Fault (Book 1 of the Vikings Series)

Chapter 32

Vern

The arrow is raised once again. The King walks away from us.  I see it in Mikael’s eyes. He’s going to kill me.
“Wait!” I scramble backwards. “Vern Herreinn!”
Rasmus turns back slowly.
“Stop,” Rasmus tells Mikael. Mikael drops the arrow, groaning in frustration.
“Sir, the Saxons will be here before dusk. Can we please finish this?” Mikael protests.
“Stand up,” Rasmus orders. I obey. “Vern will not be dying tonight, as much as this displeases you. Go back to the fjord, Mikael.”
The warrior storms off and I stand wide-eyed, staring at Rasmus. I try to wipe away some of the blood from my face with my sleeve.
“If it weren’t for the gods, I would let him slit your throat.”
As thankful as I am for this decision, I can’t help but question it. I’ve only heard that name from one person, and that was the seer.
“How do you know of my name?”
Rasmus glances around, making sure we are alone. He starts walking in the direction Mikael had gone. The king motions for me to follow.
“Tell me. Why are you so special that the gods would tell me your name?”
“Who told you this?” I ask.
“How else? A seer. Now tell me, what makes you so important?”
I struggle for something I can tell him. Rasmus picks up on my silence. He turns to me.
“You aren’t very good at selling yourself. Or you know better than to make yourself sound like a foolish child.”
“I’ve only been told that name one time. From a seer in Antrapar,” I admit.
Rasmus looks me over.
“I was made a promise that you would come. The prophecy I’ve been given is that you’ll help us.”
“How?” I ask.
“I don’t know. But for the sake of everyone in Fagerhult, I hope we find out soon.”

~~

Elin

I walk along the outside of our camp in the dawn light. Small fires dot the cove where we’d landed the previous afternoon. A few other warriors walk around the perimeter, keeping watch over the sleeping camp. So far, the terrain looks completely untouched but looks can be deceiving. Not to mention the smoke our fires are putting off could be leading anyone for miles straight towards us. One of the scouts starts walking straight towards me.
“The Keepers asked for you,” the girl reports. I nod my head and start walking towards the camp. Silently, I weave my way through the mess of tents and sleeping people. Finally, I find Kori and her brothers siting under a small canopy. They all look up when I approach.
“You were on watch all night?” Maverick asks.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
Kori and Maverick exchange a glance.
“When are we going to move towards the village?” I ask.
“Later,” Max says, now joining his siblings in giving me a worried stare.
Kori stands. “Can I talk to you?”
“I thought that’s what we were doing?”
Kori leads me away from the quiet camp into the forest. Finally, she stops and turns to me.
“You can’t do this. Not on Raid.”
“Why does it matter what I’m doing?”
“Elin, you don’t get it!” Kori shakes her head, looking off into the woods. “It takes everything you’ve got to survive out here. You haven’t eaten. You haven’t slept. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“I’m not going to die.”
“Elin, if you get hurt, Thorgar isn’t going to be happy.”
“Aren’t you listening,” I snap. “I’m not going to get hurt!”
“It’s okay to miss Vern. All we’re saying is that maybe you shouldn’t fight today.”
“I don’t care about Vern! Not anymore!” I yell, louder than I should’ve.
“I don’t need you acting like my mother,” I hiss.
Kori purses her lips and backs off.
“Alright. Sorry. Start waking everybody up. We leave as soon as everyone’s awake.”

About an hour later, we’re hiking up a slope, shields in hand. The forest is so peaceful, it almost seems wrong to be so armed. Things were about to change though. Kori motions for us to slow down. She crouches low and peers over the edge of the ridge. I move to her side and get my first good look at the small village. It’s set in the center of a valley, its small buildings dotting the area. For the most part, the village is quiet. Only a few people mill around and none of them look like fighters.
“Ok, everybody knows the plan?” Kori asks the small group of warriors huddled around us.
“Um, fight and don’t die?” Welch asks.
“How about shut up and wait for the signal?” Another one of the warriors asks.
A few laughs fill the group but for the most part we’re all too nervous to find anything funny. 
I pull myself further towards the ledge, looking out over the harbor. One of our ships sails in, just now catching the attention of some of the villagers.
“Do you still have it?” Kori whispers to Welch. He nods, holding up a rolled up piece of parchment.
“Good. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
Welch tucks it back into his sword belt.
Down at the village, the first war horn is sounded and shouts echo up the valley. Kori is the first to lower herself over the ledge onto the grassy slope below. As we run, the first warriors jump off of the ships and face off against the defenders. Even from here, I can see that the group of villagers are quickly being pushed back and that’s without the second half of our force. We sneak into the first row of houses being careful not to be seen. From here, I have a better view of the fighting. Even with just a quick glance, I can already see a sizable number of bodies on the ground. It stops me in my tracks.
The last time I had fought on raid it had been with Vern and I hadn’t ever fought in the shield wall. This was different. It was a first for all of us. Whether we survived or not didn’t depend on whether or not the older warriors kept us alive, it was on us and by the looks of things, this was just a preview of the next few weeks.
I don’t realize that I’ve stopped.
“Elin!” Someone screams my name.
I see the older man just as he springs from behind one of the buildings, sword coming towards me fast. I throw up my shield and am knocked to the side from the momentum. After a single roll, I’m back on my feet.
He swings again and I duck under the blade, swinging low. The weight of the hilt propels the weapon, even after it strikes the man’s flesh. He staggers back, falling to the ground.
I can’t help but stare at him for a moment. It does not matter how many times I’ve sparred with someone or even fought in a duel. This was the real thing. This was what I have wanted for for so long. 
Someone runs behind me and I recognize it to be Maverick.
“Elin, what are you doing?”
Maverick steps around me and plunges his sword into the man’s stomach.
“Why did you do that?” I ask.
“He can’t walk anymore. Leaving him alive would make you a coward.”
Maverick doesn’t even look back at the body and is already gone. It takes every ounce of my pride to follow him, leaving the body lying in the streets.
The line of warriors still fights at the harbor and I follow my cousin to join them. A younger woman, about my age comes rushing towards me with an axe.
She swings it towards me and I block it up, slashing my sword through her middle in the same motion.
Blood sprays against my boots. I fend off several more attacks, purposefully not keeping track of how many times my sword hits flesh. Just stay alive, I tell myself.
A horn blasts behind us and we all duck under our shields like the Keepers had instructed.
Another woman’s voice rises alongside the horn and all of the villagers drop their weapons. I stand slowly and realize that it was Welch who had blown the horn. Beside him stands an older woman and Kori.
“Search the buildings and meet outside the large home!” Kori shouts.
Max and Maverick emerge from the crowd of people. I follow behind them, cautiously sheathing my sword.
The woman looks pale, carefully surveying the harbor’s bloodbath.
“Take us to the meeting place,” Maverick demands.
She obeys, turning down one of the dusty streets. We walk into their great hall.
The group spreads out, instantly searching through the trinkets for anything of value. I glance along one of the wooden bookshelves. A small pouch sits in a bronze chalice. I pick it up and stuff it into the pocket of my vest.
The sound of wood scraping on the floor distracts me. Max pulls a chair out and sits down, propping his feet up on the wooden table.
“Please spare the village. Take what you want, just don’t destroy everything,” the woman begs. “The men are out on Raid. We won’t have time to rebuild.”
Max laughs. “You think that’s a possibility?”
She glares at him. “You know nothing of what this village has gone through.”
“It took you two full minutes to surrender. Those dead people are on you,” Kori says, still rummaging through a chest of valuables.
 “Maybe if things had been different, we could’ve negotiated,” Maverick reasons.
“Ha, as if. I know who you are, all of you. You’re from Antrapar. You expect me to lead all these people back to that dictatorship?” the woman questions.
“What’s she talking about?” I whisper to Welch who stands beside me, watching the Keepers interact with the woman who I guess to be their acting chief.
“You ever wonder how Antrapar has so many warriors? Don’t worry, all we have are three more battles. Then it’s back to Antrapar,” Welch says in a quiet voice. Kori motions him over and he hands her the map.
“Alright, we’re done here,” Maverick says.
Max lazily stands up and walks out of the dwelling followed by his sister.
I take a quick glance at the map and see that only two points are labeled; this village and Antrapar. The woman gives me a nasty glare and I flee the home before she can say anything. Outside, all of our warriors stand with what we’re taking.
“Load the boats!” Maverick commands. “We’re done here.”
I pick up a large crate and start moving towards the harbor. I pass off the box into the boat and climb in behind it, helping them stack everything around the mast. Finally, Max and Maverick walk down the docks, climbing into the longboat.
“Alright, everybody on shore for the burn.”
The burn? I look around, expecting at least a couple other people to be confused by the term. No one is, however. They all climb back onto the dock, heading towards the village.
I start walking across of the deck but Maverick catches my arm.
“Not you. You’re staying with us.”
I nod, too excited to get away from this village to care about being treated differently. After helping Max drop the sails, I walk to the bow and lean against the large scroll, staring out over the water towards the village. We float out in the middle of the harbor, watching two groups leave the city. On the left is the group of warriors and on the right are the remaining villagers. Suddenly, torches begin to light in the midst of our warriors. The flame glows bright. It begins to spread along the ground towards the buildings.
“They burn the village?” I whirl on Max.
“What’d you think ‘the Burn’ meant? Flowers and blue skies?”
“Why do you burn the village?” I shout. Maverick purposefully avoids my gaze. He knew I wouldn’t be happy. That’s why I was on this boat to begin with.
“Why?!” I demand.
“Thorgar’s orders!” Maverick responds.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Call it a wild guess that we knew you were going to do this,” Max shrugs.
I shake my head and stare back at the village that’s now hallway engulfed in flames. That explains the map to Antrapar. This was Thorgar’s twisted plan. Have us go around burning entire villages for the sake of building his empire. This isn’t how Raid is supposed to be. This isn’t how any society should be built up. My heart sinks as I realize who I sound like. Singrid. She’d warned me about this.