A Son of Ice and Fire

Chapter 17: Divided we fall

Snotlout

My eyes rapidly darting between my father and my previously long-deceased brother, I slowly started stepping backwards to leave the room. Viggo released his grip on the girl and shoved her towards the bed. She had stumbled but landed in the arms of the man lying there. He was very similar in appearance to her, with the same long blonde hair. But apart from that, he had notably a lot more visible scars and patches of dried up blood all over his face. It was dark, but the candles illuminating the room were still fighting to keep the room from darkness. A small shape was hard to outline, but in the corner of the room, a short man was cowering, hands in front of his face and his elbows knocking against each other. The room was quiet, but then Viggo dragged the armoured man off the wall he had slouched against. The man was tall, with wide shoulders and dull brown eyes which looked defeated as his head started to hang forward. Viggo's dagger pinned to his throat as he pulled him back onto our side of the room.

"DAGLOUT, LET ME GO NOW, I ORDER YOU." Father yelled, struggling to break free as brother held him. Dag let out a soft chuckle before whispering into father's ear,

"Your orders mean nothing to me. Your threats mean nothing to me. You mean nothing to me." Daglout looked up to me and Viggo, "I told you to move, so get going. You both know who the first casualty will be if you try and cross me."

I winced at the sharp undertones in his voice. His glare was piercing, and his lip curled at one side into a grimace. The brother I knew had always been wild, but the man before me was almost rabid. I backed off a pace, then two, grabbing Viggo's arm and forcing him to retreat begrudgingly out of the room. As we backed off, Dagur advanced forward. The girl gave one last hug to what must be her brother, quickly collecting her sword and standing by Daglout's side. The six of us left the room, and managed to get to the other side of the ship before me, Viggo and his captive were ordered into the final door. The room was massive, with an enormous bed and fancy silks at one side, and a large desk hugging the wall to the other. Must be the captain's quarters. It was a large space, and only the quiet rippling of thee waves against the side of the boat prevented an absolute silence.

"DAGLOUT JORGENSON, I DEMAND YOU TO…" Dad started shouting.

"NO. NO. NO. NO. NO." Daglout interrupted. "I AM NO LONGER YOUR SON. MY NAME IS DAGUR OSWALDSON. YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME." He steadied himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before releasing his grip and shoving father across the room. Father turned back to face him and hissed. He ripped the axe out of my hand and held it to Dag's throat.

"YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD." Dad yelled, the axe drawing blood from his son's neck

Dagur held his arms out wide as a challenge, "COME ON THEN. The mighty. Spitelout. Jorgenson. Do it. DO IT. ARE YOU CAPABLE OF THAT? KILLING YOUR OWN BLOOD!"

"YOU HAVE BEEN DEAD TO ME FOR YEARS. WHY SHOULDN'T I?" I saw dad grit his teeth and pulled the axe back to behind his head, as if to ready for the swing. I watched on helplessly as dad grasped the handle of the axe more tightly. The long-haired blonde readied her sword, while glowering at me, as if to order me to intervene.

"DAD, STOP THIS MADNESS." I bellowed.

"MADNESS. MADNESS. MADNESS BOY. IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK THIS IS?" Father bellowed back, taking his eyes off of Dag for the first time in minutes and glaring at me with an angry scowl.

"Your dad cares for no-one but himself Snot." Dag answered softly, before I could muster a response. "has he tried to kill you as well yet brother?"

"No why would he? Are you saying?" Is Dag saying what I think he is saying. I turned to face dad, "did you actually do that to him? DAD? Did you try and kill him?"

"It wasn't like that son," dad grunted, lowering the axe to his side then dropping it. "He tried to kill me."

"Hahahahaha." Dag started to laugh. "There's a few things you need to know about daddy dearest over here little bro. I don't know what he told you about my 'death', but whatever it is, it isn't the truth." I leaned forward to listen, as he walked over and took his seat on top of the desk. I watched dad's eyes track him across the room, and even Viggo's eyes trailed him. "The castle was breached, and fires were raging all around. I saw you run off to your safe place, so I blocked the doors, so no-one could get through to you. You remember that our older brother, Vicelout, was in charge of the castle, he was Lord Jorgenson's oldest son after all. He found me after I got you and mother safe and we collected the remaining men that were left and went off to protect the castle in the final stand. We were fighting in the hall, and we got pushed back to one of the south stairwells. We couldn't hold out much longer anyway, but we heard a loud crack and the foundations above us collapsed. I was unconscious for hours, but as I woke I looked over and saw that our brother hadn't made it. A large chunk of stone had crushed his breastplate and I tried but I couldn't wake him. Then I felt a sharp pain and found my leg had been crushed by a large slab of rock, as well as the crushing in my chest from the weight of the rubble. I fought, but couldn't break free. As I stared up, I was starting to lose hope when I saw the figure of our good old father Spitelout Jorgenson charging in and ripping away the stone like some sort of crazed miner. But he wasn't even helping me. I watched him, I called out for him to help, but all he did was sit there hugging Vicelout's lifeless body. He was the only son your father cared about. I shouted to him that there was nothing he could do for our brother, but I needed his help. I laid there in pain. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to clear the rubble, but when I opened them he was gone. For hours I lay there waiting. And he NEVER came back. HE LEFT ME THERE TO DIE, Snot, just for the hope he could find you, and actually have an heir he could be proud of. In moving the rubble to get to your brother, he had dislodged the large rock trapping my leg. It took many more hours but eventually I managed to force myself free. I was bloody and coated in dust from the rubble, hobbling as my foot buckled further with every step. Then I ran. Ran from home. Ran from father. Ran from you, brother. I stole a boat and sailed off into the distance, thinking my entire family was dead." Dag's head dropped. "Or dead to me." He glared at father.

"Dag, I didn't know." I replied softly.

"That time he only left me to die, I haven't even told you of the times he went out of his way to rid the stain on his bloodline that is Daglout Jorgenson. Even when I had left him behind me, and found a new family, he found me again and took them from me." I could see the bitterness that had consumed him, and the rage that had wiped all the joy from his life. I used to love spending time with him. He was a lot older, but he always had time to take me on a crazy adventure and fill in when dad had failed me or let me down.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT, DAGLOUT?" Father yelled.

"DAGUR. My name is DAGUR. And what I want. What I want is to go home. But I can't do that with you in the way. You see this?" Dagur gestured to the initials 'SJ' on his arm. "Once you are dead I can cross your name off my list. You told me all my brothers were dead and that it was my fault. You ruined my life once, then you came after me and tore it apart a second time. What I want, 'father,' is to spill your blood all over this floor and make you suffer for all you have done."

Seeing him talk this way made me grimace. I knew father was never the same after that horrible night, but to go this far, I never thought he would ever be this cold. Father had a permanent scowl on his face now, his resentment for his eldest living son so strong his knuckles were glowing white, he had been clenching them that hard. The sweat was dipping off his brow, as the anger boiling within him started to show. He reached down to pick up the axe and Dagur unsheathed his sword, a slight smile sneaking across his lips. Viggo dropped the man he was holding, and shoved him against the wall, the man's armour clinking. Viggo coiled his hand around the handle of his sword and slotted his dagger back at his waist. This would become a bloodbath soon enough if I didn't stop this.

"STOP TH…" I started yelling, but was cut off by the loud crash and the sudden shaking of the boat and the loud echo of a horns sounding all around.

As we made our way above deck, still with weapons raised to each other. The loud screaming of the Ironborn sounded. Three ships, all filled with Jorgenson men. We all just stood there in shock as the horn sounded and the men prepared to jump onto our ship. It was only then that I felt the cold steel across my throat.

"I'm sorry brother. Forgive me." Dagur said softly, as he held his blade at my neck. "I can't let them hurt my friends, and they will all die in minutes if this becomes a battle. I won't hurt you, please don't make this difficult." He whispered in my ear.

"GET OFF HIM YOU COWARD!" father yelled.

"TELL YOUR MEN TO STEP DOWN. TELL THEM TO TURN THEIR SHIPS AND SAIL HOME." Dagur yelled. I felt his shaking hand steady, "You left me to die so that the Jorgenson name would live on with someone you deemed worthy. Do you really want to watch that same future crash and burn? DO YOU?"

Before I could blink, Viggo had managed to catch the girl unaware, as she was looking around in preparation of the men boarding. And once again she was at his mercy. Would this madness just end? I just want to go home and forget this ever happened. Dad had held his hand out to prevent the boarding of the ship from his men. He closed his eyes as he looked at me, then shook his head. He patted Viggo on the back, and then stepped back over a few of the corpses littering the deck.

"Viggo, fetch the girl. When my son wants her back, he knows where he'll have to come." Dad snarled.

"Father, please," I pleaded. Was he really about to leave me here?

"I'm sorry son. I thought I could rely on you. At least Viggo has proved he can handle himself. I knew I should never have brought you along." With that, father turned and climbed onto the side of the boat, and then jumped across over to one of the ships. Viggo started to follow, his sword pressed sharply in the girl's back.

"RUFF, NOOOOOO." A voice yelled from below, before his head emerged from the stairs and he collapsed onto the wooden deck. The girl's brother, even in his state, forced himself to his feet and up towards Viggo. "Let her go." Viggo's mask was sinister, and yet he didn't intimidate the young man enough to make him retreat. Viggo seemed to freeze for a minute, but the laugh that followed was spine-chilling.

"Don't you worry about her, she'll have a good time with us." Viggo sniggered. He guided her up to the edge, as she looked hopefully back towards us. Then with an almighty push, he shoved her over and onto the other ship. There was a moment's silence, before we heard her landing with a loud crash as she hit the deck.

Her brother looked helplessly across at Dagur, and I could feel his heart pounding against me as he dropped the knife from my neck and collapsed to the floor. I might have been able to run, to jump into the water and swim back to father, but then she would die. I didn't know what to do, as the boats headed further and further away. Father had made his choice, now I had to make mine. The lady's brother was crying, shouting that it was his fault. Dagur just looked shocked, almost traumatized. It was my fault she was gone. All my brother had left was aboard this ship, and part of that was now taken. Taken by Viggo. I knelt down by him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll get her back, brother, we'll get her back…"