Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Althena?" Edith shook the young girl's arm, waking her suddenly. They'd been awake all day and night, while Althena watched the city and listened to the distant clammer of swords. "Althena, we have to go!"
"What?" The blonde lifted her head up from the grass, regaining her wits. As she began to wake up, her first thought was simple. Her eyes darted around, searching for one person in particular. "Where's Ubbe? What happened?"
The older girl gave a smile, having already listened to her dear friend's sleep talking. It was clear that she cared about him, something she never expected to happen but was so happy for. "He's still in York. We're going to meet them there now." Edith answered, helping her friend up. The princess seemed so mature, so queenly in her mannerisms, and everyday Edith was more amazed by the woman she was becoming. One day, she hoped that her own husband would die so that Althena may inherit the throne. But for now, she was simply glad that she was safe and well.
"Are they all alright?" Althena asked worriedly, shifting her gaze between the few injured men who'd returned, and her closest friend. "Ubbe, Hvitserk, Ivar? They're all safe?"
Edith chuckled, placing her arm around Althena's shoulder as they walked towards their horses, "I hear that they're all alive and well. But you can ask them yourself in a moment."
At this, the princess took a deep sigh of relief. The thought of something happening to any of them was abhorrent to her. Ivar and Hvitserk had become oddly like little brother's to her since she'd left her home. And Ubbe? Ubbe was the only reason she was still breathing. She still couldn't put into words what she felt about him, but she knew that if anything happened to him then she'd surely fall apart.
As they rode closer and closer to York, Althena could sense the electricity of war in the air. The iron scent of blood permeated the atmosphere, filling her lungs and making her feel ill. It was the kind of ineffable feeling that one cannot simply describe, one's first battle was an experience no matter who you were. In Althena's case, she'd never seen so much death in one place before, and she loathed it wholeheartedly.
"Wife." Her brother's voice made Althena's blood run cold. Some dark part of her had prayed for his death, but it seemed that God had other plans for him. "Sister."
"Alwin." Althena greeted coldly, though not at all paying attention to him. She was far more focused on finding those that truly mattered to her.
"Are you joining us?" Alwin questioned, watching as his sister searched for the Ragnarssons. "You know, your people."
As Alwin spoke, her gaze fell upon Ivar and Hvitserk - who sat outside, still drenched in blood. Quickly, she looked back at her brother. "Yes brother," She spoke smoothly. "I will be with my people if you need me."
Without another word, she dismounted her horse and ran past the smaller man and towards Ivar and Hvitserk. As she neared, she thought she could see the glimpses of a smile on Ivar's face when he saw her, but she couldn't be sure. But, just as she was about to smile back, concern filled her instead.
"Are you hurt?" She asked harshly. "What happened?"
"Hello to you too." The youngest Ragnarsson answered flatly. But his humour was not at all reciprocated. Injuries could lead to infection which could certainly kill you, Althena had seen it many times before.
"You have to go to your healer." She insisted, sitting between him and Hvitserk, and taking Hvitserk's drink. "You could lose a limb from this."
"It's a scratch." Ivar responded flatly.
Hvitserk spoke up as well, taking back his drink, "He'll be fine."
"That's what you think now." She retorted sharply, her voice like a mother scolding her child. "But when it's green and you can't move your arm? And then you die."
The two brothers looked at her for a moment before laughing, as if she was being utterly ridiculous. And though she wanted to hit them both, she couldn't help but simply smile.
"We missed you too." Hvitserk answered her silence, before her gaze drifted again.
As Ivar watched her expression shift, her eyes shifting over towards the crowds of men, he noted his older brother's absence. Although he'd never thought that Althena would become so important to them, or that she would ever actually begin to care about Ubbe, he'd watched her slowly fall away from her Saxon family and become closer with Ubbe each day. "He's in the church." Ivar spoke up, catching Althena's attention.
The church? Why? But she didn't remain to question it for long, quickly jumping up to run inside. She wasn't sure why, but she just had to see him. Her husband.
