The Sage of Einar

The next day Einar opened his eyes and realized that he was lying next to Dreide however he only smiled.

Because they had only slept together due to the cold of the night, so they had not done anything beyond that.

He stroked Dreide's hair with his hand before getting out of bed so he could send the messenger to demand the surrender of them.

When the messenger reached the walled monastery, the surviving monks left to accept their fate with Einar.

Their leader personally took it upon himself to explain the situation of the monastery to Einar, although this made him a bit angry he could simply sigh.

For the final decision of the monks to commit suicide, was something they had chosen even though it was a very great loss.

At least he still had half of the monks who would be sent to Iceland to quickly re-educate themselves in order to understand the Christian Nordic religion.

Once they had adapted to the new religion, they would be the perfect teachers to be able to teach all the children of the island because their knowledge had to be used.

After this, Einar also ordered to remove everything of value from the monastery, so that it could be placed in Iceland, from books to pieces of gold.

Which had a more valuable historical value than its weight in gold and jewels with which they were made.

After an afternoon of hard work, the army started their way to the Fahan barony where they wanted to go before the new year.

This is because they wanted to have a small celebration in order to receive the year 834.

After 3 days of walking through the dense forests of the Fahan Barony, they managed to reach Fahan Castle.

Which were in too poor condition, this mainly because they could see that it had not received maintenance in a long time. The walls of the wall of only three meters were full of dry brush and had cracks.

The defenders of that place were only a group of young people who were in poor condition. All of them had clear signs of malnutrition.

Seeing that, Einar could only sigh as the consequences of the famine caused by the leaders could be clearly seen.

'All these young men condemned to die in this place to defend a small castle in disrepair. It is a real waste of troops to do this kind of action, but I will give them the benefit of surrendering.

It hurts me to see young people with clear signs of malnutrition. They should not be over 15 or 16 years old. '

Einar ordered at that time that a messenger go to the castle to request the surrender. When the messenger arrived he requested the surrender of the defenders.

The young people who are their time had stayed thinking that they were going to defend their homeland. They threw down their weapons and left the castle.

This is because they were starving, because their food had run out a few days ago, so they had eaten nothing only trick the hunger using water boiled with animal bones.

That was in a desperate attempt to get some food in their mouths because they did not want to eat sawdust because one of their companions had died from eating sawdust.

When the young men came out of the castle, Einar was surprised to see that there were approximately 150 young people, all of whom were in shambles.

With an order, they prepared food so that he could allow the prisoners to have a meal.

He also ordered that they surrender in the fortress to look for any kind of defender in that place.

When the young people arrived, they were given to eat some dried fish and stale bread. The young people ate as quickly as they could. The first food they had in days can be.

After a while, all of them filled their stomachs, so they were taken to the prison camp where they would be asked how they got to that state.

One of the young warriors spoke very sincerely, "Originally in the fortress we were 400 warriors.

However, food began to be scarce, so a large group of warriors deserted. Only the youngest and inexperienced were left.

Well, where the hell should we go? Our villages are completely abandoned because the population was taken against their will with the main army.

The farm animals and what little food there was also brought by them. We could only stay in the fortress and rationalize the few resources we had.

Although we could rationalize all that we could of the food, in the end, it was over. If you had come to me, we would have left the fortress.

Well, there is no point in defending something where we cannot feed ourselves, however it was also a suicidal action because where are we supposed to go.

I'm sure our comrades who deserted a few weeks ago are completely dead, or maybe they had the opportunity to ask for refuge in the barony of Derry.

But those are just my assumptions because the Celts hate to death any Christian who tries to enter their territory. We cannot blame them because in the end, King Gormalaith.

A few years ago he undertook a campaign of conquest against them and although we lost the war, many of them lost their lives.

I'm sure my companions are already dead, but now that I think about it, they will also kill us or just enslave us. "

The soldier just smiled. "You shouldn't worry about that, because all of you surrendered in a peaceful way so you can get to enjoy the privileges that this entails.

Although they are not the first to surrender, they are within the group of the privileged who did it without having killed the messenger.

Anyway, now just rest because in two days the new year will be celebrated with the arrival of the year 834. I hope you are ready for it. "

The young warrior nodded and joined his companions, so the soldier informed Einar.

'So I guess I'll have to face the Celtic tribe of Derry if things get out of hand.'

Einar turned his head and looked at Dreide who was next to him. "I suppose I will need your help when we enter Derry.

I would really regret that he would have to kill the Celtic tribe if he acted improperly towards us. "

Dreide looked seriously at Einar. "Don't worry, I will see to it that we make a lasting alliance.. As Celtic tribes we have a rule not to attack messengers from other tribes."