𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝟾𝟽𝟸

After Kjartan and Sven slaughtered their families and set their home alight, Bryn and her two best friends, Vikar and Orri, believed themselves to be the only survivors. Too young to fend for themselves, they sought to reconnect with Bryn's older brother, Young Ragnar, who was making his fortune away in Ireland at the time. For the children, this meant getting to and crossing an ocean to reach him. An easy feat in their young minds.

They were Danes, after all.

Along the journey, the children stumbled upon a group of bandits. They managed to evade them for a little while, but Bryn grew tired fast, her little lungs couldn't keep up. Desperate to protect the littler ones, Vikar, the oldest of the three, offered himself up so that Orri and Bryn could escape.

"I'll distract them," Vikar decided. "Orri, you have to take Bryn and run as far and as fast as you can."

"I should go," Orri said. He was two years younger than his brother, less experienced in survival and the ways of the world. In his mind, Bryn would be better off with Vikar.

"It can't be you," Vikar said. "I'm older, that means I'm in charge."

"We can't just leave you," Orri hissed.

"And I don't want you to go," Bryn whined.

Vikar grabbed them by the collar of their shirts. "You will do as you're told, do you understand?"

Orri and Bryn had never seen him that angry, so they complied. They hid while Vikar jumped out, leading the bandits away. Orri and Bryn waited until they were gone before immediately going back on their word. Somehow, they managed to track them and by the will of the gods, and perhaps a little bit of luck, they managed to rescue Vikar in the dead of night. His absence, however, did not go unnoticed for long, and the chase was back on.

"We have to jump!" Vikar told them. The children found themselves on a cliff about ten feet above a raging river, their pursuers slowly closing in on them.

"And if a vision comes?" Bryn asked, chest heaving. "I'll drown!"

"We won't let you drown!" Vikar insisted as he yanked them closer to the cliff's edge.  "We have to jump, now!"

And, so, they did.

The water was as cold, harsh, and unforgiving as it looked from atop the cliff. The children floundered, choking on water and their own screams as they struggled to stay afloat without letting go of each other. Once the initial panic wore off, and the water began to calm, Vikar barked out instructions as he guided them towards the nearest embankment. Having ended up a lot further down river than anticipated, the embankment is where they camped for the next few days. With plenty of fish to eat and water to go around, they grew comfortable.

Too comfortable, it would seem.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see you three so far from home."

✭

When Brida told Uhtred that Ragnar found them, he had to admit that he was a little worried. For Ragnar to have tracked them down so quickly after landfall couldn't have been a good sign. It either meant Ragnar was fueled by anger and ready for revenge, or spurred by sadness and desperate for the truth. Uhtred hoped for the latter of the two, but he expected the first to be the more than likely scenario.

"Uhtred Ragnarsson is a good man to be," Brida said.

They were awaiting Young Ragnar's arrival in the woods outside of Winchester, near where they buried Earl Ragnar's wealth. They'd spent the majority of their day discussing their options; remaining in Wessex because Uhtred gave Alfred his word, or going with Ragnar (should he believe them) when Uhtred tells him that Kjartan was the one who killed their family.