Chapter 15—RUM ISLAND

Lyra was lying down in her hut, while the other did their chores. She could only imagine that they were either hunting. Gathering food from the nearby wood. Or even water from the waterfall that one of them had found the other day; her on other hand. She felt the need to do nothing, only to eat drink when the others tell her to do so.

Tears wanted to make their way out of her eyes while her eyes fixed to the roof. She felt no energy to move or even to think. Lyra just did not want to feel, for she had done her fair share of building the structures that needed to be added on. Her muscles ached from not being used in that sort of way before. Nor had she ever imagined such work to be done by one’s own power.

During the right hours of the last few nights. She would lay awake, hearing the wind outside her hut and imagining it be a different kind of wind. She pictured it to belong to two massive wings huge enough to carry a large mass across the sky. Each night: she would rush out to meet the cold dark night. Only to find nothing but the emptiness that has started to settle within her being. It has started to eat at her very soul. She had only been married for a short time, and she was starting to go mad.

Lyra had read stories about women staying at home. Waiting for their husbands to come back from the war that the women had known nothing about. She never had imagined that she would feel the same way. The stories that she had read had been about the Civil War for the United States of America. She had never read about the feelings that the women had gone through. Sure, they were brave by staying home and fighting for their family land. That they were trying to contain. But never knowing how they felt about the man that they had seen off.

Lyra had never been known to be an emotional person, even from the time that she had once lived. For that reason, she had wondered if she was pregnant. Then a thought had occurred to her. Normally women would not know that they were with child until they were close to their third month. Which caused her to calm down.

She remembered from her school days of learning that the classes that she had taken. The teachers informed that in normal standards that it takes more than one time for a child to be made. She had hoped that it was the case. She was just not ready to become a mother yet and hoped that the father would be there when there was a baby to be known.

Without much thought of time passing. Carriage had walked into Lyra’s hut and found her still lying on her bed. She had hardly moved since the last time that he had seen her.

The Druid sighed heavily; he was worried about her. “You need to come out and enjoy the nice clear day that we are having. You never know when the rain would come and take away the sun.”

Lyra grumbled but knew that the older man was right. It had been raining for many days before that day, and she should enjoy what sunshine that was given to them. She pushed herself into a sitting position and faced the Druid with Carriage’s help.

She was able to make her way out of her hut and walked around the little home that the group of five had built. Along with a hut to store food and another hut for Hai and Hahn to share with one another.

Lyra’s hut was a bit bigger than the others. Because they had decided that they would use it as a gathering place; to cook and meet with one another. But also, for Lyra, Celeste, and Carriage to sleep in.

Once she had found a place to sit upon a log. She noticed that Carriage had stopped walked with her. When he had found some herbs growing nearby and started harvesting them. She had also noticed that Hai was fishing from their private lagoon area.

Lyra then glanced around and saw no sign of Hahn from where she was sitting. She then glanced towards her right and saw Celeste had just sat down next to her, with a thing of wood for a fire.

“Where is her husband?” asked Lyra, her head pointing towards the water area.

Celeste turned her head towards the other woman. “He’s off looking for game. He should be back before nightfall.” She looked around for a moment. “Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking about taking a swim.” Lyra then added softly, “Without the eyes of another man around.”

Celeste giggled softly. “Don’t worry, milady.” She gave a thoughtful look before going on, “I shall come with you.” Celeste had gotten upon her feet and grabbed a cooking pot. “I need to get some water for the meal.”

Lyra gave a small nod before getting up as well. Together, the two women walked towards the water where they met up with Hai, who was still hard at her fishing. She left Celeste and Hai where they were at and made way further down the beach.

She had walked about a few hundred yards where she had found a place with some boulders that would act as a shield from any eyes. Once there, Lyra took off her dress, the same one that she wore from leaving the village, and laid it upon a rock before making her way into the water.

She found an area that the depth was enough for her to be able to sit and have the water to reach her neck. At first, the water made Lyra very cold until her body was able to adjust to a comfort level of enjoyment. She leaned back; her head dipping into the water, causing her feet to stick out. She gave out a satisfying sigh. It was the first time in days that Lyra allowed herself to truly relax.

She reached under her with one hand, digging her fingers into the water covered sand. Anchoring herself to the spot that she was hovering. Lyra’s fear was to drift away from where she was and could not have that it was better to be where you know to be at.

Her eyes closed, with her body surrounded by water and the sun’s heat kissing her body, as it moved across the sky. Lyra’s mind was drifting away, from all the darkened thoughts that plagued her earlier. She also noticed that the sea felt great upon her sore muscles that she used for building the huts.

The waves that had come to shore, rolled back towards the sea, had hit Lyra’s back. It was hitting her back in ways that no message was able to do for her. Another sigh had escaped her dusty rose-colored lips. Her body became more relaxed than ever before.

Time seemed to pass, for Lyra had lost track of time when a darkened shadow seemed to have hovered over her body. She had barely moved from the spot that she anchored herself to. Her eyes still closed, but she felt the sun upon her exposed skin and the cool surrounding sea. She had no clue as of what the mysterious shadow to be; other than a cloud that blocking part of the sun for the time being.

An hour seemed to pass to Lyra when a big sounding splash. It then was followed by some bigger waves hitting the young woman. She sat up in a flash, with her butt upon the sand-covered floor. She turned her head around, hoping to catch sight of what disturbed her time of peace.

Lyra turned her head right, then left, she even looked behind her but saw nothing. After her experience with the loch. She really did not want to face another legendary monster. ‘Now that I think about it. What are the other stories that the age of old, had talked about?’ Her breathing became erratic. Trying to find the source of the big slash.

After a long while of looking around. Lyra noticed a shadow within the water, moving from side to side in front of her. She was starting to have a bad feeling within her stomach, telling her to make it for shore.

Lyra turned around. To where her belly was touching the sand and started using her hands and knees to crawl towards land. She was trying to move slow enough to where there were very few ripples being caused by her movements. Even though she felt that something was making its way towards her, she had tried to ignore the being.

Without warning. Lyra was grabbed by her ankle and being dragged back towards the sea. By a big figure, her fingers were being raked through the sand. Doing little to prevent the presentation of movement. She could not help it. She screamed for which the sound was being carried through the curvy landscape.

What surprised her the most was a deep sounding laugh that had answered her troubles. Causing Lyra to freeze up, the owner of the laugh turned Lyra around to face the man. Once she was able to see him clearly, she held her breath for she could not believe who she saw.

“Hello, wife. Happy to see me?” asked the voice that laughed at her.

“Varg,” gasped Lyra. She could not believe her eyes. “I thought you were still at war?”

Varg gave her a hungry looking glance as he gave her once over, a smirk upon his weathered lips. “It’s over,” he declared. With his hands risen high, he went to say, “I have ended the war and have come to take you home with me.” From the look that Lyra could see from his eyes, he wanted to do more than take her back to his village. Varg then looked around. “Why are you out her, all by yourself?”

Lyra sighed happily as she wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck, bringing her nose to touch his collarbone. She wanted to hold him and for him to hold her. “I wanted a bath,” she answered simply with a blush upon her cheeks.

Varg Drake laughed even more than he had before, causing Lyra’s whole body to shake. “I guess I’m joining you.”

He kissed her lips. Something that he wanted to do for many days while he was walking through the rough landscape. His hands found her hips and grasped them. Making sure that she really was there with him and that it was not a mere dream. Her scent found its way into his nose.

He could never pinpoint it; it was a mixture of things. One moment he thought it was roses, another lavender, other times something else altogether. His ears were filled with the sweetest sound of music that he had ever imagined. They were the sounds of his wife’s moans, gasps, and sighs from his touches and the kisses that he was giving her.

“When did you last eaten,” his baritone voice asked. He noticed that she had not been eating much since he had left; he saw that she had even lost a bit of weight.

Lyra pushed herself away from him, only enough to be able to see his face. “This morning.” She turned her face away. “I think.”

This caused the Viking to growl. “Let’s get you something to eat.” This brought a heated glare into Lyra’s eyes. “I mean it, Lyra.” His own eyes flashed from the anger that he was holding back from her. He let out a sigh when he turned the direction of the conversation around. “I will eat with you. It’s been a while since I ate something worthwhile.”

“Alright,” answered Lyra with frustration in her voice. All she cared about was that she was with her husband again. She really did not care that she would have to eat her food to do that. She also hoped that this was not just another dream that she would end up, waking up and seeing him gone.

Together the two of them had made it to shore. Varg helped Lyra to get into her dress. He had also put his own clothes back on his body; he had taken them off before he had jumped into the water.

As they started walking towards the small encampment of huts. Varg helped Lyra along the ridgeline. While making their way towards the area that the other three people were. Surrounding themselves by a small fire.

Halfway there, they had run into Hai, who had gotten enough fish for everyone to eat that day. The Viking woman followed the two towards the small fire. Where Carriage was sitting upon one of the logs. When he had seen his grandson, he had gotten up and gave him a hug.

“Grandson,” Carriage exclaimed in the middle of the hug. Pulling away, he went on to say, “It is so good to see you again.” He gave the other man a look and asked, “Has the war ended?”

“Yes, Grandfather,” answered the tired looking man, who looked like he needed a week worth of rest. “The war has ended, and I have a plan in place once we head for home, and I don’t want anyone to find us again.” He took a deep breath and turned his face towards his wife as he stated for all to hear, “I am done with the wars. I just want to stay home and live my life in peace.”

Carriage gave Varg a questioning look once the young man turned back to the Druid. “You want to walk away from the Viking ways?” He then glanced around and asked, “Where is Thor? Should he not hear this too?”

Varg sighed deeply. “He’s been sent home, and I have already told him about my plans, and he agreed.”

He saw that the only ones who were not happy about it were his grandfather and the two other Vikings who had journeyed with his wife. The servant girl was standing next to Lyra with her hand squeezing Lyra’s. Both women were happy to hear his news.

“The plan is to move our people north and far away from the loch and from the monster that wanted to take Lyra away from me.” Hai was about to open her mouth to speak, and Varg raised his hand for her silence. He continued, “I want to be something better than what my father was.” He had heat and fire within his eyes as he told the four his vision of the future, “I was to be the better side of being Celtic and Viking. I am planning to move our people to the Highlands. Where we will be known as the Highlanders, and we will be BETTER than ANYONE else upon this green ROCK.”

Lyra smiled brightly. She knew from the history shows that the Highlanders were better. Better than any group that was known from Scotland. She was seeing for herself who were the first ones.

She spoke up with a pleasing cheerful sound of her voice, “It's true, Varg.” He turned towards her. He was trying to give her the look of not to speak any further. “The Highlanders are going to be better of the two groups, and I will help you as much as I can.”

Varg could not help but smile as his eyes sparkled. “I know that you will, Lyra.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him. “I also know that you will be standing beside me for everything that I do in life.”

Hai glared at her leader with anger in her eyes. “What does she mean that she knows about the Highlanders being BETTER?” When she got no answers for her troubles, she started to act more like a child than an adult. “TELL ME, what does SHE know?”

Varg and Lyra glanced at each other, seeing that they had slipped up, but it was Carriage that saved them. “She’s a seer, Hai. Not a great and powerful one, but she does happen to see bits and pieces of the future from time to time.”

Hai looked angry. “I don’t believe THAT. There is something that you’re not saying, and I want to know what it is.”

Hahn rushed towards his wife and wrapped his arms around her. “Where is this anger coming from, Hai? You were never like this, not since you heard that our leader was to be married.” He looked into her eyes when she stopped struggling with him. “That’s it, isn’t it?” He stepped away from her. “You could never allow yourself to be with him when he showed you his other form. Now, you’re acting like a child when he found someone that could.” He shook his head from side to side. “Hai, it’s time for you to grow up and learn that you’re my wife for life and not something to pass the time with.”

Hai glared hard at the man before her. “Aren’t you mad that he is hiding something from us that he and HIS grandfather known MORE about HER than WE do?”

Hahn gave a shy smile. “I don’t care.” He raised his hands up to show that he really did not care. “All I have ever cared about was your life, Hai, and the life of our people.” He glanced towards Lyra. “Sure she may be someone far different from what we are." Then, he turned back to his wife. "But she has a RIGHT to her own WAYS, Hai.”

The Viking woman glared at her husband before turning her heated look towards the woman beside her leader. “It’s time for YOU to tell us.”

Varg shook his head. “It’s not for you to KNOW, Hai.”

Lyra raised her hand for all to stop their fighting and glanced towards the Viking woman. “I don’t believe it is time for me to say, Hai. You have not truly proven to me that you can be trusted.” She saw the hurt from the other woman’s eyes, the kind of hurt that showed how lost she felt. “But know this: when the time is to come for me to say, I will tell you first.”

The Viking woman huffed. “I hope so.” She then turned around and walked towards an area to clean the fish. Hahn went after her but at a distance to see that she was going to be alright and not have his head chopped off.

Lyra turned towards her husband. She was happy that he was finally beside her and not some dream that repeated nightly. “Varg, even though Thor is my father, I want to teach you the ways of the One True God. It is the way of Christianity.”

Carriage sighed from where he was standing before he found his seat upon a log. “I have heard of such religion from the monks that were about.” He waved his hand to show that they were the wandering monks that traveled through. “Who is the name of this God of yours?”

“He has many names,” stated Lyra, who was trying to remember at least a couple of them. “Jehovah, which means, ‘I am.’” She then glanced towards Varg. “And there is Yahweh. It means, ‘Lord.’”

Varg grumbled darkly. He had his dealings with the monks and nearly had a war with them. “You mean that YOUR God has different NAMES? For different meanings for your people’s beliefs?”

Lyra knew that she might have overdone it, even though they were just two names that she could remember. “Please don’t be mad, Varg.” She glanced away from him. “I just want you to understand how I grew up and what I believe in.”

The Wolf-Dragon Lord groaned and started walking away, and Lyra did not follow him. He needed time to understand and get used to more than just her being a time traveler from the future. She was going to give him that time, even though it was going to hurt her for the time being.

Carriage had a worried look on his face. He saw that the young woman looked wounded. “I think for the time being, milady, you’ll be sleeping in my hut for the night while I’ll stay in yours so I can calm Varg down.”

Lyra had forgotten that they had built another hut for Carriage to sleep on his own. He was tired of being around two women that liked to talk a lot.

“Plus, you’re going to need your sleep before we travel again, in the morning.” She gave a nod to show that she had heard him. “I will send Celeste to you when she is done with a few things for me.”

Lyra’s answer was another nod before walking off towards the Druid’s hut. She just hoped that Varg’s grandfather would get Varg to see sense of things. She really did not want to be in the past and all alone, all because her husband could not handle who she was and what she believed in.