Broken Souls (Book 1 of Seasons of the Cycle)

Chapter 68 - Bothvar Beorcolsson

Morning arrives, and I feel like someone is beating my skull with a hammer. I don't remember drinking all that much after the first mug of mead, other than eating those mushrooms. Speaking of which, I have to... I rush out into the woods and take care of business. Too much business.

The shrooms I ate are nothing like the glowing ones in the cave. Not at all. The glowing ones don't make you feel as if your stomach is brewing some witch concoction in the morning. The glow shrooms make me feel much better and more alive. Heightened in a way. The ones I ate last night made me feel as if I was wandering through Niflheim half dead. I don't think I'll eat those ever again.

I head back to camp after finishing my business to find my father up around a fire. I take a seat next to him. "Father, good morning."

"You as well, my son. You want to talk about last night?" he asks.

"What about last night do I need to talk about?" I ask.

"Well, I heard about a fight with another crew... One particular crew."

"Grom? He had it coming," I say.

"Perhaps he did. I sure got an earful. He and Thrain want you to be punished for it," father says.

"Punished for bringing justice? He stole someone else's property and abused it. Not just anyone's property, but Scyra, the Queen's daughter's slave. I caught him raping the girl," I say. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. The memory of Arngunn's face still haunts me.

"This I didn't know. That certainly changes things. If that is true, I'll have to talk to Eawyn and apologize to Scyra, and then I will have a nice chat with Gorm..." He strokes his beard and I can tell he's angry as he tugs it.

"Father, may I ask a favor?" I ask as my mother joins us. I nod at her. "Good morning, mother."

"Good morning, my son," she says with a smile as she snuggles up next to father. "I hear you had quite the night last night."

I shrug as my father looks up at me and shrugs, too. "What is your favor?"

"Scyra has been in contact with a particular yeti I befriended. She invited me to meet with the yeti woman I knew as Blue-Eyes, whose actual name is apparently Shuli," I made the hand gesture as I said her name.

"And what exactly is your favor?" he asks.

"I'd like the whole family to meet her. She'd love to meet you all," I say.

"I think that sounds like a lovely idea," mother says. Father doesn't seem too convinced, but if mother says yes, then that is that.

"I suppose. How long will this take?" father asks.

"Shouldn't take too long. Their conclave is right by those mountains directly to the east of here. Wouldn't even take the morning to go there and back."

My father nods. "Very well. We will go."

I nod and smile. "Thank you. Make sure to tell everyone to bring gifts."

He nods. "Now go get your siblings up and we'll start breaking camp."

Without another word, I grab a metal pot and a big ladle before heading over to Bodvar and Thormar's tent, bursting in to find the two snoring. Bodvar on Thormar's bed and Thormar on the floor. I start beating on the pot. "Time to wake up."

"Urhh... No, it's not," Bodvar says, grabbing his pillow a covering his ears to block out the sound.

Thormar shoots up from the floor. "What's going on?"

"It's time for you to get up, little brother. And get Bodvar up without getting into a fight."

I leave their tent and head over to the women's tent, before banging on the pot outside. I'm not stupid enough to go inside. Aunt Sigvor pushes her head out of the tent flap and snarls at me. "Will you stop that!"