A warrior ran out to meet her and she engaged him with a ferocious scream, channelling all her anger and fear for Astra in each strike of her blade. The warrior was cut down in moments, the next was struck by a rock in the face and Skadi sliced his belly before he even realised what had happened.
Agnar and Vali were fighting men to the side of her. But she noticed the warrior who had joined them in searching for Astra had unfortunately been cut down by Sven in the initial attack. Agnar’s throwing axe flew for a second time and she realised he was felling men, and retrieving it whenever he could.
It seemed that Sven’s men were well trained and they were gathering to form a shield wall around the cliff edge. This allowed Oddmund to begin climbing down the rope with little Astra strapped to his back.
Skadi roared forward with all her strength and power, defeating one man and kicking another off the edge. His scream faded shortly after his body disappeared from view.
Sven, seeing the way of things, swung on to the rope like the coward he was, letting his last men battle it out with Vali, Skadi and Agnar.
Skadi slammed her shield into the man she was fighting, the impact shaking up her arm and reminding her that it had been too long since she’d trained with her sword and shield. She usually trained every day, but since Agnar’s arrival it had been much less. Gritting her teeth, she took the returning strike to her shield, then lifted it in a sweeping block before thrusting forward with her sword.
The man dropped to her feet with a gargled yell. She felt no sympathy for him or any of the others whom she’d killed. They deserved their fate for betraying a queen and stealing her child. She channelled her mother’s rage with each blow and strike of her sword and shield.
But it was not enough to stop Astra from disappearing over the side on Oddmund’s back. The wave of agony almost broke her and she screamed with frustration as she cut down another man in her way. She pushed forward, grasping the rope, when a shout from behind drew her attention. Brenna was helplessly throwing rocks at a man who had had enough of fighting and was eager to escape, charging straight towards Brenna.
Vali was fighting two men by the tree line and Agnar was at the rope. He grabbed it with both hands and nodded towards Brenna. A silent command, before he threw himself over the side with the rope in hand.
Cursing, Skadi ran towards the man who was a threat to Brenna and cut him down from behind. He fell on top of Brenna and she struggled to kick herself away from his dead weight.
‘Are you well?’ Skadi asked quickly and, after Brenna’s shaken nod, Skadi sprinted back to the rope. Vali had just taken down the last man and now ran to meet her. They peered over the drop, Skadi using the torch that had been left on the ground by Sven to see better.
Agnar had made good speed down the rope, but he had Sven and Oddmund to face and they were halfway down. Skadi immediately dropped her shield and prepared to climb down after.
Vali looked worriedly behind him.
‘Stay at the top! In case we need help,’ she commanded.
Vali grabbed her arm, a sympathetic and pleading expression on his face. ‘If the rope breaks, theyalldie!’
She glanced down the cliffs and the tide coming in. Soon the ship would be lifted from the beach and even with half their men gone they could still launch and sail out of the old harbour. The rope was thick, but it was also creaking loudly, the fibres stretched from carrying eight burly warriors and one child. She was no climber, but even she could see the fibres straining.
Agnar was now grappling with Oddmund. Skadi grabbed a nearby rock and was prepared to throw it, except the rope was swaying wildly and she was half-afraid of hitting Agnar or even Astra. Her daughter was helpless, strapped to Oddmund’s back, tied and gagged, her pale face looking up at her with hope and fear.
Oddmund, aware of who followed him, was kicking down at the man below him, shouting at him to hurry.
Sven screamed up at them, ‘Curse you, Agnar, I should have killed you years ago!’ He jumped with his axe to a nearby ledge, slamming the blade into the rock to keep his balance. It was tiny, little more than something a goat might stand on, but Sven was obviously a practical man and would rather take his chances on the rockface than get between Agnar and his quarry.
Agnar glared at him as he climbed past and Sven laughed. ‘You have to decide whether to kill me or save the girl, little brother!’
‘You will never be my brother!’ grunted Agnar, not slowing down his descent for even a moment.
Oddmund’s kicks and shouts became more urgent and one man fell to his death on the rocks below. A painful reminder that there was still at least another hundred feet below them.
‘Give me the Princess and I will let you go!’ shouted Agnar.
‘If I do that, you will cut the rope!’ Oddmund shouted back, his eyes wild with panic. He struck out at Agnar with his knife, and it caught on the rope, causing a flurry of threads to break.
‘As always, Oddmund! Wisdom tries to catch you, but you always manage to evade it!’ This was said by a very disgruntled Sven, who was watching from his crow’s perch on the cliff.
‘You sliced the rope, you idiot!’ screamed another man from below.
Oddmund cursed loudly, having lost patience with himself and his allies.
Agnar moved to grip the rope with one hand and dangled down to grab at Astra with the other. ‘Hold on tight, Astra!’ shouted Agnar and she immediately obeyed him by gripping on to Oddmund with her legs and arms.
He moved in a sweep, slicing at the rope binding Astra from side to side, managing to cut her mostly free. Her daughter seemed to find some courage from somewhere, because she tugged at the gag with her bound hands, then used her teeth to undo the ties at her wrists.
‘What are you doing? Do you want her to die?’ shouted Oddmund as he grappled with the rope that seemed to be bursting more threads with every moment. ‘Move or die!’ he screamed at the men below him. Not wanting to fall to their deaths, the men began sliding down the rope, many of them yelling with pain as it burned their hands.
