Freya Ironside, Gifted by the Gods

The Russ attacks, the King of Kings and a prophecy

Freya bumped into Ingrid alone a few days later in the great hall.

"Lady Freya" she said, Freya spoke, "I know what might happen. You might marry my father" "I love him" she said with an impertinent look on her face, "I do not care. You are a threat to him and I cannot make myself like you. He may as well free you and marry you and if this happens I want you to understand something" she said and she got closer to her, "If he graces you and you become queen, I will never be under your command. If we are in the same room, you will never speak to me or my name, I will never kneel in front of you but you will" and she used her mind to force her to kneel and she was so much scared, "I will only be Bjorn and Gunnhild's shield. Get pregnant and I will make sure your child dies inside you along with you" she continued, "Bjorn will know this" she threatened her, "I will deal with him. Do you really think he cares about you?" asked Freya with her hand on fire to scare her more, "All he ever loved were Lagertha and Ragnar and very far away from them come me and Asa, his children. The wives don't count as much, especially not the second wives and surely not those who won't give him children. I am afraid everybody knows I could kill a hundred men without even touching them, he won't be furious at me" she said, Freya made her fall back down, she walked past her and added, "This deal starts now" and left.

Unfortunately for Freya and Gunnhild, soon after there was the marriage.

During the wedding she was among the crowd and at the party afterwards she spent her time walking around and when she met Gunnhild she told her, "You are the Queen, one word and I'll get rid of her", she sort of smiled to her and asked, "Will you look after my child in the future?" "Of course, I will have another sibling, another one to love and to protect" said Freya holding her hand.

She was walking around, eyeing Erik furtively, she did not like him much, when all of a sudden Bjorn and Ingrid walked towards her. Her father stopped and hugged her then she said, "Do not try to make me look insensitive father. I'll go to sleep now" and she left and headed towards her house.

*

Bjorn had asked Erik to patrol the fjords to prevent King Harald's attack; the outlaw needed Bjorn to be alive to live in Kattegat under his protection. Freya wasn't jealous, she was happier to stay in the city, to keep an eye on the internal potential threats, to the vagabonds and merchants that might have been spies.

Then, one day, Erik got back with one sixth of the men he had left with.

Bjorn checked the banner his men had retrieved from the enemies, "Who are these people?" he asked, "Rus, the same people we met in Kiev. The same people Ivar is staying with" said a young man, "What does it mean? Why did they come and raid here?" asked Ingrid, Freya was seated beside Gunnhild, "They were not raiding, they were scouting. By probing our defences" said Bjorn, "They plan to invade our country" added Erik, "I've heard stories of Rus. They are a vast kingdom, rich in resources. Huge armies. Perhaps they mean to invade all of Scandinavia" he finished, Bjorn nodded, "With Ivar's help and knowledge. How pleased he must be to think he is returning in triumph" said Bjorn staring aimlessly in front of him.

"We cannot possibly resist invasion from such a powerful enemy" argued Erik, "And yet we must resist!" shouted Bjorn, "They won't move their armies in the winter. We have until spring to decide what to do" said Bjorn. Gunnhild stood up and walked to him, "In your heart you know what you have to do. Harald is King of all Norway. You have to reach out to him, offering peace and a united front" she said firmly, "You say that because of your history?" asked Ingrid maliciously, "What do you mean?" asked Gunnhild as she and Bjorn turned to Ingrid, "I've been told King Harald asked for your hand" answered Ingrid, "King Harald asked for my hand as well" began Freya with a smirk, "Do you want to keep having a go at people or do you want to help us?" asked Freya, Ingrid said nothing more.