"All right, lads!" Egil took his place in the prow to get everyone's attention "In a few hours we will arrive to Heilaholm. We will spend no more than two days there, so gear up, get your weapons sharpened, enjoy one last night in a decent bed with a curvy woman or whatever you like! But two days later be there on this ship ready for anything!"

Here he took a pause, carrying his strict gaze upon his men one by one. He wanted to make sure that everyone listened and everyone understood.

"As I told you back in Thornvik, I stole a very precious map from that pig Ingolf. It's a map leading to great wealth and the most powerful weapon a man can possess. The map leads into the mountains far on the North, where the winter is sharp and thick ice covers the sea. It won't be easy to get there before the winter starts, but if there are men in this world who can make it, then it's us!"

The men around him cheered, though Lìfa could see uncertainty and disbelief in many eyes. At nights, she could hear them whispering about chasing only a legend, and Egil only leading them to die in the mountains.

"I have the map now, but that bastard Ingolf knows the way too and he will do anything in his power to outrun us and get all the honour and glory for himself! Because of this, I warn you to not to talk about our destination or purposes to anyone! His spies must be around, hunting for us. You must keep our identities as a secret, even if you have to die for this! Understood?"

Lìfa didn't really pay attention for what he said next, because she got sight of the island far ahead of them. Heilaholm. The famous island, to where merchants sailed from all corners of the world to sell their goods. Here one could buy almost anything imaginable. The place had several huge marketplaces, filled with merchants from every nation, selling jewels, the finest fabrics and dresses, armour, exotic foods and alcohol, and even slaves.

This was the place of endless possibilities, wealth, and revel. In the daytime, many competitions and duels were held for warriors to show their strength and skills and to win some money. Those who didn't fight could always place bets or just play tafl somewhere. Heilaholm was also notorious of its nightlife, beer-houses, and brothels, visited by many men and also women.

The harbour of Heilaholm was busy with countless ships of every size and form constantly departing and arriving. It reminded Lìfa of a huge, crowded and loud beehive. Halfdan sailed away from this chaos and harbored the Silver Fox in a small, hidden bay. They wanted to avoid being recognised by Ingolf or others.

After setting up a small camp on the shore, Frode with Olaf decided to stay and watch over the Fox, while the others were free to go and enjoy their time at Heilaholm. Lìfa and Sveinn didn't really know where to start, or where to go in this whole new world, but Bjarne and Carolus decided to show the kids around in town.

They led them to the main marketplace, where many merchants stood by the small, heavily packed stands, shouting in several languages, trying to sell their goods. The colorful charade of different people took Lìfa's breath away. She was amazed by the sizes and the richness of the place. It was nothing like the small, quiet town of Thornvik. Here the buildings were huge and decorated and even the people were different. Their clothes, their language, everything.

Walking around the town, Carolus showed them every important place, they needed to know.

"All right, kids! This is the Drunken Walrus, the best beer-house you can find here. There, can you see than inn? The good old Arinborg cooks the best rabbit-stew in the world!"

"Also, she has the best ladies, if you know what I mean!" with a small laugh Bjarne punched Sveinn's arm in a teasing way. The boy only blushed, and looked at the ground. The idea of spending the night with a beautiful girl clearly didn't light him up.

"Hey, what's wrong kiddo?" Bjarne continued "Here you can do whatever you want! You're a free man now, don't be shy! Or do you miss mommy and daddy?"

"Get lost, you old oaf! Can't you see that something bothers him? Now tell me, how did the old Rùni and Marta take that you became one of us?" the skald turned to Sveinn.

"Father took it well. He was really supportive and proud of me, but mother... You know, since my brother moved out of Thornvik, she did everything in her power to keep me at home, to take care of the farm once father dies. She wanted me to marry that merchant's daughter, Thorgunna."

Bjarne spat to the ground and groaned:

"For Hel*, that girl is ugly as the ass of a troll!"

„Use your head, Bjarne! That family's rich as the king! Marta is a clever woman. But let me guess, you have someone else in mind, don't you?" Carolus flashed a wide, knowing smile at Sveinn. He didn't answer, just pretended to be very interested in one of the stands around them. Instead of him, Lìfa answered the question.

"It's Runa, isn't she?"

Sveinn suddenly stopped in surprise, making a lot of people bumping into him, and hurrying away cursing and groaning, causing Lìfa and the two warriors bursting out laughing.

"How- how did you know? I never told it to anyone!" He looked at Lìfa with eyes wide open.

"Oh, I saw you sneaking out to the haystack several times!" Lìfa laughed, as her friend's face turned into a bright colour of red "Hey, don't be like this! I think you're cute together. But why didn't you tell me? I thought we share everything with each other."

"I wanted to tell everyone after we got back home. I want to marry Runa, but at first, I wanted to get more silver and gold to buy ourselves a house and a farm somewhere. I want to provide her a good life, which now I couldn't." he looked apologetically at his companions.

"Don't worry, if we find this treasure Egil talks about, you will be richer than the king! You could easily buy a whole village to this girl!" Bjarne's face lit up by the thought of the treasure and gold, and of course all the mead he could buy on that money.

"If we ever get back..." Carolus added quietly, shaking his head. "Now come kids, we have to gear up! I can't write songs about us if we don't have the right equipment for the mighty battles!"

At first, they stopped by the small shop of a blacksmith, where they got their axes, swords, and knives sharpened. After that, the two men led them to the armour shop. There Bjarne and Carolus got their brinjas* repaired. Sveinn and Lìfa could never afford one since those were very expensive and rare. Most warriors got theirs during raiding, pulling them off of dead bodies. Finally, when they left the shop, Lìfa and Sveinn both exited with a new steel helmet. From the silver they brought from home, they both could buy a cheaper one. It wasn't the best they've ever seen, but at least they now had a helmet they could call their own.

After visiting a few other places they sat in Arinborg's inn, to have some of her famous rabbit-stew for lunch and threw back a few horns of mead in the Drunken Walrus. Then, the youth were free to go and explore the city, while the elders were left behind in the company of some young girls.

The colorful charade of people still amazed Lìfa and Sveinn, as they wandered around the heavily crowded streets. The sun was burning their skin and the heat was almost unbearable on the packed marketplaces. They decided to get some fresh air and they headed into the outer parts of the city. Outside the village they found several arenas on the green fields, waiting for the travellers to place their bets, and for warriors to show what they have.

They sat on one of the benches around the battlefield to enjoy the refreshing wind coming from the sea and watched the duel going on. There was a mysterious champion who remained unbeaten all day. People made serious bets against him, hoping he would be tired as time passed, but he beat anyone stepping in the arena.

"Hey, what if I tried fighting him? I could win a huge pouch of silver!" Lìfa's face lit up from the sudden idea. She looked at her friend, but Sveinn didn't share her enthusiasm.

"Are you nuts? This guy's gonna smash your head before we could even start our journey!"

"Why? You sound like your mom! Don't be this coward! You can bet against me if you want, so we can still get some money! So, what do you think?"

"I think that you're gonna get yourself killed!" Sveinn groaned. "What's gotten into you?"

"Don't know." Lìfa shrugged "I just feel lucky. Maybe I'll test if the god of trickery really keeps an eye on me." her eyes were shining with a mischievous, fierce light and her lips curved into a confident smile.

Without saying anything else she tucked her hair under her new helmet, grabbed her axe and shield and marched toward the arena master.

"I'm not cleaning up your pieces, just sayin'!" she heard her friend from behind.

While she was talking to the owner, she saw Sveinn storming off and leaving. It hurt her that her best friend just left without a word and he didn't stay to support her, but now she had to wrap her mind around only the fight. The smallest distraction could lead to catastrophy. From the auditorium, she tried to analyse the man's fighting style, but every time he behaved differently. He never attacked first and after the first strike of his enemy, he quickly adapted. He found the foe's weak spots and waited for the best opportunity. He was clever and cautious, with good tactics.

When she entered the arena, she heard the crowd cheering and shouting, but their sound was like it came from very far away. She felt like an inexplicable force from inside was driving her toward this arena and toward the fight. She whispered a quick prayer to Loki -though she still couldn't fully believe that she might be favored by him-, and tightened her hold around her axe. She quickly scanned the enemy like she saw him for the first time.

They were about the same height. The man didn't seem to be very muscular, under the thick leather tunic and armour he seemed to be rather skinny. She couldn't guess his age, because his helmet covered the upper parts of his face, but she noticed that he didn't have a beard. The man was holding a round shield covered with blood and a scramasax. He also had another scramasax tied to his belt. Lìfa was glad that she had the Troll Cutter on her back too, so she had two weapons as well. Something was telling her that she might need both during the battle.

When the arena master announced the new competitor to the crowd, the fight began. They were circling each other slowly like wolves. Lìfa didn't want to move first. Learning from the previous warrior's mistakes, she was waiting for the enemy to lose his temper and jump. As they were still cautiously circling each other, she locked her eyes into the man's emerald green ones. She saw a wild, inextinguishable fire burning in those green orbs.

And finally, he jumped. With a sudden battlecry, he lunged forward with his scramasax, aiming for Lìfa's chest. She easily blocked it with her shield and swung her axe toward his arm holding the sword, but by that time he already moved away and she missed. He was fast and struck again, this time lower, to Lìfa's calf. She jumped away and hit his head with the steel globe in the middle of her shield. Then using his moment of confusion, she aimed at his side from under her shield, but he was faster again. Though she managed to slightly cut into the leather and cause a small scar on his side.

The crowd cheered again and as Lìfa took a quick look around, she noticed that Sveinn returned and not by himself. He brought the whole crew to root for her. She saw all twelve of her companions, even the grumpy Halfdan. She let out a small, grateful smile into their direction, but taking advantage of her distraction the man struck again. This time he rammed her with his shield, knocking her to the ground.

After that, he threw away his shield and pulled his other scramasax from his belt. Now he was towering above Lìfa with two swords in hand, ready to strike. As he swung down on her with both swords at the same time, Lìfa hid under her shield, blocking the lethal strike, then she kicked out his leg, making him fall to the ground too. She rolled to the side and jumped up. Her shield broke under the impact of the two swords, so she threw it away and pulled out the Troll Cutter from its scabbard on her back. In the meantime, her foe got up from the ground too.

Now they were facing each other again, full of sweat, breathing heavily, without shields, but with two weapons at hand. The fight was coming to an end. At least the viewers thought so. Lìfa started into a long, tiring dance with the stranger, their weapons clashing into each other again and again. They only managed to cause light cuts on each other, but nothing serious.

Long minutes were passing by and none of them seemed to outpower the other. Soon, people grew tired of this, they wanted to see blood and one of them dead. Many of them left the arena, demanding their bets and money back, others were shouting and throwing small objects to the battlefield. The arena master finally had to end the duel and call it a draw. He gave both of them half of the big price, then shooed them away.

As Lìfa approached her companions, they were all cheering and shouting in happiness. It didn't matter she didn't win, because in their opinion she stood her ground long enough and she fought well. Though some of them lost their bets, they were still proud of their young wolf, who proved herself in front of the people of Heilaholm. Even Halfdan and Einar gave her few approving words. When her companions finally let her go from their bear-hugs, she noticed that not so far away, but still keeping a polite distance someone was waiting for her. The man, who she was fighting against. To be more precise, a young boy around the same age as Lìfa. Without his helmet, she could finally see his face.

His face was pale, framed by his long, raven black hair. He didn't have a beard, so Lìfa could see the sharp edges of his jawline and his high cheekbones. His thin lips curved into a smile and his green eyes lit up, as he saw Lìfa finally approaching. He reached his hand out to her:

"Hey, it was a good fight out there! You did well!"

Lìfa accepted his hand and shook it.

"You weren't bad either. But one day we have to have a rematch." she smiled back at him, and she took down her helmet, letting her sweaty hair falling on her shoulders. The boy's eyes grew wide open, and his jaw dropped in surprise.

"Wait! You're a girl!"

"Uhm.. yes? I hope it's not a problem you couldn't beat a girl." Lìfa said teasingly "I'm Lìfa, by the way. And you?"

"Oh, sorry. Where did I put my manners? The name's Finn." he made a small bow with now a fluorish smile on his face "Can I buy you a drink somewhere? I think, after this fight, we both need one."

"I only accept the finest mead!" Lìfa let out a small laugh. There was something mysterious and appealing about this boy, she wanted to know more.

"Okay! Then please, follow me to the Drunken Walrus!"

Notes:

Hel or Hella - old Norse god of death

Brinja - chain mail