The horn blew in the first light. Tóra immediately jumped from her cot and ran outside. She saw a boat in the distance. She recognized the ship, for it was only two weeks since the same ship, carrying her father and grandfather, sailed south to the land that was spoken by many in Húsavík.
Briseida rushed outside to see the ship. Tóra looked at her mother, reminiscing her grandmother's wise words. And her grandmother was right.
"They have come home!" Tóra cried joyously.
Briseida turned and embraced her daughter lovingly.
"We should go tell Amma. Ey?" Briseida gleamed
Tóra grasped her mother's milky hands and ran to the shack in which her Amma took shelter in.
"Amma?" Tóra called out. But there was no sign of the old woman.
"Mother?" Briseida called out. Tóra saw a silvered figure from the back of the shack.
She sprinted outside to see her grandmother staring at the sea.
"Amma?" Tóra breathed. She was now frightened. Her grandmother bared no grin or sign of happiness. She instead looked as if she saw one of the offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.
"Last night, a forcing wind blew my fire out," she said as she turned to face her granddaughter.
"I fear something has happened." Tóra's heart skipped a beat.
"Let us go to the docks, maybe Papa and Seanathair shall be there." She gently took her grandmother's hand, leading her inside.
The women walked towards the docks. There was an assimilation of the warriors and their loved ones. Some were weeping, some joyous. But where was her father and grandfather?
"Helga," an sagacious voice appeared. The woman turned to face the ghost of a man. It was Mottull, the skilled boat maker, the one who took Tóra's grandfather under his wing when he arrived in their village.
"Mottull, where are Caratacos and Tristan?" Helga asked.
"Helga..."
"Uncle! Where are they!?" Tóra cried. Mottull sighed.
"The Germans, they are wild people, like animals. Some of our men were killed, but many were captured as captives."
"What do you mean?" Briseida asked.
"They were captured. I am most compunctious. No one knows what happened to them." was the last thing Tóra heard before she succumbed to darkness.
YOU ARE READING
The Abduction of the Northmen
RandomTóra is a bewitching young Shield-Maiden who's father and grandfather are on a voyage to Germania. When the men of Tóra's village return, they have with them the handsome captive Jordanes, but many of the warriors are missing, including her father a...
