Heathens (Ivar the Boneless)

Chapter Seven

"Stand up and say that to my face." Floki said back to him. They smiled at each other and then Floki looked at Kai. "Take care of Ivar." Kai nodded her head.

--------------------------

Kai was already in bed for the night when she heard Ivar come crawling in. She looked up from the bed made of fur. Ivar sat on the edge as he slowly started to undo the ties of his shirt and pulled the shirt up and over his head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kai asked as she looked at Ivar's bareback. Ivar shook his head. He lay on his back next to Kai as he stared up at the ceiling of the hut. Kai could see his eyes starting to water and the corners of his mouth twitched as he forced himself not to cry. "Ivar, look at me." Ivar turned his head and looked at Kai as a single tear rolled from the corner of his eye. "I know you are not happy with Floki for leaving you. I know the two of have a bond that is better than ours, but I am here for you. I do not want to watch you fall apart."

"I will not fall apart. I have you to keep me from falling apart." Kai smiled and leaned forward and kissed Ivar. He kissed back and rolled over to where he held himself up by his arms. His body rested between her legs.

"You may be a cripple, Ivar..." Kai replied up and cupped his cheek. "...but you are my cripple. You belong to me and no other woman." Kai grinned and flipped them over, straddling Ivar's waist and pinning his arms on either side of his head as he grunted and smirked. "It's my turn."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following morning, Kai joined Ivar, Ubbe, and Hvitserk to scout York Town from a far.

"York, look at her." Ivar said. "So ripe for plucking."

"And they don't even know that we are here." Hvitserk said.

"I saw we attack tomorrow before they find out."

"Yes, hmm."

"Wait, I remember something that father said." Ubbe said. "We need to attack when they are celebrating their Saints Day. Most of the people will be in the church or drunk."

"How do we find out?"

"We will find a way." Kai smiled as Ivar just made a noise and the groan went off.

They found two boys playing in a creek and made their plan. They took the two boys and sat them by a tree. Kai sat next to Ubbe as Ivar crawled over a tree trunk and sat by the boys.

"If you speak the truth, we will not hurt you." Ivar said into the boys. Kai could tell that they were scared of Ivar. "Just tell us when you will celebrate the next day of Christian Saints."

"In three days' time it will be Ascension Day." One of the boys said.

"Three?" Ivar asked. The boy nodded. Ivar held up three fingers and Hvitserk stood up. "See, that was easy. Now we must make a sacrifice."

They had the boys tied prepared to be sacrifice. Kai watched as Ubbe walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The siege on Yorktown began. Kai sat on her horse next to Ivar's chariot while her dog in his armor stood next to her. Kai had a smirk on her face as Ubbe opened the gate for them. All of them raced in, ready to fight for York Town. Kai's dog took out several of them very quickly and returned to Kai's side as she knocked down several others. They all met up in front of the church. Kai smiled as she watched Ubbe and Hvitserk walk up to the door and open it. She slid down from her horse and grabbed her sword.

The made their way into the church where they started to slaughter everybody. Kai had blood splatter on her face as she killed several men. Her dog's muzzle was covered in blood. Kai looked up to see Ivar come crawling into the church. She walked up to his side and watched as he yelled in a priest's face and tormented him. Ivar pulled his cross and Kai knew what he was going to do.

After it was done, Kai could hear a baby crying and looked at the boy. She then looked at one of the warriors.

"Take him and do it quickly." The warrior nodded, and Kai looked back at Ivar as he poured boiling metal down the priest's mouth and smiled at the torture he had just inflicted. Ivar sat there as he laughed and smiled.

--------------------------

Kai sat against the wall as she scrubbed the blood off her face. She then proceeded to clean off her dog's muzzle.

"To all of our brothers...even Sigurd." Ubbe said causing all of them to look at Ubbe.

"To all of us." Hvitserk said. "Skol."

"Skol." Ubbe said and stood up as Ivar watched him. Ivar then looked at Kai.

"You surprise me." Ivar said to her. "And so did he." Ivar pointed to her dog.

"You think that because I am just a woman, that I fight like any ordinary shieldmaiden?" Kai asked as she looked at him.

"No...I knew that you could fight better than any shieldmaiden. I chose my third in command wisely."

"Now the whole world can know that Ivar not only rules the Great Heathen army with his brothers, but his woman."

"And a dog." Hvitserk chimed in. "Why did you never name him?"

"I couldn't think of the perfect name for him. He deserves a good, strong, fitting name for he has given me many years of protection and good fighting."

"What about Fenrir?" Ivar asked. "He is the son of Loki, a mighty wolf that everybody was scared of." Kai looked at her dog.

"What do you think about that?" Her dog barked and wagged his tail. Kai smiled. "Then Fenrir shall be your name."