Chapter 6: Chapter 6

FJORN

The pain was a catalyst for my rage as I watched her vanish from my sight. It wasn’t just the physical pain from the arrow lodged in my shoulder, but the heartache that felt like a part of me was being torn away. I swung my axe, breaking the arrow in my shoulder, and prepared myself for the battle that was about to ensue.

My Viking brothers joined the fray, and the bloodshed began. I scanned the faces of the enemy, searching for him—the man who had taken her from me. My body was on fire as I swung my axe relentlessly, cutting down anyone who stood in my way. Their screams and the scent of their blood filled the forest. Then I spotted him, and all I could see was red.

Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I rolled them back and advanced toward him, ready to end his life. I gripped his chain mail, yanking him off his horse. He swung his sword at me, but I dodged it, a wicked grin spreading across my face. ~I’ll kill him for what he’s done~, I thought, gripping my axe and swinging it hard, hitting him in the leg. He fell to his knees, and I knocked his sword out of his hand.

I moved toward him, gripping him tightly. I growled through clenched teeth, my face inches from his. “Where is she?”

His eyes were wide with fear as he tried to pull away from me. It felt like a wild beast had taken over my body. I pressed my boot into his bloody wound, his scream echoing around us.

“I will only ask one more time before I kill you. Where is she?”

His eyes pleaded with me to stop. I pressed harder, feeling the toe of my boot become slick with his blood. Finally, he spoke. “The clearing. The clearing in the woods.”

I released my boot from his wound and shoved him to the ground. He tried to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood behind him. I stalked him, gripping the handle of my axe. With one final swing, I ended his life. As I turned and walked away, the pain I had been ignoring hit me, bringing me to my knees.

Sten rushed to my side. “Fjorn!” he exclaimed, gripping my shoulder.

I stood up, stumbling back, feeling the arrow digging deeper into my skin. I tried to reach for it, but I couldn’t, and the pain radiated through my entire body.

“Sten, you have to go get her,” I said, falling to one knee. I looked around. All the Saxons were dead, and a few of us were injured. This enraged me even more. Why hadn’t the scouts warned us about a small Saxon army? I swore to myself that I would wring their necks when I found them.

I turned back to Sten, noticing Ulf standing next to him. “Did you not hear me, Sten? I said to find her,” I roared at him.

“Okay. Okay, I will. Where is she?” he asked. Ulf walked over to me, helping me up.

“The man said a clearing in the woods. Don’t come back until you have her.”

***

“I bet you two night patrols she doesn’t come back,” Ulf said to Sten as we walked back to camp.

“Make it three,” Sten replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, she’ll come back. And I bet you a bottle of mead that she comes back without a fight,” I said, leaning on Ulf for support.

“I’ll take that bet,” Sten said, disappearing into the forest to find her.

After stumbling a few times, we finally made it back to camp. Just outside of my tent, I leaned against a tree, pulling off my leather armor and letting it hit the ground. Ulf helped me remove my shirt, and then I picked up a bucket of water and dumped it over my head. The cold water made my body shudder. I turned to Ulf and asked him if he could see the arrow tip.

“That looks bad, Fjorn.”

“Well, can you see it or not?” I asked, still trying to remove it myself. I knew I couldn’t do it alone, and someone needed to pull it out. Ulf helped me to my tent, laying me down on the furs covering the floor.

“You really think she’ll come back?” Ulf asked me.

“I know she will. There’s a fire in her touch that I could never live without, and she looked at me the same way.”

As Ulf and I argued about removing the arrow, she walked into the tent. Her hair was disheveled, and her cheeks were flushed. She looked like she had been through hell. If anyone had laid a hand on her, I swore to myself that I would not rest until they were all dead.