Freya Ironside, Gifted by the Gods

Ragnar Returns

"I am sorry to interrupt but your father, King Ragnar, is back" said one of the maids entering the walls of the great hall in great hurry.

The four siblings looked at each other and then at the maid again, "What?" asked Ubbe at once, "I saw him as he entered the city walls" she told them; they all stood up and went outside, followed by Freya, "Alert my father" she whispered to the maid as she got out. She hurried after them, even Ivar seemed to be going faster on the ground, she watched as the brothers brows frowned and as their limbs all got tense; he had left his sons for almost eleven years and now he showed up like that?

They all walked slowly to him, the crowd and all the people rushing to see their absentee leader slowed them down, allowing Ivar to get there in time with his brothers. Ubbe drew his sword immediately and so did Hvitserk and Sigurd; "Ubbe what are you –'' she began but then she thought it was not her place to tell them what to do in that case. She wanted to remain close to them, she didn't know whether Hvitserk or Sigurd would have actually tried to kill him or not but they looked alert. They formed a line in front of a distraught Ragnar, dirty, unkept and with eyes that showed how much devastated he was.

Freya was a little behind Ubbe when

Ragnar looked at his sons and, noticing his last one, he walked to him. "Hello, Ivar" he said, to which, Ivar smirked a little, she was sure he did not only admire him, he loved him still. "There's no mistaking you" added Ragnar, "It appears my return is not welcome. You obviously all made your mind up about me" he continued, Freya noticed his facial expressions as he spoke, somehow she understood why Lagertha and Aslaug had fallen for him, "I cannot blame you for that – so, come on boys, who is gonna do it then? Who is gonna kill me?" he asked again to his sons, Freya did not want to believe her ears, why on earth would he want his own sons to kill him? "I don't mind. Go ahead" he said walking in front of them. He stopped in front of Hvitserk and asked, "What about you, Hvitserk? You think you are a man now? I dare you, put me out of my misery" and then, jokingly he said, "Do it. Do it. Do it – DO IT!" he roared at the end, scaring the ones behind Hvitserk and leaving his son ashamed and petrified at the same time. Then Ragnar was not calm anymore, he was snarling and shouting, "Look at these people! They no longer support me – LOOK! Why would they? I am your leader and I just left" he spoke mocking himself, "What kind of leader does that? Uh? WHAT KIND OF KING ABANDONS HIS PEOPLE?!" he shouted resembling a snarl before stopping to stare at his sons. The silence was nerve wracking. "What kind of father abandons his sons?" he asked almost in a whisper, seemingly angry at himself, "So who wants to be King?" he asked so calmly that that was what troubled Freya the most out of all the things he had said till then.

"You know how this works, if you want to be King you must kill me" he said drawing his sword and going around trying to make some of the crowd get it to stab him, he asked the people all angry and then he roared again, "WHO WANTS TO BE KING?" and as soon as he asked that he walked fast to his sons again and asked, "What about you Sigurd? Do you want to be King?" and then he walked in front of Ubbe, "Do you want to be King Ubbe? Kill me and you are King – KING UBBE" he roared to the crowd and turning to him again he slapped him. Freya lost control of her eyes for a moment, they turned bright red, angry and scared at the same time. But Ubbe did nothing, she knew he would not have fallen for his sly psychological tactics, "What are you waiting for?" asked Ragnar slapping him again, "Are you afraid, be a man" he urged, they stared at each other and then Ragnar backed away, passing his fingers through Ivar's hair as he did so.

To her amazement, Ubbe took a few steps forward and she wanted to stop him but Sigurd kept her back moving the hand he was holding his sword with in front of her. Ragnar turned to his son while everyone else remained still, not knowing what would have happened next. The king opened his arms, ready to be killed but Ubbe didn't move. His father slowly tried to reach for his face again, then he drew him in and they hugged. Freya let out a sigh of relief and then her father arrived, making his way through the crowd, Ubbe and Ragnar let go of each other and Ubbe returned to his brothers and Freya while Bjorn looked his father up and down and calmly asked boldly, "Why did you come back?".