DIVINE [HVITSERK RAGNARSSON]

9: AN INVITATION

CHAPTER NINE - 'AN INVITATION'

Kattegat was bustling. It was a market day and the streets were lined with stalls selling fresh fish, ripe meats and strange spices from the silk roads that Asta had never really seen before. She looked at a strange orange spice as it sifted through Thara's fingers.
"These always look so good." Thara breathed as she giggled at Asta. The seller smiled at her, moving his hand to swirl the spices and lift them with his hands, letting them rain down back into the sacks like a waterfall.
"What would you like?" He smiled at Thara, motioning again to the assortment of spices and flavourings in front of him. Those things weren't cheap. Asta had heard they come from the silk roads, where the Rus sell them for high prices. "For a beauty like you, I shall give you a good price."
Thara giggled again and begin to delve into conversation with the seller, conversation that Asta drowned out as she studied the other stalls.

Her browsing was cut short as a hand grabbed her arm, pulling her small body away from the bustling market and down between two cabins. The air here was much cooler, as the cabins blocked the sky and small bits of snow dotted the ground underneath Asta's feet.
"Hey— Get off of me!" Asta scrambled as the hand pulled her between the cabins. She stopped as the unknown person let go of her and stood her in front of them. Asta was shocked as she looked at the long, braided blonde hair and shield-maiden outfit - it was Torvi. She'd seen her before, with Björn of course, and she knew that she was some sort of right-hand woman to Lagertha.
"T-Torvi?" Asta looked at her, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion and her head tilting to the side.
"Just listen." Torvi said firmly, clearing up nothing of Asta's wonderment. "You must come to Hedeby. Tomorrow."
Asta scoffed a laugh, not understanding what Torvi was talking about at all.
"Hedeby? Tomorrow? What—"
"Lagertha's orders."
"Lagertha? Torvi, I— How do you think I can just come to Hedeby. My father is um, protective, especially now that my brothers have gone raiding. I can't just leave for days."
Torvi sighed, looking around as she thought and scratching at her head slightly.
"Okay, tell your father where you're going and tell him it's under Lagertha's orders. Tell them you will explain when you come back."
"Bu—"
"They'll understand, they've known Lagertha for years." Torvi breathed quickly and before Asta could argue any further she turned her back and disappeared from the cold alleyway. Asta sighed as she was left alone between the cabins, wondering what on earth Lagertha could want from her.

————

It wasn't easy telling her mother and father that she would be travelling to Hedeby. But Lagertha was a strong, respectable woman and Asta had no plans to just ignore her summons. Her father was protective as usual, worrying over how she would travel there and why she was even wanted there in the first place.  She couldn't tell him that she could now defend herself thanks to Hvitserk, so she lied and told him that one of her brother's friends had promised to meet her in Kattegat and accompany her to Hedeby, just in case anything were to happen. After reassurances of Lagertha's care from her mother and a promise from Asta that she would explain everything when she returned, Sten finally agreed.