Fault (Book 1 of the Vikings Series)

Chapter 14

Vern
I take a deep breath and shout into the alley again.
“Elin!” I yell, probably louder than I should considering the circumstances. My throat already hurts from a long day at the helm, but this was a new type of emotion that throws my thoughts beyond any agony of pain.
“Elin!!” I yell again.
It’s no use. They’re already long gone. Slowly, I push myself to my feet and struggle my way back to the busy streets full of their own shouting. Every step is a small battle won. No matter what my head wills my body to do, the pain the attackers had inflicted still clouds my head.
I stagger down the docks and pull myself up the gangway into the flagship. Tarben and my father approach immediately.
“What news is there?”
I’m fully aware that answering this question puts more than my reputation at risk. When I had agreed to keep Elin’s secret, I had more or less excepted that this fate was coming for me. Now, however, looking Tarben in the eyes is something I can barely handle regardless of my feelings for Elin.
“My Chief, I’m afraid I’ve committed an act of the worst treason,” I admit. A confused look is shared by both my father and Tarben. “Elin was on the island. But she was taken, and I couldn’t stop them.”
“What do you mean?” Tarben growls. “Singrid would never let Elin out of Havredal.”
I take a deep breath, trying to rid the knot that’s been forming in my stomach.
Östen suddenly puts all the pieces together and gasps.
“Singrid is looking for Elin,” he whispers.
Tarben suddenly turns on me. The larger man grabs the cloth of my cloak in his hand and slams my back into the railing of the ship.
“How long have you known my daughter was aboard our ships?” he hisses. Tarben’s face is now contorted with rage. He pushes me back further into a painful position.
“A few weeks,” I admit. Tarben yanks me to the side and I stumble across the deck.
“You useless child!” he yells. Tarben lowers his voice. “The only reason you’re still currently alive is because of a debt I owe your father. That debt may not cover your neck for much longer unless you tell me everything you know about where Elin is.”
“They said they were taking her to Antrapar.”
Tarben’s face loses all color.
“Tarben,” Östen cautions. “We cannot go to Antrapar.”
Tarben faces him. “I can’t very well let both Elin and Singrid end up in Thorgar’s hands. He’ll happily kill both of them out of vengeance.”
“Even Thorgar has more love for his children than that,” Östen objects.
Tarben still doesn’t seem convinced.
“Welch!” he bellows. My friend approaches immediately. “Take Vern down to the brig.”
His eyes widen.
“What the heck did you do??” he asks when we are below deck.
“Keep quiet or you’ll be with me,” I whisper.
“Elin?” Welch questions. I nod my head.
“Don’t say anything about her. Nothing. Something really strange is happening and to be honest, I don’t know who to trust.”
Welch chuckles.
“Who to trust? Do you hear yourself?” he mocks.
“This isn’t a joke,” I grumble. “She’s in trouble. And so is everyone else.”
Welch rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, Vern.”
He opens the small door that leads into the brig.
“Welch, listen to me. Please,” I beg. He sighs and crosses his arms, waiting for an explanation.
“Elin got taken by a group of men. They had no interest in her until she told them her name and where we were from. They said they needed her alive and were taking her to Antrapar for some kind of payment,” I explain. Welch scoffs.
“I know you’re not going to like the sound of this but, if Antrapar is anything like Gamgin, they probably just took her as soon as they found out she was a girl.”
“No! This isn’t like that. They had to have know she was here tonight.”
“I’m starting to think that you should be locked up. Are you sure you didn’t just hit your head?” Welch wonders. I clench my fists.
“Welch if you don’t-”
“Vern, calm down. You don’t think I care about her too? We all grew up together for Odin’s sake, not just you. I’ll do what I can but right now, you need to relax. Okay?”
I sigh in submission and willfully walk into my cell.
As soon as the door closes, someone moves in the corner.
“Who’s there?” I squint in the dim light. A smallish girl with brown hair emerges into the dim light. “You’re the girl from Gamgin,” I recognize her.
“Lyric,” she introduces herself.
“What are you doing down here? I didn’t know we took anyone from there.”
She shrugs. “I’m not really sure. Gunnar promised to keep me safe. Evidently this is the only way.” The girl climbs atop a large crate and sits cross-legged a few feet away. “But you don’t care.”
I start to protest but she just shoots me a smug look.
“The men that took Elin. What did their leader look like?”
“Why would that-”
“Stop avoiding questions! This is important.”
“I have no reason to trust you!” I snap.
“And you yourself said you don’t know who to trust. If you don’t trust Tarben than you mine as well hear what I have to say!” Lyric responds sternly.
I run a hand through my overly shaggy hair and take a deep breath, trying to remember what the men had looked like in the alley.
“Uh, black hair, long scar, maybe a couple piercings.” I picture him in my head and a chill runs up my spine. The thought of Elin being trapped somewhere by him makes me sick.
“His name is Ishtar. He visited our village the day before you all showed up,” Lyric says.
“Why?”
“He was following someone. Ishtar talked to the chief and left within a couple hours,” she shrugs.
“What else do you know of Ishtar?” I press.
“Um.. All he cares about is money. He works for Thorgar. Crossing him would be suicide, but you already know that.”
I interrupt Lyric before she can continue. “Ishtar works for Thorgar?”
She nods. My eyes widen.

Elin was right. And because of Tarben, the rest of us had been too clueless to protect her. And somehow, Ishtar had known how to find her first.

A/N: So I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I can't explain how needed this second perspective was! As usual, please vote if you're liking Fault so far!