𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐒𝐈𝐗

At some point during the day, Bryn and the boys migrated from the oak in the woods to the ridge overlooking Ubba's camp.

They were currently brainstorming ideas with a crude map Vikar had drawn with his finger in the dirt. Bryn, for whatever reason, was hording some acorns in her pocket, so they were using those for people and Orri found some rocks that they were using to represent their camp on the ridge and Ubba's down on the river. They must have erased and re-drawn the map at least a hundred times so far, going over ideas and the different plans they came up with as they came to mind. Somehow, some fucking way, every single one of those ideas and plans ended up with at least one, if not more, of them dead.

Needless to say, they were all near their breaking point.

"Are we truly this stupid?" Bryn wondered, staring up at the sky.

"Apparently," Vikar replied, laying down beside her. "I'm all out of ideas."

Bryn pushed herself up onto her elbows to look at Orri and Uhtred. The former was drawing a forest between their rock and Ubba's, each tree getting more realistic and detailed than the last. The latter looked like he'd tuned out of the conversation hours ago. "Uhtred?" She called, kicking her foot up to gain his attention. "Uhtred, we need an idea that doesn't get one of us killed."

"Or we could pull straws to see who has to sacrifice themselves for the rest of us," Orri offered. Bryn kicked her leg out again and since Orri was closer to her than Uhtred, she nailed him in the side and sent him toppling over. "Okay, ow!" He hissed, rubbing his ribs.

"If anyone's going to die, it has to be me," Uhtred told them, to which Bryn groaned in response.

"Are you sure you didn't see anything else in your vision?" Vikar asked.

"No, nothing, only the water on fire."

"This is useless," Orri decided, crawling over to lay on the other side of Bryn. "We'll never figure it out before nightfall."

They remained like that for a while, the four of them in silence. Bryn was just on the cusp of falling asleep when she heard someone approaching from behind. She tilted her head back to see who it was, having to squint against the sun despite the overcast. When she decided she wasn't going to be able to see them from her current angle, she rolled onto her stomach and, even then, she had to use her hand to shield her eye.

"Oh boy," she whispered.

"My men are good men," Odda the Elder said, gaining Uhtred, Vikar, and Orri's attention. "Though half of them are armed only with reaping hooks, they're here."

"Reaping hooks can kill," Uhtred said, standing up from where he was sitting on the rocks. He strategically placed himself between Odda and Bryn. He knew his sister's quarrel was with Little Odda, but he never got a chance to ask her how she felt about Odda the Elder after he pulled his sword on her the night before.

"How well do you know Ubba?"

"I've known Ubba since I was eleven," Uhtred told him. Then, he nodded down at Bryn, Vikar, and Orri, "They've known of him for at least half their lives, give or take a few years."

"And what do you know about him, how he thinks, how he fights?"

"He is the greatest warrior I have ever seen. But, he's cautious. He listens to the gods, always."

"Uhtred told us he goaded Ubba earlier during your meeting," Bryn chimed in. "It was a smart move, to make Ubba doubt."

Uhtred nodded in appreciation at her words. "It'll take a little while for the doubt to clear. You have your time, Odda, but I say again—we should attack."

"If we attack, we'll be outflanked. My men will die, all of them." Odda shook his head. "I know each of them." He paused, walking over to the edge of the ridge. "I'd hoped this hill and Alfred might save them—us," he quickly corrected.

Bryn realized something then—that Odda the Elder was the complete opposite of his twat of a son. Little Odda didn't care about anything that didn't benefit him personally, and he certainly didn't care about anyone but himself. His father, however, reminded Bryn of her own in that moment. He cared about his people and he was willing to exhaust every last effort if it meant sparing them from a battle he thought they might not return from.

"Alfred won't come," Uhtred said, and he was right. Guthrum was closer to Winchester, so he was the bigger threat. "The food won't last, and Ubba's mind will clear. I fear that if we wait any longer, it could be too late."

Odda tilted his head. "It seems inevitable, doesn't it? That they'll take Wessex?"

Bryn threw her hand up and wiggled her fingers at her brother, nonverbally asking him to help her up. He grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. She brushed off her pants before turning to address Odda. "What if we were able to outflank the Danes?"

He nearly scoffed at her in bewilderment. "How?"

"The ships," Orri suggested, trying his best to make it seem like he had just thought of it. "We could burn them."

"Even if it's just three or four, they'd be running to the fire," Vikar added.

"Then we attack," Odda concluded.

"They'll be disorganized, no shield wall," Uhtred listed. "We could be killing them before they know we're there."

Odda nodded before asking the question they'd been asking themselves all day. "Who would set the fires?"

"I—" Bryn paused to clear her throat when the boys immediately rounded on her. "We will."

"We'll need your word that you will attack as soon as the fires have taken hold," Uhtred added.

Odda nodded once again. "You have it."

⸻⸻ ☆ ★ ☆ ⸻⸻

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ this chapter wasn't very good, in my opinion. my dog tore his acl the other day and, needless to say, i've been strugglin to write ever since. i might unpublish this chapter and re-write it when i find the time, but i'll leave it up for now so y'all don't think i forgot about you lol thanks for reading