When we left the the courtyards lighting, we see that it has become light enough, and in the dawn light it is easy to take the steeper, quicker route down to the harbour and the sauna jetty, as the enemy did, instead of taking the long way around the cliff. We have no lights on, so we are a little more discreet and do not attract unnecessary attention, but our weapon lights are ready, as is Raneigh's helmet light. Alith calls out to the nearest group, and some of them follow us and protect us. We avoid the barns so that we have a clear view around us, where our firearms give us an advantage.

We can see faint movements of people on the other side of the strait, who appear to be armed with something, and people are shouting to each other across the water. It is islanders on the other side getting ready to face the boat's intruders. Angry voices wanting bloody revenge. A longship is bobbing perhaps a hundred metres down the strait. There are attempts to paddle with an oar on the side we can see, and there is probably one on the other side too. The enemy seems to be crouching down and just trying to row south. We can't see any of them and guess they are either lying down in the boat or just cautiously peeking over the railing. Lifa has taken us to Asta's group, and I give the order:

"I want three strong men from the crew to take the faering and catch the enemy ship by throwing a rope around its dragon and rowing it back to the jetty." Not easy with only two rowers in the small faering, but better than letting the longship drift. "We will protect you from the higher cliffs to the south, and we don't need any more prisoners. If they resist, the enemy will learn the consequences. We will try to shoot."

There is some confusion when six set off for the faering, so I order most of them to stay here with Asta and follow her orders. We head south and up onto the cliff, finding useful firing positions with trees, branches and rocks for support just a few metres apart and decent cover all around.

"Alith! Shoot if any enemy appears over the railing. Raneigh! Ryla! Lifa! Keep an eye on our rear and sides so that no one can sneak up on us! We'll keep an eye on the ship and the strait. You two," I point to two of the men we have with us, "walk 30 steps over there and keep watch!"

I switch to the hunting rifle. I should have experimented with night sights, but even better iron sights with recessed white dots of horn or paint or luminescent paint would probably have been enough in the light right now, because the existing black sights are basically useless in the dawn light and light fog. So I turn on the laser sight and start sweeping the laser along the railing. The laser is clearly visible in the faint dawn light. The oars on the longship are lifted, as if someone has thrown themselves down for cover, and I hear shocked cries coming across the sound. I can imagine what it looks like from the other side: a thin red beam of light shimmering through the dawn mist. The middle of the strait should be about 130 metres from here, and if they pull the longship to the jetty, the longship will stay 100 to 150 metres away all the way in, i.e. almost perfect distance when the laser is set to 100 metres, and not much difference in height on the hunting rifle's bullet trajectory. The height we are at means that we are not shooting straight towards the other side of the strait, but slightly down towards the water. Good enough. I try to calm my nerves and my breathing. It goes unexpectedly well. The oar makes a couple of attempts to row, but it's not effective. As the faering approaches, I see a body rising above the railing and both Alith and I shoot. The body falls, seems to be hit, but that's irrelevant as long as they give up and don't try anything. Alith reloads while I continue to sweep the red laser along the railing and just above. I try to psych them into not resisting. They probably have no real understanding of what happened in the battle at Thrymheim, and hopefully the enemy already associates the red laser beam with danger. Red is the colour of blood, danger and strength. Just a thin, red, shimmering beam of light through the darkness, and they've definitely never seen anything like it before.

I catch myself making a rolling r-r-r-r sound like in the film 'The Predator'.

Shit.

The crew gets a rope around the dragon's head and slowly the ship begins to be towed in. We hear some shouting and the crew shouts that the enemy is surrendering, but I keep shining the laser. There are many are waiting at the bridge, some with bows and arrows, and when the rope around the longship is taken over by people on the bridge, I turn off the laser and start reloading while keeping an eye on the situation. There are shouts to keep their hands up, give up and don't do anything stupid. Once the longship is dragged ashore, two men hold their hands in the air and climb ashore, one enemy is bleeding and injured, his arm hanging limply. They are quickly tied up. There are shouts that there is a dead body in the ship, one shoulder a bloody mess. Alith gives me a hard hug with a lot of emotions. We go down to join them, but Alith, Raneigh and Ryla don't dare risking my life, for which I can only be grateful, so we stay in the background by the sauna where we have some cover. Raneigh, Lifa and the extra men continue to keep an eye behind us, away from the enemy and what is happening by the longship. I hope it's all over.

I get another hug and a discreet quick kiss from Alith before we hurry back to Thrymheim. Alith quietly says that she is so happy I am unharmed this time and that she made it in time. She hopes everything is over but does not want to relax until I am safe. I myself no longer have any adrenaline, only anger and weariness.

We have seven living prisoners. Eleven dead enemies. Eighteen who attacked.

The balcony is detached from the house with a broken ladder next to it, and there are a couple of bodies further down on the cliffs. One appears to have landed on his head, and we shot another that had broken legs etc. One body is impaled up among the branches of a tree and is missing an arm; they had missed him during the initial search. A couple that Alith shot with pump-action rifle from the door fell down the cliff, and one landed on its face, while a couple of others were hit in the head and the back of the head and face and all are ... messy. Alith, Ciara and I shot at what we saw and what was moving, and did very well even though some shots missed and some enemies where hit more than once. Air rifles are very deadly in 800-900 joule Power 4 mode, although a good hit is required for instant death. The revolver is also deadly, although good aim and shot placement are much more important against an enemy wearing armour. However, the same applies to bows and swords too. A throwing spike is stuck deep in an enemy's chest, through the leather he was wearing. Probably not quickly fatal, but definitely unpleasant, and the lung is probably punctured. Not that it made any difference, as Alith also hit him with a rifle shot to the throat that took out his spine and half separated his head from his body. There's a large axe stuck in the outside of my balcony door. That explains the heavy thudding noises.

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I get nauseas again when I follow the trail of blood up the wall and discover that there is a severed arm hanging in my bedroom's south window. Guess that his arm was stuck in the iron bars of the window when the owner was moved away by the balcony, and he landed in the trees. The man probably bled to death from the traumatic injury, or from being impaled on branches in the tree.

Blood everywhere in the courtyard, along and on the outer walls. Splatters on the sides of the porch. Marks from shotguns and holes from rifle fired by Alith from the kitchen. Thrymheim's beautiful façade. It's good that Alith actually thought about how an air rifles heavy bullets could have gone through Thrymheim's plank façade and on through the insulation and log wall behind it and into the house if things had gone badly. But she aimed well and the bodies and their armour took the bullets or at least flattened them, even if a couple over-penetrated. Air rifles on Power 3 and 15 gram bullets are absolutely sufficient for combat, but of course, its energy and bullet size is similar to .45 ACP that has been used for its stopping power.

I take pictures and video with my camera to document, and take pictures of all the dead faces, even though some are hardly worth it. I probably shot one with the Boomstick, considering where he was lying, even though I aimed at centre mass. All the shots from the kitchen turned two faces into a bloody messes. Powerful firearms at a few metres are not to be trifled with, and even though the pump-action rifles is 'only' a powerful pistol in medium mode, it is absolutely lethal at close range, and it is a large lead bullet that flattens out and effectively dumps its energy. Just no quick, clean death against someone wearing chain mail or not hitting them in the head or neck. If I use the revolver against an enemy who is rushing towards me, it will definitely be at least two shots to the chest, and if possible, followed by a shot to the head. If they have plate armour or chain mail, I should aim for the head or legs. I need to test armour-piercing bullets with a hardened steel core. Or switch to heavier bullets in the RY1 air revolver. A lower muzzle velocity is actually no problem if it gives better armour penetration, because it doesn't matter how much the bullet drops at even a 100 metres.

We lock the survivors in the vault of the wing basement and put Hillevi and Hrappr on guard with an oil lamp that illuminates the enemy where they lie on the stone floor. The enemy are Daeser from across the sea to the southwest. I send Gunhild with a double shotgun in her hands to join some of the now well-armed sailors to check that all the residents are okay and, together with two better-armed groups of workers, to check that there are no more unknown people or ships anchored anywhere. If we hear her shooting, we will assume that there are enemies in that direction. Olafr and the others in the village have gathered with weapons and are okay, and we are in telephone contact with them. The telephone is worth its weight in gold! Bodil's wounds are being examined by Unn and Amba, and we have barricaded ourselves again and locked Thrymheim's front door. It's frankly incredible that Bodil is the only one of us who has been injured!

I need to interrogate the prisoners. Find out who they are. Where they come from. If someone powerful is behind this who needs to learn that actions have consequences. They are Daeser Vikings, and they must already expect to be tortured because they have been captured - I have heard the stories that people tell here. And some of the Sagas. They may lie or refuse to talk in order to face death bravely and perhaps make themselves worthy of Valhalla even as prisoners tortured to death, especially if they have not made a sound or shown weakness. I need to get them to talk, and I can't use Hanns Scharff's method of kindness and becoming the interrogated's friend and advocate. I need to make them fear and feel dread. Truly abysmal fear and dread mixed with shock. They've already had the shock, because they shouldn't have expected all the thunder like sounds and the consequences. It must be like Thor himself is angry with them for attacking me, but I can make it worse. I need to make them really fear me and what I can do. What I might do. Fear Sejdmann Robert Arnesson's power. Fear for their souls. Magic mixed with psychology and religion. I don't like what I'm about to do, but there's no Geneva Convention here, and it's milder than all the other options, and faster and probably more effective.

A damn poor excuse.

At least the lightning machine is better than Ciara's suggestion to use a vegetable peeler and grater on them, because just cutting them with a knife is too quick, and they won't ever need something like their manhood again. I talk to my sambos, Alith and Bodil. I make a plan and tell them briefly what it means. Iselin, Caecilia and Jane don't want to know the details as soon as I mention the lightning machine, but Jane can guess and she shudders, and she just says to do what I have to do and she loves me no matter what. Kari wants them to suffer, for me to make them regret they were ever born, so she likes it when I tell her and she wants to see. Ciara hugs me, kisses me and wants to help. She says she needs to help. She has to help punish them. I'm a little worried, but I think Ciara needs to do this. I tell her she has to promise me that if she feels the slightest hesitation or discomfort, she has to tell me. She has to, for my sake. Ciara promises, thanks me and gives me a hug while smiling. My wonderful Ciara.

We prepare in the basement. It's crowded down here with all the furniture in pieces, windows and so on, but we can use the larger open space. Two chairs. One for me and one for the prisoner, a few metres apart. Two combination lamps aimed at the prisoner's face slightly behind me in classic interrogation style, hiding Ciara and the others. The handheld spotlights are charging. Alith will stand behind me. Hillevi will stand behind the enemy. I roll a few barrels and stack them up so that the camera on its tripod can record. After I have unscrewed the copper rods from the lightning machine, we carry it down to the basement, and I connect long copper wires, one to each chair arm. The copper wires are hidden in the chair and will be wrapped around the prisoner's wrists. Ciara will stand hidden behind one of the lamps with the lightning machine. We agree on gestures so that I don't have to say anything to make it more magical. I prepare all of them for what I'm going to say and imply, so they don't start believing what I say, even though it's already a little too late for that.

I don't want to eat breakfast before, and am just about to start questioning the first one when Gunhild comes running. They have found Iselin's parents. Those bastards tortured and killed Iuli and Gyra! It must have been a coincidence that they were the only ones to have been attacked, but it changes things. Iselin is distraught, and all I can do is hold her. She wants to see her parents, but both Gunhild and I stop her. We don't want her last memory of them to be of that. Iselin just cries, and Unn offers to take care of them. Her parents were going to have a good life here!

Iselin wants to be part of the interrogation and says that if any of the prisoners are guilty, she wants to electrocute them. Electrocute them until they no longer move. I try to stop her, but she wants blood and revenge. She wants the guilty ones to suffer at her hands. I'm not happy about it, because I think it will change her forever, but her parents' death has surely already changed her. Iselin won't give up, so against my better judgement, I give in. Better she crank the handle than uses a vegetable peeler on their manhood and body.

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