9 Chapter 9: The War II
One year later...
"Get him!"
Running through the woods in the dead of night, a group of men on horses can be seen chasing after a man on foot. Weirdly though, the group of men struggled to keep up with the escaping enemy causing them even more frustration.
"Come on, guys, is this necessary? I mean, yeah, I killed your commander and burned your food stores, but it's not like I killed your child or anything," the man running in front shouted to the men behind that were chasing him.
The man was about 6'3 in height with short, dirty blonde hair and two bangs extending over his eyes, landing on both sides of his face. This man was Ace, who just finished assassinating the enemy commander and burning the enemy's food supplies, which would cause them to give up their camping spot and return to their settlement.
Ace and the rest of the men who started their war campaign a year ago have been traveling west in search of the enemy settlement that came close to threatening the safety of their village, eventually finding them. After a long and grueling battle costing the lives of half of their men, it was discovered that King Olaf Iverson was behind the Jarl.
King Olaf had been sending his men from Norway to invade the shores, and the men decided to do everything they could to eliminate the future threat before it became one they could not handle.
(Ace POV)
Getting tired of just running away, I came to a stop. I turned to face my pursuers, "Alright, boys, I thought of just leaving and letting you live another day, but clearly, that is not working out for me, so let us end this game of cat and mouse, shall we" I say raising my hand and twisting my wrist, The necks of all the men snapped at once causing their bodies to fall from their horses.
"Well, I probably should have done that from the start, but it is fun to pretend sometimes," I said, running off into the woods back to our camp.
...........
After returning to camp, I reported the success of my assassination to Chief Gunnar. Getting praise for my achievement, I left the chief's tent and went to our family's tent, where my brother and father stayed.
"I'm back!" I shouted when I reached outside the tent, pushing the flap to the side and walking in.
Elijah greeted me first, giving me a tight bro hug, "Welcome back, brother, glad you are safe. How did your mission go?"
"Do you even have to ask? Of course, I succeeded. It was as easy as throwing stones" 'Since I literally threw a stone to kill the man, but that's not the point,' I thought, chuckling internally.
"Ah yes, our invincible brother, rampaging on the battlefield like the incarnation of the god of war, Tyr coming to claim the lives of his enemies" Looking to the side, I saw Finn sitting on the ground, sharpening his sword.
"Do you have to make it sound so dramatic, Finn? I wasn't even that bad, just doing my duties as a warrior of our family and village," I said, waving my hand and dismissing his dramatics.
"Hahahahaha, not that bad, you say? tell that to the enemies that lived to tell your tale, giving you the name 'Blood Demon' since whenever we finish our battles, you are always in the middle of a pile of corpses, covered in the enemy's blood from head to toe." He says, halting, sharpening his sword, and laughing.
"Tch whatever, where's the father?" I asked; I had not seen him since returning to camp.
"He's with the scouting party looking for any more enemy camps so that none can catch us by surprise when we move further west again," Elijah replied, sitting beside Finn.
"I see; well, I shall leave you two to what you were doing; I need to go down to the river and wash because I have gone days without a bath," I told them before leaving the tent and walking down to the river behind the camp.
................
Getting to the river, I strip down and walk into the water, letting the cool water relax my tired body after days of nonstop movement from my missions. 'Haaaa, that's good,' I thought, laying back and floating on the water's surface, looking up at the sky. 'This war has been tiring, especially since I cannot use my magic as freely as I would like, though I won't deny that it significantly helped my physical combat skills.'
*sigh*
'Maybe I should just take a trip to Norway alone and end this war for good; who knows, maybe I will find something interesting.' Thinking of my plans for the future, I got up from my floating position, grabbed a rag, and washed my body before walking out of the water and dressing.
"Maybe I'll just sleep on it," I told myself, returning to our tent. Once inside, I let my brothers know I would be heading to sleep before laying on my straw bed and drifting off.
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A.N.: (I tried to squeeze out a chapter for you tonight; I got home late today. I will probably send Ace to Norway and take some of your suggestions of adding the characters from Vikings into the story before having him return before Henrick dies.)
