Chapter 1.5

Chapter 1.5: In Which A Flashback Occurs To The Time In Which The Trip That Arinbjörn Embarked On Occurs A Second Time In Arinbjörn's Mind



Magnus let out a hearty chuckle before pouring another shot on the table in his rather impressive looking sealskin canteen. His club was slung over his shoulder, numerous drops of frozen seal blood on the back. He had used to hunt polar bears, but they had been scarce as of late. Magnus had been told recently that global warming was to blame, but he could do little but laugh at the concept. The globe warming? Did these silly scientists know how impossible that would be? Magnus suppressed the thought before his inner monologue turned into commentary.

Magnus was a tall man, with arms large enough to smash brick and hair lacking enough to blind any foe foolish enough to challenge Magnus to hunting on a night in whist Magnus is not wearing a hood and the moon is full overhead and unobstructed, in which Ragnar, at the coaxing of his allies, that he may overturn Magnus as the chief seal clubber in the current region of downtown Reykjavik, although no seals have actually been spotted in Iceland.

"My Brothers!," Magnus cheered before raising his canteen and taking a hearty swig. Arinbjörn and the others raised their canteens too, letting in celebration after a long day of savagely beating seals to death with large clubs. Truly, this was man's work.

The fire in the center of the room blazed heartily in its pit, keeping the bitter cold of the outside away. The men danced around it, quite warm and impervious to the snowy winds outside. Although the hunting cabin was rather rudimentary, but well enough to accommodate the needs of the four men. A night of dancing and shouting began to erupt from them, the world outside totally deaf to the drunken singing and off-key shanties being sung after a long day's work.

It was Leif who finally broke the pattern. The portly man, a well aged carpenter in his mid forties sporting a hearty beard, stood up on the dining table, knocking over a couple of bottles, a small stack of pelts and causing a wave of laughter to sweep over the spectators.

"I have in my hands, a DVD," Leif yelled, cracking up for no apparent reason mid sentence, causing another wave of laughter to fill the alcohol smelling hut. Leif reached into his traveling bag on the table's bench and upheld his promise of procuring a DVD, a small shiny and unmarked disc. Leif waved it above his head to get the men's attention before once again speaking of the tape.

"Now, this tape is the one thing we don't have here! Yeah? We have beer, lots of it!," he started to rant, causing a small drunken cheer to emerge at the mention of beer. Leif shook it off. "Nay, we've got violence, lots of it!" Leif continued to yell, holding his prey of the morning above his head and swinging it around. There was a hush as some blood from it splattered over Magnus. Arinbjörn and the other looked to Magnus before looking back to Leif and finally back to Magnus, fearful that Magnus has been provoked.

Magnus began to laugh, a hearty chuckle escaping his lips. The crowd eased up, happy that seal blood had not provoked the large man's Bloodlust. For effect, Magnus grabbed a chair and smashed it against the wall. At this time, he was the only one laughing. Upon seeing the rest of the hunter's reactions, a lone tear escaped Magnus' left eye before he sat back down to continue to listen to Leif.
Leif forced himself to ignore the remains of what had once been a carved chair of moderate quality, and continued to rant. "Well, the one thing we don't have is real entertainment! And this movie solves that!"

The men began to cheer before picking Leif off of the table, excited at the prospect of having a tape of a certain nature to watch. They carried him almost four feet before tossing him onto the ground before the cabin's simplistic television and DVD player. Leif fumbled with the disc for a second before finally inserting it and giving it a whack for good measure. The group expectantly plopped down on the fur covered couch before the television and began to watch expectantly.

The group squirmed anxiously through the copyright warning before the actually video started. At first, the scene was greeted with naught but static, causing an angry sigh to rush over the crowd. Magnus grabbed his club in preparation for an act of disappointed violence upon Leif before the group finally realized collectively that they were watching recorded static. The men shifted expectantly on the bearskin as the first scene began to unfold. The men watched, confused until the gunshots of the first scene began to sound. All the men, Leif included began to stare with a horrified look, their terror of the contents of the movie matched only by their confusion.