A dark and uncanny, angry storm raged above them.

Blackness surrounded them, not even a single light prevailing from anywhere as they heard the waves crash around the boat. They could see nothing but the darkness, and while Frida sat with her arms hugged tightly around the wooden plank that was the bench she was hiding under, she felt her heart pounding hurriedly in her chest with fear.

She closed her eyes when another salty gush of air stabbed her face, making it hard for her to breathe. She could hear some of the men on the boat yelling to each other through the air, but she could not tell what they were saying from all the noise of the storm. Their yells sounded desperate, though, searching.

Frida felt another wave crashing over the boat, and she hugged herself even closer to the wooden bench, while cold sea water sprayed over her figure. She noticed a lightning quickly lighting up the sky, and she could tell that the clouds above looked dangerous and wild.

She felt her heart pounding achingly.

She sensed someone lying down next to her, and she narrowed her eyes at the dark figure only to sigh out when she recognized Floki's dark circles. "You," she whispered, staggered.

She heard him breathing hard, and she sensed that his body was shaking wildly. "We lost a lot of men," he trembled, "And we cannot see the other boats."

Frida suddenly felt like her mouth dried out, a sour and strange taste spreading over her tongue. She felt her heart falling into the stomach.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked in a very frail voice. Fear still pounded strongly through her veins.

Before Floki could answer her, someone called for him in the front end of the boat, and he was gone in mere seconds. The force of the storm only seemed to grow harder and harder, and when it felt like the boat hung in the air without even touching the water at some point, Frida knew that this storm was something even the Vikings might not manage.

When her thoughts raced to Ragnar, she felt her throat tightening and her lips straightening. They had to be alright.

When the direction of the wind changed, and Frida could breathe normally again, she dared to peep her head up over her hiding place, and take a small look at the sight in front of her. She gasped.

The boat seemed to be empty.

But her eyes soon noticed some motion up at the far end of the boat, where Floki and a couple of men were trying to pull up an oar of the water. Frida watched in shock as another wave crashed down over them, almost swallowing them completely.

Frida yelled for them to stop, but they continued their struggle.

She shook her head in disbelief as lightning thundered over the sky and released another short image of the storm around them.

When the men had finally pulled up the oar, Floki finally listened and returned to her little safe place.

She sent him hard eyes as she pulled him in violently, staring at him hard. "What do you think you're doing?" she pressed through tight lips. "Stay here!"

Floki shook his lips with empty eyes, and turned his eyes to the sky that was lit by a lightning. "The others must be somewhere around us, we don't want to get too far away from them…"

His chin shook heavily as he spoke, and all of his usual nervous jitters were gone. He was scared too.

Frida grabbed his shoulder and shook him once more. "But we are lost, Floki! We can't see anything but darkness!"

She heard him hissing out angrily, but also in defeat.

"They should be nearby…" he started, but his words soon died out.

The sky above seemed to growl at them, like a fierce beast, blasting its cold and hard winds over them.

Frida sighed out. "We will die if you go out there. Please, stay."

This time, Floki actually listened to her. And he ordered his men to keep safe like them, until the storm had passed.

It seemed like a nightmare that just went on and on and on, one you never awoke from. But as it is with dreams, you always wake up some time.

And the storm did pass eventually.

Frida woke up from a restless sleep when she felt warmth over her cheeks, and she opened her eyes to see a clear and deep blue sky above her, with a bright and gentle sun shining happily down over them as if nothing had happened since it was there earlier.

She straightened her back with a little sore whimper, as her muscles left their stiffened position, and her eyes soon rested on a calm and beautiful ocean that glistened from the rays of the sun, appearing as floating diamonds before her. But Frida's mouth soon frowned as she turned her head to look around them.

There was not a single boat nearby, nor was there any land in sight.

When she heard the murmur of someone speaking, she quickly shot her eyes in direction of the sound. And she widened her eyes when she saw that the boat only held eight men, nine including her, and she bit her lip nervously. She was happy when she saw that Floki was still alive and well on the boat, but she also found herself wondering what they were to do from here.

She rose as quickly as her stiffened muscles would allow her and made her way over to her fellow travelers. She was greeted with a respectful good morning, and Floki soon held out something to drink for her. She accepted it thankfully.

"So," she raised after having gulped down a good chunk of her ale, while looking around at the men, "Do we know what we are going to do?"

Several of the Vikings' eyes shot to Floki, but when he did not answer, a young man whose name she did not know rose to his feet, nodding his head at her as he opened his mouth.

"My lady, we will go a bit more west, and, then, release the birds. But we don't know how far we've driven during the storm."

The young man's face was very handsome, his features kind of feminine actually, but his body was very muscular and big under his leathery armor. She soon learned that this man's name was Faxe. Frida nodded at him, and turned her eyes to look at Floki.

His eyes were on the horizon in front of them, scouting out to see something, anything. She had never imagined this would happen.

Her thoughts had been so focused on going on the journey in itself, that how the journey would end up like only now started presenting itself in her head.

How were they going to find the others?

Were they to sail back?

Before long, Floki and another man brought the birds out. They sent one of the birds South, another West, and a third one North.

Frida enjoyed the feeling of the sun's warm rays on her skin, so she closed her eyes at it, even though she knew her face would redden soon. All of the people on the boat enjoyed a couple of moments' silence, before they all sighed out in despair to the flapping sound of a bird's wings.

The raven going South had returned, but that did not have to mean that the two others would. Hopefully, both of them would find land or another boat, which could lead them on their journey.

But they had to wait for a long time.

As time passed, one of the Vikings named Torulf started to sing a little song, about a seafarer, just like them, who was looking to go home. His words were soft and lonely:

*"A seafarer set out for a long journey,
and the waves crashed against his ship.
The dolphins leapt and the captain sang yearny:
"You'll probably return home someday…

But the seafarer thought of his girl,
while days turned into years.
He thought, 'Aye, I will probably return to my pearl.
But tell me, when? Oh, when?
But tell me, when? Oh, when?'"

When they had all just had a small meal of dried fish and ale, another couple of flaps were heard above the boat, and Frida heard Floki hiss out, when the raven going West returned to sit on the railing of the boat.

It was like the air of all the men was suddenly taken away, and Frida soon found herself staring over the calm deep blue waters of the sea silently, hearing only the small gurgling sounds coming from the sides of the boat where the gentle waves touched the wood.

Frida let her eyes travel over the front of the boat where Floki had laid down over the railing, with his head resting on the front stem of the boat, her antlers still intact above him.

She felt her stomach turning a little with the movement of the waves.

It was as if they had gone to some mysterious place that really did not exist, as if everything around them had been pulled away, like they were the only ones left out here on the sea.

She wondered if they had indeed crossed the edges of the sea, and now just continued into the open nothingness.

How could that be possible? How could they have so quickly been dispatched from the others, and now, not being able to find them again?

How many of the boats had not seen this beautiful sun after the storm? Was Ragnar looking at the same sun as her, right now, wondering where she had gone?

"Land!"

Floki's hysterical voice crushed the silence and Frida's thoughts violently.

"Land!" Another Northman shouted, Faxe actually, and the men soon came to life again, working to place the oars in the waters and closing in on the beaches before them.

Frida hurried over to the front of the boat, and stared out at the small spot out there in the sea, and she narrowed her eyes at it.

It looked small from the boat, but she was sure it would appear bigger when they closed in.

Frida soon sensed Floki placing himself at the other side of the front stem, giggling nervously as he too narrowed his eyes on the piece of land before them.

"Is it England?" Frida asked in a calm voice, her eyes roaming on the land.

Floki giggled once more. "It doesn't look very English to me, my queen."

Frida turned her head to stare at Floki next to the stem of the boat.

What was that supposed to mean?


* Inspired by a song by the Danish band Newphew called "Byens Hotel" (verse 1+2 here)