Runes & Ruin

Chapter 9

The man were bickering again, Yrsa sat across the table from an annoyed Uhtred his face lined with tension. Next to him Finnick raved about curses, witches and pagan rituals. On his other side Sihtric spoke of his wife and child,  the shifting alliances in the north and the danger in Wessex.

Yrsa's voice was clear and stern "we can't stay here." All eyes snapped to her. "We put innocent lives at risk by being here and haesten now knows where we are".
The mousy faced sihtric responded "where do you suppose we go?" His tone was dismissive. Yrsa was quick to respond " find a small isolated village and set up camp nearby, trade with the villagers for food but only one person at a time. Regroup for a few days and formulate a plan from there."

Uhtred nodded thoughtfully "she is right we cannot stay here any longer. Prepare the men to travel." His tone clipped and stern.

They all stood and headed there separate ways, Yrsa opted for the stable. She packed her belongings back onto her horse, she removed a thick fur from her one of her satchels and fastened it around her shoulders. Her armour was still caked in her blood and her face splattered with a strangers entrails. A call came from outside, the man were wrangling to leave. She led her horse out gently before mounting the saddle again the familiar leather almost moulded to her arse.

They rode for hours on end passing trees, rivers and mountains. They avoided all civilization and chose to camp for the night in a clearing of a Forest. Yrsa lay under the stars on her bedroll of furs admiring the pin pricks of light and the faded swirls behind. She wondered if the gods could see her now, whether they shunned her or blessed her still. After Toras death she had refused to believe in gods so cruel and harsh. However she did feel that there was something binding her to her Norse heritage and religion whether she liked it or not.

The sun quickly arose and the noises of the camp sparked Yrsa awake. Some bird stew was being cooked and men were chatting around the fire. She stood and rolled her supplies before heading towards the heart of the camp. She sat next to sihtric and he offered her a bowl of what she learned was pheasant stew. She slurped it greatfully aiming to quell the hunger pangs of her stomach.

"You're quiet this morning." Sihtrics voice was light and joking. "trying to avoid disturbing the peace." She chortled back. Aethflaed arrived and sat down opposite them on another log of some kind. Yrsa noticed the sadness circled around her eyes, and knew that something terrible had happened to her. She didn't know the story of why her husband wanted her dead but she couldn't imagine it being Aethelflaeds fault in any way.

At that moment Uhtred's voice cut through the chatter "We need to ride on. We are only a few hours away from a small village. The people there are apparently recluses so they will avoid trouble. Including  ratting us out to anyone." They all stood again gathering belongings, mounting their horses and setting off following Uhtred in turn. Yrsa hated the menial task of travel although she enjoyed nature, saddle sore tended to be a real bitch.

Inga sidled her horse up next to Yrsa's. "Has Cian seemed off to you? I think there is something wrong with him." Yrsa gently whipped her head round to where the mountain of a man was riding along on his equally ginormous horse. He was gazing into the distance as had the expression of grief on his face. His scar was wrinkled in a grimace of sadness?

Yrsa turned to Inga and spoke " he's being weird. All protective and worried, please tell him to stop hovering it's borderline creepy." At that she saw defeat take over Ingas features. "Ahhhh he likes you". Yrsa was quick to rebuttal "well I don't like him he's like an older brother to me." At that Inga was less sad making Yrsa feel slightly more relieved. However she was far too tired and grouchy to acknowledge the complicated consequences of Cian's affections and promised herself she'd talk to him later.