While travelling north-west from their landing point didn’t prove itself to be an easy path to follow, it was surely breathtaking in terms of scenery. Maddie couldn’t contain herself from draining her phone battery by taking countless pictures. She equipped herself on the way with a couple of power banks, just to make sure that in a critical situation, they wouldn’t be left without the precious device, since her travelling companion had none.

The trains and local buses that helped them navigate the land, were carrying them through settlements between fjords. The small town they hopped off the bus at, as a destination for the night and potential point of interest in their search for the mast, had a very scenic look to it. Colourful houses spread on both sides of a river between the mountains. It felt safe to be there, compared to the wooden house of the old lady, who proved to be a Jotunn in disguise.

“A good starting point for the search,” Maddie thought.

“I looked up nearby museums that may hold the remains of the mast, but had no luck in finding any.”

“But where is the one you showed me in the picture, on your phone?” Jörmun asked, being a bit confused about the girl’s confession. She was the one that guided them to that very small town, in the hope that they can track down the remains she read about in an old news article online.

“Oh, that was not in a museum. It was more of a local attraction. The mast is said to have been repurposed as a monument in the centre of the town plaza.”

“We should go there then. The faster we know if it’s what we’re looking for, the quicker we can change our planned journey if this won’t prove itself to be the one.”

“That’s very true,” Maddie nodded, a bit surprised by Jörmun’s sudden need to stay on track; it reminded her of how he dragged herself and Eloise without proper breaks, during the first adventure, the year before.

The ticking clock of their deadline must’ve started to sound louder in his mind, she presumed. They were almost half a year away from the desired date to have the boat ready by, but finding the missing parts was not supposed to take them as long. They still had to piece everything together, which she still had no idea how he planned for them to do that. She wondered whether he’d rely on magic for it. Maddie was not exactly knowledgeable of the level of magic that Jörmun could handle and perform. To her, even the tiniest spell seemed huge, since humans were not accustomed to such.

---

“It should be around here,” Maddie looked up from her phone. The street from the news article matched where they were standing. However, there was no trace of the mast anymore, nor was there any update online when it had been taken down and for what reason.

“I believe we should head for a tourist info point and ask about it. Maybe they know something-,” Maddie said and she was surprised to not see her travel companion anywhere around her. “Jörmun?” she called for him before she caught glimpse of his flaming hair. He was talking to a random elderly couple in the street. She approached silently and heard bits from their conversation; she could only pick up a few words she learned through a quick course, but clearly not enough to understand what they were discussing.

The girl’s eyebrows sprung up in panic when Jörmun turned around and pointed at her, saying something about her. She looked up at him as he approached, with the couple following closely.

“Maddie, could you please show them the picture?”

“Yes, of course,” she brought back up on the screen the image and showed it to them. They nodded and hummed positively as they resumed their chat with Jörmun. Maddie was burning with curiosity to know what was that about.

“We’re in luck,” Jörmun said as soon as he returned to Maddie. He had a pleased smile plastered on his face, looking proud of his recent findings.

“Did they know anything?”

“They said that the mast proved itself to be more of a bad fortune monument than anything else. It kept on being struck by lightning whenever a storm arrived.”

“I’d be afraid to ask whether it was destroyed, but then you wouldn’t be so happy. I take it that it was just removed?”

“Exactly. It was taken outside the town, offered a man that’s passionate about viking longships and wood working.”

Maddie gasped loudly at the news. “Do you believe he could also help us put the boat together once we have all that we need?” she watched Jörmun’s smile grow even bigger. They clearly thought about the same thing.

“I would certainly dare hope so. If he knows how viking boats were constructed, then he’d likely be able to put this back together.”

“Amazing!” she cheered. “So, where is this person?”

“Oh, well… They only knew he lives by the lake, not too far from here.”

“We will have to look that up.”

“I can go and scout,” he proposed.

“Alone?”

“As a raven.”

“You and your shapeshifting means,” she rolled her eyes playfully. “All right, then. I will be waiting for you at the guesthouse. Please take care.”

Jörmun nodded, then entered a narrow street, where he could take the form of the raven unseen by any curious eyes. While he minded it none, he was aware that they shouldn’t be attracting any further attention. Maddie would’ve been especially concerned if anyone spotted such an unusual change.