Embers

It's Always Darkest Before Dawn(1)

Spring came earlier than expected that year, thawing the ice that had the rivers in time and turning the fields snow had painted white back to their rich green.
The first flowers broke the hardened earth and fresh leaves started to show on the naked branches of the trees.
It was the time of new beginnings and beauty but this year there was no time to notice the beauty of the new life returning to the lands.

Death loomed over them like a dark cloud, drowning out the sunlight and leaving them cold and in darkness.

When Sihtric looked around he could see it in the men's faces.
He could see the fear and the uncertainty. Many of these men had just begun their last journey, he was sure of it. They would never return to their families, never see their children grow up, never drink with their friends again and he hoped that one day they would be reunited with their loved ones wherever they might go when their journey in Midgard was over, whether they would enter Valhalla, Odin's corpse hall or be chosen to go to Folkvangr, Freya's fields. Maybe they would even go to the Christian heaven Finan had told him about.

The Dane felt a hand on his own, drawing his attention away from the thoughts clouding his mind.
It was Finan, of course.
The Irishman smiled, giving his hand a small squeeze before letting go again and spurring his horse on to catch up to Uhtred.
Sihtric sighed, his heart heavy with worry as he returned to his thoughts. Could he even hope to be reunited with the one he loved?
Finan was a Christian and even though he knew countless pagan tales and never went to prayer with the other Christians, he was as loyal to his God as Sihtric was to his.

But he could not lose Finan, especially not yet.
They had hardly had the chance to spend time together lately, with Finan in his role as Uhtred's second in command working to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible. Sihtric had struggled with that a lot especially when Finan had been gone for nearly a week to gather their remaining men who had chosen to stay with their families over the winter rather than staying in Eoferwic.

But Sihtric had managed. Somehow.
Before he had left, Finan had gifted him something. A talisman of sorts from what he understood.
It had been passed down to Finan from his grandmother who had also taught him the tales Sihtric had come to love in the short time he had known the Irishman.
"It will protect you", Finan had said as he had separated the talisman from the cross that had hidden it all this time.
He had taken a thread and woven it through the amulet before tying it at the back of Sihtric's neck so it would rest above Thor's hammer.

Sihtric sighed, reaching for the amulet to take a look at it again. It was a delicate thing, made from the same material as Finan's cross.
He ran his thumb over the complicated engravings that decorated each line before he tucked it under his armor again, where it was close to his heart.
He had survived on his own, had battled his fears on his own but he had known that Finan would return to him then.
Knowing that they would never be reunited, not even in death, would be unbearable. He simply could not lose Finan too.
Sihtric frowned, reaching into his pocket to feel the small wooden necklace there.

The sun was about to set when they made camp for the last, time before they would reach their destination well into the next day.
They were close enough to Dunholm to see the impressive stronghold where it sat on a mountaintop, but far enough to remain unseen by Kjartan's spies at least for now even though Sihtric was sure that his father already knew they were coming.

The Dane sighed, patting his Mani's neck with a soft sigh.
Mani was Sihtric's horse, a gift from Tekill, his master.
Mani's mother had died when he had still been a foal and with his left eye blue and milky, clearly blind, he would have been left to die. But  Sihtric had refused to give up on the midnight black stallion. He had just lost his mother and Mani had reminded him of himself so he had shared what little food he had gotten with the horse and had made sure he would live.
He had named him Mani, like the moon that always brought him comfort.