother breastfeeding her child.

Four days after Golden Falcon's birth, the naming ceremony was organized. No-one knew it yet. Forest Flower sprinkled the baby’s face with sacred white cornflour, then wrapped her in the most beautiful blanket and together with Great Eagle took her outside for the first time to present her to the rising sun and to the tribe. The birth of a child was always welcomed with great joy, as the most precious of gifts. A child did not belong only to its family, but to the whole tribe.

At dawn that morning Great Eagle spoke.

"Great Spirit sent his messenger who crossed our camp in flight." He took the little girl in his hands and raised her to heaven, proclaiming her name.

"Her name is Golden Falcon. Great Spirit gives this daughter the qualities of the falcon, so that she may grow courageous and strong, generous and selfless."

The blows of the drums echoed in the air, and the Shaman sang a sacred song with the entire tribe adding their voices, and accompanying the words with the sacred dance.

1 Chapter 3

Eight winters after Ulfr's birth, in addition to his blood sister Isgred, a new member of the family was added: Thorald, of the same age, who was the son of Harald, Jarl of the nearby village of Oseberg (t/n The earl/jarl is usually seen as a chieftain of a particular territory – souce: Wikipedia).

There had been a very strong bond between the two clans for generations. Following the loss of his wife Sigrid, who had died along with their second child during its birth, Harald was a shattered man. He decided to entrust the education and training of his only son to the family of his great friend King Olaf and his wife Herja, for a few years.

The couple looked at their friend worried. Harald was a handsome man in his 30s, but the pain of the terrible loss was visible in his face, which was strained and tired and made him look much older. Olaf rested a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Be strong, my friend! Don't worry about Thorald, he'll be fine here, we'll take care of everything," he tried to hearten him.

"I'm sure of it!" affirmed the man, in a tone of voice that did not reveal the despondency that, instead, he was feeling. Harald looked at his son, sitting by his side, his head bent and his eyes fixed on his little hands. Harald’s heart skipped a beat and he stroked his hair. The child raised his head and looked up at his father, clenching his young lips so as not to cry.

Herja took two receptacles made from natural cow horns and decorated with engravings and gold plating. She filled them with mead and handed them to the two men, then turned to Thorald.

"Come on!" she urged him, with the sweetness of a mother, holding out her hand, "Ulfr is waiting for you."

The child turned to the father who nodded his head. "It's going to be alright," he reassured him, forcing himself to appear serene. Thorald took Herja's hand and they crossed the room together, but before leaving, the child turned to his father again and smiled at him, as if to reassure him in turn.

Olaf waited until they had gone out and then raised his horn, imitated by Harald.

"Let's drink! To the memory of Sigrid and all our ancestors," he proposed to his friend.

"Drekka Minni!" they toasted in unison, emptying the horn in one gulp. Olaf ran the back of his hand over his mustache. "Now you have to think about getting over this moment; you could leave for a long journey," he suggested.

"I’ve thought about it. If Thorald had been older, I would have taken him with me."

"We can do this instead; you’ll travel and do some trading for me too, while I’ll take care of raising him to be educated, healthy and strong," Olaf proposed.

"My friend, you have never let me down!" declared Harald, as the two men exchanged glances full of deep affection and mutual respect.

"I'm sure you'd do the same for me!" Olaf asserted, without the slightest doubt, putting the palm of his right hand towards him in a gesture that his friend reciprocated.

Harald traveled for many years, and spent many of them wintering away from home.

For the two children, education and training began immediately. They were taught about laws, history, woodworking and ironworking, and learned all the secrets of metallurgy. They learned to familiarize themselves with weapons, and practised several disciplines on a daily basis.

In the long evenings of the freezing Norwegian winter, the whole family gathered together in the warmth of the domestic hearth. While the women weaved and the men carved wood, the family and clan history was handed down to the children though the tales of the elders, along with the principles, values and code of honor that a good Viking should never break.

Ulfr and Thorald grew up healthy and strong, they studied and trained together, and a strong bond of affection was created between the two. Like their fathers before them, they became sworn brothers, according to an ancient magical rite.

Winter was over, the Viking ships sailed the Scandinavian waters, and the Vikings who had wintered away from home finally returned to their families. To everyone's surprise, Harald returned that spring too.

It was the ninth summer for the two little Vikings, around the middle of April, when they consecrated their fraternity. That day, it was their first training with the bow and everything had been set up outside, at the back of the house from where the panorama of the whole property could be seen.

"Put your left leg forward, it will help you take a better aim and get more power," suggested Bjorn, the best archer of the clan. The two children positioned themselves as suggested, holding the bow with the arrow ready, and pulled the string as hard as they could, squinting their eyes to focus on the target they had to hit. Two straw-filled sacks were used as puppets, with the target painted at heart height.

"Now!" Bjorn ordered.

The two small archers shot their first dart and a disappointed expression was painted on their faces as they followed the flight, a long way off the target.

"For Odin's good eye!" a man’s voice swore. All eyes turned in that direction as Leif, a big red-haired man, came out of the bushes with a dead goat, pierced by the arrows.

Bjorn looked at Olaf and Harald astonished. "They killed it dead at the first shot!" he said in disbelief. The children’s proud and satisfied expression aroused a feeling of fondness and amusement in the men. "What was this goat doing outside the stable?" asked Olaf as he pulled the arrows from the poor beast.

"She had run away and I was trying to get her back to the others," the man explained.

"You were lucky, it could have been you instead of the goat," Harald remarked.

"You’re right!" exclaimed Leif, opening his gray eyes wide. "The arrows hit her as I was grabbing her," he added, looking at the two children, who gave him a half-smile of apology.

"I survived a thousand battles in my youth and I certainly don’t want to go to Valhalla at the hands of two children!" he exclaimed in an ironic tone, "And I'm not sure the Valkyries would let me in... Dead chasing a goat!" he concluded joking, making everyone laugh.

"My good friend, when you make your entrance into Valhalla it will surely be worthy of the great Viking you have been! Now take her to the cook, and tell her to prepare it for dinner," Olaf said with a laugh. Leif agreed, bowing his head in a sign of respect before setting off towards the kitchen.

"Now focus on the target... " the archer called the children to attention, "because when you fight an enemy you will not win it by slaughtering the cattle."

"You have to admit that the first arrow of their life is a good omen for the future," Harald declared, in a tone between smug and amused.