Warriors at Heart (The Last Kingdom Fanfic)

Chapter 30

We ate. We drank. We waited. Uhtred and Brida continued to grow further apart, sniping at one another non-stop. She clearly believed that we were both traitors, even though it was clear as day that we could not go back to the Danes. We spent many days lazing about Wessex, waiting for Alfred to call for us once more.

I was sitting on a wooden crate near the entrance of the castle watching the guards watch me. Brida refused to enter Wessex again in fear of being thrown back into the dungeon. I did not blame her, though figured Uhtred might need my assistance if anything went sour. The big Saxon oaf that had challenged Uhtred when we first arrived chuckled at my resolve to not move. "He may never come out," the man teased.

"Then you will not live to see another sunrise," I replied haughtily.

He laughed. "Did you hear that lads? This woman here thinks she can kill us."

"I can kill you," I narrowed my eyes at him.

The man didn't have time to respond, for Uhtred came storming out. I scrambled up from my perch and chased after him. "What happened?" I asked his back. Uhtred kept walking and refused to halt. I followed him out the gates and off towards the nearby woods. "Uhtred talk to me!" I shouted, stopping.

He turned to face me, "Beocca seems to think I should leave you and Brida."

"The priest?" I scoffed. "What does he know about anything."

"He says Alfred would be more comfortable if you two weren't around."

"Would you?" I asked, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Never," he chuckled softly.

I walked to stand next to him. "What are you going to do?"

"Hear Alfred out, when he calls for me."

"You owe him nothing Uhtred," I said.

"He is our way to wealth and land," Uhtred replied.

"But you owe him nothing, you remember that."

"I serve myself," Uhtred said, taking my hands in his and kissing them.

"You are an idiot," I chuckled, playfully swatting at him.

"I should go find Brida," he replied.

"She's in the woods tonight. She's doing her seer magic," I replied, turning back towards Wessex.

"Where are you going?"

"I do not know about you, but I need a drink!" I called over my shoulder, not stopping.

I heard his footsteps behind me, and we went off in search of our drinks. A few ales in and we were brawling with the locals. Some drunk Saxon pig thought it would be funny to grab ahold of my butt. He had another thing coming. A few broken stools and pitchers later, we were running out of the inn laughing. We ducked into an alley way laughing and promptly passed out.

I woke to find my head on Uhtred's shoulder. He had his rested-on top of mine. "What time is it?" a sleepy Uhtred grumbled.

"Morning," I replied, clutching my forehead and covering my eyes. "I think we drank too much," I groaned.

"You can never drink too much," Uhtred chuckled.

"Tell that to my head," I moaned. "Oh, please don't..." Too late. Uhtred dumped a bucket of freezing water over my head. He then repeated the action to his own.

"Ragnar's cure for a hangover," Uhtred laughed.

A soaking wet me glared at him, unamused. We brushed ourselves off and I rung out as much water from my hair as I could. We stepped into the street and we met with some of Alfred's guards. They looked us over and I kept my hand trained on my sword.