In which Ragnar Lothbrok raids England for the first time and in the process, he not only spares a monk named Athelstan, but a slave girl he ends up naming Tova. However, he soon learns that things involving the girl are not what they seem and she i...
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Days had passed and Tova and Bjorn remained in the mountains. She stood beside Bjorn in the cabin, watching intently as he tattooed his arm with the same symbol she bore on the back of her neck.
"You could say it binds us, bearing the same symbol on our bodies," Tova spoke up calmly and Bjorn glanced at her, the smallest of smiles appearing on his face, "A reminder of each other when either of us is dead and gone."
Bjorn sighed and didn't respond to Tova. She always found a way to include death in everything they spoke of lately. He unrolled the map he had found in Paris, eying it intently before rolling it back up.
"Why do you glance at it so briefly?" Tova asked and Bjorn turned to her after placing the map in his bag, "Are you planning to sail to the Mediterranean?"
"I do not know. I must prove myself before planning anything. No one will take me seriously until I do so and how am I go if I do not have any men to follow me? I might be Ragnar's son but that doesn't mean anything unless I prove myself as you and my father have," He explained and Tova sighed, noticing the hint of jealousy in his eyes.
A part of him clearly wondered what would have occurred if he had stayed with Ragnar instead of leaving with his mother. Would he have learned from Ragnar as Tova had? Would he have gained the respect of the people of Kattegat as Tova had, despite being the child of the late Earl Haraldson and his wife Siggy?
"Are you ready to leave?" Bjorn suddenly asked as he stood up and turned to face Tova.
Tova smiled, slowly nodding her head. "More than ready," She answered and they walked toward the door without another word said.
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Hours had passed since they began to travel through the mountains together. It wasn't long before they went separate ways, hoping to find food for their journey.
Once finding some fish for them to eat, Bjorn returned to their meeting place to find that Tova hadn't returned yet. He looked around, panting heavily as he looked around for Tova. "Tova?" He called out, only to frown at a branch nearby.
Having the feeling it wasn't Tova, Bjorn stopped where he stood and looked around, hoping to find the culprit. He quickly took out his ax, beginning to run through the wood.
Just then, hearing someone behind him, Bjorn whipped himself around in enough time to avoid the ax being swung in his direction by an unknown man. A man who happened to be a berserker.
Nearby, Tova had arrived at their meeting spot to find Bjorn nowhere in sight. She looked around, the sound of metal blades clashing against each other being heard close by.
Feeling uneasy, she ran in the direction of where the noise was coming from, stopping when she saw Bjorn sitting on the ground unarmed with an unknown man running off.
