The three of them washed up on the shore. Ivar was the first to open his eyes. Kai shot up and took a deep breath as she started coughing.
"Are you alright?" Ivar asked as he looked at Kai.
"My fear of drowning is strong." Kai replied.
"What?" She heard Ragnar asked after Ivar. Kai pulled herself to a sitting position.
"What can you see?" Ivar asked.
"I cannot see any of our boats." Ragnar replied. They heard talking and looked over to see more people coming out of the water. They sat against the side of what looked like a cliff as the three of them dried off. "Can you not swim?" Ragnar looked over at Kai. She shook her head.
"I almost drowned as a child." Kai replied as Ivar looked at her. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Kai fell into the water and would have drowned if Ivar had not yelled for help when he found her.
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The group crawled up the mountain, so they couldn't be heard. One of the men said to get down and Ragnar immediately pushed Ivar and Kai down. They could see men on horseback. The group then started off again. Kai watched as Ivar struggled.
"Forget that thing, just crawl." Ragnar said as Ivar fought with his crutches.
"With this I can walk like a normal man." Ivar replied. Ragnar walked up to him and sat on him, then threw his crutches. Kai sat stood there as she watched. Ragnar looked at Kai and she followed them as they continued. Part of her was still questioning why Ragnar would save her from drowning.
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The group finally took a break. Kai could hear the others complaining about having to carry Ivar. Ivar started laughing as Ragnar helped tie his legs together.
"What are you laughing at?" Ragnar asked Ivar. Kai smiled.
"Nothing...the Great King Ragnar playing nurse to a cripple." Ivar replied. Ragnar just looked at him and pushed him back onto the sling.
"Ragnar, can I ask you something?" Kai asked. Ragnar looked at her. "Why did you save me? I am not your child to keep alive?"
"I saved you because there is something between you and Ivar. I will not come between that."
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The group continued walking through the trees. Kai walked next to the stretcher that Ivar was on. The group then stopped when they heard singing coming from somewhere. Everybody hid from the voice which was a little girl. The girl walked off and the group set up.
Kai managed to fall asleep while Ivar and Ragnar snuck away from the group. Ragnar had told Ivar that they had to kill the men and shield maidens that they came with.
"What about Kai?" Ivar asked. "I cannot kill her." Ragnar smiled.
"Do you love her?" Ragnar asked.
"I don't know, but I can't do it."
"Then don't kill her."
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Kai was sound asleep by the trees when she heard one of the maidens talking. She lifted her head to see Ivar crawling towards the shieldmaiden.
"Ivar...you don't have to kill me." The girl said as Ivar pulled out his knife. "B-because you can have this." Ivar leaned forward and silently drew his knife. He was stopped when an arrow flew into the shieldmaidens forehead. Her body fell back to the ground and Ivar turned his head.
Kai stood there with her bow still being held up in her hand. Her face was pure anger.
"It is whores like her that make me ashamed to be a woman." Kai said and finally dropped her arm.
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Kai walked beside Ragnar as he carried Ivar over his shoulder.
"Have you killed people before?" Ragnar asked Kai. She looked down as they continued walking. Ivar looked up at her.
"I've had to kill people." Kai replied as she looked up.
Ragnar and Kai then heard men talking and the three of them ducked into a bush. Kai could hear horses as well as they ran past where the three of them were hiding.
"I bed you wish you would never have brought me along." Ivar said. "And I bet you wished you would've killed me when you had the chance."
"Only when you talk." Ragnar said with a slight smile. "I thought your legs were a weakness and you wouldn't survive...I was wrong. Your legs have given you a strength. Strength your brothers don't have. Your legs are like a deaf man's eyesight that is sharper then everything else. You are special, not in spite of your legs. But because of that."
"I think, that's the first time you've ever admitted to being wrong."
"That'll never happen again, so enjoy it." Kai took the piece of food that Ivar handed her. She put a piece in her mouth and looked away. "Are you in love with my son?" Kai looked back at Ragnar. Ivar looked from Kai to his father.
"I haven't decided what I feel yet." Kai replied and felt Ivar's eyes back on her.
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After they hid for a few more seconds, they finally continued to walk. Kai smiled as Ragnar carried Ivar.
"Come on, donkey." Ivar said after he clicked his tongue and tapped Ragnar's butt. Ivar just rolled his eyes. "What if we're walking in the wrong direction?"
"Then we'll turn around and walk in the other direction." Ragnar replied and made the sound that a donkey makes. Kai chuckled slightly.
"What is it about you?"
"What?"
"Well you do not seem to accept the verdict of the gods."
"What is the verdict? You tell me"
"If you want to know if the gods still favor you, look around. Look at us."
"You give the gods too much credit."
"Oh, then you disagree with everyone, with the seer, with all of us."
Ivar and Ragnar continued talking as they continued their walk. She loved that Ivar got this time to bond with his father. She wanted that for him, but it made part of her really wander who her father is or was, if he was even alive.
"What about your father?" Ragnar asked Kai. She gave a half smile.
"I do not know who my father is." Kai replied as she recalled the slightest bit of the night of when her mother had died. "He left me and mother when I was very young. My mother died not long after my father left us. Queen Aslaug found me and raised me."
"Yet, you love Ivar?" Ivar smiled as Kai smiled.
"My feelings for Ivar have changed. I no longer look at him as a brother." Ivar's smile slowly faded away as Kai finally admitted her feelings for Ivar. He had a suspicion of how she felt but never realized it.
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As they continued walking, they came to a field and Ragnar was now breathing hard from carrying Ivar. They walked around a bush and came to a village.
"We made it." Ragnar said and nearly fell, carefully dropping Ivar. "Once we get inside, we will be separated. If you are smart, you will not be hurt. When I can, I will find you."
"I know what to do." Ivar replied. "I think you brought me here for a reason."
"Whatever they do, you need to act like a cripple. They will not fear you."
"What are they going to do to you? I'm going to watch you be hurt? Sounds like a good plan." Ragnar leaned up and kissed Ivar's forehead. Kai looked at Ivar as Ragnar started walking away. The three of them then started their way towards the village as Ivar crawled. Kai had tossed her sword, so she didn't like dangerous.
"Archers!" One of the guards yelled. Ragnar put his hands up as did Kai. She instantly worried about both Ivar and Ragnar.
The gates opened and several riders on horseback came out and started circling them.
"Who are you?" One rider asked.
"My son, his friend, and I have come to see your friend...King Ecbert." Ragnar replied. "I have no doubt that your king would like to know of our arrival."
"The king is not here."
"I am sure to know that his good friend has been treated kindly."
"Let them in."
Ivar was put on a horse as Kai walked beside him. She knew something was about to start going down. Aethelwulf came in through a gate quite fast.
"Seize him!" Aethelwulf yelled. The guards then started beating Ragnar leaving Ivar and Kai watching. Kai put her hand on Ivar's and he squeezed her hand back. Ivar then looked at Kai and she looked at him.
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After Ivar had seen his father locked in a cage, both he and Kai were moved into a nicer hut. They sat at the table as Kai picked at the wooden table with her fingernail. Ivar continued to look at the table.
"If I could have helped him, I would have." Kai said quietly to Ivar. "I am sorry Ivar, but he knew what he was doing when he came here. He knew what was going to happen to him." Ivar just looked down at the table. Kai reached her hand over and placed it on his. Ivar wrapped his hand around hers. He then looked up at Kai.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ivar asked.
"Tell you what?" Kai asked in response.
"Why didn't you tell me how you felt?"
"I was watching you parade in front of me with Margrethe. When I was rescued and came back to Kattegat, you looked at me differently. You didn't look at me the same way that you looked at me after you kissed me the first time. I didn't want to force you to love me. I wanted you to decide if you loved me or not. Instead you had a slave...a slave who looked at you the way everyone else looks at you-." Ivar cut her off by putting a hand on the side of her face and pulling her lips to his. Kai's lips moved against his until he pulled back.
Kai looked at him as he smiled.
"I don't know how to say it or how to say how I feel about you." Ivar finally said.
"Then don't say it...as long as I know, that is enough for me. All that I do ask of you to do is to not leave me like my father did, like my mother did."
"I will never do that."
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Kai walked through the grassy meadow as the soft wind blew through the grass. She could see Ivar sitting in the grass as she walked up to him. Ivar looked back at her and she smiled as he stood up. He smiled at her and held his hand out to her and she took it. The two of them continued walking through the meadow until they came to a small pond. Kai looked at Ivar who pulled his shirt over his head. He then helped her pull her own shirt over her head. The rest of their clothes came off and the two got into the warm water. Ivar's arms wrapped around Kai as he pulled her against him. Kai wrapped her arms around Ivar's neck as they kissed.