Chikombo
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The kid looked at the painted windows, they were so beatutiful, he had no idea how people could make such pieces of art.
As his father was the town's priest he was often at the church, studying, his father wanted him to grow up with knowledge, he said knowledge makes a man do wise decisions in life.
"Without it we are left doomed."
"Father," the boy asked, "what's a viking?
I heard the older boys talking about it, I don't know the word.
Father looked at him with a serious look on his face.
"Vikings are terrible people, boy, they worship the devil by wearing horns on their heads, and they feast by drinking blood from empty skulls."
Such words stuck with the boy, he had never seen a viking but now he didn't want to.
He hoped he would never, such terrible people must truly not come anywhere near such a beatuiful place as his home. His father probably knew the words would haunt him but that was also probably the point, he didn't sleep good that night, not good at all.
Across the ocean, in another village, another boy eagerly makes his way through a crowd. It was true after all, a man was to be judged, a thief they called him, such a dishonorable man was to be sentanced by much older men as he had broken the sacred bond with his village.
The little kid wanted to see, just like all the other kids that had managed to get up early for the judgement.
No adult warned them of not going they wanted their children to know what happened to those that brought dishonesty and shame to the rest.
"Do you deny, that you have stolen and betrayed these peoples trust and gold?"
"No," said the man quickly, "I don't deny anything, I have deep regrets but I can't lie in front of you."
The men all had long beards and were silent to the audience for a moment as they discussed what to do of the man.
"Perhaps a hand is enough..."
"I have a suggestion, said the man to be sentanced."
"There is a ship leaving tomorrow, let me be on it, give me a chance to restore my pride, and I will never come back again."
The crowd started mumbling, they had all formed a giant circle around the man in chains and the three elders that were to determine his fate.
"Ok, we agree to your terms, may you have a chance to die, or to live out your days somewhere else."
Late at night, the boy who had witnessed the judgement snuck out of the barn where everyone slept to take a closer look at the thief.
The thief was wide awake, as if he expected someone to come. And he was the first one of them to talk.
"What are you doing here child?"
"Is it true? Are you a thief?"
"I am whatever people call me. Right now that's a thief."
"Why do you want to go? What's across the ocean? Why do you want to leave with the big ship?"
"Don't you know what's at the other side?"
"I know if you sail too far you fall off..."
"Yes but there is also so many other things out there, across the ocean is where all the secrets are! It's a whole kingdom of secrets!"
The man's words struck the boy who barely slept the rest of that night.
He felt thrilled about all the potential secrets he could uncover if he was brave enough to be on that ship.
He remembered last winter, the first winter he had gotten really good at snowball fighting, so good his father had told him he could make a good warrior one day.
He remembered that thrilling feeling, he wanted to have that feeling again, and now it seemed he had found a way to obtain it...
The priest's son slept well, so well he had forgotten all about those nightmares about wildlings or vikings or whatever that horrible group of people were called.
But, this time those fears came true, as the boy was shaken up from sleep, his mother told him to hide, his siblings all hid too.
The bell rung and all he could think of was that those people were just supposed to be something to scare children, they weren't supposed to be real.
Then he remembered the most sacred place in the village and that his father slept there as well.
Ignoring his mothers words he rushed over there, to where his father was supposed to be, the doors had been smashed open as he looked down from the hill, he saw the entire village in flames and ruin.
Men had come from a ship that was barely visible at the sea not far from where they lived.
All the paintings were smashed, all the gold was taken, and his father lied cold on the floor with red water pouring out of him, as if those vikings had tore a hole looking for a literal soul.
His father couldn't speak anymore, his eyes didn't see anymore and his ears didn't hear the boy's crying.
Then the tears turned to anger and with anger he looked down at the village again.
All the vikings seemed to leave, but one remained, seemingly unnoticed, the priest's son focused all the anger he could muster on that one viking, same height as himself.
As the ship sailed the viking didn't seem to care, with clothes as the other vikings it simply walked away from the village, but the boy who had just seen the corpse of his the entire village's father wasn't going to let him.
"Aha! What do we have here!?"
The kid was caught, there was no use in trying to hide anymore, but lucky for him they were already at see, nobody was going to vote to turn around now.
"He is just a kid, why is he here?"
"The criminal must have lured him here...bastard."
They weren't completely wrong, the boy felt a loss for words, he didn't know what he had gotten himself into.
"Doesn't matter now, give him an axe! Then put him to work!"
The boy understood all the work but he didn't understand the axe.
As the ship grew closer and as another night came, the truth began to dawn on him, these men were not going to explore new lands, they were warriors, looking to seize them.
In all the madness of the attack the boy ran back and forth not trying to fight but seeking the criminal, he wanted to know what he meant by secrets, he wanted to know right away.
With blood pouring out the stomach, the criminal layed down besides a home, having been struck, yet he didn't seem to be unhappy.
"What did you mean with secrets?"
Said the boy.
"I lied, there are no secrets out there, even death has no secrets for I know now that I can die with my pride."
The boy felt angry for having been lied to yet, his anger seemed to be nothing compared to the other kid that suddenly attacked him.
As the other men were ready to sail away, the boy had felt sad, and not wanting to face what awaited him if he came home, angry parents and the loss of secrets. He refused to be part of that crew again.
But now another kid attacked him, a kid who spoke in words he couldn't comprehend.
The two fought but they didn't fight for long, the kid how was angriest was the least of a warrior, and was no match for the one that didn't have intent to kill.
"I can see it in your eyes, you wish me dead, I will stay here until I learn your ways, then I will fight you again, if I live I will go home, with change in my heart. That is the truth."
The kid who had just lost his parent wanted to chase but couldn't because he was too tired, too exausted from fighting, the other kid barely seemed exausted at all, and ran towards the larger settlement you could barely see from the hometown.
That kid seemed no different than the others to him, it was a viking, it was evil. And it must be destroyed.
That viking was eventually going to become a thief, stealing food so he could survive by himself in the woods, another child or two would spot him and yell dirty words at him, words he would eventually learn.
It wasn't until his presence became famous and real that a local took him inside a place he thought was beautiful.
The man said it was called a church, and that he was a priest.
The priest took care of him, until the day came another boy found him again.
The two fought, but not for long cus only one of them was a true warrior.
No matter how much time had passed there was no difference in the outcome.
"I said it once before but I will say it again, I will go home and I will carry with me your traditions."
"I will always hunt you and I will always want to kill you."
The boys separated, not knowing if they would ever see each other again, but they both had a feeling the result wouldn't change.
Yet they were both on paths that didn't change, one boy would never kill and the other would always try too.
As his father was the town's priest he was often at the church, studying, his father wanted him to grow up with knowledge, he said knowledge makes a man do wise decisions in life.
"Without it we are left doomed."
"Father," the boy asked, "what's a viking?
I heard the older boys talking about it, I don't know the word.
Father looked at him with a serious look on his face.
"Vikings are terrible people, boy, they worship the devil by wearing horns on their heads, and they feast by drinking blood from empty skulls."
Such words stuck with the boy, he had never seen a viking but now he didn't want to.
He hoped he would never, such terrible people must truly not come anywhere near such a beatuiful place as his home. His father probably knew the words would haunt him but that was also probably the point, he didn't sleep good that night, not good at all.
Across the ocean, in another village, another boy eagerly makes his way through a crowd. It was true after all, a man was to be judged, a thief they called him, such a dishonorable man was to be sentanced by much older men as he had broken the sacred bond with his village.
The little kid wanted to see, just like all the other kids that had managed to get up early for the judgement.
No adult warned them of not going they wanted their children to know what happened to those that brought dishonesty and shame to the rest.
"Do you deny, that you have stolen and betrayed these peoples trust and gold?"
"No," said the man quickly, "I don't deny anything, I have deep regrets but I can't lie in front of you."
The men all had long beards and were silent to the audience for a moment as they discussed what to do of the man.
"Perhaps a hand is enough..."
"I have a suggestion, said the man to be sentanced."
"There is a ship leaving tomorrow, let me be on it, give me a chance to restore my pride, and I will never come back again."
The crowd started mumbling, they had all formed a giant circle around the man in chains and the three elders that were to determine his fate.
"Ok, we agree to your terms, may you have a chance to die, or to live out your days somewhere else."
Late at night, the boy who had witnessed the judgement snuck out of the barn where everyone slept to take a closer look at the thief.
The thief was wide awake, as if he expected someone to come. And he was the first one of them to talk.
"What are you doing here child?"
"Is it true? Are you a thief?"
"I am whatever people call me. Right now that's a thief."
"Why do you want to go? What's across the ocean? Why do you want to leave with the big ship?"
"Don't you know what's at the other side?"
"I know if you sail too far you fall off..."
"Yes but there is also so many other things out there, across the ocean is where all the secrets are! It's a whole kingdom of secrets!"
The man's words struck the boy who barely slept the rest of that night.
He felt thrilled about all the potential secrets he could uncover if he was brave enough to be on that ship.
He remembered last winter, the first winter he had gotten really good at snowball fighting, so good his father had told him he could make a good warrior one day.
He remembered that thrilling feeling, he wanted to have that feeling again, and now it seemed he had found a way to obtain it...
The priest's son slept well, so well he had forgotten all about those nightmares about wildlings or vikings or whatever that horrible group of people were called.
But, this time those fears came true, as the boy was shaken up from sleep, his mother told him to hide, his siblings all hid too.
The bell rung and all he could think of was that those people were just supposed to be something to scare children, they weren't supposed to be real.
Then he remembered the most sacred place in the village and that his father slept there as well.
Ignoring his mothers words he rushed over there, to where his father was supposed to be, the doors had been smashed open as he looked down from the hill, he saw the entire village in flames and ruin.
Men had come from a ship that was barely visible at the sea not far from where they lived.
All the paintings were smashed, all the gold was taken, and his father lied cold on the floor with red water pouring out of him, as if those vikings had tore a hole looking for a literal soul.
His father couldn't speak anymore, his eyes didn't see anymore and his ears didn't hear the boy's crying.
Then the tears turned to anger and with anger he looked down at the village again.
All the vikings seemed to leave, but one remained, seemingly unnoticed, the priest's son focused all the anger he could muster on that one viking, same height as himself.
As the ship sailed the viking didn't seem to care, with clothes as the other vikings it simply walked away from the village, but the boy who had just seen the corpse of his the entire village's father wasn't going to let him.
"Aha! What do we have here!?"
The kid was caught, there was no use in trying to hide anymore, but lucky for him they were already at see, nobody was going to vote to turn around now.
"He is just a kid, why is he here?"
"The criminal must have lured him here...bastard."
They weren't completely wrong, the boy felt a loss for words, he didn't know what he had gotten himself into.
"Doesn't matter now, give him an axe! Then put him to work!"
The boy understood all the work but he didn't understand the axe.
As the ship grew closer and as another night came, the truth began to dawn on him, these men were not going to explore new lands, they were warriors, looking to seize them.
In all the madness of the attack the boy ran back and forth not trying to fight but seeking the criminal, he wanted to know what he meant by secrets, he wanted to know right away.
With blood pouring out the stomach, the criminal layed down besides a home, having been struck, yet he didn't seem to be unhappy.
"What did you mean with secrets?"
Said the boy.
"I lied, there are no secrets out there, even death has no secrets for I know now that I can die with my pride."
The boy felt angry for having been lied to yet, his anger seemed to be nothing compared to the other kid that suddenly attacked him.
As the other men were ready to sail away, the boy had felt sad, and not wanting to face what awaited him if he came home, angry parents and the loss of secrets. He refused to be part of that crew again.
But now another kid attacked him, a kid who spoke in words he couldn't comprehend.
The two fought but they didn't fight for long, the kid how was angriest was the least of a warrior, and was no match for the one that didn't have intent to kill.
"I can see it in your eyes, you wish me dead, I will stay here until I learn your ways, then I will fight you again, if I live I will go home, with change in my heart. That is the truth."
The kid who had just lost his parent wanted to chase but couldn't because he was too tired, too exausted from fighting, the other kid barely seemed exausted at all, and ran towards the larger settlement you could barely see from the hometown.
That kid seemed no different than the others to him, it was a viking, it was evil. And it must be destroyed.
That viking was eventually going to become a thief, stealing food so he could survive by himself in the woods, another child or two would spot him and yell dirty words at him, words he would eventually learn.
It wasn't until his presence became famous and real that a local took him inside a place he thought was beautiful.
The man said it was called a church, and that he was a priest.
The priest took care of him, until the day came another boy found him again.
The two fought, but not for long cus only one of them was a true warrior.
No matter how much time had passed there was no difference in the outcome.
"I said it once before but I will say it again, I will go home and I will carry with me your traditions."
"I will always hunt you and I will always want to kill you."
The boys separated, not knowing if they would ever see each other again, but they both had a feeling the result wouldn't change.
Yet they were both on paths that didn't change, one boy would never kill and the other would always try too.
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