Lìfa saw the flames around rising high to paint the sky, some so close that she felt the heat burning her skin, and the thick smoke in the air was almost choking her. She heard the violent roar of the collapsing buildings and the desperate screams from all around. She ran as fast as she could, she was so out of breath that her lungs were burning, and all her muscles were sore and weak from the fight before. She felt like the harder she tried, the slower she became. The world spun and rushed around her at high speed, while she barely moved a centimeter.

But she couldn't stop. She had to run.

And like many times before, she was late.

She saw the man piercing through Einar's chest. She saw the orange reflection of the flames shining on the blade, and the red rose spreading on the fabric around where it entered the body.

She saw her father hitting the ground and bleeding out again. She knelt beside him holding his hand in hers, with hot tears running down her face, and her heartbroken to a million pieces again.

"Lìfa... you'll live, no matter what."

Everything started to spin around, and the world around her slowly faded away, while a force was pulling her down into the darkness. She tried to hold onto her father, not letting him go, but she wasn't strong enough. Einar's fingers slipped out of hers, and the darkness swallowed Lìfa.

The next moment she found herself in the middle of a dark forest. The pine trees rose high above her, shutting all rays of light out. She felt alone, broken, and numb from the pain, not willing to stand up or move. She curled up on the cold ground, hugging herself, and cried. She gave up on everything and wanted to hide and disappear forever. She felt the darkness slowly crawling towards her, tangling its vines around her legs, arms, finally consuming her whole body. Its grip became stronger around her with every breath she took, slowly squeezing life out of her.

Suddenly she heard a sharp cry from the deep of the woods. The voice came from the distance, yet it was strong. It made the vines of desperation and sorrow to run back to where they came from, letting Lìfa breath again. Still crying she stood up and took a few uncertain steps into the direction of the mysterious voice. Something told her to follow it.

It was hard to see in the dark of the forest, and her pain was almost unbearable, but something kept pulling her closer and closer to the voice echoing in the woods. The bushes and branches around the path scratched her skin, and tore into the flesh, leaving red trails all over her arms and face, but she didn't care. She kept on walking.

After what felt like an eternity in that dark and cold labyrinth, she reached an opening, with something small placed in the middle. As she carefully approached it, she found out that it was the source of the crying she heard all along. A small baby with unmatched eyes, left in the woods. In her surprise, Lìfa even forgot about her grief and sorrow for a second. As she was about to reach down, and lift the child from the ground, it suddenly disappeared and turned into green mist. At the same time, she noticed movement on the other end of the clearing. She cautiously stepped back and took up defending position.

A tall person emerged from the shadows, and lazily leaned against a tree. He folded his arms, and in a careless manner, he cocked his head to the side. His hair was copper red, and his amber eyes were burning with madness inside. He seemed to be dangerous, unpredictable, yet very calm. It was almost impossible to read anything from his face. It was completely still and emotionless. For a moment they were just staring at each other, and Lìfa stood the sharp, searching gaze of the strange man. Finally, his lips curved into a mischievous grin, showing off his white teeth:

"So, finally we meet. It's been a long time, I've been waiting for it," he said, still eyeing Lìfa from the distance. His voice rang like he couldn't care less, but his eyes said the exact opposite. Lìfa felt like she should have been afraid of him, but instead, she found the man quite intriguing. He was so familiar somehow, though she could swear she never saw him before.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me?" she asked finally. She wanted to sound fierce and confident, to hide all the pain and confusion inside her, but she was sure the man's searching gaze saw right through her act. Like she was completely naked and had nowhere to hide.

"You know who I am. You always knew. You just have to finally believe it." he said while pushing himself away from the tree. With a few airy steps, he strut up to Lìfa. He was so close, only a few inches from the girl, their burning gazes still locked together. Lìfa still didn't back down. She stood her ground against the strange man, and showed no fear, though on the inside she was in ruins.

"Why did you bring me here? What do you want from me?" she immediately regretted saying this and felt like she asked the wrong question, but it was the first thing popping to her mind. A wide, devilish smile spread across his face, as he whispered these last words to Lìfa:

"Don't run from your legacy."

She woke up in cold sweat, slightly shaking, and with tears still running down her face. For a second she didn't know where she was, but as she sat up and looked around, she realised she fell asleep next to Sveinn on the ship. Her sudden movements roused the boy too, who immediately noticed the tortured look on her face and the pain in her eyes. He pulled Lìfa into a comforting hug and gently stroked her head trying to calm the girl down.

"Shh, it's over. It was just a nightmare, I'm here now." Sveinn was the only one, who knew about Lìfa's constant nightmares, and he always knew how to chase those away from his best friend. She had these dreams haunting her since the downfall of Thornvik and the death of her father. Lìfa tried to hide and suppress her emotions, and concentrate on her new goals, but she couldn't escape the memories in her sleep.

This time though it was different. She never saw the scene in the forest before, and for some reason, she was sure that the mysterious man was no other than Loki. For now, she planned on keeping this a secret. After the sudden raging of the storm and the confrontation about her pendant, the last thing she wanted was the crew to whisper about it too behind her back. She already got looks from them on a daily basis, and she felt that her stand wasn't that bright with them right now. Maybe, later she might tell it to Frode because she trusted the godi. But for now, she wanted to lay low, and wait for what happens next.

Meanwhile, the Silver Fox slowly approached the land in sight. Originally they didn't intend to dock until they reach their final destination, but the storm washed away a big part of their food and water supplies which needed to be replaced, and also they had to make some minor repairs on the ship itself.

As they got closer, a dark forest appeared ahead of them, with thick fog swirling around the huge trees. Not quite the place they wished for, but they needed to dock somewhere.
When they reached the shore and pulled the Fox out on the sand, everyone cautiously looked around and searched the mysterious forest for any sign of life. Lìfa saw many of them gripping the amulets hanging from their neck, and whispering quick prayers to the gods.

After examining and assessing the damage on their supplies, Egil ordered them in three groups. One stayed by the ship, and took care of the reparations and also watched over their belongings. The second one went on a hunt for food and water. The third one's duty was to scout along the shore, and to look for a small village, town or any life nearby. They probably needed to spend the night there, so it would have been nice to find a warm place to sleep.

Lìfa was put on team number three, which meant that she got stuck with Halfdan, Vidar and Gunnar. Not quite the most pleasant companions she could ask for. The three men immediately protested as they heard the jarl's orders, but there was nothing to do about it. They had to settle with it and to go fulfill their task. As they slowly made their way by the shore to the West, the three men separated themselves from Lìfa, clearly showing no intentions on talking to her, or considering her presence.

They already made their statements back at the camp. Their opinion was that Lìfa only brought bad luck on them, and they all would just get cursed or killed if they keep her around any longer. Also, Halfdan insisted to the fact that Lìfa caused the mysterious illness on board, and that the storm was the work of her hands too. He wanted to get rid of her as fast as they could, but she was under the protection of the vow.

At this point, Lìfa didn't even try. Every move she made just made it worse. She couldn't do anything that would make it up to the three men. They decided to hate her at the very first moment, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't change it. Their superstitions and prejudice were too strong, only a miracle or the help of a god could break them. So far none of these had happened, so Lìfa just quietly walked a few steps behind them, trying to ignore all the insults and dirt they were whispering about her.

After a few hours, it was hard, very hard for her. As she felt rage slowly boiling and spreading through her veins, she clenched her jaw, and her fingers curled up into tight balls, her nails digging into her palm. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. And suddenly she bumped into the broad back of Halfdan. She jumped back and was ready to apologise, protest or anything she needed to do in her defence, but the man didn't even look back at her.

The group stopped because right in front of them a group of warriors emerged from the dark shadows of the forest, with spears in hand. The colour of their clothes matched almost perfectly the colours of the forest, and their faces were covered with dark mud. One of them stepped ahead, addressing the small scout group standing on the shore:

"Which one of you wears the serpent on his skin?" he carried his eye upon the three men since Lìfa was still hidden behind the huge form of the steersman.

"Who are you, and what do you want from us?" Vidar replied while both of their hands wandered down to the handles to their swords, ready to fight if needed.

"We are the protector of the Witch. She wishes to see the one with the serpent's mark. Don't worry, we won't hurt you unless you give us a reason." the forest man answered, lowering his spear as a sign of peace. "If the chosen one follows us, we'll provide shelter for the rest of your group in our village."

Thoughts were racing in Lìfa's head. Who was that Witch, and how did she know about her or her marking? And most importantly what did she want from her? As she was lost in mind, she didn't pay attention to the rest of the conversation, and just suddenly felt a big hand on her shoulder, pushing her towards the strange warriors.

"Deal. Take the girl, and we'll wait for one of you by the ship." Vidar pushed her forward.

"What? There's no way I'm going with them! You can't just hand me over! What if they kill me?" anger burst out of Lìfa. She pulled her axe out of her belt, and she manically kept looking around, not knowing who exactly the enemy was in the situation. Her traitor mates or the strangers?

"If they do, they'd just do us a favour. Now be a good girl, and go with them. As you heard, they don't want to hurt you, and in exchange, we'll get food and shelter. Meet you later! ... or not."
Halfdan waved goodbye to her with a devilish smile peaking out of his beard. With his two friends, they turned, and walked away, leaving Lìfa behind surrounded by the forest warriors pointing their spears at her.

She was clearly outnumbered by the six men, so finally she lowered her axe. She had no choice, but following them into the dark forest. She was scared by these men, and she feared to go anywhere with them, and especially to meet that mysterious witch. At the same time, she was furious about that her companions tossed her away this easily without blinking. Those backstabbing, betraying cowards took the first chance to get rid of her without getting any blood on their hands. She wondered how would Egil take all this.

As Lìfa followed her new, mysterious companions deeper and deeper into the woods, she noticed that they walk in the forest like they knew every vine, stick, and stone there. They knew exactly where they were heading, and their steps were completely silent. They didn't make even a single noise while walking, like some kind of ghosts trapped between the hundred years old trees. Since she had no other option than following them, she thought the least she could do is to find out more on their way to the village.

"So.. who is this Witch and what does she want from me?" she asked. Her voice was quiet and uncertain, still not knowing if she can trust the word of these men or not. Also, she was working hard to find a way out of this threatening situation.

The one that seemed to be the leader, walking on the front answered her without looking back. His voice was empty and cold, without any emotions or a sign of interest.

"She is a great prophet with special connections to the spirit world and seidr. She had a vision of you and waited for your arrival. She sent us to take you to her, she has something important to discuss with you."

As the man was talking, Lìfa scanned her surroundings. The forest looked the same in every direction, and she wasn't completely sure from where they came. Three of the guards walked ahead of her, and three behind her. If she moved quickly enough to one side, maybe she could run away. The thought of getting lost in the forest wasn't really appealing to her but was still better than following these lunatics to a so-called prophet. She had a bad feeling about all this and wanted to get away as fast as possible. Maybe she could still find her way back to the group and escape.

Without drawing any attention, her hand slid down to the handle of her axe and gripped it -just in case. When they marched by a big, thick bush, she took her chance and jumped to the side, disappearing in the bush, and started to run as fast as she can.

Unfortunately, her new companions knew the place better than her, and they easily caught up to her. She was too scared to look back, but she knew they were close, she heard their shouts and footsteps getting closer. The small sticks and branches scratched her skin and tore her clothes. Her lungs were burning, and blood was drumming in her ears. She often stumbled upon some vines, roots or stones, which slowed her down, but she still kept going.

Suddenly, something from behind hit her side hard, spending unbearable pain across her body almost immediately. For a moment she saw white stars dancing across her vision, but she kept running, clutching her side. She noticed that from between her fingers warm, dark blood was flowing. One of the spears hit her and left a deep cut across her side, and now the wound was bleeding heavily. Every step was a hell of suffering, but gritting her teeth she kept placing one foot before the other.

The pain and blood loss were slowly draining her strength away, and finally, she stumbled upon a root and helplessly fell to the ground. As she lied there, she heard the footsteps coming closer and stopping around her. She heard the men talking, but their voices merged into one meaningless mess. Her vision blurred, and slowly darkness took over, as she lost her consciousness...