From the top of the hill, Solvi sees the Viking ships with their distinct shape against the setting sun, and a deep dread sinks in her heart. The last time she saw those ships was years ago and the village has only recently started to recover from it. The destruction that they brought with them was more than they could handle at the time. They burned everything. Back then, Solvi was only 11, and her parents tried to hide her from the worst of it.

She climbs down from the tree and starts to hurry back down to the village to warn everyone there so they can try to fight them off this time. That is the whole reason they have warriors now. She needed to be there to help.

It takes a while to run down the hill, even going as fast as she can, there’s always the risk of twisting an ankle on the old path. As she runs, her eyes flit back and forth taking in all her surroundings. Her heart beating faster and faster with the impending fight growing closer. She runs through all the techniques she knows in her head and gets so focused on that, that she doesn't notice the small hare that runs out in front of her until she's already flying over it. Scurrying away, it watches her from a bush as she sits up and shakes her head. She does a quick check to make sure she didn't break anything, glares at the hare, and gets up to keep running.

Down in the village, people are milling about and don't seem to notice anything strange until Solvi runs in shouting about an attack, then the panic sets in. They run and scream, knowing what they did to the village last time and fearing the worst. Last time they had no warriors, but now they have a decent amount that know how to defend themselves and their home.

Solvi runs straight to her house to find her family and make sure they know what's going on.

“Dad! Are you here? Where are the little ones?” she calls, running into the empty house.

“I'm here!” he shouts as he runs through the door coming from the neighbor’s house.

“What about the kids?”

“I've got them, they're safe. Go! They need you out at the front, we’ll be okay here.”

“Alright, be careful.” She grabs her things and starts to leave.

“You too!” He calls after her.

Solvi starts to make her way to the docks, collecting a few more warriors on the way there. They look scared, but she has nothing but determination on her face. She will protect this place and she won't let what happened last time happen again.

“You ready for the fight men?” she asks the warriors beside her.

“Yes,” one of them says, but there is fear and hesitation in his voice.

A scream for help stands out among the others and Solvi’s heart pauses, she knows that voice as one of the neighbor kids that she helped take care of. Alsia is a sweet little girl and needed more help when she was growing up. She was like Solvi’s second little sister now with how close they got over the years.

“You two go on ahead and meet everyone else by the docks,” she said to them, turning and heading toward the meeting hall.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Solvi runs for the meeting hall at the edge of town. She sees the flames rising high above the houses, engulfing anything that comes too close. The flames aren’t too big in the hall yet, so she has to move quickly.

“Where are you Alsia, I'm here to help!” She calls into the flames.

“I'm over here, but there’s too much fire, I can't get out.” A faint voice comes through.

“I’ll get you out, I promise.” She runs into the flames toward the voice and outline of a child. On the other side, she finds Alsia crying and trying to squeeze into the tightest ball possible. She wraps Alsia in her cloak. Picking her up and holding on tight as she runs through the flames again without hesitation. As she tries to reach the other side, her foot gets caught on a fallen beam, and she trips. Alsia falls on the other side of the flames and panics again when she realizes that Solvi is hurt. Before they see it another beam falls on top of her, effectively trapping her where she is.

“You need to go, get out of here before the whole place comes down. I'll be fine,” Solvi says to her firmly. Her long red hair falls in her face as she struggles to get out, making it even more difficult to see.

“I won't leave you, I can help.” Tears in her eyes make her rub at her face, getting soot all over.

“No, you have to go. Now!” It breaks Solvi's heart to have to yell at Alsia that way, but it's the only way to get the message across.

“I'll find someone who can help.”

“Be careful, and thank you.” Alsia runs off screaming for help as loud as her little voice can manage.

“Help! Please, someone, help my friend in the Hall!” Solvi smiles a bittersweet smile, thinking about the time she spent helping Alsia grow up so strong. ‘Sad, I probably won’t see her again’.

“Did you need some help?” A voice carries through the flames. Solvi looks up to see a figure in a brown hooded cloak.

“Don't you dare come near me! Once I get out of here, I'll kill you for everything you've done!”

“Easy now, you're in no state to fight. But I can help you.” He moves his hood a bit. She can see his face with dark scruff covering the bottom half of it. The rest is still covered in the shadow of the hood.

“Why would you do that? Why not just kill me now like the rest of my people you've slaughtered?”

“I haven't slaughtered anybody, and I prefer a fair fight, which this isn't.”

“Fine, help me out and then I'll fight you.” He reaches for the beam and lifts it enough for her to crawl out from underneath. She tries to stand and falls again.

“Your leg is pretty badly hurt, but we need to get out of here.”

“Well duh, got any bright ideas on how?”

“Yup, just hold on,”

“Hold on to what-” Before she can finish, he picks her up and walks to the main door, where there’s still a bit of an opening in the fire.

“Quit your squirming, I'm trying to help you,” he says. She tries to kick him again.

“Put me down, I can walk on my own!”

“No you can't, you just tried that and we saw how that ended."

“Shut up and put me down already!” She shouts and struggles to get free of his grip, which only makes him tighten it more.

“Now that we're out of the burning building and probably won't die right away, I'll put you by this tree.” He sets her down under a large tree that's near the Meeting Hall. Carefully he picks up her leg and presses down on a few different spots. She grimaces at the pain of them.

“What are you doing? Don't touch me!” She sneers at him, trying to pull her leg away from his grip.

“I'm checking to see how badly you're injured. You have a small break in your leg, but it should heal fine with time. The other one just has some bruises.” He stands, hearing a loud shout in the distance and turns his head.

“Time for me to go, we can fight once you're all healed. We’ll meet again, I promise.” He turns around and runs back toward the ships waiting for them on the docks. A few more Vikings in brown cloaks run by where Solvi is sitting under the tree. One carries a large object, hoisted on their shoulder. She stands to chase them down. Making slow progress towards the docks, she winces in pain with each step, but she won’t stop or slow down. When she reaches the docks, the ships have already left and are out in the open sea again. She stares out at them, willing her hatred to be felt by every monster on the ships, but especially the one Viking who helped her. She knew he would only help her out of pity, and the last thing she wanted was pity.