Capítulo 3: A Different World
"Are you looking after me just because of a simple prophecy told by a fraud?" Haldor changed some parts of his clothes when he found drier ones, as he was soaked from the heavy rain.
Ravyn, who had bandaged a wound, changed his expression and said, "It's not just a prophecy. What the seer says always comes true, no matter what happens next in the world."
'I suppose everyone has their own source of beliefs. The Vikings believe in their gods, so to keep my throat safe, I shouldn't criticize these divine beliefs any further.' Haldor thought after seeing Ravyn's hostile attitude.
Thus, the two walked together, stumbling under the rain. Perhaps because they were far from the north, the cold was not so unbearable, and by staying in motion, nothing too dangerous happened to them. Although they were in a forest of ashes and dry trees, they didn't suffer much because the muddy slopes could be avoided at first. During their meal break, they even harvested a nest of rabbits, which they hunted and hung on the hilt of a knife.
However, as Ravyn had said, they were being pursued by the enemy, so there wasn't much time to rest before resuming their journey away from the northern border.
Helgar didn't need to know history to figure out that the hostility of the land was due to the flora and fauna. Since the kingdom lived in the north, food was a product they lacked compared to what they knew so far. There was an extreme outbreak, and beyond that place lay the territories of the free men, who had somehow found a way to cross the critical climate to reach the other side of the extreme north, which was the territory of Frostgard, a kingdom of more than five hundred mountain tribes.
Harald Hardrada, Haldor's father, was still alive, but he was old and would soon select his descendants. Once he did, that person would become the Viking King and rule the snowy mountains where more than five hundred Viking tribes, totaling around five hundred thousand strong warriors, lived.
"We can't stay until the rain stops; the gods are furious, so we must keep moving," Ravyn said, very nervous about everything that was happening on the road.
Haldor couldn't help but criticize this; divine stories were not something he was excited to believe in.
According to Ravyn, ghosts and gods are unpredictable, and with a single movement, they killed most deserters and completely erased the original path.
Therefore, the two could only walk strongly through the back of the mountain without clear paths, walking for an entire day without seeing other living people. It wasn't until the afternoon of the second day that they saw a group of maybe three people sitting on a mountainside.
They took shelter from the rain under a large tree, and there was actually a winding path beside the large tree, but neither of them knew where it led.
"Those gods you speak of have really shown you the way home." Haldor felt relieved to see more people, besides Ravyn, who kept praying. "I was thinking that if the road continued as it is now, even if we managed to return home, I would end up dying of pneumonia. Fortunately, we met other people besides ravens, beasts, and mud. Let's greet them."
Ravyn was speechless.
In theory, he would like to find a larger group, but one that is inconspicuous, safer, and where he can get more information. But at the same time, he was vaguely worried because they were all in a disorganized army, far from normal order, and undisciplined. They had just experienced a large-scale life-and-death incident, so anything could happen now.
But now that he was the only one alive, how could he, an old man, fear meeting enemies again?
When the duo approached, two people from the group sheltering under a tree immediately stood up, but Ravyn signaled Haldor to step forward to negotiate with those people.
Only now did Haldor learn from those men's words that the Viking army was settled in these mountains. How were the Vikings supposed to be at war against the free men on the other side of the north?
To Haldor, both sides should belong to the same side and only fight to see who is stronger. After a while, Ravyn seemed to convince those people to start a journey together.
But at that moment, Haldor noticed the person who did not respond under the large tree. He held the knife in one hand and pointed to the tree with the other. "You two, is that man your companion?"
These people were warriors who had faced others on the southernmost border. Their group was almost exterminated, but they managed to successfully kill all the invaders. A man in a thick coat named Anders seemed to be the strongest, accompanied by a thinner man named Hans, who did not take his eyes off Haldor, and the last was a man on the ground whose condition told Haldor he was in critical health.
"We found him on the way; we don't know if he fled from our group and hasn't said a word before. We don't even know when he will die."
Hearing this, Haldor was a little surprised, and Ravyn, a warrior who had sadly lost all his men, stepped forward and asked, "Can you keep walking? If you can, come and leave the mountain with us so you can find a way to survive."
The man under the tree heard Ravyn's words and finally turned slowly under the rain, but his face was terribly pale, and he did not speak. He only shook his head slightly, then weakly held an unsheathed sword in his arms and turned away.
"No external injury, that leaves us with two options: he exerted himself too much to the point of exhaustion, or he is starving to death," Hans turned and whispered to his friend Anders, "We can't do anything with a paralyzed man in this place."
"Don't pay too much attention to him." Anders seemed to be the one making decisions for his group; at least when he mentioned this, Hans's little interest faded.
"Our strength is limited; we are facing a natural disaster, and it's raining. It's good to save a bit of extra strength that we might need later. Do we have to carry such a burden with us?"
Another man under the tree surprised Ravyn, who had not noticed his presence, and then another one walked from afar with rabbits on his shoulder.
Haldor thought for a moment but had nothing to say. The other three were not happy, and he himself was still suffering some kind of weakness in his muscles from the long walk he had. How could he help?
"Wait a minute..."
However, just as he was about to leave with the other three people, Ravyn turned around and looked at Haldor, who had spoken.
He didn't know if it was because of his carefree sense of life or because this reality was not real for him until recently. But he didn't know why the man holding the sword seemed special to him. That feeling suddenly arose within him, making him intervene.
Immediately, he approached under the complicated gaze of the other three people, took out two dry food pancakes hidden in his arms, and put them in the arms of the man under the tree.
When the man saw the food, he looked up, and his pale lips moved slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent and even turned his head again. Haldor paid no attention and turned around to return to the group, holding a double-edged sword in his right hand.
"Why waste food on a vagabond?" Hans was a little dissatisfied.
"He is still human, a man from the northern lands, so this is the least I can do." Haldor was dissatisfied with this man's lack of sensitivity, so he asked, "Tell me, warrior, would you like to starve to death in a place like this? Everyone would need to eat at least something if they were hungry. Besides, you seem to be a very strong man, and it would be a shame if you died in a place like this, without honor."
Haldor stopped; his gaze seemed interested in having a personal guard, and it seemed that this man had no other purpose than to continue living.
"I would have ended up in this state too if it weren't for Ravyn's help. It's not pity, but certainly, I don't want him to die in this place."
Anders' group of men finally stopped talking and continued their journey, now joined by Haldor and Ravyn.
This time, probably because they were following a trail, they began to encounter other men who were hunters along the way, and the team grew larger and larger.
However, due to the continuous rain and the loud noise caused by the dragon attack yesterday, everyone was weak and scared. Although they did their best to support each other, they had few words among them because they feared causing the gods' wrath again.
This surprised Haldor; these people believed that all these natural disasters were caused by the gods' fury and not by a dragon's involvement. But the two people who knew the truth, even Ravyn, did not mention what they saw with their own eyes yesterday, making the conversation even more complicated.
Everyone simply insisted on heading west, preparing to cross the mountainous area and return to the land controlled by the Vikings, Frostgard.
Thus, they walked for three consecutive days. The rain continued and made it increasingly difficult for everyone.
There was no way they could make it. Haldor's body was getting more and more tired, food was becoming scarcer, and it was becoming harder to make a fire. In this situation, everyone, including Ravyn, threw away their heavy armor, leaving only the armor that could be used as protection against the cold and fire. They didn't even have helmets to protect them from the rain, and as for their weapons, they only kept light daggers and long spears that could be used as crutches.
Then, they even discarded precious items like gold, silver, and copper plates. It was really a shame to abandon weapons and armor, but leaving wealth behind generated tough feelings to process.
Along the way, people kept gathering, and more people kept falling behind. They often took a short break and then began not to follow them. However, there were also people who bowed their heads in the middle of the road and rolled down the hill. Those who saw this could only grit their teeth because of their bad luck and continue their way. No one even thought of looking, waiting, or rescuing others; they knew they would die if they did.
Only once did a man move to pick up his brother's corpse.
In such a situation, the group's morale naturally became more and more depressing.
However, for Haldor himself, there was good news during this period: in the last few days, his legs had gradually stabilized. This morning, he could even move that icy energy hidden within him.
Undoubtedly, having control over his own body greatly increased his sense of security. But even so, the matter of having traveled through time was something he didn't tell anyone. He kept staying at the back of the group while holding his sword and still wearing his helmet.
"I can see the border."
That afternoon, everyone had just set off after resting. Under the rain, the first men at the front managed to visualize the walls of what seemed to be a city, so they got excited and began to run.
Haldor was not excited; as soon as he arrived, his statue would be recognized, so he preferred to be a bit discreet for now to have time to fully understand his surroundings and know if he was in the past of a world he knew. For now, he just wanted to rest and recover his strength, and tomorrow he could catch up with the commander of this advanced settlement.
At this moment, his future was uncertain anywhere, but he knew that sending an assassin to a distant place like this was harder than killing him in his father's castle, where even a maid could poison him.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
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