brave in the heart. vikings

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 32

𐂂

While thoughts of the Seer's prophecies were hard to shake, the business of Kattegat helped to keep her mind from it all. The main hall was crowded as it usually was, filled with the gruff shouts and laughter of women. The children danced around the fire pits, dodging around wooden pillars and drunken men as they played chase.

Merida beamed as Bjorn's brothers ran up to where she sat next to him. Their hands were outstretched, pushing him backwards.

"Stop. I don't want to fight you!" Bjorn shouted playfully, casting his drink aside.

He grabbed Ubbe's hands, pushing them together so he could not fight. Behind him, Hvitzerk scurried, jumping up to hang around Merida's neck.

"I think little Ubbe could beat you any day, Bjorn," she said with a laugh, scooping his younger brother up and placing him down again.

"Is that right?"

Before either Bjorn or Ubbe could retaliate, Ragnar shouted out from atop his throne.

"Quiet. Quiet. I have made up my mind," he said, watching as the room eventually settled, creating a natural circle around him. "And this year, we shall attack Paris."

A murmur rippled through them.

"Paris?" Rollo stood, casting his arms out in questioning. "What is Paris?"

"That is a good question brother," Ragnar said, a smirk spreading on his face. "Paris is a city in the country of Frankia."

"Why haven't you told us all about this before?"

"Because I'm telling you now," he shouted. "I understand that this will not be easy. By all accounts, Paris is a huge, walled, well-protected city this is something that our people have never attempted before. But I have begun to think and dream of it. Athelstan. Come, come. Athelstan has been to Paris. And the wanderer who first told me about England, he too told me about this city."

Merida had heard the name of Paris uttered only once in her life, by the elder in the woods, an ageless woman who travelled down to the castle only once when Merida was a young girl. There had been majestic words or amazement shared, only a fleeting comment, mingled amongst prophecies of events that had already passed, one of which had been the loss of the Bear King's leg. She wondered if it could possibly be the same city, but if Paris truly was as incredible as what Ragnar believed, then surely the elder would have foretold?

"We must find him. For it is good to travel with hope and with courage. But it is still greater to travel with knowledge," Ragnar said as a quiet hum rippled through the crowd.

Even with two months left with much preparation still in need of being done, the people of Kattegat had struggled to contain their anticipation. The prospect of new kinds of riches and far off lands had been promised once before, met with speculation and doubt. But the great Ragnar Lothbrok had delivered once before, and they had faith in him to do it again.

If Ragnar was put off by their blind hope he, of course, didn't show it. If anything he was ecstatic by their involvement, calling in friends from villages with names Merida hadn't yet heard, nor could she pronounce. He held councils each week, huddled around a blazing fire, fuelled by horns of drink and plenty of shouting. Bjorn attended each, ears begging to hear his ideas, mouth moving to input ideas at each point.

They had no idea what to expect, and yet they carried on as if they were Gods themselves, able to conquer worlds and bathe in immense wealth. All except Floki, his heart was not in it.

"I am worried about Floki," Merida said as Bjorn stepped to her side, hiding behind a tree, away from where Ubbe and his brothers still searched for them. "He has been distant, fanatic. I do not think he trusts in the interests of us all."