The Last Ice Hunter -FINISHED-

[lum]

“And? Did you get the prisoner talk?”

Owen turned, a small smile at the corner of his mouth. “Ah, Jotta. Not yet. I trust you have resecured the northern flank?”

Jotta nodded. “I did. It’s funny though how they could have missed those traps. I thought they were so good at setting traps themselves.”

“Well, don’t fret, good lad. Our new tactic’s working.” Owen’s eyes swept the busy camp. “This place is the perfect bait. When they gaze bewitched at the gaps in our defenses, they forget to check what’s right under their feet. I think that point has been proven, and even Malken can’t deny that.”

Jotta snorted. “He seemed all ecstatic. At least for now… with things finally moving in the right direction.”

“Aye.” Owen’s nod was thoughtful.

Jotta saw it. “Until things… Listen, Owen. It’s none of my business, but on the next bad luck… someone else…”

“No.” Owen cut him off, hard. “Don’t say that. Not out loud and not like this. Unless you have a deathwish. And should we ever disagree with leadership, we handle it like we always handle matters like that. With a challenge, in front of all. No whispers nor suggestions in corners.”

Jotta’s shoulders tightened. “Very well. Anything else you like me to do?”

“Well, it’s time to mess up their water. Take a few men and go throw those barrels with the garbage we agreed upon in the stream. Any who drinks of it downstream will be sick in the very least. Doomed if we’re lucky.”

Jotta gave a short, easy nod and took off.

Owen looked around. The camp hummed with activity. New tents were being erected and men wired stakes, laughing out loud. Things looked good. For now.

…

He watched like he was weighing the wind. The late afternoon light hung low and heavy, slanting through the rock peaks in gold and grey. The camp’s hustle and bustle had shifted into something that looked like a half-sleeping beast.

Patrols came and went in lazy circles. Never far. Never long. He counted their steps, memorized the rhythm of their boots and tracked the paths they carved visible and invisible throughout the landscape.

This was going to be hard.

Then, finally, something changed.

A pair of guards strayed a little too far, drawn by talk or boredom. Their laughter carried between the rock.

Leif’s eyes narrowed.

Normally, these guys weren’t supposed to venture this distance. Perhaps they were looking for something. Or just lacked some obedience. Either way, it was a crack in the pattern.

Still, the light was too bright. Even stones seemed to glint.

But the chance might not come again.

He moved. Slow, soundless. A step, then stillness. As he proceeded he kept the wind in his face, the slope at his back.

It felt like old habits returning, the rhythm of the hunt, the way his heartbeat seemed to count every step.

The men had stopped near a toppled rock formation, one leaning his spear against it while the other knelt to unbuckle his belt.

Leif eased closer, low to the hard surface, his fingers brushing moss. He could hear their voices now.

Close enough.

He measured the distance. Two men indeed. Neither alert.
If he struck fast enough, maybe one would fall before the other could shout.

But something within him resisted the idea of killing them off. There were already enough corpses to feed the crows.

Change of plan.

He reached for a stone and tossed it lightly behind the guards.

The sound made them turn.

Leif slipped forward.

…

The lookout motioned.

Malken strained his eyes in the direction where the man pointed. “I don’t see what you mean. It’s getting dark. Open the gate. You and you, with me.”

At a stone’s throw from the camp, Malken saw it. Some sort of package. He recognized it as clothes tied together, with a letter on top.

“What is this…?” He murmured as he motioned one of the others to investigate the perimeter.

“A message of sorts? Those look like the clothes of Jeron,” the other guard said.

“What… why are his clothes…” Malken ripped the letter from the package.

As he unfolded the material he began to read as he glanced between the message on the garments.

I HAVE YOUR MEN. THEY LACK STYLE. RELEASE THE PRISONER AND THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER BLOODSHED.


The scrap of cloth trembled in Malken’s hands as he read the blocky letters a second time. Around him the camp had quieted, men curving their shoulder-lines like beasts listening for the next sound.

The brazier’s glow painted his face red. Malken’s jaw worked and even Owen was silent. For a heartbeat Malken glanced as if unsure whether to toss the note to the wind or tear it across his palm. Then his voice cut the hush.

“Bring the prisoner!”

A murmur rolled through the rings of men as two warriors went to fetch Ingritt.

Owen’s head snapped up at a sound. Jotta was two paces behind him. They nodded at each other.

A moment later Ingritt was dragged forward toward the fire pit.

Malken’s voice was like a blade. “Seems like your fellow ghosts like playing ransom.” He turned to his men. “Hands up who wants to hand her over!”

Voices rose and fell, some angry, some afraid. Skerv’s shout was hot and high: “No! We don’t barter like cowards! I say let them die. If they got caught, they were disobeying orders.”

Owen offered Skerv a stern look. “Our numbers have already been severely reduced. Not all because people disobeyed orders.”

“On the contrary…” Jotta murmured behind him.


The men around the brazier reminded Ingritt of a rough amphitheatre she visited during her childhood. Only this time she wasn’t just a spectator. Her face was streaked with soot and blood as she sat bound to a pole under the darkening sky.

The air smelled of smoke, panic and opportunity.

It seemed Leif had succeeded capturing some of the raiders and put them up for a trade. From what she gathered though these men had been going through a rough time, and she didn’t think they’d give her up that easily. Especially not after what Leif had been doing to them these past months.

The man she got to know as Owen was speaking now.

“At least our ghosts have manners. They speak through cloth, and write without errors. Very sophisticated. Very polite.”

Skerv’s voice rose like a crude blade. “We don’t barter for our dead! We don’t hand over our catch for losers!”

A dozen throats answered him with the same hot, brimming anger. Malken’s grin broadened; he liked the noise. Strength was a currency.

Owen’s eyes flicked to Ingritt for a fraction of a breath. She met his stare; no pleading now, only something like resolve.

And then he turned back to the men. “Why don’t we name our own conditions? We can do this as clean as we like. It’s clear they want to have her back.”

Malken’s jaw tightened. He loved a theater of authority, but there was much at stack. More than just this prisoner and his captured men.

Before he could say anything, Skerv barked a laugh that held too little humor. “And you’d trust their word? You’d trust these hunters’ promises?”

Jotta stayed to one side, silent, but his eyes measured the mob.

A young man at the edge shouted, “We send her! We send this witch to them and show strength!” A cheer rose from a cluster of raw, hungry men.

The mood teetered toward blood, and Owen saw it like a flame licking tinder.

[lum]

A line of sweat ran down his temple. He had to keep a visage of control and leadership. But he also needed something for his men’s hunger. Malken reread the message again. It had been clear mockery, and it had done what it aimed to do. Making his authority a battleground.

He was much, though he wasn’t stupid. These hunters knew a thing or two about warfare. And he couldn’t let them succeed.

“Fine!” he suddenly barked, his teeth bared. “We’ll tell them we agree only if they agree with conditions of our own.”

Skerv turned to Malken. “And what conditions would that be?”

Malken folded his arms. “Simple. We’ll let them stay, and help them rebuild their village. Make it better than before.”

“You actually think they’d agree on this? After all that happened?” He looked around the circle of men. “And after all our men they k-”

“Enough!” Owen shouted as he intervened. “It’s time for us to make a deal. And right now, any deal is good. Or this will go without any party reaching satisfaction. I agree with Malken to get some sort of banter going. And with a bit of luck, something good may come forth from all this. They are an impressive folk after all. If they’d be allies instead of enemies-”

“Oh c’mon, lad! Do you even hear yourself talking?!” Skerv nearly screamed at Owen.

“We all hear you, Skerv. Loud and clear. But what else would you want us to do? Do you have any constructive suggestions? I dunno if you already noticed. We’re almost out of food. There is a lack of wildlife on this island, aside from fish. And in less than a month it will be getting pretty cold out here again. Maybe it’s time we show a little respect to these people. Unless you wanted to wait for reinforcements?”

Ingritt couldn’t see all of the raiders as it was dark, and backs blocked her view. But she heard them alright. She didn’t believe her people would ever make a deal with these raiders. Even though it was good to hear at least some of them respected her culture.

…

The night had settled over the basin. With as only company the broken ribs of the burned village still jutted up against the pale strip of shore, the guards huddled near what had been the jetty. The wind sighed through the charred remnants like the breath of something long dead.

A lantern was set between them, the tiny flame stuttering in the cool breeze.

“This is so stupid,” one muttered. “Why does Malken even think a merchant ship may arrive any time now? Especially after what happened with the previous one?”

The other guard sighed. “I wish I had drawn the shortest straw for the inland watch instead.”

They both spoke in half-whispers. Not out of fear, but out of habit. There were after all still ‘ghosts’ active. Behind the pair was another pair of guards asleep.

The first man glanced at the water. Then, he squinted. “Hey… did you see that?”

“Hm? See what?”

“I.. I don’t know. There, by that cliff. Like something was moving in front of it?”

At first the other man shook his head. “I don’t see any-... wait… isn’t that… driftwood?”

They both stood up now, eyes fixed on the apparition gliding over the surface.

There was some sort of outline, something black but becoming more clear now. Something large was rising out of the dark like a moving shadow.

Like… a hull.

“That’s… no driftwood…” the first guard breathed.

They both froze as they were able to perceive more details. The shape was wide and low, its figurehead a frozen snarl. It was a dragon carved from pale wood, its jaws gaping toward the shore.

Shocked they beheld the slow, deliberate approach. The ship glided almost soundlessly, its oars hidden beneath the inky sheen of the internal sea.

And then another appeared behind it.

The horizon began to change, a darkness upon a darkness upon darkness.

More shapes materialized one by one, five… or six of them slipped from the void as if the sea itself had decided to return what the raiders had taken. No sound was coming from those ships. No other details visible. Only the sea reflected a faint gleam of their wet flanks.

For a heartbeat, neither man moved. The lantern flame trembled between them, painting their stunned faces.

“Are… are those our reinforcements…?”

“I… I don’t think so.” The first guard swallowed hard. “And they’re coming straight for us.”

Then the first sound reached them: the faint creak of timber, the slow hiss of oars breaking the surface.

That was enough.

“Run!”

Their warning woke the others, who all turned and fled, stumbling through the burnt remains, following the lantern light swinging wildly ahead.


Behind them, the basin filled with movement, hulls gliding closer, the whisper of waves rising to a steady rhythm. The dragon ship led the way, its prow breaking through the veil of darkness like a specter reborn. Behind it, the rest followed, six long shadows in total sliding toward the shore, their sails still furled, their intent silent and sure.

The dragon ship glided in until its hull kissed the shallows. For a heartbeat longer, it lingered there, motionless.

Then came a splash.

And another.

Dark figures broke the glassy surface, their movements precise, unhurried. Men in furs and mail, the water streaming off their shoulders like oil. Axes gleamed dull in the half-light, reinforced shields floated beside them, bound with ropes to prevent them from sinking.

No orders were shouted. No voices rose. Only the soft hiss of water, the murmur of oars as more ships came in behind.

They might as well have been Undead.

One man reached the shore first, tall, broad-shouldered, his beard silvered by frost and years.
The waves pulled back from his boots as though the sea itself obeyed him.

He turned once toward the ships, lifted his hand, and more shapes followed in silent discipline.

[lum]

A dozen, two dozen, and more. The silhouettes grew as they fanned out across the beach.

…

Ash puffed beneath their hurried boots, the sting of old smoke irritating their senses. One of the fleeing guards looked over his shoulder as they abandoned the burned village.

Nothing behind them.

Nothing at all.

No shouts, no battlecries, none of it.

This was all wrong.

Reinforcements for these ice hunters would shout. Raiders cursed. Men made sound.

But whatever had arrived with those ships had not spoken a word.

He risked another look over his shoulder as they ran.

Darkness.
Nothing but that.

The shore lay still behind them as if nothing had happened at all.

Up the hill just outside the village he gasped, motioning the others to slow down. “Hells… did we… imagine it?”

Another guard stopped too, panting, bent over his knees. His breath came with fog in the cool air. “I.. I don’t know. Maybe it was driftwood after all? And we just thought we saw a shape in it? Or… maybe they turned back?”

The idea felt foolish even as he said it, but fear made fools of everyone.

They looked around. The ruins below were dead quiet, the night thick. Even the waves in the distance seemed to hush, as if listening themselves.

Nothing followed.

The two other guards stood a bit further up the hill, one wiping his forehead with a shaky hand. The other sank to his knees, crouching as he caught his breath. Then he widened his eyes and motioned insistently behind the first pair of guards.

Those looked up strangely at the fellow, but before they could utter a single syllable there was a sound like a rush of wind.

Only heavier. And close.

A wet crack shook up the night.

One man froze. He never managed a scream as an axe split his skull.

The other guard’s vision got misted by blood and brain matter.

While the first one fell down, the second one jerked back, stumbling, choking on sheer terror as a large shadow detached itself from the darkness.

Before he could make a sound, a second axe found him cleanly.

The two remaining guards higher up on the hill bolted without further hesitation.

Behind them everything had gone silent again.

Save for the faint lap of waves against longship hulls, steady and patient.

…

The men near the gate frowned as they heard shouting. And those were not the voices of their patrols, but deep, guttural warcries rolling across the hill like a storm gathering power.

Alarmed, more raiders scrambled from their fires, grabbing shields, weapons, anything within reach. Only just in time.

Broad-shouldered men surged from the shadows with an exceptional ferocity and intensity, wearing only light furs like no steel or fire could ever harm them. Driven as if by sheer instinct, they slammed against the defensive barricades. The traps the raiders had placed stung a few, maimed others, but pain appeared to mean nothing to men in this kind of frenzy. And thus they crashed through openings with blind rage, widening the very gaps the raiders had left by intention.

When the rest of the raiders rushed over, strange faces streaked in bone-white warpaint where already within the walls. This wasn’t an army but a storm tide overwhelming their camp. The raiders fought back, and hard. Their lines buckled, reformed, shattered, then pressed close again. For every crazed warrior toppled, another rose spitting defiance.

“Berserkers!”

A waste of words at this point.

Yet the raiders were disciplined, and whilst forming a shield wall, they pushed the berserkers back and out of the fortification.

Malken, cursing between commands, sent his voice booming over the chaos : “Okay, that’s enough!!” He motioned to one of the hornblowers. “Call a parley!!

The horn was blown, strained and trembling.

The fighting hesitated.

Then, there was a voice from beyond the barricades. A deep one. An old one.

“Release the woman and my men!” It thundered across the camp. “Release them, and we can speak!”


Owen was shoved forward by Malken’s order. “Fetch the girl. Bring her to the gate. See she doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Owen nodded, holding his shield tight to steady his nerves, and made for the tent.

When he entered, the sight stopped him cold.

The prisoner was already free.

The ropes lay sliced clean, discarded on the ground. Jotta…quiet, mild Jotta…was helping the woman fasten a bracer back onto her wrist. Her hands trembled from hours of binding, but her jaw was set hard with dignity.

Owen frowned. “Jotta…? We need her at the gate. Now.”

Something didn’t add up.

“Of course.” The young man’s voice was soft. Respectful almost. He helped the woman stand and…

And it’s only then Owen saw the knife at her hip.

And the short axe at her belt.

Owen’s stomach clenched. “Jotta…?”

The young man’s eyes flicked up. Not nervous. Not confused.

Simply… calm.

Owen saw it then. The posture. The balance. The poise of someone trained, someone who had been pretending to be less.

It clicked a moment before Jotta spoke.

“Jotta,” Owen whispered, “...why?”

The young man exhaled through his nose, almost regretfully.

“I’m sorry, Owen,” he said almost quietly, “... but my name was never Jotta.”

He stepped forward, his voice now carrying the weight of his lineage.

“My name is Leif Heimvar.” His eyes glinted like cold sea ice.

“And I am the last Ice Hunter.”

[lum]

Firelight wavered as Ingritt was brought to the entrance of the camp.

The raiders stood tense along the barricade, behind it darkness breathed and steel scraped.

Malken stepped forward, alone.

He was broader than most other raiders, his frame wrapped in sealskin adorned with iron rings dulled by the years of salt and rain.

As he looked over his shoulder, his gaze briefly locked with Ingritt.

Bruised, but alive.

Good.

His eyes moved.

And then stopped.

The young man at her side. Something was off. Perhaps in the way how he stood there.

Then Malken sensed it before his mind could name it. It was the way how the lad’s weight was balanced. Not braced for battle. Not slack with fear. And the way how his eyes didn’t dart towards the enemy on the other side of the barricade.

And… where was Owen?

Malken’s breath caught.

No…

But suddenly the past months reassembled themselves in his mind like shards clicking into place.

The warnings about the traps, always just late enough to seem lucky, never early enough to be suspicious. The patrol routes that failed because someone relied on their recklessness, and thus someone who knew them well and could predict their behaviour.

So there was this boy.

A boy who knew where not to step. A boy who had survived every trick where others had failed. And often died.

Malken’s eyes traced the lines of Leif now.

Even the way how this lad’s head titled. Just enough to read the wind.

It was a hunter’s habit.

An Ice Hunter’s habit?

And those eyes…

No. It was impossible…

The realization struck like a blow in the stomach.

“Thunder and lightning…” Malken muttered, too low for anyone else to hear.

Leif met his gaze.

For a single heartbeat, all that time they had been here fell away.

The older man didn’t see a talented tracker. He saw someone who had learned to read storms merely by a breath on the land. Who had learned how to hunt seals along frozen edges.

He also now saw a young lad of whom he thought had drowned.

Malken turned over. “You. You lived…”

Leif who had observed this coming just nodded. “I did.”

Nobody moved. Not the raiders on one side of the barricade, nor the berserkers on the other side.

They had no idea what was going on, but they all sensed something unfolding that was older than this fight. Older than the burned village.

“Well, I suppose I can’t say you are a traitor. In fact, you learned well. Too well.” Malken’s voice sounded rough, with something dangerously close to rage.

Leif heard it. His mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “And if you would have learned just as much, not that many of your men would have died.”

Malken barked a low laugh. “But I see you now. And here I thought I was losing my edge.” His gaze briefly slid to the camp, the intentional gaps, and now the chaos barely held at bay. “All this time… you’ve been shaping the ground beneath ours and their feet. Helping them and…”

“Actually, it was me alone. Well, until now that is.” Leif’s voice was hard as iron when he interrupted Malken. “Leave this land. Now. If you don’t want more of your men to die.”

Many of the raiders around looked shocked in Leif’s direction as it finally dawned on them. But no one made a move.

“Where’s Owen?!” Malken snapped.

“Still alive. So far.” Leif assured him.

Malken slowly drew his blade. Behind him, behind the barricade the berserkers shifted, eager like hungry wolves.

Leif glanced at the metal and unhooked the axe that hung from his belt.

The night waited.

[lum]

No one called it a duel.

Steel was freed, and Leif merely mirrored it.

Every warrior inside and outside the camp understood a fight had been agreed upon.

On one side stood Malken. All strength, experience, brutality and confidence.

On the other side Leif. Not strength but space, and timing instead of fury.

Neither looked like they’d win this confrontation.

Everyone else gathered understood what the outcome would be the moment a body fell.

The ground between the two was uneven. Ash lay thick over packed earth, the remnants of trampled fire pits and broken stakes.

Leif inhaled a single breath.

Malken didn’t even bother. He rolled his broad shoulders once, and with the blade loose in his hand he advanced without ceremony. No feint. No test. Numerous had been broken faster than they could think by this man.

The first strike came hard and direct, a cleaving cut meant to end any doubt about his martial prowess.

Leif stepped aside. But not back.

He had stepped onto firmer ground.

Malken’s steel hissed past him, close enough so that the wind brushed his cheek, far enough to leave him without a scar.

But Malken followed up immediately, the tip of his sword scooping up some of the ash and sending it in Leif’s direction intending to blind the young man.

With that came the second blow, this time from below, and powerful enough to tear a shield in half.

Leif let the handle of his axe catch it. Not to deflect, but to guide it.

Metal rang as Malken’s force slid past him. Malken had to overstep to recover his blade and rhythm.

His boot however crunched where the ground dipped unexpectedly.

It had just seemed a small thing. But the third strike never came.

One step forward, one half-turn, and the blunt side of his axe kissed Malken’s ribs. Not a killing blow, not even enough to bruise him properly.

Just enough to mark him, telling him I could have killed you.

Malken snarled. Physically he was just fine, but his pride had just been damaged.

He showed his teeth. This time angling his blade he drove forward again.

Their weapons met in quick succession, with sparks skittering into the ash.

Leif yielded ground deliberately, drawing Malken with him across the open space. Across the worst underground one could think of.

Malken seemed to realize, so his next strike came with a fury in an attempt to end this quickly.

He roared, putting his entire body into this cut, to finish what his pride demanded.

Leif dropped.

Not because of the hit, not because he fell.

He dropped so the blade passed where his head had been less than a heartbeat earlier.

Then, his axe came up hard into Malken’s extending forearm. Not the metal but the bone.

There was a sound. Dull. Wrong.

Malken in reaction grunted, more in surprise than pain. He wasn’t wounded but he was breathing harder.

Leif wasn’t.


The clash slowed. Ingritt felt it before she understood it. She had grown up watching hunters move on ice, their feet listening for the smallest betrayals of the surface. She had learned a fight was often decided even before blood was spilled. By the way where a foot landed, by who forced whom to move first. Leif was leading Malken, and even as the latter advanced with his anger now threading his strength, Leif let it happen.

Ingritt’s fingers curled around the rope that still marked her wrists as she watched Leif.

That’s the spot, she thought.

Leif shifted his stance by a fraction.

And Malken didn’t see it…


Harrvid had seen hundreds of fights end. Most of the times they ended loudly, during a rage, and with screaming.

This fight didn’t. And it wouldn’t.

Harrvid’s gaze now dropped to the combatants’ feet. His grandson wasn’t fighting Malken. He made Malken fight the ground. Every step he made Malken paid for his advance. Even the angles were chosen with care. Harrvid felt something coil under his ribs.

Ice Hunter, he thought.


Malken roared again, overcommitting to another blow, his shoulder turning too far, and with it his weight driving into the strike like it always had. Well, like it had always worked before for him.

Not out here.

His boot slid.

Just a handspan.

Just enough.

Leif made his first move now. Not fast, not slow.

Correct.

He pivoted on firm ground as Malken’s balance betrayed him, the man’s blade once more biting empty air. This time Leif stepped inside the arc. Not away from the danger, but into the dead space Malken had just created himself.

Everyone saw the opening, and everyone understood this was over.

The axe rose. Just a short motion.

Efficient. Without wasted strength.

Steel met flesh at the joint beneath the arm, towards where muscle and ribs were exposed. The axe punched through with wet finality. Leif twisted, simply to end it.

Malken staggered. Once. Twice.

He dropped to one knee. Like prey before the cold.

There wasn’t any sound.

Harrvid didn’t look away. He watched Malken trying to draw breath and failing. He saw how confusion crossed the man’s face. Not fear, but disbelief. Like this shouldn’t be happening. He watched how his grandson stepped back, not pressing the kill. He didn’t need to.

Malken toppled forward into the ash, strength finally abandoning him.

The ground welcomed him coolly.

Was this the epilogue of the ice hunters' heimferd?

[lum]

Silence spread across the camp.

No sound of horns, no cheers, no one claiming victory.

Weapons simply lowered… on both sides.

Some of the raiders without realizing and others stiffened by fear loosening the grip on their weapons. The berserkers on the other side stood frozen in place, chests still heaving as the adrenaline rush wore off.

All eyes were locked on the body, as if expecting it to rise again.

It did not.

Malken’s leadership had not been struck down.

It had ended.

Everyone remained where they were, still as stone, watching.

Eventually a tall figure stepped forward from among the berserkers.

At first, the little available firelight only caught him in fragments. A braided beard, adornings of bone and iron, shoulders -for the occasion- free from fur and leather.

Then as he neared the barricade, his full body stood tall and proud. It was as if this man’s presence warped the light.

Harrvid didn’t raise his voice. “This land… will never burn again.” The words were plain, spoken as fact.

He looked over at the remaining raiders. “The matter is settled. Your death will be accepted if you stay. Leave, and you’ll be free of pursuit. But today the last blood has been spilled.”

Then he turned to his berserkers and the island’s survivors who had joined in the attack. “Ice Hunters do not wage wars of spite,” Harrvid said. “Only wars of ending.”

A pause. Long enough to let it sink in.

Meanwhile Leif had motioned Ingritt to bring out Owen. Harrvid’s gaze shifted, sharp as a blade’s edge.

Harrvid observed how Owen was pushed forward. The man’s hands were bound, his jaw tight, eyes searching all over the scene… until he saw Malken’s body. A heartbeat passed where understanding flickered across Owen’s face before he turned to face Harrvid.

Ingritt cut his ropes herself.

Owen flexed his hands, but didn’t speak. His eyes remained on Harrvid.

Harrvid regarded Owen for a moment. “Are you one of the leaders?”

Leif answered in Owen’s place. “He is. And an honorable one.”

Harrvid handed Malken’s blade to Owen. “You will leave with the others. And you will never return.”

Owen inclined his head, not in submission but in acceptance.

Around, nervosity and fear loosened its grip. Steel found scabbards, somewhere a heavily wounded man exhaled.

The invasion had ended.


***

Dawn arrived colorless.

Mist lay thin over the basin with wisps clinging to burned remnants of the village. The water was calm and indifferent to the event that had passed during this last night.

Ships, heavier than raider crafts and built for ice and open water, waited in the shallows.

Their crew moved without hurry, without songs and without boasting.

Raiders, now passengers, followed them on board. None spoke. Malken’s name also had been completely avoided.

Leif stood apart on a stretch of flat stone, Ingritt and his friends behind him softly talking with Harrvid.

Owen approached. Alone.

His gear was stripped of insignia, and Malken’s blade sat sheathed on his belt. He looked older in the morning light.

He stopped a few paces away from Leif.

“You could have cut my throat so many times.” Owen said quietly. “Turns out you never planned to.”

Leif didn’t look at him directly, his eyes following the tide at his feet.

“I needed you alive.” He replied. “As long as required.”

Owen huffed a breath that might have been a laugh. “Fair.”

Silence settled between the two men.

“You also could have killed me in that tent.” Owen said after a bit.

Leif just nodded once. “I know.”

Owen studied him. Like really studied him. “You were never ours. I see that now.”

“No.” Leif agreed. “But I learned from you.”

Around them, the mist shifted, thinning as the first direct light of dawn touched the water. Nearby, a hull creaked as weight settled aboard.

“And I learned from you. Perhaps more than I deserved.” Owen said.

Leif finally turned his head. Not enough, but just enough to study the man’s contours silhouetted against the water.

“And I used you.”

Owen shrugged. “In a way, we all use each other.” His gaze briefly dropped to Malken’s blade at his side.

Owen took a step back, then another. He stopped, hesitated, and spoke once more.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “...you chose the only ending that let any of us walk away.”

Leif now shrugged in return. “It wasn’t mercy.”

They held each other’s gaze for a heartbeat longer. Two men who would never again stand on the same side of a fire.

Then Owen turned and walked away.

Leif exhaled slowly through his nose.

Most of the ships pushed off as the sun climbed higher, their oars dipped in unison, steady and determined. The heavy hulls cut through the water with practiced ease, carrying with them raiders who no longer sang or laughed, and who no longer would terrorize this or any other place.

None aboard looked back.

Leif watched them until the last dark shape dissolved in the distance.

The island was quiet again.

Too quiet.

Only not in his mind, where now sat the conversation he has had with his grandfather, one of the Eternal Men of the North.

Something about the hunt for a mythical beast…