WRATH OF THE NORTH [BJÖRN IRONSIDE]

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Everything got quiet, everyone hence even the animals got quiet as the familiar name left the mans lips. Björn's expression relaxed, mouth hung open in shock as his eyes were wide, pupils small dots in the blue ocean. No one understood anything, Vál stood there, her name falling from his lips were echoing through her head like a trance, over and over again. No one knew what to say, Ragnar only looked at the man on the horse, so did Harald and Halfdan, waiting to wake up from what seemed to unbelievable to be reality. The two ravens on his and another mans shoulders croaked loudly, almost snapping them out from the trance. The men were almost as big as giants, tall and powerful. No one had seen men like them before.

"Why are you looking for her?" Vál spoke up, surprised to hear her own voice sound strong and confident. The man looked at her, his icy cold eyes met hers and a smirk spread across his lips which sent a shiver run down her back. It seemed like he saw her, every secret, every lie, every truth and everything that had came along in the way since birth. She sucked in a breath, the people close to her noticing which alarmed them, causing them to grip their swords tightly. His eyes bore into hers, his gaze didn't stop by her solid icy ones, instead they seemed to crash straight through, entering her mind.

"Hello Vál, we've searched for you for a very long time." He said calmly and his words made Björn grip her wrist tightly. "You probably don't remember us but we are here to bring you back where you belong." He added and Björn clenched his jaw.

"Who are you?" Vál said, multiple questions running through her mind. Nothing made sense to her, she had never seen the men infront of her even if there was something there, what she didn't know, that was familiar. She clenched her jaw, her posture widening as she waited for the answer she didn't know she dreaded.

"You really don't remember us do you, I'm Vidar. We're family Vál, you weren't the only survivor of Earl Haraldssons attack." He said with a smirk and Vál felt her chest tightening, like the man in front of her was gripping her heart in a tight grip.

"That's impossible, I was there!" She screamed, anger building in her body and heart started to push it around. Vidar smirked even wider, almost seeming evil. "No one survived accept I!" She said, taking steps forward and getting out from Björn's grip.

"Earl Haraldsson might've thought he knew everything about us Vál, except the fact that we are always seven men on the watch." He said and she gulped. "Your father never got the chance to signal the watch, when we got back everyone was gone, including you." He added and she felt like Hel was opening the ground to swallow her whole and the gods did nothing to stop her.

"Why didn't you search for me? I wasn't even ten years old when they slaughtered everyone! I survived on my own up there, completely exiled from everything and now you're telling me my own people left me to survive by my own!?" She shouted, walking closer to them, rage oozing from her body icing her eyes even cooler.

"My father said we should've kept going but his men refused since there were no trace of you living. The snow buried your traces and we gave up accept we found a village raided months back and I knew you weren't dead, no animal could've done what you did to them." Vidar said and she didn't know what to say, everything she thought she had lost were now standing infront of her and breathed.