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It felt good to be home. |
Kattegat gleamed off the fjord as they crossed over the final hill of their long journey. Dust kicked up under the horse and cart she was walking alongside of, adding another layer to Lhyrie’s matted hair. She gave the horse an encouraging pat and shuffled the belongings of the cart so they would not tip when it rolled... |
In the 5 years they have been gone, Kattegat grew to an amazing network of streets and shops. Vendors stretched out across the plains that used to grow into lakes when the rains were high. Docks were crammed onto the small beach and collided with the cliffs that entombed the city, they stretched far out into the fjord ... |
That was the reason they left and now the reason they returned. After the raids in Paris failed and Ragnar disappeared, her mother and stepfather left Kattegat, fearing that with the King gone, the city was vulnerable to attack without proper defenses in leadership, despite Ragnar’s sons and Queen Aslaug. They got the ... |
And so they traveled, selling medicines and treating the ill. Lhyrie’s mother was a healer although her father and then stepfather disapproved of such actions. In Kattegat, her mother was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Aslaug and a midwife. Lhyrie learned each herb and fruit that gained health and how to use them to their ... |
They stayed mainly in Scandinavia, but did venture to parts of Frankia. Everywhere they heard the tales of Ragnar Lothbrok. Some true, some fantasy but when whispers grew that Ragnar had come out of hiding, they knew they must return to Kattegat. |
Lhyrie was excited to see her old friends, to see how much they have grown, as she herself had grown into a woman. Lhyrie spent much time with Ragnar’s young sons, being close in age Ubbe and Hvitserk. Her best friend Sigvi would probably be married by now. What could she possibly say to everyone? With how much she had... |
"Before we find your brother," Afin, Lhyrie’s stepfather said, "we must visit the King." |
"Of course," said her mother. |
Lhyrie adjusted the belt around her waist and tried to smooth out the dust and wrinkles in her dress. She took a large breath and attempted to hide the nerves she suddenly felt. All she wanted to do was bath before she met anyone who would have remembered her, much less the King and his sons. She ran her fingers throug... |
"Welcome," Aslaug said, gesturing them before her. She stood from her chair and descended the few steps to meet them at eye level. "Hiedrun!" She exclaimed and wrapped her mother in her long arms. "It has been far too long, my friend! Is this Lhyrie?" She asked, turning toward her. Aslaug took Lhyrie’s face in her palm... |
Lhyrie scrubbed her skin until she was pink and raw. The water was freezing, not warmed yet by the summer’s sun, though she stayed as long as she could, trying to wipe away the last remnants of foreign travel from her skin. She spent what seemed like hours, ridding the tangles and knots from her brown hair, which showe... |
A few men interrupted her search, introduced themselves and chatted politely, wishing to meet this new aspect. When the men would drag on their tales of heroics or raiding, Lhyrie would gaze across the hall until she saw Ragnar’s sons huddled in a corner of the great room. One man indeed was an earl, from somewhere nor... |
"Sigurd!" She exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug. "You are all giants now!" |
"Except for Ivar that is," he replied cheekily. |
"Are you still hard on him?" She asked, think on how they had teased him so when they were younger. Lhyrie always felt sorry for young Ivar and would spend time each day with him, if Aslaug would let her. |
"When he needs it, which is always." He smiled with a smile she knew well. All of Ragnar’s son, including Bjorn, had the same devilish smile. "Why don’t you come over and drink with us?" He asked, pointing to the corner of the room where the brothers were sitting. Aslaug made her way over and sat with her sons and two ... |
"Sigurd," she began, grabbing another horn of ale and drinking, "why is Ubbe cross with me?" Lhyrie noticed Ubbe glance over in their direction several times as she spoke with different men, but quickly looked away and seemed aggravated. |
"I don’t think he is cross with you," Sigurd defended his eldest brother. "He was always sour over you leaving, that’s all." |
"Hmm," Lhyrie mused, sipping from her drink. "And who is that woman speaking with him now?" She asked, as one of the blonde women talked in his ear. |
"Oh... that’s just a slave. Margrethe," He said, looking longfully over his shoulder. |
"Margrethe... she is beautiful," she said, wondering if, by the way Sigurd talked about her, she was more than just a slave. |
Sigurd stayed and talked with her, asking about her travels and people she had met. They shared many more glasses of ale, which Lhyrie could feel blurring her vision in the warm hall. She felt herself smiling more, playfully poking Sigurd as they talked, and leaning far too much on the pillar behind her to keep her sta... |
As the night drew on, men and women made camp on the outer walls of the hall and Sigurd left her to her pillar and glass of ale. When Lagertha arrived to wish her son off, that is when Ragnar made his appearance. He slipped in silently, behind the commotion she caused and scuttled around the edges of the hall and back ... |
The more the night went on, and after chatting with Lagertha, her shieldmaidens, and Bjorn, Lhyrie’s mind returned, unwilling, to Ubbe. Why was he avoiding her? He was the only Ragnarsson not to welcome her openly. Ivar even passed her in the Hall and said a few welcoming words. She glanced over in his direction, unmov... |
A young man, Jagar, a farmer, approached her, handing her yet another horn of ale she gladly took. He was attractive, tan, and she could see the outline of hard-earned muscles through his tunic. She flirted loosely and let him stroke her arm and play with a curl fallen from her braid. He was attractive, but often caugh... |
"Will I see you at the sacrifice tomorrow?" Jagar asked her, nearing the end of the night. |
"Of course. We will meet tomorrow." |
Jagar planted a kiss on her cheek and she tried to suppress a childish giggle with the warmth that filled her body. When he parted, Lhyrie noticed Ubbe, wide-eyed, looking over at her. Now only Hvitserk was seated next to him in front of the fire. Lhyrie took a final gulp of her ale and pushed herself off the pillar sh... |
"Ubbe," she snapped curtly. |
"Lhyrie." He replied, adjusting in his seat and cleared his throat. |
"You have hardly looked at me since I returned. Have I done something to offend you?" |
"Now, why would you think that?" He cocked his head sharply. |
She felt the heat rise into her, up into her ears, where anger peaked. She wasn’t quite certain why she felt the sudden rush of anger at him, but knew it didn’t feel unnatural. "You haven’t talked to me, nay looked at me!" She near yelled. |
"Lhyrie, there’s no need for hot blood," he said, calmly yet forcefully. |
"You cannot tell me what to do, Ragnarsson. I am not one of your slaves!" She quipped back, unfortunately right as Margrethe walked back into the Hall. |
Hvitserk shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tried to look awkwardly away. Others near them in the hall quieted themselves to listen, while those further remained in their drunken conversations. Ubbe shot up quickly and took one leaping step to stand but a few inches from her. He glared sharply at her and breathed he... |
"This is not the time or place for this," he hissed at her, towering over her so that Lhyrie needed to crane her head to look up at him. Abruptly, he turned on his heel away from her and brushed her with the handle of the ax on his hip. He grabbed Margrethe’s hand and whisked her away behind the curtain to their sleepi... |
Lhyrie was breathing heavy with rage at this lack of explanation and looked toward Hvitserk for answers. He gave her a shallow look and shrug before moving toward her and planting a kiss on her forehead before he left her to go behind the curtains too. Standing awkwardly in the hall, Lhyrie turned herself and made way ... |
She immediately regretted not wearing a cloak to the feast, or had she and just forgotten it in the hall? She also regretted not paying closer attention to her journey from her uncle’s house to the hall. She had known it as a child but with the new buildings and shops in Kattegat, as well as her drunkenness, she was aw... |
After a while, she stumbled upon a lighted area she recognized: The Great Hall and courtyard. She had made herself a circle and took a moment in the light to try and regain her sense of direction. She readied herself and set off again to find her uncle’s house. As she was walking she heard moaning coming from an alleyw... |
Not long after, and not as far away as she thought, she found her uncle’s house and slipped inside. She carefully peeled down to her underdress not to tear her Frankish one and quietly slipped under the fur to sleep next to her mother. Rage still boiled in her and she drifted off to sleep. |
Before opening her eyes against the bright, headache inducing sunlight, pans clattered Lhyrie awake with the boom of Thor’s anvil. She heard her mother whisper a soft "Sorry" in her direction, before continuing to search for the right scrap of metal to cook breakfast on. Lhyrie groaned and rolled over onto her back, si... |
"Wake up, little one. You have wasted half the day already." |
Lhyrie groaned again, cursing herself for feeling this way – hungover and filled with regret. She couldn’t remember the exact words she spoke with Ubbe, but her tone was clearly not pleasant or polite. She was quite embarrassed for making a slight spectacle in the Great Hall and she prayed no word would spread to her m... |
Erg, the alley, she lamented. What was she thinking? She wasn’t one to be jealous or stalk people, or one to want to make other people jealous. But she was sure that she accomplished that when she was talking to the farmer, Jager, from the way Ubbe looked at her when he left. How could she fix what she had done? Any re... |
"Sváss, we must start the day," her mother called again. |
"Yes, Mother," Lhyrie yawned, stretching her arms in a wide arch above her head and shaking her head. She loosed the braid that hung in strands around her face and allowed her hair to flow in waves down past her shoulders. The clanking her mother made resulted in an egg frying on a pan above the fire, but the smell mad... |
Her stepfather was lounging in the corner of the room, seeming not to have moved from the night before. He was picking at an axe and had weapons scattered about him. |
"So you are raiding with Bjorn?" Lhyrie asked, walking out from behind the curtain. |
Her stepfather looked up at her, bewildered and unamused at her sleeping late. "Yes, I know some Frankish and have seen their armor and weapons. I would be very helpful to Bjorn and Hvitserk on their way to the Mediterranean, especially if they cannot reach Rollo." |
"I heard Ragnar is also sailing to England," Lhyrie replied, taking a seat at the small table with her mother, who handed her a plate with the egg on it. |
"I heard that as well," Heidrun said. "The handmaidens were talking of it. He is taking Ivar with him! Queen Aslaug is not pleased." |
Afin dropped his axe, aggravated with the gossipy chatter. "Yes, your brother is joining him," he said. "Did he not tell you?" |
"No," Heidrun replied, shocked. "I did not see him this morning before he left to barter, and he was passed out drunk when I returned from the feast. You will not join him?" |
Lhyrie pushed the egg around the plate with no intention of eating it, as she felt it would not stay down for long. She tried to stay on the topic of her uncle raiding with Ragnar, but her thoughts shifted to the farmer she met last night. Jagar would be joining Ragnar in England, as well. That is where she learned of ... |
"No-," her stepfather cut into her thoughts. "I would be better off with Bjorn." He picked up his axe again and ducked his head, signaling the end of the conversation. |
"What is the plan today, Mother?" Lhyrie asked, shoving the uneaten egg over to her mother. |
"We should find a stall to sell medicines and a place to bandage and heal," she replied, taking a bite of the fried egg. "I was thinking by the docks, if there is space, so that the traders sailing in could get easy treatment for diseases." |
"Or by the gates," Lhyrie added, rubbing her temples again, trying to nudge out her headache. |
"Anywhere that is cheap," her stepfather added. |
"With Drun sailing with Ragnar, we could stay here longer and not find a place of our own. He would be overjoyed that someone was keeping his house safe. We would save money that way." |
Afin grunted and resumed his interest in his axe handle. Lhyrie yawned as she rose to change for the day ahead. |
The day seemed warm already, but Lhyrie was hesitant on wearing a simple smocked dress near the cool breeze of the fjord. Frankia, where they spent the previous 2 years, and even Denmark was warmer than Kattegat, being more south. She would have to get used to the colder North winds Njord blew in. Lhyrie picked out a s... |
The sun told Lhyrie it was already mid-day when she and her mother ventured out into the busy streets of Kattegat. The once simple village had turned into one of the more prominent and luxurious trading centers in the region, sitting at a pass of seas and rivers. Sailors from many foreign lands, speaking foreign langua... |
Lhyrie looked around and gapped at the new sights of her hometown. She felt as though she was transported back to the port in Frankia where they stayed. While they were in Bruge, talk of Viking raids struck ill in the town and caused hysteria among the residents, so much so that they started building a fort around the ... |
"Helga has been tending to wounds and such while we have been away," Heidrun said, as she linked arms with her daughter and squeezed through a congested street. Lhyrie tried to avoid tripping over a basket of fruit instead of running into a larger man and his goat, but some toppled over. She called back and apologized ... |
Though the beach was so congested with trunks, shields and tarps it hardly seemed like a beach at all. Lhyrie watched as the boats bobbled up and down in fierce waves, and was glad to have grabbed the vest as she pulled it closer around her. |
"There you are!" a voice cried out from ahead of them. Lhyrie couldn’t place where it had come from until a woman ran out of house several yards ahead with her arms spread joyfully, waiting for a hug. She was short and plump, wearing a tattered dress smeared with blood, her wiry grey hair pulled into a messy bun atop h... |
"Helga!" She said, then motioned Lhyrie to move faster to greet her sister-in-law. "Age has seen you well. How goes you?" |
"Ah, enough to keep me busy and worried when the men are away," Helga replied, wiping sweat off her brow as Lhyrie tried to bundle closer. "Lhyrie, you look awfully cold. Let me warm you," she said and enveloped Lhyrie in a warm hug. |
"The Frankish winds have grown me soft," she replied with a slight laugh. |
"Well come in," Helga said, moving them into her home. "This is where I have been practicing. It is well when the men come home off the boats." She showed them the tables and jars placed out underneath an awning where she worked. Rags dripping in blood hung over wooden beams to dry and herbs were laid out on racks abov... |
"You can work here, with me," Helga said, sitting on a table. "Both of you," she winked at Lhyrie. |
"That is a wonderful offer, Helga," Heidrun answered. "But we could not possibly. This is your space." |
It would be wonderful to have a space by the beach. It would be away from the Great Hall, Lhyrie thought. Away from the Ragnarssons, for a little bit atleast. It would also allow Lhyrie to bear the winter winds again as well. |
"I insist. My age had kept me from working as I would like, and I do not wish to buy slaves to help me, so if you two would help, it would benefit everyone," Helga explained. |
"Lhyrie, what do you think?" Her mother asked. |
"I agree. I believe it would be beneficial," Lhyrie said. "Someone could always be here tending, while others went and gathered supplies." She ran her fingers along the edges of the table and a small knife that was lying there. Lhyrie spotted a jar of leeches sitting on a stool. |
"She has her father’s mind," Helga commented, causing Lhyrie to smile. Helga grazed her cheek with a sincere smirk. |
"I agree, and I think it is a good plan," Heidrun said. "But we will pay your dues." |
"Fine, fine," Helga said, waving off an argument and accepted her sister-in-law’s proposal. "Did you hear about Drun raiding with Ragnar?" |
"Yes, and my husband raiding with Bjorn. As if we did not just travel all that way!" The two women laughed as Lhyrie explored the small space more and became acquainted with her future workplace. Grasses and roots were labeled in chalk in bins and jars, some which Lhyrie knew and was accustom to from her travels and ot... |
A few men carried a chest to the dock and rested upon it for a moment. One looked toward Lhyrie and smiled. He clasped hands with his partner and made his way over to her, his long brown hair fighting the wind. Jagar smiled widely as he came closer, but became more reserved when he noticed she wasn’t alone. He approach... |
"Hello, Lhyrie," he said, brimming ear to ear. "It is good to see you." |
"Jagar," Lhyrie responded with a smile. "You have a tear in your shirt," she said, pointing out a rip in the arm of his tunic. There was a slight cut of blood peeking out underneath it. |
"Ach, yes. The chest has a sharp corner on it and jabbed me," he said, rubbing the cut. |
"You have come to the right place," she said, motioning to the jars and fabrics used for healing. "Would you like a salve?" |
"The healer," he said with a grin, as Helga and her mother walked out of the house, hearing voices. "Hello, I am Jagar, son of Efferend." he said politely. |
"Hello," they called in unison. Heidrun beamed with a wide smile at her daughter. "Have you met before?" She asked. Lhyrie blushed in embarrassment. Her mother would tie Jagar into a marriage before he leaves. |
Yes, at the feast last night," he responded. "I will set sail with Ragnar to England." |
"Ah..." the two women exclaimed. |
"Mother," Lhyrie began, "If I am no longer needed here, may I go with Jagar to celebrate the sacrifice?" It was later than Lhyrie thought, as the skies seemed to darken already. |
"We will see you there," her mother said, still smiling. |
The stir of a sacrifice filled the air with electricity as only it could, as to feel closer to the Gods. As if the streets were not crowded enough, more flocked to the city center in order to bear witness and get a blessing from the Gods. Thousands of fires illuminated the sky and provided the warmth Lhyrie desperately... |
He pushed her forward so that she lingered on the edge of the pathway where the ram would be lead, up to the courtyard where a skull and table were laid out for his final moments. Jagar stood behind her, with his arms wrapped around her waist. King Harald Finehair and his brother began chanting in perfect harmony sudde... |
Up walked several men, forcing the ram by his horns to the middle of the courtyard. Lhyrie felt a discomfort as she always had with the sacrifice of animals. If the Gods wanted them to be sacrificed, they would choose them and have them walk up without fear and without the persuasion of people. When humans are sacrific... |
Behind them, Queen Aslaug was almost unrecognizable. She wore a mask of blood and tar, clothed in all white, in a trance – she immolated a Goddess. As the party approached the table and grand fire, the crowd silenced so much that a flap of a wing would resonate completely, as if the entire world was holding their breat... |
Once the blood had been drained and collected, the priest dipped his brush into the bowl and began throwing the God’s blessing onto the crowd. He turned but a few feet from Lhyrie and flicked blood from his brush. She felt the hot, sticky burn of fresh blood on her forehead, as Jagar gasped in exaltation. Queen Aslaug ... |
Jagar gently took Lhyrie’s hand, guiding her to follow the party down to the boats. He smiled like a gleeful child. Down at the boats, the Ragnarssons, including Bjorn and his wife, Torvi, were standing, waiting for their blessing. People on boats were already flinging blood onto the others and their shields, afraid to... |
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