Fault (Book 1 of the Vikings Series)

Chapter 35

Vern

For five days, all I do is mope around the small cell. There isn’t anything to do and all I can think about is my hands that have long since bled through the pathetic amount of bandages they’d given me. A few days ago, I’d woken up to a small bucket of water and some bread sitting in the corner of my cell. Other than that, there had been nothing since the Princess had left. I lean against the bars taking another sip of water from the now almost empty bucket.
A face suddenly fills the gap by the ceiling. Mikael stares down at me.
“You still alive?” he asks.
“By default,” I answer.
“Good,” Mikael says with fake enthusiasm. “We have a problem with one of the villages. Rasmus thinks you’re going to be our savior.”
“Maybe he should’ve thought about that before he let you destroy my hands.”
“Do you want to get out of the Rot or not?”
I nod my head. Mikael leaves the window and opens my cell moments later. I stand at the back of the cell. Mikael makes no move to tie me up and starts walking towards the door.
“Why do you trust me not to run?” I ask, following him.
“You aren’t dumb enough to run.”
We walk out into the afternoon sun. I blink my eyes rapidly in the bright light. Mikael walks ahead of me and I reach to push the door of the Rot closed. As I do, my hand screams with pain. I jog a few steps to catch up to the warrior. I hold my hands out in front of me.
“A healer is waiting for us in the great hall,” Mikael answers, reading my thoughts. “I have to admit, I’m disappointed by your reaction.”
“I didn’t scream loud enough for you?” I ask bitterly.
“Hardly.”
I grin, satisfied with his disgust. 
Sure enough, a healer is waiting for us in the great hall. She quickly rewraps my hands, coving my wound with some kind of sticky salve. I thank her and stand up as Rasmus walks into the hall.
“I told you to punish him, not incapacitate him.” Rasmus scolds Mikael, though he barely looks up at the two of us.
“we have bigger problems. You asked for him and here he is,” Mikael steps forward. “What did the messenger tell you that was so important?”
“The North Village was attacked yesterday. They held them back but they are camping nearby, probably getting ready for a new strike. The village is mostly farmers. They shouldn’t be fighting.”
“So you send reinforcements,” I shrug.
Mikael smacks me on the back of the head.
“Shut up!” Mikael hisses. Rasmus shoots him a glare.
“Out of the three of us, you’re the one that isn’t needed Mikael.”
Mikael takes a deep breathe, returning to his silence.
“In order to make it to them within the day, we’d need to use the channel.”
He looks at me like this somehow changes things.
“I’d like you to lead a group of troops through the countryside,” Rasmus says. He spreads out a map in front of us.
“They’d never make it in time,” Mikael shakes his head.
“If we sail through the channel, we’d barely make it. Those are rough seas,” I respond.
Rasmus shares at both of us. For the first time since I’d met the King, I see true fear in his eyes.
“Is it worth losing the village to keep peace with the Saxons?” I ask. “It doesn’t even seem like a truce that benefits you.”
“We can’t have a war with the Saxons. Our people do not wish to fight.”
“Rasmus, you know I’d stand by your side but we cannot lose the North village. A quarter of our food is stored there,” Mikael interrupts.
The King shakes his head. “This doesn’t seem like something the gods would want us to do.”
“The gods told you I would help, yes?” I ask.
Rasmus nods his head.
“This is the help I would offer. Let me take a ship of archers through the channel to clear the way. I doubt they’ve had the time to send many ships. We get some ships through and protect the village. We will be back before the Saxons even realize what happened. You say your people don’t want to fight. The fight is already here. Leaving this village without warriors is like leaving them for death.”
“Vern is right,” Mikael agrees. “The Saxons also wouldn’t have anyone to prove it was us if the job is done right.”
Within the hour, four ships set off in the direction of the North Village.
Mikael commands the lead ship which is full of warriors. Most of them stare out to sea, bows in hand. Before we had left, Mikael had reluctantly returned my bow and quiver.
I hold my weapon in my finger tips, knowing that if I need to use it, it’ll be extremely painful. Nevertheless, any alternative would be worse.
I walk towards the bow, looking out over the open seas. Up ahead, two mountains rise up towards the heavens. In between them, a small body of water provides our passage to the village. I glance up at Mikael whose gaze is fixed straight ahead. This was it.
I pull myself up into the rigging, using my elbows rather than shredding my barely healed hands. From here, I have a better view of the channel.
Please, just let it be empty.
I squint to get a better look at the pass. Three ships sit anchored in the valley.
I look down to the deck and see everyone else looking ahead, also. Mikael glances up at me. He gives me a small nod.
We sail closer and closer until all the ships are in perfect view. A small group of soldiers stands armed on the deck, waiting for a fight but it’s far less than needed to secure a channel this size. The Saxons obviously hadn’t expected us to break the agreement.
Behind us, our fleet slows, waiting for us to clear the way.
Every warrior on board waits for the signal to start shooting. A war horn is sounded on one of the Saxon ships but no one flinches.
“Now,” Mikael says, just loud enough for the message to be heard.
The arrows begin to fly at all of the enemy ships. The soldiers on board begin to fall. A few weapons are sent flying in our direction but it does little to slow our force. One by one, the ships are fired upon. More soldiers come up on deck but they’re taken down before they understand what’s happening.
I look down onto the first ship that is now completely lifeless. All of the other warriors move onto shooting at the other ships.
A small trapdoor opens on the ravaged ship and a familiar face pokes out. I recognize the woman immediately. It’s the princess.
She’s close enough for an easy shot, even with my injuries. Slowly, I pull an arrow out of my quiver. The end is wrapped in dry cloth, meant to be sent as a flaming weapon.
I load it onto my draw string, ignoring the pain in my palm as I grasp the smooth bow. I aim down at the princess who looks over her ship in horror. Taking a breath, I pull the arrow back but freeze.
Suddenly I change my mind and strike the arrow onto a metal brace of the mast. The cloth lights and I shoot it into her boat. It hits the deck a few feet away from her. I can’t kill her. Not after what she’d done for me in Fagerhult. May the gods be merciful to her.
The small battle is quickly finished and the group of ships sail into the harbor of the North Village by sundown. We’re welcomed by the Earl and led into different dwellings. Mikael and I are brought into the Earl’s home where a meal is served.
I go sleep that night thinking about how much this place reminds me of home. There isn’t much in this world I wouldn’t give up to be back in Havredal right now.

I wake up before dawn to several shouts. A war horn is sounded followed by several other blasts of sound. Mikael jerks upright on the other side of the fire. We’re both out the door in a matter of seconds. I grip my bow in one hand and load an arrow with the other. By the time we make it down to the harbor, the fight has already broken out. A large group of foreigners push the villagers back but so far, no one from Fagerhult has joined the battle.
“Where are your warriors?” I ask.
Mikael points back towards the village.
“Waiting.”
Seconds later, another horn sounds and more shouts fill the village. A group of twenty of our warriors rush towards us. Mikael disappears into the mess of Vikings. Several other waves of warriors sprint into the fighting. I run behind another building, heading for the docks. The enemies fall back immediately, greatly outnumbered.