Eivor and Randvi eventually strolled back up to Edyt's that same evening, a dumb-happy look about them for Edyt to notice as she stood out by her large cauldron in the front of the house. The short seer stood more upright as she noticed the pair, and smiled crookedly when she noticed how filthy Eivor was.
"By Freyja, I thought you both went to take a bath yesterday?!" She let out a laugh and gave them a once-over.
"It's a long story," Eivor lazily dropped to the ground by the cauldron fire and landed back on her hands. She smiled up at Randvi and Edyt, "We ran into a friend."
The seer lifted her chin, already having a feeling of the nature of their encounter. She smirked a bit and tended to the mixture she was working on over the fire.
"And did you have a good time with this friend?" She asked. Randvi laughed, blushing, and looked up at the pastel evening sky, not wanting to be the one to tell their friend why Eivor was still filthy. Edyt could tell they were teeming with fresh energy and they seemed oddly quiet. It was like watching young fledglings who had never kissed another or been drunk before.
Eivor nodded, her smile breaking out to show her straight teeth, "We did. Very much so. I wish we could have brought her around, but she had to get going. Her work is…important, to say as much." Eivor explained, although she felt Edyt may already know who and what she was talking about. Still, she couldn't be sure, and didn't want to divulge any of Kassandra's secrets to the seer.
Edyt nodded and smiled, asking, "So why do you look like you got into a brawl, then?"
"She did, that's why!" Randvi laughed, hands on her hips, "She and our friend got a bit competitive."
"And? Did you win?" Edyt asked, seeming as if she knew the answer already.
Eivor's eyes narrowed, "Of course I won, pfft!"
A laugh escaped Randvi as she remembered her promise to Eivor.
Eivor continued as if reading Randvi's mind, "Randvi so generously offered to be my thrall for a day if I did!"
"Hey! You aren't supposed to tell everyone you see!" Randvi was blushing deeply now. She was still the second in command of their clan and took great pride in her status. Eivor smiled cockily and reached out to give one of Randvi's calf muscles a squeeze from her spot by the fire. It didn't stop the red head from scowling down at her lover, arms crossed.
"Ahh, I see," Edyt nodded, feeling bashful by proxy at their playful flirting. "I'm sure you have your work cut out for you!"
Their laughter was cut short when a Norse soldier came riding onto Edyt's property in a flurry of shouting and panting desperately as he tried to get their attention. "EIVOR!" He cried, "By the Gods, please, come quickly!" He nearly fell off his horse as he scrambled over to them, his face pale and sweaty with worry. Eivor was already on her feet, snapped to attention as Synin cawed and cried overhead, indicating something amiss.
"Slow down, good man, and tell me what is happening?" She put a steadying and on his shoulder, meeting his scared gaze.
"Picts!! They're raiding our village on the west side of the island!! They've taken hostages to the fort on the peninsula!! I made it away to come find you after they killed my commander! Please, Wolf-Kissed, can you help us?" He was nearly begging as he panted his words out.
"Dunvegan?" She asked sternly. The man nodded quickly as she continued, "I know the place. Randvi, get our weapons, I'll get the horses. Let's go."
The two women moved quickly and without hesitation to ready themselves for the ride to the water-side village. Randvi made sure everything was in order to meet Eivor outside with the horses. She mentally went over all their gear and weapons: Bows. Check. Quivers. Check. Warhammer. Check. Shield. Check. Axe. Check. Dagger. Check. Rations. Check. Water. Check. She nodded to herself as she equipped her hammer, shield, and bow, neatly securing the shield over the top of her huntress bow on her back. Eivor was back just as soon as she left, hurrying over with their mounts to grab her own gear that Randvi had laid out for her, and put her weapons and extra armor on without missing a beat. Edyt stayed out of their way and watched with care as they finally mounted up, in full load-out's, ready to fight.
"Be safe. Both of you," Edyt said and bowed out of their way.
"Rally any fighters you can and have them join us at the peninsula north of Dunvegan as soon as they are able. We don't know how many they are!" Eivor commanded loudly towards Edyt and the Norse man. Eivor didn't even wait to hear their response before she kicked her horse into high gear with Randvi close behind.
Eivor didn't say anything on the matter, but she was actually excited to be rushing to the aid of the island. She remembered how long it had been since she had to fight and reveled in being summoned to help defeat the Pict's who were constantly trying to insert their authority all over the isle. They rode at a fast pace out of Kiltarglen and headed west, ironically, right past where they had shared their time with Kassandra, who was now nowhere to be seen or found, as if she had never been there at all.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Randvi shouted as they galloped across the dipping landscape of green grass, rocks, and hills.
"Hopefully enough for us to have some fun!" Eivor smiled back over her shoulder at her partner, hoping that she, too, was ready to fight. Randvi was an extremely competent warrior, but the jarlskona had to prepay for going into battle with the fear of losing her fox maiden. She shook the worry from her mind and focused on riding.
"I thirst to feel the swing of my hammer again! Let's hope so!" Randvi retorted with enthusiasm.
They rode in comfortable silence for the last leg of the ride—a half hour more—and as they saw Dunvegan on the horizon, their hearts sank as flames and smoke filled the sky as fields of wheat burned uncontrollably, along with every structure in sight. Screams of what sounded like trapped people cried out from a hut whose roof was ablaze, and more screams of agony rang out from another in the other direction. Eivor didn't know where to start.
They leapt off of their horses when they spotted the invaders herding some six or seven terrified townsfolk to the shore on the north edge of the tiny village. Eivor grunted as she leapt from her horse, Randvi close behind her, and made big strides towards the hostiles. They were spotted quickly and the five Pict's snapped their attention to the warriors who faced them. Eivor stopped and stared menacingly at them, giving a challenging nod in their direction.
"You! Worthless scum, how about picking on someone who can actually fight back?! Unless you're all cowards!" She thundered, striding closer with her axe ready to swing.
One of the men wielding a dagger looked nervous for a moment, but when his cohorts did nothing, decided he would lunge forward in a fast offensive strike. Not even losing her breath, Eivor danced back and deflected his blade, swinging her axe in a swift counter that drove into his gut as blood spewed from his mouth in a dying gasp. She went in for another swing as he fell to his knees and this time her blade collided with his throat. There was a squelch followed by a thump on the dirt, and then his head rolled off to the side, body collapsing to the ground before his fellow soldiers.
They all stared in shock for a moment before they yelled out in retaliation, and the remaining four men charged forward in their vengeance. Randvi smirked at Eivor's kill and stepped up in front of her partner, hammer already swinging wide as she clashed weapons with a shielded warrior. He staggered back as her war hammer collided with his light shield, and was met with a very sudden demise as she swung again, this time landing a fatal and gnarly blow to his skull. She cried out, but only in an adrenaline fueled war cry, and Eivor took her next swings against a more coordinated foe. He kept up adeptly for a few strikes, parrying Eivor at first, but ultimately failing to match her speed and persistence as he tired and failed to stop the elegant blade of her axe slashing across his chest.
Eivor yelled in her exertion as she saw the third man going in to flank Randvi as she parried the fourth fighter. The third man went in to swing his bearded axe at Randvi's back, and just at the peak of his swing, a strong, tattooed hand caught his wrist. He screamed out in agony as a loud SNAP was heard. Eivor had yanked his wrist down with the rest of his arm in a most unnatural way, rendering the arm broken and useless. His last whimper of life could be heard as Eivor brought her axe down on his clavicle.
Meanwhile, Randvi was grappling her opponent in a life or death struggle. She strained to free her hammer wielding hand as he did everything he could to keep her locked in the defensive position. Eivor thought she may intervene, but withheld herself when Randvi, in her blaze of glory and strength, growled in the man's face and brought her foot up to swiftly Spartan kick him backwards and knocking him to the ground. Now he was consumed by fear as the red head loomed over him, blood lust written all over her face as she met him with a maniacal smile. Her hammer was the last thing he saw before his face was unrecognizable.
Randvi stood upright from her bludgeoning stance and brushed her hair out of her face, spats of blood and sweat coating it, now, and let out labored breaths, hammer swinging limply at her side.
"We need to try and help them!" Eivor said, a hand on Randvi's shoulder as they panted. She gestured to the burning huts where people cried for help inside. They each ran in a different direction, Eivor taking one and Randvi the other.
Eivor squinted into the heat of the hut with the roof on fire as she looked for any possible way to get the people out. She ran to the backside of the hut and found a window the flames had not yet reached, and brought her axe up to break away the wooden slats.
"Over here! Climb out!!" She yelled, reaching in through the smoke to offer her arm to the couple who was trapped inside. She felt a woman's hand d grab her arm and she wasted. O time pulling blindly, bringing the suffocating woman through the window and onto the grass.
"My husband! Please—" she wretched and gasped for air as oxygen re-entered her lungs, "Please, Wolf-Kissed, save him!"
Eivor was already neck at the window, unable to see into the hut through the smoke. She called to him, "Can you hear me? Come to the window!" She could hear weak breathing and gasping and decided she was going in after him. She tossed her bow and axe down on the grass and leapt through the window as smoke burned her eyes and throat.
The man inside as nearly unconscious when she found him, and so she wasted no time picking him up over her shoulders and spinning around to find the window. His wife was on her feet outside, trying to help Eivor pull him out. It wasn't a moment too soon, either, for just as Eivor climbed out after sliding the man out to safety, the burning roof collapsed in a billowing tower of smoke and flames.
Randvi did not have as much luck; she struggled to find a way into the structure as flames lapped around the edges. Her eyes burned and watered furiously, and she started to feel a bit panicked for those trapped within. The screams faded from inside as she fought to try and break through the door, but she nearly caught fire in the process and was forced to move away as the fire completely consumed the home and its inhabitants. Her heat sank as she turned to find Eivor. She prayed to Odin to gently take those lost to the blaze as she took one last look at the destroyed home.
"Randvi! Are you alright?" Eivor was suddenly by her side, concern washing over her face. She realized as she looked around that she had been covered in black residue from the smoke and That Eivor thought she had been burned. She looked back at the burning house in a state of shock, the loss of innocent life spurring her heart.
"Randvi, my love," Eivor said more loudly, holding her face in her bloodied hands, "We have to make it out to the fort on the peninsula. Others are still in danger. Odin has the lost, now."
Eivor's steady tone brought Randvi back from her state and she met her eyes, nodding and squeezing Eivor's lower arms. Together, they moved up the beach, following the footsteps of the Pict's and their hostages. Eivor noticed some smaller sets of footprints as well and swallowed hard. Children. She silently prayed that everyone was still alive as they sprinted towards the fort that protruded off of the peninsula. It looked like a dead splinter in the side of the Earth, with high walls made of sturdy lumber that was pointed at the top.
They reached the fort's walls and quietly padded around, looking for imperfections in the walls where they may climb through. Surely enough, Eivor sniffed out a big enough gap in the logs and guided them through and into the brush behind some of the Pict's tents. She signaled for Randvi to remain silent as they crept forward to get a better look at their setup inside the shabby fortress.
Synin flew above them and scouted the premises, calling out at the sight of about a half-dozen more men scattered throughout the encampment. Most were towards the center, and there they kept the hostages as well. The two Ravens spoke with their eyes, noting the four children hiding behind a couple of the adults who were captive as well, inside a large wooden cell.
They split off from one another at Eivor's command and moved into a surprise attack position, Eivor waiting near a group of three, nearest to the hostages and campfire, while Randvi stalked two more who patrolled down one of the paths leading towards the main gate.
Together, they attacked in perfect sync, Eivor leaping from her hiding spot and aggressively charging the men, throwing them off guard entirely. Her axe dispatched the first one in one blow—an upward swing to his chin— and the other two barely managed to block her blade as it slashed against a shield.
Randvi had yanked the first of her two marks into the bushes and choked him out using the handle of her hammer. He fell lifelessly to the ground in silence before she moved to creep up stealthily behind the other. Her foot landed on a twig and it snapped and the man whipped around, his wild eyes locking into her. He screamed and lunged with his sword in her direction and it narrowly missed her stomach as she leapt back.
She gathered her thoughts and steadied herself. She needed to be careful. This man was faster than her and was now coming down at full speed with his strikes. She grunted as she barely blocked his offensive, and found herself stepping backwards as a last ditch effort to regain control of the fight. Then, as if it were willed into existence by her attacker, a rock caught the back of her heel as she tried to evade and she fell to the ground, hard.
Her hand that caught herself now ached and stung from the rocks that had pierced into her palm, but she didn't have time to ponder the feeling any more as the man raised his sword above her, ready to end her life. Just as he came down, she narrowly escaped by rolling to her side with a grunt as his sharpened blade gored into the ground where she had just been. She scampered to her feet, and he rebalanced himself, turning to face her head-on once more.
Randvi's lungs now burned from the smoke inhalation and exertion, but nonetheless, she gripped her hammer fearlessly as he geared up for another flurry of strikes. He screamed an ugly war cry at her and swung furiously.
She feebly blocked the first two incoming slashes, her hammer growing heavy in her arm, and as the third came, she missed, but tried to side step and suddenly felt a horrible pain on her shoulder. Blood was soaking through her tunic already with a long cut over her bicep. She groaned through her teeth and used her other hand to help hold the war hammer up as the fourth strike flew at her. The swing knocked her hammer from her hands and left her wide open, and the man saw his moment to go in for the kill.
Randvi looked slightly panicked for the short moment that he stood above her, but she glared up at him fearlessly nonetheless. Just as he was about to finish her off though, an arrow whistled into earshot and squelched into the man's chest. Blood spattered out onto her face and clothing as she tried to see his killer as she moved out of the way of his lifeless corpse as it slumped to the ground.
The arrow had come from a group of four Norse warriors who had arrived just in time to help them finish off the few Picts who remained. Randvi hadn't even gotten a chance to look for Eivor, and she sat up, holding her arm on the shoulder where she had been sliced. The Norse men ran to her as she looked about for Eivor, and the man wielding the bow that had saved her life kneeled by her side. The others spotted the last few Picts coming towards them in a charge and they quickly engaged the dastardly looking fighters.
Finally, as her nerves started to get the better of her, Randvi finally spotted Eivor, who was now covered in blood and ash as she came out across the pathway and saw her as well. Her blue eyes widened with concern as she realized Randvi was badly injured.
"Shite! You're hurt! Let me see…" Eivor rambled, kneeling down to help Randvi sit up more. She reached down to the bottom of her tunic and used her hunting knife to cut a strip of the material. She wrapped it efficiently around the long gash in Randvi's arm and then helped her partner stand up. Randvi winced, but made it upright well enough, pushing Eivor's hands off of her waist to show she could stand, mustering a smile at the jarlskona.
"Darling, I'm fine, r-really," Randvi said through a hiss of stinging pain.
"We need to get you to Edyt. She can stitch you up. Then we are going home," Eivor said, masking the deep concern in her tone.
"We should check on the s-survivors," Randvi wiped her brow with her hand not attached to her injured shoulder.
The Norsemen had their hands full helping the villagers who had been captured, including the children Eivor had feared for, out of the fortress. Their village was almost ash now, and they would have to completely rebuild. It was the new harsh reality that came with surviving a raid. It made Eivor grimace at the memory of the villages she and the Raven Clan pillaged during her younger days. They had been no better than these poor excuses for warriors that now lay dead around them.
"Jarlskona, we have finished off the Picts. Edyt sent us." The Norse leader panted as he approached them. Eivor nodded, though she was already well aware that Edyt had sent them.
"My thanks for your help. And for saving my strategist and partner," Eivor gave a bow of her head in thanks and reached into her satchel attached to her hip. She dug around with a searching look on her face and smiled when she felt the object she'd been feeling for. She produced a silver arm circlet with an ornate woven look to it, and on the tips of the circlet, raven heads; it was a symbol of her gratitude. She handed it to the warrior and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your arrow saved that which I value the most, so please accept this as a symbol of my gratitude. What is your name?"
He looked taken by the expensive gift and took it gently, staring at it with pride as he nodded at her. "My name is Karl. And I should add that I would gladly do it again. Your legend has spread far."
Eivor smiled humbly and patted his shoulder before dropping her arm for Randvi to take. Randvi also gave him a grateful look and held onto Eivor as blood soaked through the wrap around her wound.
"We will handle things with the survivors. You should get back to Kiltarglen and see to that," Karl nodded at Randvi's shoulder. Eivor gave him a final nod and helped Randvi up the beach towards the Dunvegan village to the horses.
"Shite, can you ride?" Eivor asked, knowing the answer. Randvi shook her head meekly and allowed Eivor to help her onto the back of her horse once she was up, and made a lead for the other horse to follow in tow. Without hesitation, Eivor gave a "Hyah!" and her horse started off towards Kiltarglen.
So much for the rest of their vacation.
…
When they trotted into Edyt's property, she was already outside by her giant cauldron. The short woman gasped as she noticed Randvi's bright red wound and rushed into her hut to prepare a space to sit her down and sew her shut. Eivor helped Randvi down and inside, her hands never leaving Randvi's waist to steady her.
"Put her here," Edyt gestured to the space she had cleared on the floor for Randvi. Eivor nervously helped her inside and down onto the rug and cushions where they had been sleeping during their stay. Edyt kneeled down and moved in beside Randvi, pulling the makeshift wrap back gently, and making a face at the wound as she got a better look.
"What happened? Did the men I sent find you?" Edyt asked as she stood and moved to her work table to gather a few components to make an antibacterial salve. She worked quickly, and passed Eivor some clean cloth to hold over the gash that stretched over the width of Randvi's upper arm.
"Yes. They came just in time. Thank you for acting swiftly. Many lives were saved. Although not all," Eivor shook her head as Edyt worked.
"Well I am glad to see you both alive." Edyt turned her focus to Randvi, who had been silently waiting with her lips pressed together, trying to think of anything but the pain shooting through her arm.
"Eivor, I would ask that you please allow me some room to work," Edyt added as she returned to Randvi's side with the salve and her stitching needles.
"I'll be fine, darling. Promise." Randvi pulled Eivor's hand to her lips and kissed it. Eivor gave a weary nod and stood, leaving the hut for Edyt to tend the wound. She worried for Randvi's comfort but ultimately knew she was in capable handsz
"She will be just fine. You idiot, you have had worse. She will be fine. Stop toiling." She muttered to herself under her breath as she paced in the grass by the cliff overlooking the sea below. The breeze calmed her nerves and she remembered that Randvi was an experienced warrior. She could handle recovering from this. Seeing her injured and in pain made her wish no harm would ever come to the red haired woman, but she knew that her wish was merely that—a wish.
She finally settled down while she waited Edyt to finish sewing Randvi's arm, kneeling in the grass by Edyt's cliffside altar and allowing her mind to enter a meditative state to quell her churning insides. An unknown amount of time passed, and when her eyes opened, Edyt and Randvi were both outside, standing by the cauldron and calling Eivor's name.
"Eivor!"
She wasn't sure how many times Randvi had said her name before she came out of it. Her head whipped around, blonde hair swinging in its singular form of rope-like braiding, and she stood just as quickly. She moved over to Randvi, and examined the fresh wrapping around the closed wound.
"She will need the dressing changed a few times a day. Valka should see to it when you go back to England." Edyt said, her brow furrowed as Eivor looked at her work.
"I'm so happy you're alright," was all she could muster towards Randvi, her long fingers cupping Randvi's cheek with one hand and leaning her forehead against Randvi's.
"I'm ready to go home," the strategist said softly, a laugh escaping her tired lips.
"I couldn't agree more. We will set sail in the morning." Eivor kissed Randvi's forehead and they stood there a while, both staring off of the cliff out at the open water, grateful to still be in each other's arms.