Chapter - 7

That night I remember having a dream, it was the kind of dream that no man ever wished for, it was as if the gods had cursed me. I had a dream of the battle to come, we were to fight an enormous beast, scars covering its body and its teeth as sharp as swords. I stood behind it, I could hear no sound, I watched as the beast stood in front of me, its eyes closed but it stood ready to kill me. I scanned my surrounding area to look for a weapon to defend myself, but found nothing, all around me was white light. I saw the dragon move for the first time, it lowered its beastly head towards me, and slowly it opened its eyes. What I saw shocked me, this beast had Odin's sight. It had the exact same eye color as I, for a brief moment, I did not see this as a beast but as a creature. But as I had realized what I was starting to think, memories came flooding back to me, ones where dragons would rip apart my people right in front of me, women, children, fathers, brothers, sisters, my mother...

I felt a flame rage inside of me, I began to scream, I tensed all my muscles and began to punch this beast with all my might, tears running down my face as I was screaming the names of the people I had seen them take, "Knud! Harald! Leif! Olaf! All the people your kind has killed out of cold blood!" I kept on assaulting the beast relentlessly, I kept on shouting at the beast, my voice was filled with hanger, sadness, and hate, "I will kill you all! You have taken so much from us! I refuse to allow you to live any longer! I will avenge my tribe! I will avenge my mother!" And with that, I smashed my hands down on the beasts head. As my fists hit the beast it pounced onto me and began to rip me to pieces, it tore at my flesh and I could feel every single bite, every scratch, I screamed louder than I thought possible, the beast just kept on biting and biting, I wanted to die. The dragon had eaten my whole arm off and tore a massive hole into my chest, I tried as best I could to scream but my breath had left me. The dragon rose its head above me one more time, it then opened its mouth and lunged for my head, in one bite it had ripped my head from my shoulders.

As my head was bitten off I woke up, I was screaming, my whole body was covered in sweat and my muscles were tense, underneath my hands were scratch marks, I must have been clawing at the ground in my sleep.

Eric came bursting into my tent with two others behind him, he looked as if he had just heard someone die. "Are you okay boy!" I looked at him, my face was whiter than snow, my nails had blood dripping from them. "I saw it, I saw it, I saw it..." I kept on muttering that same set of words. Eric came over to me and looked me in the eyes for a while. He jumped back slightly and said, "Boy whatever you have just seen, was a curse." I looked at him, I had finally been able to pull myself back to reality. "What was that Eric, what do you mean a curse?"

Eric looked at me long and hard, "Your eyes boy. Odin's sight curses the bearer. You get visions from the gods, but not ones of good fortune and health. You get them from Loki, he places images in your mind and makes you crazy, and by the looks of it, he hates you." he said with a very serious expression on his face.

I was confused for a moment trying to understand what he had just said. After a few moments I was able to shake it all off, I had felt like the best thing to do was to forget about the whole ordeal and focus on the battle to come.

I sat with my men around the campfire, the sun hadn't come up yet but we all knew the battle was drawing near. Not one of my men looked at me, as I walked by the stared at the ground and where silent, Eric one was the only one who had spoken to me that morning, I looked at him and asked: "What's wrong with everyone?" Eric looked at me and said, "They are scared boy, a vision from the gods, no matter which one it is, is to be taken seriously." I tried my best to understand what he was saying, but my mind was still foggy in trying to understand what had happened. All I felt was pain everywhere, I had checked my arms and chest multiple times as the pain randomly came washing over me once more. I did not tell anyone about it at the time, they had already seemed to be wary of me, so I thought it was best to wait until we got home to tell Asta of what happened. Asta... As I thought of her name all the pain was washed away, I could now feel her soft warm hand on my cheek, she pulled my face closer to hers and she softly whispered into my ear, "You better come back, my love". A tear ran down my cheek, I wanted to be with her, I did not want to lose her. I have to make it back to her, I won't let anything stand in my way, nothing will ever be able to keep me from my love, not even the gods themselves will be able to stand between us.

I was no more filled with pain and agony, I was now filled with rage and determination. I felt a warmth burn inside me, all my fear was gone, I looked to my men and saw their faces hanging low. They were terrified of the battle to come, the sight of them seeming like cowering dogs only made my rage grow. I took the bowl I had in my hand and threw it towards the nearest boulder, the wooden bowl cracked in half with a tremendous sound. My men jumped as this happened and looked at me startled. I had a fierce look on my face, I was breathing heavily, my face had a look of pure rage on it, my eyes seemed as if they were on fire. I looked around at the men who seemed to be terrified of me, "What are you!" I shouted, the men looked confused and looked to each other for an answer, Eric himself looked shocked and had no answer, "You all seem like whimpering mutts! You call yourself Vikings, but you act as if you are scared of death! Do you not wish to feast with the gods! Do you not wish to join your ancestors in Valhalla!" The men now looked at me, their faces slowly started to change from a look of fear to a look of anger. One of the men stood up and shouted at me, "How dare you to mock us, child!" I looked straight at him, it was as if my gaze was burning a hole through his head, "I mock you because you deserve it! You are great Viking warriors! And you all show fear on your faces! You all seem to be terrified by the beast we are going to slay! How dare you call yourself warriors if you fear death!" one by one the warriors started to stand, their faces where now full of rage just as mine was, Eric had a smirk on his face, the men gathered around me not saying a word. Eric came forth and said "That may have been the best thing you have ever said the boy." he smiled at me, and with that, I raised my ax and let out a blood-curling war cry, my men joined in, and the sound filled the forest, the sound of men ready to fight and die, the sound of men willing to fight and die for their village, for their families.

As the war cry stopped I began the march to the battlefield, my men now ready to fight and no longer looking like cowards, they where now the warriors I had heard stories about, and the feeling of being able to lead such mighty warriors into battle was indescribable.

We marched for about an hour, no words said, the only sounds that where heard was the shaking of chain mail and stomping of feet. We were about a half-hour from the feeding ground of the beast, I ordered my men to halt, in unison they stopped and awaited my orders. I called them to gather around me once more to explain the plan. "How many skilled archers do we have with us?" Eric came forth and said "We have five with us sire" I placed my hand on my chin, and thought for a moment. "We will have two archers to the east and two to the west. The final archer shall be posted behind the main force." The archers stood ready and nodded in agreement. "Move out so long we shall join you shortly." Without a word, they started their journey. "We have fifteen men left, what do you specialist in men?" One of the warriors came forth, he was younger than most but his face was scarred. A long deep scratch that covered the right side of his face. "What is your name?" I asked, "Mumei sire," he said in a deep rough tone. "What are the strengths of the rest of the men? I asked, "Ten of our men are skilled swordsmen, and the remaining five are very skilled with axes sire" he replied. I thought for a moment, "We shall have five swordsmen charging in from the east and five from the west. The remaining men will charge the beast head-on from the south. I shall lead the charge on the beast." Once again no man dared to speak, I looked to my men, their faces had not changed, they were still determined and battle-ready.

As I had finished explaining the plan I walked to the front of my men once more and said "Today we fight, today we rid our homeland of the beast that has invaded us. No more will we allow it to live and kill on our island. Men! To war!" My men cheered, and with that, we started our final march towards the beasts feeding ground.