CROWNED

In Peace

––––––––––––––––––––––

Asdis sat on her throne hitting her fingers against the armrest whilst Ivar poured himself a cup of mead as he proceeded to walk close to his own throne. "So?" he asked the two scouts for the verdict of those that were to attack them.

"We saw two armies. One was led by Bjorn Ironside and King Harald" one of the scouts said, making the woman scoff at the irony, having expected nothing less from the ambitious king. "The other we did not recognize" he finished, whilst Ivar downed a sip.

"But there was someone with them we did recognize" the female scout added, her eyes jumping between the king an the queen.

The brunette man nodded his head, with a smile, having expected the statement. "My brother, Hvitserk" he spoke for them and they gave him a positive answer.

After he'd dismissed them, the brunette king limped to sit down on the step where the ground rose to lift the throne area above the rest of the room as Asdis lifted her body from her seat. "Finally the gods have shown me my fate" he said im a sigh, taking a sip of his mead before continuing "Now all my brothers are against me" he then added while his wife crouched down to join him.

"Your brothers do not equate to the world, Ivar" she told him, shrugging her shoulders as she pressed her lips together "If they want to fight against you, let them" her gaze strayed afar and the man followed it "You have a son who will fight for you" she reached out to take the cup form his hands and lazily gestured away with it "And you have... me" she said, smirking before taking a a sip from the mead whilst the man turned to look at her.

The war horns sounded through the walls of the main hall, stimulating the battle within them and Asdis set the cup down before leaning forward to give her husband a long, intoxicating kiss. "It's time" she said, having pulled away and fixed the man with a wink before she picked herself up to ready for battle.

*

Ivar stood on the wall by the front gate, watching the battle unfold. With the sound of Bjorn's chant, a group of people hurled the round-like contraption to the wall, hitting against the wooden gate in hopes of breaking it down.

The brunette king laughed at his pity attempts whilst his men fell like flies from his archers one after the other. "Welcome home, Bjorn!" he yelled loudly, another laugh inching at his throat.

"Welcome home!"

One after the other, men from Bjorn's army raised ladders, ropes, wooden poles to climb the great wooden wall while another part of his army set fire to it, trying to burn it down.

Aric bounced his sword against his hold, slicing down those who managed to reach the top. Momentarily, he took the courage to look down from his spot and his eyes met with his struggling uncle attempting to bust down the door, now covered by a tunnel shaped cover so archers could not reach them.

His attention resurfaced as one of the men charged to stab him out of the way. Aric dodged, his sword making a twirl with his body and slicing the man once across the face, splitting his white warpaint followed by the blonde prince slicing open the poor man's stomach, letting him fall down from the wall.

Ivar yelled to bring another contraption upon Kattegat's gate and a throaty laugh fell off his lips. With a signal of his hand, the giant machine roared with the manpower of a dozen of men, endless fire pouring out of its mouth and burning down the opposing men's skin, one by one getting cooked alive.

The young prince impaled one of the men with his sword whilst another attacked him from behind, locking his arm around his neck, sucking the very breath out of his lungs. Aric, however, was quick to react as he kicked at the man's legs, then thrusted his waist backwards, sending the man back and with a roar of his sword he cut his chest open.