Chapter Two / Meeting of strength

It's been a couple days since Astrid wigged out on me about my brother and I being here. Today was a nice day with the warm weather hitting my face as I woke up. I whipped my face and then I headed to the forge to start the fire. I added the coal then I started some metal work as Helga came to give me a daily basket of eggs and Bread. She saw I was already working on something so she sat the basket next to the anvel.

I didn't really see her till I saw her leave the front door. I smiled when she passed the window, "Thank you Chief, I will bring you some pelts later." I said to her and she looked into the window, "Sure hand them to Astrid or Ursa whoever wakes up first." she said back to me and I continued my work for an hour till Bradley came into the forge. He had killed a deer and a boar again, He also had a couple live wild chickens in a trap.

They weren't dead or even hurt just scared, "Brother I want to make a cage for them like at our old farm, you don't mind?" He asked me and I said back to him, "Go for it, I can help you if you need me." He smiled at me for the first time since we came to this time period. "Sure after we cut up the deer and boar we can get started on the cage." He said to me and I stopped hitting the metal I was working on.

We started to cut up the catch, I put the pelts on the drying rack I made for his kills. I took the meat and I wrapped them with salt and fat before I wrapped them in paper. After that I set the pelt rack closer to the forge. As the dried we made the cage for the chickens with the extra wood I had. I then had Brad weaved a couple old nets to keep the chickens in the cage. I felt the pelts were dry so I rolled them up and I took them to the Chieftian hall or Helga's home.

The building doubled as a meeting hall, a place to eat and Helga's living area. I could hear both sisters were up as I came into the building. Ursa spun around to see me with the pelts she was waiting for. She smiled at me but Astrid glared at me, "Morning Astrid, see you're livley as ever." I said to her, she threw a bowl at me in anger but I caught it. "How can you have pelts this fast every morning, are you a wizard or what?"

She asked me as I just laughed, "No just use the heat from the forge to dry the fur and pelts faster. Oh today right after Helga came to give me eggs, Bradley caught a couple chickens out in the wild. We made them a cage to live in, you can go see them later." I said looking at Ursa, She gave me a funny look then she ran to see them. Astrid and I were left alone for a moment before Helga came into the building.

"Oh good you're here, Jacob I need help with the supplies our other fisher brought in." She said to me, I gave Astrid the pelts and I followed Helga. When I left the building I heard Astrid say under breath, "Good luck with that woman." Then she laughed a bit, I was scared why she was laughing till I saw the woman with my own eyes. The fisher was about my height, had black hair and green eyes that almost seem to be glowing.

She had muscles under her heavy waterproof black seal skinned clothing. She heard our foot steps and turned as she was smiling till she saw me with Helga. She jumped down right to me from the boat and checked me out. "You brought a man back to the Village Helga, what are you doing with him?" She said making Helga blush a bit but then she glared at me like Astrid.

"He's our new iron worker and my newer hand, His younger brother over at the forge is our hunter and builder. Their good people please be kind to them Ingrid." Helga said to her as she looked over to my home where Bradley was standing. Bradley felt eyes looking at him so he turned right at us and startled Ingrid. "If you trust them my Lady I will do the same, but you know how I feel about men."

She said to Helga but she still glared at me with a smile at the same time. I grabbed the supplies from Ingrid then I took them to the village storage and trading post. I set down the boxes till the storage was full. I did this kind of work after my iron works for the next few weeks before the King came to the Village for a visit. The morning of the King showing up was like any other.

It was peaceful with kids playing outside when the sun was high. I had just completed my work for the day, next was for me to head to the shore by docks and get the supplies from Ingrid. She still didn't like me very much but she trusted my opinion on how to catch certin fish. Ingrid and I were pulling the boxes off the boat with Helga watching us. We were silent for a moment till we heard water splash hard near the coves entrance.

Helga's eyes got wide and she ordered me to return home. I refused the order and stayed next to Helga as the ship got closer. "If you got hurt Helga, Astrid would surely kill me." I said to her as we got surrounded by warriors from the other boat. Everything was tense as I gaurded Helga with my body, Ingrid was slowly pulling out her weapons. Then a young man dressed in a red cape came off of the boat.

The man raised his hand to his people and they withdrawn from their tense stance. "Warriors this is our host Chieftain Helga and her servant." He said scoulding his people for being rude to us. The man saw me smiling at him and he asked me. "What are you smiling at me for Servant?" Helga went to apoligize for me but the man stopped her so I could speak. "I'm not a servant sir, my name is Jacob and I'm the new iron worker as well as her newest resident."

I paused for a moment then I said to the man, "You must be the Great King everyone's been talking about, it's good to see the face of the man I've been hearing so much about." I saw his face change from being insulted to seeing he made a mistake. When I said my name to him he noticed it was English. "Are you English, you speak my tongue very well but I can tell it's not your first tongue." He asked me and I just smiled at him.

"I'm not English but my people do speak English mainley." I told him and he stared at me like Ursa did when I first met her. He looked at Helga for a moment and she asked The King. "Would come speak with me privately sir, Jacob here will also be joining us." The King was hesitant for a moment but he saw how Helga looked at him. "I will hear you in your great hall, but my guards will be standing by." He told us, Helga agreed to his terms.

When we got into the building I sat on a table while Helga spoke with the man. "He's going to tell you about where he came from and I'll tell you why he came here to live his life." She told him and the King shook his head in agreement. "My words have no deception but I'm not from this land or any other. My name, my full name is Jacob Wellings." I said to him as I told him about the events that unfolded to me coming to this time.

When I told him all I could Helga told him why she took me in. "Sir he and his brother needed a home after that magic portal closed behind them. Who knows when they'd be able to return home, so they've been helping me here. Bradley the younger brother hunts and makes things as Jacob repairs and helps with chores around the village." He sat back in is seat so I decided to say one more thing to him.

"I know this Future man thing is hard to believe but I promise you this, I am not a threat to you or your way of life. I just want to leave a good one while I find a way home if that day ever comes." The young King sat in a chair that was next to him and he poundered my story. "I'm young yet but I can tell when someone is being truthful with me. You've been that with me, even with everything at stake for you. I'm going to make up my mind in a weeks time when I leave for my next village."

Helga and I looked at eachother for a moment then the King added. "We will keep this between us for now, I also will be keeping my ear and eyes on you Jacob." The King held out his hand for me to shake it and I didn't hesitate for a moment. He then left and Helga let out a sighe of relief when the King was fully away from the door. She then turned to me with a bright face, her eyes seem bluer and he hair looked like gold with the sun light coming through the windows above.

"Can you both be on your best behavior this week, I don't think he'll do anything but don't give him any reason to get rid of you." She requested from me and I shook my head in agreement. I then ledt and I headed straight to the docks to get the rest of the supplies and fish. When I got back down to the docks I saw a couple of the King's crew were glaring at me hard. One that caught my eye was a woman with dark red hair and light green eyes.

She was muscular for a woman and was an inch taller than I am. I grabbed a crate as she was watching me, so I tossed her mine and picked up another one. She got up from her seat and asked me in a angry tone. "Why did you throw a crate at me, are you trying to start a fight little man?" She got in my face but I just smiled right at her as I said. "Those who are lazy don't eat at this village, even the kids have chores."

I looked over to the kids washing clothes and cook ware by the river's edge. At first she thought my threat was a joke then the kids glared at her. She picked up another crate and ordered the rest of the crew to grab the other crates. Everyone groaned for a moment till I told them, "I'm cooking something good for tonights dinner at the Hall, if you don't work you don't get any." Everyone got up and follwed me to the stoarge.

The King watched us as he saw the building that was made to house supplies from the boats. He then heard from Helga, "He may be a bit strange but he's been a part of my village by he's second week here." He watched me all day with my duties and then things I did without a second thought. He noticed one thing the whole time he watched me do my work. I was smiling the whole time with out dropping my gaze from everyones eyes when they talked to me.

He thought it was strange, then he saw my brother walk out of my house with shavings all over his clothes. Then he saw Bradley pull out a new handcrafted table that he just finished. He made it for Fray a memeber of the boat crew. She checked out his work and the smile on my brothers face was like mine. She then gave him a basket of breads and eggs for payment. He shook his head and he shifted his gaze over to me and Helda his second talking.

It was just smalll talk for the most part, She asked me what my perpose was in this village. "What is it you do for these people, you seem to do some much for so little?" I stopped smiling for a moment then I told her. "I am the iron worker mostly but I do chores when theres no other work. The reason I take so little in return is because I want to be the helping hand to everyone here. They lost so much and when they saved me and my brother they were afraid that they would suffer more."

Helda thought I was crazy for taking so little back from the villagers and she told me so. "You make no coin for your work, yet you live better than a servant who's payed or a slave whos worked to death. What is there else to look foreword to?" She had asked me and I said to her in resonse to that question. "I don't make a lot of coin from my work, but the friends and the smiles I make with my work is almost enough. For me that's all I care about right now, I have no but my brother to take care of and he works like I do." I Tired my hardest to tell her that I was fine not making alot of money from my trades.

She kept getting angrier with me till we watch a little boy, a kid of one of the villagers come up to me. The boy had a smile on his face and he was holding something behind his back. Helda saw how the boy looked at me. Then the kid bowed his head to me, "Jacob sir, Can you make me a gift for my mother, the Anniversory of my fathers death is coming up." He asked me holding out the thing he had behind his back. I got to my knees and I took a look at what looked like a drawing of a new set of knives. They were the ones that I've been making for myself, I sighed, Helda thought I was going to say no but then I asked the kid.

"When do you need them, I can make these quick if you need them?' The boy seem to almost explode with excitment, "I think the day is in four days, so by then." He said and I patted him on the head as I told him. "Sure bud, I can make this by morning of the fourth day." The boy smiled brighter as he hugged me then ran off, when we watched him run back to his mother I hid the picture as the boys mother looked over to us. She waved at us and I waved back as I looked back at Helda who was still confused by that in counter. "You want to watch me work on those knives Helda?"

I asked her and she she nodded her head "Yes" and we returned to my forge and house. Bradley was hard at work on a bed frame for one of his customers. He looked up for a moment to see we had a new person in our shop. He put his tools down then he came over to greet Helda. "Hello, I'm Bradley, Jacob's younger brother and the craftsmam of Ravens Beak." He said holding out his hand for Helda to shake and she did smiling. She then introduct herself to him and let everyone know how improtant she was to the King. "I'm Helda, I'm our great King Thorin's second in commmand, well for his army."

Bradley looked at me with the look like, "What the hell is going on Bro?" Helda saw this for a moment then she started to laugh under her breath. "She's here with the King of the Vikings to watch me do what I do. We got work, a couple of Knives for Ida, her kid told me that day is coming up." I told him and he understood what I meant but Helda didn't. Bradley looked sad for a moment then he walked over to our metal chest where we had a bunch of scrap copper and silver for crafting. "We have a couple pieces of Copper left and some silver bands that Ursa didn't want." He said pulling them out of the chest.

I grabbed them from him then I started to craft the knives with something extra. I started with heating the copper then I laid them in between a thing of hot metal. As I worked the night Helda watched me closely with each filing on shaping I was doing with the metal. This was the same thing I did with everything I made, it was a process but this way helped me in the back end. I rolled and flattened the metal over and over till the Copper murged with the iron. I then carved what I needed the blade to be and I started with the final parts. Which the end part of the knives took me all the time I ahd left.

Helda would stop by each time to see how far I was getting as she got tired after spending all day with me. She then something more in the storage near the forge. She just thought it was other work so she brushed it off. I was just getting done polishing the last knife when King Thorin came into the shop to see me. "Helda says, you've been busy making a pair of knives for a woman in the village." He said to me and I showed him the knives in the handmade box my brother made with it. "I used dark wood for the handles and layered copper with in the iron to give it a Unique look."

I said to the King showing him the small wavey patterns in the metal. "This is a stunning blade, and this took you only four days to complete?" He asked me and I shook my head "Yes" then I said to him. "I also made a couple sets for you with a axe and sword." I said pulling a blanket off of the stuff in the storage table, I then pulled everything out and showed off their shine to the King. King Thorin Hesitated for a moment but then he grabbed the axe off the table. For him it felt light in his hands but really strong as he tussed it from one hand to the other. "How much do you..." He was saying when I shook my head "no".

"These are your's my King for a just these, other orders will cost you sir." I told him and he asked what the next price would be for the other orders. "One gold coin for a pair of kitchen knives, but custom orders be three." I said and he smiled, "You're a weird one, Helda told me that you were and I believe her now." He paused for a moment then he looked right at my Brother and Helda. " As it would seem our time here is coming to an end. I will need you to keep doing your job here for Helga for me." He turned to me and held out his hand for me to shake, everyone was suprised by his jester except for me as I grabbed his hand in return.

"I will not let you down my King," I said to him and he smiled to my words. I then looked at the sun and saw it was time for my delivery, so when I let go of the Kings hand. "Do you want to come with me when I give Miss Ida her new Knives?" I asked him and he agreed to come with me with Helda next to him. I packed Ida's knives up and I head down the street to her house with the King and Helda right behind me. As I got closer to the house I saw Ida was struggling to cut her son an apple. I smiled a bit and thought to myself, "This couldn't be better timing if I planned it better."

I had the King hold as I went to the door, he was going to watch why I love giving back to the people who've helped me so much. When I got to the door I heard her cry a bit as she was chopping dinner for the day with her dull blade. I knocked on the door loudly to hear her fumble to get to the door. when she opened the door she saw me and The King with his second behind me. She looked scared for a moment then I brought out the box of Knives. " A little bird told me that you needed new Knives, and since it's the day of days today I made these for you Miss Ida." I said giving her the set and as she opened the box all the knives I made for her shined like gem stones.

She got weak in the knees and almost fell, I caught her as she began to cry a bit. "Don't be sad Ida, your little boy thought this would be a good gift. Plus a little extra work never hurt me or anyone I promise." I stood her up and dusted her off a bit, "I know life as a mother is hard, even harder by yourself, but if you want to repay me, help others when they need it." I said to her and she shook her head "yes" as I went to leave her. When I looked back I saw she was becoming a new person with that simple gift. When I got back to King Thorin he asked me, "Is a smile all that you look for?"

I shook my head "No" then I said to him, "What I look forward to is when someone gets a bit of hope when they have been lost. Another perpose in life, giving them a reason to go on is all I look for." The King looked at me then I grabbed his shoulder. "A little bit of happiness can change the course of someones life." I added and the King agreed with me, "Happiness can be a powerful tool or weapon when applied correctly. Everyone seem to be on edge since I touched the King but he just smiled with me. He patted my shoulder and he asked me out of the blue.

"Brother, would you make us a fairwell dinner tomorrow before we set sail?" I let go and I agreed with his request, "Yeah, I can do that and it will be the best one you've had in a long time I can bet my life on that one." I then returned home after that to see Ida from my window using her knew knife to make dinner. I went to the living room area we had and I sat on a chair to rest. I had been up for days finishing the orders so the chair felt nice. I could feel how tired and I started to fall asleep right in the chair, I felt my eyes close right before I heard a door open.

Helga was the one who came into the house to check up on me to see me deep asleep. She smiled right as her daughters came into the house, Those to saw me sleeping and both smiled for a moment like their mother. Then Astrid went to wake me up but I woke up and glared at her. She seemed to jump out of her skin as I told her. "Just because I am taking a nap doesn't mean I'm not aware of my surroundings." I said in a very annoyed and tired tone, as I went to sit up I saw Helga slap Astrid in the back of the head. "You need to appoligise for waking up our sleeping bear my Daughter." Helga ordered.

Helga then told her about why I was so tired and she didn't believe it till she saw the crates of weapons being loaded to the King's Boat. Astrid was amazed of how long I actully worked out for. When I was falling back to sleep all three helped me to my bed. When I hit the blanket I passed right out without a second thought. They then went to the living room and they talked with Bradley.

(Pov Helga)

"That man can be so careless with his health. It's like he loves to run ragged like a angered beast, Why does he do that Brad?" I asked him and he shurgged his shoulders at me. "He's been that way ever since we were little. He got worse when he joined the military, he was in the Navy and saw alot of chaos. I'm guessing he's trying to make up for those days but I could be wrong. For him Kindness is just part of his being, like how the sun gives us light when we need it." He said to me like he was trying to be a profite telling us about an old world hero.

(Pov Jacob)

As I slept I could hear in my dreams of the soft conversation as a woman appeared. She was the woman I saw before heading to this time period. The woman had red hair, white skin and a long white dress. She looked right at me and she began to spoke to me. "Young Jacob, you're doing well in this young world even with all the trouble you faced." She said getting closer to me and she placed her hand on my right shoulder. The way she said "This young World" had me thinking about something else. "I'm not in my world am I, I thought I traveled to a old time period."

I asked her and she shook her head "no" then she told me. "You are in a parallel world that is much like yours in every way but never went passed this age. Magic is a real thing here but combat power is the way to speard your fame here." She looked at me and saw I was taking the new information very well, then I asked her using the name that suprised her. "Fraya, why did you bring me and my brother here to this world?" She took a step back and smiled at me, but she only said to me, "To Unite" Then everything began to faze out.

Everything began to fade back and I was waking up to the sun hitting my face. I noticed I was in my bed and that my window was open with the colder air coming into the house. I got up and I went for a little hunt to clear my mind. I caught a dozen rabbits and some of the younger girls got me vegetables from the gardens they had going. I then went to the Hall and began to cook a stew feast for the Kings men and himself. While I cooked I ran the dream through my head over and over till I saw Helda popping her head in door. I looked over a jumped as she was staring right at me.

She laughed a bit then she came over and sat next to me as I cut the vegetables in small pieces. She watched me for a long time till I put the huge pot over the fire. I poured the water in and I waited till I began to boil. That when Helda spoke up after being silent for an hour. "Do you feel ok Jacob, you seem focued on something else today?" She asked me and I looked at the hanging mirror next to us, I smiled then I turned to meet her eyes. "Yeah, I'm good just not fully rested from spending four tireless days on my knives." I said to her but she didn't believe my words. she gave me a weird look then she sighed a bit as the King came into the building.

"It's not even midday yet and dinner for tonight smells great already." King Thorin said when he got closer to us. "For a good hearty stew it takes all day to make, key ingrediant is time." I said when I smiled at Thorin, he looked at me weird and asked. "What happened you seem different today, not your happy self like you have been all week?" I felt if I lied to him he might take it personally so I broke and I told him. After I looked at Helda and said, "I'm sorry Helda I have been dealing with something but I wanted to keep it hidden."

I then told them about the dream while I was sturing the pot of stew. "I had a dream with the goddess Fraya an old God from Norse lore. She told me that this world is not my orignal world entirely, it's a world simular to mine. Were Vikings are still around and proud, I thought I was in a different time." Thorin who was in a chair at this point stood up and he grabbed me. "Yes, she's right my friend, this world is year is the same as the time where you came from ,2023. When my Ancesters won that great war all those years ago with the magic of the old gods we became a peaceful people."

"Yes we tend to fight other from time to time and stay in a simple living conditions but this is our own and we seem to like that." He told me and I stopped with the stew as I asked him and learned what this world was really like. From what he was telling me that the world used magic like how or my people used science in my world. There was monsters of some Kind out in the world but nothing extreme. Then Thorin asked me, "What did Fraya tell you in the dream?' I closed my eyes and I tried to remmeber, "She said to Unite, but I have no idea what she meant by at all."

He laughed for a moment then he stopped, "She's a wild goddess to leave you with that, but for me all I suggest for you is to find love, become a world class smith and do what you love to do." As he went to get up to leave for a bit he stopped and then asked me. "How old are you Jacob, you seem very close to my age?" I replied, "I am 25 years old sir, in march I will be 26." I saw him smile then he said, "ah you're only yow years younger than me." He than left and I was left alone with the Helda. She listened to us, Thorin and I talk to each other the whole time without speaking out of turn. I could see she was to scared to say anything after learning the whole truth of who I was.

I stared at her and I laughed, she got mad for a second then I offered her a test cup of the stew. "I know that me being from another world is scary but this one scared me as much as your feeling right now." I said to her and she looked confused on me being scared, "Why you never show it on your face, not even facing a man who could of ordered your execution at anytime?" she asked me and I told her, "I was always scared but since I had someone like Helga to and her people to protect I had to stay strong for them." She thought my reason to not show my fear was dumb but understood.

We sat there for a while but then I felt the darker building was getting to me. I decided to go outside where I saw a couple of the Kings men lighting up a tube like cigar thing. I pulled out my old lighter from my pocket that still had fluid in it and I went up to the group. They looked at me and smiled, "ah Sir Jacob, Helda say's you're making all of a really good stew for dinner." He said to me and I shook my head "Yes" then I took a closer look at the thing he started smoking. "Are those Cigars, I've not had one in months since moving to this village?" I asked him and he didn't understand what Cigar meant but her pulled a box of them out for me.

"We have a couple crates of them in the Boat, we got them from a Spanish ship a year ago. The guy we kept alive to us they were for smoking, so we've been smoking them, would like a box of them?" He asked me and i held out a gold coin to pay for them. The guy declined the coin and said to me, "The King would hate for us to charge you, plus you gave us those weapons you made for free." He handed me the box and I saw they were the smaller cigars but just as good. The guy saw how happy I looked then he went to the ship and grabbed a whole crate. "Why don't we give you a crate full of those boxes of those cigar things."

He said coming back out, I was hesitent to grab the box but he set it next to me. That when I heard Thorin and Helda behind me, "I see my men are giving you those smelly things as a payment for the knives." He said to me making a funny face when he could smell the dried tobacco. "These are Cigars from the Spanish, from my home land these are considered a prize in itself. I would rather gain this as payment than gold or silver." I said back to him and he smirked at me, "Friend you seem to have weird tastes, but you can take them as a gift from all of us." He said as i remembered about the Stew.

I bowed to him then I took off and checked on the stew which was just fine like when I left. I put some wood under the pot to keep it hot then I took my new Cigars home. on the way back to the hall to keep my eye on my stew I saw Helda talking with Ursa. I had my first cigar of this world in my mouth as I walked behind the corner to listen to them. I leaned on it to seem not so sus as I lit the cigar. That is when I heard them. "Oh, how do you feel about Jacob, he's weird one but he's a strong one?" Ursa said to Helda and Helda snorted a bit then she said. "He's hidding something more about himself but he's a good man."

"What is his cooking like I hear from some of the crew from your mothers boat he can really cook delicious food?" Helda said and I smiled, but I remembered I gave her a cup of the stew. "Did she not drink some of it, or did she forget about it?" I said to myself I walked away then I went to the hall to see the cup was not touched. "I hate wasted food, but that's ok, I can tell it was ready from the color." I said when King Thorin came into the building. He saw I was smoking the cigar and gave me a smile, "you seem to love those a bit to much." He said to me and I put it out and shoved it in my shirt pocket.

"Yeah, these help my think about things," I told him and he understood as he sat down next to me as the day went on. When the stew was about done I saw everyone was here even the Villagers. Some of the Kings crew tried to send them away but Helga stopped them. I then stood on the table and greeted everyone who was in the hall. "Hello everyone as some of you know I am Jacob, I had recently moved to this village. The King has asked me to make you all a goodbye dinner for his jounry back to home. I made enough for everyone here so don't worry about anything and enjoy the stew I made for you today."

I got down then I had everyone come up and get there own bowl and a thing of fresh bread miss Ida brought for everyone. We got down to King Thorin, Helga, Ursa and Helda to see we haven't even scratched the bottom of the pot yet. I took a cup of the stew for myself and I sat with the Kings crew as they told stories. Everyone laughed and cheered as they ate together then they turned to me and one of them asked. "What kind of stories do you have Jacob, I bet from the quiet exterior you have seen alot?" He looked at me as he poured me a drink of Ale.

I took a drink trying to think of a good version to tell them that wouldn't get them to see I'm not from this world. "Well, back when I was in my home land we had this group of people that were killing off villages for their resources. Not Vikings but a different people, they had heavy bows and huge warrriors the size of homes to fight for them. My job when I was part of my home lands military was to find and take the big guys out my any means." I stopped to take a drink and everyone was intrigued by my story and wanted more.

"I was more part of the Navy, the ship or boat division of the military, I had this lighter and a bow that could break the best shield on myside. I was headed east one month to find nothing but chaos and devisation. Not one soul was left under my boots as I moved through out the village. I then came across the men who did it in the back of the Village. They snarled at me so I sent my first arrow taking out their biggest guy first." I took a second to break from my story to see that even the leaders, both Thorin and Helga were no listening to me.

"The whole squad or whatever they were came at me and I was just one of six people hunting these guys down. My buddy who was my partner in war Justin, took out a few guy from the right as I went for their leader. As I got close with my knife a hidden big warrior that hid under a tarp of sand. I had to run off and I hid by this half fallen over wall as Justin blindsided the new big warrior in the face with a flaming arrow. That gave me a good chance to get a better shot on both the leader and the big guy. So with two perfect shots I got both of the enemies a hot in the eyes killing them instantly."

I took another drink and everyone seemed to like the story, but I wasn't going to tell them end of that story because it was a horrible ending. I took a moment till Helga who was still next to King Thorin waved for me to come over. I drank my last bit of Ale then I headed over to the table by her. She had a drunk smile on her face that scared me for a moment. Then she told me to sit next to King Thorin, I hesitated then he pulled a chair up for me. I didn't want to be rude so I sat right next to him and Helga as they watched their people party on.

I got a new cup of Ale and Helga let me relight my cigar to relax a bit. I took a long drag of my cigar then I blow the smoke to the air. Thorin took a small sip of wine as did Helga as I ashed into a empty tray. Thorin then looked at me with a shin in his left eye. "You will be my personal smith from now on, your work is more than stunning to me. You can still live here with everyone here but when I order something I want you to take care of it." He said to me bringing out a orb from his coat pocket, "This is a magic orb that can let people talk to eachother from long distances. I believe you and I can use this only for iron work but to talk we did this week."

He handed it to me and I felt how heavy it was, I looked up for a moment to see Helda looking at us. Thorin laughed a bit then he said "You can talk to her if you want with that when we return home in a months time." I blushed a bit and Helda wondered why, then she saw the orb in my hands. "Son you should go talk to her before we leave, we make sail in an hours time." Thorin told me and I got up to go talk to her. I placed the orb in my pocket and I puff on my cigar as I got closer to Helda. I was about a couple feet from her when Ursa and a piss drunk Astrid slammed into me.

They both had been drinking and so when they hit me they fell to the ground. Helda came to help me lift them up but heard Astrid yell at me for bumping into them. "Hey, you, why are you always everywhere English. Can't you go back to your own people Jacob!?" Some people turned to hear her say "english" but where waved away by Helda. "I'm not English Astrid and your piss drunk my friend," I said picking her up fully off the ground. She was going to fight me but Ursa her older sister pinched her side to stop. "I know you still don't like me and I don't really care. You, your mother and Ursa still let me live a peaceful life here with you all."

" I can take the abuse from you if it means you'll eventually respect me later." I said to her as I got her to bed, her room was right off from the main feast hall. Helda waited outside for me when she heard Astrid say. "I'm sorry I say stupid and rude things to you, I miss my father and brother." She fell asleep and I sighed, "I knew it was something to do with that, people can be so easy to read." I said out loud then I covered her with her blanket. I left the room and finally got a chance to talk to Helda which was short with that interuption.

"You leave to head home in a bit here, did you enjoy your time here?" I said to her and she sighed, "Yes, I did but I wish you could come with us so you can see the magic this world has." She said to me and I leaned on the wall then chuckled for a second. "Ha yeah, I would if I could but I have to stay for the time being till I know for sure I can't go back home. Even if I choose to see the portal if it comes back I might just stay for a while longer." Helda leaned on the wall with me and she pulled out something from her secret breast pocket. She held it out and it was a large emblem with a Ox head on it.

"This is my families creast from our village, I'm known as Helda Ox Horn. I want you to have this for when you visit the capital in futrure my guards won't give you a hard time." She said handing me the large coin, I took it and placed it in my chest pocket. "I never thought I'd be in a situation like this Helda, being a friend to a viking Woman and a King. When the time becomes right I will visit you at your home." I said and she stood up when she saw everyone get up, they were getting ready to leave. Helda a bit taller than me leaned forward and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

She then left with everyone and I stood there still confused on the kiss. I got myself back to reality and ran to the boat as it as leaving. You could see King Thorin was yelling something at me but he was to far away. I also saw Helda and she smiled at me like to tell me to keep the kiss a secret. I felt the cold breeze hit my face and everyone who saw the ship off went to the hall to clean up. I ligth my cigar again since it went out and I watched the boat disappear from dark setting in. Helga who was a bit sobered up came up to me and saw I was blushing a bit.

"You like her don't you Jacob, but I'd be careful with her. Her family is the second ones in line for the thrown." Helga said to me and I stopped smoking my cigar for a moment, "You're telling me not only she's leader of the militart she's a Princess?" I said pulling out her coin from my pocket, Helga saw it was she smiled. "Seems like she like you too," She said as I started to feark out a bit.