Fault (Book 1 of the Vikings Series)

Chapter 36

Elin

More and more warriors flood into the harbor and I back up, trying to stay beside Max.
A younger man rushes towards me, axe in hand. At the same time, someone else joins him in the attack. I jump backwards, avoiding the first strike of the heavy axe. I block away the other attackers swing with my sword. The next strike sends me stumbling backwards. Max jumps in from the side, distracting the man with the axe. I leap forwards towards the warrior. He swings his sword down and I hit his arm with the side of my shield, plunging my sword into his side with the other hand.
Even in the torchlight, this bloodbath is worse than anything we’ve seen so far.
Maverick blows the war horn two times, back to back.
“Retreat!!” Max shouts, grabbing my arm. He yanks me away from the fighting towards the woods where Kori and Welch would be waiting.
I sprint through the streets, huddled behind my shield. Arrows rain around us. This wasn't a battle, it was an ambush. Two people run on either side of me, Max and one of our scouts. They both hold their own shields up, boxing us into relative cover as we run for the trees. An arrow flies past me and the scout stumbles to the ground, clutching her leg. Max and I both skid to a stop, trying to urge her forwards. She doesn't move. Another arrow hits my shield with a loud thunk and I push myself towards the stone wall.
"Elin, get out of here!" Max shouts. My cousin wraps an arm under the injured girl's shoulders and tries to yank her forwards. In the split second he lacks the protection of his shield, one of the archers finds a opening. An arrow hits Max in the side. He rips it out, still struggling to help the girl. Blood starts to pour from his wound. Another arrow hits him, this one in his thigh. The archers are relentless and refuse to give up until Max falls to the ground. I crawl towards him, hiding behind my only protection. His eye are wide and his breathing is quick but incredibly struggled.
"Get out of here!" Max gasps frantically.
"I'm not leaving you." Another arrow hits my shield, the arrowhead just barely poking through my side of the wood.
Max somehow manages a quirky grin. He claws at the buckle of his sword belt, tearing the weapon away from his waist.
"Bring it back to them," he struggles through the words.
"Please," Max whispers. I grab the sword in my hand, holding it up so he can see it. He seems to relax. I slip the weapon into my belt.
"Go."
Max uses his last bit of strength to push me away from him. I scramble to my feet, once again sprinting through the streets. The running is much harder now. I take one last look down the passageway and can just barely see my cousin's body. I jerk my head back towards the woods, knowing if I stare too long I won't be able to keep going.
I run into the woods and am almost immediately grabbed by strong hands. I don't put up much of a fight.
"Let her go! It's just Elin," a voice hisses. I'm released and I crumble to my knees. Looking up, I can just barely see Welch and Kori looking down at me. They both mirror the same questioning look.
"What happened?" Kori asks, kneeling by my side.
"It was an ambush. Maverick told us to retreat," I stammer.
They exchange a glance.
“We should get out of here,” Welch says, offering me a hand. I stand up, barely keeping it together. Kori stares back into the village. More of our friends find their way to the woods.
“Where are they?” She asks, mostly to herself.
I step forwards, slowly. I pull her brother’s sword from my belt, holding it out. She finally notices me and sucks in a quick breathe. Tears start to form in the corner of her eyes but she blinks them away. Her gaze returns to the village. Welch takes the sword from my hands and moves to stand beside Kori.
“We should go,” Kori says evenly.
Welch offers her the sword.
Kori stares at it for a few moments as if it isn’t real. She swallows hard.
“Keep it,” Kori whispers, her voice breaking ever so slightly. “Please.”
Welch nods and just like that, leader Kori is back.
She walks further into the woods where most of our warriors are waiting, some in worse condition than others. Kori gets them all moving back towards our camp with a few short commands. She leads the group, eager to get as far away from this place as possible.
Welch doesn’t follow her.
“Where is he?” My friends asks.
“Welch, he’s dead. Trust me.”
“Where is he?” Welch asks again.
“He was down there,” I point.
Welch groans. “Could you be more specific?”
My mouth drops as I realize what he’s trying to do. I grab Welch’s arm. “Welch, he’s dead! There are hundreds of warriors in there.”
“Elin, you know it’s not fair to leave Kori without either of her brothers to bury.”
“If you die too it will be worse for all of us! Besides, we don’t know that Maverick is dead.”
Welch looks down at me for a moment before pulling his arm from my grasp. He starts running back towards the village.
I run behind him, keeping my shield up.
“You shouldn’t come with me!” Welch protests.
“You don’t know where the body is,” I reply.
I lead him back the way I had come until the crumpled form of Max comes into view. It seems most of the warriors have left this side of the city. Probably just now focusing on their growing fire problem that seems to be spreading by the heavy smell of smoke in the air.
I stare down at Max. His skin is pale, eyes open wide, eternally stuck in that moment of death. I kneel beside him as Welch does a quick scan to make sure we’re alone. With shaking fingers, I slide Max’s eyes closed. His skin is cold under my touch.
“Come on.” Welch nudges me to the side, hoisting the lifeless body onto his back. I sheath my sword and grab my friend’s shield, following behind him as we head back to the woods. I watch behind us, just now seeing the glow of fire near the harbor.
Was it worth it to Thorgar? To have these villages burnt to the ground at the loss of what little family is loyal to him. Anger boils up inside me. This was what Singrid had worked so hard to keep me away from. I’d left them, my entire family, for this. The thought makes my stomach tighten.
By the time we reach the crest of the hill on our way to the camp, both Welch and I are ready for a break. He lays Max on the ground and quickly turns away from the body. My stare is frozen on the lifeless body. I drop to my knees over my friend. This was Max. Funny, sarcastic, always there, Max. For the first time since I’d been on Raid, a tear slides down my cheek. The worst part of all of it is that I can’t look away. This was only the start of what I’ve lost. For once, could I just get something back? Just one thing. Was that too much to ask?
“Hey. Elin,” a voice interrupts my thoughts. I don’t look away from Max. I can’t.
A hand gently turns my head away from the body.
Welch sits in the grass beside me. He looks down at me, his expression void of pity. I rest my forehead against his shoulder.
“How do I keep doing this?” I mumble into the fabric of his sleeve.
“I don’t know,” Welch admits. I glance up at him, amused by his answer.
“You can’t come up with anything?” I ask through my tears. Welch shrugs, a grin spreading across his face.
“Vern was always around for the pep talks. Even Briar could do them. I just can’t. This sucks. I don’t think we could be further from home. Who knows how many people we just lost. What makes it worse is that I think they just died to prove a point. On top of that, I don’t even know what point we were making.”
Somehow, his pathetic speech actually fills me with a small amount of hope.
“Does it prove that I’m insane if I say that made me feel better?”
Welch scoffs. “Probably.”
I rub my face, trying to wipe away the tears. It wasn’t that my life was any less terrible then he had said, it was just the fact that someone else knew what I was going through. Welch had lost his home and friends, too. All I wanted to do was be home right now and hope that by some miracle, Vern and Briar were there waiting for us.
“How do we go back to Antrapar after this?”
Welch shakes his head.
“Same way you’ve done everything.”
I glance over at Max.
“He’s in Valhalla living a better life?”
“Fighting in Odin’s hall.”
Welch stands up, offering me a hand. He pulls me to my feet.
“I think it’s safe to say we’re the unlucky ones,” another voice joins us. I whirl around to see Maverick limping towards us. His eyes fall over the body of his brother and he stops. Maverick kneels beside Max. He bows his head.
“He always said he would beat me to Valhalla. Looks like he was right,” Maverick says quietly.
Tears flood from my eyes once again.