Vikings-The Trick Of The Gods

Twelve.

My eyes bored into Bjorns, begging him to save me, to take me somewhere else but as the boat he was on slowly disappeared over the horizon i knew there was no solace. I felt a soft touch fall assertively onto my shoulder and I turned to see Aslaug peering down at me. She smiled a soft smile but it did not reach her eyes. I felt sick. I heard a scraping on the floor and I jerked my head down and saw the youngest of the Ragnarssons crawling away. I had not noticed him next to us before now but he must have been watching the warriors leave.

"Come now," Aslaug murmured tugging on my shoulder, "let me show you to where you are to stay."

We turned and walked back down the jetty we were standing on, slowly catching up to the crawling boy. As we passed, he looked up at me and we made eye contact. He froze for a moment and took in a short breath before a strange anger sunk over his features. He snarled at me and snapped his head to the ground moving his arms faster than before in a desperate attempt to move faster than I. We passed him and headed towards the main building.

Though Kattegat was much larger than Hedeby it was now much more empty and so was the main building. We slipped in the door and the other Ragnarssons looked up from where they were sitting around the fire. Upon seeing me, Ubbe stood and as the others went to stand he moved his arm back forcing one of his brothers to sit and thus the other remained seated.

"Where is Ivar?"

Perhaps the name of the youngest son.

"He's on his way."

Ubbe's sapphire eyes bore into mine and then he sat back down as well, clawing his eyes back to the fire. I expected there to be more conversing between the family but Aslaug continued passed them and so I followed, not wanting to upset her, especially as my safety now rests in her hands. She showed me to where I would sleep and, just as Ragnar had requested, I was being treated like one of their own as she gestured to the bed in between the beds of the boys.

She showed me around the other parts of Kattegat I'd need to know before finally stopping at the infirmary. Aslaug told me that my skills as a healer would be well put to use here and she showed me all their equipment though it was clear that she did not know what some of the oils and liquids were. I ran my fingers over the bottles picking out a few I too was unfamiliar with and smelling them quickly identifying them from scent. As I was setting everything back down to where it had been before, I turned to see Aslaug's dress whipping in the summer breeze as she left me alone in the building. I hurried to return everything to the proper place and ran out of the building after her but she was already out of site. Fearing being alone in this new place I made my way back to where I had remembered seeing the Ragnarssons.