My eyelids fluttered, my eyes were blurry, my whole body ached when I came to my senses with a groan.

I was lying on an old board in the middle of the Thassa, injured with heavily bleeding wounds on my body and head. My body felt like 100 kailas were trampling on it.

The clothes on the body were worn and wet, the fabric was coarser, but of an elegance that one sees in Nordic women who are of a wealthy class. The rest of a fur stole hangs over the shoulders.

The throat was dry from the salt water, the lips were cracked from the sun. The consciousness disappeared again in an infinite blackness and painlessness.

Where is the light, where is Odin, where is Hel ???? I call you deliver me !!!!

 

The next time I opened my eyes I was lying in a hard bed, probably a rocking bed, wrapped in warm blankets and towels.

A man's face stared at me and I automatically crept deeper into the covers. My body still ached, but no longer with the strength. My hand goes to my head, feeling no more blood or wound.

The face in front of me suddenly smiles and a deep voice growls: "Now there we are again, how are you and who are you?"

"Where am I?" Instead, I heard myself ask, my voice still sounds scratchy, my throat still a little sore.

"Well, you're on a merchant ship, little fish," the man giggled, "you must have fished out to sea in time, so who are you?"

I thought and thought and wanted to answer, but no sound came out of my lips, I don't know, damn it, I don't know who I am, gently shook my head.

The man's look becomes stern and you can feel his impatience because I haven't said anything, so I decided to say it out loud: "I don't know"!

 

I don't know what happened anymore, I don't know who I am, where I come from. Tears ran down my cheeks as I faced the fate of slavery.

"Don't cry, woman," came harshly from his mouth. “Memory loss can happen, you must have been hit hard on the head. You are a suitor, I had examined you, you show no signs of a slave. So we men on the ship respect you as a free woman as long as you behave like that. I'm a doctor so you were in the best of hands! “His grin widened and I slid deeper into the covers, blushing at the thought that this guy had examined me, but I was also grateful that I had been saved.

"Thank you for saving my life, doctor"!

After a few days of rest, I put on my worn but now clean and dry clothes and noticed the heavy hem. I carefully opened a small seam and gold coins came out, lots of gold and silver tarks and a few copper tarks.

I quickly packed the coins with a thank you to the gods in a small leather bag and hung it on my belt. So I could buy new clothes in the next port and my clothes box swelled with every port we went to.

I spent many moons on the merchant ship, made myself useful and helped the captain to write, because it quickly became clear that I could write, read and do arithmetic fluently and in a very clean, clear, elegant, curved font. It is still unclear what other skills or professions I have pursued. My memories still hadn't returned.

In the meantime my name was "Malena". The men found it easier than just shouting "Woman" when a pair of socks or pants needed to be darned.

One good morning the ship entered the port of a large city. Then.

I decided to go ashore, tired of traveling and longing for a permanent place where I would belong.

I packed my things and said goodbye to the captain, the doctor and the sailors, thanked them for their help, opened my leather bag and presented each of the crew with a golden tark as a thank you.

Drew a veil over my face before my steps left the ship and hit the bottom of Thentis. There was a trader at the port who spoke to me. A little scared, without showing it, I proudly walked up to the dealer and said, "Tal Sir!"

Of course, the question arose of who I am and where I come from. The name Malena still struck me as strange, so I stuttered the name a little in response.

Fortunately for me, the dealer who introduced himself as Karl did not ask any further questions, but recognized the Nordic sound in my voice from my dialect and smiled:

"You come from the north like me, be welcome to Thentis!"

"Aye, thank you very much, I'm looking for a place to settle down"!

"Well then follow me into the city, I'll show you the city, thatGate is closed, but I have a key. Many from the north live in Thentis! "

I followed the man and was amazed at the splendor of this city.
He took me to the inn where I took a room and fell into the soft bed. By the gods, how long has it been since I could sleep in a real bed and it didn't take long for my eyes to close.