The Pagan Goddess

Chapter Ten

"Lord of Rumcofa, make your appearance!" A loud booming voice sounds on the outside of the gates. Bjørn makes his way atop to see who speaks. I stay at the  bottom of the stairs with Tora and Thyra behind me.

Alfric follows Bjørn up the stairs with Hilda closely by his side. It has been a few months since their wedding festivities. A week long event with a lot of celebration, dancing, drinking ale, and feasting. It has been quiet in Rumcofa and word spread that the pagan goddess was killed by Lord Karten. So the king halted his search. I still have not asked Thyra or my brother of this pagan goddess and why people seem to think it is me. I have certainly tried, but things seem to come up when I try to bring up that topic. Erik has left Rumcofa with Astrid, Sigard, and Ivar to Jarvik or Eoforwick as the Saxons like to call it. He continues training his army to regain our homeland, Northumbria.

All of a sudden Hilda and Alfric jog down the stairs with worried looks on their faces. "Lady, we must hide you." Alfric say as Thyra gently grabs my arm and pulls me inside the hall.

"What is the meaning of this?" I state anger in my voice as I tug my hand out of Thyra's hold and push Alfric away from me. Tora and Hilda stood near by keeping quiet. "I demand to know what everyone won't speak of."

"Freya, this is not the place." Thyra whispers calmly after a few seconds of silence.

"Fine, but I will not leave Bjørn again."

"Freya, please." Hilda steps forward, "if you do not hide, you will put him in danger."

Just then the gates slowly opened as Alfric quickly picks me up and swings me over his shoulders. "Forgive me Lady." He grunts as he begins to run to the storage room. Hilda, Tora, and Thyra follow closely behind us as I try my hardest to get out of Alfric's grasp.

When we arrive in the storage room, Alfric gently places me on my feet with a apologetic smile. I cross my arms and begin to speak when Hilda and Thyra begin to move boxes away from the secret passage I once made to sneak out to watch the sunset every night. "You all know of this." I say with a gentle smile.

"Of course, my lady," Alfric begins with raised eyebrows, "you are easily noticed." He points to my red hair making everyone chuckle.

Tora came over and gave me a big hug with a giggle, "I love your hair Freya."

I hug back as Thyra and Hilda make their exist through the hide out. Tora followed shortly and then I was made to go by Alfric gently pushing me before he followed. We walked on foot into the trees as all the horses were secured inside Bjørn's fortress.

"Who was at the gates?" I asked as we continued to make our way deeper, all following Alfric's path.

"The king of Wessex." Hilda says. I could tell she was irritated within her voice.

"What does he want?" I ask with a grunt. Everyone fell silent. Thrya held Tora's hand, both looking away like they did not hear my answer. Hilda and Alfric share glances with each other making me stop walking.

"If someone does not answer me, I will go find out myself what the king wants." I state firmly turning on my heels to go back to Rumcofa.

"Freya!" Thyra says with agony in her voice.

I turn sharply and cross my arms. I look at everyone and they all look saddened. "Bjørn has sworn his sword to the king." Alfric says, looking to the ground. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes.

"Excuse me?" I ask raising my voice a little. "The reasoning is?" I cannot believe Bjørn would swear an oath with a Saxon, the king of Saxons at that.

"To protect you." Hilda speaks up making Thyra grunt toward her, "no lady Freya deserves to know the truth." She says toward Thyra. She comes to me and takes my hands in hers. "We are all here to protect the pagan goddess."

"I am no pagan goddess!" I yell forcing my hands out of hers.

"Yes, yes you are Freya." Thyra speaks slowly as she steps forward.

"Listen," Alfric steps forward making everyone look at him, "here is not the place for this. Lady, we will explain everything, but first we need to get you to safety."

I nod my head as we continue on deeper and deeper into the trees. Tora has came to my side and held my hand with a smile. Her eyes try to reassure me everything will be okay. Soon we arrived at a small, wooden house, deep in the woods. "Bjørn had this place built for you as a hide out." Alfric explains as we enter in the small house. Room enough for a few people to sleep with a fireplace built in for the cold months.

We all settle in for the night and Alfric leaves to get more wood for the fire. I cannot stop thinking about Bjørn, I have been worried sick about him. It has been a few hours and night has fallen. No messenger or news on what has happen. This has been the longest I have been away from Bjørn in the last few months and I cannot stop this uneasy feeling. "Bjørn will be okay." Hilda smiles at me making me look away from the fire.

I gently smile back as the door swung opened revealing Alfric holding piles of wood for the fire. He smiles at us when we all jumped at his entrance. A few seconds later he grunted in pain as blood began to pour from his mouth. Hilda screams and cry's out for her husband. Wood falls from his hands and he falls to the floor in Hilda's arms. Thyra quickly goes to Hilda's side with tears falling down her cheeks. Tora stays next to me as I stand frozen in one spot. She cry's loudly and grabs my hand for comfort.

"Run." Alfric grunts out before taking his last breath. I look up from the bloody floor and see a few men on horses with arrows. Hilda screams in pain as Thyra pulls her off Alfric motionless body. This is just like the dream I had. Everything in my dream came true, but this time it was real life.

One of the men drew his arrow and pointed it at me. I watch as he draws back his arm and shoots. I am unable to move as I have frozen at the sight before me. I hear Tora yelling at me but it is muffled. I hear Thyra scream, but it is muffled. Before I knew it Hilda steps in front of me and the arrow goes in her back. She saved my life. She gently smiles at me with caring eyes as blood begins to pour from her eyes and mouth. Her body goes limp and she falls to the floor. Thyra catches her body  mid fall and slowly places her body on the floor. I hear Tora and Thyra trying to talk to Hilda while she took her last breath, but I still could not move.

My body begins to shake violently and I feel a surge of energy course through my body. I feel tears fall down my cheeks and I fall to my knees. I slam my fists to the ground making a big hole where my fist hit and scream so loud that Tora and Thrya covered their ears. Thyra still held Hilda's lifeless body on her knees with her legs covered in blood.The men's horses got scared from my scream and they threw their riders off and ran away. I stood up and drew my sword with my body still on fire. The men scrambled to find their swords as I made my way closer to them.

There were three men and I killed all three of them. I fell to the ground after and could not move. Thyra and Tora were by my side whispering to me, but I could not hear them. Everything was muffled as I began to shake on the cold ground. A few second passed by and everything went dark.