Painted Blade || sihtric

6.

A few days after the wedding, Bemia walked beside Clapa into Lunden from the river docks with half of the Mercia guards still getting off the ships.

"They say Lunden is dangerous," Sihtric murmured, looking around at the different carts full of various things while people mulled around, chatting to each other.

"Oh, it is," Finan drawled, throwing an arm over his shoulders, "but Lunden is alive with every kind of life."

"I hear women do not walk the streets unguarded," Sihtric said, suddenly halting and not walking again until Bemia had caught up to his side, unaware and distracted by the different smells of food. "That bodies are found in the river, daily."

"Twice daily, with each and every tide," Uhtred commented, sharing a knowing look with Finan, noticing how Sihtric had slowed down for Bemia.

"Well, remind me to carry more weapons," Bemia mumbled, feeling the weight of her sword across her back, the two axes at her sides, and the daggers attached to her belt.

Finan snorted, clasping a hand on her shoulder. "Lunden is not Winchester, but one year here is worth ten elsewhere."

"Then why do you not live there?" Sihtric questioned.

"And end up dead in the river?" Finan raised a brow. "Do I look like a fool?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" Bemia teased as Finan and Sihtric laughed.

The further they walked into the kingdom, the more crowded and louder it got. Due to this, Clapa and Sihtric kept Bemia between them, stuck close to her sides. Everyone knew that she was the only woman in the army and Uhtred had made it clear to his men that his sister was to have her back watched at all times considering she refused to stay in Coccham with the other women.

"Uhtred, how is it that you know these streets so well?" Lord Aethelred questioned from behind Bemia.

"I stayed here for a time, with Earl Ragnar the Fearless, when I was a boy and Bemia was a small child," Uhtred flatly answered.

Bemia smiled at the memory of Uhtred carrying her on his back when they were children, their laughter filling the streets and their father often growling at them for running ahead, out of sight.

"When you and your sister were a Dane?" Aethelred pushed, and Uhtred sent him a sharp look with Bemia. "Why is your sister with us?" He returned the glare to her. "She is a woman."

Sihtric chuckled, looking down at a rolling-eyed Bemia who looked away from Aethelred. "Bemia is a woman that has been in more battles than you, Lord," he sniped with a tight tone. "I've seen her skills and I wouldn't belittle her unless I wanted my cock cut off."

Bemia hummed at that with a faint smile as Aethelred and his men took a collective step back from her.

"Sihtric is correct about my sister," Uhtred stated and then looked around. "As you can see, the one fact in our favor is that the whole of Lunden cannot be defended, it's too big. Even the walls surrounding the old Roman city would need many hundreds of men."

"So the brothers' position is weak?" Aldhelm asked from Aethelred's side.

"Not weak," Bemia came to a stop with the others and faced the two men, "but Lunden's been open to all tribes for a reason."

"The ground's not far now," Uhtred declared, walking away. "I shall speak."

"You should ask for food and ale, Lord," Clapa said, following behind him with Bemia, Sihtric, Finan, and the others. "My belly believes my throat is cut."

Sihtric knew better than to make a suggestion or to be protective over Bemia when it came to times like now, but he knew how beautiful she was and that the brothers' would want her all to themselves, so he gently grabbed her arm, looking down at her with concern as she looked up at him with furrowed brows.