Ingrid

Erik was thrown into the dungeon of the swaying brig headfirst. He’d been caught yet again at his seemingly valiant deeds that somehow always failed in one way or another.

He sighed, rubbing the spot on his scalp that was sure to bruise in about an hour. The wood hull that made up the entire ship creaked as the brig sailed on the perilous ocean. All this fellow aspired to do was halt the upbringing of pirates roaming over the seven seas. But not just random pirates, no siree. The grandest ever gang of thieving fiends began elevating in publicity as their heists grew. Erik made it his mission to stop it.

Though the past few years had been… extremely unsuccessful—mainly resulting in him being locked up for a period of time—his determination would not cease.

Okay, maybe he was feeling a bit down breathing in the thick air of the damp chamber, but at least nothing could get worse at the moment.

Ironically, things did get worse a few hours later.

Erik had been drifting in and out of minute-long fits a sleep for a while now. It wasn’t until the grated hatch of the dungeon screeched open that startled him awake.

It had to have been the wee hours of morning—and his brain was still foggy from sleep.

He lifted his eyes just as another body fell on the the ground with a loud thud. Maybe even a slightly crack.

Erik dragged a tired hand down his face. Previous times he would get fellow companions in his imprisonment. Sometimes, they were actually tolerable people. Most times, plain galling.

The figure groaned in pain—not enough light in the chamber to see who it was clearly. But from the dark silhouette, he could tell it was someone with a strong frame.

Instead of acknowledging him, she—whatever her name was—crawled to the far and opposite corner of the prison.

There was no point in trying to reach out. He’d know by morning.

The brig was in full swing by the time Erik awoke. The swish of waves, shouts to one another from up deck, the ship life smell that reeked throughout the place.

Disgusting.

A weary groan came from the opposite side of the chamber.

Ah, yes—his partner in imprisonment for the next few days. The light of the sun peered through the bars, shining onto Erik. Yet there were still some shadowy areas that cast darkness on his new and forced friend.

Perhaps bringing up a casual conversation, maybe a bit of friendly banter, would bring him into the light—quite literally, he had hoped.

“So, what brings a lad like you into the cell of a brig, eh?”

Silence.

Until…

“Why would a chap like you be curious about that sort of thing?”

Erik was utterly surprised. The low and melodic voice of his comrade had been of a woman’s. There was a hint of familiarity in the tone, but he couldn’t place it just yet.

He replied, “Just trying to strike up a conversation. We’re gonna be here a while.”

The woman, whoever she was, chuckled. “You might stay here a while. I won’t be.”

He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better view of the lady in the shadows. She was planning on escaping, most likely that very night.

“If you’re gonna cut and run,” Erik started. “I want to go with you. If I can get a chance of not being here longer than I need to, I’m taking that chance.”

“Yeah, well I don’t take partners.” She scoffed. “If I’m on my own, I’m on my own. Pirates’ code.”

Pirate.

With two light thumps, two portions of what seemed to be outdated bread fell through the bars above them.

“Finally.” he said. “Breakfast.”

He grabbed some. It was crummy, hard, and stale. But after eating it so many times, it didn’t bother him all that much. Not that he wouldn’t mind a home cooked meal every now and then.

Erik then eyed the shadowed figure, and then picked up the other piece, gesturing that it was there.

The lady in the shadows sighed. “I can grab it myself.”

And out from the darkness emerged a woman with a strong physique, her eyes filled with a similar fire that fueled Erik.

Then it hit him.

“Ingrid?!” Erik bolted to his feet, but in response hit his head on the metal railing. He muttered something under his breath.

The woman squinted at him, utterly confused and defensive. “How do you know my name?”

“Aha! So it is you, Ingrid. Do not act as if you don’t remember me, older sister.”

It took a few moments for that to register in her mind. Ingrid replied as if angry, “Erik.”

After years of his older sister’s disappearance, Erik and the rest of their family back home assumed she was dead. Or ran away with a random man she fancied. But now he knew the truth.

The person he’d looked up to most of his life had been revealed to be part of the very enemy group he sought to bring down.

Erik threw the bread at her face.

Ingrid blinked. “…did you just—”

The bread bounced back to him, and he hit her again.

And again.

Until Ingrid finally caught it and stomped it with her foot until it was flat.

“This must be you’re first time being locked up. You shouldn’t have wasted your food, Ingrid.” he said, gnawing at his own food.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. “Look, I don’t care what you have to say—I haven’t seen you in years and that alone has ruined everything we had as children. But pirates? Really? Why is this what you’ve become?”

“Why do you care so much about what I am? I specifically thought I led you to believe that Leif and I’d run away.”

Erik decided to toss the rock for food. “We did. Whatever happened to that guy?”

“I killed him.”

…oh.

When he didn’t answer, Ingrid sighed. “Wait… I know what you are, little brother. You’re one of them. Those peace keepers or something.”

“I am.” he replied, standing firm in his words.

Ingrid only stared at him for a few seconds. Then she scoffed as she returned to her darkened corner. “Fine. I’m still leaving tonight though.”

“Then I’m coming with you,” Erik responded without hesitation. “No, actually, I’m not going with you. But we’re getting out of here together.”

She glared at him, sitting on the rough floor. “And why should I trust you?”

He wanted to say that he was her brother, but that bridge was already burned a while ago. Instead:

“From the looks of it, you’ve never been on a small ship like this one before. But I have multiple times. Most likely from your pirate group—” extra spite added. “—you know a way out. Put two and two together and we can cut and run.”

The two never said anything to each other for hours. Ingrid decided to talk a caulk for most of those twelve hours, even though she didn’t even work on the brig. He did the same, but not as long as her.

By the time he awoke, he heard crew on deck discussing careening the boat during the night shift. That meant a jolt here and there throughout the night. Erik debated on whether this would be good or bad for the escape.

He was going on that escape, whether Ingrid like it or not.

Erik must have fallen asleep once more, because once he opened his eyes again, Ingrid was already working on the lock.

She dropped the seax she must’ve hidden, then muttered a string of curses. The pirate life must’ve changed the viking he once knew.

Erik snatched it before Ingrid could pick it up.

“Give it back,” she ordered, obviously annoyed.

He clutched the object to his chest. “No. Not unless you take me with you.”

She groaned, rolling her eyes. “You’re such a baby, you know that? You still act like you were when we were kids. Trying to join me and father on our hunt, as an inexperienced child!”

“For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve tried to push me away.” He stood, keeping the weapon in hand away from her. “And the teenage moodiness hasn’t ceased, either.”

“I’m never in a bad mood. I’m just too tired to pretend I like you, that’s all.”

The two siblings eyed each other for what seemed to be at least an hour.

Ingrid groaned. “Just give me the seax so I can get us out of here.”

Erik stared at her, being difficult on purpose. But he finally gave in and handed her the weapon.

Ingrid rolled her eyes before picking the lock.

Minutes passed, and the lock fell onto the floor with a light clang.

Glaring at him, she remarked, “I picked the lock. It’s only fair if you push open the gate.”

“Fair? Are you kidding me?”

Ingrid shrugged. She wasn’t going to budge. Erik mirrored the expression she gave him not even five minutes ago. “Ugh. Fine. But when I die, I’m telling Mother everything you’ve done. She won’t like it.”

Erik lifted up the grate, cringing with it toppled over with a loud clang on the deck. He turned back to her. “You don’t think anyone heard that, do you?”

Ingrid’s expression was blank. “What do you mean when you die?”

“I’m going to die someday, am I not?” Using his upper body strength, he hauled himself over the top of the musty prison cell of the brig.

He lay on his back, taking in the fresh and salty air a couple days earlier than usual. The icy air whipped against his face, but hey, it was better than being in the smelly hull. She came out next, her stern gaze never wavering from his features.

“That’s not what I mean. What happened to Mother?”

Erik stood, using his arm to block the Black Squall that was sure to come. They needed to get somewhere—anywhere—else soon. He started scanning the deck for boxes of supplies, food, and maybe even he’d find Maude.

“Erik.” Ingrid raised her voice slightly, almost scolding.

“Oh, yeah,” Erik found a crowbar and pried open a barrel. “She passed last year.”

Ingrid dropped whatever she was holding, and it was heavy. “WHAT?”

“Will you be quiet? You’re so loud, you’re gonna wake the crew. A squall’s a-coming. We’ll be marooned if we don’t move fast, Ingrid.”

He decided it was best to keep his back turned towards her. She’d done it to his family for the longest time, why couldn’t he?

The storm was just on the horizon and the waves teased onto the deck. They needed to move fast. For a ship of that small of a size, it was a lucky day if it had a rowboat for one. Erik only hoped Ingrid had a plan for that.

He stumbled upon a chest in a shadowy corner near the stairs that led to the helm, and using his crowbar—who was now named Jon—pried it open because it had a lock, and he didn’t have anything to pick it, and a weapon of brute force would wake—

That’s when Ingrid used a bulky weapon to smash something, loud enough for something to come looking for suspicious activity on deck. He whipped his head around.

“What the heck are you doing??” he whisper-shouted.

Ingrid shrugged plainly, an axe in hand. “I needed to open this barrel. Besides, smashing things is fun.”

“No, it’s not. Okay, well maybe it is for you pirates but it isn’t for me, who’s trying not to get caught!”

Ingrid held the axe over her shoulder, like it was natural even though she hadn’t held one since she left home. “We can just get revenge on them, no big deal.”

Erik eyed the axe. “Wait, give that to me, that’s mine!”

“I found it.” She quipped, holing it possessively.

“You don’t understand, that’s Maude you’re holding.”

Ingrid laughed—although it was like a “Ha!” it hadn’t been something he had heard in a while. “So that’s what you named your legendary weapon. I should’ve known you would pick something as stupid as that.”

“It’s not stupid!”

She chuckled louder. “Look, you’re turning red.”

“It’s the wind, Ingrid!”

“Give me my crossbow then.”

“What? Oh.”

Yeah, he found a crossbow in the chest he broke into. She owned something like this? Well, of course she did, wasn’t this the common weapon for pirates nowadays?

It didn’t matter. He wanted Maude back.

That’s when the door to the main cabin creaked open and both Erik and Ingrid stood there frozen for a second.

An old man emerged. He had to either be blind or really dumb because he did not notice neither of the two on deck.

Erik locked eyes with the pirate and shook his head no at her making a gesture to knock him out with the butt of the axe. When that idea was turned down, she wanted him to shoot him with the crossbow in hand.

"NO," he mouthed.

Another voice came from the cabin. “…you shouldn’t be out—” And then the second guy came out, and spotted Erik with his weapon ready in a split second. “HEY YOU!”

“GO!” Erik shouted, sprinting for the far end of the ship.

Ingrid started climbing the mast. “THERE’S NOWHERE TO GO, IDIOT.”

“JUST GO SOME—”

The hull of the ship rocked violently back and forth. Not only had they hit shallow waters, but the dark clouds that formed directly overhead.

Erik reached the bowspirit and nearly fell. The icy waves were launching onto the deck now. One mistake and he’d be meeting his mother.

“Erik!” Ingrid called, clinging onto the top of the mast. “Shallow water! A town’s up ahead! We can swim—”

“NO, the water is to frigid, we’ll die!”

That one crew member had alerted the rest of the brigade of the ship. Some had already tried started shaking the mast to knock Ingrid down, the rest coming straight towards Erik at the bowspirit.

She had Maude, his particular weapon. He was worried for a second, But deep down, he knew not to doubt his sister for a second. Ingrid was a viking by blood. These idiots for a crew wouldn’t know what hit them.

As for Erik, he had never held a crossbow in his life until this very moment. Those men charging towards him held various blades, and he had a weapon he had no idea how to use. There was this trigger… he could swing the dull thing but those kitchen knives could kill him quicker than that.

A raindrop hit the top of his head. Then another. Until they began sputtering down from the black sky.

CRAAACK.

A flash of bright, white light flashed some way into the sea. The ship jolted again, and this time Erik found himself on his stomach. It was now or never.

He locked eyes with Ingrid. Never in their lives had they fought—or even hunted—together. Not even as children. Maybe his older sister had betrayed him by leaving to become a pirate, but she was still his sister.

What happened next was a blur. Erik rose to his feet just as Ingrid leaped onto the deck from the mast. With blunt force, she ran through the men with blades, earning a few cuts in response. But it was a small ship anyway. Ingrid tossed him Maude and he did the same with the crossbow.

And then, they fought.

Every swing.

Every kick.

Every push.

It mattered as it had been decided in the beginning it was either escape or be killed. Or be killed by escaping.

One mistake was one mistake they didn’t need.

With each crack of lightning, the rain intensified. As the rain intensified, the rocking of the ship grew. As the rocking of the ship grew, it was harder to stay put.

The waves kept crashing on, taking one victim at a time. The water intended to take Erik next, knocking off his balance. Yelling, he fell off the ship, hanging onto the bowspirit with one hand, Maude in the other.

“Erik!” Ingrid cried. She dropped to her knees, holding out a hand.

“Ingrid, the crew—”

“The water’s handling em.”

This was the first time he saw anything else other than determination in her expression. It was something he couldn’t explain, but something that he just knew.

Erik grunted, hitting the edge of the ship with his axe, then gripped Ingrid’s arm for dear life.

After hauling him onto the deck, she held him close.

Everything around him ceased—the waves, the swaying the storm. There was silence and warmth within that moment.

But even a few seconds that could last days had to end.

She grunted, lifting a man her size off the ground and tossed him into the air. Erik yelled, then groaned when he landed headfirst again. But for the first time in forever, the ground was solid.

That impact knocked him out.

Morning came. Everything from the escape the previous night had changed. Gentle waves washed against his feet on the sand. The only only thing "bad" was the multiple bruises on his head pulsing when he sat up.

From the looks of it, the only remnants of everything were a few pieces of broken brig, along with Maude, Jon, and his new crossbow friend at his side.

Erik decided it was only right to name it after the person who would stay by his side no matter what.

Ingrid.