A/N: I am so sorry for not updating sooner! We spent a good part of Saturday with friends, and I woke up Sunday fighting a cold.
To be honest, this chapter was very difficult to write. Ugh. I like the idea of angst, but writing it is another thing altogether. To be clear - in this fic, the main characters in each chapter are related to Chelsie in some way.
One good thing that came out of this chapter was reading about the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. It looks like a beautiful place.
Historical notes – the Viking raid on the island monastery was the first of its kind in what is now the United Kingdom. I have tried to write the event with as little violence as possible. Also, Eoforwic is an old name for York.
TW for character death.
Island of Lindisfarena, June 793, C.E.
The tide is out when the ships land. Men leap from them onto the shore, their spears ready.
No one on the island knows death approaches until it is upon them.
Elric is with two of the brothers, helping them gather herbs for healing. When Brother David gasps, he looks up and his mouth drops open in shock.
The church is on fire.
Without a word, the three race toward it. The monks, both young men, quickly outrun the brown-haired boy. He follows behind them, his heart pounding. Praying that the holy place may be saved. And that no one is inside.
The church bell rings, telling him there are people, his brothers and friends, in danger. Other buildings are ablaze as well.
Figures run with all speed towards the black smoke rising in the late afternoon sky. He thinks nothing of it at first. Of course everyone wants to help put out the flames.
But as he nears the church, two men he has never seen before grab Brother David and thrust their spears into him.
A shriek – his own - rends the air. Elric watches the brother's body crumple to the ground.
He is frozen in place until the men turn towards him. The blood shines on their spears.
His chest heaving in grief, he runs for his life.
Who are they? What do they want? Why – why did they kill Brother? Oh Mother of God – COL!
Col, his best friend.
They have both been here at the monastery for seven years. Half of their lives. They arrived as children, and will likely never leave the island again.
Both are faithful to their vows. Col knows every ritual like they are extensions of himself. He is never late for prayers or Mass, fasts diligently, and keeps every vigil. He is matched in piety by Elric, who shows his devotion in less introspective ways. Elric is the brother who is nearly always found with others. Giving a comforting word, a hand on a shoulder, or simply being a willing ear to listen. Even some of the older brothers come to him.
It is a constant back-and-forth between the brothers as to which boy will be Abbot one day. Col, or Elric?
They say it is a shame Lindisfarena cannot have two Abbots.
But all thoughts of the future vanish as Elric races away, desperate to lose the strange men chasing him. He leaps a low fence and almost falls on his face, but keeps his balance and runs on.
The monastery is on fire, too.
His heart fails within him. But there is no time. He must find Col. His friend. His brother.
The person he loves most in the world.
Even more than the Abbot.
More than he loves himself.
Screams come from inside the monastery. Fire leaps from its roof.
He slams his shoulder against the door, choking on smoke, holding his arm over his face. He kicks it. Once, twice, three times. He screams in frustration, pounding on the unyielding barrier. He wishes he were Col's size – no doubt his friend would have smashed the heavy door the first time he tried.
It finally gives way, and he falls into the room. Crawling forward, he tries to see through the smoke. The heat is terrible.
Someone yells quite close. He reaches out, and touches a hand. A small one.
Familiar brown eyes, flecked with green, appear in a tear-stained face. Elric yanks on Dunstan's arm. He half-pulls, half-drags Col's younger brother outside.
"Where is Col?" He asks, coughing.
Dunstan sobs uncontrollably. He lays down on the ground.
"Dunstan!" Elric's throat is so tight he can barely get the words out. He grabs the boy by the shoulders, forcing him to sit up. "Where is your brother? Is he inside?"
Dunstan takes a gulping breath and nods. Elric tells him to stay there, praying the men with spears don't find the younger boy. He plunges back inside. It is, if anything, even hotter than before.
He tries to see, crawling forward through burning cinders. He finds another boy nearer his age, Osgar, and sends him in the direction of the door. He hears someone crying.
Leo clings to him, his little arms around his neck. Elric tries to stand but he cannot draw a deep breath. He falls, the little boy beneath him. At that moment, a flaming beam crashes down. It blocks their path.
He cannot breathe or see. Leo screams beneath him, but there is nowhere to go. They are both going to die.
Until the most welcome voice he has ever heard floats through the darkness.
"ELRIC! Where are you!?"
Col is in the monastery preparing for Vespers when he and several other boys hear shouts, and the bell ringing. They run outside to see what is going on. Men they have never seen before are running among the buildings. They carry spears and shields. Some have bows.
Flames burst from a window in the church.
Everything is in confusion. He takes one breath, his mind spinning, trying to understand what is happening.
A spear flies through the air near him, and he flinches. On his left, Brother Caedda is pierced through the chest. Blood bubbles out of his mouth.
The shrieking of the little boys snaps Col from his reverie.
He picks up Dunstan under one arm, and Leo in the other. He yells for the others to come with him. They rush back to the monastery, pursued by the sound of screams.
He feels a sharp pain near his right knee but ignores it.
He does not know who these men are, with their spears and strange tunics, but he has seen enough to know he has to protect his younger brother, and the other boys.
He sets Dunstan on his little pallet where he sleeps. Osgar follows him. They both creep to the door and peer outside.
To their utter horror, they watch one boy, Wulf, shot by an arrow. Then several other brothers. Another brother grabs the arm of a man wielding a spear, but the monk is thrown aside.
The Abbot is murdered before their eyes.
They shut the door. Osgar is panting, his face drained of color. His vivid red hair makes his pallor even more extreme.
Col's hands tremble. In his fourteen years, he has never seen anything so horrendous. Not even his father's death from fever. His breath comes short.
He must stay calm, if only for Dunstan's sake.
If Elric were with him he would be calm-
He lets out a yelp. All of the air leaves his body.
ELRIC!
Leaping to his feet, he opens the door. Osgar tries to push it shut, telling him not to go, but he stops when he sees the taller boy's face.
Col commands him to stay with Dunstan and Leo, then he flies outside.
The bodies of slain brothers lie in the churchyard, in doorways. In the fields. He sees several boys being led towards ships. He does not see Elric with them. If there was more time he would try to help their other friends, but only one person matters to him now.
Without thinking, he bellows his best friend's name.
Several arrows whistle far too close to him, and he runs half bent over away from the shore. Only vaguely thinking of it, he reaches down and yanks out an arrow embedded in the back of his leg.
The pain is nothing. His heart burns within him.
If they have taken him-
If he is hurt, or-or-
A rage he has never felt before thunders through him. Along with it comes knowledge that has never been so clear to him.
Elric means everything to him. Everything.
Dunstan is his brother by blood, and he loves him, but Elric is his other half.
The thought of living without him…
No.
Where is he? There are precious few places where he could have gone.
Sweat beads on his forehead. He stumbles, his feet heavy. As he falls to the ground, his hands in front of him, he knows where Elric is.
His friend would be looking for him.
From a distance, he sees smoke billowing from the monastery. Panic seizes his heart.
Dunstan throws his arms around him. Col hugs his brother fiercely, relieved he is not inside. Osgar coughs, his face sooty.
"Elric is in there-"
The words are hardly out of his mouth before Col lets go of Dunstan and charges into the flames.
Darkness, smoke, and heat overwhelm him. But he shouts as loud as he can, trying to move forward.
A great beam has fallen across the room. The roof above him groans as though it is in agony.
If it falls, everyone in here will die.
Licking flames along the fallen beam illuminate a dark shape behind it. He moves the beam a little with his foot, burning himself, but he does not care.
Elric.
His friend looks up, his blue eyes hazy. He smiles and struggles to get up, helping the smaller boy beneath him. He pushes Leo forward.
Col's relief is so strong his legs feel weak. At the same time, he is so angry he wants to shake his friend.
Of course you protect others before yourself! Why must you be like that?
Another beam falls behind Elric. A wall of flame erupts from it, and there is an ominous sound, like the howling of the wind on a stormy day. The three race for the door, Leo in front. Col puts a hand on Elric's back, pushing his friend forward.
No sooner have they emerged into the daylight when there is a tremendous crash. The roof of the monastery caves in, taking one of the walls with it. Flames shoot out, clawing at anything it can reach.
The five boys keep down, crawling to the field where the brothers keep their cows.
The animals are gone.
Elric collapses onto the ground, coughing. His chest hurts, and with every breath comes a whistling sound.
Col rubs his eyes. They sting. Crying, Leo wails that he cannot see. Col and Osgar wipe his face and eyes clean, trying to get him to open them. He blinks slowly, squinting.
"Are-are you all right?" Elric gasps, still wheezing. There is soot all over his face and in his hair. He drags himself into a sitting position, his eyes on Col. Dunstan, still crying, sits beside him. Elric puts an arm around him.
"I am," Col mumbles. He has had a man's voice for half a year, and it is not that which causes his voice to break. He struggles not to cry.
I thought you were dead.
"What were you thinking?" He snaps his head towards Elric. "Did you think you could lift the beam by yourself?"
Seeing his friend whole, and alive, brings back all of his fears.
"No. It fell when I was already inside," Elric coughs again. He is, as ever, calm.
Col is not angry, not really, but his voice gets louder.
"Why did you go in there? Fool! Why not go find Brother David, or-"
"Brother David is dead," Elric says. He closes his eyes, and a tear runs down his cheek. "And it is no good shouting at me." He raises an eyebrow at Col. "I was looking for you."
Col's heart skips at the expression on his face. He looks away, ashamed.
"Get down!" whispers Osgar. They all fall forward on the ground. Several of the strange men gather nearby, south of the still-burning church. They talk together in a language none of the boys know.
"Who are they?" Dunstan whispers, his eyes wide. "Where did they come from?"
"Does it matter?" Col glances around. "Come on, this way." He leads them away from the men, crawling until they reach the far side of the former monastery.
Osgar cries out at the sight of a body there, charred and broken. It is Hob, another boy they know.
The five of them say a prayer over their friend. As Col finishes it, they all look up at the sound of a distant horn.
None of them want to think about night falling, and the men with spears searching for anyone alive.
Col whispers to his friends about the ships he had seen. The boys being taken away.
"We have to get away from here," says Elric softly, as Leo whimpers, holding his hand. "We have to find help. Warn everyone."
The surrounding fields are empty. It is likely the men who farm the land are also dead, or have fled.
Lindisfarena is only an island at high tide. As now, at low tide, they can walk to the coast over the mud flats.
Hopefully they will not be seen.
The coast of Northumbria is a mile away.
Their feet sink into the sand. They run in a single line, hoping to make it harder for any bowman who may be watching them to get a clean shot.
The sun is sinking in front of them, making it difficult to see.
Osgar is in front. Just behind him is Dunstan, then Leo. Elric keeps the younger boys running. It is difficult for him to run, every breath a struggle, but he manages it. Often he turns to look back. Both to see if they are being followed, and to reassure himself that Col is there.
The tall boy also looks back quite often. More than once he turns back around, shading his eyes, and sees Elric watching him. He smiles to put his friend at ease.
Once, when Elric turns, he sees Col stopped, farther behind them. He glances back at the other three. They are close to each other, Osgar not letting the younger boys trail too far behind him.
Elric goes back to Col, who is bent over.
"You are bleeding." He crouches down, his finger wiping the blood running down Col's leg and pooling on his foot.
"Just a scratch."
Their eyes meet.
They both know he is lying.
"We must not get too far from the others," Col says, standing up straight. "Not before night."
By the time they all reach the coast, the sun has nearly sunk into the horizon. Leo and Dunstan sink down on the sand, exhausted.
The three older boys talk in hushed tones.
All of them are hungry. But it is too dark to search for food, and there are no dwellings that they can see nearby.
They dare not light a fire, for fear that the men who murdered their brothers, the men who came in ships, will see it and come for them.
They will have to wait for dawn to seek help.
At least it is warm, and not raining.
They find a fresh stream further inland and lay down there, to stay out of the tide. Col rips part of his tunic to wrap around his leg. The wind blows clouds across the sky, as it changes from rose to red, from purple to dark blue.
To stave off the grief which must surely come, they tell stories. Sing songs. Col makes Dunstan laugh until he cries.
Dunstan and Leo, then Osgar, fall asleep beneath the stars.
Elric tosses on the ground. His chest aches and his mind races. Memories of the day – the church ablaze, Brother David's death, fleeing to the coast – all keep him awake long into the night.
But he is not alone.
Col talks of when they first came to Lindisfarena. Of how hard the stone floor was under their knees during prayer. Of how angry he was that God had taken away first his mother, then his father. Leaving him and Dunstan alone.
How he came to love the island and the brothers. The sea.
Elric drifts to sleep listening to him.
He startles awake, feeling cold. Osgar breathes deep beside him. The younger boys are sprawled next to them. Dunstan snores, which makes Elric smile.
Like your brother.
Col is not there.
Getting up, Elric groans a little, his body stiff. By the dim grey light of the morning, he sees the breaking white of the waves on the sand. His friend lies there.
"Elric?"
Col's voice is barely heard over the never-ending sound of the sea.
Elric turns his head. "I am here."
"Can you hear it? The singing?" Col lifts his head a little. "Like at Matins. Hob, and Brother David…Father Abbot."
Elric's heart skips a beat. He sits on the sand, moving closer to Col's side. "I…there is nothing but the sea."
"So beautiful," whispers Col. "Mother used to sing…"
His mother died giving birth to Dunstan.
Elric bends over and places the back of his hand against his friend's forehead, against his cheek.
Cold.
"Col," he whispers. His teeth chatter. "Can you hear me? Col!"
Col blinks, licking his lips. "Mmmm."
Elric looks at his friend's knee. At the strip of cloth tied there.
The blood is still fresh.
It is wet against his fingers, red on his skin.
No.
NO.
Lifting his head again, Col coughs. "It never stopped…I thought it would." His eyes clear and he lays his head back against the sand, exhausted. "Keep Dunstan away, will you? I want his last memory of me to be happy."
"You are not going to die!"
The words come out ringing, strong. A command.
Col smiles up at him. "You sound like me…" He coughs, pain on his face. "I am glad you found me here," he says softly.
Tears spill down Elric's cheeks, dripping off his chin. "You found me," he whispers. "In the monastery. I would be dead if you had not."
"And my brother would be dead if you had not saved him. Elric," Col takes a short breath. "Our sister Molle lives in Eoforwic*. I want you to take Dunstan there."
"Take him yourself, you can see her-"
"I need you to take him to her. Please."
Elric does not want to believe what is before him.
His friend. Dying.
There is nothing he can do.
So much must be said, but the words will not come.
"Will you?"
Elric swallows, nodding. His heart is torn asunder. "I will see that he gets there. I swear it."
The vow is spoken with as much sincerity as if he is before the holy altar.
Col tries to lift his head, but he has no strength. Elric grabs his shoulders and pulls him up a little, resting his head in his lap. So he can watch the dawn breaking over the waves.
His best friend does not seem to know he is there. He drifts, murmuring words that make no sense. He coughs again.
"Are you there? Elric?" His voice rises higher. He is afraid.
"Here." Elric looks down at him, moving aside a stubborn brown curl.
"Will you-will-" Sighing, Col slumps in his arms. "-hold my hand?" He whispers.
He sounds like the little boy Elric once knew. Afraid to blow the candle out to face the darkness.
Elric takes Col's hand and folds it between his, resting it on his friend's chest.
He weeps openly, turning his head only to keep his tears from falling on Col's face.
You can always hold my hand.
After a time, there is no longer a heart beating beneath his hands.
The waves roll onto the shore as the sky brightens.
Fishermen take in the boys. Leo is sent to a monastery far south, but the others go back to their families.
Despite assurances that Dunstan will be well cared for on his way to Eoforwic, Elric refuses to leave the boy's side.
He travels with him and Osgar to the city. To fulfill his promise to Col.
Dunstan begs him to stay. His sister Molle, her eyes so like her brothers', tells him he has a place under her roof as long as he wishes.
While part of Elric yearns to stay, he knows that his father's brother still lives.
Far away in the north, in old Bernicia.
And as much as he is fond of Dunstan, and regards him like a brother, at times the younger boy reminds him too much of Col. A reminder of who he has lost.
On a foggy morning in September he says goodbye to Dunstan for the last time.
The young boy watches him go. He always remembers him like another brother – the boy who never left Col's side.
In later years, as he watches his family grow around him, he gives thanks for their friendship. Gives thanks for Elric, who saved his life.
Elric makes his way north.
His uncle's farm is not where he thought he would spend the rest of his days.
But he does.
First with his uncle and aunt. Then with his wife and children.
Elric speaks little about his boyhood. About the island where he lived. The place the Northmen attacked. By the time he is old, the lurid tales of what happened there are well known.
He never tells any of his family about his best friend.
Not even his youngest son, Col.
A/N: If you all could drop a line or two and tell me what you think, I'd be very grateful.