Chapter 5

When mid-day had arrived, all had gathered inside the Queen's grandiose longhouse. A large breakfast had been lain across the three long tables that seemed to strech on for almost the entire length of the wooden rectangular building.

On each table, there were plates and dishes crafted by our many artisans, meat from the animal stock we still had after the great move and a good helping of a unique squid dish thanks to today's events. Fruits and vegetables from our gardens were among the dishes presented; we were lucky we didn't lose all our seeds or we would have been really screwed.

But, if there was one thing we were grateful not to have lost was our bee hives; something we put our most effort in upholding. Why? Because no viking is anything without a good horn of mead to wash down great amounts of food.

All of this was cooked together into a grand fiest to honor the new month, but for real vikings back home, it was nothing short of a small feast. I tried not to be pesemistic, but I couldn't ignore the elephant in the room I knew everyone was trying not to mention; our fiests had been getting smaller and a bit more barren each time.

Still, me and my grumbling tummy were certainly looking forward to what the cooks had mangled up today. Especially with the unique catch we had just brought in. It wasn't the first time we had brought in something... out of the ordinary, and it probably wouldn't be our last, but it always made things more interesting.

I was seated somewhere along the long side of the centermost table. Viking tradition told me not to take up seating at either end of the tables that were reserved for royalty and people of the highest of status. I was, however eating among the same table as viking Queen Avayale, though were around fifteen chairs away from eachother. But of course, that never stopped her voice from cutting through the chaos of converse, laughs and general nuisansery. She was always the loudest. And at this moment, a little tipsy.

"… and that reminds me of the tale of how our tribe began!" She said, followed by a few laughs around her, a horn of mead in her right hand.

"Really dear, must we hear that story again?" Her husband King Grejjnik seated to her right asked, a tired expression seeping into his face.

"Yes dear, if you ever want to eat another bite tonight."

The king sat up straight and cleared his voice. "Listen round everyone! The queen is telling a story!"

Every head focused in on the queen at the end of the table, and all were silenced. So she began, "Harkening back to the very first days of our tribe... before many of you were even born... we were but a small village, struggling to get by. We were different than the rest, that was for sure. Not as obsorbed in the traditional ways like our neighboring tribes, but we still had a lot ahead of us and much to learn."

That sounds familiar. I thought to myself, stirring something in my plate.

"One peaceful day, a bandit king and his men, thousands of them as far as the eye can see, came upon our village like a thousand swarms of deadly mosquitos!”

"Really dear, was it that many?" Asked the king.

The queen jabbed his toe with her foot. "Shut up, I'm telling the story."

She then continued in her ever theatrical way, slashing her drink around for emphasis, and spilling a little along the way. "Our battle raged on for hours, no-no, nights!" Queen Avayale rose from her seat. "Many great warriors were lost on both sides, but if I remember, it was there side who lost the most. That only makes sense. But then the unthinkable happened." She paused dramatically. "Some of you must remember, do you not?"

She received acknowledgements from a tired few.

"From our very grasp, plucked like she were nothing but a fruit ripe for plunder, the bandit king stole the viking king's wife and escaped our lands in his sail boat with the few of his men that survived the assault. And what did we do?"

"We struck back." Said a voice in the far distance.

"Oh, that is an under exaggeration! We stroke back with all the might and thunder the mighty Thor's hammer could muster! The entire village invaded the bandit king's secluded domain! But then the unthinkable happened... " She then lifted a candle off of the table and rose to her feet, turning her back to her people. "The king and his warriors lost." Avayale clipped the flame out with her bare fingers, drawing a few gasps from the audience.

"But did he die? Did he have the luxury to die?!" She called out and turned back to them.

Here we go again... Yrsa chuckled out a sigh.

"I think not! Once inside the prison of the bandit king, the vikings were contained with the rest of the many prisoners he had obtained from all over the world. But what did these hopeless souls do? Did they fall prey to fear? Not for a minute! These prisoners mustered up the courage and will to do good, set aside prejuduce and joined forces with eachother to plan a grand escape from the bandit king's prison!" She banged her hand on the table, jittering a few plates.

"There it was! People from all over world, working together towards a common goal! These new forces escaped from their prison, and thwarted the bandit king's men by surprise. Together, the two groups, now one stormed the castle, rescued the queen, who later beheaded the bandit king might I add, and rid the world of that vermin forever!"

That brought out aggressive cheers from around the table.

The Queen sat back down on her chair and paused for a moment. "The king and his warriors may have saved his wife, but it cost almost all his great men and women to get her back. But who could ask for a greater a death than defending your queen?!" She raised her voice for that part. "With barely any men and women left from his original tribe, the king was out of hope... That was until his wife had the brilliant idea to offer all former prisoners who wanted to become official viking members of the tribe do so willingly and before he knew it, his village was restored once again. The greatest village of them all!" She raised a jug of beer into the air--an air which was instantly full of roaring cheers.

Last night I had drank, feasted and party’d hard. Still, I woke with less of a hangover than almost anyone else in the village. The next day, I was in the training collosuim, winding a cord around the back of an arrow I was crafting.

The sky was a mix between overcast and murky golden light, but the training center was lit up with live and action. Vikings of all ages, though mostly from child to young adult were busy sparing, exercising, sharpening swords.

“A little bird told me you’re taking up too many tasks again.”

I turned my head up to find the familiar face of the collosium owner and esteemed weapons blacksmith, Gunnar. Gunnar did not stay and watch over the collosium every night like Karmen and I did, but he was the sole owner and responsible for everything that happened in it. I kind of saw him as a mentor of sorts, a fatherly figure of sorts. Not that I didn’t have a father already, but I had moved out long ago. I guess you always find replacements.

He had a whole room for him cleared out in the campus where he build his blacksmithing workshop, a place I could tell he had just exited from the smut and sweat on his face. The old man crouched down beside me. “This either means you’re feeling down about yourself or your not as hung over as the rest of the tribe from the feast last night.”

“Maybe, and yes.”

“A word of my advice; take some time off before you blow up in someone’s face.”

“That sounds like a really good idea.... But I kind of agreed to go on a trip to the outskirts of the island for some important medicinal herb that if I don’t find by the end of today, someone’s going to be held responsible.”

“That sounds like you.” He stood and slinged something over his shoulder. “Well, I’m off to spend some well-earned quality time with my wife and family. Tell me if anything interesting happens.” He stopped by the door. “And uh… good luck on your trip. Maybe it’s just what you need.”

Hardly...

“Ugh, I have been stuck training these kids how to fight and trying to not let them kill each other or me. I cannot take it anymore. Please. I need a break. Where ever you’re going, I’ll take the excuse to go as far away from other human beings as I can.”

“You know, I actually have something that work as an excuse for someone else to take your place for a while. There is though, someone else already commited to coming along.”

“Really? Who is it? You know what, I don’t need to know. As long as it’s far away from people and psychotic kids with swords, I’ll do anything.”

~~~~

"Liam? You’ve got to be kidding me! Does everyone have to come with us on this trip?"

"Technically, Alec volunteered him first."

"He’ll probably get us lost or fall off a cliff running away from his shadow. Plus, he knocked over our game of Hnefatafl. We were playing that for over a week!"

"Sorry, what?" Liam seemed a little out of place.

"You know, Hnefatafl? We play one move each morning. It's campus tradition." I admitted.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, by bad."

"Yeah, I was just about to win..." Karmen complained.

"That is left to debate, but can we just get on with the task at hand?" I brought the topic back into focus, something I found myself doing frequently

Karmen stared at Liam for a second.

"Ugh, fine. But you're taking the blame when he gets us into trouble..."

Liam looked at me with an almost pleadful expression in his eyes.

I motioned him onward with a flick of my head.

When we were underway, Liam began. "It's just picking a few leaves. There's doubtful to be much that can go wrong."

"Don't say that. Never tempt fate. It doesn't end well." Said I.

"Coming from the man who almost broke his head eluding a spidercrab, I'd say there's plenty to go wrong." Karmen said.

"Just focus, guys!" I raised my voice slightly. "This will be over with before we know it."

"Okay..." Liam pulled out Alec's book and opened it wide. "It's a small trek down the valley and near some encroaching foreign woods. It's found in a meadows or near the river. Should be easy to find."

~~~~

Later, when we arrived on the spot where the map had lead us, we were dumbfounded to find an empty green valley with a small river running through it, backdropped by the dark looming forest. There was no red leaves as far as the eye could see.

"Great, were lost." Karmen huffed, then pointed at the man in question. "He lead us astray."

"No, this is the place." Said Liam. "Look at those landmarks." Liam pointed to the map, then to the unique rock clusters and river formations around the trio who stood crowded around the book.

"You're right." I withdrew and began to study the scene thoughtfully.

Karmen grabbed the book from Liam and the two followed my lead and began to wonder around.

"Alec said he had already sent someone to come down here and harvest the medicine, but they never returned." I said and crouched down at the ground.

"Maybe they forgot and lost track of time." Liam suggested.

"Doubtful." I said, stroking a skeleton of a plant we ere looking for. "I found the krydd plants. They have no leaves, meaning someone harvested them already. But they never made it back with them. Which means..."

Suddenly the stories from the hunters came to my mind and everything clicked into place. "The stories from the hunters." I said under my breather.

There was a snapping noise that made me turn towards Karmen and scared a few birds hiding away way. She had wondered just a few feet from the foreign woods, absorbed into her book.

"Karmen, get away from the woods!" I shouted for her.

But it was too late.

Karmen looked towards me and as my voice echoed across the valley, something in the underbrush latched onto her leg and yanked her off her feet, to the ground--and dragged her into the forest.