Chapter 108 - New Year
In the morning, the whole tribe woke up quite happy because it was the last day of the year.
Usually, the tribe had nothing to do with the change of the year according to the Christian calendar, but now it was different.
This is due to the change that Einar had, in which he began to improve the lives of the members of the tribe without mentioning everything he has carried so that it works better every time.
Although they did not like the idea of celebrating something Christian, they understood that perhaps from this year on their lives could only get better.
In the Great Room, Laura and Daven woke up quite happy because they knew what a great feast would eat.
For their part, Lars and the little Borg also woke up quite late since that day they decided not to go fishing.
Still, others who had woken up late were the artisans since Einar had given them a little vacation due to the day.
So they enjoyed the little quiet time before their vacations ended and they had to continue their jobs on the first day of the year.
But the tribe only had two classes of people who worked normally, which were the warriors who had to take care of and safeguard the tribe.
The others were the slaves who had to continue building everything necessary for the functioning of the tribe.
In spite of everything, the slaves for the first time in the time that they had remained in the tribe felt somewhat happy because it was the last day of the year.
Einar had given them a triple ration of food for their jobs, he also granted them the opportunity that they could have a break time just for that day.
When Einar awoke, he stretched his arms and left his room with the intention of taking a bath in the hot springs.
On the way, he met his father, who unlike other days was not complaining about his hip, so they just had a normal chat.
As father and son chatted in the kitchen of the great room, the women worked with considerable dedication while preparing the final arrangements for the food that would be prepared in the evening.
"Helmi, help me knead the bread dough that was left resting yesterday.
From what I could see it appears that the yeast Einar made works perfectly so you shouldn't have a problem when you knead it.
Juni takes care of cutting those wild carrots into squares so they can be sewn up nicely with the goat fat.
Kassia help me make the jelly.
We only have until before noon to finish, otherwise, dinner won't be ready on time. "
The four women continued to work as they moved from one place to another, hoping to prepare everything correctly.
While this was happening in the great hall, a few hundred kilometers from the village, Goi and his group were quite happy.
Since in front of them was the corpse of a small seal which had been caught by Floki who had ventured to the beach alone at dawn to catch something different to eat.
Fortunately for him, on the way he did not encounter any kind of problem, making it longer to walk to the coast than it did to hunt a seal.
Which once murder, he dragged the seal in the snow until he arrives, the camp in the woods.
Goi and the rest of the warriors looked at Floki with respect and admiration.
"Floki even though you did it is too dangerous an action, I have to admit that if it weren't for you, we really wouldn't be able to enjoy this true delicacy.
That is why today and in return for your valuable action I am willing to grant you a cup of herbal liqueur and the best cut of seal meat.
Does anyone have a complaint about the awards Floki has won? "
No one in the camp made any complaints, as they did not have the courage to say something stupid.
Well, they did, possibly the only one they could eat that day would be bear liver or worse still bear meat.
Seeing that no one was saying something, Goi was happy and gave the order that everything be prepared to be able to prepare the seal meat.
The warriors quickly built a large fire while others took out of their private things a few small bags containing some herbs to flavor the seal meat.
Because it was special meat, Goi also sacrificed some herbal liquor by smearing it on the seal's meat so that it could be seasoned without problems.
When the seal meat was completely ready and the fire was at the right point.
The warriors carried the seal meat to the fire and watched hungrily as the fat from the meat sizzled as a delicious aroma began to permeate the camp.
All the warriors enjoyed the campfire while their stomachs could only make a few noises due to the stimulus they were having.
Although they had been lucky to find good meat, on the other side of the sea things were not so simple.
Aldous who was watching silently as a frozen corpse was being brought out of a village hut could only frown in silence.
When the body was removed, Aldous turned and headed toward the leader of the Levant village.
"How many people were frozen to death today."
The village leader looked sadly at the knight Aldous "We have removed more than ten bodies from the huts in the city.
Even three of their bodies were children who ended up being frozen due to the cold that filtered through their houses and the lack of logs.
I can't believe those damn Danes are circling the village, hiding in the trees surrounding Levant.
If it weren't for their damned tactics, we could get the valuable wood so that our people will stop dying, but I never thought that those damned would use such despicable means to get what they want.
We have to create a safe path, gentleman, or else all of us will freeze to death since there are only ten days of wood left.
Which we can extend up to twenty days, but that means there will be more deaths like the one you saw in that hut. "
Aldous stroked his forehead trying to ease the headache he was having "If we are getting cold, chances are they are doing it too.
The only thing we can try to do is prepare a night assault, but for this, we need people who can see at night.
I feel like it's a real shame that with this being the end of the year, we have to be preparing to kill the place of celebrating another new year. "
Anders who was observing the outside of the wall bit a piece of dried meat and turned to see Fritz.
"He asked me how long it will take for those bastards to get out of his wooden wall, I'd really love to murder them right now.
But to be able to return to the comfort of my refuge while enjoying a good jug of mead. "
Fritz sighed at having to be close to Anders but had no other choice "I don't know why but I feel like they are possibly going to attempt an attack at night.
You think we should prepare or the traps we have made will be more than enough for them to end up dead. "
Anders smirked as he looked at the wooden wall "It is obvious that they will end up leaving since quite possibly the idiots have not saved enough wood.
Otherwise, I cannot explain the dead bodies that are being thrown over the wall, although it could also be a Christian tradition that we do not understand. "
Fritz just kept quiet and tried to keep quiet as he was afraid that anything he said might make Anders speak without stopping.
At night, in the capital of the kingdom of Denmark, Queen Malene was enjoying the various delicacies on her table.
Although she didn't like to eat too much, she had to admit that being able to put pepper in all her food made her feel powerful.
Because it was a very rare and expensive species, so before the members of the different tribes of the kingdom, their banquet was worthy of them.
Malene who bit a piece of pork that had honey and a strong pepper flavor did not hesitate to swallow it without biting it due to the itchiness of the meat.
With his mouth full of she prepared to give a short speech of thanks for supporting her to become queen regent.
While this was happening, in the great hall Einar, his family and all the children he had adopted enjoyed the warm dinner that Elin, Kassia, Helmi, and Juni had made.
A large amount of food and the delicious taste of the herbal liqueur made New Year's dinner something spectacular.
Einar, who was biting into the soft white bread, had to admit that the taste of all the food was top-notch.
'It seems that the recipe I gave my mother, ended up improving in a very complete way.
I can't wait for the merchants to bring in more animals, seeds, and other things so that I can increase the quality of the food.
If I only had corn or rice, I could do great things, but in the end, I can only go one step at a time.'
The New Year's dinner in the great hall went smoothly, so once the meal was over, everyone returned to their rooms.