Viggo's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

Part 36- A Dangerous Affair

Results are in, here's the new piece! Warning for lots of violent action and some sad stuff thrown in. As always, thanks for reading! I went a lil overboard with this piece but oh well XD*

Sitting on Viggo's left side, it was easy for Ryker to see the bruises banding his little brother's neck. If the marks were just as obvious to the other vikings at the table, gathered for trade negotiations, they were tactful enough- and perhaps intimidated enough- not to mention them. Ryker grinned to himself, wondering when Viggo would finally show him his new girlfriend. Maybe she and Ola could be friends.

Viggo cut his meat with perhaps a tad too much aggression, trying to keep his irritation under control. When he had told Ryker about the female assassin and proposed new security measures against her, his brother had actually laughed at him! Even now he was smiling like an idiot. Sure, it was great that Ryker was so supportive of his supposed romantic life, but it would have been much more appreciated if his 'object of affection' wasn't trying to kill him.

Thankfully the dinner was soon over, and the other vikings left with Ryker to smooth out the details of their new deal. Viggo could finally calm himself down, and when his desire to murder Ryker had died, he stood up from the table.

A knife zipped through the air and thunked into the ship directly next to Viggo's face. "You missed, again. When will you realize that knives aren't your strong suit?"

The woman came out of the shadows as Viggo knew she would, face uncovered to reveal a large grin. "When you finally realize that I put broken glass under your mattress. I wasn't really trying to hit you anyway, that would be too easy. I want to toy with you a little first."

Viggo crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I'll play your game."

"You will? What changed-

"On one condition."

Her mouth closed, and she nodded thoughtfully. "That seems fair, as long as it's reasonable."

"I want to know your name."

She hesitated, and Viggo pressed, "It's only a name. It's not fair that I should be killed by someone when I don't even know their name."

The woman appeared to deliberate before giving an exaggerated sigh of defeat. "Alright then," she drew another knife from her belt as she talked, "My name is Sigrid."

Sigrid took a running leap onto the table, only to trip and fall on top of Viggo. The two wrestled for the upper hand, and Viggo managed to pin her, squeezing her wrist until she dropped her knife. "I would tell you to surrender, but I don't think it'll be that easy."

"Correct." Sigrid brought up her knee to ram Viggo between the legs and slam him into the floor, causing plates to fall off the table and crash loudly onto the floor.

Behind them, the door opened to reveal Ryker's concerned face. "I heard a crash- ah. Oh. Sorry! I'll just go-

Ryker twisted to glare at his sibling and shouted, "This is the assassin you idiot!" But Ryker just blinked and closed the door, apparently thinking he had wandered into something more embarrassing than life-threatening.

Sigrid giggled and grabbed Viggo's forehead to slam it into the ground. "Your brother is seriously stupid. Is he like one of those toys, you know, he wind up ones? You tell him what to do for awhile and then he just stands around with his mouth open?"

Viggo felt a burst of anger explode in his chest, and he threw Sigrid off of him so hard that she hit the wall. "Don't insult my brother. That's my job!"

Sigrid laughed again even as she grimaced from the pain of hitting the hard wooden wall. "Ooh, struck a nerve, did I?" She pulled yet another knife out of her clothes- seriously, where was she even hiding all of these? But then hesitated. "Should I just kill you and finally be done with it? My boss is getting a tad frustrated with me after all... or maybe I'll just cut out your idiot brother's brain to see how small it really is! I-

Viggo's plate from dinner hit her square in the nose. "Didn't I tell you to shut up? Leave or I'll have you thrown in my ship dungeon."

Just as Viggo moved forward to drag Sigrid off the ship himself, Ola burst in and froze in shock. "Sigrid? Why are you here?" Ola's practiced eyes quickly noted the various cuts and bruises on Viggo, as well as the blood pouring from Sigrid's nose.

Ola unfroze and sighed, fishing a cloth out of her basket and handing it to Sigrid before crossing the room to Viggo, grabbing his chin and forcing his head back and forth to get a good look at some gashes on his head. "You're lucky, I don't think any of these will need stitches.Or maybe... anyway." Ola then turned back to Sigrid, placing her hands on her hips. "You, on the other hand, have a most likely broken nose. I'll treat it and send you away. I know we were friends before, but... you changed when my sister died.

"I know you loved her and took revenge the only way you could by becoming an assassin, but I just can't accept the path you have chosen. Hera wouldn't want to be remembered this way. Leave Viggo and everyone around him alone, or I might be forced to take measures that a healer never should."

Sigrid's eyes darkened with remembered grief, and she turned away. "I'm sorry... but I can't stop now. I still haven't found Hera's killers, but working like this will eventually lead me to them, I know it will!" She whipped back around to face Ola and Viggo, fury obscuring her beautiful features, before dashing out into the hallway and vanishing.

Ola sighed deeply and without a word, started caring for Viggo's wounds. There wasn't much to do for them, and most of the shallow cuts would have been fine on their own, but she needed something to stop her hands from shaking.

"Ola, I- I knew that your sister was deceased, but- if I had known how I would-

Ola pressed a little harder than necessary on one of Viggo's purpling bruises, forcing the end of his sentence into a hiss of pain. "I know what you would do. And I know what Ryker would do out of love for me. But really?"

She paused to gather more salve onto her fingers. "Hera died years ago, while we were traveling to study medicine together. Sigrid had taken her out for some shopping, and Hera was beaten to death by some thugs, just for the small amount of money in her purse. Sigrid couldn't save her, and I think it drove her mad."

Should she stitch a cut on Viggo's shoulder? Hmm, it was a little too deep for her liking... Ola pulled out a needle and some gut to thread it. "It's not that I don't want my sister to be avenged, but I don't think it should be through senseless, endless slaughter. My sister wanted to be a healer like me, and she hated violence of any kind. She's the reason I joined your crew, actually."

Viggo blinked in surprise, and Ola began to stitch his shoulder. "I wanted to protect the only two people I had left from my childhood, you and Ryker. But just- just don't tell your brother, alright? He's passionate and strong, which aren't bad things to be, but I want to focus on his own goals instead of my past. Alright?"

There was nothing left to say, and Viggo nodded silently. Ola finished patching him up and walked to the door, and just before she left, Viggo called out,

"Can you tell Ryker that if any more of my 'lady friends' show up, it's not for a romantic evening?"

Ola gave a small smile. "Already on my to-do list. Get some sleep!"

Ola must have been a little kinder with mixing sleeping drugs into the salve tonight, for Viggo soon found himself doing exactly as he was told.

It really was a kindness, as it allowed him, for a time, to forget the sadness in Ola's eyes.