In the vastness of the sea, a creature resembling a serpent glides across the waves. Its long, sleek body is covered in turquoise scales with dark blue stripes going vertically across its sides. It's great white sail peaks over the waves revealing itself as it dives across the waves.

It swiftly moves towards the fleet of longships penetrating its territory, rapidly opening and closing its sail to threaten the invaders. As it draws ever closer to the ships an arrow hits the water beside it. In rage the serpent rises to the top to show its massive head, but as it opens its mouth a concentrated sphere that crackles and hisses with heat hits it. A painful mark of hot and burned flesh is left where the ball of fire had hit. The scales that had covered the serpent's face burned and dropped to the bottom of the sea.

It tried to dive back down but a burst of scorching fire hit it. The burst of flames melted the face of the great serpent, turning its once turquoise face to black as coal. Its lifeless body floating on top of the waves it once swam masterfully.

“Did you see that Otso!” Armas shouts with excitement flowing all over him. His gaze locked at the sorcerer Furagand who had slain the serpent. “Do you think he could teach us some of that magic?”

“I doubt that. He really doesn’t look like the type to do that.” Kalev retorts with a serious tone, but fails to hide the excitement from his face.

Otso, on the other hand, stares at the serpent's body. The warriors hoisted it up to their ships, in pieces. There’s sorrow in his face, sorrow directed towards the lost life of the majestic beast that tried to protect its home.

“That's gonna be part of our ration squad.” Harid announces with hoarseness in his voice. “I do warn tho. It does not taste as good as it looks.”

The serpent was shared with all the ships of the fleet, even though Furagand clearly objected to this but did not voice it. The meat was tough and tasted like weeks old fish. It eventually started to even smell like one. Once it got its way to man's stomach it kept it full far longer than one would think for a small piece would.

The Harid squad was given the least amount of serpent meat per person, but they were also the smallest squad. The friends eventually learned that Harid led the only outsider squad in the whole fleet. This meant most of the other warriors had little trust in them, most of them couldn’t even understand them.

The lack of common language was not a huge problem as Harid made sure everyone knew what to do and when. Kalev, the smart son of a bitch that he was, even picked a few words of the raiders language.

They had now travelled two days on the sea. They had already gotten the hang of life in the ship and managed to get a little closer to their three squad mates.

***

“What do you think, Bölhun, should we go for it?” Ottharr asked from a tall woman who was standing a the helm of the longship leading the fleet. Her red hair flowing freely in the sea breeze.

“It should work. At least it would give our men something to do.” Her voice was toneless as if she had no emotions behind her words. “But you are the captain and have the final say in it.”

“I do respect your opinion in these matters though.”

She kept looking towards the horizon, not giving an answer to Ottharr.

“Well, I’ll give the command to look for a place to land then.” Ottharr gestured to a man holding a horn to signal his message.

The fleet spread more widely and pulled their sails up to reduce their speed to help with scouting.

The sea grew increasingly agitated. Hours earlier, the fleet had vanquished a sea serpent, and now, the ocean seemed to be seeking retribution. The waves surged and swelled with immense power, crashing against the sides of the ships. The ships pitched and rolled violently, making it almost an impossible task for the warriors on board to maintain their balance. Gripping tightly onto the rails, they clung to their seats, their muscles tensed as they fought against the relentless motion of the sea. The salty spray whipped across their faces, stinging their skin and obscuring their vision.

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Fearful of being thrown overboard by the tempestuous waves, the warriors held on with white-knuckled determination, their eyes scanning the tumultuous waters for any signs of danger. The once serene sea now bore the wrath of nature, a tempestuous display of power that served as a constant reminder of the formidable creature they had slain.

It did not take too long for the first ship to find a suitable place to make a landing. The horn was sounded and the ships made landings at the stony beach. The warriors disembarked and started setting up camp.

“Send some men to scout and hunt us some fresh meat.” Ottharr directed his ship captains while inspecting the camp. “Harid!”

“Yes.”

“How’s our new recruits holding up?”

“Well, they are perhaps a little seasick but other than that pretty well.” Harid points at the three who are helping setting up the camp.

Otso was helping Ulfsvip to set up a campfire for their squad's site, while Armas and Kalev were setting their equipment up. They were set apart from others, but still close to the others from their ship. Their site had few large rocks for seats around the campfire. They had been given a small pot to make some food for themselves, like everyone else but theirs was smaller. Salad and Linntönn returned from the forest that surrounded the campsite, they had managed to find some berries, mushrooms, cow’s leek and nettle. These, excluding the berries, were thrown in the pot that was filled with water. After a while, they were given some meat that they would also put in their soup.

The soup may not have been the greatest that they had had, and it certainly wasn’t far off from what they used to eat when the harvest had failed, but the veterans of the squad certainly enjoyed it more.

Despite the unappetizing serpent meat, they made do with what they were given, mixing in some dried herbs from Kalev’s rations he had taken from home. The fire crackled and popped, casting flickering shadows on their faces as they sat around the makeshift campfire, feeling the warmth and comfort it provided.

Otso stared into the fire, lost in thought. The memory of the sea serpent gnawed at him, and he wondered why its slaying had affected him so much. It had been a magnificent creature, something that he had never seen before or anything like it. Their village had been quiet and a safe one, no great monsters had made it there during the time he had been alive.

Armas had noticed the solemn look on Otso’s face and reached out to pat him on the back. “What’s wrong dude, you getting home sick already?” He said with a comforting tone.

Otso looked up at Armas, appreciating his friend’s attempt to console him. “No, its not that.”

“Well, what is it then?”

“The sea serpent, it has, for some reason, gotten stuck in my head.”

Armas had a confused look on his face.

“I just can’t stop thinking about it, it was so majestic. I just feel sorry for it.”

Kalev nodded in agreement. “It was a beautiful creature indeed, but we had to kill it, it was attacking us.”

Ulfsvip, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. “It was a majestic beast, indeed. But like Kalev said, we had to kill it. Remember, you guys are part of a fleet and we need to keep others safe.”

They nodded in agreement and kept eating the rest of the soup. As they had finished it, and were cleaning their pot, Harid made his way to the campsite.

“Listen up, we leave tomorrow at midday so get some rest and remember to take you turns keeping watch for danger.”

The three friends nodded, while the veterans already started to upkeep their equipment.

The night had gone by without any disturbances and everybody was busy with preparations from early in the morning. Last hunting and scouting groups had returned with more food for the journey.

One of the scouts walked to Ottharr to report their final findings. After the scout had left, Ottharr called his captains for a last minute meeting. It did not take long and when the captains returned to their squads, the ships were pushed to the sea and the journey was back on track.

As the shore gets left behind the fleet, they turn to move alongside it towards the south-west. They are heading around the same direction as before, but much closer to the shore than last time.

Otso realised that there is something different about their route, but keeps it to himself thinking that it’s nothing.

Harid goes to the bow of the ship with the other squad's captain.

“Ottharr has identified a target for a raid.”

An excited murmur starts with the warriors, while the friends are taken by surprise.

“A small village just a short distance to the south. So prepare my good warriors for a good old raid.”