Alfild wakes up in a cell, alone and not actually dead. Without Ivar there, she feels she might not survive after the birth of their child. Nevertheless, she remains loyal to the end. Even if it kills her.
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"Alfild!" He roared, fists smashing against the impenetrable fortress that he had designed all too well. What was she doing? What was she thinking?
"I'm sorry, my love." She spoke, and he could hear her sobs through their separation. "But this only ends one way. Leave, now, I'll hold them off."
"You cannot do this. I won't just leave you behind." He replied stubbornly, hitting against the wall again as though it would make some difference. But her mind was made up. She had to protect the man she loved. The only person in her life who ever understood the demons in her mind or the agony in her dreams.
"I'll always be with you." She smiled, even if he couldn't see it, her fingers slowly pressing against the wooden wall as though she could touch him through it one last time.
"Alfild!" He practically screamed, still slamming against the wall. But it was no use. She'd already run off. He'd lost her.
Alfild's gaze moved towards the three men, a small smirk playing onto her lips as they looked down at her.
"Hello boys." She grinned, watching the Ragnarssons. Ubbe must've been late to the party, he certainly hadn't fought against them, but she looked over at him nonetheless, taunting each of them. "Have you come here to kill me?"
"Alfild-" Bjorn began but was quickly silenced.
"You mean, Queen Alfild." She responded, eyes cold and voice sharp - just as the brothers had remembered. "Queen of not just Kattegat, but Hrafnland too. Or had you forgotten? If you kill me, my armies will take their vengeance on you. Or do you plan to usurp me as you usurped your brother?"
"You can't be serious." Bjorn scoffed. "You've seen what Ivar has done to our people. I didn't usurp him."
Simply, the young queen gave a small chuckle, eyes gleaming as she looked up at him menacingly. Never had a woman chained to the wall looked so threatening. "Is that why you attacked at night like a coward? Without that traitor of a servant, you'd never have beaten him. Face it, you're weak."
"And why do you think he was betrayed, hm?" Bjorn yelled back, still trying to get through to the girl that he'd once called a friend. He didn't want to hurt her, especially knowing that she was with child. He knew she was taunting him, trying to get him to do his worst. Either because she knew that it would make Ivar even more determined to kill him, or because she simply knew that he wouldn't. Or couldn't. "He killed innocents!"
"He executed traitors." Alfild corrected. "They all got what was coming to them."
Finally, from his silence, Hvitserk spoke up. She could hear the pain in his voice without fully seeing him, but as he came into view she could tell that news of Thora had broken him. She'd expected as much. And, though she wished to comfort her dear friend for his loss, she knew that he was now a traitor. She knew that she had to remain loyal to Ivar, no matter what.
"He burned them!" Hvitserk yelled, making Alfild's gaze shift towards the floor. "Women, children... Friends. Good people."
"They were traitors." She gritted her teeth, trying to stay true to her words. She refused to be broken by them, be it through compassion or violence. She would not give in. This would not be the first time that she'd switched off her emotions for the greater good and she doubted that it would be the last. "As are you. I thought I could trust you, Hvitserk. I told Ivar that he could trust you."
"And I thought I could trust you." Hvitserk responded bitterly, looking down at her as though her very existence induced shame. "But it turns out you're just like him."
"Good." She answered, glaring at the men. She didn't wish to hurt Hvitserk, even now when she knew in her heart that he was a traitor. He was her friend, he'd always been her friend. In some of her darkest hours, he'd been there. It was hard to hate someone when they'd been so important to you for so long. But she'd had her practice turning on people that she cared for, and she did what she must. They could do whatever they wanted to her, she refused to betray Ivar. Even if that cost her child's life.
As Bjorn stepped back, preparing to leave, a small grin appeared on her lips. "What's the matter Bjorn?" She asked, holding her chains up in the air. "Had enough? Or are you afraid?"
Bjorn sighed, looking down as he prepared to say something that he knew he'd come to regret. "If only you'd been this loyal to your queen when Ivar murdered her." He answered, making a fire rage within Alfild's soul. Her body burned with rage as she shot to her feet, pulling on the chains so hard that the stone walls chipped and crumbled slightly.
"Say that again, Bjorn! Say that when I'm not chained to a wall you coward!" As the brothers left, Ubbe sent her one last sad glance, watching as she pulled on her metal shackles. "Come and face me like a man!" She roared into the nothingness of her empty cell.
She knew Ivar would come back for her, no matter how long it took. She knew he'd be back sooner or later. He had to be. Though she maintained her strong persona, in that moment she needed him more than she'd ever needed anyone in her life. She'd come to terms with death many years before, but Ivar had given her a reason to live... And now death was not an option.
In a matter of days, she'd lost everything. She was queen. She was married, and happily so. She was expecting a child with the man that she loved. And now? Now she was on her own again. It seemed that fate was playing a twisted game with her. For, no matter what she did, she always seemed to end up alone.
