The Son Of Ragnar

Herfjötur was infuriated, and she was about to enter combat; Karl instinctively took a couple of steps back because he did not want to get in her way.

"I guess I will play with you a little-!" Before he could finish his sentence, Herfjötur appeared right before him, she was big, yet she had the speed of a much smaller person.

Herfjötur swung her club downward, it was done with such incredible speed that even the man had no choice but to block it, but he found himself being forced to his knees because of the sheer force of that swing.

"You are as strong as they say…!" The man exclaimed; he had lost the skirmish in strength and was barely holding on, but he managed to elude it and force the baton to the ground.

Herfjötur could not recollect herself in time, prompting her foe to mistake this as him having the upper hand but in reality, it was Herfjötur baiting him.

A bait he took, swinging his blade in a bid to wound her. Herfjötur gave the illusion that she needed two hands to wield her weapon, but this was a misdirection from Herfjötur.

She let go of her heavy weapon, grabbing the wrist of the man. Something shocked him as his eyes widened because he thought Herfjötur was fighting with full strength.

"She was holding back?!" The man thought. Herfjötur, despite her rage, was an intelligent fighter, and it showed just how much experience she had.

"Is this the hand you used to give the order?" Herfjötur asked, and the man's silence was all she needed, snapping his wrist like a twig right before kicking him in the torso to send him flying like a rag doll.

Karl could not believe his eyes. For some reason, Herfjötur had grown more robust from the last time they met, and Karl could not help but wonder if the others were just as strong.

The man got up to his feet slowly; he did not look to be in pain or any distress at all.

This told Herfjötur one thing: this man was used to pain.

"Lagertha! Take him to the capital!" Herfjötur commanded. It was night but felt like day; the clouds were split like the red sea.

"This is a good thing; you are stronger than our intel. I am glad we had this fight, but I would have to end it here." The man said, and Herfjötur just stared blankly. She could not believe Tiril was dead or understand why anyone would want her to be killed.

"You are not going anywhere; I am taking you in for questioning…." Herfjötur exclaimed and gestured for Karl to close in on him to take him into custody, but this was impossible.

The strange man vanished into thin air, he had absconded, and Herfjötur told Karl not to give chase because they had what they wanted, they had managed to capture one of them, or so they thought.

"L-Lady Herfjötur! He bit off his tongue!" Lagertha exclaimed; the man just took his own life to protect whatever secret he was holding, and Herfjötur had no choice but to accept defeat at that moment.

"ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!" Screaming echoed from afar, and Herfjötur jerked her head in the direction of the scream. It was coming from the capital as she could see flames rising from afar.

"W-What is going on?" Karl questioned, confused but now was not the time for questions but actions.

"Lagertha! Let's go! Karl, evacuate as many people as you can! I think Kattegat is under attack!" Herfjötur said, rushing to the scene alongside Lagertha, leaving the man's dead body momentarily in their possession as Karl took a different route to the city.

-

"Hold your ground! The enemies are using the cover of darkness to fight like cowards!" A random warrior exclaimed; he looked to his left and saw another fellow warrior.

"I know what you mean, but what if I am that enemy?" The fellow warrior had said.

"Now is not the time for jok-!" Before he could speak, his neck was sliced open by the man he mistook for his ally.

"We are wearing your colors! Dumbass!" The man said. The cover of the dark and the fact that they were wearing their colors made this attack effective because it made everyone doubt each other. Chaos was the quickest way to besiege a nation, and that was precisely what these men were doing.

Ulrik was imprisoned, and his men had their weapons seized, so they were defenseless; this made it easy for them to be targeted and killed but not without resistance.

After defeating them, a few fought back and got weapons from their enemies' corpses.

This gave them a fighting chance, but even this was not enough because the burning buildings diverted and split their forces because they had to attend to the threats that had infested Kattegat.

Tiril was dead, and Herfjötur was away, but despite this, her forces had more disciple, and they had a better chance at fighting.

They focused on protecting Liv, their Queen, and surrounded the throne room.

Not letting anyone close or near it because they understood what would happen if Askild came back only not to see his wife dead. He treated her with the most respect.

"QUEEN LIV MUST BE PROTECTED!" They screamed in unison, but they knew whoever was attacking did so because they were reasonably confident they could take Kattegat.

The screams and clashing of swords could be heard all around them; the terrible part was that they used civilians as human shields and distractions to weaken the formation of Kattegat.

-

King Askild was on his ship; they were on their way to Kattegat, chanting and cheering Ulf.

They were expected to have arrived by dawn, but this unprecedented attack was not only sudden, but no one could have predicted it.

Would Askild still have a kingdom to rule when he arrived or would Kattegat have fallen during the long night?