Page 2 of Viktor at Sea

I had been on a multitude of sea missions since my mid-teens. I started at the bottom and gradually moved my way up in terms of duties and responsibilities, and it had only been since I moved to Jorvik a little over two years ago that I had taken over the role of Captain of The Serpent, simply because I was the most experienced seaman. Garth followed me to Jorvik, and we continued sailing the Seven Seas together.

Garth’s greying hair was deceptive. It was grey, but it was also long, luscious and very well taken care of. He was picky with his food and went on more walks than anyone I knew. He looked just as healthy as the day I first met him, well over fifteen years ago when I was still a young teenager.

Sat next to me was Gustav, the youngest on the ship. He was skinny, nimble, but rather clumsy. Somehow, all those qualities made him one of the best, if not the best, chef on the entire island. This was his first sea mission, and he had done far better than I had hoped. I knew his parents were nervous about him going to sea for several months, especially since he was their eldest child, but he stood his ground and fought his case. If it weren’t for Gustav, we would have all returned unhealthily thin and with painful digestion issues like all the other missions.

On my other side was Laurence. Other than being the ship jester and keeping the morale high, he was pretty crafty with a sword. Not only was he great at combat, with or without a sword, but he was also good at spearing fish and a strong swimmer at that, too.

Caspian, the blonde, blue-eyed giant sitting on the other side of the table, currently on his third helping, was similarly skilled but was more of a brute and great for heavy lifting. He dug like a Jack Russell and could carry more than two regular men.

Hammond was older than the two previously mentioned, and a few years older than me, as well. Despite the extra years he had on us, Hammond lacked in nothing. He was a master of all trades. Well, maybe he lacked talent in singing and dancing, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

The four currently missing were Dagfinn, Jerrik, Latham and Odin. They were the only married ones from our crew. Garth mentioned earlier that they were with their wives and families.

“So, what do you say, Viktor? Are you up for it?” Barden called out to me, his voice forcing me out of my thoughts.

A sheepish look took over my face. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“Thinking about a certain someone?” Gustav chuckled in his heavy accent, having moved to Jorvik with his parents a few years before I had.

“Of course, not,” I scoffed. “Now, what were you saying about another mission?”

“Chief wants us back out on the sea as soon as possible,” Laurence told me, his eyes lingering on the bread roll on my plate, having just wiped clean his own. When I nodded, he quickly swiped it before I could change my mind.

“Not now,” Barden clarified. “I was thinking in a few weeks. Maybe a month.”

“Has anything new come up?” Caspian asked.

“There are a few things, but we’re still trying to figure out which one would be better.”

“I heard rumours about some treasure on an abandoned island,” Gustav said.

“Where did you hear that from?” Barden asked.

“When I was getting food.” Gustav shrugged. “Some people were saying there’s an abandoned island filled with the King’s treasure. He was always paranoid and kept his treasure buried, but he’s been dead for years now, and the island is now swarmed with pirates.”

“The part about the pirates is just a rumour,” Barden clarified. “Or at least, we think it’s just a rumour.”

I ran my thumb over my bottom lip. “If it’s just a rumour, it makes finding that treasure a very easy job.”

“Another issue is that the island is very, very far away from us,” Barden said. “It’s further than you’ve been before, and it’s not close to any islands either. Word has it that no one is willing to sail that far to check if the rumours about the treasure are true.”

“Apart from us, right?” Laurence grinned, always up for a challenge.

“We’re going to need to plan this properly,” I murmured, the cogs in my head already working in overdrive.

Frankly, I wasn’t as optimistic as Barden about the pirates rumour not being true. In all my time at sea, I had encountered several groups of pirates, most of them interested in far less than an island full of treasure. It didn’t make sense for the place to be abandoned, and it made even less sense that no one was swarming the island to claim the treasure, no matter how far away it was.

Call it intuition or gut feeling, but something told me the pirates were more than just a rumour.

When a giggle sounded in the near distance, the sound faint, and my head subconsciously snapped up.

I knew that sweet giggle anywhere.

I spent every night dreaming of that sound.

“She isn’t here,” Josephine giggled as she walked into the hut to replace the empty pitcher of water with a new one.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I cleared my throat and returned my attention to my food.

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