Querencia \\ Hvitserk Ragnarsson

Chapter 3: Floki the boatbuilder

Bjarke looked like she was just another person walking around Kattegat. Don't stand out. Do not stand out. It was easier said than done. Ragnar had told Bjarke that she was allowed to visit Björn. After all, Björn was like an older brother to her.

So that's exactly what Bjarke had done. She went to visit Björn, hugged him, told him where she had been and what had happened and that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone else of her return. Not that anyone else knew her, but it might cause problems. Later on, she'd be able to stand out. But not yet. Not yet.

After that, she met up with Ragnar and they went somewhere else. Yet again, Bjarke did not know where they were going. After a little while, they arrived at a beautiful beach.

Ragnar saw a woman and immediately walked up to her. Bjarke, having no clue who this woman was, stayed a little behind.

Ragnar scared the woman, but as soon as she saw him she calmed down. "Ragnar?"

"Hello, Helga. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Are you a ghost?" Helga asked Ragnar, which made Bjarke smile.

"Perhaps I am," Ragnar answered. "Where is he?"

He then took Helga's hand and motioned for Bjarke to follow them.

Bjarke noticed there was another man. He looked a little... weird.

"Helga, this is Bjarke. Bjarke, why don't you get to know Helga a little better," Ragnar said.

Bjarke nodded and Helga took her to what she probably called her home.

"So, Bjarke, I have never seen you before, have I?" Helga said, trying to start a conversation.

"No, I'm not from here. I'm from Hedeby," Bjarke told Helga. Helga motioned for Bjarke to sit down and started cooking something.

"Hedeby, that means you must know Lagertha."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know her."

---

Later that evening Helga, the other man named Floki, Ragnar and Bjarke were having dinner. Bjarke had remained completely silent and it was clear to the others that she wasn't exactly comfortable with being there.

After Ragnar and Floki had spoken about travelling with Björn, to England and not speaking about the destroyed settlement because Floki loves Ragnar, Ragnar started talking about a place for Bjarke to stay. Apparently, he trusted Floki and Helga with his own life, so he told them all about Bjarke.

"However, she needs a place to stay. Somewhere safe, away from the people," Ragnar told the other two. "I think the safest place for her to be right now is here."

Helga nodded. "She can stay here. We'll take care of her."

Floki looked up at Helga and then back down at his food.

"I promise I will not bother you, Floki the boatbuilder," Bjarke said.

Floki looked up to Bjarke and that was the first time he had looked her in the eyes.

"She can stay here," was all Floki said. She didn't even really know him, but something about Floki interested Bjarke. He was a mysterious man.

"Alright then, I shall see all of you later," Ragnar said while getting up.

"Don't you need a place to stay too?" Helga asked Ragnar.

"Oh, don't worry about me," Ragnar responded.

Bjarke watched him walk away and waited until she was sure he couldn't hear her say it and said: "You doing stuff like this is exactly the reason why we worry about you." Which made Floki giggle.

---

The next day Bjarke woke up early. It turned out that Ragnar had actually returned later that night and stayed there anyway. She grabbed a bow and some arrows from the ground next to her and decided to go hunting. That way she could make herself useful to Helga and Floki.

She'd been in the woods for hours and had caught a few birds when she suddenly heard voices approaching.

"For a boy with no legs, you are very heavy," she heard a guy say, followed by laughter. Bjarke hid behind a bush and as soon as she saw one of the faces, she realized these were Ragnar's sons.

It was only then that she looked around and noticed this was probably where they trained.

She saw Ubbe and Ivar take a shot with a bow and arrows, most likely trying to impress each other. Bjarke however, was not impressed at all.

"Hvitserk," she then heard Sigurd say. Hvitserk was handling two swords as Sigurd grabbed two axes and they started fighting. It was obvious to Bjarke that Hvitserk was the fighter out of the two. He was much stronger than Sigurd.

Suddenly an arrow flew between their heads. Ivar had shot an arrow... at their heads...

Hvitserk just laughed, dropped one of his swords and then approached Ivar. Ivar was good as well. Too good. She felt like Ivar was the one to look out for.

Bjarke did not see coming what happened next. Sigurd threw an axe at Ivar, but Ivar threw one back. The one Ivar threw had somehow cut Sigurd somewhere on the head as there was now a small stream of blood on his face.

Bjarke lost her balance and fell back, which made both Ubbe and Hvitserk -as Ivar and Sigurd were so busy glaring at each other they hadn't even noticed- turn around and look in her direction. Bjarke tried to stay as still as she possibly could and it seemed to work. The boys turned back to their brothers and that gave her the chance to make a run for it.