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"Lady, I urge you to reconsider," Father Beocca sighed heavily, standing a safe distance away as I threw dried food and clothes into a thin blanket.
"I will not," I did not look back at him, slipping my mortar and pestle into my satchel.
Uhtred blocked my path back to the blanket, his hands settling on my shoulders, "Gyda, you have to know this is not the clever thing to do. Leaving Coccham is dangerous for you. Where will you go?"
The door to the small house Saga and I had been inhabiting slammed open, and the redhead barged in, dropping a basket on the floor.
I brushed Uhtred's hands off me, stepping around him, "Foxglove?"
"Monkshood," Saga corrected me, "the forests here do not give us much to choose from."
I nodded curtly, "Monkshood will work just as well, pack it up."
"What is Monkshood?" Osferth whispered quietly to Finan and Sihtric.
"It's a poisonous flower," Sihtric muttered, his eyes darting between Saga and I.
"Gyda," Uhtred tried again, "where will you go? Winter has barely ended. It is still too cold to live in the forest."
"Do not concern yourself with her," Saga snapped, glaring up at him, "we will look after each other."
"I am sure that plan will work out grandly when hungry bears find you in the middle of the night," Finan muttered bemusedly, leaning back on against the wall.
I huffed softly, facing Uhtred, "We will find an inn for the nights."
"But where will you go?" Uhtred pushed, "Do you have a plan?"
"The plan is to get out of here," Saga snapped, bundling up the blanket with all our things in it and tying it up.
"Will you go to your brother?" Sihtric's quiet question made me tense, "You spoke of war with him..."
"Mind your own—"
"Yes," I cut off Saga, turning around to face Sihtric, "I intend to kill my brother. I intend to take back what belongs to me."
"You have no army," Uhtred blurted, disbelief crossing his face, "you have no support."
I swallowed, glancing at him before meeting Sihtric's eyes again, "Henrick rode out to find people. He is older, and he has fought with many. He knows where to look for good warriors."
"How long have you been planning this?" Finan frowned, "This is serious business."
"But it is not your business," Saga quipped, throwing each man in the room a warning stare. "What we do and where we go is not your concern."
"You are on my land," Uhtred reminded her calmly, "I have a right to answers."
"So you can pass them along to your Saxon king?" Saga sneered at him, "So he can find us and kill us?"
"The king will not kill you," Beocca sighed again, "if you are leaving Wessex as you say you are, he will not follow."
Saga sniffed, tightening her armour hastily, her armbands catching candle light, "Finally... some good news."
"Gyda," Uhtred summoned my attention again, "tell me of your plans, I can help you."
I turned to him, eyeing his wearily, "I do not want your help."
"But you will need it," Uhtred combatted easily, "I am a warrior. I know battle."
I wanted to trust him because I was limited in my friends right now, and I wanted to change that. Uhtred had been good to us for the most parts, but his alliances to Edward made him dangerous to us.
"Lady," Beocca drew my attention to him as he covered his cross with his hand, "accepting aid when you need it is always the right thing to do. Uhtred is a good man. He can be a bastard, but he is a good man. I swear it on my God."
His heart did not falter, and no lies crossed his lips.
"I have commanded Brynjar's men for five years," Saga stated, her voice cool, "I know how to lead, and I know how to battle."
"But do you know how to pass between Wessex and Mercia undetected?" Finan challenged her easily, "Do you know how to avoid the eyes and ears of Edward's spies?"
Saga shrugged calmly, "If spies have no heads, then Edward will learn nothing."
"Is your answer to everything cutting heads off?" Finan snorted, toying with one of the many wooden figurines that littered the small house.
"If the method is effective, I don't see the need to change it," Saga concluded plainly, turning to me then. "What do you want to do?"
I look up to the ceiling, a small huff escaping me, "I want people to stop asking me that."
Saga's lips twitched, "Being a Jarl means needing to make decisions."
I rolled my eyes, turning back to my packing, "I am a Jarl with no land, no men, and no luck."
Saga made a strange noise in the back of her throat, "Land can be stolen, men can be convinced and luck can turn."
I raised a talisman off the table, round and smooth, time having worn down the runes that had once decorated it so proudly. My father had worn it into battle against the Welsh, the night my mother was killed. She'd carved it for him out of the bone of a horse.
"Lady," Uhtred came to the table I was standing at, "I do not like being in debt to people. Allow me to pay my dues. Let me help you get your land back."
His heart jumped strangely, and I paused, lowering the talisman and turning to him, "What are you not telling me?"
Uhtred frowned, "I have told you everything—" His heart jumped again, and I raised my hand to stop him, walking around him and heading for his men.
Finan whistled under his breath, staring at the wooden duck in his hand with a newfound ferocity.
Osferth took up praying, looking up at the ceiling and talking to it.
Sihtric stared at them in bemusement before he met my gaze, smiling softly, "Lady."
My own lips twitched, and I shook my head slowly, "I have told you to use my name, Sihtric."
"I am forgetful," he pushed off the wall, his hands clasping behind his back.
"Well, let us hope you have not forgotten your Lord's ambitions," I snorted softly, glancing back at Uhtred before looking to Sihtric again. "What is it your Lord seeks to gain from helping me take back my lands?"
"His home, Lady," Sihtric replied without missing a beat.
Finan groaned under his breath, "He didn't even try..."
I raised my brow, taking a step closer to Sihtric so his heartbeat was the clearest in the room to me, "His home?"
Sihtric looked down, his eyes lighting up from the hue of candle lights, "He lost it when he was a boy, Lady. Bebbanburg."
I tilted my head to the side, wracking my brain for answers, "That name is familiar to me. Is Bebbanburg not in Northumbria?"
Uhtred cleared his throat, taking a step towards me, "It is, Lady. My uncle stole the lands from me when I was a child."
"So all these talks of repaying a debt were just a distraction from your true ambition?" I challenged, resting my hand on my hip, turning my back to Sihtric.
"No!" Uhtred shook his head quickly. His heart did not falter. "I am in debted to you, and I will be for as long as I am alive... but if you were to rule Dunholm, it would benefit me."
For the first time since we arrived back from the battle in Beamfleot, I felt myself relax. The whole truth had been presented to me, and trust returned to the room, bit by bit.
"Why did you not tell me sooner?" I asked, but before Uhtred could answer, I looked back to Sihtric, "You tell me."
Sihtric nodded slightly, "Lord Uhtred could not find the time. Between being watched by Skade and being watched by Edward, he did not have a chance to discuss matters with you."
Of course, it was the damned kingling's fault.
I hummed in response, turning around again, this time looking to Saga, "What do you know of Bebbanburg?"
Saga straightened her back, "They have high walls that are unbreachable. They are by the sea so you can only approach from one side. If you wish to take it, you must be let in or draw the men out."
"You have been there?" Uhtred frowned, looking at her.
"Twice," Saga revealed, "once with my father and once to collect a payment owed to Brynjar."
"You know your way around it then," I took a step towards her, "with our men, could we take it?"
Saga tilted her head, her nose wrinkling as she thought.
"I will find my own men too," Uhtred rushed to assure me, "if you were to help me, it would not be only your men."
I nodded non-committally, waiting for Saga to stop mumbling under her breath.
Eventually, she met my eyes again, something sinister burning behind them, "We could take it."
My lips twitched up at one side, and I fixed my gaze on Uhtred again, "So, you want to help me?"
A smile grew on Uhtred's face as well, "I do. I want to repay my debts."
I nodded curtly, starting to turn in circles between the people in the room, "We do not have much of a plan yet. Henrick, as I already said, has gone to find warriors—"
"How many?" Finan asked, pushing off the wall, "Numbers are important."
"Two hundred," Saga answered for me, "at least, that is his goal."
Uhtred nodded thoughtfully, "Two hundred is a good number."
"It is," I agreed, "Dunholm only has two hundred men and their families. Some will not fight, too, if they love my father more than they fear Daga."
"So, we can say it will be about a hundred and fifty men fighting for Daga then?" Uhtred asked carefully.
I shrugged, "Roughly, unless Daga finds more."
"He will not," Saga scoffed from behind me, "he is as charismatic as a fish. No clever man would willingly join him."
"How would you take it?" Osferth wondered, "You know your camp well, so surely you know where it is best to fight."
I nodded slowly, "I know that my father would always take his men to River Wear whenever we were defending from an attack."
"The river will work against us," Saga stepped beside me, "we will be caught in the mud, and we will be easy to kill."
"And we would not be able to form a shield wall," Uhtred added on, "the winter will have expanded the river. We need dry land."
"With two hundred men," Saga began, "we need high ground."
"You know a place?" Uhtred pushed as his men joined his side, all of us huddling together.
"Letham hill," Saga muttered, "I saw my father fight there once. They took the hill, and even with lesser numbers, they won the battle."
I knew the place she spoke of; my father had it pinpointed on a map he always had hung up in his tent.
"Hills are always useful in battle," Finan spoke gruffly, "we could send a hundred to the top and fifty to the sides."
"I do not want to kill them," I mumbled quietly, "these are my father's men, not Daga's. It would be best if we could separate Daga from the men."
"That will be difficult," Sihtric sighed, "he will make an effort to be surrounded by them if he knows you are aiming to kill him."
"I will draw him out," Saga muttered bitterly, her face determined.
"How?" Finan raised his brow.
"I will find a way," Saga stared at him blankly, "Brynjar's men fear me. They will make a path for me."
"You are relying on their loyalties?" Uhtred did not sound too certain.
"I am relying on my men," Saga quipped, glancing back at me, "I am relying on Gyda's men."
"So..." Osferth sniffed, blinking owlishly, "we have a plan?"
I confirmed with Saga that she was on board through her eyes before I turned back to Uhtred, holding out my hand slowly. "You help me take back Dunholm, and I will help you take back Bebbanburg."
Uhtred took my hand, shaking it firmly. "Agreed."
Beocca coughed, making himself known, "Edward will not like this when he learns of it."
"Edward does not need to learn anything," Uhtred smiled slyly, retracting his hand as I did.
"I think we are starting to understand each other, Lord Uhtred," I reached up for my Thor's hammer.
Beocca groaned, "God help us."
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