After the death of his foster father, Ragnar the Fearless, Uhtred travels with Brida to seek an audience with Ubba, the Danish Chieftain who had just attacked East Anglia, capturing the King Edmund in the man's own monastery.
After kidnapping the Earl's priest, Storri, and sending him to the forest with Brida, Uhtred tries to tell Ubba the truth of Ragnar's death, but the man is unwilling to listen.
There, the daughter of the now defeated King Edmund, Eadwynn gets dragged into the monastery after being caught hiding by the Danish men. When Uhtred reveals that he had captured Storri, Ubba grows angry and the situation provides an escape for Uhtred.
Noticing this, the King tries to convince Uthred to take his daughter with him to Winchester when he leaves to save her from the heathens. He tells the young warrior that she was to wed Aethelwold, the son of Kind Aethelred of Wessex and if he provides her safe passage, he would be rewarded by the King of Wessex.
Before he escapes, Uhtred decides to takes the Princess with him and journey to Winchester.
During the journey, Uhtred finds a friend in Eadwynn and after they reach Winchester, Uhtred receives the promised reward, and then starts to plan how he is going to reclaim Bebbanburgh, his rightful home, but Brida disagrees from his plans, and leaves with Ragnar.
On the other hand, Eadwynn refuses to marry Aethelwold, finding the man repulsive and argues that she was no longer a King's daughter as they had lost their kingdom to the Danes. When that reason fails, she claims to have lost faith in their religion and proclaims that a heathen could not possibly marry the son of God's King.
This trick works, but with a downside. After the death of King Aethelred, his brother, Alfred is crowned King and he orders Eadwynn to be sent to a monastery to find God again. But Eadwynn doesn't stay there long, claiming to have found God again but still not willing to marry Aethelwold, as he was no longer a King's son, and Alfred begrudgingly agrees, also not wanting his nephew to have a wife who would bear him children who could give rise to questions about his claim to the throne.
Eadwynn aligns herself with Uthred, having him teach her how to use a sword and after some time, becomes a fairly good swordswoman, but realizes she's far better with a bow than she is with any other weapon.
When he leaves Wessex with Hild and Halig, she joins him, and she's with him when Sihtric swears his sword to Uhtred.
When the foolish King Guthred orders Uhtred to be sold off as a slave, Hild rushes to ask King Alfred for help, while Sihtric stays at King Guthred's camp.
Eadwynn decides to help Gisela flee the city of Eoferwic and protect her after the Lady's brother planned to marry her off, knowing that Uhterd would not have liked her to be unprotected.
Before running, Eadwynn hands Sihtric two letters for Hild, one from Gisela, stating where they would be and one from herself, stating where to find the slave-trader Jonis, who she found was the one to sell Uhtred and Halig to a slave master.
Eadwynn and Gisela wait for Uhtred at the nunnery for around a year, until the Abbot Eadred finds Gisela there, while Eadwynn was out hunting.
Thankfully, Uhtred comes to save them, accompanied by a sharp tongued Irishman, who meets the equally sharp tongued former Princess.
Eadwynn tightened the reigns around the now dead stag, as she hauled it up on Meadow, her horse's back.
If someone would've told her 5 years ago that she would be hunting for food in a forest to take back to the nunnery she was staying at, the then-Princess would have laughed at their face, but life was funny sometimes and God, or the Gods, whichever ones people believed in, could be cruel.
The woman makes her way towards the end of the woods, approaching the clear field with the view of the building her and Gisela were staying in, but she halted in her steps, noticing horses waiting outside and not just one or two... at least five.
Eadwynn's eyes widen, as she unties the stag, and lets it fall down to the ground. Climbing up on Meadow, she races the horse to the gates.
"Eadwynn!" Gisela's voice comes, as she walks out of the building, with few people following behind her.
"Gisela!" Eadwynn sighs, jumping off her horse and embracing the woman. "I thought your brother's men found you."
"They did." Gisela breaths out, motioning to the group behind her. "But Uhtred came to save us."
"Uhtred?" Eadwynn turns to look at the man, who now had shorter and dirtier hair, looking more worn out but happy at being reunited with his love. "Oh, Uhtred!" Eadwynn rushes to hug him and jumps into his arms, making Uhtred chuckle as he wraps his arms around the girl.
"Still as clueless as ever, I see." Uhtred smirks, as they pull apart.
"Call me clueless again, and I stab you in your eye." Eadwynn tells him.
"I do not doubt it." Uhtred nods, as the girl moves on to embrace Hild.
"You saved him." Eadwynn smiles at the abbess.
"With your help." Hild smiles, pulling out the letter.
"You're still the same size, girl." Ragnar's voice comes, having met the girl after the Battle of Edington where he was defeated.
"And you're still a beast." The girl replies, and then notices the two new men, who she didn't recognize. "Who's the brute?" She motions to the clearly Saxon warrior.
"He's one of Alfred's men. Steapa." Uhtred answers, and Eadwynn turns to the last one.
He looked to be in a state that resembled Uhtred's, both men looking like they had been though too much. And they most probably had, Eadwynn knew. She could never even imagine what it must've been like for Uhtred to have been betrayed and forced to slave every day for almost a year.
"And who's the beggar?" She nods to the man, and he looks back at the girl, raising an eyebrow.
"A warrior." Finan replies. "And who are you, lady? Some Princess or whatnot?"
"Yes, she is." Uhtred answers grinning, as he wraps his arm around Eadwynn's shoulder while Finan looks to him, surprised.
"A former one. Of East Anglia." Eadwynn replies, shaking off Uhtred's arm. "Now, can we leave? The former Princess is tired of this nunnery and wants good ale."
Finan his eyebrows, as the girl starts to walk out to their horses with the rest to leave the place.
"How do you know a Princess?" Finan mutters to Uhtred, who just shakes his head with a grin. "And such a pretty one, at that?"
"It's a long story." The Dane-Saxon warrior replies.
a/n
i am working on the grey's anatomy fic don't worry
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Irishman | Finan the Agile
Fanfic"Are you not good at hearing? Or just a dimwit?" "Which one do you want me to be?" In which the former Princess of East Anglia gets rescued by Uhtred when he confronts Ubba and after journeying with him, she meets the Irishman who was a slave along...
