Chapter 12

Skadi yielded to sleep, though she woke early the next morning. Sigtryggr was still sleeping as she set to clean the sand and salt out of the cuts on her knees.

He was interesting, with an ego bigger than the nine realms. Yet she felt safe, protected. The way she felt with Bjorn or Ragnar, while she knew she could protect herself, it was nice to know someone was looking out for you.

He was young, probably only sixteen or seventeen. His hair was dark and tied with braids and beads, he had no beard, though stubble was starting to peek through. He was tall, taller than her at least, and very muscular. There was a scar just over his right eyebrow.

Skadi winced as she pulled a shard of wood out of her shin. Rinsing it with the ocean water, salt helps stop bleeding, that's what Helga told her. A few other shards of the boats had washed up along the shore, leading to her thought that Ragnar and Ivar should be close by.

If they had survived.

Part of her haddnt really cared if Ivar was alive, he was stupid enough to come. They're family knew he couldn't swim, yet he was too stubborn to listen and now look at what happened. Perhaps it was the gods punishing him for being a stupid, stubborn child.

She had begged Sigurd to come instead, forcing Ivar to stay with Ubbe and their mother, but he was adamant on staying in Kattegat. Perhaps all of Ragnar's children had inherited his sheer stubbornness, it was annoying.

"We should start looking for others that survived." Sigtryggrs voice startled her from the thought. "Im sure Ragnar will be among them."

Skadi turned to face the man speaking, he was standing by the ashy pit that had once been a fire. Skadi scanned the beach again, now able to see further than the night before. It was short only a few hundred feet, with large rocks at the end seemingly growing into the cliffs they had seen on the boat.

The two walked inland, the sand became grass and the rocks became more rocks, but there were trees now that sheltered them from the sun. It was quiet, the only sound were their footsteps and the chirping birds, and occasionally a squirrel or maybe a rabbit scurrying through the dead leaves. Evidently no one lived near there, no sign of man could be seen,it was untouched. Skadi had heard the stories of england from her mother and brother but they were always of battles and excitement. Never of how beautiful the country actually was, though she assumed they hadn't really stopped to smell the flowers. Of which there were quite a few, some she recognized others were brand new to her.

Flowers and herbs were something Helga had made sure skadi knew, what plants could help fevers and what ones would cause them. Though she had not intended them as weapons, Skadi did.

"There is more to fighting than shields and swords."

It was something Lagertha had told her, sometimes a woman's best weapon was her knowledge. "Men will always underestimate you, use it."

If you can't beat their brawn, use their ignorance to win.

Nightshade. It stood out to her, even if she'd never seen it Helga had told her of it . Dark violet berries with five sharp leaves coming from its stem. She pulled a few off the bush, carefully placing them into a small bag.

"What's that?" Sigtryggr stood close behind her peering over her shoulder, his hand rested on her shoulder.

"It's nightshade, it's very poisonous, even a few berries could bring down the biggest strongest man." Sigtryggr hand moved very quickly as he took a big step back. "I wasn't going to use it for you."

"We need to keep going."

The pair wandered through the day finding no trace of their party anywhere. They set up a small camp but the game was sparse and hesitant, leaving them with no food once again. If that hadn't been enough it had begun to rain late in the evening. The next morning they continued south but Skadi began to doubt they were going the right way.

"Are you sure this is the right way." It was more an accusation then a question.

"Yes." both of their tempers were running short.

Through more bickering they came into a clearing, littered with bodies, a dozen at least. Sigtryggr gestured that she stayed behind him. He knelt inspecting the closest one.

"Were going the right way at least." they were the bodies of the warriors that survived the shipwreck, though evidently not something else.

Skadi made her way around, searching for Ivar or her father, but they weren't there.

"Well find them, there's no way a simple shipwreck killed Ragnar Lothbrok." Sigtryggr was trying hard to make her feel better. But she knew Ragnar's plans.

As he walked away, she commented to herself.

"Only if he didn't want to die."