Thomas and Isabel were playing around with knives, striking the nearby trees trying to make the coolest shot
As for John he sat beside Sara, trying to learn the craft of wood carving, a type of art she was experienced in
"You are still reading the same subject I see" said henry to William, peeking above his shoulder at whatever book he held in hand
William did not answer, Henry continued "Are you doing it to cleanse the name of the Vikings? perhaps is it guilt—" William cut him
"No, I don't really care about them, nor what they stand for"
"Then what is your goal?" said Henry
William took a moment to answer that, he spoke of what came to mind saying "I'm doing it out of pride, for my own happiness"
"Lies" said Henry as William turned back confused and stunned by that reply, his eyes met Henry's, they were cold, honest, his mouth spoke the truth
"A sense of achievement, that what hunts you, you are too stressed about what is to come"
"An advice from someone who wishes you the best, Sometimes, today is more important than tomorrow, the more a flower grows, the more water it'll need" Henry left William as he went towards John and Sara
William looked at the book in hand, the picture of the naked giant towering over the clouds while sitting on the sands like an ape, man kind were ants in comparison, although their numbers were huge, one swift move would erase them, an idiotic move from man kind
William stared at it for a moment, he folded the book and placing it beside him on the left, standing up he went towards Henry, John and Sara
The sun went underground, the warmth it once spread across the earth dug down alongside it, in the dark two guards
"You still remember the fire yesterday?" said the first one
"Yeh I can still smell the burning flesh till this point, but I can't remember what happened properly, was she already dead, did we kill here before or after?" replied the second guard as if he wasn't there
"Thinking about that, I myself don't know, it's as if I was hypnotized or dream walking" said the first one removing his helmet as the light brightened his facial futures
"I guess it must be fatigue from the consistent stress the chief put us under, all the preparation for that masked man arrival" said the second one the second screamed as he stared at the first
"What in hell is that" he shouted in fear staring the first in the eye
"What do you mean? Is there something in my face" replied the first guard as he put his face down near a bucket of water to see his own reflection, colour drained off of his face, his jaw broke itself as it was opened in shock, his eye pupils were splitting into multiple
"We can't leave this unreported we need to--- "said the second guard before the first one closed his mouth shushing him
"Silence, if you speak it won't be just me they take" said the first guard
"But, b- what do we do? they will discover us sooner or later" said the second guard
"Not if we escape" said the first guard as the other one looked at him confused "with the symptoms already this clear it means the infection has reached the rest of the camp, it is a matter of time before everybody else notices it"
"So do you want us to hide till we all go mad?" said the second guard
"No, we will leave the camp, you must've already got it two, the sickness, the horse are on the other side of the camp, with enough luck we will be able to reach safety" said the first guard
"And then what huh? do you think it will magically disappear" said the second guard
"What ever comes after is better then getting beheaded or burnt alive, we can make it work somehow " said the first
the second was still hesitant, "this sickness was a death sentence already, going against it does nothing but delay the unavoidable fate" he said
" if we don't act now, others will, and if we end up being the only ones sick it's better for all and worse for us, even the stolen horses are just the payment for our hard work" said the first
The second guard thought about it for a second before saying "let's do it, it is only option we have anyway" as he turned around deciding to lead the way
"Do what?" a voice said calmly from the dark
With fear grinding on their bones, they turned the lights towards the sound to see the masked man standing there, unarmed
As the second one smiled awkwardly and wanted to explain himself "Commander I--" the masked man said "Sorry, it was a stupid question from me, what I wanted to ask is, where do you think you can escape to?"
they unsheathed their clean blades, shiny sharp edges reflected the light of the flames they dropped to the ground
"You both would've made excellent soldiers," said the masked man
"We are good enough already" said the second
They both started slowly started circling him each from a side, they thought that with his mask his field of view is limited , as they got closer they charged at him at once all of a sudden
One tried a low slash and the other a stab, With little to no effort he stomped the slash under his leg and directed the stab to hit his companion
As the other guard backed up into a defence stuns, the masked man picked the sword of the dead one he looked at his own reflection, seeing how nervous the one left alive was he said
"I will finish this fast", throwing the sword, it went through the other blade as if cutting a bread piece, his head and the wall became one,
With dawn the rest of the guards woke up, they saw the fire, the masked man , the commander ordered a through search for everyone, most of the infected were the ones present beside the burned body of the girl, they were all executed and burned before who ever was left
when the sun reached a certain level the carriages were ready, the children went inside one while the commander boarded the other with the chief, who ever was left alive went alongside them towards the capital