A splash of cold water brought Priscilla back from the deep darkness. She gasped in surprise and fear, blinking quickly as water dripped from her hair, nose, and brow. It took a moment for her to make sense of what she was looking at, her vision swimming in a blur. A bearded Northman stood in front of her with an empty bucket, and more warriors stood behind him, filling a dark space lit only by the low light of a torch.

Reeling back, she bumped into a solid wall behind her and hissed through her teeth. Pain shot through her body- not the hot sting of an open wound but rather the dull ache that came from staying in one position for too long. Her shoulders burned, and that was when she realized that her hands had been forced up over her head and her wrists bound by shackles chained to the ceiling above her. It became apparent very quickly then that the dark room she was in was a prison cell and that she was trapped. Even worse, Priscilla realized that she wasn't alone.

Viking warriors filled the cell from wall to wall before her, their accusing eyes glinting in the gloom. She saw Helge pacing between them, her curved knife drawn and the point digging into her thumb so that a thin red line dripped down its silver edge. Ragna was there as well, arms crossed over her chest and scowling behind her face plate as usual. The Berserker was staring at something beside Priscilla, and that was when she realized Coal and Gunnar were there with her and similarly bound with chains. A figure moved in front of her, and she saw that it was Ragnar who carried the bucket, now full again, as he walked past her to splash Coal next. Coal gasped awake with a start, all ferocious grunts and growls as he came to his senses, but he soon fell to coughing when he realized that he was bound and helpless to do anything.

Ragnar sneered at Coal's futile outburst as he moved away to refill the bucket yet again. It was Gunnar's turn to be woken up next, but when Ragnar dowsed him, he remained slumped over and still unaware of the danger he was in as his long hair dripped like a wet blanket about his face. Priscilla licked her lips and swallowed hard. She felt powerless as Ragnar lifted his hand and smacked Gunnar across the face hard enough to make his chains rattle. Gunnar gave a pained grunt, and the echo of another sharp smack filled the cell as Priscilla looked away.

"Wake up!" Ragnar shouted in Gunnar's face. He slapped Gunnar again to draw forth another gasp, but soon, Gunnar began to laugh.

"Finally, ah... got me to wake up... to your ugly face, eh?" Gunnar wheezed before he was silenced by Ragnar's hand around his throat. A strained gurgle filled the room as Ragnar squeezed and bared his teeth in a bestial snarl.

"You brake my heart," Ragnar hissed menacingly. "All we have been through, and you choose these traitors over us?"

"From where I'm standing," Coal said with a jingle of his chains, "I don't see much incentive to choose you either." Ragnar growled in anger and let go of Gunnar to round on Coal instead, but a commanding voice rang out to stop him just as Coal lifted his chin with a smile in stark defiance of the Berserker's wrath.

"Enough!" The voice was familiar to everyone present, and a moment later, Herleif stepped through his warriors to regard the prisoners with brows furrowed and a frown locked in his beard. Priscilla couldn't help but notice how calm he looked, though, given the circumstances. The jarl only gave her and Coal a passing look in turn, then let his hard gaze rest on Gunnar. Ragnar quickly stepped back to his sister and Helge as Herleif came forward, and he took a quiet moment to look over his brother's sorry state before speaking again. "I warned you, did I not?"

Gunnar did not reply. Head bowed, he kept his eyes hidden behind his wet hair as Herleif continued to scowl. The cell went quiet as everyone watched and waited, but it seemed that Gunnar refused to speak. Herleif sighed and leaned closer. "I will only ask you this once. Did you know about any of this?" He waited a beat, then pointed over to Priscilla. "As she bewitched you and corrupted your mind, how much did you learn of what was to happen here?"

"Herleif, I- Aah!"

The back of Herleif's hand struck Gunnar across the face to silence him. "I warned you, but you never listened." Gunnar opened his mouth again to speak his brother's name, but again Herleif struck him. "I was strong enough on my own, but when you come around, I am made all the weaker for it. Now it has come to this..." He didn't wait for Gunnar to make a sound this time to strike him again. "Talk!"

Priscilla's throat went tight as Gunnar was beaten by his brother. Coal gave a defeated sigh beside her, and she looked up at her chains, wondering how she could get out. Her fingers wrapped around the metal links, her gloves gone along with her helmet and armor. Her belt and weapons were gone as well, confiscated by the Vikings and leaving her without any tools that might help her out of such a terrible situation. Gritting her teeth, she looked back to Gunnar and did the only thing she could do. She begged.

"He knew nothing!" she cried out, desperate to grab Herleif's attention away from Gunnar. "Do you want the second key to the vault? Then talk to me! He had nothing to do with any of this!"

Herleif's eyes darkened as he glared at her. "Oh, I have questions for you as well," he said as he walked slowly over to her. Gunnar coughed, spat blood, and called weakly after him, but Herleif ignored him. "How long have you been planning to betray us? From the beginning? When we did your dirty work and struck down the Divine Pyre for you?"

"What does it matter? The only answer is that you are nothing but a fool!"

"I told you to stay away from him!" Herleif shouted. "I warned you both, and now you have brought about the ruin of us all!"

Coal shook his head and gave a bitter grin. "You're the only one in charge here. A chieftain, if you dare claim it. You want someone to blame then look no further than yourself..."

"Ragna!" called Herleif. Ragna stepped froward toward Coal and, without uttering a word, delivered two quick punches to his stomach before cracking her fist against his jaw. Coal grunted and then went silent, and Priscilla's eyes flared in anger. "I am done searching for secrets," Herleif continued. "You will tell us everything you know about the army gathered against us, and you will tell us where the priest hid the second key. There will be no more lies from you."

Just as he finished speaking, the crowd of warriors parted again, and two men stepped forward carrying a lit brazier between them. Flames danced and licked from the iron bowl, and resting on the rim were several metal rods heating in the fire. Helge shooed the men away once the brazier was set down and pulled one of the rods free to show the glowing tip that burned as hot as hellfire. Priscilla felt her heart drop in her chest just as she felt the heat rise in the crowded room, sweat beading on her brow. The red-hot iron was more than enough to get Gunnar's attention. His blue eyes shone brightly in the darkness with a growing frenzy as they shifted between Herleif and Priscilla, and his breath came in deep, misting pants.

"Herleif!" he gasped and tugged against his chains. "Look at me! What's done is done! If you have questions, then ask me! I will confess!"

"Confess what?" Herleif asked. Priscilla's heart began to pound harder than ever at Gunnar's words, her panic rising like the dancing flames in the brazier.

"You want a liar? I am right here!" Gunnar went on frantically. "I will tell you the truth of Apollyon's armor!"

Coal's head snapped around to Gunnar even as he hung limply from his chains, and Priscilla felt her blood run cold. "No, be quiet!" she pleaded.

"The armor was never in the vault!" Gunnar laughed. Surprised gasps and confused shouts came from the crowd of warriors, but Herleif only frowned as he slowly approached his brother. "Chaldeon lied! It was a trick! A boast to strengthen the Pyre's claim to this land! He told us before he died! We searched for the key for nothing... I knew and said nothing! I kept it hidden and let us march here so that I would not miss out on this war! Is that the truth you wanted to hear!? The armor was never here and now we must face the legions of Ashfeld alone! And I say, good! Better to die fighting our enemies in glorious battle than to hide like cowards in a cold, empty hall as you would have us do!"

Herleif lunged at Gunnar with a shout of fury so great that his own warriors shrank back to hear his anger echoing in the cell. His shadow loomed above everyone in the firelight like a monstrous troll come up from the deep, its great fist rising again and again and again as Gunnar suffered in pain from the beating. Blood coated the white skin of Herleif's knuckles, and spittle flew from his bared teeth as he shouted until his voice went hoarse. Finally, he grabbed a handful of Gunnar's long hair and yanked his ruined face back to expose his throat. He grabbed the Thor's amulet that hung from the leather thong about his brother's neck and ripped it away.

"You are no brother of mine!" Herleif shouted as he shook the amulet in Gunnar's face. "You are no one! Nothing but a broken dog without a home and without anyone to claim him! Curse your legend and your fame! You are worthy of none!" He turned on the spot and tossed the small hammer away. It flew into the darkness and disappeared with only the small ping of metal to indicate where it had fallen.

Priscilla watched in helpless horror as Gunnar slumped forward and spat blood from his split lips. Her mind went blank. Pain gripped her chest, and every breath she took was an effort that nearly ended her. The shackles were tight about her wrists as she felt her legs grow weak, and she knew at that moment an altogether new what it meant to utterly fail those around her. All of this was her fault. Everything that was happening, and was about to happen as the legions marched upon the walls in their thousands, was because of her lies. Gunnar suffered because there was nothing she wouldn't use to get what she wanted or had wanted before she realized what he truly meant to her.

Just like Elise, Priscilla had held the knife when Gunnar no longer believed she was a threat, and in the end, she had not stayed her hand.

Herleif wrapped his fingers around the grip of the sword at his hip and drew it from the sheath with the flash of bright flames against metal. He cursed under his breath and set his jaw, then lifted his blade and held its edge to Gunnar's throat. Gunnar sputtered and gasped but could say nothing of worth for his last words. He would die silent and without hope, denied his great battle-hall with no boast of glory to give as he had wished. So, Priscilla decided to speak for him.

"You are a coward..." she said just above a whisper. Herleif's vicious glare shot to her in an instant, but she forced herself to go on, her voice slowly rising in strength. "Just like everyone says... You are a coward. An worthless, pathetic man... A godless savage just like the rest of your kind! Kill the man who can do you no harm if it makes you feel strong, but I have already cut your death-wound without you ever knowing!"

"Do not pretend to care!" Herleif shouted back. He grabbed Gunnar by the hair again and pulled his bloody face up like his brother's head was already a severed trophy. "You wish to see him spared? Then tell me where the second key is!"

"It is destroyed! Cast it into the fire of the mountain to melt! Kill him if you wish, but his life will never buy what you never deserved!"

The cell went quiet, all except for the ragged breathing from Gunnar and Coal. Herleif worked his jaw as he slowly began to realize just how futile the whole raid had been, and his fist began to shake as he held Gunnar's hair.

"No armor," he said breathlessly. "No vault. All of our effort... all of this bloodshed... it was all for nothing!?" He looked up at Priscilla then, and his eyes blazed like pits of blue fire with the hate that burned within him. "He gave you his heart against my order, and all you offer in return is death..."

Priscilla gritted her teeth and felt her stomach twist into knots. The angry looks from the other Vikings were as sharp as the blade Herleif held to Gunnar's neck, but so long as the sword remained still, she would endure it. She wore her self-loathing like a shield and attacked her foes with the only weapon she had left: the truth.

"I usedhim like the fucking idiot he is!" she cried as tears began rolling down her cheeks. "He came to me like a lamb for the slaughter, and you did nothing to stop it! You did not see it, so scared and concerned of returning home while you laid waste to mine! I did not expect to find something that meant more to me than the life I had lost, but your war was never something I could forgive! Damn what Judith and her fools might believe, I have never given up fighting for my home! And I have fought! I fooled you all... Me! I used you from the very beginning, just as I used Gunnar to keep you blind and fighting among yourselves! A dozen times over you could have been rid of me, and not once did you have the balls to do it! I would have taken him with me if I could! I would have left you all to die if it meant I would for once have victory on my terms! I am your enemy, not him!"

She rounded on the warriors before her and screamed so ferociously that even Helge took a step away. "I am your enemy! I brought about your deaths with my own hands, and even as I stand here bound in chains, you have nothing to blame but your own greed and your own coward jarl for what is about to happen! Burn me! Rip me apart! I no longer care! Almighty God will judge me for what I have done, and I will laugh knowing that the fires of Hell will burn far hotter than your impotent rage ever could!"

Her body shook with the fury of her words, and a small smile slowly spread across her lips. It felt like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders even as they ached with the pull of the chains, but a shadow fell over her then as Herleif closed the distance with his hands stretched out for her throat. His fingers pressed against her skin and squeezed so that her next breath did not pass her lips. She lifted her chin on instinct and, a moment later, felt the cold edge of metal slide beneath her jaw.

"Enough of this madness!" Herleif spat at her. The look in his eyes was entirely feral and unhinged, with barely a trace of the noble jarl she had first met so long ago in that cave beneath the Hallowed Bastion. She tried to speak, but he let loose a roar of anger and slammed her head back against the wall so hard that her vision swam and her ears began to ring. "You mock me!? You dare challenge me!?"

His fingers squeezed tighter around her throat, and Priscilla's legs kicked weakly beneath her, powerless to stop him.

"I did not leave my family behind to die from the schemes of a pitiless wretch who does not know the meaning of loyalty!" The blade against her throat was wet against her skin as she began to bleed, but her body was quickly becoming too numb to care. "The blade at my back will torment me no longer... This ends now!"

Priscilla had no idea what Herleif was talking about, but at that moment, she wished that she had found a chance to stab him in the back and watch him gasp out his last breaths. Her legs stopped kicking, and the corners of her vision turned dark. She heard shouting, but it sounded muffled and far away. It took an effort just to look, but she glanced sideways as tears pooled in her eyelashes before they fell down her red cheeks. Next to her, Coal was snarling and no doubt cursing up a storm, barking his hate and fury at anyone who could hear it. She couldn't hear any of it, but rather felt him burning like the sun in that dark, pitiful room. He shook and fought against his chains like a guard dog on the end of its leash, but he could do nothing to help her in the end. He fought anyway. That was just the kind of man he was, and she adored him for it.

Then she looked past Coal and over to Gunnar, where he still hung limply from his chains. His shoulders were hunched awkwardly with his arms lifted and wrists shackled together, but now his head was no longer lowered in defeat. His long hair was a matted mess of blood and tangled locks that hid his face like a shroud, but still, she caught the sight of one blue eye staring back at her in the firelight, along with the silent tear rolling down his cheek to match her own.

What she would have given for feeling to return to her fingers so that she might wipe that tear away. She closed her eyes instead and waited for the agony of her burning chest to end. She had no more fight left in her. No more schemes to carry out. No more lies to tell. No more guilt to hold onto. For better or worse, her mission was at an end. Now, she would rest.

The pain of squeezing fingers and cutting steel suddenly left her, and all at once, she was forced to endure the shock of life-giving air returning to her lungs. Her eyelids fluttered as she choked, coughed, and writhed in her bonds. Her whole body lit with the feeling of fire as blood flow slowly returned to her limbs, a new sort of torture that was nearly as horrible as the slow death that had nearly claimed her. But, clearly, she was alive, and she swore she would thank God for it every day for the rest of her life just as soon as she got her voice back.

As her senses returned, Priscilla was overwhelmed by the frantic shouts and harsh orders from the Vikings in the cell. They were all rushing toward the door and disappearing into the hall beyond, knocking shoulders with each other in their urgency to be away. Priscilla blinked away her tears and licked her lips, savoring each new breath and grimacing with each swallow for the cut across her neck. Perhaps it would be a new scar she could boast of, one to impress Gunnar even if they ever got the chance to laugh together again. She shook her head to regain focus, and it was then that she noticed the golden shimmer of a hawk-like helmet in the firelight. The Valkyrie had appeared at Herleif's side while Priscilla was out and was now whispering in his ear as he shouted at his warriors to move. Skuld did not so much as look at the three of them chained up against the wall before they, too, departed the cell with all the rest, leaving only the jarl and two warriors to stand guard.

Priscilla did not have the strength to care about what had drawn the Vikings away. There was no doubt in her addled mind that Herleif had intended to kill her, but she wasn't going to ask about his sudden change of heart while each breath still burned in her chest. But as he stopped at the door and looked back to her, Coal, and Gunnar, it became very clear from the flash of fire dancing in his eyes that he still held no shred of kindness for any of them in his heart.

"This is not over," he spat, thrusting his sword back into its sheath. "Savor your lives while you can. I go to fight for those who would do the same for me, then I will return to finish what was started." He spared one last spiteful look for Gunnar and then was gone. The two guards followed after and shut the metal door after them with a clang, and then one drew forth a key to lock it with a heavy click.

The crackling of flames in the forgotten brazier echoed softly in the cell, joined by the ragged sound of Gunnar's panting as he hung and swayed. Priscilla did not have the heart to try and comfort him, not then. Too much had been said for her to care about more words. Coal gave a deep sigh as he rolled his neck and leaned back against the wall.

"Finally back in prison, then," he said quietly. He flexed his fingers and closed his eyes as if he intended to take a nap while standing. "Rest while you can. The stay doesn't really get any better than this."

Priscilla let her head fall against her arm as she ignored him. She knew it would be impossible to rest knowing everything she had done, both to herself and everyone around her. Finally, she had told the truth, and the truth was that everything was her fault. Now, only the consequences remained.

No rest would come to her until she was dead.