𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

"You stupid girl!"

At some point during the battle, a dozen or so Danes found a weakness in the shield wall and forced their way through. When they began attacking the Saxons from behind, Uhtred and Bryn jumped into action and were soon joined by Vikar and Orri. Despite being outnumbered three to one, they were each holding their own surprisingly well, even Bryn.

The three Danes that designated themselves to her were double her size. She was no fool, she knew she would never be able to take them on alone. Therefore, she was left to do what she did best while waiting for assistance from either her brother or Vikar and Orri. She danced around her opponents, familiarizing herself with their movements and which leg they favored when they struck.

Bryn was in the middle of doing this when Leofric's voice cut through the air like a blade through silk. In that half a moment of distraction, the youngest of her three opponents pounced. She swiftly dropped to a knee and pulled a dagger from her belt, reaching it out behind him to slash it across the back of his knees. He yowled in agony and as he dropped, Bryn angled her sword upwards and he impaled himself through the neck on her blade.

When he noticed her struggling to pull her sword free from the man's neck, Leofric smacked her hand away and did it for her. As she thanked him, he pulled her behind him so that they were standing back to back. "Don't thank me yet," Leofric grumbled. "I have half a mind to kill you myself!"

"Do we really have to do this now?"

"Now's as good a time as any!"

"We're in the middle of battle, Leofric!"

"Yes, Bryn, I'm well aware of that!"

"Oh, would you two quit fighting already?" Orri shouted.

"That'd be counterproductive, wouldn't it?" Bryn snapped.

Bryn and Leofric proceeded to argue back and forth for the rest of the night, which ultimately worked out in everybody's favor. Rather than taking it out on each other, they were using their rage to cut down the Danes one after the other. By daybreak, the majority of the Danes had been defeated and those who remained were captured and placed in chains.

Following their victory on the river, half the men were instructed to assist the wounded back to camp and the other half were left to scavenge whatever weapons and supplies they could from the battlefield. Leofric decided to stay behind with his men, and after Vikar and Orri profusely ensured her that they would tend to Uhtred's wounds, Bryn decided to stay behind as well. Not to help collect weapons and supplies, of course, but to speak with Leofric.

They still had a quarrel to clear up.

"All I'm saying is that you should have waited," Leofric concluded. He had just finished telling her how stupid and dangerous it was for her to defect from Vikar and Orri last night, how she could have been captured or killed.

"How long was I meant to wait, exactly? Uhtred was outnumbered, alone, and you and Odda were no where to be seen. He's my brother, Leofric. I wasn't going to let him face them alone." Bryn crouched down to snag another dagger off the ground. She pretended to inspect it so that he couldn't see the tears welling in her eyes. "I wasn't going to let him die alone."

Leofric sighed, crouching down as well. He tapped the middle of her chest with a pointed finger. "That heart of yours is going to be the death of you."

"Perhaps," she said with a shrug. She swiped her sleeve across her eyes and then smiled up at him. "I'd better find someone to protect it, then."

"You're too young for boys," Leofric deadpanned.

"Am not," she quickly denied. "My sister would have been wed at thirteen had the fire not taken her."

"You're only eleven."

"I'll be twelve soon," she reminded him. "That means I'll only have a year to find prospects."

"How do you plan on finding prospects if you spend all your time with us, eh? You keep on the way you are and your only prospects are gonna be Vikar and Orri," he said. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards at the horrified look on her face.

Bryn probably would have shuddered at the thought of marrying one of her best friends had another one not popped into mind. She snapped her fingers, "What about your nephew? You said he likes me."

"He likes the stories I tell about you," he amended, "and most of them are about you being an idiot."

Bryn huffed. "You're a terrible wingman."

"He's also in a monastery, you know that."

"Which one?"

Leofric snorted. "We're not breaking him out."

"Why not? We'll get Uhtred and the boys to help us."

"Bryn," Leofric pinched the bridge of his nose. Although he found it slightly endearing that Bryn was more than willing to break his nephew—a boy she didn't even know—out of the monastery, he made a vow long ago that he intended to uphold until his very last breath. "I promised my sister that I'd keep him safe."

"She won't know, she's—" She cut herself off when Leofric shot her a withering look. "What? She is."

"She might be, but the king's not. He could have him killed."

"Fuck the king."

"Bryn!"

✭

It was midmorning by the time Bryn, Leofric, and the rest of the men returned to the main camp up on the ridge. Even though Leofric was meant to inventory all the weapons and supplies they hauled back from the river camp the moment he returned, Bryn convinced him to put it off until they found her brother and the boys first. She claimed that she had to physically see all of them, together and in one piece, for her mind to be at peace.

"You know your sister is looking for suitors?" Leofric asked when they finally found Uhtred and the boys. Of course, they were in the last place she expected them to be—beneath the oak in the woods on the edge of camp.

"Is she now?" Uhtred chuckled, taking the bread and ale Leofric offered him. He nodded at his sister as she handed Vikar and Orri some bread. "Is that a bribe?"

Bryn rolled her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I love you both, but I could never marry either of you," she told Vikar and Orri. No one was the least bit surprised when the boys immediately echoed the sentiment.

"Don't know if you've heard, but Lord Odda is hurt," Leofric announced. "Badly."

Uhtred nodded. "He kept his word."

"He would, he is a good man," Leofric told him. "A good Aelderman."

"Did you find Ubba's axe?" Uhtred asked.

Bryn shook her head. "No axe, no Storri."

"We have to find it, he should be buried with it."

"Young Odda wants Ubba cut to pieces," Leofric informed.

"No, that can't happen," Uhtred said, shaking his head. He glanced at the kids, "He is Ubba, as close as the Danes will ever come to a king."

"I'll see he's buried," Leofric promised. "While I'm doing that, you go directly to Alfred and you kneel at his feet. You tell the bastard that you have saved Wessex."

"He wants to go to Mildrith," Vikar informed.

Leofric was baffled. "If you don't do it, some other bugger will, and there will be reward."

"You're wasting your breath," Orri said. "We already tried."

"I need to see my son," Uhtred said.

Leofric shook his head. "You're a turd, a ball bag."

Uhtred gave him a flat look. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Nipple," Leofric offered.

"Nipple, he says," Bryn murmured, failing to contain her laughter.

Leofric bumped her shoulder with his own. "Knew you'd like that one."

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