Shield maiden ~ Vikings

»16«

Aila smiled at the man before her. He had a sword on his back, a dagger in his belt, a shield strapped to his arm and an axe in his free hand. Ivar's bodyguards were beginning to annoy her more than she could put to words.

Their path was blocked by the man, and several others like him with grim looks on their faces. They all shifted their gazes and turned their focus from Ivar's woman to the unknown red eyed man behind her. The resemblance between them was almost unnerving.

"Step aside."

The man in front of her tensed, taking a sharp breath. "You nearly killed one of ours." He said harshly, referring to the man Aila had punched so many times that her hand was still aching.

"Oh," Aila raised her brows with a worried look in her eyes and softened her voice. "well, then he should not have been one of Ivar's bodyguards, now, should he?" She asked in a mocking tone. "Not if little me could nearly kill him with naught but a small arrow and my bare hands."

His hand twitched. His arm jerked forward ever so slightly and he took a step forward.

Now smirking, the look in Aila's eyes changed and they hardened. There was a sinister look in her fierce red eyes, the colour of blood, and she stepped closer to the man. "What do you think Ivar the Boneless will do if you were to harm his woman?" While, yes, she hated being referred to as Ivar's woman as if that were her greatest accomplishment, it did have its advantages. "I wonder," She said in a hushed tone. "I wonder if he would skin you, or maybe he'd burn you. Perhaps, blood eagle you. Or how about all three and even more? He is quite the madman, after all, wouldn't you agree?"

"We are not afraid of you." Said another of the men. He must have been as stupid as he was ugly, Aila thought.

Aila turned to him. The sadistic and childish part of her vanished and her voice deepened into an almost motherly stern one as she said, "Well, you should be." She then turned back to the man before her. "Now step . . ." Her brows raised and she whispered out a threatening, "aside."

"»Who are these fools?«" Whispered her brother after having leaned closer from behind her.

One of Ivar's bodyguards pointed at Avan. "Are they not our enemy?"

"As you said." Aila said boredly. "They're fools."

The men cleared their path, and Aila smiled innocently with big, kind eyes.

"Thank you!" Bloodeye said sweetly. Honestly, she wanted to threaten them some more, but that would probably lead to her cutting their heads off and she did not have the energy to deal with Ivar because of that. Instead, she turned slightly to the side without taking her eyes off the bodyguards, telling Avan to remain by her side. "Stay close to me."

*

"Who is this?"

Were the red eyes and the white hair not enough for him to realize who this was? Aila narrowed her eyes at Ivar in confusion, and after a moment of silent she finally managed to say, "Wh- Who- Who do you think this is?" bewildered and almost at a loss for words.

Even Hvitserk looked at Ivar as if the younger brother was a fool.

Murder was all across Ivar's face. His fingers curled around the edge of the table he was sitting on, and though he wanted to berate her for bringing this man to York, he remained silent.