DIVINE [HVITSERK RAGNARSSON]

14: SOMETHING MORE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN — 'SOMETHING MORE'

The air around Asta Stensdottir was silent after the axe hit. Every man and woman froze, and the once loud and bustling celebration feast stunned itself into silence. The gasp that erupted from Asta's mouth as the axe pierced had been louder than expected, but the reasoning behind it was justified.

Ivar had killed Sigurd. His own brother. Killed him with a throw of the axe after a petty exchanging of words. The Great Heathen Army had been enjoying a feast after they had destroyed the villa of Wessex and King Ecbert had died. They fought his son, Aethelwulf, at Repton too and the Great Army had overwhelmed his forces incredibly. Asta had taken an arrow to the arm in the battle, hitting her with such piercing force that she'd gone down in the mud.  Once again she'd remembered Hvitserk's teachings as she lay in the rain soaked dirt.

An arrow in the arm or the leg, it does not affect you. You pull it out, and you carry on.
An arrow will not be your fate.

She rose from the mud and yanked the arrow from her arm, tossing it to the ground and picking up her sword again.

An arrow will not be your fate.

The pain in her arm was incessant, but she continued through the battle until Aethelwulf cried retreat and she once again had succeeded in battle.

Now, her arm was bandaged with a white material that was covered in her blood. The pain lingered, but the injury was nothing that wouldn't heal itself within a couple of days. She'd been drinking to forget the pain, and the ale was soaking through her veins as Ragnar's Sons argued at the head table. As they continued their disagreements, Asta had been feasting and drinking with her own brothers and with King Harald and Halfdan, the latter of which had been proving to be great company. But as they laughed, she could hear Ivar's voice growing louder and could see the tension clouding both Hvitserk and Ubbe's faces. Björn Ironside was stood beside her, embracing Halfdan over their decision to travel back to the Mediterranean, when Ivar threw the axe that pierced Sigurd's heart.

I guess it must be hard for you now that your mummy is dead. Knowing she's the only one who ever really loved you.

Those were the words Sigurd had spat at his younger brother that enabled a commonly-seen rage in Ivar The Boneless.
"No!" Ubbe cried out as he and Hvitserk ran to their brother's side, his body hitting the ground beneath them with a thud. Asta felt the pain in Ubbe's voice as he said it. He'd always been the most level headed of the siblings, and now he'd witnessed his own blood kill their own brother.
"By the Gods..." Arvid breathed as Sten's children watched the scene unfold in front of them.

Suddenly, Asta no longer felt the pain in her wound.