Ophelia arrived at the Visithug Island just as the sky was darkening, per her perfect calculation in her plan. It was the un-obvious choice to most she hoped, or at least to her parents. It was the farthest island out, being the relative newest addition to the tribes, and if they were being time conscious, they would have stopped to see Lyal first.
But, Lyal's island was closer so if anyone were looking for them, they'd go there first. Ophelia wanted them to be long gone by the time they swooped back around and on their way out. She was the first to arrive, although the rest of the group wasn't long after. In fact, Isis was the second member to arrive, and she slugged up onto the grass near the forest at the edge of the Visithug Island and lay there, eating the wildflowers that grew there.
"Woah," Sigird said, jumping off her dragon just before it landed, "You're father gave a good chase, Ophelia. But Kottr and I got away." She said, nuzzling her leopard-like dragon affectionately. Kottr's purr could be heard from a mile away when she was in a particularly good mood. While it often warmed Ophelia to see such adorable moments between a dragon and a rider, she did have to remind Sigird that they were trying to enter this island without anyone but Randolph knowing.
The rest of the riders appeared in close succession, and it seemed everyone had little to no problems, and hadn't run into anyone on their way in. The sky was completely dark now, and Ophelia's stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten much today, as she'd been riding all day, and her (admittedly) impulsive choice hadn't left time to pack food. Luckily, Jor had stuffed seemingly half her kitchen into her knapsack, and passed around some dried jerky for everyone to gnaw on while they decided their plan.
"Jor, you're so perfect!" Gustav gushed, "You're like the mother of this group, bringing everyone food and keeping us alive. You'll make a perfect mommy one day." He crooned. Sigird made an obvious barfing noise to the side. Calder chocked on her jerky. Jor blushed, eyes widening, and looking pointedly away. Ophelia wondered if there was time to send him back.
"Odin, Gustav." Ull even said, wincing and dragging his hand over his face, "Tone it down a little, yeah?"
"What? I can't show affection to my little honey flower?" He asked. The 'no!' that sounded was unanimous and instant. His face darkened, and he muttered something about everyone else and their loveless lives, but didn't call Jor anymore gag-worthy nicknames.
After a moment of silence, Sigrid cleared her throat. "So, how is this going to go? When are we talking to Randolph?" She asked, swallowing the last bit of her jerky and standing up to brush her off. Calder scoffed.
"Us?" he shook his head, "I think so. I am the one he owes a deal to, not all you. I'll go in alone. No arguments." He said firmly.
"Excuse me?" Ophelia said, jumping up after him, "I think I'm the little leader of this group. You can't tell me I'm not coming." She said, following him. Calder spun, sighing.
"I would have done this same thing had you not beat me to the punch. I'm the eldest."
"Please, but you don't act like it. I'm friends with Rudolph."
"So am I!" Calder spit back, "I know I can make this work."
"What are you saying I can't?" Ophelia put her hands on her hips, "Because for your information-,"
"Dear Thor! Both of you just go!" Ull said, interrupting both and causing their heads to whip around, "Or we'll be here all night." He added.
"I think Ophelia is the leader. She deserves to go to." Jor said softly.
"What?" Calder fumed, "If anyone is a leader, it should be me!" He said, and looked around, but only saw unsure looks from everyone.
"Ophelia did start this..." Ull rubbed his back, "And she's a lot less impulsive than you are." He said. Calder looked at him blankly.
"You've got to be joking. Her? Less impulsive than me?"
"She defiantly has a better temper. You're both temperamental, don't get me wrong. But you punch things when you get angry, Calder. I don't want a leader that will punch me if he gets upset." Sigrid said.
Gustav coughed. "I think you're the rightful leader, Calder." He said.
"Thank you, Gustav." Calder said meaningfully, glaring at the rest.
"He's just saying that because he hates Ophelia." Sigrid said.
"That's not why!" Gustav glared, "It's because-,"
"Fine." Calder cut him off with a long sigh, "We'll both go."
"Oh gee thanks," Ophelia said sarcastically, "Because I was so looking for your permission." She said, rolling her eyes and walking past him into the woods leading to the main city. Calder grit his teeth, locking his jaw, and one would say they could almost see the seam bursting from his ears. Instead, he shook his head, muttering, and followed her into the forest. He popped back for a moment, glaring at the remaining teenagers.
"Stay. Here. Don't get caught." He said, narrowing his eyes.
"We're not idiots, Calder." Sigrid said, waving him away, laying on her back, "Just go."
When he caught up to Ophelia she was standing near the edge of the city, eyes raised in bemusement. "And here you wanted to go so badly. What happened? Follow a butterfly?" She teased.
"I was reminding our group to stay covert." He said in a stern voice.
"What do you take them for? Children?" Ophelia shook her head, "They'll be fine."
"You say that, until we come back and the camp is burned down."
"There's not even a fire." Ophelia reminded him. Calder gave her a look that clearly indicated that the forest catching on fire due to them was not a totally unreasonable outcome.
"Okay," Ophelia lowered her voice to a softest whisper, "Where to now?"
"I thought you were friends with him?" He asked, a tinge of triumph.
"Oh shut it. It doesn't mean I've memorized villages in the dark." She said, feeling her face grow hot.
"Oh, you haven't?" Calder seemed surprised, "Hmm..."
"What?" Ophelia demanded.
"Nothing." He said, smirking, and when a guard turned the corner, he grabbed her arm, dragging her into the village, "This way."
They eluded the guards and townspeople all the way to the center of the village. Ophelia was always slightly surprised other chiefs did things like this- live among people. Not that her parents weren't plenty involved, but they were farther out, almost in their own little world. It was quite relaxing most times. Ophelia couldn't even imagine the trouble of the chief being where someone could find them literally all the time.
"Okay, now to find Randolph's room..." Calder said, as they ducked behind a wood pile.
"Oh, you haven't memorized where his room is. Hmm..." She shot back, getting up and skirting around the house to the third window to the left. Calder followed, his mouth agape.
"How do you know where his room is?" He demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Ophelia teased, and saw his whole face flush. Let him think she had something going on with Randolph. Honestly, it was only because his younger sister a couple years ago had insisted on showing her every room in her house. Randolph told Ophelia later that his sister basically worshipped her. Ophelia tapped on his window a couple times, and after a long moment, the latch opened, and Rudolph gave a tired yawn and looked around with tired eyes. When he saw Ophelia and Calder standing there, he woke up a bit more.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" He asked, as if it wasn't surprising at all to find them here at this time of night.
"We need your help." Calder said.
"Eloping or something?" Randolph asked. From his tone, Ophelia wasn't sure if he was serious or not. She still stepped back in shock.
"What? No!" She said a little too loudly, and Calder slapped hand over her mouth, and they ducked down. Randolph just yawned, leaning out the window.
"We're...we're doing something that might be stupid." Calder admitted, and quickly recounted the plan to him, "And you owe me...and if we're going to stop a war, we'll probably run into it, and that means we need armor and weapons." He finished.
Randolph took a moment to think, humming a couple times before nodding. "Give me a sec." He said, holding up a finger, and darting back into his room. It was more than a second, more like half an hour. After the first couple moments, Ophelia and Calder sat against the house, staring out into the dark town. Just when Ophelia felt her eyes slipping, a heavy bag filled with metal hit the ground between them, under the window. Then a second one followed, and a third. They watched as the bags piled up, until Rudolph stuck his head out.
"This should cover everyone." He said.
"We can't thank you enough, really." Calder said, beginning to put the bags on his back, "Seriously-,"
"Wait!" Randolph hissed, and Ophelia, as she swung a bag over her shoulder, watched him shimmy out the window. He wasn't wearing sleep clothes anymore, but traveling garb. He whistled softly, buckling a large knapsack on his back, as his dragon crept around.
"What...what are you doing?" Ophelia asked, although it was rather obvious. She also was reminded that Calder predicted he'd want to come, and was surprised he'd been so perceptive to know what Randolph would do.
"I'm coming with you guys. Someone has to keep Calder in a good mood." He teased, nudging his best friend's shoulder.
"How are you going to get a dragon to the edge of town without anyone seeing?" Calder asked, but paused, "Not that we're not glad to have you."
"You worry way too much." Randolph said. Ophelia giggled.
"That's what I tell him all the time!" She said.
"You two just get back the way you came, and I'll meet you. Figure a lie or something out." He said, shrugging, and led his weird looking dragon around the house. Seriously; Ophelia thought when she caught herself staring; no one knew what breed it was, or what it's powers was other than to draw attention to itself. It sometimes looked more like a snake than a dragon.
By the time the pair returned back through the forest, Randolph was waiting for them, and they took no time to tie the things to the dragons backs. It was proposed they should just wait out the rest of the night until they continued, but this time both Ophelia and Calder agreed it was better to go and get things from Lyal (and invite him) and then fly through the next night to find a place to sleep. By that time, they'd be far out of the reach of the tribes or being stopped. So the dragons and the riders took off, and this time rode in a formation all together.
By the time they touched down at Lyal's island, there was a wordless agreement of jobs between the groups. Ophelia and Calder both took off in the direction of the village, and the rest began to move the bags around to make room for the new supplies, if Lyal would provide them. And Ophelia had to admit proudly, that to Sigrid's credit, she only asked once if she could accompany them to the village to see Lyal. After Caulder's exhausted look her way, she didn't say anything more.
Lyal was waiting for them on the edge of the village, which made Ophelia uneasy from the start.
"Here I thought you weren't going to ask me." He said, tapping his foot impatiently, "I've been waiting here all night, guys."
"So you know." Calder said.
"That a group of young adult future leaders are traversing across the sea to find a dangerous trio of killers? Yes, I did." He said, "And I will not be the one young leader that sits it out." He said.
"Thank Odin," Ophelia breathed a sigh of relief, stepping forward first, "It makes it a heck of a lot less awkward to ask you for provisions then Randolph already gave us weapons and armor, but we do need food. We would ask the biggest provider- Tore, but their daughter is only thirteen."
"Say no more. I'm on it." Lyal said, "Stay here." He said, and once again, Calder and Ophelia waited. They waited longer for Randolph and his supplies though, and it had seemed like only a couple minutes elapsed between Lyal running off, to Lyal returning with a couple bags dragging behind him. They once again split the load and trudged back through the forest.
"You know that Ruffnut came looking for you here." He said, mostly to Ophelia, "Your parents are freaking out. We were supposed to send a dragon to them if you appeared at any of the islands."
"Why didn't you?" Calder asked. Although they were friends, it didn't mean that he trusted him. They were all future leaders, and any good leader put their tribe before their friends...unless their friends were in the tribe.
"I thought about it. People said what you're doing is foolish. But...well, we're Vikings." He said, hitting his metal chest plate, "We like our honor and recognition."
"Do you think what we're doing is foolish?" Ophelia questioned, and she saw Calder's head snap up to stare dangerously at Lyal. He hardly seemed to notice, and laughed.
"Completely." He said, "But that sort of makes it fun, eh?"
"So you think stopping a war before it starts is 'dangerous'? More dangerous than the actual war, eh?" Calder growled out through gritted teeth.
"Well, there's like six of us,"
"Eight," Calder bit out,
"Okay, eight, little armor, no information...gee, what could go wrong?" Lyal asked.
"Well, if you think this is such a mistake-," Calder began, and Lyal held up his hands.
"Calm down." He said, snapping, and standing a little straighter, "You shouldn't be getting upset at me. I'm helping you." He said, and to emphasize, shook the bag of food carried over his back. Calder glared at him, but shut his mouth, which Ophelia was pleased about, for she wasn't in the mood to begin another fight with him.
Back in the clearing, everyone was waiting for them. Sigrid did a horrible job of acting like she wasn't totally thrilled that Lyal was coming along, in the fact that she pretended like he didn't even exist. Ophelia for sure caught his more than slightly confused look thrown to Calder when Sigrid passed him without even a nod of acknowledgment...the third time she walked past. Calder gave just a confused shrug, and Ophelia was pretty sure that he thought she was almost going to attack Lyal when he stepped into the clearing or something.
"Plan?" Jor asked, strapping the new food to her dragon, "I mean...we're all sort of tired..."
"It would be foolish to go further and risk ourselves without proper sleep." Calder jumped in, even though Jor had been looking at Ophelia more.
"I was just going to suggest we find a small, uninhabited island and sleep there, and also decide which way to fly. Get inside the heads of our enemies." Ophelia said.
"Well I was going to say that too." Calder snapped. Lyal gave a strangled moan, looking at Randolph.
"Will they always be like this?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"They're having some leadership sharing problems." Randolph rolled his eyes, "Hopefully not."
"Heard that." Calder grumbled.
"Good." Sigrid said, punching him on the arm, "Take note of it."
"Onward." Ophelia said, getting onto her dragon, "Are you ready Calder?" She asked innocently, glancing down with a small, wicked, smile.
"Great Odin!" Lyal muttered under his breath to Ull, "They're going to kill each other off long before we find our enemies!"
"Three sheep on Ophelia." Ull muttered back, earning a hard glare from his brother, and Lyal chortled, clapping hands with him.
"You're so on."
OMPHALOS
Back at Berk, both Elsa and Hiccup were a nervous wreck. Snoutlout completely understood, although the irony of the repeated past was not lost on him.
"That's why I'm so upset," Hiccup said, and leapt out of his chair, "That's it. I'm finding them. Look how well it turned out when I did that! Someone died." He said, steeling himself against his cousin, "Snoutlout, c'mon man."
"No way." Snoutlout shook his head firmly, "We have bigger things to think about. Greater good, dude."
"Easy for you to say!" Hiccup snapped, "Your daughter didn't run off with them!"
"Hiccup, Elsa..." Thuggury sighed, drawing a long hand over his face, "You've been voted as the leaders of all the tribes right now in this time of panic. It's awful that they ran off, but...we have bigger matters to deal with."
"I just don't know if I can work like this." Elsa said, who had been standing over a map of the islands, and the likely flow of how the warning had floated to the island, pointing them in the most likely direction of where their enemies were coming from, "Not while I'm so worried. What if something happens to her, Snoutlout?" She asked, twilling her fingers in her braid.
"Look, Eret, Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt are out looking now. Eret is the best tracker in all the islands, and the twins are a deadly duo when they're back together. They'll find them...and drag Calder and Ophelia back by their asses." Snoutlout chuckled.
Elsa sighed longingly out the winder, biting her lip, and glancing down once again at the papers.
"You're right." She agreed, straightening he back, "We need to think of the rest of the tribes."
"You're not serious!" Hiccup said, pushing past Snoutlout to outside, "Really Elsa?" he growled, looking back, "You're just going to give up like that? Unbelievable..."
Elsa glanced at Snoutlout and Thuggury, sighing, and followed her husband outside. He glowered at her as she approached.
"How could you? They're out there, and they're in danger, and you're just going to give up?" He demanded.
"Hiccup...I'm worried too. So worried. But we were voted the leaders of all the tribes right now for a reason. There are elders and children to think about. Our kids...they're not kids anymore. Jor is engaged, Ophelia's one of the most dangerous girls I know."
"That doesn't make it better!" Hiccup kicked the grass with his good foot, "I thought I was all that and more years ago, when I went after Drago. I was wrong. I've told them that story a thousand times, Elsa."
"And sometimes it takes a mistake of your own to realize it."
"I almost died, Elsa. That's not a mistake. If it hadn't been for my father..." Hiccup sat on a rock, shaking his head, "Great Odin...I should be out there."
"I know..." Elsa agreed, sitting next to him, rubbing his back, "But one day they'll leave anyway, and we can't always worry about them. Snoutlout is right. Eert will find them, or the twins. We should focus on this threat. With any luck, they'll pass right by them, and leave us to deal with this."
"I think that's a little much to hope for." Hiccup grumbled, staring at the ground. There was a loud sigh from beside him, and Hiccup turned to see Toothless laying on the ground, sighing longingly, all sprawled out.
"Good to see you're upset too, huh?" Elsa said, rubbing a hand over his head. Toothless glared at her. This caused a little laugh to bubble in Hiccup's throat.
"Oh, he's such a melodramatic lizard." He said, "He's more upset that Ophelia's night-fury out paced the range of his alpha call." Hiccup said, and lowered his voice to a stage whisper, "He doesn't like to admit he's getting old."
There was a wumph sound as Toothless' tail sailed through the air and wacked Hiccup on the back of the neck. "Hey! You know it's true, big guy. We're not youngsters any more."
"He's in denial." Elsa said, looking sympathetically at Toothless, "Don't worry, you're still the scariest dragon out there!" She said assumingly, but from the narrowed look he gave her, she was pretty sure Toothless thought she was being sarcastic. He rolled onto his back and gave another pathetic growl, slumping out like a dead animal.
"Poor you." Hiccup rolled his eyes, "If you just laid off the fish, maybe-hey!" Hiccup said, dodging the tail again, "Stop that!"
"He's almost as bad as a teenage girl." Elsa chuckled, comparing Toothless' mood swings to Rika's, and smiled at the thought. Toothless, unknowingly in his awful mood, had lightened it, but the weight of Ophelia missing still weighed heavily on her heart.
Hiccup sighed, standing, and running his fingers through his hair, searching the horizon. "You really think they'll be okay?" He asked in a low tone.
"I can never be sure of anything," Elsa said, and saw him stiffen, "But I think they have the best chance of any group. Calder and Ull...they have reason more than anyone to want this to happen. Motive can be the most powerful game changer."
"Look!" Hiccup said, cutting off Elsa's wise words, grabbing her hand, "It's the twins! And they're...alone."
Elsa could feel her heart plummet in her chest, but waited for some explanation on why they could possibly be coming back without them. Their grave faces said everything, though, and Hiccup and Elsa wearily invited them back into the tent. Snoutlout and Thuggury stood at attention as they entered, eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"Well, they're not on any island. But they've joined up with others. Both Lyal and Randolph gave them weapons and supplies and joined them." Ruffnutt recounted. Elsa and Hiccup exchanged looks.
"Oh, so it's a party now. Wonderful." Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"At least they won't starve." Snoutlout commented from the back.
"Thank god they won't starve!" Hiccup repeated, highly sarcastically, and glared at Snoutlout meaningfully.
"Looking on the bright side."
"Bright side is they have weapons." Tuffnutt pointed out, "More than you had on your equally as well-thought out mission." She said, poking Hiccup.
"I had a plan when I gave up those weapons." Hiccup said hurriedly, "Let's not dwell on the future. Do we know how far away they are?" He questioned.
"Randolph left sometime around...well, his father thinks between midnight and three-AM. Lyal wasn't gone by that time, which means they probably snapped back around to pick him up. Right good plan...admittedly." Tuffnutt said.
"It's been about five or six hours since Lyal left too." Ruffnutt added, and looked at the map, "And...they could be anywhere, but we this way." He and his sister said 'way' at the same time, both pointing in a direction on the map.
"Is this a positive?" Hiccup asked anxiously.
"Not by a long shot. It's Eret's best guess." Tuffnutt said, "And that's usually good enough for me. Should we follow, 'em boss?"
She looked at Hiccup and he stared at the point they'd touched on the map for a long time. After what seemed like an eternity to him, he gave a slow, upset shake of his head.
"If we have a war coming, we need you guys here. Everyone." He agreed, glancing at Elsa to see sadness, yet assurance he was doing what was best for the tribes, in her eyes.
"So are we just going to leave them out there?" Tuffnut asked, scratching his head, frowning, "But they're-,"
"Technically, all adults." Elsa broke in, "At this point, it's dangerous to do otherwise. Hiccup is the alpha of all tribes, and I have other children to think about."
"I'm sure that they'll realize how stupid it was and come back." Snoutlout said, although no one much believed him.
OMPHALOS
In fact, Snoutlout was very much wrong.
"This was such a good idea!" Sigrid said, leaning back against the rock in her blankets, where the group was setting up for the night, "We'll be heroes after this. Guys...we might even get songs about us! How cool would that be?" She said.
"Get some sleep, for Loki's sake." Calder grumbled from where he was trying to sleep on the ground.
"You might be turning in now, but the rest of us are going to enjoy ourselves a bit." Ull said, poking his brother and chuckling, "I mean, why else would Lyal have brought ale?"
"Because I forgot that was in there-," Lyal began to explain but Ull shook his head.
"Hush and party, my friend." He said, pouring out drinks for everyone.
"I think I'm going to get some water." Jor said, "I don't need ale." She said, scrunching up her nose.
"I'll get it my little-," Gutsav began, but at the glares thrown his way, paused, "My future wife?" He asked, glaring up, "Is that acceptable?"
"No." Ophelia snapped, but the rest of the group agreed that's as far as he could go with pet names.
"Loveless cavemen, I swear!" Gustav cried, throwing his hands up, "It's in your dragons pouches, eh, Randolph?"
"Yeah, according to the list." Randolph said, grabbing the carefully made list from Jor's hands. Gustav nodded, and wandered around the campsite for awhile before returning empty handed.
"Where's your dragon, dude?" He asked and Randolph gave a hiss of frustration.
"Didn't think she'd do it tonight." He grumbled.
"Do...what?" Ophelia questioned.
"My dragon kind of just vanishes sometimes." Randolph shrugged.
"Well where does he go?"
"Beats me! All I know is that she always arrives back within the hour. I've tried following her, but I turn a corner and it's like she just vanished into thin air." Randolph explained, "I've read every dragon book, and nothing helps."
"Hey, maybe your dragon can turn invisible. That would be a cool dragon." Lyal said, raising his glass.
"Thought of that already. She defiantly isn't around when he vanishes. I don't know where she could go though..." He frowned, scratching his head, "I don't worry too much. Nothing's come of it so far, and like I said, she'll be back in an hour....I think."
"Let me add disappearing dragon to the list of reasons your dragon is weird." Ophelia said, making invisible notes in the air, "Apart from his odd body and all, lack of real legs, tiny wings...I wouldn't be surprised why there's not a lot of him around. Probably died out a long time ago."
"Or they all vanished together for some reason. These eggs are more mystery than they're worth sometimes." Sigrid suggested.
"I think the mystery of it all is cool!" Ull said, waggling his fingers, "Mysterious magic!"
"I think it's cool, but what are the chances we're going to find out? Zilch. We'll probably never find out, and it will bug all of us for the rest of our lives."
"You're such a pessimist, Sigrid." Lyal said languidly from where he lay by the fire, and Sigrid's face flushed the reddest that Ophelia had ever seen.
Slowly, one by one, people fell off to sleep. Randolph's dragon did reappear, and she looked no different than usual, and just lay down and fell asleep. Ophelia felt like she was the only one that wasn't going to be able to fall asleep though. Now that she had time to rest, she kept replaying over and over in her head all the things she'd said to Elsa.
In honesty, she was pretty mean about it. She regretted it, now that she contemplated it. In a different time, she'd said it all much differently, or not said it at all. No, she would of. The truth about her feelings about Arendelle were bound to come out eventually, but she wished that she could take it back, that it couldn't have been like it had been.
It was just...she loved Elsa and Hiccup so much. They were her parents. Them trying to pretend otherwise were really hurtful. Hiccup had been there when she'd lost her first tooth, Elsa had been around the first time a boy had crushed her heart (she'd only been 9, granted, but Siggier had been a jerk. Who wouldn't want to date Ophelia!), and the thought of leaving them for some world that she didn't want to be a part of was crushing.
One part was true; if she were going to be forced to go back to Arendelle, she would rather die fighting for Berk here and now. This was risky, she realized. It was probably really stupid. But she needed to prove to Elsa that she was meant to be a Viking and that if she survived this, she was more than old enough to choose her own destiny.
"Can't sleep?" Calder's low drawl shocked her. She jumped, looking up.
"I thought you had gone to bed long ago." She admitted, and wiped her sleeves over her eyes, as a couple tear-drops had begun to fall. She hoped in the darkness that Calder hadn't seen that.
"Lot to think bout." Calder shrugged, rolling over to his stomach, "It's a bit more real now."
"Your father or this mission?" She questioned. Calder paused for a moment.
"Both."
Ophelia gave a long sigh, watching as he sat up, pushing himself against the log she sat on. Ophelia picked up her glass to drink some of the ale- not for the taste, Odin, but because it numbed her a bit- and was surprised when Calder held out his hands to take a sip too. Without pausing, she passed the glass to him. For being a man, she held in a chuckle as he winced at the taste.
"Do you think we'll find him?" He asked.
"Can't say for sure." Ophelia said, taking the glass back, rolling the liquid around, "Are you sure you want to? Are you really going to do it...kill him?"
"One part says I should because he's my father, and no one has paid as dearly as me. But, I mean, it is patricide. It's easy to say I'll do it when there's little chance of coming across him. I know the rules. I'll be an outlaw, just like he was. If I kill him, I'll turn into the kind of person I never wanted to be...like him. If I don't, I'll regret it forever, because our mother deserves to be avenged. Not even deserved, demands."
"Viking culture doesn't make it easy on times like this. No mercy, or look-away rules." She chuckled.
"No, guess not." Calder agreed, "If you killed him, it would be okay. But I wouldn't feel okay. I feel like I've spent so much time looking for him, that if I wasn't the one to kill him-,"
"Shh!" Ophelia shushed, and his expression darkened.
"Fine. I won't talk." He grumbled, and Ophelia gave an inward moan. The first time in years he'd opened up to her, and she had to cut him off. Fate was a bitch. But she shushed him again, pointing to the trees. Calder caught on, and listened. There was a rustling that was too precise to be an animal.
Quietly, Ophelia and Calder woke everyone else up, and the whole gang pulled weapons from near them, all staring at the place in the foliage where he'd heard the sounds. Ophelia caught a slightly apprehensive look from Sigrid, clearing asking if she thought the threesome had found them already. Ophelia gave a slow shrug. Calder crept forward, sword raised high, and Ophelia steeled herself to face whatever came out of those bushes- her father, her mother, or maybe even Unn himself.