𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑

12

( 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑 ! )
CHAPTER TWELVE
VENGEANCE
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Thirty days into the siege, and now Haesten and Brida stood on the ramparts with Solvi, who holds onto a bow and arrow, as a Saxon man sends a message from King Edward, threatening to burn the place to the ground if they do not surrender. Recently, Brida had been helping Solvi better her skills in the bow and arrow, a useful skill, and now Solvi was practicing.

"There you go," Brida smiles, "Now pull it back tight, yes, just like that. And... release." It hits the messenger in the heart. "That's my girl!" Brida cheers, laughing gleefully. Solvi, however, while she enjoys the praise of her mother, feels conflicted. The man came to give a message. Why had she killed him?

Haesten sends Brida a look, baffled.

"I knew what he was going to say. They're getting desperate." Brida says, "And little Solvi here needs her practice. What better way than with live targets?"

Brida takes the bow and kills another man as they retreat with the dead messenger. Solvi suddenly doesn't know how to feel as she recognizes the dead man they pull away. She'd seen him back in Aegelesburg.

Swallowing away the guilt and shame and bile, Solvi takes a deep breath, before turning to her mother, "Why did we kill them?" She asks softly, curiously.

"It sends a message of our own." Brida answers. "Our actions can often speak louder than our words. People know us by our reputations, which are built through actions. We kill them, we instill fear and are known to be ruthless and people dare not cross us."

. . .

Solvi follows Brida and Haesten to the room where Sigtryggr and Stiorra sat in. Sigtryggr was spending a lot of time in Stiorra's presence. They played games, she read to him the histories from the many books Alfred had kept recorded over the years, and he asked her questions while Stiorra answered.

Sigtryggr had also taken to bringing Solvi around with him, to watch and observe and learn. The small child was smart, a quick learner, and brutal. She may not have immense strength, but she made up for it in speed and quick-thinking. She was an efficient fighter when sparring, never wasting energy or movement when she didn't have to. She never hesitated either.

The child had potential, and even more so, she was proving dangerous with her own abilities as a young Völva, practicing Seidr magic and learning healing practices. She knew a lot about herbs and plants for treatment and poisons. She had even identified a growth of flowers in the courtyard to be poisonous when consumed.

Brida wanted to kill Stiorra, using her as an example to lure out Uhtred. She was so guided by her hatred and need for revenge, it blinded her. Instead, Sigtryggr was able to stop Brida, and had Haesten command the men to cover the houses with clay and water. His own thoughts reminiscing to Solvi's words at the beginning of the siege.

Smoke burns the lungs with straw but clay does not catch aflame.

Such a powerful seer. He had never seen the likes of her kind as powerful as she was. He'd heard the rumors of her birth mother Skade, the woman killed by Uhtred to break his own curse. She had seemed like more trouble than it was worth for a seeress. But her daughter? Solvi was interesting.

Sigtryggr turned to leave the room, guiding Brida and Haesten out, turning to look at Stiorra as he left, before he looked towards Solvi. "Come with me."

Solvi followed him to the resting place of Alfred's stone coffin, where the royal Saxon prisoners were being kept.

He had the doors opened and walked in, Solvi trailing behind him silently. He studied the starved prisoners, before saying softly, "Give me the King's heir."