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'm not sure how long I was out for but it seemed most had not noticed except for a couple of brothers. Cold water woke me from my unconscious state, inhaling sharply and breathing erratically I shot up. Wiping my eyes I could see 4 heads in front of me, Ubbe, Hvitserk, Sigurd and Ivar. They were all staring, eyes full of worry. I wiped the water off of my face and screwed my face up remembering why I was in the state I was, my wound still hadn't been tended to. I waved my hand in front of the brothers trying to dismiss them but they didn't pay much attention. Standing up I went towards a bucket in my tent to make sure I had some fresh water. I took my top off revealing my wound and many others, not caring about the brothers still staring at me, my wound wasn't going to clean itself. I washed my wound dabbing it gently to clean the blood around it. Scanning the room I took no notice of the brothers as I tried to find a needle and thread that I hid in my bag. Finally finding them I concentrated on threading the needle, I grabbed one of my belts and bit down. I was lucky enough to be able to reach my wound, I started to stitch up my wound. I heard whispers between the brothers, "what is she doing?" Ubbe asked his brothers. No one answered because they were too busy watching what I was doing. "Hvitserk can you bring my knife over please?" I asked with thread in my mouth. After he passed it to me I quickly cut the thread after tying a small knot.
Slipping my top back on I spun around properly greeting the brothers, "how can I help?" I asked while putting the furs back on my cot. "What happened to you?" Ivar quizzed, "Oh it's nothing, just a small scratch from the battle yesterday," I smile. "That's not a small scratch! You were passed out on the ground and you just stitched it back up like nothing happened!" Hvitserk raised his voice. "You could have died Arini, why did you not say anything?" Ubbe joined in, he was almost as angry as Hvitserk. Rolling my eyes, "first of all it's not that bad. I didn't have enough time to fix it because I was dragged to your little show in the forest, which might I add was absolutely disgusting but somewhat fascinating. Secondly I wasn't passed out for that long, maybe a few hours at most and thirdly this is nothing compared to what I'm used to," I stated matter of factly. "Now what are your plans for taking over Wessex?" I sat down as the brothers took that as a cue to get comfortable. We talked about different plans and different ways we could take over Wessex. Before long Bjorn came and joined on in the conversation offering new ideas. I had a feeling taking over Wessex was going to be easy but it would come with a price.
"You do realise that Æthelwulf will already be planning different ways they could take on your army, no doubt he would already know of the outcome here," I say as the brothers nodded in agreement, Bjorn had come in to my tent when he noticed his brothers were nowhere to be seen. "His army will be bigger than anything you have ever seen," I tell the brothers as they ponder on my words. They all sat deep in thought, I guess thinking about what they could do or how they would take on Wessex. Breaking the silence Sigurd offers his idea, being we should just walking in with our whole army and take them down. Rolling my eyes all of the brothers saw my reaction, "no offence Sigurd but that has got to be the worst idea I have ever heard," I sigh as I see the other brothers share a hearty chuckle. Ivar interjects, "We need to create diversions, make him think we are in one place but come from another angle. It needs to be about surprise, we need a surprise attack," I nodded in agreement, Ivar seems to be the most tactical out of all of the brothers. "Then it is settled, Ivar you will plan the surprise attack using Arini's knowledge of the area and we will attack tomorrow," Bjorn said as he stood and soon left. The rest of the brothers left one by one until it was just Hvitserk and I, "are you sure you are okay, you seriously could have died if we hadn't come in when we did?" Hvitserk had a worry in his voice. Laughing I shook my head, "don't worry about me, I have honestly had much worse," I say thinking back to memories I would much rather forget. "We have more important things to worry about," I smile as Hvitserk still stared at me with worry swimming in his hazel eyes. Staring at me for a brief moment he nods and leaves, I sigh as he leaves and lay back down on my furs. Staring up to the roof of my tent I can't help but feel uneasy, something feels almost wrong but I don't know why. I close my eyes trying to let go of this feeling and slowly but surely fall to sleep.
**
Death. Death is all around me, the screams of the innocent are filling my ears, cities have been reduced to ash and the fires are heating my skin till it feels like it's going to blister. No matter where I look there is chaos and destruction. People lay strewn across the once peaceful landscape that I used to call home. There is no hope here, I have no one with me to help guide through this torment. I'm alone. Benji was ripped from me, the only family I had was gone. Each and everyone of the Ragnarssons was but a distant memory. Everyone I cared for was gone and I couldn't help but fall to my knees, sobbing. There was nothing worthing living for. I screamed, I cried until I couldn't any longer.
I quickly shot up, gasping for air as I replayed what I had seen in my own head. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead as I tried calming my breathing. Once I reached a semi peaceful state I got up and began dressing in my battle armour, the same things I wore during our battle in Northumbria. Today was going to be tough and I needed to make sure my head was clear. After getting dressed I exited my tent, the sun was yet to rise and no one else in the camp was awake, or so I thought. Walking a few metres west I came to a stop at the edge of the river we had travelled down, the water was still and the birds were slowly waking up, their sweets songs relaxed my heart. A snapping branch alerted my senses, I turned my head in the direction I thought it was coming from and my heart dropped. Those same men, the ones from that night, Their beady eyes stuck to my body made my skin crawl. "If I were you I wouldn't step any closer to me if you value your life," I seethed with narrowed eyes. They both laughed and that put me on edge. They advanced pinning my to the ground, flailing about I started to scream and kick trying to break free. Through all of my struggling I had yet to notice other people around us until the sound of an arrow piercing skin and one of the men feeling limp made me realise we had company. The other man got off of me and began fighting with the other people around us and I quickly pushed the other one off me. "Arini, are you okay?" That voice was none other than Ubbe's Nodding silently I watched as the other man died at the hands of Hvitserk. He rushed over to Ubbe and I asking the same thing Ubbe did. "I am fine you two, thank you for your help, I truly appreciate it but can we please never speak of this again," I state, "but Arini, if anything happens..." "No, it won't happen again. I don't need you protecting me," I cut Hvitserk off. Standing up I brush the dirt off of me and head back to camp. I had bigger things to worry about.
