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Herrick brought his axe down with unnecessary force, splintering the wood.

“Fuck,” he growled.

“A gentler touch would do the trick,” Gunnar said from where he was fitting together the last of the pieces needed to create the longboat.

Herrick ignored him and picked up a new block of wood to split, bringing his axe down with slightly less force.

He chucked the last few blocks of wood into a separate pile to bring back to the temple for their fires and sat next to Gunnar, taking a long drink of the last of their water.

He would have to filter more for them later tonight before they left for the Caverns tomorrow.

“Feel better?” Gunnar asked as he moved to sand down the side of the longboat.

It was almost completed now; only the last details needed to get them safely across the water were left.

Herrick was grateful that Gunnar had opted to join Herrick today on the shore of Ljosa to finish putting together the longboat that would carry them all to the Knotted Caverns.

Having two earth wielders made the task much easier.

“No,” Herrick grumbled.

When he woke up this morning, he found Liv and Maude gone. Hakon mentioned that they had gone to hunt some more for when they would leave for Logi, but Herrick knew that Maude was hiding from him again .

Last night had begun to feel like a fever dream the more he thought about it.

Maude had let him in, finally allowed her barriers to fall, and shown him how she felt.

He couldn't make up what he had seen in her the night before, perhaps only in his dreams. The only reason he was sure it had happened was because her taste was still on his lips when he woke.

Maude was everything he had ever dreamed of and more.

Her skin was softer than down feathers and warmer than the sun on his skin.

The way she panted beneath his touch and the sounds she made just for him had plagued him in his dreams. He could still feel how she moved beneath him, how his tongue had made her scream.

I want you.

She had altered her original agreement to say she wanted him , releasing him from the last of his restraint, and had made him practically pounce on her.

When she grasped his cock and began to work him, he stopped her because he wanted that moment to be about her.

He would get his pleasure later when he knew she was sated.

When she came, he felt her bow off the ground with the force of her orgasm, her fire exploding out of her body, and all he wanted to do was absorb every shockwave he brought out in her as it tore him apart and built him back up into a new man.

But her burnout had been worse than she made it seem because as soon as she relaxed, her body rebelled against her.

He panicked at first, unsure of what was happening, but he realized too late that she had reached her limit.

Cradled in his arms, she seemed so small and fragile.

A small part of him was reassured that they were right to be together because she had gone unconscious while he held her.

Maude would not have passed out that way if she had not trusted him; she would have found a way to stay awake.

Herrick had carried her to her bed roll after getting her harem pants back onto her and then returned outside to take care of himself.

He had not cared that he had not found his release with Maude but was more concerned that she had pushed herself that far.

When he had woken, he planned to talk to her, but she was already gone.

“Are you going to talk about what happened yesterday?”

Herrick kept his face neutral.

“With the raiders?” Gunnar continued.

Herrick relaxed a bit and stood to chop more wood for the seats inside the longboat.

“Raiders found us, we fought, Maude obliterated them after she found out they were hired to bring her back to Logi, and then she burnt out,” he replied, focusing on the wood in front of him.

“Did she tell you that before or after your activities on the overlook? Herrick, what the Hel!”

The axe slipped from his grasp as he swung down onto the wood, causing it to fly between his legs and up toward Gunnar behind him. Vines shot out from the ground and stopped the projectile from getting any closer to his friend.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Gunnar.” Herrick turned to retrieve the weapon being tied down by Gunnar’s vines. “It won’t happen again.”

Gunnar nodded and kept sanding the side of the longboat. Working in companionable silence until the longboat was complete, Gunnar spoke again after they had stashed the vessel down by the shore and headed back to the temple.

“I don't think you should be angry with Maude about throwing you from the fight.”

“I’m not,” Herrick replied too quickly.

“Herrick, you’ve never been one to run from a fight, and being forced from one probably isn't sitting too well with you either,” Gunnar said, chuckling. “But you know she did it because she feels responsible for all the dangers that have befallen us since we found her.”

“But she isn't responsible for that, Helvig is,” he argued.

“Well, we know that, but Maude doesn't feel that way, I think.” Gunnar was thoughtful for a moment before he continued, “I think that she has spent most of her life sacrificing her happiness and wants for the good of the people she loves. That woman loves with her entire being. Maude knew you would keep fighting, so she chose to bring you out of the path of her destruction.”

“I would have helped her,” Herrick argued.

“Would you have?” Gunnar asked, stopping in his tracks. “You have lived your life by a strict set of rules, Herrick. Right and wrong have always come easy to you.”

Herrick stopped as his friend managed to be the only one to really figure out his struggle with Maude’s actions.

“You are angry with Maude because she made a choice you didn’t agree with and then kicked you out of the fight even if it saved your life,” Gunnar continued.

“That’s not—” Herrick began, but Gunnar cut him off.

“It is what you were angry about,” he said, grabbing Herrick’s shoulder so he could pull him forward. “Don’t lie to me. Not when I know you better than you know yourself sometimes.”

Herrick gaped, the candor oozing from Gunnar’s words stopping his argument in its tracks.

“I don’t know how to deal with this,” Herrick said, his voice sounding small, like a child’s.

“I have always lived my life by a set code, and then this woman explodes into my life, becomes a pain in my ass, makes me more excited to be alive than anything else ever has, and suddenly, I don’t know which way is up.

All I know is that I would die before I let anything harm her. I don't know what is happening to me.”

Gunnar eyed him, sensing the sincerity in his words before his features softened a bit. “Let it happen, Herrick. Let her steer you from what your path might have been if she had not come into your life. There are better things out there than dichotomies and rules.”

Gunnar turned and continued walking back toward the temple, leaving Herrick in the middle of the deserted street to ponder his friend's words.

A heavy sensation settled around Herrick, the same feeling that was twining around him and Maude when they had arrived in the temple surrounded by statues representing the gods. The back of Herrick’s neck prickled as if someone was standing right behind him.

Unsheathing his hatchet from his side, Herrick spun to face the presence that had made itself known to him only to find a large mural on the side of one of the homes depicting the god Tyr.

The mural told the story of how Tyr lost his hand to Fenrir, the betrayal Fenrir felt, and the sacrifice Tyr made, knowing Fenrir would one day be responsible for the death of their world.

Herrick took a few steps toward the mural, left hand reaching toward the gruesome rendering of Fenrir’s jaws clamped over Tyr’s arm.

The air around Herrick thickened, the silence of the city pausing long enough for the image to settle into Herrick’s very soul.

Unable to tear his eyes from the painting, Herrick felt the overwhelming presence of a celestial being pressing into the space around him.

This moment, the placement of this painting, was a warning from Tyr, the god of war.

Herrick had always felt closest to Tyr in his life, understanding the difficult expectations that come with the position of leading armies.

Herrick had felt himself straying from his own set of values since Maude had entered his life, and Tyr was telling him the same thing .

“Herrick!” Gunnar called from ahead of him. “Let’s get back this century, please.”

Shaking off the heaviness Herrick had begun to feel at the sight of the mural, he turned his back to the omen and rushed to catch up with his friend.

They quickly came up on the path that led to the temple, and Herrick could see the fires inside were already burning hot, the scent of roasting boar drifting out.

“Something else has occurred to me the more I think about it,” Gunnar said, continuing their conversation.

“There is a raging fire under her skin that was provoked when they threatened you. Maude thought she would’ve hurt you; her lack of control in the past is all she's known. Her failures were beaten into her rather than her successes.”

“How do you know?” Herrick asked though he could already guess the reason.

“With a father like Helvig, it kind of explains why she is so closed off, doesn't it?”

Gunnar’s words were beginning to cause a red haze to creep into his eyes. He was going to destroy Helvig for even suggesting that Maude wasn’t good enough.

“Their threats to you dissolved whatever mercy Maude might’ve given them, and she most likely didn’t want you to see her like that.” Gunnar shrugged. “Talk to her when she stops hiding from you, but do it soon. We go into the Caverns tomorrow night, and we are going to need all our focus on that.”