Rùna sat onto the edge of the carriage, her hands trembling. Her fingers and knuckles had turned white from clutching the dagger in her hand while her palm bled as the fingernails dug into her skin. She wiped the blood on her dagger off on her dress and put it back into the secret pocket of her cloak. "Who were they?"
"I don't know" Ivar inspected the blade in his hand. "They don't look like ours" He pointed at the axe Hvitserk pulled out of the back of one of the men. "What is that symbol?"
Rùna turned towards Hvitserk, who placed the axe on the carriage.
Her finger glided over the hilt of the axe up to the metal and the engraved symbol. It did not feel familiar, but another thought crept into her mind at this point. "Where they here before us or did they follow us into the woods?"
Both brothers exchanged glances, then had a look around to see, if any more men awaited them or anything indicated where they had come from. Since nothing appeared out of the ordinary other than the two dozen or so bodies on the ground around them, they focussed back on Rùna.
"Where did you learn how to fight?" Ivar inquired, having a seat next to her at the edge of the carriage, watching her still trembling hands, blood dripping to the ground from her fingertips. "I've only ever seen shield maidens fight like that"
"Before my father married that terrible woman, I had a maid, she told me about the wars she had fought and I asked her to train me. She laughed since I was a little child and... well-" her fingers pointed to her eyes as she spoke, "-this, but she agreed, and I trained with her every day until the new queen had her removed and allowed no other than the slaves she chose to be around me" Rùna turned to Ivar, a soft smile on her lips. "I wanted to be like Astrid, a shield maiden, but I never got to meet her again after that terrible woman removed her, I don't even know if she is still alive"
While Rùna spoke, Hvitserk gathered another sword, an axe and other weapons the men had brought that all carried the symbol, and dropped them onto the carriage. "I think you'd make a great shield maiden, but you look a bit too bloody for a princess"
Frozen in her place, Rùna kept her eyes on Ivar. "My father can never see me like this, he will be furious" She jumped off the carriage and spun around, the blood drenched clothes sticking to her body. "I have to clean up before returning"
Ivar had a look around and grinned upon his findings. "There is a lake nearby, we can wash ourselves there"
Hvitserk agreed, helped Rùna onto the carriage and the three rode to the edge of the lake, out of sight from the road should anyone ride along, and covered from the side by shrubs. With the help of branches full of leaves, they covered the weapons and parts of the carriage, and helped Rùna off the carriage.