Thread: Vinland (Jokerama og JanÅgeSolstad)

Kjartan found himself surveying the unfolding chaos with an unveiled expression of distaste on his features. So, the skrlingjar couldn't control their own horses... or their own people, for that matter. Some sort of civil war had broken out, and half of the savages were fighting the other half. That was nothing if not uncivilized. No wonder his people had been able to enslave and dominate the skrlingjar since time immemorable. Even when this rebellion was crushed and he was killed, it would make no difference. In time, more of his proud race would land on their shores and put them in their place, and... and... For the first time, it occurred to Kjartan that just as there were different Viking clans, there might be different skrling clans. True, Vikings rarely fought with one another--they directed their destructive energies towards the others and the outsiders--but wars had ravaged their motherland before. Perhaps this was no pathetic uncivilized rebellion, then. Perhaps Kjartan was watching an honest-to-God skrlingjar war breaking out. What that meant for him ought to have remained to be seen. Kjartan might have taken advantage of the chaos and run, perhaps freeing himself with the weapon of a downed warrior on the way, but fate, it seemed, forced his hand. Intent on finishing his ritual, one of the skrlingjar who had been howling for his blood leaped on top of the wooden platform, raised his axe, and--was violently disarmed and then killed by the first female skrling he had ever seen at a close distance. He had heard of them in the past. Tough, vicious, skinny little beasts who didn't learn to shut up and take it until half of the teeth had been knocked out of their heads. They weren't like the women from home, with their stout builds and broad shoulders no, this woman was lithe, and fast, and deadly. Kjartan was too malnourished and dehydrated to do much more than keep his feet as she freed him, and when she threw him around and engaged another attacker, he couldn't even manage that. Kjartan stumbled back and nearly fell, but seeing his savior struck down awoke a certain bestial strength in him. He might have gone down, but in the process, he'd armed himself with a blade from her thigh. It wasn't big--barely as long as his index finger and weirdly broad and curved, but it served its purpose. Before the Ktunawai could finish his task, Kjartan took a step forward, ducked to coil up the powerful muscles in his legs, and then launched himself forward. He struck his enemy directly in the chest, stabbing him through the rib, the heart, and the back, so hard that the two of them were knocked forward by several feet. Kjartan managed to withdraw his knife and avoid tumbling off the edge of the platform, at which point he did a quick analysis of the situation. There was still fighting. There was still chaos. Skrling was killing skrling and he had no idea which was which or who was on his side or if none were on his side after all. He might well be better served simply by running--no, that was no good. Alone in a strange land, barely a step ahead of the next skrling, in that state... he wouldn't last an hour. He had only one option. There was a shout from behind him. Kjartan turned, with malevolent lethargy, and began to walk toward the man bearing down on his savior. His stride lengthened, and then quickened into a jog, and then, just as the man raised his ax, he shouted. This caused the slightest distraction, the briefest hesitation, and then, for some reason, the man was as if frozen solid, his hands clenched on his still upraised weapon. When Kjartan finally strode toward him, he put his boot on the man's thigh and wrenched his blade--and the man's eyeball--from where it had struck. He spared a glance down at his savior. Then he returned his eyes to the situation and offered her a hand to help herself up. He wasn't talkative, never had been, and now wasn't the time to talk. The tide of the battle had turned, and it was time to fight if they wanted to have a prayer of survival.