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LOCATION - EOFERWIC
THEY TRAVELED FOR WEEKS, SEARCHING FOR INSIGHT INTO WHERE THEIR BROTHER UHTRED IS.
Alfred was kind enough to gift Estrid a dress she could bare. It wasn't an expensive dress by any means, the fabric was fraying at the hem, with threads falling off every time she adjusted herself on her horse. It was a simple cream colour, with a brown pinafore layered on top - it had pockets (she adored it when dresses had pockets). As well as a dark brown leather vest that worked as armour, she was thankful for the clean clothes.
Estrid had a pack that was attached to her horses saddle, full with herbs, rocks and other plants she's picked up since they left Winchester. Ragnar begged for her to leave some room for food, but she argued that there was no need. Stupid really, but someone had to carry the medicine.
Although travelling was exhausting, she loved riding a horse. The wind whistling through her curly red hair was missed when she was in a cell for God's knew how long. She missed the grass. It sounds weird when you think about it. But it's the things you take for granted when you go about your everyday life you miss. She longed for the smell of the sea when she was in that cell. She remembered the saltiness of the ocean would make her hair feel strange. As if she picked up sand, poured it over her head, and then dunked her hair in the water - she never did that of course, but it's what it felt like!
Imprisonment made Ragnar restless. He felt as though he let Brida down, let his sister down. He hated letting his sister down. It was times like that where he wished she didn't follow him everywhere. She didn't belong in a cage, trapped like a wild animal. Ragnar and Brida act like gorilla's when they were on the battlefield, ripping apart people everywhere you looked. Many believe Estrid is a doe. Sure she had the look, innocent, bright eyes, and she acted like one too. She was timid, unless you knew her, observant, and sensitive. But that was what she was on the outside. On the inside she was a tigress. Unlike her brothers and Brida, she rarely entered the battlefield. However, when she did she was precise. She'd hide in shrubbery and watch her prey from afar, learning about them, seeing how she can take them down. Sussing out their weak spots - if that had any. Oft she would crawl through the long grass and slice at a man's Achilles heel if he would walk near her, causing him to fall to the floor, paralysed. Then she'd pounce.
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Estrid's arse was sore. The saddle she was uncomfortable and digging into her thighs. She wanted to get off but wanted to look strong in front of Steapa, one of Alfred's men. At first she feared him because of his tall stature and lack of the willing to smile but she managed to crack him a few times.
She rode next to Sister Hild, one of Uhtred's friends. Estrid couldn't believe Uhtred was friends with a Catholic. Unbelievable.
"Sister Hild, and company." Said a man with grey hair and beard, with a cross around his neck when the group rode up to the main building in Eoferwic. "What is your purpose?"
