Chapter 11: Next Thing On My List

Thank you to those who are now following my story. You don't know how happy I am. So, here's another chapter for you guys.


The next item on my imaginary list was something to store my food and supplies. So the next morning, I worked on getting that.

I got down on all fours, and grabbed my satchel from under my bed.

I placed it on my bed and opened it. I looked inside and found a couple of drawings, a comb made of bone, a spyglass, and a dagger. I placed the drawings inside my journal and shoved my journal in the satchel.

Now that I had that done, I needed to gather my actual supplies. I hid my satchel back under my bed and walked downstairs. Everyone was getting ready to eat breakfast. I sat down at my usual seat and avoided my father's and Heather's gazes.

I remembered what Heather told my last night and felt guilt tugging at my heart once again.

I tried to push away the feeling and pay attention to the bowl of hot porridge in front of me. I grabbed the spoon and gulped down small spoonfuls. Usually I would enjoy eating porridge, but today it was flavorless.

The meal was silent and it seemed to last hours. I continued eating, hoping it would end soon.

Once the long morning meal had finally ended, I walked out to the docks. I sat down at the edge, with my legs daggling over the water, and stared out at the distance.

The memory of last night came back, which made me wonder if it was a good idea to go out and try to find someone that might not even exist. Then I remembered about my debate against Amund, whether or not if 'the Dragon Conquerer' was a real person. I was deep in thought that I didn't hear someone come up behind me.

"Boo!" Amund yelled as he shook my shoulders.

"Ahh!" I shrieked. "Don't do that. You scared me."

"Duh. That was kind of the point." he smirked.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes as I stood up.

"Hey, look. Haldis and I are going off to explore a hidden cave, and we were wondering if you wanted to come along. Since you love exploring new places."

He was right about that. "Okay." I nodded. We walked up to the village, where Haldis was holding three axes and a torch, waiting for us.

"Here. You'll need this." she said a she handed us each an axe. "My father let me borrow these, so you better take care of them. Now come on, lets go." We attached the axes on our backs with some rope and followed Haldis throught the trees, until we came up to the side of a mountain. "I'll go first and then I'll hoist you up." She climbed up, making sure her footing was right. Once she got on the ledge, she looked back and shouted, "Who's next?"

I looked at Amund and he said, "You go first."

I nodded and started climbing. I climbed up exactly like Haldis. She held out a hand and hoisted me up. We waited for Amund to climb up and then hoisted him up as well. Haldis lead us to a cave that was hidden with vines. She pulled them aside and walked in. We followed in and looked around.

I saw several scorch marks and hopped there wasn't a dragon in here. As we continued into the cave, we saw fish bones scattered around. I was starting to get the feeling that there was a dragon living here.

We continued deeper into the cave and the number of fish bones scattered around increased. After a few minutes, we came across a sleeping Gronckle. We stopped dead in our tracks and stared at it.

"Let's kill it." whispered Amund. Haldis just nodded in agreement.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why? Well, let's see. Their kind kill us." Amund returned.

"Yea, but this one isn't. It's not bothering anyone."

"No, not yet at least. But once it wakes up, it'll fly to the village and attack."

"Yea, but-" I tried to argue.

"Let's just kill it, already." Haldis cut in. Haldis and Amund started walking towards the sleeping beast.

"No, don't." I said, after I rushed in front of them.

"And why not." asked Amund angrily.

"Because...um-"

"See, you don't even know why we shouldn't kill it. Why are you even defending it?" he asked.

They walked past me, and raised their axes. I had no idea why I was defending the sleeping beast. But in the back of my head, I just felt that I had to make sure it wouldn't get hurt. When they were about to strike, I threw a rock, I found on the floor, at the Gronckle. I hit it on the snout and woke up with a start.

The dragon was angry to have been woken up from its nap. Anger filled its eyes. It let out a roar and started flying towards us with its little wings. It shot fire at me, but luckily, I dodged it.

"Run!" yelled Haldis. We dashed out of the cave, as fast as our legs could carry us.

I was the first on out of the cave. The others came right behind me. We stood on the ledge, looking around for a quick way down. I spotted a long Pine Tree along the side of the mountain.

"Over here!" I shouted as I ran to the tree. The two teenager Vikings saw were I was heading and pushed past me.

'I helped them and they shove me to the side. Awesome.' I thought as Amund jumped onto the closest branch to us and helped Haldis climb on.

It was my turn, when the Gronckle finally flew out of the cave. It looked around to see when we were, and flew as quickly as its tiny wings could carry it. I reached out to grab Amund's hand. I stood as close to the edge and strained my arm, trying to reach them. I only managed to touch his fingers. But I couldn't grab his hand. I had to jump.

The cranky Gronckle was getting closer by the minute. I had to decide fast.

I took the risk and jumped, just as the Gronckle was going to reach me. I reached out to Amund and Haldis, but I didn't jump far enough.

My body crashed down, through the branches. Then my body crashed against a large branch and pain shot through my body. I gritted my teeth and let out a small moan of pain.

"Are you okay?" shouted Haldis, as I heard them make their way down quickly.

"Yea," I shouted as I struggled to lower myself to the floor. We gathered at the bottom of the tree and started walking home.

I tripped over my own feet every once in a while, but got up again. After a while of limping, we made it out to the beach. We stopped to rest for a while and then continued again.

After a while, I saw the cove where I hid my raft. My eyes widened and I hoped they wouldn't see it. I prayed to the gods, asking for their help. But they seemed to be punishing me because Amund walked up to the cove and peeked inside.

"Hey, come check this out." Haldis looked at each other and walked over to him. We all looked inside and saw my raft.

'Oh Thor, please help me.' I thought again.

"Cool. Wonder who's it is?" asked Amund.

"I dunno. But we should tell someone about this." suggested Haldis. The two Vikings started walking towards the village.

'Think, Erica. Do something to stall them.'

I let out a loud groan and collapsed on the sand. Haldis heard me and turned around.

"Erica!" she rushed to my side. "Are you alright?" she pushed my bangs out of my face with her thumb.

"Yea," I said weakly. I gave her a small smile.

She smiled back and called out to Amund. "Go get help. I'll stay here." He nodded and was about to run back.

"Wait! I mean I'll be fine. I just need to rest." I slowly got up, to show them I was alright.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Amund.

"Yes," I answered. It was nice to have friends like them, although I felt guilty I had to lie to them about pretending to faint just to keep them from ruining my plans. As we walked back to the village, Haldis and Amund talked about the possibilities of the raft being there.

"We should still tell someone about it." argued Haldis.

"We don't have to tell anyone. We just could keep it between us, three." Amund said sheepishly.

"But what if its someone, who is going to take siege over Rogand."

"I seriously don't think someone who's planning to take siege of an island would arrive on a raft."

"You never know." she shrugged.

"No, I think Amund's right Haldis. If someone is planning to take control of an island, they would come on a Viking ship with their troops. Not on a tiny raft."

"Alright. You two proved your point. But I still think we should tell someone."

"No, let's just keep it between us. Please." I begged like a little child.

"Okay, okay. We won't tell anyone." I gave her a smile, but in my mind, I was grinning like a fool. And doing cartwheels.

The sun was setting, when we reached the village. Amund and I handed the axes back to Haldis. She walked back to her house, while Amund walked me home.

When we reached my house, Amund asked, "Do you want to go back where we found the raft?"

"Nah, I'm tired after what today. Maybe tomorrow, okay."

"Okay." he said and turned around, walking towards his house.

"Hey," I called after him. "You better not sneak off to the cove without me. Promise?"

"I promise." I smiled as I watched him walk home. Then I leaned against the door and looked down. I felt so guilty for lying to my two closest friends. I thought about what happened today and remembered how I wasn't sure if I should continue with my little plan.

After a while of debating against myself, I decided to continue with my plans.

...

My mother was cooking supper, when I entered. "Hello, mum." I greeted.

"Hello sweetie. Where were you? You were gone most of the day."

"Sorry, I went exploring with Amund and Haldis."

"Amund and Haldis? Aren't they a lot older than you?"

"Mom, everybody's older than me."

"I suppose you're right about that." She chopped the vegetables, before she asked, "Erica, do you mind helping me with dinner?"

"No, I don't mind." I stood up and walked over to her. I started helping her by cooking fish. Every once in a awhile, I would sneak a fish or some bread. An hour passed and my mother left me alone, while she went out for some fresh air. I gather the food I hid and set it on the table.

In total, I had three smoked fish and several slices of bread. I also had two cups of water. I wrapped the bread in a handkerchief and put corks on my cups. I carried everything up to my bedroom and set it on my bed. I pulled my satchel from under my bed and fitted my supplies inside.

Everything was ready. Now just for the voyage.