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

Strange Affliction

It was a few days after everyone returned from Darkmoon Forest and Kattegat was already busting with activity. Thorfinn did not want to wait a moment before he started enacting his changes. What was most important at the moment was expanding the harbour and building new ships, Kattegat was well placed and could turn into an important trade centre for the villages further north and those south. That wasn't even mentioning the future raids upon the West.

There were also numerous upgrades that Thorfinn wished to make to Kattegat itself. He had read in numerous texts and had seen himself, roads of stone. He had seen how useful they'd been in helping people transport things around the castle. Fewer axles broke and it was an overall better look. Sadly there were no masters of stone in the village, no one who could make such beautiful works as the Romans did. However there were those who knew how to work stone to a small degree, the Jarls longhouse as well as Mikaels and his own had a foundation of stone —as did most smithies. Thorfinn thought that would be more than enough to replace the roads with stone.

Despite winter approaching men and women still worked hard, they hunted and fished and foraged what they could. They were under the belief that the recent conflict would cause a famine this winter, as farmers had been taken away from their farms and those who owned land found themselves lacking the labour they needed to harvest properly. Thorfinn allowed them to think this, he didn't inform any of them that there would be enough food to survive through the winter.

Ragnar had been the one to suggest this, he said that it would make them more grateful and would solidify his position as Jarl if he got them all through the winter. Thorfinn at first felt dubious about it, he didn't want there to be conflict in the village —people stealing from each other. However in the end he agreed, solidifying his position was more important now.

While the people of Kattegat worked for their short-term goals. Thorfinn with the help of Floki, Ragnar and Storri started to plan for the long term, more specifically the expansion of Kattegat. Gold and silver would soon flow into this village, and that would undoubtedly attract people from all across the north. Where the spikes had been placed now would be the inner city, Thorfinn planned to build a wall there that stretched across the village to the water. They would then start making the land suitable outside the walls for construction.

There was also a river that ran through the nearby forest. Once most of the construction was done they could build an aqueduct. That seemed to be a requirement if Thorfinn wanted to construct any of the more advanced buildings he'd read about.

However, they all agreed that the main long-term plan was to expand. They needed skilled workers, luckily for them, they were plentiful in number across the ocean to the west.

Floki would build Thorfinn more boats, and they would sail west again. Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, East Anglia and Kent. They were all touched by the great empire and would no doubt have ancient knowledge stored there. Ragnar had told him that the lands there were much fairer than ours were, that the future of our people could lay there. Thorfinn disagreed, he would then Kattegat into a city not even rivalled by Constantinople, and he would do it all in his lifetime.

...

Thorfinn yawned as he walked back into his room from the main hall, these meetings were exhausting and seemed to be endless. He knew of their importance but he honestly just wanted to rest, the more he worked the more he realised there was to do. He was lucky to have competent men around him otherwise he'd have a much more difficult time. He wouldn't know what to do if he didn't have Floki here, despite his childish behaviour and numerous pranks he was a wise man and an even better shipbuilder.

Thorfinn couldn't imagine a shipbuilder any better than Floki was, and it was because of his ship that we first went west. Compared to the Jarl's ships, Floki's were faster, they were stronger, and they were built in such a way that they cut through the waves without damaging them. He would give Floki whatever he needed to make more.