Schumacher The Shieldmaid - Part Two

6. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-3-7565-1172-3
Verlag: epubli
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Deutsch, 141 Seiten

Part Two of the Shieldmaid is a prequel. To ensure the survival of his family, a peasant boy is sold by his family as a slave. A merchant promises to give the boy an education, but uses him as a slave for his services. Fate gives a twist to the journey and leads him to distant Constantinople. There he finds a patron in Harald Schönhaar who trains him in the emperor's famous Varangian Guard. Will the young Björn ever return to his homeland, or find happiness in the new world.

Ich bin am 08.07.1972 in Wiesbaden geboren, habe 2 Brüder und hatte eine glückliche, unbeschwerte Kindheit. Es gibt nur wenige dunkle Schatten in meinem Leben und ich bin wirklich glücklich, dass mir das Schicksal die Zeit gegeben hat meine Gedanken und Ideen auf Papier zu bringen. Ich liebe meine Familie, Tiere, die Natur und meine Freunde.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schumacher, Jens

Leseproben

Chapter 1

The journey begins

Anno 873 in the name of the Lord.

In a small village on the coast of northern Europe, lives a fisherman and farmer named Jasper. He lives there with his family and, as always, he has to make sure that they get through the winter. But this year that turns out to be not very easy.

It is bitterly cold and Jasper looks worried. The last harvest was more poor than good and the drought in summer ruined a large part of his hard-earned cabbage crop. He bought the vegetables from a trader in the Mediterranean. After growing wheat for years, he wanted to try the new vegetable this time. However, if he had known how quickly it would spoil, he probably would have decided against it.

His beloved wife tried to talk him out of it, she disagreed with him from the beginning. "You'd better stick to the wheat, stick to the tried and true," she had harped on him more than once. "I don't know if it's such a good idea to try something new right now."

Now Jasper knows that he should have listened to her better. But who knows how they would be now. They probably wouldn't be any better off than they are now either. The wheat crop was getting worse and worse over the years, it was getting less and less. He just had to try something new to ensure his and his family's survival.

But he is not only a farmer, but also a passionate fisherman. However, it looks with his catch lately also not better. To him, it almost seems as if something wants to prevent even one fish from swimming into his net.

Maybe it's just because he can only use his little boat near the beach. If he goes out too far with it, there is a danger that he won't be able to get back. With this nutshell, there is no way he can get too far from shore and he is sure that he will never get to see the open sea with it.

The small settlement in which they live has grown steadily over all these years. There were times when people joined them almost every day. Jasper and his wife have actually always been relatively well off. He would even say that they had a few carefree years.

But the recent crop failures now present the family with a major challenge. Jasper lives not only with his wife in the settlement, but also with his children. They are everything to him and to ensure their survival, he would do anything.

Last winter they had to let one of their children go. It died and no one knew why. It was a terrible time for the whole family, but his wife suffered especially. She didn't let on to some extent and remained strong for the other children, but Jasper saw in her eyes the pain of loss.

However, she gave birth to another child the following spring. The little girl made the family complete again. They baptized her with the name Fenja, after which a big party was celebrated.

Here in the area, many people believe in the new God and his son Jesus Christ. The church is gaining more and more influence, but many residents still believe in the old gods. As a result, discord often breaks out between the different faiths. Strife that, in Jasper's opinion, is unnecessary if people did not always insist on imposing their beliefs on others. But that's the way it has always been, and that's the way it will probably always be. What reason should there be for this behavior of the people to subside sometime?

Lost in thought, Jasper sits at the table and watches his family. Normally would not be quiet at all, always someone had something to tell. But today he hangs his thoughts too much.

With a small smile on his thin lips, he looks at his firstborn son Björn. He already has a handsome appearance for his age. Jasper would be lying if he wasn't proud of him. Björn is already tall and very strong.

No matter what work, he is always a good helper to his father. He learns very quickly and is skilled with his hands. In addition, he asks a lot and Jasper loves it when he can teach his son something new. He is sure that Björn will take over the farm one day. Of course, only when he is ready.

His gaze then wanders to Hendrik. He is the younger of the two sons. He was born a few years after Björn and it shows. Hendrik is smaller, much slimmer and narrower than his big brother. But Jasper is sure that in the course of the next few years he will have just as considerable an appearance as Björn.

As is so common, Jasper lives with his whole family under one roof and he hopes that this will be the case for many years to come. What he could do without, however, is that his livestock is also always with him. But what can he do, that's just the way it is. In the current situation in which they are stuck, they can not afford their own cultivation for the animals.

So they have it also at least nice and warm, because the fire, which burns in the fireplace, was no longer out since the winter has fallen. This is very important for Jasper, because if they now also had to freeze, he would no longer know what he could do to ensure the survival of his family.

Some wealthy farmers have already reached the point where they have housed their livestock in separate huts. Some are even larger than their own houses. At some point, when fishing and the harvest are better again, Jasper also plans to build his own stable for his animals.

He personally does not mind living with the cattle under one roof, but his children and his wife already let him know sometimes when something has to change in this respect. The smell is sometimes very annoying, especially since the excrement of the animals in the summer always unnecessarily attract the flies.

Although his current situation seems hopeless, he is full of great hope that he will start building a stable next spring. If Björn and Hendrick lend a hand, they will soon be done with it.

"We'll build a barn for the cattle in the spring," he assures his nursing wife as she wrinkles her nose at the unpleasant smell coming toward them.

For dinner, as so often lately, there is once again cabbage soup. Jasper doesn't know how long his sons will continue to eat it, because he notices every time that they are almost sick of it. But what can you do? They have to eat no matter what is put in front of them. If they want to survive and become strong, they have to be satisfied with the cabbage soup.

It's not that the soup is not tasty. On the contrary, his wife is an excellent cook. With a piece of hard bread, she makes completely full. And seeing his family fill their bellies gives him satisfaction. After all, not everyone can claim to go to bed full in this day and age.

Still at the table, when everyone has eaten their bowls down to the last drop, his mother Nele breastfeeds his little sister Fenja. Björn likes the girl, especially when she doesn't cry for once. But as long as she is at his mother's brood, he is sure that this will not happen.

But Björn not only has his little sister, he also has a little brother. He notices how Hendrik, who is sitting next to him, is slowly getting restless. He looks over at him and gives him a smile. His blond hair is getting longer every month, some of it is already hanging in his eyes.

Björn knows what will happen if Hendrik can't sit still. He's sure it won't be long before his parents send them to clean out. And he also knows that it's not just because of his little brother, but also because his father and mother work almost every night to expand the family. Some of that is impossible to ignore.

Björn grins when the time comes.

"Children, it's time to do your chores. Go muck out," his father orders as he gets up and assembles the dinner bowls.

"Yes, Father," the children reply, nudging each other before getting up and running to the cattle.

"Don't be in such a hurry," she admonishes her mother, but they don't even notice that anymore. They are now far too busy taking care of the animals. Björn realizes that Hendrik is very clumsy in his work.

He watches him for a moment. "Hendrik, you must only sweep to one side, otherwise you'll just spread all the crap around," he talks his brother into it. "It's all for nothing then."

Hendrik moves up to him, the flames of the fire make his facial features twitch. Björn thinks this looks funny on the one hand, but on the other it seems alienating. "If you can do it better, then do it on your own," the little boy counters, to which Björn has to stifle a grin. Hendrik doesn't have much strength yet, but his mouth works very well.

He walks up to him and tousles his hair. "Don't be so cheeky with me and make sure that father doesn't hear," he admonishes him. However, he then notices that his parents are busy with something completely different.

Usually they disappear in their bed behind the thick curtain, but today their father takes them on the kitchen table, where they ate not so long ago. They try to be quiet, but still hear their wild moaning.

He squints his eyes and pushes Hendrik behind a post. "Here, take care of the chickens today," he says to his little brother, trying to prevent him from overhearing his parents' wild goings-on.

Hendrik stomps on the floor. "But you always do that, why do I have to ..."

Björn gives him a gentle push. "Because I said so," he replies.

Hendrik rolls his eyes and resigns himself to his fate, while the pigs look after him with a grunt and act as if they are asking themselves the same question Hendrik just asked.

A short time later, his mother joins them. "Well, my little fighters, are you ready yet?" she says in an affectionate tone as she combs her tangled hair with her fingers and then adjusts her dress. Björn is surprised, because usually they take...