Viggo arrived back in Sinkbek in the middle of the night. Therefore, no trumpets or such greeted his return like they normally would, instead only a few sleepy guards who opened the gate.

The men and the horses with him were all exhausted; they had ridden for almost four days straight, only stopping to give the horses a bit of rest. Because of that, they all slowed down to a trot, some even stopped their horses and unmounted them to ease the last bit up to the stables. Only Viggo, followed by Audun, pressed on in a gallop.

As they reached the castle, two of the guards came to collect their horses while Viggo marched on inside. Ever since hearing the content of the letter, his need to see Saga well for himself had increased to the point that he could not think any other thought.

Though, he had his wits about him enough to slow as he reached the door, to open it carefully to not wake her up.

From the stream of moonlight from the window, he could see her shape on the bed. Walking over, he made sure to not make a sound, then sank down on the bed next to where she lay.

He heard the ease of her breath, saw how her face was all peaceful, and finally he could get proper air into his lungs. She truly was fine, from how she looked and slept, nothing seemed to be wrong with her. Removing his leather glove, he reached his fingers out, brushed her cheek. Her skin felt as warm as always as well.

Feeling reassured she was fine, he stood again and walked back to the corridor where Audun waited.

"She's all fine," Viggo said after closing the door. His voice was raspy from lack of everything the body needed.

"Good," Audun answered and took his hand. "Go and lie down now. Get some sleep."

But Viggo shook his head.

As they had ridden home, the memories from Viggo's past, which he had done his utmost to forget, had kept simmering to the surface. He could not remember the details of the night his mother had died. But he knew he had not been there. What had caused him to not return home until well into the night he couldn't remember. Maybe he had been out earning money, or he had simply idled his time to avoid his father. But whatever had kept him away had caused his mother's death. That and his own weakness.

If he had only been strong enough to take his mother away from there.

If he had only been strong enough to force his father to leave them alone.

Or better, if he had been strong enough to kill his father before it had been too late.

As it was, he vividly remembered walking into their home to find his mother bruised and bloody, beaten to the point he could barely recognise her, and his father sitting on a chair with the stench of alcohol all around him.

Viggo had kneeled by his mother, had held her hand and cried.

And his father had called him weak for doing so.

Viggo could not have anything even remotely similar happen again. He could not have Saga dying. And his first step to ensure that did not happen was to find out exactly how she had been injured.

Audun continued to follow like a shadow as Viggo made his way to the knight's lodging. There, he knocked on Astrid's door. Three hard raps, then three more, followed by another three until the door opened.

"Viggo!" she exclaimed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "How are you back already?"

"How was she injured?" Viggo ignored the question.

Sleep had left Astrid, and she first studied Viggo, then Audun, before looking back at Viggo. "You both look absolutely exhausted. Won't it be better if you get some rest before we talk?"

"How was she injured?" Viggo repeated his question.

Astrid sighed. "We were at the winter festival when the attack happened. Wyverns and wyvern snakes. There was no way to bring her up to the castle safely, so Kai brought her to his home. But she..."

Astrid fell silent, and looked over Viggo's shoulder, to Audun, and Viggo felt a hand press on his back. But the limit of his patience had been reached.

His fist slammed into the wall. The sound echoed in the corridor. The skin on his knuckles cracked. Astrid reached for a knife hanging at her side as all her muscles tightened.

"Just out with it! Don't make me ask again!" Viggo demanded.

Her eyes were round, but they narrowed, and her voice was hard as she continued, "Some wyvern snakes came up that street. Kai lured them away and dealt with them, but one of his sisters got worried and ran outside. The Lady followed the sister out, but must have not seen where she had gone. So the Lady ended up alone with a snake in an alley."

So she had even been alone. It wasn't that she had got hurt more by a mere accident or because there had been too many monsters, so one had slipped away. No, she had been left all alone.

"I'm sorry," a voice said down the corridor.

Viggo's head snapped in the direction to notice several of the other knights had been woken up and stood in the doorways to their rooms. They stared at Viggo without a trace of sleep. Except Kai. His eyes were fixed on the floor.

"I know I should have..." the squire continued his apology. But he stopped as Viggo made his way over.

"I ordered you to protect her by any means necessary!" Viggo shouted at him. "I warned you specifically about keeping her inside in case she got any ideas."

"I know. I'm sorry. I..." Kai continued, but Viggo had reached him. He grabbed hold of the front of Kai's clothes and pressed him up against the wall. The squire's head connected with the stone, and a flicker of sharp pain passed through his eyes before they dimmed with another kind of pain.

"You failed her! You dared to fail her. You left her all alone!"

"Viggo," Audun said somewhere behind him, but Viggo didn't hear. He wasn't aware of anything other than his own anger. It burnt. A roaring fire that made him see red. Made him need to punish just anyone for how Saga had suffered. For how she had been left to fend for herself.

And to his mind, Kai became the perfect outlet.

"She could have died and it would have been your fault!" Viggo raised his hand, to do exactly what his mind hadn't made up. And it never got a chance.

He was ripped away from Kai, his back slamming into the wall. He shoved, moved to get to Kai again. But once more he was pressed against the wall, Audun's hands firmly against his shoulders.

"That is enough!" Audun yelled. "You're not thinking clearly. You need to sleep."

Viggo tried to push against Audun, but the little space he gained was quickly lost again.

"He was supposed to protect her! But she was left alone!" Viggo shouted back, and continued to push, but Audun remained unmoveable.

"You're not accomplishing anything from this. And she is fine. You saw that yourself. She is completely fine."

"She could have easily not been!"

"And then the situation would have been very different. But that isn't the situation, so you need to get a hold of yourself before you do something you'll regret."

Viggo stared into Audun's eyes, tried pushing him away one last time, but to no use. Audun's hold was as determined as his eyes.

"She is fine," Audun reminded him one last time.

After a long time of them staring into each other's eyes, Viggo's body relaxed a bit as he nodded. Audun's body relaxed as well, and he took a step back.

"How did she survive?" Viggo asked next, searching for Astrid again to find she had placed herself to stand in front of Kai. From over her shoulders, Viggo could see Kai hugging himself with his eyes on the ground.

"She..." Astrid looked away from Viggo for a moment before meeting his eyes with a glare so fierce, so strong Viggo would not be surprised if mountains would bend under the glare. But Viggo was no mere mountain. He had spent all his life after his mother's death making himself stronger than all else.

"She had a knife, which she likely injured the snake with, causing it to accidentally burn itself with its own magic."

"A knife? What was she doing with a knife? Where did she get it from?"

"From me," Astrid answered, the glare still intact. "I've been teaching her to defend herself."

The anger roared in Viggo again, and he took half a step forward before Audun's hand landed on his shoulder once more. Not pressing this time, only a warning.

"Why? Who gave you permission for that?" Viggo demanded from her.

"No one, but I'm glad I have. She needs to know how to defend herself."

"She does not! We are all here to protect her. Teaching her that is likely what made her think she could run out on her own. You've made her believe she needs to fight when all she needs is to remain safe!"

"I disagree," Astrid answered. Nothing more. No argument for Viggo to direct his anger at. No argument to dismantle. Just a simple answer, leaving the anger clawing for something to latch on to and explode against.

"You are not to continue with that," Viggo snapped at her, then stormed out of the house with the silent gazes of all the rest of the knights on him.

He didn't know what to do as he got outside, however. Everything was still raw and fighting for some kind of release. Of some way to express his anger at them all for not keeping her safe. To express how terrified he was at the idea of losing her.

Audun, having followed him outside, didn't stop. He continued walking, and being lost about what else to do, Viggo went after him. Audun steered them to the training grounds. There, he picked up two of the dulled swords and threw one to Viggo before taking a fighting stance.

Picking the sword up, Viggo knew exactly what Audun meant for him to do and swung his sword, only to be blocked.

They continued for a long time. Until both of them were covered in sweat and were completely out of breath. Audun then stepped forward and placed a hand on Viggo's shoulder. A gentle, affectionate hold.

"Rest now. Your mind needs sleep," Audun murmured to him.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep," Viggo answered with his eyes out toward the darkness. His mind was playing the image of his mother dead on the floor, only sometimes it would flicker and become Saga being dead instead.

Audun didn't say anything more, but he removed the sword from Viggo's hand, then took hold of it. He led Viggo back to the castle now, but not to the bedroom where Saga slept. Instead, they walked to Viggo's office, where Audun sat down on the couch before getting Viggo to lie down with his head on Audun's lap.

"Sleep," Audun murmured again while his fingers traced through Viggo's hair. The action was calming, and Viggo's eyelids felt heavier and heavier.

"I can't lose her," Viggo murmured. "She needs to stay safe. I don't care what I have to do to protect her. I only know she needs to stay safe."

"She is safe," Audun answered, but Viggo knew that wasn't true.

Two attacks had happened since she moved there, and during both she had ended up in the middle of it. That couldn't happen again. He had thought his orders to Kai had been clear enough it wouldn't happen, but apparently not. So he needed to take even more measures to ensure she didn't end up in danger if there was a third attack.