“It will be good to be home,” he said to Torsten as they rode side-by-side.
The younger man nodded. “It will,” he agreed. “It has been a long journey and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own house tonight.”
They started the descent towards the valley floor and Halvar could almost smell the home fires cooking the evening meal. His stomach rumbled as he thought of sampling the cooking of the women of his village. Even the food from his birthplace tasted like home.
But as they neared the edge of the forest, his stomach clenched with anxiety. Something was wrong. Terribly, awfully wrong.
As they reached the clearing, the entire group stopped and stared in horror at the scene before them. Most of the village was in smoldering ruins. Several bodies lay among the wreckage and a handful of people wandered aimlessly through the ruins, one clutching his arm and moaning in pain.
“NOOOO!!!” howled Halvar, urging his horse forward. “NOOOO!”
Surely he wasn’t too late. Surely he would awaken from this nightmare with fear, his heart pounding and his hands sweaty. His mind refused to comprehend the awful sights that his eyes were seeing. It couldn’t be true.
But when he reached the first body, the truth hit him with all the force of Odin’s hammer. “Harald!” he shouted, leaping from his horse and bending over the lifeless man whose eyes stared at the sky. He started to sob as he realized that the kindly older man would never speak to him again.
“Revna!” Torsten shouted. “Revna!” He started to run towards the end of the village, searching frantically for his betrothed.
The other young men ran to the remains of their homes and tried to search the rubble but the ruins were still hot and smoldering.
Halvar left the lifeless body of Harald and went to check on the next body. It lay crumpled in a strange position in front of what had been his own longhouse. He couldn’t tell who it was; a blow to the face had wiped out its features, leaving a gaping, bloody hole. He shuddered and smothered the urge to vomit.
“I can’t find Revna,” Torsten gasped, desperation and fear in his voice. He covered his nose with his hand, trying not to gag on the stench of blood and smoke.
Halvar looked at him with sorrow. “We were too late,” he said dully. “Taft got here before we did and our people paid the price. I should never have left.”
“I found Helga and Gertrud,” Leif said, walking up to Torsten and Halvar. “They are too stunned to speak. I cannot get them to tell me what happened or who remains.”
Halvar thought of the two elderly widows whose homes now lay in ruins. He shook off his own shock and despair as he realized that his people needed him to help them and right away.
“Are there any buildings left?” he asked Leif.
“Only the two barns at the far end of the village. One of them has oxen inside.”
“Well, they will have to do for tonight. The people that remain need shelter. Leif, please check how many people are still here,” Halvar ordered.
“Of course.” The young man turned and walked away, trying not to look at the bodies as he walked past. They were people he’d known all his life and he hadn’t yet had time to process the enormity of what had happened.
Halvar turned to Torsten. “Can you ask Arne, Erik and Sten to come to me?”
“Of course.”
Halvar looked at him with pity. “Then you may continue your search for Revna. I hope you find her.”
A few minutes later, the young men stood before Halvar.
“I need you to help me secure the dead,” he told them. “They deserve respect. If we leave them out here, wild animals might come for them.”
Erik scrunched his fist into his eyes. “My father is among them,” he said quietly. “I will take revenge.”
“Now is not the time for revenge,” Halvar said. “The people need us.” He looked at Erik with sympathy. “Your father was a fine man,” he said. “Valhalla will welcome him with open arms.”
They paused for a moment to gather their emotions together.
“We must stay strong for the people,” Halvar said. “They need us to lead them. Has anyone seen Canute?”
“No. Maybe he perished in the fires.”
“Arne and Sten, go fetch the oxen in the barn and harness them to that cart over there.” He pointed at a wooden cart that had escaped the flames. “We will load the bodies into the cart and cover them tonight. Tomorrow we will bury them.”
Arne and Sten walked towards the barn, their heads bowed. In one moment, everything they had known all their lives was gone.
Halvar turned to Erik. “While we are waiting for them, let us check around the longhouses for any dead or wounded. We won’t be able to get close to them yet. They are still too hot.”
They walked around the first longhouse. Near the rear was another body, this time a woman’s. It appeared that she had escaped the flames only to die of her injuries. Halvar turned her over.
“Revna!” he
