Chapter 3 - Lost in the Dark

Chapter 3

“How can we still be lost?” even Raul was by now missing his mellow moods from the first few hours. The hills were there and so was the wide park they had camped in. But other than that, nothing seemed right.

Riku had fallen silent after a short fight with the three others and simply followed them now. He was abstracted, looking around again and again. Only about an hour ago he had been so sure that he had seen men on horseback, but his friends had disagreed and now all of them were tired, hungry and grumpy.

Since they had not found a village, a town or even a real street, they had decided to climb up the mountain nearby to have a better look around. There should be a river somewhere close to the path they now took up the hill. Maybe it would lead them back to civilization.

Raul was turning the map around, staring at it in confusion before he looked back down the hill and into the peaceful green valley that lay between hills and fields.

There were no house, no roads, nothing. Sighing Riku sat down on his backpack, starring into nowhere.

Sami was still trying to cheer them up and keep his hopes. With his hands on his forehead he walked along the rim of the plateau of the hill. “Let’s see.” He tried to sound cheerful. “I see the river, that is a good sign, isn’t it?” he smiled at the others, turning back at Raul and his maps.

While they were placing the maps on the half dry ground, studying them, Riku slowly got up as well. He wasn’t in the mood to make an idiot of him again, so he only stood still without saying a word until he was 100% that he wasn’t dreaming.

“Guys?” he cleared his throat and got down on his knees to fetch his binoculars from the front pocket of his backpack. “Do you see what I see?”

Raul got up with an annoyed look on his face but his harsh answer was caught in his throat when he looked into the direction Riku was pointing.

“Ships?” Sami narrowed his eyes. “Are these… are these seriously…”

“Drakes.” Excitedly Riku nodded, handing his binoculars over to Raul. “These are dragon boats, my friends.”

“What are they doing here?” Raul shook his head in disbelieve. “Is there a parade or something? It is… There are nine, eleven… fifteen boats?”

“They are heading up river, for the open sea.” Sami had to sit down. “Seriously, guys, what is happening?”

All of a sudden any trace of good mood had left all of them. Raul kept looking around, abruptly sagging to his knees with a low sound.

“Horsemen.” He whispered alarmed, crawling over to the rim of the hill with the binoculars. “There… Riku, I’m afraid you were right before.” Handing the spyglasses over to his friend, he pointed ahead. “Five men on horseback. What the hell…”

Slowly Riku moved forward. “Over there, between the trees, do you see that little glen over there?” gesturing to their right he adjusted the sharpness once more. “This is where they came from. Do you see the roof tops and the smoke?”

“Maybe we should go there and ask for directions.” Sami suggested carefully, but Riku shook his head and continued to follow the five horses that rode through the glen.

“This is definitely not the kind of person I would ask for directions.” He handed the binoculars to Sami and his friend let out a surprised gasp.  

“Seriously?” he whispered. “Guys… Drakes and Vikings? Are you fucking kidding me? These men carry weapons and shields!”

“They do.” Riku buried his face in his hands. He didn’t dare thinking their whole situation through completely. They had definitely lost more than just their path.

“Maybe that is why you couldn’t reach Samu for the last days.” The thought had simply escaped his mouth and Raul looked at him as if he was clean gone. His lips opened but he didn’t retort as sharply as he had intended.

“What d’you mean, Rajamaa?” he asked instead, sitting down next to his friend. “No, don’t say it.” He rubbed his face. “You think that we travelled back in time and now we are at some point where there are brutal and armed bands of Vikings marauding their ways through the countryside. And that is why we couldn’t call Samu for the last days. Because we are lost in time.” Lying down on the wet grass, Raul covered his face with his arm.

“I meant, maybe we didn’t reach his cell because he was here already.” Riku suggested in a very low voice. “Maybe… maybe he’s here and we can find him.”

“And then what?” Raul shot back, sounding disgruntled. “Rajamaa, let this thought sink in for a moment: We might be lost in time with no chance of ever returning to our homes!” he fell silent, starring at the grey skies above their heads.

“So what is your plan?” Riku felt anger boiling in his stomach. Raul had to stop treating all of them like little children!

“I don’t have a plan!” Raul grunted angrily. “But I am definitely not in the mood to get my head cut off by some sadistic Northman!”

“But what IF Samu was here.” Sami threw in carefully. “If he was here, he has been here for at least two days. And where else would he be than in this… well over there. We have to… well we have to find out whether he’s here or not, that’s the least we can do.”

“Jesus Christ, you seriously consider walking into a village that has most probably been overrun by Vikings to find someone we can’t even be sure is there?” Raul shook his head in disbelief.

“I wasn’t talking about jumping in with a stick, hitting some heads! We could sneak in and just thrown a few looks around!”

Riku nodded immediately. “Those ships that left, they took goods and men away from this place, maybe there are only a few more left.”

“What makes you so sure that Samu is still here? They could have taken him away with one of the boats or worse…”

“Raul!” Riku interrupted and grabbed his friends arm. “If it was you or only the slightest chance of you being in danger, Samu would be first to come to your rescue.”

Raul lowered his head and sighed. “You are right.” He whispered. “So what do we do?”

“By nightfall we sneak down the hill and cross the forest.” Riku nodded at his two friends. “We check out the village and try to find out if they hold hostages or prisoners somewhere.”

“And until then?” Sami looked up into the foggy afternoon.

“We keep watching them.” Riku got back on his knees and crawled over to the edge of the plateau.