I'll probably never get the props
I feel I ever deserve
But I'll never be served,
my spot is forever reserved
If I ever leave Earth,
that would be the death of me first
'Cause in my heart of hearts
I know nothing could ever be worse
Jaehaera sat back against Sihtric as he now stood behind her. They were getting closer to Bebbanburg by the day, and their boat continuously was getting rocked from side to side by waves. She saw her father carefully cut the back of his wrist with his knife to offer blood to the goddess Ran. Uhtred turned to see his son looking at him in confusion and disappointment. "Ran can be a vixen," her father told her brother. "This should settle her."
"Ran is pagan lies," young Uhtred answered. Jaehaera closed her eyes. She didn't think she could handle more of their arguing for another moment. "I pity you for believing it."
"Do you pity me too baby brother?" Jaehaera asked, glaring as she leaned forward toward the boy. He turned and looked at his sister, knowing he had offended her as well even if he didn't mean to. "Finan, give him something to do so I no longer have to hear him."
Her father looked at Finan and nodded in agreement. "Hey!" the Irishman called to her brother. "You can empty this," he informed while handing him the bucket they used to relieve themselves. The men around smirked and laughed at the boy and his misfortune, but Jaehaera stayed silent as she leaned back against Sihtric once more. He gently placed his free hand on her shoulder and rubbed it lightly. She closed her eyes once more at the breeze hitting her skin.
"Tell me the truth," young Uhtred told their father with an angry expression on his face. Jaehaera sighed. "Am I the bait?"
"For what?" their father asked him.
"In the plan, you are hiding from me," young Uhtred clarified. "Am I the bait?"
"Nothing is hidden from you," Uhtred answered his son. "We are tracking monks who have entry to Bebbanburg. You will befriend them, enter Bebbanburg, and open the sea gate to us."
"I think you have another reason for dragging me into your revenge," young Uhtred informed the other Uhtred. Jaehaera sighed once more and shook her head, but she didn't say anything.
"Yes," her father agreed. "So you may win honor and reputation."
"The only reputation that matters is my standing with God," the boy replied.
"You cannot force a boy to be a warrior," Finan told Uhtred from next to her father at the bow of the ship.
"My blood runs within his veins," Uhtred answered the Irishman. "Why can he not see that?"
"Because your blood is that of a stubborn bastard," Finan answered. "Look at your eldest daughter. And for some reason, you are confused at his stubbornness?" Jaehaera sat silently as her younger brother began to pray. She did not know for who, maybe it was just to make their father upset. She didn't know.
"Who do you pray for, boy?" Uhtred asked his son sharply. "Hm?" he asked again when young Uhtred did not answer as he stood up to walk to his son.
"The men you will slaughter," young Uhtred answered. Jaehaera shook her head against Sihtric, but still sat silently. This was between her brother and father, they would have to figure it out on their own. Jaehaera kept her eyes closed in an effect to calm down the frustration building within her. "You seem to take things when you want them. When you do, show mercy."
"To my uncle Aelfric," her father began, "who spent a lifetime wishing me dead?"
"There is a power in forgiveness," young Uhtred informed Uhtred.
"Good," Jaehaera answered, growing more annoyed by the second. "Then you may use it to forgive father. Now, if you two don't mind, if you can't find a way to speak to each other without offense, simply don't say anything at all. And if you do, don't be surprised when I throw you both overboard."
"Jaehaera, we are simply having a conversation," Uhtred looked at his son, "right? No one means to offend the other."
Young Uhtred paused, "right," he agreed with hesitation.
*********************************************************************
Their boat reached Grimesby, a town covered in fog and rain. Tall trees covered the town creating a constant eerie and haunted look. Jaehaera couldn't help but enjoy the look of it. They all stepped from the boat and onto the dock. Rickon and Sihtric help Jaehaera, young Uhtred, and Beocca get out. Jaehaera smiled thankfully at her love as he extended his hand to her. Together they all walked through the village. Finan turned around to face Uhtred as he walked. "So, where do we start?" he asked.
"Where do you look for monks in a place like this?" her father also asked.
"St. Colman's?" young Uhtred answered them, and Jaehaera looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Now he's choosing to be helpful? She thought.
"The whorehouse!" Finan answered as well. All the men around laughed, and Jaehaera watched as her brother stopped walking. She sighed once more and stopped Sihtric from walking away with the others.
"That's it," young Uhtred spoke in frustration. "I'm staying on the boat."
"Don't be ridiculous, Uhtred," Jaehaera answered him with equal, if not more, frustration. "It's not safe for you to be alone this deep within Danelaw. Come."
"Then I will pray for salvation," her brother answered. Jaehaera huffed and opened her mouth to reply but Beocca's voice sounded.
"I will stay with him, keep us both safe," the priest answered. He placed a hand on Jaehaera's shoulder, and her father's as well as he passed them. "They do not love a priest in Grimesby."
"Thank you, Father," Uhtred answered the priest while they watched the two walk back to the boat. "To the whorehouse then."
They opened the door of the whorehouse, and Jaehaera wanted to follow her brother back to the boat the second she walked through the door. Maybe he had a point, she thought. Sihtric pulled her closer to him as she walked between him and Rickon. She had been used to being the only woman in many rooms like this, but it still bugged her when gazes lingered for too long. Sihtric scowled dangerously at a group of men as they walked. "Grimesby seems like a lovely place," Jaehaera mumbled as they walked through the building.
"I hear the oysters are delicious," Rickon added with a smirk.
"Hmm," Finan voiced through a chuckle like the others. The inn fell silent as everyone inside found their group. "Sihtric, don't make eye contact." but it was too late, he was already intimidating two men who undressed Jaehaera with their eyes. They quickly looked away from her and the two men with her and at their cups.
"What is your business here?" a man stepped forward to ask. He as well sized Jaehaera up, but quickly discovered his mistake when she scared him how she scared every other man before him.
"We're traders," her father answered. "We're taking pelts to Frankia."
"Really?" the man asked.
"Hmm," her father answered once more.
The man looked at them all. "Well, you keep trouble out of my alehouse, agreed?" the man told them.
"Hey, we're just hungry for some food," Finan told the man. "Nothing more."
"And you have women?" her father asked. "He needs a woman," he gestured to Osferth and they all smirked.
"We're not that sort of alehouse," the man informed her father.
"Finan," Uhtred began. The Irishman held up a few pieces of silver for the man but pulled them away quickly when the man reached for them.
"Hey, why do I always have to pretend to be the virgin?" Osferth asked her father as they all walked after Uhtred and Finan. Jaehaera chuckled as Sihtric wrapped his arm around Jaehaera's shoulders as they walked to keep her close to him.
"Because no one would believe any one of us except for you would be the virgin," Uhtred answered simply. They quickly found a few priests being whipped by the women they were humping. Well, by the woman humping them.
Osferth looked at a pair in slight amazement and concern. "I'm a virgin in that, Lord," he informed Uhtred.
"I'm sure you are, Osferth," Uhtred agreed. "We found our monks." Uhtred pulled Osferth by the back of his armor to leave the place.
*********************************************************************
It was now nightfall and Sihtric, Rickon, and Jaehaera waited for Uhtred, Finan, and Osferth to return with the monks that they had found. They found the three and Beocca and young Uhtred walking towards each other and the three joined them. "Uhtred," Uhtred called to his son. He gestured to the two monks Jaehaera and the other two had just seen pass by them. "See these two monks? They're the ones we've been searching for," young Uhtred looked to where their father had pointed. "They're leaving for Bebbanburg. Follow them. It's our strongest chance of getting into the fortress."
Young Uhtred looked back at the two monks again, and then at his father. "I can't simply follow-"
"If there were, I would not ask," Uhtred interrupted his son. "My men have been there recently. They would be recognized."
"So, I am the sacrificial lamb-"
"You are our greatest hope," Jaehaera interrupted before her father could. "Can you not see that? Do not do this for father," she walked to her brother and stood in front of him. "Do it for our descendants. Whatever he takes will one day be yours."
Uhtred looked at his sister. "I'm not the warrior you both seem to mistake me for," he told her. "Why do you both have this faith in me?"
She placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "Because you won't need to be a warrior," she told him. "You won't have to use violence to get in because you share a common faith with the monks. You will do this in the best way you know how."
Uhtred looked at his son. "And because I know the spirit of our family is within you," he told him. "That will give you a strength that you do not know yet."
Young Uhtred looked between his sister and father. "I will try to do as you need," he told them, "but I will not kill a man."
"That is all I want," Uhtred told his son while patting his arm.
"Three pieces of silver says he runs home," Finan whispered to Osferth, and the two shook hands. Jaehaera took her brother's hand and lead him to a horse with her father.
"Take this horse," Uhtred told his son. "Ride north, close to the shore."
"Uhtred," Beocca called, worry laced in his voice. Jaehaera helped her brother get on the taller horse.
"Leave now, so you can be ahead of the monks," she told him once he was safely on. "Find them. Join them." she walked him away with her father. "I would not send you to be slaughtered, neither would father, remember that." Young Uhtred believed her, mainly that she would never send him willingly into harm's way. He nodded.
"Lord!" Finan called as men closed in on them. Jaehaera looked up and her eyes widened a bit.
"When I see your signal, I will approach the sea gate," Uhtred told his son. Jaehaera placed her hand on top of his before they sent him off. Beocca came to stand with them as they watched him leave.
"He will be looked after," Beocca told them when he saw Jaehaera's worried expression. "He's blessed, as are the two of you."
"Alright, come on," Finan spoke from behind the three of them. They turned to see men beginning to follow Osferth, Finan, Rickon, and Sihtric as the four walked toward them. Quickly they all went back to the boats before anything could get violent.
*********************************************************************
"The chariots were ready," Jaehaera began with Sihtric leaning back against her chest with her arms wrapped around him. He played with her fingers as she spoke. Their groups all sat in the boat still, listening to their skald with respect. "And the mighty steeds were bursting at their harness to tend to the prestigious task of setting night and day in place. But who would guide them?" she looked around at the people around her. "The horses would need the leadership of some kind, and so it was decided that the beautiful children of the giant Mundilfari. Mani, the moon, and Sol, the sun would be given the direction of the steeds. And at once they were launched into the heavens."
Beocca and Osferth listened with soft smiles. Even though their faiths were very different the two Christians enjoyed her stories and retellings of the myths she believed. "Nott, or night, who was the daughter of one of the giants, Norvi, was provided with a rich black chariot which was drawn by a lustrous stallion called Hrim-faxi or frost mane. From his mane, the frost and dew were sent down to the earth in glimmering baubles. Nott was a goddess, and she had produced three children, each with a different father." Finan and Rickon shared a smirk with Osferth who just smiled softly and shook his head at the two. "From Naglfari, she had a son named Audi; Annar, her second husband, gave her Jord, or earth, and with her third husband, the god Dellinger, a son was born and he was called Dag, or day," She told them with a smile as she looked across the water around them.
"Dag was the most radiant of her children," Jaehaera told them, "and his beauty caused all who saw him bend down in tears of rapture. He was given his own great chariot, drawn by a perfect white horse called Skin-faxi, or shining mane. As they traveled, wondrous beams of light shot out in every direction, brightening every dark corner of the world and providing much happiness to all."
Sihtric rested his head back against her shoulder and smiled up at her. Hearing her speak soothed him in a way no one would ever understand, not even himself. She could tell him about the most mundane thing, and he would be entranced by her. "Many believed that the chariots flew so quickly, and continued their journey round and round the world because they were pursued by wolves: Skoll, repulsion, and Hati, hatred. These evil, villainous wolves sought a way to create eternal darkness, and like the perpetual battle of good and evil, there could and would be no end to their chase."
Finan swore he saw that in the light of the stars, he saw the chariots she spoke of and the wolves. "Mani brought along in his chariot, Hiuki," she continued, "the waxing moon, and Bil, the waning moon. And so it was that Sun, Moon, Day, and Night were in place, with Evening, Midnight, Morning, Forenoon, Noon, and Afternoon sent to accompany them. Summer and Winter were rulers of all seasons. Summer was a popular, and warm god, a descendant of Svasud. Winter, was an enemy for he held all that contrasted with Summer, including the icy winds which blew cold and unhappiness over the earth. It is believed that the great frost giant Hraesvelgr sat on the extreme north of the heavens and that he sent the frozen winds across the land, blighting all with their blasts of icy death."
"Jaehaera you have a way of telling stories that would make even the most devout servant of our Lord believe in Odin and the others gods you speak of," Beocca complimented.
"I have the gift, I really do," Jaehaera answered with a smirk like her uncle had the time Uhtred called her uncle a skald and not a warrior. They were the same. "I had a great teacher," she smiled softly at the returning thought of her uncle, and thus Thyra as well. Uhtred leaned over and kissed his daughter's cheek gently, which made her keep her smile. "We should sleep, let Mani and Sol rain down their gifts to us."
And at that, they did. Sihtric and Jaehaera remained entangled with each other. The two faced one another in their arms. Jaehaera traced the scar across his cheek lightly. "I like the way you tell our beliefs," Sihtric told her. "You make them less harsh as one could make them. You enchant them with wonder."
Jaehaera smiled, "that's my father and uncle's doing," she answered him. "I am just retelling it how I see and understand it. The gods are full of wonder and mystery, it would be a shame to resort them only to harshness and vengeance. They care for us, and the way we tell others about them should reflect each side of them. Leave the stories that are filled with life and light that way, and keep the harsher stories the same. Even in the harsh stories, there is a lesson there of how we are to revere them."
Sihtric smiled at his love, "your mind is a sight to behold, you speak so well it amazes me how you fell for me."
Jaehaera smiled, "you are brilliant in your own way the same as me," she answered him. "If our children are one day half the person you are, that is more than anything I could ever dream and ask the gods for."
"So long as we don't name them Mani, or Sol," he told her with a smile as he rested his head on hers. "I don't want our children chased by wolves as we are."
Jaehaera kept her head on her lover's while she shook it. "Never," she answered him.
*********************************************************************
Beocca stood with Uhtred at the bow of the boat as they got closer to Bebbanburg. "As magnificent as ever it was," Beocca commented to Uhtred as they saw their home on the horizon.
"Indeed..." her father agreed. "If it is real, and not a dream." Jaehaera looked around Sihtric's head at where her father and Beocca were looking. She had to strain her eyes to see it.
"It is real enough," Beocca replied.
Uhtred turned to look at his men. "We need to get no closer at this point," he told them.
Jaehaera raised an eyebrow at her father, and so did Rickon.
"Lord!" Finan spoke as he stood up. "Drop the sail!" Finan commanded. "Row inland and keep under the shadow of the cliff." The men moved at once to do as the Irishman commanded them. "How long do we wait for your son to send a sign?" Finan asked.
"Until it comes," Uhtred answered. Finan nodded. "It is all the will of the gods now." They sailed closer to land far enough away from the fortress where they would not be seen, but close enough for them to see the fortress. Finan and the others dropped the anchor and he climbed a short cliff.
"Hard to tell!" He shouted at her father. "Maybe forty helmets!"
"Then he has put all his men on the ramparts to make it look like he has more," Uhtred explained to them. Finan climbed down and came back to them.
"He was always a cunning one," Beocca commented.
"Still two against one," Osferth commented as well.
"We're twice as good," Sihtric smirked at Jaehaera and then winked at her. She winked back and shook her head before looking away at her father.
"Yeah, keep saying it," Osferth teased, "it becomes true."
Uhtred offered Finan a hand and helped him back into the boat. "We don't need to slaughter 'em all," he told them once inside once more. "Just hold 'em off." Her father turned to walk to sit down, but Finan stopped him. "Lord, the real fight will be you against Aelfric."
Uhtred nodded in agreement. "Tell me Beocca," her father began while looking at the priest once more. "Is it the right time? I'm not leading men to defeat?"
Beocca shook his head, "you are not leading men to defeat," he reassured Uhtred. "The fight will be furious. Men will fall. But I would not encourage you if I thought you would lose. Feel the air here, Uhtred. Feel its cold breath. This is the air that you and I were born to breathe. That Jaehaera and your other children were born to breathe. We're meant to be here."
"Let us see if my blood runs thick..." Her father trailed off. "If the signal comes." Uhtred turned to face Bebbanburg and watch for her brother's sign.
It was nightfall when her father went to join Finan on the cliff. "Has he given the signal?" he asked his friend.
"Lord," Finan answered, "nothing." The two looked off in the distance at Bebbanburg now lit by torches. It looked beautiful to Jaehaera. She always thought that cities and fortresses looked beautiful lit up at night. Like beacons for their warriors to guide them back home. Then they saw a flash. Like a torch falling from the ramparts. Jaehaera blinked and sat up. Sihtric and Rickon looked at her.
"Did you see that?" she asked them.
"What?"Rickon answered for him and Sihtric. They turned their heads to look where she was looking.
She saw it once more. "There, it happened again," she pointed in the direction. "It's the signal," she told them with a proud smile for her baby brother. Uhtred whistled, he must have seen it too with Finan.
"Move your arses," the Irishman commanded as he and Uhtred climbed down to join them in the boat once more.
"Follow us along the rocks," Uhtred told them. Rickon, Sihtric, Beocca, and Osferth all took Uhtred's hand as he helped them out. "The rest of you stay here until I call for the ship". Waves crashed below them as they climbed. Jaehaera had a death grip on the rocks. She didn't think she would be afraid as she had stood on many ramparts before, but this created a new fear inside her. Beocca groaned as he followed after her father. They saw the guards at the sea gate and jaehaera thought for a moment, wouldn't it be simpler for her to just drop now? "Which one do you want?" her father asked her, pulling her from her thoughts.
She strained to look around him and at the guards. She found the one sitting down at the edge with his feet in the water. "That one," she told her father as she pointed to the guard with a smile to hide the fear she had against the rocks.
"All yours," he told her. The group made it to the stairs leading to the sea gate and hid behind a few more rocks. Now that they were on solid ground, Jaehaera felt no fear once more. Finan and herself connected the hilts of their swords and Sihtric rested his forehead on hers before Uhtred and Finan led them to the guards, both yelling to get the guard's attention.
"Halt!" the guards stupidly yelled at them like it would stop them. Jaehaera ran after Finan and her father and slashed into the guard she had chosen. The three of them took out the guards so easily she almost felt sorry for them. It took little to no effort for them. She kicked her guard into the water as he had fallen and now she stood and watched his body drift away from them. Finan signaled for the others to join them from behind her. She joined her father at the gate leading inside the fortress and felt a pit inside her stomach. Where are you? She thought as she watched for her little brother.
"Keep this way," Finan whispered to the others. "Backs against the wall."
"Are you there?" her father spoke quietly, cupping his hand around his mouth to create an echo into the entrance in front of them.
Jaehaera shook her head at her father. "What do we do?" she asked him quietly.
"Do we lift the gate?" Finan asked. "It's worth a try." he looked at the others. "Come on, lift it." the others joined Uhtred and Finan at the gate to lift it. "On my count. One, two, three!" the men began to lift, but it wouldn't budge. "Come on! Put your back into it!"
"Finan, stop," her father told them. "It's too heavy."
"Make a lever to lift it," she told them. "It's simpler that way." And that's what they began to do. They all gathered the materials and her father called for the ores. Finan held two ores together while Sihtric tied them together with a rope he had found. Together the men used their weight on the levers they had created to lift the gate. Jaehaera watched to see when she could slip underneath.
"Can you get under it, Jae?" Finan yelled at her. Jaehaera looked again at the spot and there was now enough space. She took off her weapons that would snag on the open space of the gate.
Jaehaera lay on the ground in front of the gate as they continued to lift, "a little more," she told them. The wood creaked above her as she began to move as quickly as she could. She had just pulled her legs underneath and stood up when the ores cracked and the gate crashed down, barely missing her foot. "Jesus, Finan, watch it," she hissed at him with a teasing smirk.
Finan looked flatly at the girl but smirked slightly back at her as all the men panted from exhaustion. Jaehaera sighed and looked at the rope to lift the gate once more. She wrapped both her hands around it and used her weight to lift it as Sihtric and the others encouraged her. She lifted it up with enough room for her father to slide under and come help her. With his help, they lifted it up for everyone to enter.
Once everyone was inside and they had placed the boulder on the ground to keep it open, a bell sounded around them, and they froze. "Is it a trap?" her father wondered, looking at Finan.
"Is it a trap we can fight our way out of?" the Irishman asked in return. They quickly ran up the stairs after Finan and her father, now all his men with him. They all drew their weapons when her father did as they followed. They began to hear voices in front of them. A guard came towards them and Finan killed him quickly. More guards followed and Jaehaera stabbed her sword through the stomach of the man and kicked him down the stairs behind her.
Osferth moved out of the way in time and looked at her with disapproval. Jaehaera smirked and shrugged and after a second so did Osferth. Her father's band made quick work of the guards, and he whistled at them once more. "We move on," he told them. They followed Uhtred once more.
As they got closer to the main part of the fortress, they heard a voice say, "I am Uhtred of Bebbanburg," the voice belong to her brother and she smirked. They hid in the shadows as the sounds of a struggle got their attention. She followed her father's gaze to a man that had to be her great uncle with the way her father looked at the man. He looked at him with utter disdain.
She watched her brother get on top of the man he fought with, and her father walked forward, sword drawn, and he didn't stop til he had his uncle in hand. "Guards-" Aelfric began to call.
"Silence!" Her father interrupted. The crowd around parted and she and the others followed her father. "Only I shall speak." young Uhtred looked up with slight relief at her and his father.
"Get back!" Finan shouted at the people around.
Uhtred looked at his son, and nodded, "well done," and he nodded at him to go stand with Jaehaera, which young Uhtred happily did. She smiled at him which he returned. Jaehaera pushed over the man her brother fought with when he stood up to follow her brother. The look she shot the man kept him on the ground as he moved away from her. "Do you know who I am?" her father shouted around the crowd while he had Aelfric on his knees, sword at his throat. "Hm? Do you know who I am? I am the true Lord of Bebbanburg! And I am taking it back! I have no fight with you," he told the soldiers around. "Only this man is doomed." He pulled the man's head back roughly. "Are you happy to see me, Uncle? Huh?" Jaehaera smirked as she readied her sword and axe. "I have waited a lifetime to avenge myself. I will enjoy taking my time with you! Mm? No one else will suffer, if you swear loyalty." young Uhtred and Jaehaera looked around. Beocca nodded at them. "None of you are my enemies. You are men of Bebbanburg! And, as Lord of Bebbanburg, I will provide for and protect you!"
Something about the scene around her made a pit form in Jaehaera's stomach, something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "And this cruel shit, who has hated you and mistreated you, will die." Sihtric took notice of her wary face and tilted his head at her. She shook it, she couldn't explain why she felt this way, but now that they were inside, she wanted them to leave. Something inside her told her this wouldn't end well, that it wouldn't end the way they hoped. "I've come home! Swear to me, and you will have my oath." No men moved which she thought strange. If a man with no heir was on his knees in front of her, and the man in front of her with a sword to her lord's throat claimed to be the rightful lord...she would swear to him. She squinted at the men around trying to put the pieces together. She would swear unless....Jaehaera's eyes widened slightly, and she looked at Sihtric. Unless he did have an heir. "Aidan," Her father greeted a priest like Beocca but did not have the warrior aura around him as Beocca did. This man looked like a coward to Jaehaera. "Do you remember me? Who has your allegiance?" her father asked.
The priest Aidan looked around. "I am loyal to the true heir of Bebbanburg," he answered. Jaehaera wanted to scream. She hated when she was right. If he believed her father to be who he said, he would have come out and said it in specifics, not vaguely like he had done. Sihtric saw Jaehaera change, and he knew they should leave at once, but it was too late.
"Good," her father answered. Jaehaera lightly shook her head. He didn't understand. Jaehaera wanted nothing more than to take her family back to the boat and escape while they still could.
"Bear witness all," Aidan told the crowd and began to turn to the side and point above them, "the true heir of Bebbanburg!" they all followed where the priest had pointed.
"Who are you boy?" her father asked the man her age above them, pointing a crossbow at her father. She glared up at her cousin.
"Whitgar, son of Aelfric," he answered Uhtred arrogantly. "Very much alive and back at Bebbanburg as flesh and blood. And I could kill you with this arrow in a heartbeat." Jaehaera rolled her eyes.
"You can try," Her father spoke her thoughts out loud like always. "The arrow would miss."
"Then you know nothing of the weapons of the desert," Whitgar told him. Whitgar, what a stupid name Jaehaera thought why did all saxons name their children stupid names? Her children would not get stupid names. On thor's hammer, they would not.
"Put down the bow," her father told his cousin. Whitgar didn't move. "Put down the bow!" Her father repeated.
"You have lost everything, Osbert!" Aelfric told her father. Thunder sounded above them. Thor's angry, but at who? She thought.
"I won't tell you again," her father told Whitgar, "put down the bow!" Whitgar did not. Instead, he shot the arrow through his father's eye. Others around them exclaimed and stepped back. Jaehaera kept her gaze on the man and narrowed her eyes at him. Uhtred let him fall. She took her brother by his collar and moved him behind herself, Finan, and Sihtric as the warriors around prepared to fight.
"A son does not always love a father," Whitgar spoke from his place above them. "Learn from that, fool. Now, who's with me?!" Soldiers around cheered. "Who is with Whitgar of Bebbanburg!" Jaehaera's eyes stayed on the men in front of her.
"Get ready," Finan told them. At the same time, Jaehaera and her father flipped their swords and readied them once more. "Get ready to fight!"