𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 | 𝐨𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡

𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

The next five days were spent raiding villages along the Tamar River in Cornwalum. Although their raiding was less than fruitful, on their sixth day, the company came across a small party of Britons traveling alongside an ocean cliff.

"Do we kill them?" Orri asked no one in particular, but his eyes, as if having a mind of their own, drifted to Bryn.

"Not yet," Uhtred replied. "We take five horses, to match theirs."

"You mean to speak with them?" Aethelwold asked. "What if it's a trap?"

"That's what Bryn is for," Uhtred said, turning to face Bryn. He dipped his head down at her bow. "First sign of trouble, you loose and you don't stop until the last man has fallen."

Bryn nodded, unstrapping her bow and arrows from where they were secured to Filder's saddle. She slid the strap of her quiver over one arm and adjusted it until it was resting comfortably between her shoulder blades. When she was ready, she nodded at Uhtred once again. "Ready."

"Only I speak," Uhtred said, making a point of looking Aethelwold in the eyes.

"I heard," Aethelwold acknowledged, "only the Great Uhtred speaks."

While Uhtred, Leofric, Vikar, Orri, and Aethelwold spurred their horses forward to meet up with the Britons, Bryn climbed to her feet behind Leofric, leaning her knees against his back to help maintain her balance. From her new vantage point, she looked beyond the group of Britons to see if she could spot anyone lying in wait for them down the hill they'd just crested. When she didn't see anyone or anything out of the ordinary for the given terrain, she clicked her tongue twice to inform the others of her findings.

Vikar and Orri clicked their tongues twice in return, earning a rather confused look from Aethelwold. "What does that mean?" He whispered at the brothers. "The clicking?"

"Shut up, Aethelwold," Bryn, Leofric, Uhtred, and the boys immediately responded, watching as one of the Britons—a man in grey, most likely a follower of the Christian faith—dismounted his horse to approach Uhtred and the others.

"I am Brother Asser," the man announced.

Bryn and Orri snorted at the revelation, their mirthful eyes naturally seeking each other out.

"I bring you a gift, from King Peredur," Asser continued, dutifully ignoring Bryn and Orri's snickering as he addressed Uhtred directly. He pulled a small pouch from his pocket and held it out for Uhtred to take.

"From who?" Uhtred asked, accepting the pouch.

"King Peredur, of the Britons," Asser repeated.

"Never heard of him."

"I assure you, my king has heard of you," Asser told Uhtred. "A troop of Danes raiding villages in Cornwalum does not go unnoticed."

Uhtred nearly scoffed at the bronze cuffs he pulled from the pouch, tossing them aside, "Why does your Peredur send me these miserable offerings?"

"A gesture of peace, a token," Asser said, a tiny twinge of desperation in his words.

Bryn narrowed her eyes at Asser, something that didn't go unnoticed by him. "What are you hiding?"

"Our king has been attacked by a fellow Briton and neighbor, Callyn," Asser blurted under her scrutinizing gaze. "His forces have seized the fort guarding our land. I am sent to tell you that Peredur will pay you well to help recapture this fort."

"Pay us well?" Leofric asked. "How much?"

"I do not know the sum," Asser said, to which Bryn murmured an 'of course not' under her breath. "I am sure he will be generous."

"He has silver?" Uhtred asked.

Asser sighed through his nose. "He is a king."

✭

"Something's not right here," Bryn announced, just loud enough for her immediate family, and Aethelwold, to hear as Asser led their company towards Peredur's Hall.

Before they reached the walls leading into the small village, the sound of laughter and children playing had been unmistakable, carried by the wind directly to their ears. But, as soon as Uhtred and his men entered the walls, it was as if every sound imaginable had been silenced at a moment's notice. This is what caused the hair on the back of Bryn's neck to stand on end—or so she thought. Bryn, who had still been perched behind Leofric with her bow in hand, released a strangled breath as her eyes rolled back and her body went rigid, falling to the right.

"Bryn!" Aethelwold practically screeched. Being the closest to her right, he jerked his horse's reins to the left, closing the gap between his horse and Fidler. Not having enough time to brace himself, the force of Bryn colliding with him sent them both falling to the ground. Aethelwold's horse reared back on its hind legs in fright and, without thinking, Aethelwold rolled on top of Bryn.

"Leofric!" Uhtred called, the unspoken plea causing the man in question to grab Aethelwold's horse by the reins and jerk them to the left. Aethelwold's horse landed a spitting distance from Aethelwold and Bryn's heads.

Once the initial panic settled and Leofric had somehow managed to remove the spooked horse from the immediate area, some of Peredur's people flocked towards the commotion, filling in the gaps to try to catch a glimpse at the convulsing Dane girl in the center of it all. Uhtred began barking out orders over the pandemonium, calling for his men to dismount and disperse the crowd. His men did so without question, most of them descending into the fray as the remaining few collected the unmanned horses to lead them away.

By the time Uhtred's men had disbanded Peredur's enough to form a protective barricade around Bryn and Aethelwold, several minutes had already passed. Uhtred, Leofric, Vikar, and Orri broke through the barricade, their panic almost palpable in the air. The sight they were met with within the barricade, however, had all four of them stopping in their tracks... Aethelwold was tending to Bryn as if he had been doing it his entire life. He had her on her side and her head was in his hands, angled in such a way that the drool and foam trying to coagulate in her mouth was draining out of the corner of her lips and down on to the ground below.

"She's uninjured," Aethelwold informed, barely sparing them a glance. "As I've said, I'm an educated man. I simply enjoy hiding the fact."

⸻⸻ ☆ ★ ☆ ⸻⸻

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ     not proofread, let me know if you see any errors.