100 SSSS-fics: Silence is Silver

by Windfighter

Speech is silver, silence is golden. Mikkel knows that is especially true when you rarely get to experience silence.

My 15th story for the 100 SSSS-fic challenge, this time inspired by the prompt Silence. My original plan was to have it short, about 1000 words, but then stuff happened. And then more stuff happened. And then I ended up with 16.000 words!
But it is finally done, wooo! Have fun!

---

Mikkel leaned against the tank. It was silent with Sigrun, Emil and Lalli away, Sigrun being the cause of most sounds in the tank. He had put Tuuri to work on transcribing a couple of the books they've found and Reynir was currently busy hanging the laundry. Their kitten was hunting a fly and Mikkel kept an eye on her so she didn't wander too far away.
He enjoyed these silent moments. He did want to participate in the book gathering, especially since both Sigrun and Emil were terrible at chosing which books to bring, but Sigrun had made it very clear that he was not to come along, under any circumstances. So instead, he enjoyed the silence.
At home it had rarely been silent. Although he was old enough to have gotten his own home by now he stilled lived on the farm with his parents and a couple of his younger siblings, in order to help out. The fact that he had a hard time keeping any employment had of course nothing to do with why he was reluctant to get his own house. Beside, he enjoyed living with his family. But it was rarely silent.
His younger sisters often started arguing about boys and clothes, and one of his brothers regulary got into fights with their father. Both men enjoyed it, and laughed at it afterwards, but it was still rowdy. And if it was not the humans it was the pets. The dogs barking at stray cats that wandered by, or at the cats they owned, the cows mooing and their only horse neighing. In short, lots of noice.
So the few times he got some silence around him, he made sure to enjoy it. Problem was, he could only enjoy it for so long.
"Reynir, how are you doing with the laundry?"
"Almost done! Am I doing good?"
Mikkel looked at the wet clothes hanging on the lines and nodded.
"Very good. How about you catch the cat and help me with dinner? You can tell me more about your siblings."
Reynir lit up, quickly caught the kitty and hurried after Mikkel. Mikkel relaxed a bit when Reynir's voice started filling the air around him. Silence was golden, but sometimes noice was needed to truly be able to relax.
Halfway through the preperation of dinner the kitty poofed up. Mikkel and Reynir exchanged glances, Mikkel quickly threw dirt over the fire and shoved Reynir into the tank, telling him and Tuuri to put on their masks. He grabbed a sturdy iron pole, but followed Reynir into the tank, closing the door.
"Stay down", he ordered, his voice low. Both Tuuri and Reynir did as told. Mikkel quietly crawled to the front window, peeked out the best he could. Sigrun and Emil would return soon as well, would they notice what lurked out there? Should he try to warn them? Or should he hope the thing moved past without noticing them?
Something entered the clearing. Something seriously deformed. A troll. He took a harder grip around the pole, stayed still. The troll looked towards the tank, moved a little closer. Then it turned its head. Mikkel tensed up, kept his eyes glued onto the troll. Slowly it moved away. He was not sure what it meant.
"Is it gone?"
Reynir's voice and Mikkel turned away from the window. The kitty in Reynir's hands had de-puffed itself, so the danger was over. For now. Then, gunshots. They echoed through the forest, through the tank, and Mikkel pulled the door open, listened for the sound. More gunshots. He closed the door behind him, hurried towards the sound. There was trouble, he knew it. He prayed to whatever God would listen, even if he didn't believe in them, that everything would be alright, that everyone would be unharmed.
Another gunshot. The troll fell down just when he got there. He breathed heavily, looked around. There was blood everywhere except for on Lalli. Emil dropped his gun, fell to his knees and held a hand over his shoulder, Sigrun was leaning towards a tree, her hands aroung her thigh. Lalli jumped down from the tree, placed the rifle on his back again and got up to Emil, tilting his head. Mikkel hurried up to Sigrun.
"Are you alright?"
She clenched her teeth and looked at him, gripping tighter around her thigh.
"Not really."
He bit his lip, wrapped an arm around her.
"Lean on me."
She did as told, and Mikkel looked at Emil.
"Are you well enough to walk on your own?"
Emil nodded. His face was white, but he slowly got up. Mikkel could see his face scrunching up when he moved his arm, but the young man was able to stand. Lalli grabbed his other arm to hold him upright. Slowly the four of them made their way over to the tank. Mikkel helped Sigrun settle down on a chair, pulled off her pants and examined the wound. It was pretty deep. He called in for Tuuri to give him the medic bag and cleaned her wound, stitched it up. She looked at him.
"You're still terrible at stitches. You should have learned by now."
He tried to force a smile, but could not bring himself to it.
"Can you move it?"
"Yeah, it's just a scratch."
"Move it."
Sigrun clenched her teeth again as she moved her leg a little. He could see that it hurt but it did not seem like the bone was damaged, just the muscles. He let out a sigh. Emil flopped down next to the tank, leaning against the wall. Lalli placed his gun beside him and settled down on the ground, waiting for the medic to decontaminate him. Emil still held his hand over his shoulder.
"We weren't ready", Sigrun explained. "We thought there wouldn't be any trolls this far away from the city. Scout-boy acted up a little, but I assumed it was just a beast..."
She let out a sigh. Mikkel understood what that meant. She blamed herself. She thought she had failed as a captain since she had not taken Lalli's message seriously enough. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself."
Emil turned towards her and gave her thumbs up, even if he did not lift his hand to do it.
"No worries, Sigrun, we'll be up and running again in no time! This is nothing a viking can't handle!"
Mikkel knew his words were a lie, but noticed Sigrun's face getting brighter when he said it.
"Does it hurt anywhere else?"
Sigrun shook her head. Mikkel nodded towards her, got up, took the bag and settled down next to Emil.
"Alright, let's get the coat off you."
Emil protested as Mikkel pulled the explosives off him, and Mikkel looked at him, tried to give him an assertive glare, but Emil refused to back down, letting go of his shoulder and grabbing his coat instead.
"I can do it."
Mikkel noticed how he flinched when he settled up better to easier get the coat off. He flinched again when he tried to get it off his unbloody shoulder, and then flinched even more when he pulled it off the other one, getting noticable paler as he did so. It fell to the ground with a thud and Emil leaned back again, breathed heavily. Mikkel was almost certain the Swede would faint, but Emil stayed awake.
"And the shirt."
Emil closed his eyes.
"Please don't."
"I am sorry, Emil, but you have to get it off in order for me to examine your wounds."
Emil didn't move. Mikkel waited for a while, and then Emil lifted his hand and pulled the zipper down, tried to pry off the shirt, but shook his head and leaned back. Mikkel took over, carefully pulled the shirt off the Swede.
There were bitemarks around his shoulder. Mikkel cleaned them up, Emil flinching when he applied the antiseptic to the wounds. Emil looked away when he stitched it up.
"I don't think I need to ask if you can move that, you'll just pull the stitches open..."
Emil didn't answer, his cheeks had turned a bit green. Lalli came up to his side and patted him on his head, saying something in finish. Mikkel proceeded to bandage up both Emil and Sigrun to protect the wounds from infection, and put Emil's arm in a sling so he would not be able to move it even if he tried. Lalli helped Emil to his feet again, and when he did so Mikkel noticed how Emil held the jacket infront of his stomach, as if he was hiding something. Mikkel stopped them and pried Emil's fingers off the coat. Emil looked away as Mikkel's eyes fell on the clawmarks.
"Emil..."
"It's nothing to worry about..."
"Emil, these are old. And infected. Why have you not said anything? When did you get them?"
Emil muttered something, but Mikkel ignored it, pulled down Emil's pants. The clawmarks went from the right side of his waist, down under his boxers and then over his left leg. Mikkel looked at Emil, who still looked away, and then looked at the wounds again. Sigrun looked curiously towards them.
"Wait, was that why you was so adamant about keeping the bag infront of you that time?"
Emil's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink among the green. Mikkel put his hands on his side.
"That day two weeks ago? When you refused to let me decontaminate you saying you could do it yourself?"
Mikkel let out a sigh. He wanted to scorn Emil, tell him how stupid he was, but in the end he knew he only had himself to blame. Maybe it had been a bad idea to pull all those pranks on the younger member.
"Emil, I am the medic, if you are hurt you are supposed to tell me. It is a wonder you have not gotten sick..."
Mikkel stopped. He was not sure about that. He put a hand on Emil's forehead, but Emil quickly pulled away, and flinched as his shoulder hit the side of the tank. Mikkel grabbed his unharmed arm.
"Emil, take it easy, otherwise you will end up hurting yourself even further."
Emil slid down to the ground again, keeping his eyes towards the ground.
"Decontaminate the other two first."
Mikkel blinked, then smiled and nodded. He hurried as well as he could, while still following protocol of course, and somehow managed to get Lalli to understand that he had to help Sigrun inside. Then he turned towards Emil again. He put his fingers close to the wounds, noticing Emil relaxing a bit. The skin was hot to touch, but that was typical with infected wounds. Emil flinched as he did his best to clean the wounds, a couple of them opening up and a kinda smelly, white-yellow substance exited and ran down Emil's stomach. Mikkel saw how the Swede got greener in the face again.
"This is good. Getting the pus out will make it hurt less and heal better."
He finished cleaning the wounds, taking care to do it thoroughly. Emil did his best not to pull away, or kick the Dane for forcing him to live through the treatment. When he was finished Mikkel dressed the wounds as well as he could, before helping the Swede get to his feet.
"A couple of days' bedrest for both of you I believe."
Emil forces a smiled and went inside the tank. Sigrun was lying on Tuuri's bed, her damaged leg propped up with a couple of blankets. Emil settled down on his own bed, grimaced a little as he bent his legs. Sigrun looked at him.
"I'm amazed we didn't notice it earlier. You've become more of a viking, Emil!"
"...thank you?"
Mikkel firmly pushed Emil down, pulled a blanket over him. Emil snuggled up under it, then settled up again.
"The books, we left them back there!"
He was up before Mikkel could stop him, but the Dane caught his arm before he reached the door.
"Bedrest means you are staying in the bed. I can go collect the books."
"You're the medic", Sigrun answered, "you're supposed to stay at camp. No worries, I can go."
Mikkel quickly pushed Emil back into the bed and went to Sigrun's side and held her down.
"Bedrest is for you as well, you will just pull the wound open if you walk around. Do not believe for a second that I have forgotten how it was with your arm."
Sigrun stuck out her tongue towards him.
"Then send the scout, I don't care."
"It was not far from here, I am certain I can..."
"No", Sigrun interrupted. "I'm your captain and I'm telling you to remain at camp grounds. Send the scout, he got out unharmed."
Mikkel wanted to protest, but no, this was an actual order. Sigrun had actually given him an order. He looked at her, then nodded.
"And as your medic, meaning that I am in charge of your health, I order both of you to stay in bed." Mikkel smiled at Sigrun. "It is only for a couple of days, but neither of you are in shape to move around as it is."
"Fine, I'll stay for one day."
"Two."
"One."
"...Okay, tomorrow I will look at your wounds again and make a new assessment of the damage. I will not promise anything else."
He left the bed chamber, called out for Tuuri. She appeared from the front of the tank, looking curiously at him.
"What happened? Is everyone alright?"
"They ended up face to face with the troll, but they should be alright in a few days. Do you know where Lalli is? I need him to go back out there and fetch the books."
"Uhm..." Tuuri looked around. "I'm not really sure..."
Mikkel heard something scratching at the door and peeked out. Lalli, with the three bags in his hands. Mikkel opened the door and stopped the scout before he walked inside.
"I need to redo the decontamination."
Lalli tilted his head, and Mikkel grabbed him by the collar, pulled out the decontamination equipment and quickly decontaminated him. Once done Lalli quickly hurried away, putting as much distance between himself and the medic as it was possible within the limited space of the tank. Mikkel carefully put the books up outside. They had one hour of sunlight left, just enough to decontaminate the books. Tuuri and Reynir looked at him through the window and he knew Tuuri could hardly wait for the books to be decontaminated so she could look at them.
Once done Mikkel restarted the fire he had put out before the whole thing started. He heard Sigrun's voice through the door, she was complaining about having to stay in bed. Tuuri and Reynir's voices could also be heard, although not as loudly. He heard Emil utter a word from time to time, during those few seconds when Sigrun went silent, but then her voice flared up again.
Mikkel let out a sigh. There would be no silence at all the following days, he was certain of that.

"It is healing nicely, but one more day of bedrest."
Sigrun groaned, tried to protest. She was already tired of staying still.
"I'm not even sick!"
"No, but you should not aggravate the injury and if I let you out of the bed you will. I know you well enough."
Sigrun crossed her arms over her chest and puffed up her cheeks. Mikkel looked at her.
"You look like a grumpy five year old like that."
Sigrun laughed.
"Well, you're treating me like one."
"Maybe you simply are a grumpy five year old in a grown body."
The two of them looked at each other and smiled. Mikkel patted her shoulder.
"I know it feels frustrating, especially since you are used to fighting trolls and excitement, but if you follow my directions you will get back to the field much quicker. Well... Maybe not get back there, but you will be able to stay in the field longer, unless you get yourself hurt in another fight."
"Fine, I'll stay here. But only one more day!"
"That's all I'm asking."
Sigrun shook her head, then leaned back against the pillow again, and Mikkel got up to Emil.
"How are you feeling?"
"Mrr..."
"I think you may have spent too much time with your friend Lalli", Mikkel said and placed a hand on Emil's forehead. "Fever. I was afraid of that."
"'s nothing."
"No, Emil, it is not nothing. I will see what I have in terms of antibiotics, but it's hard doing anything without knowing what bacteria it is. How is your shoulder?"
"Fine."
"I want the truth, Emil."
Emil looked away.
"...it hurts."
"How badly?"
Emil shrugged, as well as he could with only one shoulder, and Mikkel shook his head.
"Never mind, I guess I will find out when I examine you."
"buh?"
He forced Emil to settle up, watched as the Swede's face scrunched up from pain. Mikkel was not certain if it was the shoulder or the clawmarks, but he guessed both had to do with it.
"Look at the bright side, all this pain means your fans love you. Nothing ever happens to me."
Emil looked confused, but did not ask for clarification, and Mikkel removed the bandage from Emil's shoulder, cleaned the wounds again. Emil's face got paler as he worked, Mikkel was certain he still was not used to the pain, but Sigrun gave him thumbs up and came with encouraging words as Mikkel worked. Mikkel was certain that was the sole reason Emil did not push him away, protest or fainted. Mikkel rebandaged the shoulder, then proceeded to check the lower wounds as well, making sure to get as much pus as possible out from them. Emil relaxed at little as he pressed it out.
"How does it feel?" Mikkel asked when he was done.
"...better."
Mikkel nodded, dressed the wounds again.
"I can not say for certain how much longer you have to take it easy, the wounds are heavily infected. I will admister some penicillin and then we will see if it has gotten better in a few days."
He thought about suggesting amputation, but decided against it. The Swede had already lost trust in him, which was why he had let it carry on for this long. If the troll attack had not happened... Mikkel didn't want to think about it, but the thought had already popped up in his head. The young man could have died because Mikkel pulled enough pranks so the Swede avoided going to him when he was actually injured.
Mikkel patted Emil's uninjured shoulder, before leaving the room. He would have to make this right somehow. He leaned against the wall outside the bed chamber, looked at the ceiling.
"Mikkel? Is everything alright?"
Tuuri's voice. In Icelandic, so it took a few seconds for Mikkel to capture what she had said and he nodded.
"Yes, there is nothing to worry about. How is it going with the books?"
"Quicker!" Tuuri smiled. "I've gotten used to this now, transcribing these books should be finished soon!"
"Great."
He told Reynir to get working on sweeping and washing the floor and then walked out to the storage room in the back of the tank, heading straight for the medical equipment. They had gotten some penicillin along, luckily enough, and he took it back inside. Now he just had to convince Emil it actually was what he needed and not just another prank.
Sigrun was complaining loudly when he came back, Mikkel could not tell exactly what she was complaining about. Emil was looking at the wall when Mikkel came back inside and Mikkel carefully settled down on the bed.
"Are you sleepy?"
Emil nodded, kept his eyes away him and Mikkel noticed the young man was still pretty pale. He put a glass of water in Emil's view.
"I found antibiotics, you should take them. Doctor's orders."
Emil turned to look at him. Sigrun said something about antibiotics only giving the weak the chance to die at a later time and Mikkel hushed her.
"That is not helpful at all, Sigrun."
"No, but it's true."
"Would you rather he dies here, under your watch?"
"Pff, he's not dying."
"No, but if it gets bad enough, which it will without antibiotics, he will die."
"Hey, I'm right here."
"Sorry Emil. Do not listen to Sigrun, the antibiotics will help you feel better."
Emil looked at him, Mikkel could see that the Swede was not sure what to believe. Mikkel made sure not to turn away, still offering the water and the pills to Emil. Emil looked at Sigrun, who lifted her hands into the air and looked away.
"Don't look at me, I'm not allowed to say anything."
Mikkel shook his head.
"I promise there is nothing fishy about the medicine, Emil. You do truly need it. You will get sicker if you do not take it."
"...Just like how I'd get cancer from hitting my head in the train?"
Mikkel let out a sigh.
"I know, that was a silly thing to joke about."
"Or how you needed to amputate my leg a few stories ago?"
"...Yes, I admit that was also a stupid thing to say."
"Or that one time..."
Mikkel placed his hand over Emil's mouth.
"Yes, Emil, I get it, I have pulled a lot of stupid jokes on you because you have been so easy to fool. I apologise, I have a hard time stopping myself from doing so when I meet really naive people. I am serious about this though."
"Why should I trust you this time?"
Mikkel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to be patient, this was his own fault. On the other hand he could just give the Swede the antibiotics as an injection, but that would not help much with the trust. He opened his eyes again, thought about saying something about him not caring but it would be sad for Siv and Torbjörn if they came back with him dead, but bit the words back. Instead he looked Emil straight in the eyes.
"Emil, I am serious this time. If you do not take the medicine the infection will get worse and you risk losing your life. I am certain you do not want that. Were you not planning on coming back to Sweden as a hero, to impress your teachers?"
"I... I was..."
Emil looked away. Mikkel could tell he was considering his option.
"I take it you are still not sure if you believe me. Emil, if you follow my orders you risk being alive and maybe the victim of another joke. If you do not however you risk dying. Are you willing to take that risk just because of some previous jokes?"
Emil looked towards Sigrun. Mikkel held his breath, hoping Sigrun would refrain from saying anything stupid. Sigrun let out a sigh.
"Go ahead, little viking, trust the medic. He seems to really want to keep you alive for some reason."
Mikkel let go of his breath again and Emil nodded. Mikkel helped him up in a half-sitting position, careful not to pull at the wounds at his waist, and relief washed over him when Emil swallowed the antibiotics. After Emil laid back down again Mikkel pulled the blanket over him again.
"Thank you."
Emil lifted an eyebrow, but did not say anything. Sigrun let out another sigh.
"So how much longer until I can get out of here?"
"If you keep complaining I am going to tie you to the bed and leave you there for a week."
Sigrun glared at Mikkel.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Do you dare to try me?"
"We'll see."
Mikkel shook his head and left the room, leaving the door open behind him. Sigrun started talking again the moment he got out and Mikkel felt a bit sorry for the Swede, but there was nothing he could do about that, except knocking Sigrun out and he did not think that was a viable option.
He got outside, leaned against the tank's side. Reynir came up to him and settled down on the ground beside him, telling him more about his family. Mikkel let him talk, keeping an eye on the forest around them. With Emil and Sigrun in bed they only had Lalli as defense against any wandering trolls. Mikkel hoped there would be no more trolls wandering around their campsite as long as the two were out of action.

"Sigrun, I said you were allowed out of bed if you took it easy!"
Sigrun stuck her tongue out towards Mikkel and quickly moved out of his reach. At least she was feeling better, even though he could tell the large wound on her leg still hurt, he could see her limping even though she tried to act like it was nothing.
"Sigrun, you are far from stupid, so why are you behaving like this?"
"I've been stuck in bed for two whole days, you know how frustrating that is?!"
She did a handstand, rolled over onto her back and waved at Mikkel.
"Come on, do some training with me, I'm bored!"
"Sigrun, training is not taking it easy. You can play some card game with Reynir instead."
"Boooring."
She got up, grabbed one of the iron poles they used to hold the extra roof up.
"Come on, a little bit of training can't hurt!"
"That is preciesly what it can. I am still in charge of health related questions, Sigrun, and even if you have a higher position than I and therefore are my superior you should heed to my advice when it comes to health."
He made a move to grab her and carry her back into the tank, but she jumped out of his reach. Her leg shook a little when she landed on it, but she acted like it did not happen and Mikkel gave up trying to reason with her.
"You are behaving like a big baby, Sigrun."
He turned his back towards her, went back into the tank. Stopped by Emil's bed when he got inside. The fever had gone up and the young man was sleeping, moving uneasily in his sleep. Mikkel decided to let him sleep and went to Tuuri instead, checking how the books was coming along. Sigrun came inside and started talking with them about how there was no books in Norway because they did not need to read to know how to battle trolls, unlike the Danes. It quickly moved on to what she would do if a troll came by right at that second, then stories about her friends fighting agains sjødraugs, about the big feasts they used to have in the Dalsnes Hall.
Mikkel shook his head and went back outside, soon followed by Lalli, who most likely got tired of hearing Sigrun's voice. Mikkel watched as the scout crawled down under the tank and fell asleep. Normally he would protest, but this time he just settled down, looked at the scout. There was something tranquil about watching him sleep. Mikkel sat for a while, had almost fallen asleep, when someone flopped down beside him.
"Ouch."
"...Did it hurt?"
"Nothing I can't handle!"
He looked towards his captain, pondered saying something, but ended up not doing it. She leaned down to see what Mikkel was looking at.
"What's scout-boy doing under there?"
"Sleeping, it seems like", Mikkel answered.
"I can see that, but why under the car? There are two beds free in the tank!"
"My not very educated guess is that there was a certain person inside who made a bit too much of a ruckus for the scout to be able to relax. But I know far from enough about him to be able to say anything for certain."
Sigrun lifted an eyebrow and looked at Mikkel.
"You're talking about me?"
"I am not naming anyone, although it should be obvious that a certain someone that is supposed to take it easy goes strictly against her doctor's orders."
"I thought you weren't a doctor", Sigrun said and punched Mikkel's shoulder.
"I do not have the academic education to be allowed to call myself a doctor. I know enough about the medical field to tell my patients how to behave if they want to heal as quickly as possible."
He thought for a moment, got up from the ground.
"But", he added, "I also know how to amputate in case they don't do what I say."
He turned his back to her, got back inside the tank. Sigrun looked after him, looked at the scout under the tank. The stick figure opened his eyes and glared at her, once again disturbed in his rest. Sigrun got up, hurried after Mikkel back into the tank.
"...So, you said something about a cardgame?"

Sigrun ran an extra lap around the car, just to prove to Mikkel how much better she felt. He nodded as she passed him, then stopped her on the next lap.
"You have proven your point, Sigrun. You are well enough to go back into the field. Emil however is not ready yet."
"Why don't you let him decide that?"
Sigrun nodded in the direction of the front window and Emil waved towards them from inside the tank when he noticed that the were looking at him.
"You said his fever had gone down."
"It has, but he is not well enough to go out."
Mikkel crossed his arms over his chest, looked at Sigrun. She looked back at him, neither wanting to back down. Mikkel backed down first.
"You really want to head out, am I correct?"
"Well, duh. That's what we're here for after all."
"Alright." Mikkel leaned back against the tank. "If you bring me along instead of him."
"What? We've been over this. You're the medic, you're staying at camp because who would look after us if you're hurt?"
"Indeed, but how much does my care matter if you do not heed it anyway?"
Sigrun opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again. Mikkel took a deep breath, prepared to pull out more arguments.
"Okay."
Mikkel blinked. Okay? Had it really been that simple?
"But!"
Okay, not that simple.
"You have to stay close to me. Do not question my orders. The field is my area. Also, follow my orders."
Mikkel nodded.
"That sounds reasonable. I will not leave your side while on the mission. And I will not question anything unless it is exceedingly stupid."
Which, he added for himself, most of the things you say are.
Sigrun looked at him, seemed to consider if she was able to trust him on this, and then she nodded.
"Then it's decided. We're heading out right now!"
Mikkel grabbed her arm before she could rush off.
"Tomorrow. It's sunset in just a couple of hours, it will take us almost all that time to get there. Not even you are stupid enough to actually considering going in the dark, are you?"
Sigrun let out a sigh.
"You're right. Alright, but we're heading out directly at sunrise. Good grief, it's so hard to get anything done here!"
"You have only been out of action for four days. Do not worry, it will go back to normal soon enough."
Sigrun nodded, looked towards the front of the tank again. Scout boy settled down next to her right hand viking and she could hear Emil's voice through the door. Scoutboy never said anything, and she knew he couldn't understand what the Swede said, but for some reason he seemed like he listened anyway.
"You should have seen the horses! They weren't large like the one we saw in Mora, but small. Ponies. Our captain said we couldn't give them apples and stuff but... well, they looked like they needed it."
Sigrun smiled. Her untrained viking was absolutely feeling better and she'd probably be able to bring him along again soon. She'd settle for Mikkel in the meantime. It'd have to work. Mikkel looked at her and she got up.
"I'm gonna see what the others are doing. You get working on dinner in the meanwhile."
She headed back inside, stopped just inside the door to the front of the car. Her little viking was still talking, his eyes looking through the window and he gesticulated wildly with his undamaged arm. Mikkel had said something about his collar bone being damaged, but she wasn't sure if the medic was just pulling another prank on the Swede, if he was serious or if he had just said that so she would bring him along instead.
Scout boy looked at her, almost glared, and prepared to get up, but Emil noticed the movement and looked towards him and he settled down again. Sigrun saw a smile spreading over her tiny viking's face and she ruffled his hair.
"You feel better soon, okay? I'll bring Mikkel along tomorrow, and maybe scoutboy here as well, you just take it easy and heal up."

Emil looked out the window again. She wasn't sure what that meant and flopped down on the intrument panel infront of him.
"Emil, I know I pressure you a little sometimes, but that's only because I know you can be great. I never wanted you to actually risk your health."
She flicked him on the forehead.
"Don't let it go this far again. I care about my troops!"
She ruffled his hair again and he pulled his free hand through it, putting the strands right again.
"I'll make a viking out of you yet, once you're well enough to do battles again."
He nodded and she jumped down again, grimacing a little when she landed but quickly smiled towards her viking-in-training again. He returned the smile and she placed herself in the chair behind him.
"So what were you talking about anyway?"
"Ah... I was telling Lalli about... about my first mission."
"As a cleanser? You met any trolls?"
Emil shook his head.
"The... the scouts had already cleared the area... We were only there to cleanse it."
"You should have seen my first mission. Three trolls! Very vicious, all of them. Had one over me, the other was closing in and my knife was stuck in the third troll so I didn't have any weapon to defend myself!"
Scout boy left the room and Emil looked after him, but Sigrun continued telling her story.
"The rest of the group was busy with a pair of moose beasts, so I had to finish them of myself. You've ever seen moose beasts? Very large, deadly even before they turned into beasts. Anyway, that's not interesting. So I grabbed this troll's shoulder, kicked it off me and then threw it towards the other. While they tried to detangle themselves I grabbed my knife from the other troll. You should have heard the slurping noice its head made when I pulled the knife out, so much fun!"
Her tiny viking looked a little green and Sigrun patted him lightly in the back.
"I chopped the head off the closest troll before it even knew what hit it, then I swooped around the both of them while the other troll was still trying to get its arms and legs untangled from the first one and buried my knife deep in its head. Just before it died it turned towards me, opened its mouth and..."
Sigrun paused for effect. Mikkel appeared from nowhere and put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped a little in the seat.
"When you are done lying for our young team member the dinner is ready."
He went outside again and Sigrun scratched the back of her head, laughing.
"It was that obvious, huh?"
Her viking in-training looked at her, his head tilted, and Sigrun curiously looked back.
"It... it wasn't all a lie, wasn't it?"
"Well... I did face off against three trolls once, and I managed to kill two off them but... The third one almost did me in. Would have been dead if Reidar hadn't heard me shout at the troll."
"Is Reidar one of your men?"
Sigrun nodded.
"Strong as ten bears. Not that we ever let him face of against a bear alone, but he is our stongest viking. Good to have around, saved my butt a number of times!"
Emil looked out the window again and Sigrun got up, patted him.
"We'll both see our teams again. They're gonna be so jealous when they hear about everything we've seen! You even got some cool scars to show them now."
He didn't say anything and she looked out the window, wondered what he was looking at, then shrugged and went outside. Farm boy, Fuzzy-head and Mikkel were already eating and she settled down on the ground. Mikkel gave her a bowl of the rabbit stew and she sniffed at it, decided that it was edible. While eating she continued telling the others about missions she had done in Norway, talked about what she and Mikkel would see while retrieving books.
"Maybe even a giant, wouldn't that be something, Mikkel?"
"If you try to tease a giant into attacking us, I am going to toss you over my shoulder and carry you back to the tank, then tie you to your bed for another week."
"Pff, okay, I won't. You wouldn't stand a chance against it anyway."
"I see your trust in me is at an all-time high."
"I'm letting you come along at least!"
Emil came outside, dragging Lalli along. The mage tried to get back into the tank, but Emil's grip around his hand stopped him. Mikkel gave them some food and let Emil take the chair. Emil thankfully accepted the offer and Lalli settled down next to him, still looking like he wanted to be somewhere else.
"You're being replaced, city-boy", Sigrun teased, "how does it feel?"
"Does that mean I have to do laundry and clean now?"
"Yupp! You'll have to get everything spot free before we come back, so we can soil it again and give you more work!"
"Sigrun, be nice to him. Emil, you do not have to clean, I have already put Reynir on cleaning duty for the next few days. If you feel better after that you will be allowed to follow Sigrun on missions again."
Emil nodded. The sun slowly set in the horizon and all of them looked quietly at the colourful sky. Everyone except Sigrun.
"This is nothing compared to the sunsets we had in Norway! You should have seen them! You should come visit after this, I'll show you how nature is supposed to look."
Without saying a word the rest agreed that the best they could do was to ignore her.

"So, what you think so far?"
Mikkel climbed over the car, looked around. Lalli had run ahead and waited for them a bit further down the former street. Sigrun waited for the answer for about 15 seconds.
"You haven't seen anything yet, just wait until we get there!"
"Do you even know where we are going?"
"Of course I am: We're going after scout boy."
Mikkel shook his head, changed his grip around the bags, and hurried after Lalli and Sigrun. The building they were going to was small, but sturdy. Not the best place for trolls to hide, because of the size, but Mikkel was certain that if there was no better place to hide they would take cover in there. Lalli waited for them by the door and quickly sneaked inside as they came closer.
Sigrun peeked through the door, looked around, before gesturing for Mikkel to come after her. Mikkel stayed close to her, as she had ordered him to. Lalli had already disappeared somewhere, but Sigrun did not seem to think much of it, so Mikkel ignored it as well. Instead he focused on looking at the back of the books they passed, trying to spot anything of interest.
Lalli passed them a couple of time, but apart from that there was no movement in the building. Mikkel wished he could have said there was no sounds as well, but for some reason Sigrun would not stay quiet for more than a minute. He had stopped listening to her, using all his focus to search for books, but he had to keep an eye on her as well since she always chose the wrong books to bring back.
"Sigrun, that is a book about card games, there is no need to bring that."
"Wouldn't it be interesting seeing what games the old-timers used to play?"
"No, Sigrun. We already know about their most popular card games anyway. Have you never played poker? Or Go Fish?"
Sigrun looked at the book, thought for a few seconds and put it in her bag. Mikkel gave her a know-it-all glare but she ignored it.
"I make the calls out here anyway!"
Mikkel made a move to protest, but realised there was no idea to do so. Instead he settled for shaking his head and continue down the rows of books. He found a few that could be of interest and put them in his bags, and then Sigrun came with a large stack of books that she simply shoved into his bag.
"Better to just get as many as possible!"
"Sigrun, we have limited space in the tank, we can not bring everything we see, we must be tactical about our choices. In other words, anything about the history of Denmark, anything that has long and complicated words in the title and after that maybe something that seems to be in a language we do not know."
"Who'd want to have that?"
"Skalds who study the world before the illness struck. There are a few of them in Denmark, they would pay a lot for anything we can bring them that tells them about the old time."
"That sounds soooo boring."
"Of course you would think so. Either way, that is what we should look for. And, most importantly, the titles on the list they gave us before the mission."
"...you memorised that?"
"I did."
Mikkel stretched his back and Sigrun patted it.
"Yes, you're such a good worker. Come on now, I wanna be done before sunset. Hey, did I tell you about that time my team met a giant in the middle of night?"
"How many stories do you have?"
"Enough to last us through these days I'd say. Anyway, we were coming back from a hunt, night had already fallen because the fight took longer than we thought it would. Sigrid ran into it first, being in a rush to get home. We couldn't see much..."
"Do your team not hunt during the summer?"
"This was closer to the autumn, hunting season was almost over. Anyway, we heard her scream and..."
A scream echoed through the building. Sigrun grabbed Mikkel, pushed him towards the wall and placed herself infront of him. Both of them looked around, listened for any more sounds.
"Scout boy?" Sigrun asked and Mikkel shook his head.
"It did not sound like him."
"How'd you know? He never says anything..."
Mikkel was about to answer, but Sigrun gesticulated for him to be quiet. He closed his mouth again, held his breath. Sigrun drew her knife and Mikkel looked around to see if he could find anything to defend himself with if he were required to. Sigrun's elbow in his stomach stopped him from searching.
"You're not allowed to fight. If something happens you leave", she whispered.
Mikkel really wanted to protest, but bit his tongue. He had promised Sigrun to follow her orders. Sigrun moved quietly down the corridor and Mikkel followed her, trying not to make any sounds. Steps were coming towards them from the other direction and Mikkel could see how Sigrun took a tighter grip around her knife.
She jumped around a corner and Mikkel held his breath, but no sounds came. And then Sigrun laughed.
"You scared us, scout boy. Found anything?"
Mikkel peeked around the corner, noticed Lalli and the blood the young Finn was covered in.
"Lalli, are you well?"
He went up to the Finn and started examine him. He let out his breath after he was done and Lalli moved a few steps away from him.
"It is not his own blood. He must have found a beast or something and disposed of it."
"Good work, scout boy!" Sigrun hit Lalli in the back and he moved yet another step away. "I knew you were someone to count on!"
Mikkel looked at his clock and laid a hand on Sigrun's shoulder.
"It is starting to get late. We should think about heading back to the tank so we will not need to walk during sunset."
Sigrun nodded.
"I know. Let's grab some more books and head out of here. You ready to go, mage?"
Lalli tilted his head and Sigrun shrugged, walked back the same way the just came. Mikkel waited for Lalli to follow her, ready to carry him if it was needed, but the younger boy followed the captain as if he understood what was going on. Mikkel followed the two of them, noticed how Sigrun simply shoved any book she could find down into the bags, before grabbing them. Mikkel crossed his arms over his chest when he noticed how the weight made her limp a little.
"That is too much of a load for you in your current state. I will take two of those bags."
He held his hand out towards her, but she hesitated.
"Sigrun, no one will be looking down at you for letting me carry the bags. We can even tell them you ordered me to work as your personal mule, because why else would you even think about bringing me along out here?"
She gave in and he took two of the bags, letting her carry the third (and lightest) herself. She nodded to him and took the lead. It was starting to get dark already, although a bit light still lingered in the air.
"We have about two hours until sunset", Mikkel said.
Sigrun nodded, and lead them towards the tank. Tuuri and Emil were outside when they came, doing their best to prepare dinner for them. Mikkel noticed both of them getting paler when they saw Lalli's bloody clothes and he quickly told them what had happened and that the Finn was unharmed. Both of them went inside while the decontamination process was going on, Mikkel put the books in the sun for them to get decontaminated and then all six settled down for dinner. The kitty also got a bowl of rabbit stew, but seemed to think that hunting flies was much more interesting.
After dinner Mikkel went into the bedchamber where Emil had already laid down to read a little before bed.
"How are you feeling?"
Emil raised an eyebrow, looking towards Mikkel.
"Bored."
"Yes, of course, but I meant apart from that. Please settle up."
Emil did as ordered, his face scrunching up a little.
"Do your wounds still hurt?"
"Just a little..."
"Hmm..." Mikkel simply said. "I am going to remove the sling now, try to keep your arm still in the meanwhile."
Emil nodded, held his other hand so his damaged arm rested on it and would not move around. Mikkel took off the sling, pressed lightly around the collarbone.
"I think you should start moving your arm a little, it will help the healing. Can you do it?"
Emil did as told, gritted his teeth while doing so.
"I know it hurts, but if you keep the sling on for too long it will get worse."
Mikkel made Emil move his arm in different ways, in order to see his range of motion. When he was satisfied he nodded.
"Alright. I will put the sling on again for the night, so you do not move it around too much while sleeping. I will remove it again in the morning, does that sound alright to you?"
Emil made a half-shrug and Mikkel proceeded to put the sling back in place. Emil laid back down when it was done and Mikkel took a quick look at his lower wounds. The skin around them was still a bit red and warm to touch, but far from as bad as it had been five days earlier. The antibiotics was doing their job and Mikkel changed the bandages over the wounds to clean ones before preparing the mattresses on the floor for him, Lalli and Reynir. Emil watched as he was working, apparently not interested in the book he had been reading.
"Lalli prefers sleeping under Tuuri's bed, you know."
"Animals sleep under beds, humans sleep on them. I will not let anyone sleep under the beds on my watch."
"It would give you more room if you let him though. And he would sleep better."
"He will get used to it."
Mikkel put the pillows in place, before putting his hand on Emil's forehead.
"Your fever is almost gone."
"Way to state the obvious."
Emil rolled his eyes and Mikkel opened his mouth to give a snarky comment, then decided it wasn't worth risking what fragile thrust he had regained from the Swede and closed his mouth again, heading towards the door.
"Mikkel..."
Mikkel stopped when he heard Emil's voice. He did not turn towards the Swede, certain that the younger man did not want that. Emil was quiet for a few seconds.
"...thanks. Sorry I didn't say anything."
"It is nothing to worry about. I am glad you are feeling better."
"Yeah... me too."
The conversation was over. Mikkel left the room to see what the others was doing. Sigrun was gesticulating wildy, telling them some story about her days in the Norwegian army, and Tuuri was translating to Reynir, both of them looking at Sigrun with starry eyes. Lalli was sitting next to Tuuri, looking like he wanted to be somewhere else, and Tuuri did not translate for him. Mikkel was certain she knew he would not have been interested in the story anyway. He put a hand on Sigrun's shoulder.
"Alright everyone, it is time for bed now. We all need rest."
He knew Lalli could not have understood him, but the Finnish man was the first one to get up and hurry into the sleeping quarter. Emil's voice could be heard as he exchanged some words with Lalli, Lalli of course not saying anything back.
"Hyvää yötä."
Oh, wait, the Finn did say something. Mikkel looked confused towards the room, not having heard the young boy say anything to anyone other than Tuuri, and then it had mostly been about whatever scouting mission Sigrun had sent him on. Tuuri whined a little about them having to go to sleep so early, she wanted to hear more about Sigrun's adventures, but Mikkel insisted that Sigrun could tell them all more the next day.
"Yeah, the medic is right", Sigrun said and got up from her seat. "We have to sleep to stay alert, and that's even more important out here. Come on, now, off to sleep we go!"
She yawned, stretched. Went into the chamber and climbed up onto her own bed. Tuuri laid down in the bed under her and Mikkel noticed Lalli lying under Tuuri's bed again. He shook his head, pulled the mage out and placed him in the middle of the two mattresses on the floor. Lalli protested, but Mikkel was stronger than he was and with Reynir and Mikkel on either side of him Lalli could not roll under the bed by mistake.
Mikkel looked at the ceiling for a while, waited for the others to fall asleep. Silence had been extraordinary rare these last five days and while he did like the feeling of being allowed to follow Sigrun out in the field, he also found that he wanted Emil to get well enough so things returned to normal as soon as possible. He really wanted some peace and quiet.

It had been almost one week and a half. Mikkel was getting tired of Sigrun's constant yapping and had even gotten into a couple of arguments with her about it. The Swede was also getting restless and while he was not as extreme as Sigrun he was also pretty good at talking, although he for some reason prefered to talk to Lalli over everyone else. Mikkel had gotten into an argument with him as well.
After one and a half week Emil was finally able to change to and from a sitting position without much pain. The wounds was healing well and had almost disappeared. Mikkel nodded after having examined Emil that night.
"I think you are well enough to head out with Sigrun again."
Mixed feelings was visible in the Swede's face. Mikkel studied him for a while, waited for him to say anything, but he was quiet. Mikkel hmmed and Emil looked at him.
"Are you not happy about getting out of the tank? You have seemed to be quite tired of being stuck in here these last few days."
"Well... yeah, I gues I am. I'm just... Hm. No, never mind."
"Are you worried it will happen again?"
"N-no."
Emil looked away again. Mikkel settled down on the Swede's bed, looked at the fireplace for a while.
"Emil, going out there will always be combined with risks. Accidents can, and most likely will, happen. But Sigrun will be there with you and she knows how to handle being out in the field. I did not trust her before, but now that I have seen how she behaves out there I have learned that there is method in her madness. She will protect you because she do not want to lose anyone on her team. And from what I have understood you are the same. Do you want to tell me what happened when you met that troll? I have not gotten any real description out of Sigrun, but I have some ideas about what happened and I would like to confirm them."
Emil was quiet. Mikkel waited for a while, but was almost ready to leave when the Swede finally answered.
"I think Lalli noticed it first, because he grabbed my hand to stop me from continuing. Sigrun... Sigrun thought he was just acting up, like he was just scared for some silly reason, but then she noticed the troll as well. It towered over her and she grabbed her gun, fired off a few shots in its direction. The troll was quicker than she was, it hit the gun out of her hand and pierced her leg with one of its... talons, I think is the most appropriate description."
Emil had gotten a bit pale and he swallowed. Mikkel saw his eyes getting wet and the Swede made sure to keep his gaze away from Mikkel.
"I don't really remember what I did. There was gunshots, I remember the recoil from the gun, and then the pain. It was going to tear me to pieces. Then it just.. fell over. And then you came."
"You really don't remember?"
Emil shook his head.
"I kind of blacked out. I knew I had to do something, and I guess I did."
"Do you want to hear what I believe happened?"
Emil slowly turned towards Mikkel, then even more slowly he nodded. Mikkel smiled.
"I can not be certain, but you clearly broke free from Lalli's grip. He would not have let you go, so you must have pulled out yourself. You probably pushed Lalli over in the process, I noticed he had some bruises on his back when I decontaminated him the day after. After that you pulled out your knife, buried it inside the troll's spear-like arm. It pulled it out from Sigrun's leg, pulled back in surprise, which gave you enough time to grab your gun. You fired of a round of bullets towards it, but since you are a pretty lousy shot you missed all vital parts."
Emil blushed, looked away again, and Mikkel continued.
"While that was going on Lalli got up again and climbed a tree to get a better look at the battle scene. That was when the troll bit you. Lalli fired off a single shot that went straight through the troll's skull, and killed it. Do you think that sounds right?"
Emil nodded.
"Lalli is feeling guilty about it..."
Mikkel looked at Emil, had the Swede learned Finnish somehow these last days?
"He doesn't admit it, but I can... I can feel it. Does that sound weird? Ah, it probably does, forget I said anything."
Mikkel looked into the ceiling.
"No, it sounds correct. I do not feel it like you do, but I have observed how he has stuck around you."
"He did that before as well!"
"Not in the same way, before both of you took turns in looking for the other's company, but this last week you have not needed because he has already been there. Am I not correct?"
He did not need an answer from Emil to see that the younger man slowly realised that what he said was true.
"Anyway", Mikkel said as he got up from the bed, "I think you will be able to head out with Sigrun and Lalli on the day after tomorrow. Sigrun would probably prefer if it was only you and her, Lalli is a nightscout after all, but I would feel better if he came along as well. You are not entirely fit for fight yet, and I will make sure to tie your arm up before you head out during the first week."
Emil nodded, picked the book up again and Mikkel finished making the bed, telling the others it was time to sleep. Mikkel waited until everyone had gotten in their bed before turning off the light and laying down himself. He laid still for a while, listened as the others slowly feel into sleep. He could hear Emil being awake for longer than the others, trying his best to find a comfortable position, probably worried about Lalli who was out on a scouting mission, but in the end he fell asleep aswell. Mikkel looked into the ceiling for a while, listened to the silence in the tank. These were his moments of peace now, but in just a couple of days it'd return to normal. He hoped.

"You ready, little viking?"
Emil waited for Mikkel to finish tying his arm to his chest, before nodding. Bringing the explosives was hard with the sling in the way, but he had a couple tied to his waist. He most likely wouldn't need them anyway, Lalli had said that the area was free of trolls. Tuuri said something to Lalli and the Finn hurried up to Emil's side, but didn't say anything. Emil was used to that by now.
"Are you ready, Lalli? There was books there, right?"
Lalli tilted his head and Emil laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Forget it, let's just move out. I need a change of scenery after staring at the tank for so long!"
"Well said, my right-hand viking!"
Sigrun gesticulated wildy towards the city.
"To adventure and glory!"
She started running. Lalli followed her easily, but Emil quickly fell behind. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the pain in his waist, tried to increase his speed, but after a couple hundred meters he had to stop. He dried his eyes with his free hand, leaned against a building to catch his breath. It took a couple of minutes, and then Lalli came up to him, followed by Sigrun. Emil saw how her eyes fell on the hand he held over his stomach.
"Sorry, forgot you haven't gotten used to moving around again. I'll take it easier, we're not in much of a hurry anyway."
Emil knew she was lying. The building they were heading to lay quite a bit away from the tank and they'd have to hurry if they wanted to be back before nightfall. He swallowed, pushed himself away from the wall.
"All rested up, don't worry about me."
She hit him lightly in the back and started walking again, still pretty quickly, but nowhere near running speed. Lalli went ahead, disappeared from time to time, but came back just as Emil started panicking and thinking something had happened to him. Sigrun came with encouraging words from time to time, and Emil called back to her. When they reached the destination Sigrun stopped, looked at the building.
"This is not a crap building", she said while hitting the wall a little. "Just look how sturdy it is!"
"But... Tuuri said there was no trolls here."
"Yeah, but we should be careful anyway. Let's all stick together, in case we stumble over something. You'll just blow the building up if I leave you alone!"
Emil took hold of Lalli's hand as they made their way inside. The sun was already at zenit and they wouldn't be able to stay for long if they wanted to be back before sunset. Sigrun led the way through the building, stopping whenever she passed a door in order to see so there wasn't anything on the other side. Emil kept an eye on Lalli at all times, taking care to notice any little sign that the mage was sensing something.
Lalli stopped. Emil almost made him fall since he continued walking before he noticed it.
"Uhm... Sigrun..."
Lalli looked around, Emil wasn't sure what the Finn was looking for, so he reached for his knife. Lalli stopped him, shook his head. Emil watched in surprise as the other turned around to head away and grabbed him.
"We're sticking together", he whispered.
Lalli tried to break free, but Emil was stronger than the Finn. Lalli patted him on the head.
"Tulen pian takaisin."
Lalli managed to get out of Emil's grip and darted away, Emil and Sigrun both looked down the stairs where he disappeared. Sigrun laid a hand on Emil's back and turned him around.
"Don't worry, little viking, he always comes back."
"Yeah..." Emil didn't try to protest against Sigrun pushing him onwards. "I just... don't want anything to happen to him."
"He always comes back okay. Now come on, we don't have much time."
He looked out a window they passed, the sun had started creeping closer to the horizon again, and he followed Sigrun, tried to hurry his steps. They found the books inside a room on the top floor of the building. Part of the roof had already fallen in, and the rest looked like it would fall at any minute. They walked carefully over the floor, stayed as close to the walls as they could.
The bookcases had glas doors, locked of course, that protected the books, and Sigrun drew her knife and pried the bookcases opened. They put the bags on the floor and started packing the books in silence.
"It's much easier with you than with Mikkel", Sigrun whispered when they were almost done. "He always wanted to grab the correctest books, we lost so much time on that."
Emil looked through the hole in the roof. Clouds was gathering in the sky and he hurried to close the full bags up.
"Sigrun, it's gonna start raining."
She looked up as well, nodded and threw some more books into the bag, before closing it up and grabbing all of them except one. Emil grabbed the last one, hung it over his shoulder and they started walking back the same way. The floor creeked as Emil walked on it. He stopped moving, Sigrun looked at him. He took a step and the floor creeked again. The two vikings exchanged glances.
So much for easy, Emil thought. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and hurried his steps. The floor gave way. He let go of the bag, tried stretching his hands out on the sides, momentarily forgetting that one was tied up. His right arm realigned his fall and he hit his head on the other side off the hole. He managed to grab a plank as he slid downwards, helplessly dangling his feet in the air, unable to pull himself up. The fall was only two and a half meter, but that would still hurt and he couldn't be sure the lower floor would hold when he came crashing down.
His fingers started to slip. Sigrun grabbed around his wrist, made an attempt to pull him up, but the floor swayed beneath her.
"Don't. Worry."
Emil pulled at the bandages that tied his arm up, managed to break them, and stretched his other hand up. Sigrun grabbed it, he clenched his teeth and she pulled him up, moving backwards as much as possible to prevent the floor from breaking and throwing both of them one floor down. One inch at the time. Emil couldn't do anything to help, his arms were shaking and as Sigrun pulled him over the edge he heard a crack in his shoulder, bit down not to scream. His wounds opened up when his stomach and his legs went over the edge and Sigrun let go of his arm, grabbed him by the collar instead.
Both laid down on the floor when Emil was finally up again, both breathing heavily. Emil tried to get up, but felt his collarbone move around when he moved so he stayed down. He looked at Sigrun.
"You... you won't tell Mikkel, will you?"
"I should", she took a deep breath, "but we've already been out of action for so long."
She settled up and Emil carefully rolled over on his back. He saw Sigrun's nose scrunch up and closed his eyes.
"...oh no?"
"Totally oh no."
He felt her hands under his back and she helped him settle up. He held his arm in place, so the bone wouldn't move around to much, and went pale when he saw his coat getting redder. Sigrun pulled at his coat.
"Come on, we're getting out of here before something more happens."
Emil nodded, forced his eyes away from the coat, and Sigrun helped him to his feet. She grabbed the two bags she had thrown away when she dove after Emil, almost waiting for Emil to make a move to take one, but he didn't.
"Make sure not to faint."
"Trying."
"Tell me about Mora."
Emil looked at Sigrun's back as she walked infront of him, not sure where to begin.
"It's... it's pretty awesome there. Everyone feels safe, so they're relaxed, I mean, of course the occassional theft and stuff, but since everyone knows someone who knows someone most crimes are solved quickly."
"You have cars there?"
"Some, but most people travel with horse and carriage or on foot. Only the rich people can afford cars. My family used to have one."
"Used to? What happened?"
"Well... I'm not really sure."
Emil looked away.
"I didn't really care much about my family's business, as long as we were still rich. There wasn't any need to."
Lalli appeared behind a corner, carrying the bag Emil had dropped as well as the bandage he broke free from. Sigrun hit the scout in the back and took the items from him, proceeding to tie Emil's arm into place as well as she could.
"So horses, eh? There was lots of horses in Mora?"
"Yeah", Emil got paler as she moved his arm into position. "We had some in the army as well, to carry our equipment when we where out cleansing."
"They ever kick you?"
"N-no", Emil got a bit distracted by Lalli patting his head. "One almost did, but only because it got scared by the explosions."
"I think that's good enough. So explosions?"
Emil nodded, tried to take one of the bags so they could continue walking, but Sigrun was quicker and grabbed all three.
"There wasn't a lot of explosions, we used flamethrowers mostly."
"Ah, yes, the cleansers' favorite equipment. Maybe we should put you on fire duty instead of Mikkel."
They started walking again, Sigrun taking the lead and Lalli and Emil following behind her. The sun was almost down and Emil walked as close to the captain as he could.
"Sigrun, are we gonna be alright?"
"Yeah, we just need to not make a lot of sounds. Think you can do it?"
Emil nodded. Lalli came up at his side, not uttering a word. Emil wasn't expecting an answer but still asked the scout where he had gone. Lalli opened his mouth, but closed it again, grabbing Emil as the Swede almost tripped on a loose rock. Emil blushed, tried to keep a closer eye on the ground, but it was getting darker every second.
Lalli tensed up. Emil noticed it first, stopped, and Sigrun stopped when she couldn't hear her companions' footsteps anymore.
"Is it a troll?" she whispered, momentarily forgetting Lalli only understood Finnish. Emil shook his head in answer, but shrugged, making pain shoot up from his shoulder and he closed his eyes, drew a shaky breath.
"It's... something else."
Lalli got down in a crouching position, ready to pounce if anything approached, and Sigrun followed his lead, putting the bags down. Emil also tried, wincing from pain and decided he might as well stay upright. He did grab one of his grenades instead. They stood silent for five minutes, no one dared to move. Neither Sigrun nor Emil heard anything, but Lalli held his focus towards one of the buildings they had passed. Then the scout got up again, said something in gibberish and started walking again. Emil and Sigrun looked at each other, Sigrun grabbed the bags and quickly hurried up to the scout. Emil looked towards the building Lalli had been focusing on. It must have been safe, since the Finn walked away from it, but Emil was certain he saw something move in one of the windows.
A shiver ran down Emil's spine and he turned around, took a tighter grip around the grenade, and hurried after Sigrun and Lalli. They walked slower than they had done on the way there, but Emil noticed that for every step he ended up further and further behind the other two. After about one hour of walking he stopped, closed his eyes. He just wanted to lay down and rest. A couple minutes couldn't hurt, could it? He knew it could.
He could no longer see Sigrun and Lalli in the darkness, they had gotten so far ahead. He took a few steps, and then his legs decided that they wouldn't carry him any longer. He fell to his knees, tried forcing himself to get up, but ended up falling over instead. He was conscious enough to twist so he didn't land on his shoulder, but once down he had run out of energy. He took a shaky breath and closed his eyes.
Lalli stopped, grabbed Sigrun's hand and pulled her back towards the direction they had just came from. She tried to break free and move on, but he refused to let her.
"Scout-boy, we have to get back before the trolls..."
She couldn't see Emil. He had been right behind her, but now he wasn't. Why hadn't the scout warned her earlier? She pulled the bags up to a better position, nodded to Lalli and followed him back. They ran for ten minutes until she spotted Emil laying on the ground.
"Shit."
She repeated the word over and over again as she dropped the bags to the ground and knelt beside her young viking's body, searching for a pulse. After a while she found it, noticed he was still breathing, and she let out a sigh of relief. She tried shaking him awake, but he only let out a quiet groan, and she pulled the bags off her shoulders.
"Think you can take them?"
Scoutboy didn't understand what she said, she knew that much, but fuzzy-head had said that he wasn't stupid. The mage tilted his head a little, then grabbed the bags. Sigrun nodded and not so carefully pulled Emil up on her back.
"Alright, we have to hurry now. You quick enough to keep up?"
Sigrun had run with team mates on her back before, it wouldn't be any trouble, but she was unsure about the Finn. The stick figure looked at her, his eyes filled with determination, and she nodded, started running. Lalli kept up easily. From time to time she could hear Emil taking a sharp breath, but most of the time the only thing she could hear was her own steps against the stone hard ground. Scout-boy barely made any sound as he moved over the ground and she wasn't sure he was keeping up with her, but she couldn't stay to find out.
Scout-boy passed her after a while, ran ahead. She could see him dropping the bags before disappearing among the trees. A single gunshot was heard, and when she got to where he left the books he came back, took them again. They continued running. The moon was rising above the horizon, giving them some light, but far from enough to see well. Sigrun almost tripped over a branch that had fallen down from a tree, but managed to keep her balance.
Sigrun almost ran into the mage as he stopped just around a car. His eyes was glowing, he looked a little lost.
"Meitä seurataan."
She had no clue what he had said. He dropped the bags.
"Mene edeltä, tulen perässä."
She still couldn't understand him. She made a move to take the bags incase they were too heavy for him, but he stopped her, gestured towards the tank. They were only around 500 meters from it. Sigrun shook her head.
"I don't understand you."
He pushed her in the direction of the tank. Tried to. Sigrun didn't move.
"Ne tulevat."
He turned around, left. Sigrun tried picking up the bags, but almost dropped Emil. She bit her lip, decided to take Emil to the tank and then go back for the books. She'd have to tell fuzzy-head her cousin had gone nuts. She moved Emil a little to get a better grip of him and felt him slowly waking up.
"We're almost at the tank, stay still."
"nn..."
She took a deep breath, then started running again. Came to the tank and knocked on the door. She heard Mikkel moving around in there, saying something to Tuuri and Reynir. It seemed to take forever until he opened the door, but she was sure it hadn't even been a minute.
"Where is Lalli?"
"I don't know. Here, take Emil!"
She turned around, started dropping Emil off. The young viking made a few painful sounds, and Mikkel caught him, carried him inside the tank. Sigrun left again, before Mikkel could stop her.
"nn..."
Mikkel looked at the young man in his arms. His clothes was bloody and his arm was clearly missaligned.
"Do not come out of there!" he called for Tuuri and Reynir, who he had ushered inside the bedroom chamber. He put the Swede on the floor, leaned against the wall, and took off his clothes, being careful not to cause him any further harm.
"Are you awake?"
The Swede opened his eyes, but closed them again, leaned his head against the wall, and then let it fall towards his chest. Mikkel pulled down the first aid-kit from the shelf, started cleaning the Swede, drying off as much of the blood as possible.
"It is not as bad as it looked at least", he said after a while, hoping to cheer the Swede up a little. "You have torn your old wounds a little, but it is not... There was only a lot of blood, but outside of that I think you are alright."
A little was perhaps an understatement, but Mikkel had been relieved to find that it was not as bad as when he saw the wounds the first time.
"Since it is old wounds I am still unable to stitch them up, eventhough that would have helped with the healing."
Emil took a sharp breath again. Mikkel was not sure what that meant. He pulled out some bandages, started dressing the wounds. Emil did not make any sounds outside of an occassional quiet groan, but mostly the young boy seemed occupied with just breathing. Lalli and Sigrun came back as he put the finishing touches on the bandages and he looked at them, asked for an explanation. Sigrun shrugged.
"Don't look at me, I don't know anything."
Lalli glared at her, but didn't say anything. Mikkel shook his head, decided that he would ask for clarification later, and then pressed around Emil's collarbone again.
"...Sigrun, did you break him again? Was it a trollattack?"
He pressed a little harder by mistake and Emil let out a yelp, flinched, and fainted. Mikkel pulled his hands back.
"I apologise, I did not mean to do that."
He left Emil alone, looked at the other two. Ordered them to get out of the clothes and throw them outside, so he could take care of them in the morning. Lalli did not understand, he could see it as the Finn did not make any movement to follow the order, but Sigrun helped him get out of the clothes quicker than Mikkel would have been able to and then threw both hers, Lalli's and Emil's clothes out through the door.
"How is he, anyway?"
Mikkel shook his head.
"I can not say for certain. He seem to be in a pretty bad condition, but it might get better after a night's rest."
"So we'll be able to head out again tomorrow?"
"I would advice against it, but... I will leave it to him in the morning."
Emil opened his eyes again, lifted his head and looked at Sigrun.
"...sorry."
Mikkel heard his breaths being sharp and jagged and leaned down to examine the Swede a little closer. He carefully moved the Swedes arm, placing it in the young man's lap, pressed gently over the collar bone again.
"Can you take a deep breath?"
Emil shook his head. Mikkel felt something sharp under Emil's skin and moved back.
"...The collarbone has moved out of position."
"And that means...?" Sigrun asked, leaning down to look at her young viking.
"It means his lung can have been punctured. I do not think it has, but the risk is still there. He needs surgery."
"You'll fix him, right?"
Mikkel's face grew a bit pale. He had amputated, sure, but a surgery was a different thing, he had not assisted in any surgeries before. Sigrun laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Mikkel, I believe in you. I'm sure you'll have him up and running again in no time!"
Emil looked at them, and Sigrun got down on her knees to be at the same level as him.
"You understand what's happening?" Emil nodded. "Mikkel have to cut you open over the bone, realign the bones and then stitch you up again. If he don't... You risk destroying your lung."
"Just... just do it..."
Sigrun got up again, patted Mikkel on the back.
"He's all yours. We're heading to bed. Come on, scoutboy."
She attempted to pull Lalli into the bedchamber, but he pulled free of her grip and settled down on the chair, looking at Emil and Mikkel. Sigrun let out a sigh.
"Yeah, sure, whatever. You're coming along in the morning anyway!"
Tuuri tried sneaking past her when she opened the door, put she stopped her, pulled her back inside.
"Later, fuzzy-head. It's sleeping time and they're going to do gross things I'm sure your brother don't want you to witness."
Mikkel got up from the floor.
"Sigrun, hand me one of the clean blankets, will you?"
Sigrun smiled, pulled down one of the blankets from her bed and gave it to Mikkel before closing the door. She was sure the Dane would fix her viking up.

Mikkel could not sleep that night. He had patched Emil up as well as he could and had placed himself closest to the Swede incase anything happened during the night. Sometime during the night Lalli got up, probably tired of being squeezed between Mikkel and Reynir, and laid down under Emil's bed. Mikkel had wanted to stop him, but decided to let it be when he saw Emil's hand drop down, almost grabbing Lalli's but not doing it.
The Swede was out. Maybe the drugs still kept him asleep, maybe the drugs had worn off and the Swede continued sleeping because he needed it. Mikkel could not say for certain. He was curious about what had happened, but during the surgery he decided that he did not want to find out. Sigrun had seemed like she was not willing to tell him anyway.
Mikkel closed his eyes, tried to focus on breathing slowly and falling asleep, but each tiny movement or tiny sound from Emil pulled him back into the room. He knew it was because he was uncertain about how successfull the surgery had been. What if, instead of making the younger crewmember well he had made it even worse? Mikkel shook his head, rolled over on his back. With Lalli under the bed there was room for him to lay the way he prefered.
Around three in the morning Emil woke up. Mikkel noticed it and quickly settled up in order to hold Emil down if he needed to, but Emil only opened his eyes and looked around.
"How are you feeling?" Mikkel asked quietly when the other finally focused on him.
Emil closed his eyes, but opened them again, shook his head a little but stopped moving again. Mikkel was certain the other would not be able to move his shoulder, but of course other movements may still be painful for him.
"Are you feeling tired?"
A slow nod and Mikkel pulled the blankets higher over Emil.
"You should get some more rest. It is not yet morning and Sigrun would like you to accompany her again. I told her you would decide for yourself in the morning."
"I know", Emil's voice was strained, "I heard you."
Emil lifted his hand from the floor, pulled it through his hair and closed his eyes, the hand falling down to the floor again. Then he chuckled.
"I'm going to look horrible when I get home... if it continues like this."
Mikkel also chuckled, settled down on his mattress again.
"Yeah. At least a broken collarbone will not give you cancer."
"...not funny."
But the Swede smiled slightly. Mikkel was just about to say something more when a pillow hit him in the face.
"We're trying to sleep here."
"My apologies, Sigrun, we will not partake in any more conversation."
"Mrm."
She turned around and fell asleep again. Mikkel looked at Emil for a while, waited for the Swede to fall asleep as well before he laid down again. He closed his eyes, tried to fall asleep, but was still unsuccessful in his attempts. Two hours later he decided that there was no use staying in bed. He folded his blanket and put the pillow neatly over it before walking outside. Emil's, Sigrun's and Lalli's clothes laid in a pile just outside the door and he almost tripped over them, but managed to stay upright. He shook his head, grabbed the clothes and threw them in one of the washtubs, filling it with water and started washing the clothes.
It took almost an hour to wash the clothes and as he was hanging them to dry Sigrun came out of the tank, yawning and scratching herself on her behind. She waved towards him when she spotted him and he nodded towards her, finished hanging the laundry and then he took one step back to see so everything hung as it should. He nodded again, satisfied with his accomplishment and went up to Sigrun.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Except for when you woke me up, yeah."
"It was not my intention to wake anyone up", Mikkel answered. "I just needed to see how Emil was doing."
Sigrun looked at him.
"You got any sleep, big guy?"
Mikkel did not answer, instead he went inside the tank, retrieved the portable stove and fired it up. Sigrun settled down in the door opening, he could feel her watching as he prepared breakfast. Tuuri and Reynir joined shortly after and Mikkel was just about to ask Emil if he wanted some breakfast when the Swede came, followed by Lalli. He was still pale, Mikkel noted, but his breathing was almost normal again. Sigrun got up from the door opening, gestured for Emil to take her place.
"We're heading out today?" he asked as he settled down and Mikkel saw Sigrun beaming with pride in the corner of his eye. Mikkel pulled one hand beneath his back and crossed his fingers as Sigrun looked towards the sky, seemingly considering her options.
"Sorry, little viking, not today."
Mikkel relaxed, stirred the stew a little more and then poured it into bowls, giving each crew member one each. Emil turned his gaze downwards after accepting it and Mikkel noticed how his shoulder slouched.
"Emil?"
"I'm just..." he tried to laugh. "I'm just slowing us down, am I?"
Mikkel was about to say something, but before he figured out what Sigrun interrupted him again.
"Nah, I was thinking we should drive closer to the city again. We were awfully far from yesterday's target anyway. Fuzzy-head, you up for some driving?"
"Ah, y-yes. Yes I am!"
"Good, then it's decided! We're driving closer so we'll get there faster tomorrow. Sounds good, city boy?"
Emil nodded and Mikkel looked towards Sigrun, smiled. He often questioned her leadership and he was certain there were times when he would make a better leader for the group and that his advice would be of use for them if only Sigrun listened, but then there were times like this when Sigrun lifted everyone's spirit simply by acting like Sigrun. They finished breakfast, Mikkel quickly gathered the bowls and washed them, collected the laundry and hung it up inside the tank instead. Tuuri took the driver's seat with Sigrun settling down on the passenger seat and Reynir behind them. Emil and Lalli laid down in the bedroom again, and Mikkel went in there as well.
"How are you feeling today, Emil? I want the truth."
"...Sore. I'm sorry I got hurt again."
"Maybe it was I who did wrong in agreeing that you could go out with Sigrun."
Emil did not answer. Lalli glared at Mikkel from under the bed and Mikkel leaned down.
"Are you well, Lalli? Your clothes were also bloody."
"Was probably a beast or something", Emil interjected, knowing the Finn wouldn't answer anyway. "He went his own marry way for some reason."
"Hm, yes, he does that." Mikkel got up again. "I will leave you two to get some rest. Call if there is anything you need."
Emil nodded and Mikkel went back outside, settled down by the desk and pulling up a couple of books. Even if they were driving he could try to get some work done. About five minutes after starting working he fell asleep over the desk.

They drove for almost an hour. Sigrun cheerfully pointed on buildings they passed, telling Tuuri about if they were crap building and which ones were most likely to contain trolls.
"Here's a good spot!" she called when they came onto what used to be a parking lot. "Lots of ways out, open space so we see anything closing in."
Tuuri parked the car, leaned over the steering wheel and looked at the abandoned cars. The engineer in her was itching to go out and look for spare parts in case their vehicle broke down, but she was certain she wouldn't be allowed. Sigrun got up from the chair, noticed the big guy asleep over the desk and picked up a blanket from the bedroom and put it over him. The second time she went into the bedroom Emil had settled up and was looking at her.
"Are we there already?"
Sigrun nodded.
"Feel like heading out? There is still sunlight so we should be able to get some books."
Emil nodded and got up from the bed, grabbing his shirt and stopped when he realised he couldn't move his arm. His cheek got red and he turned to Sigrun, opened his mouth to say something about it, the blushing intensifying, and he turned around again. He was a cleanser, he could fix this himself. Sigrun said something to Lalli, then called for Tuuri, while Emil threw the coat over his shoulders. He could do without the shirt, it was only for a short while anyway.
"Are you heading out?"
Mikkel's voice. Emil stopped, then nodded. Tuuri said something in gibberish to Lalli and the Finn crawled out from under Tuuri's bed. Mikkel turned Emil around and frowned a little, but didn't say anything and simply helped the Swede close the coat.
"It is a good thing that it is a bit too large for you."
Emil nodded again, grabbed his gun and with some help from Mikkel he managed to place it correctly on his back.
"Alright, the two of you ready?"
Emil straightened up at Sigruns words and grabbed Lalli's hand, dragging him outside. Tuuri waved after them as Sigrun led them out among the cars, and into the building closest to the tank. Lalli stayed close to the other two, from time to time glaring at Sigrun, who was talking a bit to much. Tuuri had asked him to look after them, and he would do so.
The messy person exchanged words with him from time to time, and he found he had started to understand a few of them. He still couldn't understand the crazy lady though. She was gesturing wildly, leading the way without checking if it was free of trolls beforehand. A sudden impulse to berate her came over him, but he bit it down, knowing she wouldn't understand his warnings. He couldn't sense any trolls anyway, so there really wasn't anything to berate her for.
Lalli grabbed the crazy lady just as she was about to open one of the doors. She was stronger than him, but stopped the moment his hand touched her arm. Lalli motioned for them to back away and they did so, looking curiously at him. He didn't care, there was something in that room he didn't like.
"Outoja henkiä." he explained, fully aware that they wouldn't understand him.
The crazy lady looked towards Emil, probably looking for a translation, but the messy person simply shrugged, said something in his own gibberish language and then waited for Lalli to make a move. Lalli looked around, tried to determine where it would be safe to continue, and after a couple of minutes he led them onwards, past the room with the weird spirits.
Lalli took care to walk where the floor was the strongest, listening closely to the sounds it made as he passed over it. He did not want another accident like in the last place they had been.

Mikkel leaned back in the chair. Silence; Tuuri and Reynir busy with the tasks he had given them, Emil, Lalli and Sigrun out to find books and Derpkitty sleeping on Emil's pillow. He yawned, closed his eyes. Hoped this silence would not end as terrible as the last one. He felt sleep grab him and he settled up again. He could not spend the day sleeping, that was not in his workdescription. He was not a night scout after all.
He got up from the chair, stretched a little. Looked out through the window. The sun was high, but clouds had started gathering on the sky. Maybe they would have another snowstorm during the night. He yawned again, the sleepless night catching up to him, and he went to see how Tuuri and Reynir were doing. Tuuri smiled at him when he stopped by the desk.
"I'm soon done with this book. Which one do you want me to transcribe after this?"
"I am not sure, I will have to take a look at the books we have first."
He leaned over her shoulder, looked at her notes, and nodded.
"Good work, Tuuri, keep it up."
Reynir was in the bedroom, sweeping the floor, stopping from time to time to pet the kitty. Mikkel leaned against the doorframe, watched him work in silence. Silence was nice, although it currently meant that a certain crewmember risked getting hurt. He shook his head and went outside, leaned against the side of the tank. The cold air blew away a bit of his tiredness, but far from all of it, and he knew if he settled down inside again he would fall asleep. Instead he prepared the tank for camp, knowing they would stay there for at least a couple of days. The place was not the most optimal for a several day long camp, but as long as they did not awake any trolls they should find themself safe enough.
When the tank had been prepared with the tent and the poles, and a few tables where they could put any books the crew brought back, Mikkel pulled out the portable stove again. He was certain the rest would not be gone for long and therefore he might as well start dinner. He threw a quick glance at his watch before lightning the stove and filling the pot with water.
Food was done an hour later, but silence still laid over the camp. It had been nice while the sun was up, but now it was starting to set and Mikkel was starting to worry. He paced outside the tank, keeping an eye out towards the direction in which Emil, Sigrun and Lalli had dissappeared. Tuuri and Reynir came out to join him, both settling down in the door opening. They were talking quietly to each other, for which Mikkel was thankful. He was not sure about the amount of trolls around the camp.
"Oy, Mikkel!"
Sigrun. Mikkel let out a sigh and waved towards her, hurried away to meet her. She gave him one of the bags to carry and he accepted it, looked at them. They all seemed unharmed, eventhough the Swede was a bit paler than when he had left.
"Did everything go according to plan?" he asked and Sigrun nodded.
"Scout-boy stopped us from entering a couple of the room, but outside of that all was well. We found lots of books!"
She patted the two bags she had over her shoulders, Emil blushing a little at the gesture, and once they had reached the tank Sigrun and Mikkel placed the bags on one of the tables. Emil went up to Mikkel and helped him put the books up on the tables, so they could use the sunlight to decontaminate the books. With that done Mikkel decontaminated the trio and all of them settled down to eat.
When the dishes was done and everyone except Mikkel was gathered inside, Mikkel leaned against the side of the tank, looked at the sky. The voices of the rest of the crew could be heard through the door and he relaxed. He enjoyed silence, found it relaxing, a rare resource from where he came. Silence was almost never present in a family as large as his.
And since silence was so rare in his life, he found he could relax the most when everyone were gathered and there was no longer any silence.