Bloody Revenge | Sigyn x Sihtric Kjartansson | The Last Kingdom

Ghost of you

Another two weeks passed, there was still no word from her scouts and no sign of Sihtric returning to her anytime soon. Since she awoke that morning, she felt the pains of labour but was too scared to tell anyone. It was only when Astrid discovered her mothers waters had broken that it all seemed real. Loyal men and woman guarded the home while Sigyn prepared to bring another child into the world. She hoped and prayed to the Gods for a healthy babe. She had even sacrificed a goat to Thor in the hopes to appease the Gods.

"Something isn't right." Sigyn spoke breathlessly, her body already covered in a light sweat. Astrid and a few other women were trying to help her bring the babe into the world. But something was wrong. Sigyn was fading in and out of her visions, something that hadn't happened in years and when glimpses of her haunting dreams were revealed she knew she had been ignoring the warning signs for weeks. She could have prevented all of this.

With each painful push or scream she saw her beloved home being raided and burned. The body of the Queen discovered, and a war declared. The clashing of steel overpowered her screams of pain, her heart breaking as she watched Osferth fight. She was screaming for help, for Finan or Gunnar to come to his aid but she was ignored. She wasn't really there. When the blade pushed into his flesh she felt the pain in her own body rise and she screamed, forced to watch as one of her closest friends died in Finan and Gunnar's arms. As the last breath left Osferth, the cries of her child echoed around the room and her visions ended. She knew already what was going to happen next.

"My Lady, it's a healthy boy." The babe was swaddled in a blanket and as soon as Sigyn looked down at the child her heart broke. All she saw in his face was Osferth. Like the baby monk had been reborn in her and Sihtric's child.

"Mother, he's beautiful. You did great." Astrid spoke softly while she mopped the sweat from Sigyn's brow. She had no idea about what Sigyn had just witnessed, or the horrors she had just had to see.

"Osferth. He will be called Osferth." Sigyn spoke weakly, her gaze finally falling onto her daughter. Her kind and beautiful daughter who had always been the best attributes of Sigyn. "Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about your Aunt Skade?" There was a small nod, but Sigyn waited for the room to empty before she continued. "I cannot control it, but I sometimes see things. Things that have happened or will happen. I'm so sorry child. Osferth has died. The war between Danes and Saxons has started. Rumcofa burned and everyone slain."

There was a stunned silence, Astrid lost for words at the admission and the explanation or what her mother had witnessed. The horrors she had experienced while bringing a child into it all.

"Gunnar?" Was all Astrid could say, her older brother was her rock. The pair were inseparable.

"He is fine. So is Finan and his wife. They will go to Uhtred and your father." Sigyn nodded quickly, knowing that eventually Sihtric would come for them. But they weren't safe. There were snakes already in their walls. "Go and tell the men and women to not leave their posts. I will rest for a day and then I will eliminate the pests already in our home." The Saxon men would die. "You will need your bow again."

Sleep didn't come easily, visions plagued Sigyn every single time she closed her eyes. The babe was awake at every hour and would refuse his mother's breast, so she had to accept the help of a wet nurse for the first time ever. But she continued to try, refusing to put another woman in danger by dragging her into her life. After the seventh time of fighting the babe finally latched onto her breast.

When noon arrived the following day, she finally pulled herself out from beneath the covers, she was truly exhausted though. She changed into her leather armour, the tight fabric hiding her stomach completely and it was almost like she had never been pregnant in the first place. Astrid had braided her hair for her, and they had left the babe with the wet nurse for now. They had Saxon's to kill, but then they would be leaving. Sigyn would go straight to Edward and ask him why he placed spies in her home.