Through life comes death. Through war comes heartache and destruction. The gods work in mysterious ways and it is up to you to follow the path they have laid for you, but you don't always have to do it alone.
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I knew Ælle would know we were here and sure enough he was there, we were hidden but I could tell he had his signature smug look on his face. I watched as part of our army stood there waiting and Ælle spoke to someone next to him, he thought he had the upper hand but he was so wrong. More of our army appeared and Ælle's face dropped but that was nothing when we ventured out with Floki. The adrenaline was running through my veins, I felt strong next to the norsemen, they had this sense of power that rubbed off on me. Drawing my sword I felt a rush flow through my body, it was like a surge of electricity igniting the fire in my soul. The warriors and shield maidens around began to scream their heartiest battle cry and I joined, I was part of this army and all the anger I had towards people like Ælle and Ecbert was flowing through my veins.
The fighting began and people from both sides were falling like flies. I ran towards a soldier from Ælle's army and lifted my sword crashing down against his, stepping back from the encounter I recollected my bearings and took another swing. He was bigger than me but he didn't know how to use that to his advantage, I swung my sword around, sliced his neck open and he began to choke on his own blood. I had dirt and blood smeared all over my face, I caught sight of Ubbe taking on three English soldiers so I quickly began running towards him. Slashing down other men on my way, I grabbed one of my axes and threw it, impaling one of the men fighting with Ubbe and catching the attention of another as the battle around me continued on. "Ubbe! Watch out!" I yell ripping my other axe from it's place on my back and bringing it down onto a poor English solider. "Thanks," he smiled quickly and we kept on fighting. I was getting tired and sore, scanning the battle field I could see Ælle's men dwindling. A burning pain radiated from my right shoulder as I screamed in pain, whipping around I saw the culprit and quickly pulled out my dagger plunging it into his neck. A horn rang through my ears as the battle had come to an end, we had won and the Ragnarssons had Ælle surrendering at their feet. A wave of relief masked the pain in my shoulder only for a brief moment, I could see the Ragnarssons taking Ælle as a prisoner. We all headed back to our campsite, I assume to decide what the brothers wanted to do with King Ælle.
Cheering echoed throughout the camp as everyone celebrated the success of demolishing King Ælle's army. "King Ælle shall die by blood eagle!" Bjorn yelled as everyone clapped and agreed. "What is a 'blood eagle'?" I asked Sigurd as I came up next to him. He looked at me, quietly staring, "it is something that you would be better off seeing rather than me explaining," he stated. I was a bit confused but left it at that, I needed to tend to my wound but before I knew it we were heading into the forest where a screaming Ælle was being dragged behind Ivar's chariot. I stood around watching the brothers talk between each other, asking Ælle to show them where Ragnar died. I gazed off towards the spot where Ragnar had died, it almost felt like it was yesterday when I was standing here watching Ragnar die. Bjorn was standing where the hole was and you could tell it was still hollow. They opened it up and stood staring down, I was frozen in my spot, I couldn't move, I felt sick to my stomach. "How much gold and silver do you want to spare my life?" Ælle's quivering voice made it's way to my ears, my look of disgust didn't go unnoticed. All of them were angry, I could understand why, Ælle was one of the reasons their father was gone. Before long the light had disappeared and torches were lit. I was still yet to know what a blood eagle was but I would soon find out. Ælle was bought forward and bought to his knees, Floki began hammering nails though his hands to restrain him. He was crying, but I held no emotion listening to his cries. Bjorn ripped Ælle's shirt as he heated the knife, Ivar was sitting in front with the best seat, watching as pain contorted Ælle's face. That is When Bjorn began, I could not believe what I was witnessing. The piercing sound of Ælle's screams will forever be embedded in my mind. Bjorn hacked at his ribs while all of the other brothers watched with smiles on their faces. I'm not sure if it was the events that were unfolding in front of me or the fact I had lost a lot of blood from my wound but I felt ill. I left and went back to our camp, stumbling into my tent I lost all consciousness falling to the ground into a sea of darkness.
