Finally, after a hard path of blood and sacrifice, a force of the Divine Pyre had surrendered the forge.

Herleif leaned up against a cart that had been brought over to transport their new prisoners back to the ships at Eitrivatnen, and watched as the Lion Flame led the newly rescued workers out of the mine. They were all covered in dark dust, haggard looking and wary of everyone around. All of them were men, old and young, bent-backed and slow-moving after months of hard labor.

The group of women already liberated by Ragna and Skuld were there to greet them though as they stepped out into the daylight, giving up a great cry of relief to see their friends and loved ones alive. Whatever stony faced resilience the men tried to hold onto quickly melted away once they saw the wives and daughters they had been separated from, rushing forward to meet them as the Lion Flame stood guard over their reunion. Herleif's warriors were busy getting the thralls ready for travel, along with any food, weapons or meager treasure they were able to get their hands on as the fortress was searched from top to bottom. When not rejoicing in their freedom from their fanatical oppressors, the villagers of Cinder Mill looked about and eyed the Vikings warily, forever suspicious of these northern monsters that they had been taught to hate and fear for generations.

Herleif watched as one big man with a thick gray beard and strong arms embraced two women, looking to be his wife and daughter, the latter of which strangely held a Peacekeeper's sword and dagger in her hands. The big man caught him looking and scowled angrily, moving himself around his family so they were somehow better protected from this heathen Jarl behind his bulk.

Herleif simply smiled and gave a wave, amused at how the big man scowled at him even harder.

"Quite the ungrateful lot," he chuckled to Skuld who stood with him, and of course said nothing. "I suppose they are a still a bit shaken. Maybe they will warm to us by the time we get all the heads stuck up on the wall?" he laughed.

She looked at him, blinking once with those vibrant eyes that seemed to always look through him and into into soul, and uttered a single word. "Chaldeon."

Herleif stared back at her for a moment, blinked, then shot up from the side of the cart. "Goat shit! I nearly forgot! Come, we must find Gunnar and that blasted Conqueror and see what has become of them."

"Jarl Herleif!" called out someone from the mine, and Herleif turned to see Marcelo coming towards them at a quick pace, waving his hand for their attention. "Jarl Herleif! Lady Judith wishes to see you in the mine!"

Herleif gave an agitated groan, shoulders sagging. "It never ends with this woman," he muttered to Skuld, who simply shrugged before he called back to Marcelo. "Can it wait?"

Marcelo shook his head. "We have found something you will want to see!"

Unsure of just how urgent this little mystery needed to be dealt with, Herleif bid Skuld to go after his brother and find out what had become of Vincent Chaldeon while he followed Marcelo into the tunnel. The path quickly grew dark as they made their way further into the mountainside, and when they did come upon a Lion Flame Knight holding a torch for some light, they was standing far and clear from where Judith actually was. She stood alone next to a small table that her helmet rested on, examining a crate stacked high with what looked to be small orbs, and when she noticed Marcelo and Herleif approaching she tossed one to him.

"Catch it, or we all might die here," she said with a smile.

Herleif wasn't laughing as he nearly fumbled the orb, finding that it was actually a clay jar as it bounced between his hands before finally catching it. "Frigga's tits, woman. What is it?" He turned it over, examining its smooth surface. It had a small opening at the top that was stuck with a cork and sealed tight with something sticky. The cork had a single dark, coarse string coming from the top of it, coming through it he realized, like a fuse. He brought it close and took a sniff, his nose overwhelmed by the powerful odor of sulfur. "Black powder. Is this a bomb?" he asked in surprise. Turning it over again he saw in the flickering light Wu Lin letters on the orbs smooth surface made in yellow paint.

"Another weapon, or tool in this case. Courtesy of our newest arrival to Heathmoor by the look of it," Judith said, picking up another bomb and examining it herself.

"You mad tin wench," Herleif chuckled despite himself, still turning the bomb he held over in his hands. "You could have truly killed us all tossing me this thing."

Judith shrugged. "I thought it was funny," she said, not noticing the way that Marcelo stiffened up nearby. "I wonder if they were making these here at the forge, or where they got the powder from?"

"Or what they were using them for?" Herleif added.

"On that I have a hunch," Judith bid the Knight with the torch to come closer, while still keeping clear of the crate stacked full of bombs, and had them shine their light up into the tunnel beyond.

Herleif looked up, finding only a solid wall of stone not far in front of him. "This looks to be as far as they got," he said, staring open-mouthed as he looked at the gouged surfaces of scarred rock. "Look, you can see where they have already dug out some of the ore from this vein. This mountain must be full of iron used for the forge."

"Not dug," Judith corrected, holding up the bomb in her hand. "Blasted."

Herleif frowned in puzzlement. "I will admit, our fire flasks would never be able to do something such as this. And not even the bombs you Knights use are powerful enough to blast away enough rock to dig a mine. What makes you think that these are any different?" he questioned.

Judith placed the bomb she was holding back in the crate with the others. "The weapon that the Pyre used on their ships as we sailed across Lake Eitrivatnen was incredibly powerful, the likes of which I have never seen. The few that we found still docked at the harbor were marked with Wu Lin script similar to this. Whatever craft the Pyre have stolen from the Wu Lin to make these weapons, it is better than our own. Even Erik had his men scouring the city trying to find any trace of its origin, but as far as I know he found nothing."

Herleif's jaw tightened as he remembered Erik's warriors marching all over Eitrivatnen, searching every building without pause. Searching for something he perhaps had no intention of sharing. "Is that what he was looking for?" he growled in realization. "That greedy bastard."

"Were you not aware?" Judith asked in surprise.

At first Herleif's gut instinct was to say that he did know and not look like a fool in front of Judith. But he realized his first remark gave away his ignorance completely and he would be a fool anyway if he tried to deny it now. "No. He did not deign to share this news with me. How did you come to know of this?"

"Erik interrogated me on the matter, of course. As if I am privy to every secret meeting and scheme that goes on in the whole of Ashfeld simply because I am a Knight. But sadly I am in the dark on this just as much as you are," she said.

"Are you sure?"

Judith paused and looked at him for a moment, eyes narrowing. "If I had known anything about the Pyre's weapon at all, I would have shared it before we all sailed across that damn lake together."

Herleif had to admit that logic was sound, but there was still something in the back of his mind that made him question why no one seemed to know where these weapons had come from. "Hmm. We should interrogate the prisoners, see if they know anything." He turned the bomb around in his hand once more, feeling the weight as he gave it a leisurely toss, making Marcelo flinch before he caught it. "Wu Lin magic. What dark seiðr have they brought to our lands?"

"It is simply alchemy. Anyone can learn it with teaching and practice," Judith said.

"All the more reason to fear it," he retorted. "So what do we do with these now? Light a few and sabotage the forge?

Judith nodded, knowing that leaving the forge behind in once piece would do them no favors if someone else came to claim it after them. "That, and perhaps take a few with use. They might come in handy at the Walled City."

"Is that wise?" interjected Marcelo, offering up his opinion that no one asked for. "It could be dangerous to transport them. There is no telling what kind of damage they might do if something goes wrong."

"Oh come now Marcelo. Where is your sense of adventure?" Judith smiled. "It is impossible to get anywhere in life without a little risk."

Herleif shook his head and laughed. "I feel that perhaps a little test is in order." he grinned, tossing the bomb he held back to Judith. "What do you say? Shall we see for ourselves how much fire it takes to destroy stone?"

Judith nodded as she caught the bomb, the clay orb making a loud clink against her metal gauntlet that echoed down the tunnel. Marcelo openly winced at the sound. "Would you two please stop doing that?" he begged.

Once back outside of the tunnel the big bearded villager was able to confirm for them that they had in fact been using the small Wu Lin bombs to blast further into the mountain for ore, but he could say nothing of where the bombs came from. Herleif suggested that he be the one to light a bomb for the test, but the man outright refused, claiming that the bombs could be unpredictable, and like to blow up as soon as fire touched the fuse rather than burn slowly with enough time for escape. Apparently a number of villagers had been lost in such incidents, and Judith would not allow Herleif to berate the man into doing it anyway.

They had tried to force one of the new thralls to do it next, threatening to beat or kill the lot of them if they refused. In the end a Pyre Conqueror had volunteered, but ultimately turned against them as he tried to run at his captors with the bomb once he was given a torch to light it with. Luckily three quick arrows dealt with him before he could light the fuse, but Herleif regarded this as his worst idea of the day and opted not to try again with another thrall.

Eventually, Ragnar was called upon as the only one brave enough, or foolish enough in Marcelo's opinion, to go into the tunnel and light a bomb himself. To his credit, Ragnar was more than willing to take on this dangerous task despite his vibrant and often overbearing zeal for life's many pleasures.

Crates, barrels and carts had all been brought and situated to create a barrier to hide behind far enough from the mine's entrance. Or at least it was thought that they were far enough away. There were some who had their doubts.

"This is insane." Marcelo muttered as they all watched Ragnar disappear into the mine with a single bomb, the light of his torch lingering until it too was swallowed up by the darkness. "The man is going to get himself killed."

"Lucky bastard." Ragna frowned as she peered over the crate she and Helge stood behind. It was full of sharp weapons that they said had been 'rescued' from the forge's keep, and as much as Marcelo told them it was a bad idea to have such a thing sitting idle next to the blast zone, they simply refused to let it be taken out of sight. "What a way to go to Valhalla, swallowed up in fire. I'm fucking jealous if I'm being honest." Helge snickered as she stood just in front of her, having to stand on her tip toes and pull herself up by the crates edge to see over it.

"Surely you do not mean such a thing?" Marcelo said aghast. "This is your brother's life on the line."

Ragna sniffed, spat something onto the ground and shrugged. "Eh, we all have our time."

Marcelo shook his head and touched his hand to his head, shoulders and chest in the shape of a cross. "Well I for one will pray for his safe return, even if no one else will."

"Why? Upset that he didn't leave you with a parting kiss?" Ragna grinned, and Helge puckered her lips and made an obnoxious kissing sound in his direction.

"I have not the slightest idea what you mean." Marcelo gaffed, but even with his helmet on the heat from his blushing cheeks could practically be felt through the metal. "I am merely concerned for a friend. One who I have no qualms showing open concern for in this frightful and frankly ill-conceived endeavor."

Ragna gave a shake of her head as she smiled, wrapping her arms around Helge's shoulders and peering back towards the tunnel. "So you say, pretty man. So you say." Marcelo glanced over at her only to lock eyes with Helge instead, who winked and slowly ran her tongue along her bare teeth as she smiled. He promptly looked back to the tunnel as well and did not address them again.

Herleif watched this all happen with a growing sense of annoyance and disbelief, then looked to Judith beside him. "Is it like raising children for you as well?"

"All the time," Judith answered without taking her gaze away from the tunnel.

He shook his head and went back to waiting for any sign of Ragnar rushing out of the tunnel, but the sound of footsteps from behind him caught his attention. Turning about he found Skuld walking up with Gunnar, Coal and Priscilla trailing behind. It wasn't until that moment that Herleif realized he had given no thought to the Peacekeeper and her whereabouts during the battle, and immediately felt a growing sense of unease to find her with his brother now. Wherever this woman went, things just seemed to get more complicated.

"What of Chaldeon?" he called out to Gunnar, not seeing the golden armored Lawbringer anywhere, which only served to unsettle him even more. Gunnar hung his head as he stepped up, licked his lips and looked about at Herleif, Judith, Skuld and everyone else who was around. That look alone was enough to turn Herleif's heart to ice.

"He's dead," Gunnar said, dropping the news between them like a heavy stone.

Silence fell between them. Even though the words had just been said, there was a part of Herleif that didn't want to believe them. "Dead?" he said in a restrained choke. "What do you mean dead? How? Why? What happened?"

"There was a fight. We tried to take him alive as you said, but he gave us no choice." Gunnar shifted his weight on his feet, showing that same childish awkwardness just as he always did when in trouble. Usually Herleif took it as a sign to ease up on his brother, to look past whatever mistakes had been made and move forward. This time he did not.

"Baldur be damned to Hel's frozen quim!" he roared, turning about to slam his fist into the make shift wall before rounding on his brother again. "What happened Gunnar? Do not come to me saying it was a fight. I knew that there would be a fight, that is why I sent you of all people in the first place! Do not-" and he stopped as his eyes darted between Gunnar and the two Knights with him. Coal and Priscilla, always together whenever things went wrong. "Do not tell me that the three of you together could not take Chaldeon alive! And do not act as if you were not all there together, I will not believe it! Now tell me what the fuck happened!?"

"He was a big fucking bastard!" Gunnar snarled back, trying to remain strong against his brother's growing anger and stand between him and Coal and Priscilla. "He was strong. Stronger than we thought. There was nothing we could do but take him down in the end."

Herleif didn't hesitate to get right in his brothers face, not caring in the slightest how it might look in front of his warriors, in front of Judith and her Knights, not caring how it looked beneath Odin's one eye as he let loose his frustration. "You are supposed to be a big, strong bastard! You! Gunnar the Bear! Is that not your fucking name?"

"You weren't there!" Gunnar yelled back, getting back in Herleif's face now.

Herleif didn't move, didn't give an inch to his brother. "Clearly I should have been! What a fool I was to think I could trust you with this task! Better I had left you back at the ship, or better yet back in Bilrost rather than have you come to me with excuses of shit and piss! Did you at least learn anything about the vault and the armor?"

Gunnar was silent, again licking his lips like a nervous child, glancing at Priscilla for a moment before looking back. Herleif didn't know how it was possible, but he was sure in that moment he saw fear in his brother's eyes. True fear.

"Gunnar, what of Apollyon's armor!?" he shouted.

"I killed Vincent Chaldeon." Priscilla spoke up, her voice as meek as a child's as the Herleif and Gunnar bellowed like bulls. "I was the one who ended him."

Herleif's fury switched from Gunnar to Priscilla quick as the crack of a whip. "You?" he growled, taking a step towards her only to be stopped by Gunnar getting in his way. Herleif fixed his brother with his most vicious stare yet, and was sorely tempted to draw his sword in anger, but managed to simply shoulder past him instead. "You did this? We came all of this way at your word, and now because of you I must return to Erik empty handed and looking like a fool? What part of take him alive did you all not understand?" he seethed at the three of them.

Priscilla crossed her arms over her chest and remained steadfast before Herleif's wrath. "It was kill or be killed. You should know that in battle there are no guarantees."

Now Herleif felt his anger reaching a boiling point, and he knew that if he didn't reign himself in he would surely take this woman's head from her shoulders right here and now. He turned around, unable to look at Priscilla without feeling the need to see her tossed from the mountain side and took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "When we regroup with the other Jarls," he began, voice wavering as he fought to control his temper, "you will be the one to stand before Erik and tell him what happened here." A hushed silence fell over the group as they all hung onto his words. "You will stand alone, as you alone will bear any punishment he gives for this mess you have made."

Priscilla shifted on her feet, and she gave only the slightest shrug of her shoulders to make it seem as if she were unbothered by this new proclamation. "If that is what you command, Jarl Bjornson," she said with no great enthusiasm.

Gunnar however grabbed hold of Herleif's shoulder, staring at him wide eyed. "Brother, you can't. If she brings this news to Erik he will surely-"

"Who are you to deny my orders?" Herleif snarled, his temper flaring again. "I am your Jarl! And until I say otherwise, she is mine to command as I see fit. Along with all of these other Knights who fight under my banner!"

Judith stepped forward at that, her gauntleted fists clenched tight. "We may fight beneath your banner, but that does not mean that I will let you send one of my Knights to be sacrificed like a lamb. The last thing I need is Erik having that old watch dog of his beheading any more of my men."

"And if I sought your opinion, Commander, I would ask for it," Herleif said, sticking a finger in her face. He was being overcome with anger again, forgetting all sense of brotherhood and camaraderie as he glared about at everyone around him. He was lost to his fury, so much so that he didn't notice the distant sound of stomping feet or panting breath coming from the other side of the barricade. "Erik made it perfectly clear that he wanted Chaldeon alive, and he is a man who does not take kindly to being robbed of what he wants." It actually angered him more to know just how angry he was getting, infuriated by the notion that he must grovel before this trumped up golden Jarl and knowing that he did not have the strength of arms to resist him. He rounded on Priscilla again, fists clenched tight and teeth bared. "Always when there is trouble, there you are in the middle of it. I should have listened to Gunnar from the start and brought you before the other Jarls back in Eitrivatnen. Let Ivar carve a bloody eagle into your back until you spilled all of your Loki tricks for us to hear!"

Priscilla took a step away from him but said nothing. She glanced at Gunnar, and he stared back speechless, but Herleif didn't miss how Priscilla reached down to put a hand on the hilt of her dagger. He almost wished that she would just draw it. The sound of thumping footsteps grew louder and louder, but still no one seemed to notice.

"What in God's good name are you talking about, Herleif?" Judith asked, looking between him and Priscilla.

Herleif gave a dark bark of laughter back at her. "I was willing to overlook the antics of your dear Peacekeeper back at the harbor, but now she has gone too far. I have half a mind to take her back to Erik in chains rather than-"

Ragnar soared over the stacked crates and barrels, landing hard among them with a heavy thud upon the stones. He didn't get up again, but rather curled up into a ball on the ground, eyes squeezed shut and fingertips pressed into his ears. For a moment they all simply stared at him in stunned silence, until he cracked one eye open to look about as they gawked.

"It's fucking lit you know!" he exclaimed.

"Troll shit!" Herleif exclaimed, grabbing Gunnar's shoulder and hauling him down behind the barricade.

"Everybody down!" Judith yelled before dropping beside him.

No sooner had everyone taken cover did the explosion ring out from the tunnel's entrance in a storm of dust and shooting debris. It blew out of the mining tunnel like dragon's breath, covering the yard in the blink of an eye and pelting the barricade with bits of rock, metal ore and anything else caught in the blast. The ground shook beneath them while they ducked down as much as they could, hair, fur and tabards whipped around as the wind roared in their ears. Then, just as quickly as the world had broken apart into deafening chaos, it fell back into silence, except for the relentless ringing in their ears.

Herleif pushed himself to his feet, legs shaking, and took a look out over the barricade. Everything was covered in dust, including him, with crates smashed and chunks of stone littering the ground. "Thor's balls..." he muttered under his breath, stunned by the destructive power of this Wu Lin magic. The Pyre just had these sitting here, used for mining. What would have happened if they had used them at the walls?

"It works!" Ragnar shouted as he popped up from the ground next to him, making Herleif's heart skip a beat or three.

"Does it?" he shouted back, shaking the dust off of him before reaching down to lift Gunnar up onto his feet. "Come on. And you!" he snapped as he saw Priscilla curled up against Coal and peeking out from under his shield. "This is not over. Erik will hear of what happened. Ragnar, Ragna! Take a few of those bombs and see to it that this forge never produces Ashfeld swords again. Skuld! Take Helge and load the rest of the bombs to take with us to the Walled City!" Gunnar struggled against his grip, but he held onto his arm and refused to let go, not giving him a chance to go back to the Conqueror and Peacekeeper. "Judith! Send the villagers back to Cinder Mill and leave them with the food, then prepare your Knights to march!"

"Wait! Herleif!" Judith called after him, stumbling once as she tried to get up and follow after. "The people need to be settled. Their lives have been ravaged. Injuries need to be addressed, and there are dead to be buried!"

Herleif shoved Gunnar forward as he stopped and turned back to Judith. "Leave them! They are no longer our concern. The Walled City awaits, and we shall delay no longer!"

"But Herleif-" Judith implored.

"No!" he stepped in close, stabbing a finger into Judith's engraved chest plate as he snarled. "If they die, it is because your god let them, and I have no more patience for anyone here to give a shit! Not even if it was dropped from Valhalla by the Allfather himself! Now prepare to march." The divine fire of the Christ God meant nothing to him, but right then he felt as if the blood of a fire jötunn flowed through his veins as his anger burned inside of him. He showed his back to Judith, to Priscilla and all the rest, leaving them to carry out his orders or suffer his wrath. "We are done here!"