XI

As Venna raced towards the coast, she was running on pure adrenaline. She hadn't slept a wink since the night before and knew that fatigue would no doubt catch up to her, but she had no time for that now. She must hunt down that man. She wanted answers.

Orn was a young and fit boy, but he was just managing to keep up with her. He was almost as tall as her, at just under six foot, but he hadn't had the years of conditioning, and battle-hardened experience of his mother. She had the most important knowledge a warrior could know besides their weapon - knowing their own limits.

Orn could see a square, black sail just out to sea. He scanned the shoreline and saw a man with his hands held to his shaved head in despair, as he was looking towards the receding ship. He looked to his left and saw his mother, prowling like a hungry wolf moving into the best position from whence to strike her prey.

Orn, trying to emulate his mother's movement, started to manoeuvre himself to the opposite side of the man from Venna. They both prowled towards him.

Vannur was done. All he could think was 'Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!' He had no idea how he would get off this cursed island. He was alone. He could not even speak their language, so it would only be a matter of time before he was caught or killed.

He heard a noise like the sound of pebbles shifting and turned his head to his right. At that instant, his eyes met Orn's. Vannur slowly turned. 'This man is big!' he thought to himself, as he eyed the figure holding a large, two-handed hammer. Then he looked more closely and realised 'No, not a man. He is a boy! What kind of place IS this!'

He didn't get the chance to continue his thought. His world suddenly faded to black as Venna crept up behind him and with a practiced hand, cold-cocked him much the same as she had Orn the previous night.

Venna leaned down to check him, only to hear him snoring softly. She gave a curt, satisfied nod to herself, and then looked up at Orn and said "Do you think you could carry this one?"

"I guess. But what for?"

"We're taking him to Bosberg with us."

"Oh"

Suddenly Venna froze, and Orn made a noise about to ask her what was wrong when she emphatically shushed him and signalled him to be quiet.

In the calm air, he strained his ears, and then he heard it. A soft sobbing that sounded like a child's voice about a hundred feet to their right. Venna said, "Grab him, and start back towards the square, I'll be right behind you."

With that, she dashed over to where the sound had come from. Orn secured his father's hammer to his belt, bent down, and swept up the small-statured man. He grunted with the effort, as he was heavier than Orn was expecting.

Orn slung the man over his shoulder and started making his way toward the village. He heard his mother's hurried footfalls behind him moving steadily closer. He craned his head to see her.

She had her round shield strapped to her back, her sword sheathed at her belt and she was cradling a young boy who had an arrow protruding from his right shoulder. The arrow had entered high on his right back and was protruding out of the centre of where his pectoral meets his deltoid muscle.

Orn could hear the boy's ragged breath and noted a look of rage mixed with anguish on his mother's face, as they quickened their pace, praying that Gelden was all right. This child needed healing, or he wouldn't survive. It was miraculous that he had held on as long as he did, lying in a field all alone and pierced by an arrow.

The trip back to the village seemed to be taking forever. Orn's legs were starting to really protest, and his headache had begun to resurge with a vengeance from his exertion.

Orn felt a giant wave of relief as he saw that they were approaching the fence line of Mr. Hagen's place. A little further on, they could see the remaining villagers had gathered.

As they looked towards Orn and Venna, one of the women screamed "TURRIN" and began sobbing as she ran towards them, arms outstretched. She was plain-looking and had light brown hair and brown eyes, dressed in a torn nightgown, with a grey wool blanket around her shoulders.

The woman suddenly halted and her face lost all colour when she saw her son's greyish pallor and the arrow protruding from him. She dropped to her knees, her shaky hands, one outstretched, the other held to her mouth, in a gesture of grief and anguish that matched her expression.

Venna's eyes softened slightly and she said to the woman "He's alive, but we need to act quickly if he's to stay that way."

The woman took a moment as that sunk in and did her best to compose herself. She stood up and moved to walk beside Venna as she took the child to one of the flatbed wagons. They wrapped him in sheep skins and placed him as best they could, his mother climbed up to sit by his side.

Orn dumped his burden unceremoniously onto the ground while this was going on. Some of the villages, upon seeing one of the raiders that had so ravaged their peaceful village started moving towards him. They were incensed, especially after seeing the little boy.

Orn held up his hands and said "Woah, woah, woah. My mother said we need him. We are taking him with us to get some answers to find out who these men were."

The villagers were still enraged, justifiably, however, they stopped moving towards him. Mr. Hagen said, "I'll grab some rope to tie him."

Venna asked, "Has anyone seen Gelden?"

One of the elder women wearing a dark red dress, gestured to Venna to come with her. She was covered in angry bruises and cuts on her face, with her arm in a sling from where the raiders broke it as they beat her senseless, 

Venna followed and there was Gelden, lying in the bottom of a wagon. Naked from the waist up. His abdomen, although heavily bandaged, was still bleeding through. His skin was covered in a sheen of cold sweat, and his skin had that unhealthy greyish hue of someone whose life had all but spilled out.

The old woman said to Venna "One of those bastards ran him through when he was trying to stop them from…." There was a catch in her voice as she struggled to continue. Venna clasped her shoulder gently, in a gesture that said it's ok, she understood.

Venna unstrapped her shield from her back and leaned it against the wagon. She then climbed into the back and leaned over the priest and said gently "Gelder, you look well."

She tried to smile, as the tears began to fall from her eyes, try as she might to hold them back. Everything was finally beginning to catch up with her, seeing her oldest and dearest friend, their priest and healer, mortally wounded. It was the crack that started to break the dam of all that she was holding at bay.

Gelden, in a raspy, soft voice said to her between gasps, "Hey, hey. It'll...be all right Venna...It's not….often a priest such…..such as I, am blessed…..to dine in Myin's…..great hall…..It is a good thing."

He reached up to touch her face and then started to cough, a tearing, rattling cough. She lifted his head and helped him turn slightly to the side. He whipped his mouth with the back of his hand and smeared some of the blood he had just coughed up across his cheek, as he settled back down.

Gelden was dazed momentarily, as his breathing became shallow. His eyes, however, suddenly became focused. He half wheezed, half whispered to Venna "What….what was…..the commotion…before?"

Venna, through her tears, almost sobbed "Don't you worry. You rest now."

More forcefully, as he struggled to sit up as though a sudden surge of strength returned to him, in a stronger voice Gelden demanded "What….was it?"

Venna relented and said to him in a breaking voice "We found Turrin by the water. He was shot through the shoulder with an arrow. It doesn't look good."

"Bring…him…to me."

"Gelden…"

"Bring…him!...There…..is….no…time!"

Venna looked to Orn and caught his eye. She didn't need to say anything, he just knew. He went to the flat deck wagon and scooped up the boy. He then moved quickly to his mother's side and unwrapped the boy from the sheep skins.

Gelden rasped "Take…it out."

Venna snapped the shaft protruding from the boy's back, clenched her teeth and eyes, and pulled the arrow through. As she did so, blood started to flow freely from the two holes.

As she was doing that, there was a golden, glowing light emanating from the priest's hands. He placed his hands over the two wounds, and as they all looked on, the wounds stopped bleeding and closed. The only evidence of the wounds were two white circles where the arrow had been.

As the glow in the priest's hands faded and then flickered out, he exhaled for the last time, his hands falling lifelessly back down by his sides. Venna closed Gelden's lifeless eyes with her hand and then pulled him to herself.

The little boy stirred and weekly murmured "Mumma?"

Orn was moving to return the now-healed boy to his mother when he saw that Erik and the Sogards had returned. They could hear their mother's muffled, broken-hearted sobs as she hugged Gelden tightly to herself and rocked him gently.

All the stresses of the previous night - the taking of Vylder, the anger from seeing the aftermath, the wounded boy, and now the grief she felt, had finally overwhelmed her. At that moment she ceased being the staunch Halder warrior and returned to being a wife and mother, as she let all her emotions pour out at once.

Orn passed the boy back to his mother, and both he and Erik went to Venna's side. Orn released her hold on Gelden and laid him back down gently, while Erik held onto their mother as she continued to weep in her grief.