Honour Bound

The years had flown by of course, and now, I was a young woman, a warrior, seeking the killer of my parents. I washed ashore, coughing from the cold water and the swim I had just taken, I panted, a hand on my knee as I slowly knelt on the dock, my face bloodied and wounded, blood spilled from my cut lip and a few scratches on my face, an old scar, long and thin, ran across my left cheek, an old battle wound.

My eyes finally settled on the man before me, my have clenched, my eyes filled with fury. Eventually, he spoke. "How long have you been chasing me? Wolf-Kissed? Seventeen winters? Eighteen?" He grumbled, he circled around me, axe in hand, making me slightly uncomfortable. Kjotve settled by my side, his axe swinging in front of me, I wondered if it was the same one that took the life from my father. "Do I now haunt your dreams? Do I warm your loins?" He bent over me as he questioned me, I could feel the fur of his cloak brush the top of my head, but I stared straight ahead, ignoring the cloud of smoke that left his mouth as he spoke in the cold, perhaps he was a dragon, invulnerable to the cold winter as he was already cold blooded. He laughed and stood up, making my fists clench in my lap. "You remeber this?" He asked, holding the axe up to my face. "Your father's axe" he said. My eyes looked up, had it been so long I had forgotten what my dad's axe looked like, perhaps it had been so badly defaced by Kjotve, I failed to notice the similarities. "The weapon of a coward, a scorn-snake" my head was tilted up, I was glad to feel the cool of the axe's blade across my throat, for if it was his hand, I would have broken his fingers. "Ah, few things would please me more than to kill with this blade" he circled around me, I swear he was almost skipping. "But I know you would defy me to the death, fighting for a glorious end. That I will not allow"

My eyes stayed focused in front of me again, on the three armed mercenaries before me, the warriors who no doubt battled that night at my home, the ones who set it ablaze. I could still feel the heat on my face, could feel the warmth of that fire leave my fingertips as I was carried away on horseback by Sigurd, far from the danger, or so we had thought. As if to flaunt his skill of my father's axe, he threw it to one of them men in front of me, he caught in and successfully and skillfully turned it in his hands to hold it properly. "You will love your final days enthralled as a slave, humiliated." Kjotve said, he slowly walked towards me, I didn't give the satisfaction of looking, but I could hear the snow crunch beneath his boots, and the foul stink of his breath as he once again found it necessary to tower over me. I clenched my jaw, he put his hand on the top of my head, where the braid was, forcing my head to look up. "Your death will be a lonely one" he said, staring deep into my eyes, his voice was exactly the same as I remembered. "Haha, kill the rest of her crew. Make them suffer" he told his men.

He let go of my head and it immediately went back to its previous position, staring at the ground, I was freezing, with nothing but a grey tunic on and some thin trousers. "Eivor Wolf-Kissed is no more. That name is dead to this world!" He growled, turning his back on me and walking to the men. I stared daggers into his back as a man from behind me knelt in front of me, grabbing my wrists, if he thought I was going to go easy he was wrong. "You will be worth your weight in silver" he grunted and laughed as he grabbed my arm and hauled me up, the shackles on my wrists making my body even colder, but I repressed the shiver. The Norse warrior yanked me roughly to my feet. "To the ship" he instructed. I didn't have much of a choice but to turn away as the Norse warrior pushed me forwards towards his ship, leaving me wondering whether Kjotve had a smirk on his face as he walked with his men to slaughter my crew.

To finish the job he started years ago.

I grunted as I was throw onto the ship, literally, the impact of the hard wooden flooring did nothing for my body, though I rolled to try and lessen the damage done. I groaned and sat up, only vaguely aware of the voice behind me as I felt his foot collide with my back, making me fall forwards. "You move and I take your eyes. You hear me?" Said a different man, to the one who had shackled me. If there was one good thing, it was that there was a lack of security on this boat, and another, a coil of rope a few inches from my hands, I wondered if that could be any use. I looked up, hearing the cry of a bird, I squinted, I didn't want the snow to go into my eyes, a crow, circling the ship, I jumped up to a squat, smiling slightly. The Norse warriors continuing to speak behind me. "We can tack north, then cut west" one man suggested upon hearing which way the winds were blowing.

Indeed. It would be useful, my back now turned to the man on the ship, I grabbed the loose bit of coiled rope in both my hands with a smile gradually growing on my face. My feet must have made a noise on the wooden boards of the small boat, cause the man now spoke to me. "Now, what did I just tell you, you..." I tugged on the rope making the wooden beam swing around, he grew startled and dropped the torch he held onto the boat as I dove back over the side onto the docks, which would have been a little more pleasant if I didn't have my hands shackled together.

I rolled and quickly stood up, to embrace the quick actions, a man ran towards me, his fist already raised as he tried to punch me. Fool. I linked my arms down his arm so his was trapped  between me and the shackles, with that I tugged him around and his arm flew out of my grasp, which I intended of course, I took only little pleasure when he flew of the docks and hit his head on the side of the boat with a sickening thud to then land in the water. I wasted no time, I looked to the ground, a long axe lay on the floor, I couldn't use my hands, for that would have been difficult, I knelt down and trapped the handle of the axe in-between my wrists, standing back up, upon my Ascension I heard a grunt behind me after a thud, the man who had shackled me had jumped off the boat which had now fully caught fire, I barely had my balance so swung around, letting the axe fly, and it collided into the lower half of the man's leg making him grunt and drop to the floor, almost as quickly as I had. Sadly, the man I had previously thrown in the water hadn't fallen unconscious, and he knew how to swim, now hanging onto the edge of the docks he slammed an axe down at me, I rolled out of the way. I could see he was hurt, and he had no strength left to fight, do for now, I ignored him. I walked towards him, the mast swinging back around towards me, I ducked quickly and pushed it straight into his chest, making him stumble back, I pushed it again into him, harder this time, making him fall into the cage on the docks and going into the water with the splash.

My pushing of the wooden beam made the boat come closer to the docks , trapping the man who was there, he screamed as he was crushed between both bits of wood, looking at me with a mix of fear and hate as I slowly walked towards him. He grabbed onto my boot with a pained scream. "Kjotve will skin you alive. You will never...never leave this..." I reached down and grabbed the necklace around his neck, the key for my shackles on the end of it, I tugged it harshly from his neck as he continued to ramble on, undoing the binds on my wrists, the sound of them dropping to the floor was the sweetest thing I'd heard all day, besides later when I kill Kjotve. The shackles had already rubbed my wrists sore, no doubt from the fighting. I turned to the trapped warrior and grunted, kicking him in the face, breaking his nose. That seemed to have done the trick.

I slowly reached down for the axe he had dropped on the dock. "No feast for you synin. My crew is in danger. You must be my eyes." Eivor spoke to the crow flying above her. I had a way to walk, at least I knew the direction in which I had to begin walking. So I walked, shivering coldly as the wind was picking up, just like the Norse warriors had predicted. I wore a simple tunic, Thrall's tunic, it was a fine torso, providing me with the protection and little warm I needed to survive, more warmth came with the matching Thrall's Breeches I wore. I was glad I'd work pants, all the kneeling recently would have done my knees in. I examine the axe in my hand, it was a raider axe, a fine bearded axe. It had the metal blade carefully crafted onto the wooden handle, the end of it had engravings, the part in which I held the axe was bound in leather to protect my hand when I used it. I had my bow slung across my back, five arrows equipped in my quiver, I'd have to make good use of them, especially if they splintered and broke when they hit their target or they missed.

The only company I had as I ran up the muddy hill was myself, and that of my crow, synin. "My crew is in danger. I need to reach them" I mumbled to myself as I forced my body forwards. Rygjafylke was a pretty land, with its endless waters and snow topped mountains, I could have almost stayed to admire it, were it not for the trauma and danger it brought me, and the foul man that walked it's earth.

I walked ahead and finally reached the top, I couldn't see anyone, therefore I didn't crouch as I walked towards the plants, though that would have reduced my profile, cloudberry, good, I took a handful and pulled them from the weak twigs that held them, popping them off with a snap, I ate them and instantly began feeling replenished, I could feel my stamina begin to come back, even a little food could help a lot, and I needed to concentrate. I walked to the pot over a fire in the centre of the little camp, grabbing the food that was there, the smell warmed me inside and out, and the fire brought me some comfort in this cold hell. I stored some of the food into the bag hanging around my waist, enough to carry some rations for later should I need it. "I feel better. Stronger" I whispered to myself as I found some more cloudberry at the sides of the camp, eating them too.