WRATH OF WAR [BJÖRN IRONSIDE]

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

a/n: Higher ground - Rasmussen is still nice to this.

In high speed the rode through the forest, nearing the open battlefield before getting off their horses as the faint sound of drums was heard. Vál and her commanders Vidar and Ulvar had created their plan right as everyone had voted to participate in the battle. If the Sami's hadn't been a part of the battle, on Lagertha's side it would have been much more difficult to get an army of northers assassins yet everyone had agreed it was time to fight the Sami's, even Thorulf had agreed and even spoke for the matter.

Vidar had signaling for two hundred men to follow them as the others kept an eye out for either more Sami's, Lagertha allied  warriors or warriors from Ivar's and Harald's army. Ulvar had pleaded to be the one to kill Svase and both Vál and Vidar knew nothing would stop him from doing so. Vidar remained back with the rest of the men as Vál took charge over the small army that would ambush the Sami's. They stopped in their tracks when they saw men from Ivar's army, standing out in the open. Vál and her men hid behind trees at a good distance before her body froze completely.

They were almost invisible, the Sami's. Their dark green, grey and brown clothing made them melt into their surroundings. Yet Vál and her people easily spotted the movement from the Sami's. She could feel Ulvar tense and how pure wrath oozed from his body. No one had attacked yet. Ivar's men were clueless about the threat that was lurking behind the trees and the Sami's was clueless to the even more lethal threat moving like a wolf that's hunting its prey further away. Vál took her bow in her hands before taking an arrow. I had to go by smoothly, no Sami's could survive and get to Lagertha's army and warn about their arrival. No rules was valid any longer, they had to kill everyone no matter how. The Sami's was unknowingly outnumbered and they had people after them that had watched their movements for years, that didn't do anything else than to watch and learn. They knew that when Sami's fought one needed to make sure nothing hid behind them or even got the chance to attack.

Then Vál saw her, her eyes widen as they followed the Sami princess every move as she creeped closer to Ivar's warriors. Vál knew Hvitserk, Astrid, Harald or Ivar would be there yet every life was important to spare from her allies. Vál looked at her warriors, seeing that they had charged their bows as well and with one nod, two hundred arrows flew towards the Sami's. Something close to chaos broke out in front of them. The surviving Sami's fought back the best they could as more arrows showered towards them. Ivar's warriors noticed that they wasn't being attacked by the arrows and noticed the Sami's they ran to attack. Vál kept her eyes focused on Snaefrid, missing the princess deliberately. She was like a ferocious animal, playing with the prey before attacking.

Vál quickly followed Snaefrid with her arrow before shooting, aiming and hitting her leg. Vál and her warriors ran towards her and her people ran to attack the Sami's in battle. Vál quickly shot a man in the head that was about to kill one of her own. When she looked back, Snaefrid was gone. The only thing left was a spot of deep crimson blood on a stone. Vál traced her fingers through it as she looked around her, watching as her warriors successfully destroyed the Sami's. She saw how Ulvar took a firm and strong hold of Svase then pushed him into a pit by a fallen tree. Nothing but pure wrath still oozed from Ulvar's body as he said something to Svase before striking with his sword. Vál knew that Ulvar hadn't killed the Sami King, he would take his time. Then she saw Snaefrid again, she was running towards the battlefield as her people was slaughtered. A man from Harald's forces ran past her and she roughly grabbed his shirt.