Lochlainneach

Ragnarök

Day 129 on Hy-Brasil

I had only been gone an hour, if even that, but that was all it took for the kingdom of Fortriu to be levelled to the ground. Homes that had been standing when I had left to go foraging in the woods had been knocked down, flames still eating away at the caved-in thatched roofs. Men, women, and even children that I had greeted, waved to, exchanged kind words with hardly an hour before lay dead, scattered about the land as if it were a battlefield. Columns of smoke emanated from towers, homes, tents, even people... Who could have done this in an hour?

"What are ye doin'?" a voice hissed at me, and I felt a firm grip on my wrist as I was dragged into the bushes, finding myself face to face with a dirtied and bloodied Cuilén mac Fólais. "Do ye want them te find ye?"

"Cuilén! What's happened? Who did this?" I asked Cuilén, but he shook his head.

"Who do ye think?" he asked firmly. "I'll explain more in a bit. Come wi' me. Yer husband's frantic searchin' fer ye."

"Jamie?" I asked, letting out a gasp of relief at knowing he was still alive. I followed Cuilén through the woods, eventually being led into a thicket of coarse bushes. Eventually, underneath the brush, we came to an entrance to a cave of some sort, and Cuilén pushed aside the vines that concealed it to let me in. I entered the cave, which was dark and musky, save for some lit torches that some of the surviving men were holding.

"Catrìona!" I heard my name called, and I was blindsided by a brute force throwing its arms around me and lifting me off of my feet. "Thank Christ yer all right!"

"Jamie?" I asked the figure, who pulled back. As my eyes adjusted, I realised I was looking into the dirtied and also bloodied face of my husband, who pressed his forehead against mine.

"Thank Christ yer safe," he said to me quietly.

"Cat?" I heard my name called again - Cailean, this time. "Cat! Thank God ye werenae in the village!" I was pulled into yet another embrace, this time by my brother.

"What on earth happened?" I asked the two of them, trying to make out their faces in the darkness.

"It... it was the Valkyries," Jamie said after a moment. "They came, started attackin' the village..."

"And once they were finished... the fae came," said Cailean.

"The fae?" I asked.

"Aye," I heard Jamie say. "I didnae see them, neither, really, did anyone else, but when the Valkyries were busy burnin' the village, the fae came and... started attackin' them ."

"Them? Ye mean the Valkyries?" I asked.

"It was Herja," I heard Freyja's voice say from the darkness. "She called upon the Dökkálfar to attack the Valkyries. She turned against her own people."

"The Valkyries? Are they..." I started, but I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Some of us have lived," I heard Vekneira's voice say from near her.

"Vekneira?" I said with surprise, trying to see the tall, dark-haired giantess in the darkness of the cave. I could make out her silhouette, which was much larger than the rest of the people around her, and on the ground beside her, I could see another figure, who let out a moan. "Is that... Lovisa?"

"Lovisa is injured," said Freyja.

"Save her, like you did before," I heard Vekneira say.

"I have herbs, if they will help," I heard a third Viking voice - Alruna - say.