[To be titled viking story]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

We arrived back at the village after the sun had set. I felt exhausted.

It had been a very long day. I had gone off on my own, got stuck in a tree, kissed Leif…

I kissed Leif.

I brought my fingers up to my lips.

It had felt different with Leif kissed me. Different than when Svarti kissed me. There had been a time when I thought it would be nice to end up with Svarti. We were friends. I thought he was cute. But now…

I let out a frustrated groan and laid down. I needed to get some sleep.

I wanted to stop the raiders. I could feel it down to my core. They were stealing the weapons my father and I had worked so hard on. There were only two of them. I glanced around once to see the backs of the men.

I took one deep breath to steady myself, then turned the corner with my bow drawn.

I released two bolts, each hitting their targets before I reached for my sword. By the time I had it out of the sheath, I was taken over. One of the men slapped me across the cheek. I could taste the blood as my world spun. I was on the ground and fighting for consciousness when the boot of one of them men sent me into complete darkness.

I was on the ground near the water. I could hear it in the distance. I could feel the change in the soil from dirt to rock and sand. It felt like I had been dropped. The entire left side of my body ached.

 “Leave her!” My father’s voice boomed over me.

The raider who was fighting my father pushed him back and parried my father’s attacks twice before the man managed to bring his knee up to my father’s gut. My father went down hard. I knew that raider just from looking at him.

It was Svarti.

Svarti brought down his sword and the dagger that had once been mine through my father, finishing off his life.

“Kadlin,” my father managed to say before his eyes went blank.

I woke up in a rush, sitting straight up and covered in sweat.

I took a deep breath when I processed it was just a dream.

For the first time since I had been back among friends and what was left of my family. I had a night mare.

I ran my fingers through my hair and tried to collect myself.

“What-“ Yori’s voice scared me half to death. I jumped away from the sound of his voice, “was the dream about?”

I rubbed my eyes before turning and looking back at him. “Just a bad dream.”

“Svarti was in it. You called out.” Yori sat down next to me. “I came running in here thinking he was…” He shook his head instead of finishing his sentence.

“No. It wasn’t anything like that.”

“Then?” I didn’t speak for a moment. Yori sighed. “You should talk to someone about it. You’re in a cold sweat. You were affected, no matter how you want me to think you’re fine.”

I nodded. “I dreamt that he was the one who cut down my father.” There was a moment there where it felt like it was happening all over again, but I managed to pull myself together and stop the tears before they became a reality.

“Do you know who it was that killed him?”

I shook my head. “I had been knocked out. I’ve never had a dream like that.”

Yori nodded and pulled me into a hug. “You’re safe here. I will do everything in my power to make sure what happened will never happen again.” He gave me a tight squeeze. “Leif is going to train with you to improve your fighting ability. If you want me to train you instead of Svarti for tracking, just say so.”

I shook my head. “It’ll be fine. It was just a bad dream.”

I hope.

Yori nodded once, then walked back to his room to sleep. I laid back down once I heard Yori’s light snores. I didn’t end up falling asleep until it was time to get up again.