Always Be By My Side - Sequel to Always Return to Me (The Last Kingdom Fan Fic)

Chapter 23

Ragnar

We rode out of Aegelesburg together, Nadia rode beside the Lady Aethelflaed. A strange pair tied together by love for the same man and by his blood, but I suspected something deeper bonded the two women.

"Be careful," Uhtred said as we approached the top of the valley where we would go in opposite directions once more.

"You're the one who needs to be careful," I replied. We nodded at each other and Nadia and I watched as they departed in the opposite direction from us.

"He'll be alright," she said softly. "The gods are with him as they are with us."

"Aye," I replied, watching my brother turn into a speck in the distance.

I turned my attention to the two scamps that we had acquired. "You two will behave?" I asked them threateningly. The two quietly nodded and then looked for protection from my wife. I saw her eye them with motherly affection and hoped that would be enough to keep them from slitting our throats as we slept.

~~~~~

We rode to Tameworthig, stopping on the ridge above. I stared down at the large circular encampment my cousin had created. Men were bustling about laying out defensive barricades. Below us the party of Danes that had tried to take the lady of Merica and kill us at Aegelesburg was nearly to the entrance.

"Do you think Haesten is there?" I asked my wife.

"The coward would never face Cnut after giving up his sons so easily."

"So, we just have that party of Danes to worry about then," I replied.

"And those two," her voice was cold and I gave into my urge to glance at her. She was eyeing Cnut's sons with a warning look. The boys shook beneath her glare. "You will not speak until you are spoken to, understood?" She directed them. They nodded.

"So, what's the plan?" I grinned at her.

"Why do you think I have one?" She smiled innocently, her eyes gleaming in the sun. How I wanted to haul her off her horse and take her right there on the ground. I shook the thought out of my head. There were children present, damn little bastards.

"You always have a plan," I managed to get out.

We watched as Cnut slaughtered the man assuredly delivering the message that Uhtred had killed one of his sons. Then the fiery Dane let out a yell so piercing that it reached us up on the ridge.

"I do, don't I?" She grinned.

~~~~~

Nadia

The camp was in an uproar as we approached. Cnut, in his grief, had ordered all of his men to arms to chase after Uhtred. We rode in unnoticed and unchallenged. Ragnar slipped away to find his man, Rorik, while I marched straight into the heart of the camp with Cnut's hooded sons in tow. "Where is Earl Haesten?" I demanded of the first man who paid us any mind.

"Lady Ragnarson," he bowed clumsily. "Earl Haesten is not here. We have not seen him for weeks."

Good. I scoffed. "I assume Cnut is here then?"

"Lord Cnut is in his tent, but he is not to be disturbed lady," the man called after me.

"We'll see about that," I replied over my shoulder. "Come along," I ordered the two children who scurried after me.

I stopped outside the snake's tent, taking a deep breath. It would take all of my willpower to face the man and not betray what I knew. I gave his sons one more warning glance before pulling back the flap of the tent.