Fault (Book 1 of the Vikings Series)

Chapter 24

Elin

I relax into Vern’s embrace, happy that we can put the last few weeks relatively behind us. He runs his hand over the back of my head, pulling me closer.
“I missed you, too,” I whisper.
When I finally pull back enough to see Vern’s face, he’s still giving me the look.
“Hey lovebirds!” Someone shouts from behind us. I turn, still with an arm around Vern’s back. Welch laughs to himself, more pleased than he should be. Briar stands behind him, arms crossed, looking at the ground.
“I should go.” I pull away and smile at Vern before hurrying down to the ridge. Apparently, I’m late and I’m met by a very aggravated Kori. A couple dozen teenage girls stand beyond her. We head out into the forest beyond the village, checking traps and splitting off into different groups to hunt. Kori grabs my arm and pulls me off to the side.
“We’re going up to get some more traps from the village,” she explains.
“Why can’t I stay and hunt?”
“Because you don’t have a hunting group yet and going out alone is too dangerous.”
“Why? It’s just the woods.”
“Wolves,” Kori replies.
I follow Kori up to the village, not needing much more of an explanation. A group of guys stands between us and the village. Almost on cue, Welch jogs over to us, eyes locked softly on Kori.
“You’re even more attractive when you aren’t killing me,” Welch grins at Kori.
“And your mouth is still as smart as ever,” Kori replies through one of her many different glares. Welch doesn’t seem phased.
“You think my mouth is smart?”
I look between the two of them, trying to figure out where this exchange is going. Kori laughs, finally.
“I don’t get paid enough to deal with people like you,” she hisses.
“How much would I need to pay you?”
I can’t help but laugh and Kori elbows me in the side.
“There is no amount on this Earth. I already have to babysit one person from Havredal and that’s enough,” Kori replies. Welch doesn’t lose the goofy smirk.
“So Valhalla, then? There has to be some chance there,” Welch asks.
“You think you’re going to Valhalla?” Kori scoffs.
“Why do people keep saying that? Of course I’m going to Valhalla,” Welch pretends to be hurt. Kori rolls her eyes and leaves my side, walking back to the storeroom. Welch follows her away with his eyes. As Kori walks into the small structure, she looks back at him with just a touch of what I guess to be amusement. Who knew she was capable of such a thing?
I turn to look up at Welch and cross my arms.
“What was that?” I laugh.
“You wouldn’t understand, Thrall,” Welch winks.
“Understand what? That you just decided to take a walk into the wolf’s den? That’s plain as day,” I joke.
“Hey, laugh all you want but when I get a girl and you’re still making faces at Vern for eternity, you won’t be laughing anymore.”
“Ok, first of all, Kori isn’t just ‘a girl,’ did you miss my whole wolf reference? And secondly, I don’t make faces.”
“Whatever you say,” Welch raises his eyebrows and returns back into the group of guys.
Kori drags me around for most of the afternoon, making me set traps around the village. She claims it’s the only thing I’m good at, though I have a feeling it was probably her old job that she’s passed on to me. I don’t bother complaining and just keep working until dusk when one of the twins finally comes over the ridge. Kori sits with her feet up on a nearby fallen log as I tie another trap up. Her brother crosses his arms upon seeing us.
“This is what you have her doing?” Maverick asks, raising an eyebrow.
“You have any better ideas?” Kori asks, barely looking up. I stop paying attention the the trap for a second and accidentally catch the side of my hand against the sharp coil. Maverick kneels down next to me and sets the trap. He stands and dusts the leaves from his pants.
“Kori, this is ridiculous. You’ve been doing nothing all day and now it’s dinner time and you’re just going to sit down here?”
Kori jumps to her feet. “It’s our first day up here and it doesn’t get easier. Kill me for taking a break.”
I stand up and examine my hand that hurts a lot worse than it looks. A loud noise echoes through the woods and both Kori and Maverick instantly look around. Another long howl and the sound of a branch snapping from nearby.
“Elin,” Maverick whispers, motioning for me to come towards him. I inch forwards, not daring to turn around. Kori’s eyes are locked on something behind me. Maverick pulls me behind him and I finally turn around to see a wolf’s head sticking out from behind one of the boulders. It stares at us intently.
“Is it-?”  Maverick starts.
“I don’t know,” Kori replies.
“Leave the traps, we can come back for them in the morning.”
Another howl. There are more of them. The wolf closest to us disappears behind the rocks.
“Let’s go. Before the pack comes.”
Kori draws her sword and starts jogging up to the bluff. Maverick nudges me to follow her and runs just behind me.
When we come to the village, two older warriors are standing by the fire. Kori approaches them and I stay behind, finding Welch and Vern in the crowd of young people. Kori stands her ground and the older men approach. They talk to her about something and she nods every few moments. Max pushes his way through the crowd a few seconds later and joins them. He crosses his arms, obviously not pleased with their arrival.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Vern asks.
“Probably the quickest way to kill us all,” Welch shrugs.
“Unlikely,” I roll my eyes.
Kori and Max finally step away from the two warriors. They wait for them to disappear over the ridge when Max finally steps up onto a wooden crate. The bonfire burns beside him, casting moving shadows over his figure.
“Listen up. Things are going to be different this year. We aren’t going to be able to go down to the village until the next Raid season. After that, we’re all going out there alone. Thorgar wants us to sail north during the summer.”
“Why alone?” Someone shouts.
“Yeah! And why can’t we go down to the village?” Another person protests
“As if any of us have a say in it!” Kori replies.
“He’s trying to get us all lost at sea,” Maverick mutters. The crowd of people erupts into a chorus of whispers.
“Quiet!!” Max thunders. “You’re all a bunch of whining thralls. Get a grip. People have lived up on the mountain village for months. So what if we can’t go down to the village? We don’t need them.”
No one around me seems to respond well to Max’s message.
“What happened to sixth day?! That was the only day we could relax down in the village!”
Maverick leaves my side and pushes to the center of the group. Max rolls his eyes and jumps down from his place. Maverick claims the small stage.
“Thorgar wouldn’t send us up here if he thought we were all going to die. We’ll have sixth day up here. If you have a problem with that, I’m sure Thorgar would happily dispose of you.”
All eyes are locked on Maverick and no one makes a sound.
“Now, no supplies from the village means more hunting. We eat dinner tonight and not a person sleeps past dawn.”
“Or what?” A familiar voice asks. I find Briar in the crowd, glaring at my cousin with defiance. Maverick smirks as if he was expecting the question.
“Someone care to fill in the foreigner?” he asks.
“The wolves,” a younger girl murmurs.
“The wolves,” Maverick repeats. “You help the mountain village and it helps you. Unless, of course, you think you can survive out there.”
Please don’t be an idiot, I beg Briar in my head. Thankfully he backs down.
“Glad we got that sorted,” Maverick grins. He steps down from the crate at walks through the crowd towards one of the buildings. A few people follow him but more of us stay crowded around the fire. Kori comes towards me and pulls me away from the rest of the teenagers.
“Thorgar wants you down in the great hall.”
“But I thought we weren’t supposed-” I start.
“A ship sailed into the harbor about an hour ago.”
“Why would that interest me?” I ask. 


“It’s Singrid.”

A/N: Hey guys, see that vote tab. Yeah, the one that's just begging to be pressed. You should tap it and vote ;) (A comment would be pretty great, too) Thanks!!