Evanthia Year 6: After a long sea voyage, the Vikings arrived on British shores for the very first time.

The sea glinted in the sun. It stung my eyes as we boarded onto the ship. We were searching for new land: a peaceful land, unlike the one we live in. I stepped on the ship and I already felt uneasy. I shouldn’t have signed up for this. 

The horn wailed for us to leave. The waves calmed me down – the noise of the sea always did. But it reminded me of my Father’s brave venture across the ocean; a brave venture he never came back from. That’s why I signed up for this. To finish what my father couldn’t. 

The bell signalled for us to leave. I was terrified of the sea and what they say that lies in it, but I felt excited to explore the unknown.

“Ari,” said my friend Aud, “You wanna go up top, to see the view?”

My stomach hurt at the thought of being on top of the wooden deck that could fall at any minute, into the dark, stormy sea.

“No thanks, I’m gonna sit at the prow,” I spoke, while making sure the fear in my eyes wasn’t seen.

I prayed that Aud wouldn’t question more and he didn’t. He just smiled and walked off.

The dragon-shaped wood was in memory of my father, who found an island, but was killed days later by a sea beast. It was very detailed and like the waves, calmed me down. But what happened next didn’t.

The ship shook. People were screaming as I fell over. I held my breath. Aud was still up on top, I saw him, hanging on for dear life. He couldn’t keep that up for long. The ship shook again. I didn’t have to look to check but I did anyway. Aud was gone. 

The ship was back to normal. A sea beast had hit it, but carried on moving. I sat in my cabin. If I had said yes to being up there, it would have been me as well. 

“That was a blessing from your father you know,” said a voice.

“What, that my friend is dead, or the boat is ok?” I spat.

“The second,” Captain Loki muttered. 

“So are you here to make me grieve more?”

“No actually, I wanted to tell you that we found a piece of information that your friend saw before he fell.”

“Go on,” I said, softly this time.

“He spotted an island through his telescope, a big island, the one that your father was trying to find,” he said while leaving. 

The next month of the ship was silent, nothing happened apart from another shake. This time I didn’t fall, I stood my ground and carried on with my work. The Captain’s wife and I became friends. She demanded to come on board, and I can’t blame her.

I enjoyed her company, but I was wary. She was also close with Aud and that’s why when he fell off the ship, Loki didn’t care due to his jealousy. 

It seemed pretty sick that Loki thought that way, and that he was driving this ship. The Captain’s wife’s name was Astrid and she was one of the nicest women I had ever met. I began going on the crows-nest every day, it reminded me of Aud and everything he did for me. Astrid came running into my cabin.

“Ari,” she said breathless, “We found something.”

 I ran out of my cabin, leaving Astrid in my dust. 

“In other words, we have found the place that Adgar Dowsing was determined to find!” exclaimed Captain Loki.

I seethed with rage, he found it but just never made it back to tell people of it. Only I was allowed to think of it that way. Astrid finally caught up, stamping her heel down when she ran. 

“So what we have to do is kill the sea beasts and claim the new land!”

A roar of approval filled the boat, maybe a little too loud. 

The ship took a hit, people started screaming, again. It was lucky I wasn’t in the crows-nest, or I would be dead. Filled with terror, I suddenly realised that there was a hole in the ship and that I would probably die anyway. 

Everyone ran to the top of the ship, knocking me over in the process. This majestic wooden ship would be destroyed and I would go down with it. 

That’s when it hit me: wooden. I ran down to the bottom of the ship, it was filled to bursting with water. I heard Astrid screaming for me to come up, I took a deep breath and swam under and grabbed the spare wood with me. I had done it… I just needed to get out.

Cheering echoed through the ship as we reached land; we finally did what my father tried to. I was proud of myself and all the people who had helped me get there, but they’re not people.

They’re warriors.