Escape to the Forbidden Isles

Chapter Two: A Cold Night at Sea

The boat of banished Vikings was still gently rocking, sailing slowly along as the stars in the vast sky began to appear. The Vikings wounded from the brief battle had been bandaged and were resting as night fell.

Amidst the hungry, cold children, one girl lay quietly, watching the stars. If they hadn't been faced with the possibilities of starving, freezing to death, drowning if the dented boat sank, or being attacked by neighboring tribes, this could have been fun. 

Then she became rigid from her furry brown boots to her light brown hair. She thought of that horrible man Torolf. He was the leader of the Viking tribe, but he harbored a strange contempt for her family. He had tried to kill her several times. Once, when she had not been paying attention, she'd become trapped in a snare near the woods where she liked to draw pictures of birds. At first she had been scared, but then she noticed Torolf's hunting knife lying forgotten on a rock nearby. She grabbed it and cut her way out of the ropes. After that, she always kept a small, sharp knife for these kinds of situations. She'd only had to use it for this purpose once – when her younger sister Skye had gotten caught in a similar trap. Poor Skye refused to leave the house for a week afterward. Torolf didn't only try to kill her and her sister, but her father too - his own brother! She wanted to know why. She searched the heavens with her lively brown eyes as if the answer could be found among the stars.

"Are you awake, Thora?" her mother asked gently.

"Yes, Mother. But Skye's asleep," the girl answered.

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you were."

"No I wasn't."

"Girls, your cousins are sleeping. Stop fighting."

Both girls fell silent, but eyed each other warily.

Yes, you were asleep, Skye. I heard you snoring, Thora thought.

"Now both of you go to sleep," their mother said.

"Mother, where are we?" asked Skye.

"The middle of the ocean," Thora said.

Skye frowned at her.

"Mother, where is Father?" Skye asked.

"Your father is helping steer the boat to some islands nearby," their mother said. "Now you need to get some sleep."

Iona returned to her husband's post near the front of the ship.

"How are the children?" the girls' father asked.

"Curious as usual and they don't seem worried," Iona answered.

"Good." Leif turned back toward the front of the ship.

"Leif, do you think that the legends could have some bit of truth to them?" Iona asked, worried.

"No," Leif answered. But he was asking himself the same question.

Back at the children's sleeping quarters, Thora grumbled to herself. Why did she have to sleep with all of these complaining, annoying children? She was going to be fourteen next month. She wasn't a child. She fell asleep, thinking of ways to convince her parents to let her sleep somewhere else.