WRATH OF THE NORTH [BJÖRN IRONSIDE]

CHAPTER TWENTY

Vál had been up before the sun. She had carefully crawled out from Björn's grip as they had slept in each others embrace. She had taken her bow and some arrows with her swords before heading to the forest as the night before. When she had been inside the foreign forest she had found a good open space to train with her bows without having Björn breath down her neck all the time.

She looked around, trying to find a good tree as she got ready with her bow and arrow. Pulling the sting and arrow back as she focused on a tree rather far away, between a few others. It had been awhile since she had been alone to train. Some people might call it cheating since aiming at a tree wasn't as difficult as being attacked at the same time. She could only imagine what Rollo had to say about this, probably saying it was for inexperienced children to shoot at trees. However aiming at trees had developed her into a good shot and made it possible to develop her arrows. Why bother to try killing a man when you can't hit a standing tree in quite a distance.

After shooting a few arrows she decided to pick up her pace. Quickly finding a new tree each time after quickly reloading with a new arrow. Without counting she didn't know how many arrow that flew smoothly though the air, hitting tree after tree. A pleased expression on her face as her breath was slightly rugged and heart beated quickly in her chest. She had only missed once, the arrow had grazed the side of the tree but missed yet only to be hit by another arrow bullseye a few seconds after. She collected only a few of them before walking a little keeping into the forest, enjoying the soft sounds coming from it. Smaller birds were chirping, the wind blew softly in the crowns and she let out a sigh before closing her eyes. Inhaling, taking in the fresh air and smell of the trees. She stopped in her tracks when the sound of a familiar croaking was heard. Looking up she saw the familiar black bird, looking elegant as always. However it couldn't be the raven from the mountains but something deep inside her told her the opposite. The raven croaked again, the sound echoing in the hollow forest. It turned its face, looking at her with its black eyes and she felt the familiar naked feeling she had gotten from the one in the mountains. It croaked again before flying down a bit, getting closer to her.

"Go away I don't have any food." Vál mumbled before walking away and the raven croaked again. The sound of flapping was heard and soon she saw the raven sit on a branch above her. She stopped once again to only look at it with an annoyed expression. "Stop parasitize on me, you're a bird, an animal, get your own food!" She growled but the raven only croaked again, turning its head to look at her. It couldn't be any other raven than the one from the mountains, no other bird than that one had been this annoying, close or demanding. She took one of her arrows and aimed at the raven but it didn't fly away, only croaked again. A groan left her lips as she let the arrow almost hit the bird, only inches away. To her surprise it didn't fly away, it only sat there, observing her.

"Get some friends!" She growled again before walking back to the village. She quickly left her arrows and bow in her cabin before walking back outside to enjoy the energy of the village. By this time people had gotten out from their homes and had started their day. A small smile spread across her lips when she saw Björn and his mother by the area she had been fighting Rollo.