Prince Ivar 'the Boneless' Erikson of Kiev falls in love with and marries Princess Helga (Olga) of Chernigov. While taxing her people to finance a war against Denmark, the Chernigov 20 ambush and capture the prince and his retinue and threaten to e...
"Erik came to me in a dream and he said, 'Ivar the Boneless
is Prince Igor of Kiev'.
Brian Howard Seibert
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Viking Shield Wall by Jacob Andreassen
(918 AD) When Prince Erik got back to Northumbria, things had changed. Prince Ivar had married young Princess Blaeja even though she was barely the age of majority.
"He raped her," the elder Princess Blaeja told Erik. "His men smuggled him into her bedroom and he raped her while his men guarded the door. He used threats and promises to keep her quiet and he raped her another two nights before she finally told us what he was doing to her."
"I'm very sorry this has happened," Prince Erik apologized. "He seems to take after his grandfather, King Frodi, a bit too much and he hasn't handled rejection well."
"He wasn't rejected," Princess Blaeja explained. "King Ivar asked for her hand in marriage and Princess Hraegunhild agreed to the close match. She only requested that the marriage take place at least after Princess Blaeja has reached the age of fourteen. I think he preferred not to wait."
"Again, I am very sorry this has happened. I shouldn't have left. I take it Ivar has converted to Christianity?"
"Yes. He converted willingly. A little too willingly."
"How is young Princess Blaeja?"
"She is frightened and confused and I think she may be pregnant. She has accepted her fate and has moved into King Ivar's chamber. And the Saxon Princes of Northumbria have assembled a large army in Umbria and look ready to return."
"And how do you feel about that?" Erik asked.
"You have my full support and the support of my family. I loved Oddi and my children will always be his children, even young Princess Blaeja. We are all Hraes'. We are all Danes. We are Angles from Jutland, not Saxons from Germany."
"Thank you," Prince Erik breathed and he hugged the young princess he had once refused to plunder. "I still remember when Duke Rollo and I told Oddi that he had to plunder you. I think he handled it well."
"Oddi was a gentleman," Blaeja stated in a way that implied Ivar was not.
"Oddi was a warrior and a gentleman," Erik agreed. "There will never be another Helgi Bjorn 'Arrow Odd' Erikson." Then Prince Erik began to tell Princess Blaeja about his trip to Ireland. Princess Blaeja had not heard that Queen Olvor had died. But she was happy to hear that Erik had set Princess Hraegunhild up as a Hraes' trade agent, just as Oddi had set herself up years prior. Erik concluded their meeting by saying, "I seem to be doing a lot of things lately that are patterned after things that Oddi did."
