Chapter 7—DINNER IN THE GREAT HALL
Lyra Luhr was sitting in the Great Hall. Next to Thor and not far from Varg Drake. A new thought had come to her, and she wanted answers from the Druid that was within the room. She spotted Carriage at the other end of the hall, talking to a couple of men, and she called out, “Carriage!” The man in question glanced up towards her. “Could you please come here?”
As the Druid walked towards her, she noticed that his robes were swishing as if some kind of wind was part of his clothing. When the older man stood before her, he asked, “What can I help you, milady?”
From the things that she had heard about, from what she had heard from television shows, Lyra asked the Druid, “Is it true that your people would use human sacrifices? For religious beliefs?”
Carriage sighed; he had hoped that he did not have to answer that question but knew to be truthful with her. He knew that she was from the future. As he closed his eyes for a moment, he collected all that he knew of his beliefs and finding a way to tell her without making her run away.
Then, he opened his eyes and looked into the woman’s eyes. “Keep this in mind: even in nature, there is a dark and a light. Good and evil. A day and a night, along with the moon to remind the good that there is hope within the world.” The older man sighed, seeing that he was getting his point across through seeing her eyes alight with hope. With a small smile upon his cracked lips, he added, “Even in the hearts of men. No matter if he is a warrior, leader, or even a Druid, there could be a light and a dark.”
He gave Lyra a sorrowful look, showing her that he knew of such dark things. “The ones who followed the way of darkness have used such measures in order to make their tribes stronger than others. Even my own son has tried such things, but he hadn’t seen past his seventeenth summer.”
Lyra almost cried when she heard about his son. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not,” stated the Druid. He sighed as he went on to tell the three people before him. “It just means there is less darkness within the world.” Then, he looked into the only woman’s eyes that he could see. “Lyra, tell me: was there a time within your own religion’s history of their being a darkness?”
The woman did not need any time to think of such a time in the Bible for being in darkness. Nearly every story within the Bible had nothing but darkness within it.
Even times outside the Bible had such tales. Like the Knights Templar, who were fighters for the Roman Church, who fought in Jerusalem for the Catholics. It was one of the main reasons that Friday of October the 13th was such a bad day in history. It was because the Pope of the time, had feared the power that the Templars had. It was because of this fear that he had ordered their deaths, by the way of fire.
“You’re right,” stated a sad looking Lyra, her voice matching. “There is a lot of darkness in the name of religion, but it is up to the good in the heart of people that we make it better. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Carriage gave a heartwarming smile towards Lyra. From that moment on, everything would be alright, and there was nothing against one another.
The Druid said, “Even a warrior has to walk the fine line of good and evil when it is time for him to pick up his weapon and use it or lay his weapon down and use his words in order to have peace within the world.” He waved his hand towards Varg. “Even my own grandson has faced those same issues more than a few times within his life.”
Lyra glanced over towards the man that the Druid had talked about. “Yes,” answered the leader warrior. “I have faced such things.” His voice became rough for a moment while he thought about his own moment in battle. “I have faced a hoard of armies, including the Picts, who wanted to kill all of my people off. I had tried talking to them, but they wanted a massacre, and I had given it to them.” He took a deep breath. “For every one of them has been killed.”
She gave Varg a sad smile.
He went on to say, “I have also made other tribes of Viking who have made their way here to make peace with one another, and we have lived happily ever since.”
Lyra knew what they were talking about. She knew that history was never pretty, but it was how everyone was able to have land of their own; a place to call home. She could feel sad for every blood that was dropped within the earth, or she could breathe the air of freedom. Without wars, things like freedom would be hard to fathom.
Carriage gave Lyra a knowing smile upon his face. Like he knew what she was thinking about, “Don’t let my grandson food you, Lyra.” This caused Lyra to look at the aging man with a confused look upon her face. “It had taken him a week to get them to stop the wars upon each of the tribes. He became the War Chief of all the clans within a few days ride from all directions.”
A smirk formed upon Carriage's lips. “I have to say: it is more massive than any of the Celtic tribes has ever done. Some of them are more clan tight than anything that I have ever heard about.”
Lyra gave a smirk of her own. She found that the Druid was full of riddles, more so than any book that she had ever heard about. She really hated riddles.
The woman glanced towards her father and stated, “I’m afraid to ask you about your war endeavors.”
Thor gave a shy looking smile; it was something that Lyra would never have believed to see upon his face, “Yeah. You really don’t want to know about any of my wars.” He thought, ‘Nor my father’s and grandfather’s war stories.’
One of the maids within the Great Hall had walked over to where they were sitting and piled food upon the table that was in front of Varg, which stretched out to the other side of Lyra’s chair. It looked like it could fit a lot of food and place a dozen or so people, around it. The table had many kinds of foods. Smoked meat, wild berries, flatbread, stews, and raw vegetables.
Lyra had chosen the stew. She then glanced around the whole Great Hall and saw that all the men were eating. Not short of a better word, like barbarians. Every one of them seemed to be growling, snarling, gnawing, and so much more with their food. It should not have surprised Lyra, but in some ways, it had.
The reason for her surprise was because of Varg, Thor, and even Carriage. They acted less barbaric-like with her, and she was glad to see that. Lyra had not felt like eating much, not after her horrible ordeal, by the loch earlier that day. She had hoped that she would be able to slip away, from the noise and get into her hut. She really needed time to calm down, her nerves were still shaking.
Thor seemed to have a sixth sense and glanced over; towards his daughter, and saw her face became paler. He then noticed the weight of her shoulders had sagged down, much lower than normal. He knew then that the ordeal by the loch had gotten to her, and she should be in her hut soon.
Once he was done with his food. He placed his plate upon the table before he made his way over to Lyra. Giving her his arm; showing her that he would help her upon her feet. She then wrapped her own arm around his and together, they made their way towards the back of the Great Hall. Where they will be able to exit and walk a few feet towards the nearby huts.
Varg had noticed Lyra leaving with Thor, causing the warrior to become angry, but he managed to ask nicely, “Where are the two of you going?”
Thor sighed. He was getting tired of the petty man’s insecurities. His own father would have questioned his findings for this man to marry Lyra to begin with. With this in mind, he turned his head towards the Wolf-Dragon. “Lyra needs to rest, Varg. It has been a tiring day for the young lady.” He moved his eyes towards the woman and saw that she was trying to stay on her feet. “She shall see you in the morning.”
The young ruling man groaned; he should have thought about her better, but he was not thinking right. All he had thought about was to get her inside and have her close to him. He had been afraid for her life because it had nearly killed him. When he had seen her in the long-necked creature’s mouth. It was enough to cause his blood to become hot, anger to fill his brain. Along with his other form’s hunger for war to come out.
Varg pulled himself from the feeling of war, to where he could focus upon what was going on with Lyra. It was then a thought had struck him, ‘Maybe she had never been in war before?’
Thor had seen the look of despair from Varg’s eyes and said, “Don’t worry about it, Varg.” Long before she became a warrior, his own fie had her doubts of facing monsters. Now, she enjoyed the fighting even more than she had once believed. Thor went on to say about his so-called child, “She needed to know that she was still around people, even after the ordeal. It’s just time for her to be away from all the noise. It has started to become too much for her.”
Varg wanted to feel included with her well-being. “Should my grandfather check her out?”
Carriage had been seeing what was going on, and he glanced into his grandson’s eyes. “She needs rest, Varg.” He then swept his eyes towards the young woman. “The noise is getting to her, and it will only get worse, especially when it comes to those who have not faced war before.”
Varg glared, knowing that he was angrier with himself than anyone else. “So this was her first encounter with war, then?”
This caused Lyra to speak up for herself. “Yes it was, Varg.” She gave a great-sounding sigh, as if the world were caving in on the young woman. “I have been around violence before. But I have never been around anything remotely close to war.” She took in a sharp breath. “In my time, the only wars that were going on were the ones that were far away, and it was not about the glory of it all. Today was the first time that I have ever been close to any battle, and I hope that I don’t have to do it again.” She then gave a piercing look towards the man who had saved her. “I will leave that to you and your people.”
Varg gave a smile, the kind that was giving Lyra some hope of protection. “I’m glad to hear that.” He watched Lyra walk away with Thor. He wondered if life with her will be worth living. He knew that he would be changing his ways when he was going to marry her. But had no clue that he would not have them enjoy the riches of war; like he had done, before.
His mind wandered back towards the loch. With the experience of facing the unknown being. He knew then that he could not live a day longer without Lyra. He would do anything for her. “I might have to leave the warrior way behind me.”
With a great sound of frustration, the war leader shoved his meal away from him. “I’m going to have to walk away from kind of life if I want to have Lyra as my wife.”
The aging man gave the young man a questionable glare of knowledge. “Not really. You just have to keep her with some of your trusted men/women as you go and battle the wars that you will need to do.” The Druid had said some of the same words to other men/women within his lifetime—even to his daughter’s husband a time or two. “And I will guarantee you that she will understand that you have your obligations that you have to fulfill for the other tribes.”
Varg gave a sad smile; he knew that his grandfather was wise. “You’re a great advisor, grandfather. I really hope that you know that and that you will be around long enough for me to be as wise as you.”
Carriage had walked over and sat on the edge of the table, where he could see his grandson better. “Why do you say that?”
This caused the old man to chuckle. He knew that women would always have power over men. Even when they did not know that they had that power to begin with. He sometimes wished that he had his wife with him again; maybe life would have been much different.
“I don’t know about that, Varg, but you can sure try.” The old man glanced to the corner of the hall, getting lost within his own mind. “It takes a lot of time and experience to be a man like me.”
The two men went on talking. They had plans to fulfill by morning, along with a wedding, which would happen at sunset the next day.