The Unchosen Path

ADA

A disturbance in the house woke me. My heart was pounding, and I realized I had failed to bring a weapon of any kind with me to the stable. Stupid, stupid.

I leaned over the side of the rafter as far as I could to peer into the house. They had started a fire and lit the candles. I counted a total of five very large figures in strange attire.

They were not Irish, or at least not from around here. Between their armor and clothing, I knew Kilcoran must have been taken over by the Northmen. For months, men in the town had spoken about a possible raid.

How could I not have seen or heard the raid earlier? I attempted to console myself by remembering the farm was a distance away from town; it would have been impossible to hear any cries.

Instinctively, I twisted my hair up and placed my veil upon my head. It was a white piece of fabric that covered my entire head with an opening only for my face.

I needed to leave. Immediately.

My mind rang loudly with several questions. Would it be best to wait until the men fell asleep? It was a risk because what if more came? Would I still be able to escape?

I decided I could not risk waiting to find out. If I were to leave, it would have to be soon. Would they truly care if one person fled from the town? The odds of being followed appeared in my favor.

One of the men exited the house and headed toward the hill. I was about to drop down onto my horse when he reappeared with their horses. He was coming this way!

I retreated back onto the rafter and held my breath as he drew near. I watched as he moved my horses over to the other side of the stable to make room for theirs.

I could hear him rummaging around for something, probably food. I knew the man would need to bend over directly below the rafter in order to retrieve the fodder, and that would be my only chance to leave.

I was lying on a small bag of flour. It was the perfect size to drop on top of this man’s head to knock him out for a brief moment.

As I looked over the edge of the rafter, there he stood, only inches below me as I predicted. As slowly as I could, I pulled the flour bag out from underneath me and dangled it over his head.

It was too risky for me to take one of my horses, but dropping the flour would give me a few seconds to drop down and take one of theirs.

“Ready? One…two…three…,” I counted almost silently to myself. My hands released the bag, and I heard a thud. It all happened so quickly, as if I had not been a part of it.

As soon as I heard the bag make contact, I jumped down from the rafter and landed on top of a horse. I pulled the rope from the post and began riding as fast as I could toward the forest.

Darkness covered my tracks, but the further I traveled away from the farm, the harder it was to navigate. I rode for a few moments, but I could go no further without some visibility.

The forest was completely still, and I knew it would be easy to hear any movement. That would be the best way to see if I was being followed by one or all of the Vikings.

I dismounted and began to feel around inside the saddlebag. My heart sank when I felt three small bags of coins. Of all the horses to take, I got the one carrying the money. Surely these men would follow.

I needed to come up with a plan, and quickly. I moved over to the other side of the horse and felt around inside the other bag, retracting my hand when I touched something sharp.

Inside was a short sword, a dagger, something that was foreign to me. I grasped it and practiced swinging it a few times. That was all the time I had to prepare myself for a fight.

There was pounding in the distance that seemed to grow louder with every second that passed.

I was unsure if it was one man or all of them, but given that I would be unable to control my animal, I thought it best to distance myself.

Maybe they would retrieve the horse and leave once they noticed all the coins were still there.

With the horse still in view, I positioned myself behind a tree enough of a distance away so that I thought I was safe. To go any further would make too much noise, giving my location away.

I could hear another horse slowly move closer and felt slight relief not to hear any others following. If it was only one man, I would still have a chance to slip away.

I decided that once I heard him on the ground, I would run as fast as I could toward the river.

My head peered around the tree to find the silhouette of a man near the horse I had stolen. He appeared apprehensive about approaching the animal too closely.

I heard him slowly retrieve his sword and lower himself down to the ground. It looked as if he was tying one horse to the other, and I hoped this meant he would just leave.

It was time to choose whether I would run or wait. He started walking in my direction, very slowly, almost without making any noises.

As quietly as I could, I moved my head back behind the tree. His steps were so soft, it was difficult to keep track of where he was exactly.

Waiting here would only lead to my demise, so I gathered the bottom of my skirt and prepared myself to run.

With the dagger in one hand and my skirt in the other, I darted as fast as I could farther into the woods.

He had been a few steps away from me, and I heard his body shift and begin to follow me. My speed and sight were failing me as he closed in the gap between us.

I dropped the dagger and raised my skirt with both hands, giving my stride more length. But he was right behind me—his breath sounded as if it was next to my ear.

Before I could run any farther, I felt his body crash into mine. My back fell against the hard earth, and I scrambled to get away. His hand grabbed my foot and dragged me closer to him.

My strength was insignificant compared to his, but I swung my other leg toward his head as hard as I could, knocking him off balance.

As I scrambled to my feet, I picked up the sword on the ground next to him.