Chapter One

Waking up in her bed, sun bearing down on her face. Leans up in her bed; stretching and yawning. The smell of a freshly cooked boar fills the air around her room. The smell penetrates her nostrils and makes her leap out of bed and head to her wardrobe to put on her work clothes. As she puts on her clothes; the smell makes her stomach growl and moan. As she lightly steps down the stairs; her brother calls her to his room.

"Does this armor look okay?" he asks looking nervous

She askes him why is he so nervous about today and that his armor looks amazing. He explains that today is his summoning ceremony for the big war raid coming this fall. With gleam in her eyes; she starts to scream and runs to her room. As she tears through her wardrobe she is frantically looking for her ceremonial armor. In her head she is saying this is her time to show her father what she can do. Sigurd, Her father was a very well respected general of the jarl and he is a very proud man. He has been waiting for this day for his son ever since he was about knee high. Serina has her ceremonial breastplate in her hands and she looks at all the fox fur shoulder garments. Her eyes swelled up at how beautiful the breastplate looked. after a little while she hears her dad come through the door and she puts on the breastplate and the other garments. As she finishes lacing up the boots she hears her father yell for byjorn.

"Byjorn! I need you in your ceremonial best today! The jarl is going to personally do your summoning and you need to be looking your best. Do not forget to have your Axe ready for inspection!" His father exclaimed

Byjorn comes down the stairs; axe in his belt with the sun gleaming off of the blade. With a proud look on his face; he looks at byjorn and smiles. Then serina walks in behind him and his smile turns to fear as now both of his children will be up for the summoning. His fears were made a reality because as soon as both children filed in the jarls right hand comes barging through the door.

"Dear Ironside Family, Your jarl is going to judge you all on your readiness for the raid. You have to be not only mentally tough but physically tough. I will be laying down some ground rules for you both. You will not speak until your jarl gives you a question that needs an answer. Do i make myself clear?" he said with a firm voice

Both children nodded and filed in side by side. The jarl gracefully walked through the doorway and smiled as he seen his old friend. Sigurd smiles at his friend and Jarl.

"My dearest sigurd I am grateful that both of your beautiful children want to join their jarl in this upcoming raid. You must be a very proud father." He said

He looks towards the children; says whelp lets get these kids summoned. He walks over to byjorn first; looking at his ceremonial armor and all its glory. The jarl askes byjorn if he ready to fight and die with his kinsman. He also asked if he was ready to die for his jarl? Byjorn pondered but a second then answered with a thunderous yes my jarl. A huge smile comes over his fathers face for following in his footsteps and gives his son a big pat on the back.

"That's my son byjorn for you. That's a good lad." Sigurd said with a boyish grin on his face.

The jarl looked over toward serina; and her armor glistened with shine as she stood ready to be judged. As he asked her the questions she cuts him off and kneels down and says:

"Not only am i ready to fight and die for my jarl i would give my life for anyone in our clan. I would even serve as your personal body guard for this raid." She said with eagerness

Everyone looked shocked that she would make such claims to her jarl. His right hand goes to speak up and says that's not how that works but the jarl says done with a thunderous voice. Sigurd stands up and yells no not my daughter i will not allow this to take place. They all look at sigurd with fury and distain. the jarl's right hand walks over to her dad then agrees with him that she will not be his body guard and that for her eagerness on breaking rules she will not be joining the raid.

"What! I have trained for this moment my whole life and you are just going to take this from me? How could you take something so precious to me? I am going on this raid the jarl already summoned me you don't have a say!" she exclaims to her father sigurd

As her anger grows her eyes begin to fill with a blue color and storm clouds start to cover almost instantaneously on a clear and sunny day. Lightning starts to strike the ground. Her mother runs over to serina with a scared look on her face.

"Stop this serina your father is only doing what is best for you. Please stop this hate in your heart." She tires to comfort serina and quell her anger.

The jarl stands up after being knocked to the ground by the suddenness of this new found strength. Fear comes over the faces of everyone in the room. lightning continues to pound the outside of her family's home. Seeing her family in such a state; serina's eyes begin to turn normal and the sky clears. she falls to the ground crying hysterically. Her mother wraps her arms around her and tells her she is going to be alright. serina's eyes close and she falls asleep in her mothers arms.

"What the hell was that lagathera? Did you know she could do any of this? what the hell is she because that is not the daughter i knew!" Sigurd said with anger in his voice.

Lagathera calmly tells him that she has always been special but she doesnt know where it came from. She just has had special gifts since she was a little girl. Her father looked at her in shock because this is the first he is seeing of her special talents. He suggests that she needed to be never summoned until she can control her urges because in the wrong hands she will be dangerous. The jarl speaks and says she will be going on this raid and you two have no say i have spoken. both parents looked puzzled.

" I just told you she cannot go until whatever this is can be controlled. She is too dangerous to leave around our own kinsman. sigurd said

The jarl looked at him with distain and told him that he had spoken end of discussion. The right hand gives both children Royal decrees that they need to be ready for the raid in a fortnight. Then both the jarl and right hand leaves the ironside home then leaves their land on horseback. As they leave a sinking feeling comes over the both of them. Byjorn looks at his sister and holds her hand and vows to keep her safe by any means. He also vows to her father to bring her home safely even if he doesn't come back home. The fear turns to pride because he knows his son will be taking care of his sister. Her mother on the other hand is not proud but frightened that they both might not come home. Byjorn looks at his mother and holds her face and tells her that she has nothing to worry about. Dreary eyed serina wakes up and asks for some water. Byjorn fills up a glass and runs over to her and lets her sip the water.

"Are you okay serina? You took a big fall after you had some crazy eyes and lightning was everywhere."Byjorn said

Looking scared she asks was all of this her doing. They all said no you are just a special woman and that they cant wait to see you help their clan in this raid. All of them were obviously lying but serina was too groggy to tell if they were so she went with it. As the weeks progressed both byjorn and serina packed their gear and attended war room meetings so they knew what roles they were gonna play in the raid. The night before they set sail everyone had a huge feast and drank mead as a celebration of the victories to come. The sun hits byjorn's face and he hears the raid horn and grabs his gear wakes serina up she grabs her gear and boards the boat.

"ODIN IS WITH US!!" they all yell as they set sail