Querencia \\ Hvitserk Ragnarsson

Chapter 24: We took a risk

So obviously the Ragnarssons got into a fight once again. This time it was about peace. While Ivar wanted to keep on fighting, raiding and doing whatever the Christians would call 'the devil's work', Ubbe and Hvitserk wanted peace. They wanted to be able to simply farm the lands and leave the other things be.

So after Bjarke and Hvitserk had quite the night in the woods, Ubbe came to wake Hvitserk up. He had not intended to wake Bjarke up, but she woke up anyway.

"Not a word," Ubbe whispered. "We're leaving."

Ubbe had only gotten two horses, so Bjarke had to sit behind Hvitserk. At first, she argued that he should be the one sitting behind her and that she could take care of herself, but eventually she just gave up.

When they reached the Saxon camp, Bjarke immediately jumped off the back of the horse. The guard drew his sword, but Bjarke raised her hands and said that they were not going to hurt them and that they just wanted to talk in the English language.

The three of them were brought to the tent were Æthelwulf, Alfred and the bishop were. At first, there was a lot of tension between all of them.

"You are the victors. Why did you come to see us?" Æthelwulf asked.

"We want to make peace," was Ubbe's answer. "We don't want to fight anymore. We want to claim our land."

The bishop spits on the ground next to him. There is a moment of silence.

"We'll make our decision known first thing in the morning," Æthelwulf spoke. "You two can leave, but I want to have a conversation with my cousin before she leaves."

"Cousin?" Ubbe asked.

"I'll explain later, please just go," Bjarke answered.

Ubbe turned around but Hvitserk hesitated.

"It's fine, Hvitserk. I'll be okay. They won't hurt me."

Hvitserk was still hesitating as if he knew things weren't going to end well if he left. She tried to reassure him by giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Really."

And then she whispered: "If they do anything to me I'll kick their asses."

He smiled at her, squeezed her hand and then left.

There was another moment of silence.

"Bjarke Ragnarsdottir. It seems like quite the title these days," Æthelwulf said.

Bjarke had learned to speak the Saxon language, so she knew what he was saying.

"Titles are what you get when you know certain types of people. You'd probably call me a traitor because I'm here on their side instead of yours," she replied.

Æthelwulf seemed taken by surprise for a second, but quickly recovered.

"You're not a traitor yet, Bjarke. You've just been misguided."

"Why did you want me to stay?" Bjarke changed the subject.

"They want to make peace. Claim the land that my father gave them. Ubbe and Hvitserk, two sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, are offering to lay down their arms," Æthelwulf spoke.

"They are very brave warriors. I saw that today," the bishop spoke.

"We must consider their offer," Alfred said.

"My father had no right to grant them that land. He was no longer King," Æthelwulf laughed. However, Bjarke was not entirely sure he was speaking to Alfred.