The Ancient World Order

Chapter 10: Caro of The North

The wolves were howling over the chilling night in Skagerat. It had been long and exhausting talks at the council of elders, which had finally been conveyed after weeks of waiting. Caro and Sven had been standing in the centre of the spectators, trying to avoid any attention from the elders. Caro was so weak, he could barely stand on his own. The knife wound had been worse than they initially had expected. It took Caro three days to even raise himself from the bed. Sven had barely left his side, praying to his savage gods for Caro's full recovery. As Caro did, Sven claimed they had answered his prayers, but it was more likely that it was seers medicine that had made wonders. Now, it had only been three days since Caro could stand up on his own feet. Although, as the pain quickly came back to him, he needed Sven as support.

Their initial plan of avoiding attention from elders quickly proved to have failed. "Sven and his thrall are present." One elder had announced, pointing at them.

Quickly the surrounding folk dispersed to make them visible for the council. They threw judgmental looks at them from every direction.

"I have no right to participate here. Other than to serve you, which I can't." Caro said to Sven, feeling embarrassed that his master had to take care of him. He was supposed to serve his master, not the other way around. "I will just be a burden to you here, I will leave to rest."

Sven did not look at him, instead, his eyes were fixed on the elders. "You are not leaving my side!" He said, more serious than ever.

"The people are looking. You should avoid--"

"I said no!" Sven snapped at Caro.

Caro held his tongue. He knew this situation had agitated Sven. It was clearly understandable. Sven had told him of the events taking place after their brawl, with the Black Mane tribe, during the spring feast. It was worse than Caro could imagine. The morning after the feast, there had been minor skirmishes between the Sons of Sigurd and the Black Mane tribe, costing the lives of ten men from each side. Ivar the bull had called for peace and reached out to chief Anvar who must have given him the cold shoulder. He blamed Ivar for the entire situation, claiming it had escalated since he had denied the Black Mane tribe their rightful revenge. It turned out that the men from the Black Mane tribe that had died during the feast were the sons of his general, Thord. As an act of revenge, his other two sons had burned down a house, believing Runar and Soeren were inside. It turns out that they weren't, instead, it was a cousin and his wife that had paid the price. Accomplices to Thord's sons had been caught close to the site afterwards. As they had refused to surrender, another skirmish broke out where they had been killed, taking some Skagerat warriors along with them. The sons themselves had gotten away. Shortly after, Runar and Soeren's family tried to bring Thord's sons to the ting for justice. It was to no avail. The Black Mane tribe had not approved of the ting's authority, thus they had just ignored it. They did not believe in any forms of law, except for the ones made by their gods. Their philosophy was simple, do not impose actions which you did not wish to be imposed upon. What others do to you, you can do to them. All other matters were just practicalities. In addition, by firmly holding on to traditions, they believed men living long lives, in other words, elders, possessed valuable wisdom. This they used for guidance to solve practical issues, such as these.

After the event of the arson of Runar and Soeren's cousin, the pressure on Ivar had been immense. He had attempted to arrest them, but it was once again met with harsh resistance. The Black Mane tribe had denied their involvement and responded with threats if he persisted with what they called provocations. It had further led to another skirmish, where Runar and Soeren's family had ambushed relatives to Thord, out in the forests, causing additional deaths. After that, locals of Skagerat and men of the Black Mane tribe had brawled whenever they spotted each other, merchants from both sides had been plundered and murdered. It ultimately led to the tribe refusing to set their foot in Skagerat and they had broken all their trade agreements. This was a devastating development for Ivar. He desperately needed the Black Mane tribes' fur and their horses.