Chapter 345 The Calm Before The Storm PT. 3



Tyr searched, Aslaug and Eva were not his priority and he soon abandoned them after he departed from his brother. 

Tyr did not have the mental capacity to worry about multiple people or he risked putting himself in danger. 

"Fuck!" Tyr cussed because he knew that if anything happened to Estrid, he might as well be dead. After all, there was no way that Rugalf would let it slide. 

Tyr was seen given a silver lining, he saw a piece of clothing worn by Estrid laying trampled on the ground. 

Tyr saw it was at the entrance of a door, he was not stupid and knew that this was most definitely a trap.

But whatever was behind that door would answer his question.

Tyr opened it but no traps were waiting for him inside which was a surprise.

This made him more paranoid as he could not comprehend why the cloth was there.

Did Estrid manage to drop it there without anyone noticing? That was highly unlikely but then again, the piece of fabric could belong to anyone and the fact that it was trampled showed that no one paid much attention to it. 

The door creaked, eliminating the element of surprise but Tyr did not need that. 

The room was empty, which was strange but he noticed the ground around had a trail of blood. 

It led to a corner of the room and there it was, a door with "here?" written on it in blood. 

"What the fuck is this?" Tyr thought, whoever was doing this was clearly playing a game with him. 

"Estrid!" Tyr shouted but what he got in response were muffled cries. 

Tyr rushed to the door without a moment's hesitation but before he twisted the door knob, he considered what might be behind it. 

He tightened his hand on the sword in it before breaking through the door with force. 

Tyr noticed the floor beneath him had broken shards of glass littered but this was the least of his worries as he saw the person bound and gagged on the chair. 

The person there was not Estrid, Tyr was disappointed by this development but behind the person was another message written in blood.

"Try again"

Tyr hesitated, he did not know if he should save the girl or leave her to her devices because she was yet to even see his face. 

But did she know anything? She must have and Tyr knew he needed all the information he needed.

He removed her gag and she immediately began making whimpering noises. 

Tyr changed the tone of his voice as a precaution so she would not recognize it or the fact that he was here. 

"Who did this to you?" Tyr asked but the girl was not speaking, she kept making that insufferable sound. 

Tyr realized soon after that whoever did this had cut out her tongue. 

Tyr was certain that whoever did this was well prepared, this was not a random act but rather, planned. 

It was not something planned overnight, whatever that was happening would have happened regardless of the circumstances.

Tyr knew he could not leave her and tried to move her but the moment he did, he heard something cut and what followed was an arrow impaling the girl. 

Tyr immediately gained distance, looking around but he saw no one.

This was a booby trap but this was the first time Tyr had seen such a thing.

Tyr knew he needed to get out of there as soon as possible but he could perceive smoke. 

Tyr jerked his head back and he could see the smoke entering through the spaces of the door.

Tyr soon heard hurried footsteps, someone was trying to kill him.

There was no doubt about this, Tyr found himself in a dire situation and did not know how to navigate through this. 

"An exit?!" Tyr was relieved when he saw an exit exempting the one he came through.

Tyr immediately tried to barge through the door but it did not bulge, the black smoke slowly filled the room and this limited the oxygen he could breathe. 

Tyr kept banging on the door but each time he did, he became weaker. 

The strength was leaving his body and he eventually would succumb to it, buckling to his knees. 

Tyr's throat tightened but he soon heard the door being broken through from the outside. 

The anime had filled his lungs and in that moment, Tyr saw a silhouetted man with a crow on his shoulder but this could be what we know in modern times as deathbed visions. 

Tyr felt his body leave the ground but this was not because of some divine intervention but rather because the individual hitting the door from the outside succeeded. 

Tyr caught his breath, coughing aggressively as his eyes teared up due to the asphyxiation.

He looked up and saw Finn, Finn had managed to save him in the nick of time and Tyr could not have been more grateful that they followed him here. 

"I am so fucking glad to see you…" Tyr muttered under his breath with Finn smiling in response and nodding. 

"Where is Nora?" Tyr asked as he managed to regain himself, standing on his feet. 

Finn scribbled his response on the floor.

"She is chasing the person that set the building ablaze, huh?" Tyr read out loud but he was worried about her safety because he knew he could not risk losing her as her life served a greater purpose. 

It was the one thing keeping Noa in check and the last thing he needed was for Noa to go rogue. 

Nora was smart enough to leave a trail that they could follow but Tyr began to wonder how they knew he was there. Now was not the time to suspect his own people of foul play.

Right now, all that mattered was Estrid's safety as both followed the trail left by Nora. 

-

Grjötgard took this as an incursion as opposed to what they initially thought, he assembled his men as they were prepared for actual warfare. 

Grjötgard was a powerful warrior but an even better leader, the fact that he decided to treat this with such a firm hand only showed just how serious it had gotten. 

They spread out, hunting and killing anyone that dare put up resistance but they also noticed that Gryting's men were far more prone to resist than Tryggve.

Tryggve's men did not resist at all, they surrendered the moment they knew things had escalated.

Their target was limited but a horn had been sounded moments before. 

Grjötgard suspected that this had something to do with their surrender but what he wanted to know was why Gryting's men were fighting so desperately.

He sensed an ulterior motive and knew that maybe the suspicion surrounding Ludvig was true. 

But things were coming to an end because the Vikings under Gryring were no match for those of Rogaland. 

Rogaland had a very gruelling training method for their Vikings that resulted in the death of some but those that survived became powerful warriors. 

Of course, power doesn't mean invulnerability as they were prone to be outmatched by skilful warriors.

Grjötgard knew that Rugalf entertained this idea and this might have been bait by his older brother to force the event into attacking before the expedition.

They had established with this that they could not rely on their supposed allies as their allegiance might have been compromised along the line. 

They had no intention of being stabbed in the back should an actual war break out. 

The standby forces waiting a couple of distance away did not go unnoticed by them and it was even reported to Rugalf but Rugalf did not think that they would be so brave as to attempt such a bold attack on them. 

He gave them the benefit of the doubt that they did so for security purposes but there was no way that this could be a coincidence.

Grjötgard cautioned his brother that this would happen and they should confront King Gryting but Rugalf opposed it. A man could hide his true intentions when confronted but true intentions acted on would tell you all you needed to know. 

Even at the cost of lives because now there was irrefutable proof that King Gryting was not an ally. 

Grjötgard sighed, he could not believe that everything played out exactly as they thought it would but the death of Tor was the one thing they did not see coming. 

Did King Gryting kill Tor because he knew King Tryggve would react the way he did, this would put a smokescreen on his own assault, leaving them unprepared. The dots were connecting a little too well for any of this not to be connected. 

"B-Big brother!" A voice called out, and Grjötgard adjusted his head to see the direction Vegard's voice was coming from. 

He saw his younger brother running to him, snot rolling down his nose as Grjötgard heaved a loud sigh of relief the moment he saw him. 

"Vegard, you little runt! I am glad you are alright," Grjötgard said. Vegard knew not to stay there because he did not know if Thorgard would return or the enemies' night would find him so he just ran as fast as he could. Luckily, they ran into Grjötgard.

"It is the cripple, big brother…." Vegard warned.

"Cripple?" Grjötgard asked to which Vegard responded.

"King Gryting…"