Another two weeks passed, there was still no word from her scouts and no sign of Sihtric returning to her anytime soon. Since she awoke that morning, she felt the pains of labour but was too scared to tell anyone. It was only when Astrid discovered her mothers waters had broken that it all seemed real. Loyal men and woman guarded the home while Sigyn prepared to bring another child into the world. She hoped and prayed to the Gods for a healthy babe. She had even sacrificed a goat to Thor in the hopes to appease the Gods.
"Something isn't right." Sigyn spoke breathlessly, her body already covered in a light sweat. Astrid and a few other women were trying to help her bring the babe into the world. But something was wrong. Sigyn was fading in and out of her visions, something that hadn't happened in years and when glimpses of her haunting dreams were revealed she knew she had been ignoring the warning signs for weeks. She could have prevented all of this.
With each painful push or scream she saw her beloved home being raided and burned. The body of the Queen discovered, and a war declared. The clashing of steel overpowered her screams of pain, her heart breaking as she watched Osferth fight. She was screaming for help, for Finan or Gunnar to come to his aid but she was ignored. She wasn't really there. When the blade pushed into his flesh she felt the pain in her own body rise and she screamed, forced to watch as one of her closest friends died in Finan and Gunnar's arms. As the last breath left Osferth, the cries of her child echoed around the room and her visions ended. She knew already what was going to happen next.
"My Lady, it's a healthy boy." The babe was swaddled in a blanket and as soon as Sigyn looked down at the child her heart broke. All she saw in his face was Osferth. Like the baby monk had been reborn in her and Sihtric's child.
"Mother, he's beautiful. You did great." Astrid spoke softly while she mopped the sweat from Sigyn's brow. She had no idea about what Sigyn had just witnessed, or the horrors she had just had to see.
"Osferth. He will be called Osferth." Sigyn spoke weakly, her gaze finally falling onto her daughter. Her kind and beautiful daughter who had always been the best attributes of Sigyn. "Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about your Aunt Skade?" There was a small nod, but Sigyn waited for the room to empty before she continued. "I cannot control it, but I sometimes see things. Things that have happened or will happen. I'm so sorry child. Osferth has died. The war between Danes and Saxons has started. Rumcofa burned and everyone slain."
There was a stunned silence, Astrid lost for words at the admission and the explanation or what her mother had witnessed. The horrors she had experienced while bringing a child into it all.
"Gunnar?" Was all Astrid could say, her older brother was her rock. The pair were inseparable.
"He is fine. So is Finan and his wife. They will go to Uhtred and your father." Sigyn nodded quickly, knowing that eventually Sihtric would come for them. But they weren't safe. There were snakes already in their walls. "Go and tell the men and women to not leave their posts. I will rest for a day and then I will eliminate the pests already in our home." The Saxon men would die. "You will need your bow again."
Sleep didn't come easily, visions plagued Sigyn every single time she closed her eyes. The babe was awake at every hour and would refuse his mother's breast, so she had to accept the help of a wet nurse for the first time ever. But she continued to try, refusing to put another woman in danger by dragging her into her life. After the seventh time of fighting the babe finally latched onto her breast.
When noon arrived the following day, she finally pulled herself out from beneath the covers, she was truly exhausted though. She changed into her leather armour, the tight fabric hiding her stomach completely and it was almost like she had never been pregnant in the first place. Astrid had braided her hair for her, and they had left the babe with the wet nurse for now. They had Saxon's to kill, but then they would be leaving. Sigyn would go straight to Edward and ask him why he placed spies in her home.
"Are you sure this is how you want to do it?" Astrid questioned as she already started to climb onto the roof of a nearby home. She knew her mother wouldn't back down now.
The men were still positioned near the outskirts of the town, they only seemed to move to their feet and address her when she stood before them holding a torch in her hand.
"My lady?" One of them asked and she noticed a new member of their group. A fourth man, another man she recognized from all those years ago. He was the one who had initiated the whole thing. Claimed that is all women were good for.
"I don't appreciate Saxon men in my home. Why has Edward sent you?" She questioned, all men now on their feet and hands on the pummel of their swords. Each step they took closer to her, she stepped back. Until they were all stood beneath one of the oil lamps, they wouldn't answer so instead she held the torch up high. Before they could even question it, Astrid had fired one of the arrows and it had smashed the lamp, spilling oil all over the men and dirt before their feet. "Even this death is too kind for you all." She threw the torch onto the oil, smiling to herself as the flames kissed the dirt and soon engulfed all of the men. The smell of their flesh filling the air.
She left the men screaming as their lives were slowly taken from them. Astrid was soon back by her mothers' side but judging by the look on her face, she didn't have the stomach for this life. She would be a fighter but only when she needed to be.
"You truly want to go to Edward?" Astrid was worried for her mother; she hadn't really been thinking straight since she first saw the Saxon men. When they arrived back at their home, she watched as her mother had strapped the new babe across her chest.
"You can go and find Gunnar and your father if you wish. I need to do this first." Sigyn was always a woman possessed when she had her mind set to something. Sihtric had learned this years ago but the children were only just learning these things about their parents. Both of them stubborn and always trying to deal with issues themselves without asking or needing any help.
"I will come with you mother. Offer you some protection when you have to stop on the road to feed Osferth." Astrid declared and Sigyn was truly grateful she wouldn't have to do any of this alone. Because life without her husband was truly starting to make her realise how lonely this life as a warrior was.
They left Cent on horseback; they didn't know exactly where Edward would be from now on, but they would start off in Winchester and hope to find Edward there or on their travels. They were on the road for several days, having to stop eventually to feed and change the babe and also make sure they were well rested and fed themselves. It wasn't easy traveling so far with a new born child, but they managed. Each new day bringing some form of hope of an accidental run in with Sihtric but by night fall those hopes were extinguished every single day.
The gates to Winchester were always so daunting, several men always on guard. The streets containing more guards and armed men. The last time Sigyn was here, she was a captive. A bruised and battered prisoner. And now she felt like she was walking into the Lions den again. Many of the guards recognised her, knew who she was and who her husband was, so she was left alone until she approached the gates to the keep.
"My lady, what brings you to Winchester?" The guard was polite, but she knew if there was wrong move, he wouldn't hesitate to attempt to kill her where she stood. She was still a heathen in his eyes.
Sigyn climbed down from her horse, adjusting the sling around her body as the baby cooed against her chest. "I have come to treat with the King. Let him know the lady of Cent is here." There were a few whispers between the guards. "That name is known here?"
"The lady of Cent is already here. She is a guest of our Lord King." Sigyn thought for a moment before it became clear to her what had happened. The daughter of her second husband. She must have petitioned the King to get Cent back from Sigyn.
"Cent is mine through marriage. Let the King know I am here." Sigyn now helped Astrid down from her horse. The soldier finally leaving his post to go and inform the King of her arrival. Like she had expected they had only left her waiting a few minutes before Edward appeared. He seemed to age beyond his years, life hadn't been kind to him. "Lord King." She nodded her head; she would never bow to anyone that she didn't believe in.
"You are not with Uhtred and his men?" He asked, glancing at Astrid once before looking back over at Sigyn. He had known her for years, he had even had a childhood crush on her at one point. Before he was forced to grow up and be a King at such an early age.
"No. I returned home to Cent. To have my child in safety. But you sent Saxon men there. Why?" She asked as she tried to quiet the babbling babe against her front.
"There was a petition by the lady of Cent. She wished to have her ancestral home back." He tried to explain his lapse in judgement. "The men? I assume you have killed them?" His arms settled in front of him. He often reminded Sigyn of his father.
"I will hand over Cent to the lady. But you have to promise me something." Edward seemed to be a little confused by her words. He was expecting her to put up more of a fight. Or he would have to call for his men to diffuse the situation.
"So easily? What do you wish for?" They were now all walking the gardens, Sigyn stopping them at a bench so she could feed Osferth. Edward didn't know where to look. This wasn't normal. A woman would never do this so out in the open, or without any help.
"There will be a time, soon. Where Uhtred will come to you. He will ask for your help. You need to help him. He has given you and your father so much of his life. It is about time you repay him for everything he has done." She declared, her eyes down on her son before they finally looked over at Edward who still hadn't looked her way properly. "And if you do not keep your word, I will kill the new Lady of Cent and burn it down to the ground."
He gulped, not used to being threatened so openly. And by a woman. He thought his mother was the only one who could scare him but that was before he had laid eyes on Sigyn. Even nursing a babe, she terrified him. He knew her threats to be true. He had seen her in battle, she truly was a force to be reckoned with.
"How do you know he will ask?" No body knew of the shared powers Sigyn and Skade had except family and she wasn't about to reveal all to Edward. If he were to believe her, she could be used for this power and she would never be at a mans mercy ever again.
"It doesn't matter how, I just know. So, do you agree? My men will remain in Cent until you help Uhtred. Then I will give you Cent. Without a fight. Without any bloodshed. You have my word." Edward thought about her proposition again before he nodded his head, seemingly agreeing to her terms and conditions.
If she had known then that if she had stayed in Winchester she would have seen Uhtred but of course she was determined to leave and find her husband. The next stop would be Eoferwic. Brida had been defeated but they were trying to build another peace treaty between Dane and Saxon, but someone still seemed determined to ruin it all.
Astrid and Sigyn left within the next hour. They were heading onto Eoferwic but ever since this morning, Sigyn had noticed the babe had a high temperature. A small cough too. The traveling was too much for such a new child.
"Mother. We should stop. Just for a few days. Until Osferth is well again." Sigyn sighed at the statement but nodded her head. She would not lose another child. The closest town was Coccham after several hours on horseback and thanks to Uhtred owning these lands she felt safe enough to stop there and wait for the babe to feel better.