After-Life

Chapter 10. Setting the Scene

The taxi journey back to the hotel went by in a bit of a blur. Kristoph couldn't shake the nervous knot in his stomach as he struggled to envision an outcome of this scenario which didn't see Adrian and the rest of the band kicking him out of the line-up, for collaborating with the idiocy that made up Mabel's plan. As they got to the hotel's carpark, the first sight that Kristoph saw was a highly confused Adrian Smyth desperately trying to converse with Bo and his "kin". Kristoph stopped short, the colour draining from his face.

"I thought kin meant family," he groaned as he dragged his hands down his face, causing his features to look even more drawn and exhausted.
"In Thet's defense, kin can mean like-minded individuals. Also, he did say that Bo and his kin were set to enter battle, once upon a time;" try as she might, even Mabel couldn't hide the slight rise in tone to her voice, betraying the growing levels of disbelief in Thet's decision-making capabilities.
Kristoph shook his head, "I thought a handful meant like, ten people? Mab, there's got to be at least fifty Vikings here!"

Mabel was too busy chewing on her bottom lip, nervously, to respond. They needed to have a long chat with Thet to determine realistic numbers in the future, if they miraculously pulled this stunt off. She cast a quick glance over at Kristoph and could see the nerves on his face, 'Come on Kris, keep your composure, you need to sell this concept to Adrian!' She thought, desperately.
They both dived out of the taxi and raced toward the ensemble of confused bandmates and temporarily reincarnated Vikings. As soon as he spotted Kristoph and Mabel's mortified faces, Adrian's expression switched from confused, to one of suspicion and (Kristoph couldn't help but think) fury. Swallowing back his nerves, Kristoph charged ahead of Mabel, he'd be damned if she was going to suffer Adrian's anger at point blank range.

"Kris," Adrian's voice was a forced calm, his Scandinavian accent coming through strongly; "funny thing. I came outside for a smoke, and to admire the view, and I see our tour bus is being raided by a hoard of Vikings," He tilted his head questioningly at Kristoph, as Bo and his brethren started to chant 'Vikingr' in response to his use of the term.
"Adrian, I..." Kristoph began, but Adrian waved his hand, dismissively.
"I've come to accept that since you've joined our group, strange stuff seems to just happen;" Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose, "I accept it as a Kris quirk – so, please, if these lot are anything to do with you, or... Mab?" He extended his arm out to Mabel, who poked her head out from around Kristoph's torso with a sheepish grin, "can you tell them that any damage to the bus will be coming out of both of your earnings from this tour? Also, please, could you perhaps tell them to piss off... as they are vaguely annoying;" Adrian murmured under his breath, leaning closer to Kristoph.

"See, this is the thing, Adrian," Kristoph hastily explained the concocted story he'd hurriedly assembled in the taxi ride over to the hotel; "yes, they're to do with me, kind of. Mab and I went into the city and encountered Bo here..." he rushed to Bo's side and draped his arm around the confused Viking's shoulders and patted him comradely on the chest; "I admit, there's a bit of a language barrier and I think that's what's caused the confusion. Bo and his... uh, friends are actors. They are committed to their art and live as Vikingr, even perfecting the language," He laughed (almost maniacally) as Bo and his "friends" picked up the 'Vikingr' chant, again.

Adrian cast a brief sideways glance at Mabel, who grimaced and tried to convey a look that suggested this wasn't a completely fabricated story and that Kristoph wasn't ad-libbing on the spot.
"Anyway," Kristoph loosened his grip on Bo and hurried over to Mabel and Adrian. "From what I could make out, they have an arranged reenactment battle scheduled for this afternoon, in the middle of the um..." He glared at Mabel for assistance.
"Moors," Mabel added, feeling somewhat superfluous.
"Yes, in the middle of the Moors!" Kristoph snapped his fingers gleefully, in relief. "It's against their foe army... the Saxons," Kristoph whispered under his breath to Adrian. He didn't want to see the reaction fifty Vikings would have to the word Saxon.