The Son Of Ragnar



Northumbria, as everyone had predicted, amped up their defence so this meant any potential invasion that might occur in the future would not go unnoticed by them.

But the other Kingdoms in England noticed this move by King Ælla but King Ælla was not on friendly terms with the rest. He was a powerful man but one could understand why he was so hostile to the others, it is because they did not support how he got the crown.

They frowned upon it and condemned his actions but he did not care, he was the King.

"King Æthelberht, we have reports of King Ælla gathering his forces…" A man said, he was in full armour and had on a helmet to boot.

A man sat on the throne majestically, he carried himself like a true King because he was not frightened by the prospect of King Ælla amassing his army.

King Æthelberht was an imposing man despite having a slender figure but the majestic crown on his head was like it was made for it.

He had fierce black eyes, with black hair sitting gently on his shoulder.

"King Ælla is a brute that usurped his father but he is no fool. He knows better than to be a nuisance so that means what we heard about Lindisfarne is true, someone has dared desecrate the land of God," King Æthelberht did not look pleased by this.

"Bishop Heahmund, will you let the land of God be disrespected by Pagans?" King Æthelberht asked the man before him.

This man was a Bishop but not just any bishop. Bishop Heahmund was what one would call a warrior Bishop were men who slayed Pagans that dared to desecrate the land of God.

They knew that the Bible was not enough to protect them, God gave them his word and now they had to use their arm to defend that word.

"Yes, King Æthelberht. I will send those people to hell where they shall repent for their sins for all eternity," Bishop Heahmund said with a stern look on his face.

The Vikings had opened a door that they could not close themselves, and now everyone was on edge.

The existence of an external threat brought things into perspective, the Kingdom of Wessex was a beautiful Kingdom.

Wessex had ladies, children, and men living in harmony, the women were not allowed to fight and it was even frowned upon as it was a man's job. A wife was meant to stay at home and support her husband.

-

Bishop Heahmund left the room and walked outside the palace looking into the throne room, he did not look worried by this.

Bishop Heahmund had slicked black hair styled backwards with a gentle face but he had quite the body on his holy sword, he had killed for God and his King with a cross around his neck.

He was a respected Bishop and had taken his role from a man that did not believe that Christians should not shed blood and exercise forgiveness.

Such a mentality was archaic and King Æthelberht adopted the idea of warrior Bishops and so far, he had no regrets. 

These were men of God that had attained such majestic height and they gained all the respect that came with the title of being a bishop. 

This allowed them to amass a radical army that truly believed that spilling blood in the name of God was a divine task, this gave them a fortitude that could not be matched by just any warrior.

"Bishop," A man called out behind him, Heahmund looked back to see a man that had a cross around his neck but he made his irritation visible.

He rolled his eyes and the man noticed this but simply smiled in response.

"I am happy you are well, I heard disturbing news about your demise," The man said but Heahmund knew that this was nonsense. The church was divided and split, Heahmund had a faction that stood firmly behind him but there was another that opposed him vehemently and supported the man he unseated, Eahlstan.

"God guides my path for I fight for him," Heahmund responded.

"You condemn people to death, there is no way God would approve of something so barbaric," The man responded; Heahmund smiled the moment he heard this.

"You will soon understand why we are needed, Henry." This was all he said before walking away but what did he mean by this?

-

Ingólfur was surprised that Askild would propose such in the first place, Askild had left Iceland but he gave him a lot to ponder on.

Ingólfur consulted his wife for everything he did and she did not like the idea of her husband leaving Iceland. Ingólfur had conquered the majority of Iceland but not that was only seventy-five percent of it.

There was strong resistance in other regions and this resistance happens to be coming from men that coincidentally called themselves "Christians".

They came there on a mission to win souls over for Christ and they were succeeding at a rapid pace but something occurred, or was it more accurate to say someone?

Ingólfur swept Iceland by storm, he met allies here that opposed the Christians' influence but what they did not take under consideration was the warrior Bishop stationed there.

He went by the name Guðmundur and he had a belief that poverty was ordained by God as wealth corrupted the mind of man, it led them astray.

He rejected Ingólfur's attempt to eradicate Christianity from Iceland and was ready to fight it with force, and he had quite the gathering.

He managed to convert a few powerful Vikings to fight his course and this was where the problem began, Ingólfur could not fight the battle himself and the fact that he conquered so many territories was nothing short of impressive.

This should be impossible but this was partly due to his wife's brilliance. None measured up to her strategic skills complemented by her husband's brilliance. 

They made the perfect team, and this was not a metaphor, it was meant by all sense of the word.

The first Gardsson Ingólfur killed was Hord, this was a man that had him on the ropes and would have killed him but his wife had set up a trap that the brother unfortunately fell for.

Hord gave his life so his men could live but this made little difference because his men died in that battle. The idea was to separate them and it did, they used Hord's selfless behaviour against him.

This triggered an endless cycle of revenge but Hord was the most troublesome Gardsson, he was stronger than even Rugalf at the time but he was a lot more naive than him.

This was why the revenge cycle began, Trym was the second Gardsson to go but he did not put up much of a challenge.

He did not stand a chance with the combined intellect of both Ingólfur and his wife, he fell on the first day of battle and no one was left alive.

Ingólfur had cemented his place as a prolific warrior and no one dared question his strength but that was until a Gardsson ventured forth without the permission of Rugalf.

Despite lacking in strength and skills, he had a mind that was quite interesting.

He knew how to turn disadvantageous situations into ones that favour him, he managed to kill Hjörleifr Hróðmarsson, the foster brother of Ingólfur.

This tore his heart and for a moment, Ingólfur was nearly killed as well after he ran into an ambush that nearly claimed his life, Ingólfur had to run with his tail between his legs and the enemy made a mistake not giving chase because he feared he was being led into a trap like the one that killed his brother. 

This man went by the name Rognvald, and his body was never found unlike the others; stories spread about him having survived that battle and this was partly what made Tyr so fascinating because he reminded Rugalf of Rognvald.

Ingólfur was close to conquering Iceland and he had the Gardssons on the ropes, but now he had to conquer the Christians that opposed him.

He could not show weakness, if they knew that there was an enemy he could not defeat then the enemy of my enemy becomes their friend.

Ingólfur had quite a number of enemies and this was why he was gathering allies for one final push against them.

The Christians were holed up in a fortress, and this fortress was near impregnable and Ingólfur had lost a lot of men trying to conquer it that he just stopped.

They were not advancing towards his Kingdom so he let them be but something told him that they were waiting for reinforcement; if this was the case then it would mean that the Christians might trample on Icelandic soil very soon as he was certain they would not stop at Norway.