Shield maiden ~ Vikings

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Kattegat

"We mourn our dead, and honor them, and pray they will dwell among the Gods until Ragnarök. But we the living must try and ensure that their deaths were not in vain. The bandits who attacked us and killed them did not get what they wanted. They did not manage to steal our grain or our livestock, which means that they will come back. And I think they will come back soon. We have a choice. We can abandon our village and the dead. We can abandon our grain and our livestock and we can go and hide in the fields, and hope the bandits don't find us. Or we can stay. We can send a few messengers out to villages for help. And we can prepare again to fight and defend what is ours."

Asa held Lagertha's hand tightly. "I don't want to leave my brother." She looked down Hali's covered body.

"I lost my son." One of the women stepped forward. "You can all go if you want, but I will stay and defend the dead."

"We will all stay." Said one of the men. "Does a warrior hide in the rushes because he is afraid of dying?"

"None of us is afraid." Said a boy. "Hali wasn't afraid. We should all stay and fight."

"Hali wasn't afraid." Lagertha said. "He died for all of us. So all of us will stay here. Even if we have to die for them."

*

Kiev

Her talk with Oleg had been terrifying.

Few things scared Aila, and even fewer people, but the Rus Prince was something else entirely.

Aila had grown up alongside Ivar the damn Boneless, she had fought in wars, she had witnessed enough horrors in her life to not get frightened easily, and yet Oleg of Kiev made her feel uneasy and nervous.

To make matters even worse, it felt like he was hiding something rather dangerous from her.

Nevertheless, he had granted Aila her wish and agreed to let Avan and the lot go.

"What will you do?" Aila asked.

"For now? No choice but to find some place to stay while we're here." Avan turned to his sister and immediately looked down. "You're bigger."

"Yes, and I feel it, thank you very much."

"It won't be long now."

Aila frowned. "How do you know?"

"I'm the second child of ten. I know."

How wonderful. The coming time was not something she was particularly looking forward to, even if she had been preparing herself for hell the day would bring.

*

Tamdrup

"Jarl Thorkell!"

"King Olaf."

"Greetings!" Olaf smiled. "Welcome."

"I was surprised to receive your summons. Is it really true that you want us all to vote for a king of all Norway?"

"If it wasn't true I wouldn't have wasted your time by summoning you here."