Chapter 15: Interlude

3.3K 79 7
                                    

Author's Notes | A transitory chapter with a small surprise for you guys! I hope you enjoy and sorry for taking so long to update this time!

Words | 2793

His blue eyes weren't alone observing as his homelands were being rebuilt slowly - a second pair of blue eyes had now joined them to see what was being done and the remaining sons of Ragnar Lothbrok were reunited home again, putting aside their di...

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

His blue eyes weren't alone observing as his homelands were being rebuilt slowly - a second pair of blue eyes had now joined them to see what was being done and the remaining sons of Ragnar Lothbrok were reunited home again, putting aside their differences to sit at the same hill and talk.

"You're not looking at the new market," Ubbe said, calling Ivar's attention turned to the bay.

The elder one had arrived a month after the war was over - the messengers had reached Ubbe far away in Iceland and it took him longer to arrive than Hvitserk had taken.

Their meeting wasn't different from what Ivar could predict. He could still remember his men's tension when Ubbe entered the hall with his imposing mantle and the new marks in his face Ivar didn't have the chance to see before, but where he could read perfectly a line of runes over his right eye as the sign of his crowning as one of the three Dane kings - two of them Ivar knew were ruling the settlement he intended to plead allegiance to as soon as Kattegat was rebuilt. - and a second line beside the first, crowning him as king in Iceland as well. His brother had grown, just as himself.

But the conversation between the three remaining sons of Ragnar remained tense at the beginning with Ubbe refusing to stay in the hall, preferring the safety of his camp outside of the town instead. It took around a month or two for him to finally accept they weren't on the verge of war and Ivar had changed.

And maybe Hvitserk was the greater reason why they were able to relate once again - now the middle brother, the prince had grown into a wise king and his words were full of meaning for Ubbe who ended up letting go of the old avenges and listening to his brothers for the sake of the people of Kattegat.

They would never be the same, Ivar knew that. But at least, they weren't in war anymore.

"No," he answered, eyes lost at the sea beyond the new market they had just built after the re-division of the kingdoms.

With their victory and men joined together, they had time to travel through the nearby towns finishing the remaining Rus men and freeing the villages but taking notice of what happened to their countrymen - among them, King Harald, which place of rest they could find in a simple hill, built by hand, stone by stone, by the men that didn't die with him but remained loyal to his memory.

His territories were annexed to the Ragnarssons' domains as an earldom under Kattegat with the promise of rebuilding and support to its people Ivar granted under Ubbe's surprised and approving eyes - the last proof the elder one needed to see that Ivar was indeed a changed man and a better king after all he had seen before.

"He's waiting for his queen," Hvitserk said, giggling as the three of them were looking at the bay from the higher hill where their father used to observe the town before them. The walls weren't so tall anymore, but they were reinforced to protect instead of isolating the town. And the bay had boats and boats coming, not only for the new market recently opened with the new fish and oil routes established with Vestfold and the Irish kingdoms under Ivar's crown but with the earls from all parts of Norway under the Ragnarssons' crowns, coming to plead their allegiance and renew the vows that were lost with the Rus outbreak.

Through & ThroughWhere stories live. Discover now