When Lìfa sank beneath the surface of the black water, it felt like time has stopped underwater. All noises were muffled, the shouts of the war above and the violent roar of the thunder were like sounds of a distant land.

A second later, as the dark waves swallowed her body, the frozen time started into a wild rush again. The cold hit her as an electric shock and the freezing water squeezed the air out of her lungs in an instant. She desperately trashed with her already numb limbs, trying to get to the surface, but despite all her effort, she was sinking fast.

Lìfa felt like a big weight she couldn’t get rid of was pulling her down into the darkness. She watched helplessly the water above her lighting up and going black again as the storm was still raging on. Her whole body was now screaming for air and as she instinctively gasped, only water flooded her mouth and lungs.

Desperately pulling at the frigid water, another feeling spread across her body, burning through her veins. Anger. One wrong move, one simple moment of distraction could put an end to her life. Her dreams about fame and glory would never come true. She saw pictures of herself sitting on a golden throne of Vallhalla with the crown on her head slowly fading away. Pictures of Sveinn and her fighting side by side, pictures of them finding the gold of Fafnir. The darkness ate all of these dreams and images before they had a chance to become reality. The bitter mixture of fury and disappointment wrapped its tentacles around her heart like a giant sea creature rising from the darkness below. The Norns* had betrayed her, the gods simply made a fool out of her.

This fire gave her new power to fight, to swim up to the sweet air. She gave in all she had, but the weight anchoring her down made her sink relentlessly. Soon her limbs felt heavy and numb and she lost track of which way was up and down. She got lost sinking in the dark alone, slowly suffocating.

As Lìfa began losing her consciousness, she felt like drifting in and out of reality to a place that existed outside space and time. Soon she found herself floating in a strange state where she didn’t feel alive anymore, but she wasn’t dead either.

That’s when she heard the voices. At first, they were so quiet, barely above breath. Soon she was surrounded by them, their familiar sound rang crystal clear in her ears.

”Lìfa... you’ll live, no matter what...”

In her surprise, she tried to shout, to call out to her father, but only small bubbles left her mouth.

"In the morning you will vow your loyalty to me. Welcome among the Glorious Thirteen!"

”We have to rematch one day. Promise to meet me in Valhalla!”

She turned, searching for the source of the voices, trying to find them through the darkness, but they were nowhere and everywhere at the same time. All around her like ghosts of the past.

”You need someone who saves your stupid ass from time to time."

”Don’t run from your legacy!”

The voices sounded so real, so close. Her father, Sveinn, Finn. Like she could just reach an arm out to touch them but again, she had to realise the freezing fluid surrounding her, now so cold that it felt like burning her skin. That was when she heard one last, piping voice over the whispers of her past.

”One can keep you afloat, but the weight of two will make you drown.”

The words of Silvana hit her as a lightning, pulling her back to reality, being aware of the cold, suffocating sea around her again. As the sign of her final desperation, she reached to her neck from where the two medallions hung. As her fingers trailed the cold metal, the decision was already made. Her palm closed around the Thor’s hammer and she tore it down and threw it into the abyss.

At the very same moment, Lìfa felt like she was floating up instead of sinking down. Her heavy anchor was no more holding her back and she felt light as a feather. With the last bits of her remaining force, she swam to the surface, this time easily.  When her head finally peaked out of the water, she took a big gulp of the salty air.

The storm was still raging on, and soon waves washed over her head, leaving her coughing gasping for air while trashing against the water to stay afloat. Suddenly, something heavy hit her head. As she turned to see what it was, she found a broken shield floating by her side. She took it as a sign of the gods and held onto it as strong as she could. She squeezed the edge of the shield so hard that her knuckles turned white, trying to keep her head out of the water.

Now that the piece of wood kept her above the surface, she had some spare seconds to look around. Her eyes were searching for the Fox and any survivors of the fight, but the dark waves and the heavy rain blocked her vision. She was completely alone and lost at that merciless moment. Her fate was in the hands of the gods, and her life depended on their moves of the tafl game soaked by treachery and lies.

The reckless waves of Njord were throwing her back and forth, drifting her toward the shores. After painful minutes of fighting against the elements, she felt her legs bumping against the sea-bed. With breathing ragged and coughing heavily, Lìfa crawled out of the water and collapsed onto the sand. Her whole body was shivering, her teeth chattering, and she felt extremely exhausted The salty water burned her eyes and wounds, her head was still throbbing from the hit she got during the fight.

For minutes she just lied there, face down to the sand, trying to catch her breath. Until this moment she never really appreciated how good breathing actually felt. Her limbs were heavy and unable to move. She was about to lose her consciousness again, but this time she didn’t even try to fight it. She knew she was still in danger, that her friends might be still out there, waiting for her but at the moment none of this really mattered. She just wanted to rest.

Lìfa didn’t know for how long she had been lying there when she heard someone coming. She wiped her wet locks sticking to her face and opened her eyes, but through her blurry vision she could only make out that three men were approaching her. She heard them shouting, searching the bay for survivors. She couldn’t recognize any of her friends’ voice but one of them was somehow familiar. Like she had heard him earlier.

”Hey! I found someone! Here!” he shouted while jogging towards Lìfa. Something told her that she should run and get away from him, but she was too tired. Her sore muscles were unable to move an inch.

When he reached Lìfa, the man kneeled beside her, slightly shaking her body to check if she was still alive.

”Hey, can you speak? Who are you and what happened to the ships?” for his disappointment the only answer he got was a pained groan.

Lìfa felt his hands reaching under her body and gently flipping her over to her back. She felt the rain now pouring into her face and she saw the outlines of a man hovering over her. The last thing she heard was his surprised shout, as her heavy eyelids closed and she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

”Lìfa?!”

*

First, the quiet murmurs hit her ear, rousing her from her sleep. She tried to move and stretch her sore muscles out, but for her surprise, she couldn’t. As she opened her eyes, she found herself in sitting position, her hands and legs tied up. Struggling against the ropes, she looked around in panic and found herself in the middle of a camp full of unknown people.

”Hey, boss! The girl’s awake!” one of the guards jumped to his feet and ran away to the enormous ship harbouring on the shores.

Hearing him, many warriors gathered around her with their arms crossed and their brows furrowed, whispering to each other. Soon the crowd opened up as a tall, strict looking man approached Lìfa with his guards right behind him. Ingolf. Lìfa immediately recognised the man from Heilaholm.

The man stopped before her, eyeing her up and down with a cold glare. Lìfa did just the same. Ingolf was in the middle of his thirties, and if it wasn’t for the burning hostility in his eyes, Lìfa would have said that he was a fine man. His face was framed by curly brown locks and a long beard tied up into many small braids. His toned muscles showed through his tunic. Wealth was radiating from his every inch, from his well-groomed facials to the expensive fabric of his clothes. His wrists were packed with heavy silver and gold bracelets and he wore the fines piece of chainmail Lìfa had ever seen.

”I know you,” he broke the silence. ”You and your blonde friend were at the pub back in Heilaholm. You were spying on me,” he hissed from behind his gritted teeth. Before Lìfa could say anything, he grabbed the front of her tunic and pulled her to her feet to face him eye to eye.

Finally, the moment came and she stood right in front of the man who caused every trouble in her life. The man who ordered to burn Thornvik down to ashes. The reason of her father’s death.

”So, you work for Egil, huh?” he leaned so close to Lìfa that she could feel his breath on her face, but she stood his glare. ”What do you know about the map and that fool’s plan? You better talk or I’ll just kill you right away!”

These last words made the memories of the destruction of her home erupt from the back of her mind and let anger run free in her veins. She squeezed her hands into fists so hard that her knuckles became white and she felt the colour of her face turning into red. For a tense moment, she just glared at Ingolf than she spat at his feet and hissed back.

”I’d rather die than telling anything to a monster like you.”

Ingolf slapped her hard with the back of his hand, sending her back at the dust with a huge thud. Pain struck at her side-wound again, but she tried to hide is as best as she could. She didn’t want to give him the pleasure of seeing her suffering.

”You want to play the brave? So be it! But in the end, I’ll make you talk and I’ll enjoy every moment of it.” his mouth pulled into a vicious smile as he waved to his men to pull her to her feet again.

”Don’t wait for your friends to come and save you. Egil’s ridiculous rowboat has shipwrecked and I guess those bastards drowned. You have nobody to care for you,” here he stopped, his eyes feasting on the hatred and disgust burning in her unmatched eyes. He took a small step towards her and whispered to her just above breath.

”I destroyed your home and now I killed your people. You have nothing. It’s your last chance, tell me what do you know about the map? Tell me, and I’ll set you free and give you everything you never had. The two of us could achieve great things, just think about it!” the poisonous lies slipped off his tongue as easily as he was reading them from a book.

His trick backfired, mentioning the downfall of Thornvik only fueled the rage within Lìfa.

”I’ll never be a monster like you and I’d never betray my people! If it’s up to me, you’ll never reach that damned cave!”

Despite her ties, she dashed forward, trying to get to the man but something pulled her back on the ground before she could reach Ingolf. That’s when she noticed the rope around her neck. The other end was tied to a small tree behind her. This bastard simply leashed her like a dog.

Gasping for air, she was forced to her feet again. Her wound burned like hell, and her head was foggy from anger and desperation. Ingolf this time hit before asking. He punched square into her stomach, sending her to her butt again. She curled up on the ground in pain, while the jarl towered above her with a cruel laugh.

”This is the last time I’m asking. After, I’ll say no more, just ask one of the boys to have some fun with you until you shout from pain and beg for me to stop,” he pulled out a small knife from his belt, and carried his gaze upon his troops still surrounding them ”Right, boys?”

The crowd cheered as they stomped their feet on the ground and pulled out their weapons.

”Wait, my jarl!” a young boy pushed his way through the mercenaries. He stopped before Ingolf, fixing his gaze on the ground before his leader. ”I say, we shouldn’t kill her now. Maybe she’s not talking, but she might be useful later. Maybe we could make a trade with Egil. I heard that she has a key role in his plans, and she’s very important to him.”

His voice sent shivers down Lìfa’s spine. She knew this voice well. Her jaw dropped as her eyes got sight of the boy talking. His raven hair reached down to his shoulders, framing his high cheekbones and fine jawline. As her eyes met with his emerald green ones, the realisation hit her as lightning. The boy bargaining for her life was no other than Finn.

Shaking the astonishment off her face, she tried to listen in their conversation.

”... you might be right. If she’s really as precious as you say, we’re taking her with us. But it’s your responsibility to keep an eye on her since you brought her here in the first place.” he waved to his men to untie the end of the leash and he handed it over to Finn. ”I warn you, one wrong move, one attempt on escaping and I’m hunting her down and killing both of you. Understood?”

”Yes, sir,” Finn said with a small bow and took the leash from his jarl. With an apologetic look, he pulled the end of the rope and signed Lìfa to follow him. One of the guards quickly cut the ties in her feet and tossed her after the boy.

When they were out of earshot behind a few bushes, Finn turned to Lìfa with a confused look on his face.

”Lìfa? For Odin’s beard, what the hell are you doing here?”

”I could ask you the same. You lied to me! You were Ingolf’s servant the whole time and you didn’t say a word! I bet you were there when they destroyed my village!” she leashed all her erupting hatred and confusion on the boy. She even tried to hit him with her tied up fists, but Finn caught her hands in midair, looking straight into her eyes.

”Shh! Would you keep it down, please? If Ingolf or his men hear any of this, we’re doomed for good. They don’t know that we’ve... uhm... met before, and I’d like to keep it this way.” he slowly released Lìfa’s hands, and raised his own to the air to show he was meaning no harm to her.

”And why would I believe a lying rat like you?”

”Because I’m not the enemy here! See, I want to help you, but I can’t if you won’t let me. This way you’ll only end up killing both of us.”

Finn stepped closer to Lìfa, trying to calm her down, but the girl backed away, eyeing him like an angry wolf ready to strike.

”Don’t you dare to touch me again! I can’t believe that I believed all your lies in Heilaholm! You won’t make a fool out of me again!”

”Look, I didn’t know that we were racing for the same goal, but trust me, when we made these, I was damn serious.” he pulled the small braid with a hint of red from behind his ear.

Lìfa instinctively reached for her own. She kept it the whole time in the hope of seeing the boy again. And now, there he was, still as handsome and appealing as back then, but she didn’t know if she could trust him again.

”Lìfa, I’m your ally, not your enemy. Let me help you, without me, you wouldn’t last a day.” he fixed his beautiful green eyes on hers, offering a hand to her.

She watched him for long, searching his pale face for any sign of lying again. But the only thing she saw was the boy from Heilaholm standing in front of her. She couldn’t resist his green orbs and the memories of their short time together. She took his hand and shook it.

”Right, but don’t think that I forgave you or that I trust you. I’ll get away the first time I’ll have the chance.”
Finn furrowed his brows, considering her words for a few seconds, then his thin lips pulled into his signature smile.

”Okay, but you won’t get away without the rematch you promised me!”

Notes:

Norns -The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men.