Queen of Hearts - Vikings

Chapter 37

"Bjorn Ironside, it appears we meet again." I said, my voice sounding as menacing as possible.

"It appears we do." Bjorn sighed sounding utterly dejected.

Quickly, I flicked a dagger out from under my sleeve and into my hand. I looked down at the sharp metal blade. It sat firmly in my grip. A grin shot onto my face, a crescent shape from ear to ear. I felt triumphant, on top of the world. No one could beat me now! I was unstoppable.

Suddenly, I crashed to the ground, my daggers lying beside me on the dirt. It seemed I was in fact very stoppable.

"Better but if you lose focus in battle, you'll die." Bjorn told me sharply.

I smiled happily, "Good thing I'll never have to go to war against you then, Bjorn."

"At this rate, you don't have to worry about going into battle at all." He mumbled under his breath.

"You wound me sir!" I laugh, dramatically clutching my chest.

"Okay, I'll try again. This time I'll do better, I promise." I pleaded.

Training with Bjorn was always one of the highlights of my week. It was the only time I ever felt as though I was working towards something, like I was being challenged. It was thrilling. I enjoyed every minute of it.

This time, I decided to use my sword. It had always been my greatest skill. The steel felt like a part of me when it moved in my hands, like an extension of myself. Fighting with it was an art form to me. Quickly, Bjorn moved for an overhead swing, I blocked. He pushed against me before swinging his sword towards my right side. Again, I blocked. I pushed his sword back, though he was a lot stronger than I. As rapidly as possible, I ducked under his next blow. I rolled over the dirty ground before standing up, sword in hand again.

"Good." Bjorn urged enthusiastically.

I was about to strike when, out the corner of my eye, I saw someone. I didn't see Bjorn running towards me as I was too focused on the onlooking figure. I quickly recognized it as Ivar and, just as I was about to say something, I plummeted to the ground. I hit the ground hard, the air rushing out of my lungs as I did. My head hit the hilt of my sword and black dots began to appear above me before the whole world went dark.

I remember how worried Helga was. I never thought I'd see Bjorn afraid of someone but when Helga found out... I swear he began quaking in his boots.

He was good to me while I recovered from my injury, so good. In that time he told me stories about his life, about his father and mother. Later that and Ragnar had always intrigued me, I'd often been taught about them by Floki and Helga. When I was little, I must've annoyed Aslaug no end. Her little boys running around with a girl that dressed up as a shield maiden and pretended she was the almighty Lagertha. To me, Bjorn was family. King Ragnar was family. Earl Ingstad was family.

And now, here I was, on my way to fight them all. But not just them.

I remember when Ubbe and I were children. Ubbe and Hvitserk brought Sigurd and I out into the woods. We were playing and laughing out their for so long that we hardly saw the time.

It was late and getting dark. I couldn't find the others in their hiding spots and the entire game was beginning to frustrate me. I started to wonder if they'd left me, gone back to Kattegat without me. That's when I heard someone snigger. Of course, it was Hvitserk. He found it incredibly amusing that I couldn't find him.

I got so annoyed, prepared to kick him halfway to Valhalla. I began to charge over to the sound. Suddenly, I heard a noise.

"Signy! Wait!" Uber called. Quickly, he ran over to me, but I'd stopped too late. Both of us fell into a deep hole in the ground that had previously been covered in a thick layer of leaves.

I landed on Ubbe's arm. He broke it. He didn't cry or scream though. I could see the pain in his eyes but all he said was, "are you okay?"