Hidden and Patient - Vikings (Ubbe)

Prologue

The day the heathens came was the day that everything changed.

Althena had always been this way, a pawn in the grand game of men. That was simply the way of her people. And, no matter how much she battled against it, no matter how remarkable she was, no man in this land would ever find her an equal.

Her little brother was King, though the crown would've suited her far better. Their mother was the proud Mildred Regina to King Alwin. Or, as Edith and Althena often referred to him, The Brainless.

When, at first, Althena had heard of the attack, she rushed to the throne room. Her brother could not defeat these men in a fight, he'd never much had the capacity to lead. Instead, he'd sit on a throne ordering people about and drinking wine like the idle man he was. His only strategy would be to surge attack at full force. This would not work.

Althena had heard of the Great Heathen Army. They'd defeated King Ælla and King Ecbert already! Surely, if they were not careful, King Alwin would be next. In his favor, he had one of the greatest minds in Saxon history on his side. But how would that help him if he could not let go of his own pride?

What Althena didn't know was that Alwin had already agreed a treaty with the heathens and that was their true reason for appearing. He would join them and help them destroy the rest of England. And, to prove his cowardly loyalty, he would give them his only sister.