Aleks stared at the land in the distance. The first thing that caught his eye was the impossibly large arch of stone that crossed over a river going inland. With his hand stretched in front of him, he could barely hide the structure, even though they were more than a kilometer away from it. Next to the arch, was a rather normal looking forest with trees stretching high into the sky. On the edge of the forest was a golden beach that met the lapping light blue waves of the ocean. In the far distance, deep into the land where the river led, a stone spire peeked out. The moment Aleks saw that, he had an ominous feeling.
“Is this Loki’s doing?” Snorri shouted.
“I don’t think Loki would be that interested in us, he would rather pester Ragnar.” another man from their ship replied.
“By the gods, what sorcery is this?” Ikaros exclaimed.
The vikings onboard turned as one and looked at him, their faces scrunched up in confusion. With frowns marring their faces they looked at one another.
”Did any of you also understand him?” one of the vikings asked.
Sounds of agreement filled the air. “You understand us slave?” the same man asked.
Ikaros hefted his voice, his face turning ugly.“Slave! Who is your gods-damned slave?”
“By Thor’s hammer, he understands.” Snorri said. “Wait, you there!” he pointed at Aleks.”You can understand us as well?”
Aleks only stared at them, unwilling to help them in any way. Snorri waited a few seconds before his excited face darkened.
“Little slave I’m talking to you.” he approached menacingly.
“Yes I can understand you!” the sound of Luke’s voice interjected.
Snorri turned to Luke and his face lightened considerably, as he seemingly forgot about Aleks’ defiance.
“This is great, real magic like the sagas.” Snorri muttered. He ran to the prow of the vessel and shouted at the longship. “Odda son of Odda! You won’t believe me. The slaves understand our tongue and we understand theirs!”
Shouts of ‘what’ and ‘how’ could be heard from the other ship as they slowed down so that they could catch up. Some time passed as the Northmen tested their new found power of tongues. They asked us all manner of questions and opened up on who they were. From the far North in the place called Iceland they hail. A land where farming was hard and food was scarce. They came to Francia after hearing the success of a great warrior called Ragnar Lothbrok. In an attempt to create their own saga, they went further than Ragnar had ever gone.
“But now.” Odda continued in a deep voice. “We have found something that no Norse has ever seen. Unexplored land filled with magic. My saga will be the greatest in all the land.” he proclaimed.
After staring into the distance for a while he then said.”Set sail for the beach near that arch of stone, we will stay there for the night.”
Half an hour passed when they finally arrived near the beach. The vessel that Aleks and his comrades were on, anchored thirty meters away from the land for it became too shallow for them to continue. The longship on the other hand, went straight up to the beach where the vikings jumped down and pulled their ship. With a great haul they pulled it onto the beach where they started setting up camp. Aleks could count twenty five of them on the beach with ten vikings staying aboard their ship to guard their thirty plus prisoners.
The sun started to set and some of the vikings were selected as watchmen for the night. There was a nervous energy in the air as the fear of the unknown kept everyone on the tip of their toes. Aleks and the rest of the prisoners could not do anything except stay where they were bound.
“When they go out to explore tomorrow we’ll look for a chance to escape.” Aleks whispered in Luke’s ear, getting a nod in return.
The night arrived quickly. Looking at the sky, they could see constellations that none of them knew, making it clear that this was not the world they were familiar with. As if to emphasize that point, a shrill scream pierced the night, making their skin crawl in fright. All thoughts of sleep disappeared as everyone stayed alert deep into the night.
The first rays of dawn broke through the sky and awakened Aleks from his slumber. Today will be the day that they escaped. Movement could be heard from the camp as they awakened and readied for their venture into the unknown. With the sun climbing and dawn changing to mid-morning, they heard a shout from the beach.
“Snorri!” came the voice of Odda. “We’ll be gone for three days at most, if we don’t return then it means we are dead. Sail back and take care of my family.”
Snorri shouted back in agreement, promising him that it will be done. With that as their final words they left, entering into the forest and sticking to the side of the river. The ship’s inhabitants watched them as they disappeared. Snorri turned around, his gaze sweeping over the ship.
“Now I’m stuck with you sorry lot while they are creating legendary sagas.” he muttered while some of the other vikings agreed with his words.
After a moment Luke spoke up:”If I might say something, great warrior.”
Snorri looked at him and scoffed.”Trying to flatter me boy? It won’t get you in my good graces. That’s something only a woman can do.” he barked out a laugh until a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. “Today will most likely be boring so speak up boy, what do you have to say?”
“There is some wine below from our great city of Athens which I thi-” Luke started before getting interrupted.
“You think me daft boy? You want to get us drunk so you can try to escape. We’ve been doing this for a long time, we ain’t that stupid!” he shouted.
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“From what I heard is that although you are a great warrior, your drinking prowess exceeds that of the great Odda.” Damon interjected.
“Where did you hear that?” Snorri asked.
“The warrior with the blue markings on his head and the paint on his eyes said so.” Damon replied.
“Laufey said that? I didn’t know he held me in such high regard.” Snorri said, his mouth turning into a smile. “Alright, fetch one vat of wine. But only one! These slaves won’t see us drunk.”
Kastor whispered something to Luke before Luke added: ”There is a wine vat specifically made for warriors.”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?” Snorri groaned.
“I speak no lies, it comes from the Sword Guild’s vineyards, and only the greatest of warriors may drink of it. That is why we only had one aboard the ship.” Luke said.
Snorri’s eyebrow raised in interest.” And how do we know which one it is?”
“It has the marking of a sword on it.” Luke smartly replied.
Interest evident on his face, Snorri turned to one of the vikings, “Go get this vat, and if there is no such thing, let me know. We’ll carve off his pretty lying face.”
Luke gulped audibly as his face paled. Aleks put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and whispered.”Do not worry my friend, soon they will die.”
A few moments later and one of the vikings reappeared with the special wine vat. Snorri grabbed it from him, took out the cork and with a huge gulp started drinking.
“By Odin, this must be from Asgard’s vineyard!” he exclaimed.
Sharing it with the rest of the vikings he walked up to Luke.”Apologies for doubting your word. This is indeed some of the best wine I have ever tasted.” After a moment of thought he retrieved the wine vat after all his men had their fill and stood in front of Luke again. ”As a reward you can also have some.”
“Err, I am not actually one t-” Luke began before he was subtly pinched by Aleks. “I mean, thank you for your generosity, oh great and strong warrior!” Luke said in fake reverence, as he bowed his head before opening his mouth.
Snorri poured the wine down his gullet more generously than he thought as Luke began coughing hard, barely gulping down the liquid. “You will do well in the North with that attitude boy.” he said.
After they had finished the vat of wine they retrieved another as they started drinking again. Snorri’s statement of only one vat was forgotten. After two hours of their raucous drinking, Aleks and his comrades began to notice the effect of the supposed ‘special wine’. The loud voices began to grow softer as they started nodding off one by one. A loud snoring came from between them. Luke was out cold, a smile on his face as he slept a deep sleep for the first time in what felt for them, like forever.
“Damon, where’s the knife?” Aleks whispered, drawing the attention of the rest of the prisoners, their eyes lighting up with hope.
“Hold a moment.” Damon said as he reached into his tunic and held out the knife that they borrowed from the generous guard when they were on the wave. He sawed through the rope of Nike sitting next to him and a few minutes later, most of them had been freed from their bonds. At first they sneaked around the ship, careful as to not awaken the vikings. They need not have worried, the vikings were in a deep sleep. Compliments from the cook of Calpe. They secured some weapons and then stood over the vikings while some of the other prisoners were being freed.
“It feels wrong to end their lives while they are sleeping.” Luke muttered.
“Do you not remember what Snorri said about him removing your face?” Aleks said back.
“Believe me I remember that, just. . .” Luke hesitated.”It feels wrong.”
“What about Charon dying at the village? He did not get any mercy when that devilish man killed him!” Aleks spat out
“To take the same vengeance on all of them for the action of one is unfair, we do not need to descend to the level of our enemies.” Ikaros voiced his opinion.
“If we throw them overboard they’ll just drown, which is also bad.” Nike said.
“Are there not empty barrels in the hold? Let’s put them in those and let them drift into the river.” Luke said hopefully.
They discussed it some more until they came to a conclusion. They would put them in barrels. Of course being merciful did not constitute being without spite. They undressed them first, and then put them in their respective barrels, before dropping them into the water. They watched as the current took them down the river.
Aleks took in a deep breath of fresh foreign air. Some of the prisoners could still not believe what happened and were looking at their hands that were not bound with a dumbfounded expression. Others were crying tears of joy.
“Let’s get our ship in order and get out of here.” Aleks announced.
“Where would we go? When they notice our escape, the first place they will go to is through that portal. And let me not remind you that the longship of those bastards are a lot faster than our ship.” Horus said.
“We’ll have to sail around this land then, and only return after some time has passed, then they won’t find us.” Aleks said.
“Why do you get to decide where we go?” One of the villager men shouted.
“Who are you?” Ikaros asked, confused.
“My name’s Jonathan, from Witsant. My young daughter is still at the village and without any family. . .” He started, tears blossomed on his face. “I need to get back to her.”
Shouts of agreement arose from the rest of the villager folk as most of them had children waiting at home.
“Jonathan.” Aleks began, “I understand that you and your people are frustrated, but if we go back to Witsant, then the vikings will merely follow us and do the same as before.” After letting his words sink in, Aleks continued.”If we wait for a month, maybe two, then they will have no idea where we are. After that, we will get you back to your children. This I promise to you on my mother’s grave.”
Having alleviated the villager’s concerns, Aleks and his comrades began ordering them about as they readied for their voyage.
“Which side do you think we should sail towards?” Nike asked.
After a moment’s hesitation Thanos broke the silence. “ Let’s voyage on the right side of the land.”
“What made you decide on that.” Luke asked.
“Just a gut feeling.” Thanos replied before laughing, breaking the somber atmosphere that had settled around them.
“Well then, set the sail!” Aleks loudly commanded as all the people aboard, men and women alike, sprang into action. They cleared out the deck, rationed food and took a stock take of what they had. With an estimate of two weeks of sailing before they ran out they set off,
leaving behind their captors.
As they cut through the waters, the land began to change. When they arrived, everything appeared to be normal, but the further they went from the portal, the more vibrant the colours became. At first it was something easily missed or merely shrugged off as their imagination. But they could no longer ignore it. The greenery of the forests became so much. . . greener. The sky became bluer than it was. It was hard to explain. One thing they could all agree on, was that the abstract feeling of life was more evident in everything around them.
Peculiar dolphin-like fish swam alongside them, hefting bright yellow fins on their backs. By the fourth day, they passed the largest mountain they had ever seen. Some of the men claimed that it must be Olympus itself. A week passed in a blur as they saw wonders and sights that made their jaws drop. One day, they rounded one of the numerous cliff faces and caught sight of a large exotic city with towering walls.
Gasping at the sheer size of it Nike said:”That is much larger than Athens.”
“It definitely is.” Damon agreed.
An hour passed by as they sailed towards the massive city. Walls taller than twenty meters defended it and in the distance, they could make out four distinct sectors in the city. Before they could watch any longer a figure jumped out of the ocean and hit their deck.
Everybody who saw it, felt their jaw’s fall, as something they have never ever seen before stood before them. A large otter stood on its hindlegs reaching over 5 and a half feet. It wore a leather cuirass with an unknown insignia embroidered on it and it had a trident in its right hand. It’s mouth opened.
“License and identification please.” it spoke.