Virago - Ivar The Boneless

No Alternative

She kept her eyes closed as she listened to the conversation around her. Iona did not want the brothers to know she was awake or listening to their moment. She was laying on Sigurd's bed, he was sat at the edge of it as he spoke. "One day she will return to her mother," the words were spoken by Sigurd, she knew his voice, she knew all their voices. 

"Send her now," Ivar groaned. "She is wasting too much of our time. You spend too much time with her, brother." She knew they were talking about her, it was obvious.

"I like spending time with her, she's easy to get along with, she listens to what I have to say."

"The only thing you like about her is how easy she is to get into bed," Ivar snapped at his brother. "One day she will betray us all, she's a woman, she's nothing special."

The bed shifted at the end, she felt Sigurd move off the bed. 

"One day, Ivar, you will feel different about her. She's not like everyone else," Hvitserk told his youngest brother. 

There was a sharp sound then Ivar spoke. "Look at her, she's not special, she has you all brainwashed. Her life will never be worth anything. She may be the sister of Bjorn but she is no child of Ragnar, remember that."

Iona hated thinking of things from her past, she remembered how angry Ivar was when he spoke about her. She didn't need to see his face to know what expression was on it. 

"Tell me, heathen," Judith spoke to the blonde who was tied to the chair. "How valuable is your life?"

She tilted her head to the side as she shrugged, "My life is worth more than all the money in the world. You cannot kill me," Little Bear informed her with a smirk. "Do you know who my mother is? Do you know the story of Lagertha, the shieldmaiden who would never conceive another child?" 

The brown-haired woman crossed her arms over her chest before sitting in the chair opposite her. "I have heard the stories," Judith chuckled as she placed her hands in her lap. "That is all they are though, stories. I have heard of the blonde child believing she is a God, that she has no father. None of that can be true," she shook her head at the young woman before her. "Your father is out there somewhere, your mother chooses not to tell you. You believe in your Gods but they would never give a child to your murderess mother. They would never put a child on Earth like you." 

Iona's eyes narrowed as they flashed red wildly, no matter how much she tried though there was no give in the ropes. "Do not speak ill of my mother and the Gods," she warned the Christian woman who seemed to have an answer for everything. 

"You're in my house now," Judith reminded the blonde. "It is my understanding that you are going to be staying for a while." She got up from her seat and looked out of the window, she moved the curtain slightly as she looked out. "I have two sons," she spoke as she kept her attention on the outside. "A marriage between yourself, a heathen and one of my sons, a Christian could bring some peace for a while. It could bridge a small gap between your kind and ours."

"What makes you think I would marry a Christian?" Iona spat as she shuddered at the thought. 

Judith turned back to her, "Because whilst you are here, you won't have much say in what happens to you." She smirked as she looked at the blonde. "Given time you might find you like the Christian way."

Little Bear didn't reply to the woman, she didn't want to give her the satisfaction of a response. She looked away as she thought of what might be happening on the battlefield. She hoped that Ivar's plan was working, she hoped that they were making Aethelwulf and his army pay for everything they had done with Ragnar. 

XOXOX

She didn't know how much time had passed but when King Aethulwulf returned, Little Bear was surprised, to say the least. She was left in the room with two guards, she stayed silent, she knew better than to beg or to bargain with people when her life was involved, she would rather die than owe someone something. 

A few moments passed before he returned, he ripped the bounds from the girl as he brought her to her feet. "What is their next move?" He demanded to know. 

A smirk crossed her lips, "Do you think they would tell me? I am just a woman after all." She played on the stereotypes she knew men had when it came to women. 

"You were with Ivar," he spoke sounding less like a statement and more like a question. "What is between you two?"

Iona was going to stretch the truth right now, she wanted to scare this man. "We are madly, deeply in love. I would not want to be you," she told him with an innocent look. "Tell me, King, what exactly was your plan?"

Aethelwulf threw her back into the chair, it seemed her words had gotten to him. He had the worst thoughts on his mind. Judith entered the room, she looked at the blonde who sat calmly on the chair then to her husband who was almost shaking. "You must leave," Aethelwulf told her as he got to her side. "Take our sons, you must leave now." He kissed her on the forehead before she left the room not asking any questions. 

"There is nothing more you can do," Little Bear was not bound any more but she continued to sit in the chair. "You could leave with them."

He did not look at her as he stared out the window. He watched as his family set about leaving, they were quick to leave the village. He knew he had to protect them, they were the most precious things in his life. Hearing from the woman that she was romantically involved with a Ragnarsson who going to be his downfall. He had to send his family away, he needed to keep them safe because taking the blonde woman with them would doom them all. He would rather die himself than let his whole family pay for his mistake. 

Iona thought about the lie she had told. She wished there was more to it than a dreadful lie. She knew she did not need to lie but the name Ragnar Lothbrok meant something around here, that meant his sons meant something too. 

Silence fell all around them, there was no sound outside and the darkness had fallen. The King moved away from the window for the first time, making eye contact with the young woman. He lit a candle in the room, turning his back to her. She looked around quickly, her eyes darting for something, she knew they were not coming, not if they had waited this long. 

She was swift and silent in her movements as she took this opportunity. Grabbing the hair of the King, she forced his face down onto the candle he had lit. The fire burning his face as he reached for his sword, she anticipated it, pushing him back from her, his hands reaching for his face. 

Iona kicked him down to the ground as he tried to put the fire out on his melting skin. Her movements were quick as she picked up the candle, dropping it onto his stomach, the flame lighting his top quickly. He reached for the sword again, he was blinded now by the fire so his swipes were wild and hasty as he tried to find her form. 

She watched him struggling, her lips curling in the corners as she smelt the air. The smell of burning flesh filled her nostrils as she wrinkled her nose. She turned her head to the door, she was just going to walk out of here as if nothing had happened, she would return to the Ragnarssons having done what they set out to do. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sword fall to the ground. Iona looked at the fallen King before leaving the room she had been trapped in for so long. She left the home she was in, she had to find a way to get back, a horse maybe. In the stables, she found one lone horse, one she assumed belonged to the King. Climbing on it, she gave it a swift kick in the sides getting it to start the journey back to the docks where she hoped she would find her brother and his brothers.