Fighting, Honour and Valhalla || Vikings x The Originals x TVD

Battle and Blood

Thorfinn ate a bowl of porridge as he sat by the fire, it was the day they would raid Hexham and the men were getting ready. While he was excited he didn't seem to share the same excitement as most of the men here, some of them didn't even eat that morning and stood waiting for Ragnar to give the signal. 'My heart isn't in this,' he thought to himself. He had three chests worth of silver and gold, he didn't need more for the moment, what he wanted was to go home and see Rebekah, Hild and Gyda; he missed them all and couldn't wait to see them again. He would be a father soon and so he had much to do before the birth to make things suitable.

Blaeja and Arwyn sat next to him eating their own food. They would be staying at camp during the raid, while he had no doubt Arwyn would slaughter everyone in the town should he command he didn't want Blaeja to have to watch that so he commanded Arywn to look after her. While everyone was standing up and had weapons in their hands waiting for the command to enter the town, Ragnar stretched before coming to sit down with Thorfinn he poured himself a serving of food ignoring the stares from everyone else; Thorfinn couldn't help but laugh as he saw the looks of annoyance on everyone's faces, including Lagertha and Rollo.

He knew why Ragnar wanted to wait for today. It was Sunday and everyone including guards would be in church; while it was a good plan it meant raiding this town would be almost as easy as the Monastery. "Are you ready Thorfinn?" Ragnar asked as he started to eat.

Thorfinn chuckled "Do I need to be ready, we both know how easy this will be," he replied.

Ragnar returned his laugh "It should be easy, but you never know something unexpected could happen, only the gods know when a man dies," he said.

"Then I hope they'll welcome me into their halls when it's my time," Thorfinn replied.

"I have no doubt they will, you have done much in a short time, more things than most men do in their entire lifetimes," Ragnar said.

"It's clear to see you are the envy of most men in this camp, you must notice how they look at your women," Ragnar said with a chuckle.

Thorfinn nodded, he had noticed but he didn't much care, if they went beyond looking he would cut off their hands. "I'm sure they envy you just as much, the man who discovered the west," he said with a laugh, one that Ragnar joined him in.

*Dong*
*Dong*

Both Thorfinn and Ragnar looked up from their food and smiled. "I think that's our signal," Thorfinn said. Ragnar nodded and stood up, picking up his shield and axe.

"Stay here, Arwyn make sure to protect her and the Silver," he said to both girls.

"If you have to choose then I suppose you can pick Blaeja," he said jokingly making the Princess roll her eyes.

"I'm glad to hear you hold me in such high esteem, hurry back I want to get started on learning the language," Blaeja replied.

"Be careful Lord," Arwyn said with a small amount of worry. Thorfinn smiled and stroked the young girl's head before standing up and lifting his shield. It was time to add to his wealth.

...

The Vikings moved slowly and silently through the empty town. Besides Ragnar and Thorfinn, the others did not know why the town was so empty; they looked around with confusion, especially when they saw the weapons of the guards all hung up and left unattended. Ragnar instructed some of the men to take the weapons, their iron was stronger and better made than their own so they'd be remiss to not take it. Perhaps their blacksmith could unlock the secrets behind it, but more likely they'd take a slave and force them to reveal it.

Some of the others started to split off from the main group and search the houses in the town, which wasn't surprising as they no doubt planned to fill their pockets separately. They would be entitled to a share of the raid, but if they hid some of what they had taken then they'd earn a bit extra. This was a common practice and Ragnar didn't much care about it as long as what they tried to hide were just small pieces of silver. The Northmen looked in disgust as they saw large stone statues of crosses representing the foreign god these people worshipped.