She lay in bed that night with her eyes wide open while Alan slept peacefully beside her. His arm was wrapped around her waist with the stubble of his chin scratching beside her neck. When she heard his low and steady breathing, Jain carefully crept out from beneath the covers and slipped away from his warm embrace.

Jain dressed in the dark, with nothing but moonlight to illuminate the room as she secured the cloak around her shoulders. Just then, Alan rolled over in his sleep and Jain froze, afraid that she had woken him. When his gentle snoring continued, she exhaled in relief and knelt down to collect the pinnacular brooch that was hidden beneath a chair. With her bounty well in hand, she tiptoed from the room and cast one last glance towards her husband before shutting the door behind her.

Sleep well, my love.

Jain knew she had to move quickly, so she left the house at once and walked back into the stables. Her skirts swept across the grass and fallen leaves while she made it to the back of the house. Angus, their faithful chestnut stallion, was sleeping peacefully in his stall and she woke him with a pat on the neck. “Hello there, Angus. I’m sorry to wake ye, but we have one last ride to take together.”

He sniffed at her hand expectantly and Jain winced, scratching him behind the ear. “Sorry, but there’s nae carrot today, just me.”

Angus snorted in disapproval and she went to hitch him with tack and reins before climbing on and leading him out into the field. Her stomach folded over on itself in an uncomfortable knot at the thought of leaving Alan behind. Jain swallowed hard and put her own feelings aside, all for the protection of her people. She wasn’t even sure what that meant anymore.

With the moonlit hills laid out before them across the moor, she urged Angus forward with her heel and quickly sped into a gallop. The wind whipped through her hair as they gained speed and she clung tightly to his reins. Jain’s cloak fluttered in the air behind her, but she kept her eyes focused on the path ahead.

She had never been so terrified, nor had she ever been more sure that what she was doing was necessary and correct. She kept those thoughts deep inside and locked them away, giving her strength to know that her ride must continue.

It was a long way before she saw dots of orange flame from campfires on the hills ahead. There were many times she thought about turning back, but she knew it was too late – the dye was already cast. Jain could smell the smoke rising from the fires as it mixed with the bitter tinge of salt along the coast. The difficulty of their terrain turned rocky as they got closer and she was jostled in her seat. Her heart was pounding wildly as she brought Angus to a halt and dismounted a safe distance away. She needed to approach them in a submissive fashion, so they would not attack. Otherwise, her entire journey had been for naught. Jain swallowed hard, gripping the reins within her hand and walked him slowly towards the encampment.

She saw bodies move around the fires and begin to approach her as some of them came to investigate, arming themselves with weapons.

“Who is it?” she heard them ask in their native tongue.

“Some girl and her horse,” the man responded.

Jain exhaled in the cathartic release of hearing her own language spoken. It had been so long since she heard it properly and it brought a flood of nostalgic memories. She never let down her guard though, and the moment was shattered almost as fast as it arrived by the swelling fear inside her chest.

“A girl?”

“That’s what I said,” the man snapped.

“Is she alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are ye waiting fer?”

Jain tensed as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and they came towards her in the light of the fire, meeting at the wooden spike placed as a line of defense. “I’ve come in peace,” she told them.

Her accent had become somewhat colored from her years of living in Elign, but the men’s eyes grew wide and clear with understanding. Their hair was long; some wore it in braids and others had shaved their heads along the side.

“You speak our language?” the one with braids asked her bluntly.

“Yes.”

The other scoffed. “How is that possible?”

“It seems the gods have a sense of humor.”

Jain stepped forward, saying, “Because my parents are Viking. I’m the daughter of Erik Bjornson who died in the settlement here years ago. I’d like to speak with whoever leads this raiding party.”

She held out the brooch for them to see, with the dragonhead pattern glistening in the moonlight. The one whose head was shaved crossed his arms in front of his chest as he eyed the brooch warily. “I’m not sure if what ye say is true, but the Earl would be curious to hear your tale regardless.”

He pulled on a piece of rope that lowered some of the spikes towards the ground as a sort of fence and let her pass.

“Your horse will have to stay,” he informed her curtly. “Ye can get it back when the Earl decides.”

She nodded, while handing him the reins and followed the other deep into the Viking camp. The tents they had set up were secured with branches or pieces of driftwood and brightly colored fabric. Jain could feel their eyes on her as she walked past them, watching her suspiciously. Warriors and shield maidens sat by the fires, sharpening their axes on whetstones. Some of them were drinking ale, or perhaps something stronger, while they whispered to one another. 

“Who’s the girl?” a light-haired warrior asked.

“She’s here to see the Earl,” the one with braids responded without hesitation. 

Jain’s heartbeat quickened, sensing the danger she was in and tried not to look at them for very long. The Viking men and women were so different then the people of Elign, they were harder…fiercer. Most of them were covered in tribal markings that had been tattooed onto their skin. Some of them had smudges of black grease beneath their eye, which Jain knew lessened the glare of the sun when it reflected off the water.

So many things were reminiscent of her past, she could feel it rising up inside her. Eventually, they came to a large tent that had a colorful tapestry hanging from the door. The great tent – the one that was reserved for royalty.

“Earl Ragnar, this girl is here to see you,” the man spoke after they went inside.

She glanced at the warrior he had spoken to and felt like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. His red hair was long and twisted back into braids along the top of his skull. The sides above his ears were shaved and there was a tattoo of a beast that crept up around his neck. He was tall and had broad shoulders that towered over her from his great height.

He was built like any warrior and had muscular arms from rowing and years of having learned to wield a sword. The red-haired Viking glanced up at their arrival and his eyes narrowed when he saw her.

“Ragnar?” she breathed out in shock.

There was a long moment, while he looked Jain over carefully before the realization struck him. “Jain? Is that you?”

Jain almost laughed and felt a tremendous amount of joy come bubbling up inside her. “Yes, Ragnar. It’s me.”

Tears shone in her eyes. She reached up and touched her brother’s fiery beard, a reminder of the time they’d missed.

“The seer told me I would find you, but I did not believe him,” Ragnar said. “Everyone else thought that you were dead.”

“No, I’ve been living here all this time. There is a village south of here that took me in and cared for me. The man who raised me is their chieftain now, he’s worried that you’re going to attack.”

“Of course we’re going to fight!” he snarled. “The men of this land destroyed our settlement, they killed our family.”

“But it wasn’t them,” she argued. “You speak of avenging our family, but you’ve already done that ten times over. Isn’t it time for peace?”

Ragnar scoffed. “How do you know that for sure?”

“Because I knew Keenan! The people who took me in had no idea it was a Viking settlement. Whoever it was, it wasn’t them. These people are innocent. You speak of honor and justice, but killing them will not grant you that.”

Ragnar raised an eyebrow.

“I have no wish to kill innocent people, even if they are Christian. You claim they took care of you, and I suppose that puts me in their debt.”

“You’ll not attack them then?”

Her brother smiled. “Not for the love I bear you. However, if they threaten our camp I am obligated to defend our people.”

“Why have you come back after all this time?”

Ragnar sighed. “When they took me on the ship, I told them we had to go back. I knew you had to be hiding somewhere. None of them would listen. They tied up Leif and me until we made it back to the Viking stronghold. The ships finally landed, and I asked Earl Thorston to send a search party. He said it was too dangerous. He said that because our settlement was massacred it was a sign from the gods that we were never to return.”

“But here you are,” Jain muttered. “What about our brother, Leif?”

Her brother winced. “Leif is in Valhalla. He died on a raid two years ago. After a while, I gave up hope. I mourned your death, and the death of our father for many years…until last winter when I went to the seer. He said you were alive and well, but wouldn’t be for long – I had to come rescue you. I asked the Earl again to let me have a ship and that I would sail across the sea. When he denied me again we got into an argument.”

Jain’s eyes grew wide as he paused in the story to have a drink. “What happened?”

“I buried an axe in his skull,” Ragnar responded with a grin. “Now I am Earl. I am the one who decides when and where we raid. I have control of all our ships, and do you know how I chose to use them?”

“How?”

He leaned in and took Jain by the hand, saying, “To find my sister so I could bring her home at last.”

Jain pulled her hand away from him. “I’m not going with you, Ragnar. That is what I came to tell you. These are good people and they took care of me for many years. I’ve made a home here, you can’t take me away from it.”

“Of course I can,” he growled. “You’re a Viking by birth and your place is with us, whether I have to drag you home or not. I did not come all this way just to go back empty-handed. We’ll camp here for the night and then tomorrow we can discuss what to do about your village.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she told him, “This is my home, not back north in the land you came from. I wouldn’t even recognize our homeland when we got there.”

Her voice cracked with raw emotion as she said it, realizing how true those words had become even if she had never admitted it to herself.

“You made a home with strangers once, you can do it again,” he spat out angrily.

Jain shook her head. “No! I will not leave here. Ragnar, I’m married and in love. Please don’t make me choose between the love of my life and the love of my family. It would break my heart in pieces.”

“Married? To who?” Ragnar demanded. His voice was softer when he questioned her and Jain’s eyes began to mist.

She smiled at him and said, “To a good man who I love and treats me well, that’s all you need to know.”

“I’ve been searching…for so long I’ve been searching to find you, and now I don’t even recognize you.”

Jain stepped forward and took her brother by the hand. “Ragnar, I love you. You’re part of who I am, but this is my life now.”