GRACEFUL ━ VIKINGS

━━ TWENTY-EIGHT

[ act iii -  the healed heart ]
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
( yet another betrayal )

     ALTHEA AWOKE LATER IN THE DAY THAN SHE NORMALLY did. Her back hurt from the night before and she was glad she would not see Ivar any longer after today. She groaned slightly as she walked into the main part of the great hall.

She noticed Eskel, Porunn, Torsten, and Revna with Hakon sitting on Revna's lap playing with a toy carved of wood. Her brows furrowed seeing everyone here except for Maximus.

Althea's head tilted slightly, confused. "Where is Maximus?" She questioned. She looked at her friends and most trusted advisors.

"The last I saw he was on the dock speaking to Prince Ivar, Princess," Torsten spoke up, everyone's brows furrowed. "But he should have returned by now."

Althea's heart dropped, she knew Ivar and she knew his hatred for Christians. Her head snapped to the open doors of the great hall as a horn sounded loudly. Three blasts which meant danger or something bad. Althea said nothing as she took off. Her feet carried her down the steps quickly.

Porunn barked out an order for Eskel and Revna to stay with Prince Hakon as she and Torsten ran after Althea. Porunn barked more orders to other guards as she told them to find Maximus but Althea knew deep down they would not find him. Her feet finally came to a stop once she climbed the three steps onto the dock. Her heart dropped even further seeing Maximus tied up to the mast of Ivar's ship. This must have been what Ivar had been planning.

"Maximus!" She shouted. Causing Ivar to look up with a smirk as he threw his hands up.

"Ivar!" Althea screamed, grabbing a bow and a few arrows from a guard next to her.

From this distance, she could see that disgusting smirk of Ivar's. She readied the arrow before firing quickly. She watched the arrow fly through the air and skim Ivar's cheekbone before lodging into the wood behind him. Ivar's smirk was quickly wiped from his face. It was a warning shot from her and he knew this.

"Don't you know who I am?" Ivar belted out his arms spreading out to his sides raised in the air.

Quickly she readied another arrow this time steadying herself before breathing out as she released the arrow. It cut through the air and went right through Ivar's left shoulder. Ivar let out a loud groan as the arrow knocked him back.

"I will kill you, Ivar!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as Torsten and Porunn finally caught up to her.

When Ivar's ship could no longer be seen she yelled as she brought the bow down onto her knee breaking it. She was furious, angered that she did not see this coming. She should have known better, especially when she knew he was planning something.

She turned around quickly. "Ready my horse, now!" She said as anger dripped from her voice.

"Princess, you can not leave." Porunn spoke, "You have to think about this." She tried to reason.