The Son Of Ragnar

Bjorn and Tyr had broken free, they hid and wondered what happened to their mother.

This was their priority, the safety of their mother, and they hated that their father was not here either.

They recalled what Askild was told before being carted away and they knew they needed their King now more than ever, this made their next move clear to them.

They had to somehow get Askild free even though they knew this might be an impossibility.

"Bjorn…" Tyr whispered and the moment Bjorn's eyes met Tyr, he tried his best not to laugh out loud.

Tyr had dirt on him and Bjorn could not tell the difference, the ground was muddy as the weather had been rainy as of late despite it having not done so in days.

"Bjorn! Shut up!" Tyr had to warn him but seeing Bjorn trying not to laugh only made him suffer the same fate. In the end, these were just children but they had grown faster than most because of the path they had chosen.

Bjorn composed himself and told Tyr what was funny but this joke gave Tyr an idea.

One thing that Tyr was good with was coming up with unorthodox methods to overwhelm his enemies and right now, this joke had given him a valuable idea, an idea he did not share with his brother.

The brothers arrived at the throne room but they took longer to reach there because the streets were busy. Surprisingly, the citizens accepted their new rulers without much protest.

No one knew how much people hated Askild until now, and Bjorn recognized some of the men on the street as people that fought in the war, confirming that once Askild's title was gone.

Unlike Asmund, they had no deep loyalty to him as a person, just his title and now Birger had managed to turn them against him.

Askild had lost everything but the boys knew that it would take a lot more than this to make Askild give up.

Something soon caught their eyes and that was them carting away two women, they had a cloth over their heads but the boys could recognize their mother even with her face hidden.

Bjorn moved forward but a hand held him back.

"Stay put!" Tyr warned his brother, he understood Bjorn's eagerness but he knew they could not take on so many people, save the hostages, and escape. Someone would be caught in the crossfire.

"Tyr! Let me go!" Bjorn said but one look into his brother's eyes made him calm down. Tyr was equally as angry as Bjorn but they needed to be smart.

"They have queen Liv and mother…." Tyr said, and he knew that they could not get their hands on them too.

Lagertha was not just any hostage, she was the Queen of Vestfold.

Tyr and Bjorn trailed them quietly, the priority shifted from Askild to their mother without a second thought.

"Have you gathered the commanders?" Both boys heard a guard escorting their mother and Liv say, and the man he spoke to nodded to affirm this but he also said this.

"We have Asger, Askild, and Erik The Berserkers in the prison alongside those that refuse to swear allegiance to King Birger but Ulrik and Herfjötur are pinned down in the north wing." The man responded.

This information was a bit overwhelming for the boys, they were certain that Birger had been killed; they saw it themselves so what was the meaning of this?

Tyr knew they could not act now regarding their mother's rescue but luckily they had just found out that all the commanders were not under capture.

If they could help Herfjötur and Ulrik, this would increase their chance of rescuing their mother and Liv, both boys gave each other a knowing look, they knew what they had to do next.

-

Herfjötur, Ulrik, and Karl were surrounded in the building, they were allowed to surrender or switch sides but they took neither.

Askild remained their King and there was no way they were going to betray him.

The fight began and they held their ground for a certain amount of time but the cramped space made this only temporary, eventually, they were put on the defensive.

Karl was the first to get injured, as he was nicked in multiple places but still stood gallantly to fight; there was only so much they could do.

With the others imprisoned, that meant they could allocate the majority of their forces here but this was not the most insane aspect of their assault.

Herfjötur found it strange that they were not attacking simultaneously as they would have a better chance at winning if they did, it almost felt like they were trying to tire them out and minimize the losses they incurred.

She took this as an insult and began swinging her gigantic spiked baton, taking off people's heads with one swing but fighting like that in a confined space left her vulnerable to attacks from her blind spot. Luckily Ulrik was there to cover her.

"We need to get out of here!" Ulrik said. This was something everyone knew but the question was how? Ulrik was worried about Garda and had hoped that Arvid would have information regarding her. Ulrik connected the dots as well, the trail Arvid left was not just for anyone, it was for Linnea specifically, being a skilled tracker she could follow even the most subtle of trails and that explained why she found them, not anyone else...

She relied on Ulrik's rage for her to cloud his deduction skills and it worked, and Ulrik realized something at that moment. She was the one responsible for his imprisonment, she knew his triggers and he played right into her hand but they soon saw smoke filling the room.

"W-What?" Ulrik muttered under his breath as he realized that they had set the building on fire from the outside, but why were the men inside not leaving?

"They intend to take us with them," Herfjötur said, tired and already out of breath, the smoke could not have come at a worst time. And only then, did they start attacking simultaneously.

Herfjötur was not sure they would make it out alive, it would take the grace of the gods.