The Beacon Keepers

A Story by The Naked Viking • Supported With 22 Stunning Images

High on the mountain where eagles nest and clouds gather before storms, the beacon tower stands sentinel over the valley below. For six weeks, two men will maintain the warning fire that guards against invasion and will watch the horizons whilst the settlement sleeps, secure in the knowledge that danger cannot approach unseen. Kjell has kept this vigil three times before and knows the particular challenges of isolation and exposure. But his companion, Eirik, is new to the duty, untested in the ways prolonged solitude reveals the truth about men who cannot hide behind the comfortable masks society permits.

The Ascent

The climb takes most of a day, the path steep and treacherous even in good weather. Kjell leads, his powerful legs eating up distance whilst Eirik follows close behind, both men stripped for the exertion despite autumn’s growing chill. The nakedness serves a practical purpose: sweat evaporates freely rather than soaking the cloth, which would steal warmth once they stopped moving. But it also establishes the terms of their coming isolation, the acknowledgement that pretence has no place where survival depends on absolute honesty.

Eirik is young, perhaps twenty-two winters, his body still carrying the lean definition of youth not yet thickened by age and accumulated injury. Kjell has watched him in the settlement, noted his competence with weapons and his tendency toward solitude rather than the boisterous camaraderie most young warriors prefer. These qualities suggested he might handle beacon duty well, might possess the particular temperament required for weeks of isolation with only one companion.