Una crept around the corner and slowly pushed on the latch to her mother's door. It was still pitch-black outside. Una had overfilled herself with water last night, so she woke early with a full bladder. After she relieved herself, she gathered up all the things she needed for the journey and went down to saddle up the horses. Now she enters his room with a small candle in hand. She walks over to the lamp on the table and lit it. A slow amber glow engulfed the room. Frey was on his stomach, with his arms reached up over his head. He definitely didn't sleep like a soldier on his back.
"Get up. You loiter sack!" Una said, walking up to the bed and throwing a pillow at his head.
"Ugg, just a few more minutes, please!" He mumbled, turning over.
"We have a long journey ahead, now get your lazy carcass up!" Una said, pulling off the covers.
Not surprising to Una, he was naked yet again. He balled himself up in a fetal position and opened his eyes.
"God's it's freezing! Has winter already knocked on our door?" He laughed.
"You just don't want to move from a warm bed! Do you have any fresh clothes laid out?" Una asked, walking the room's perimeter around the things he brought when he first entered the kingdom.
"It's good to see you have everything in order. Did you get everything you needed from the castle?" Una asked, bending down and picking up a dark purple tunic he had neatly folded.
"Come on, lad, get up!" She threw the garment at him.
"I gathered more than enough, all except gold." He laughed.
"Sorry to say that our gold is secured away, and besides, most of it wasn't ripped off of Christian relics like the gold your friends bribed me with." Una laughed.
"Ahh, about that." He said, sitting up and throwing the tunic over his shoulders.
"Yes, that gold was plundered, but it was not my gold. And those weren't my friends."
Frey gathered up his loose locks, and he wrapped them up in a bun with a ribbon he had tied on his wrist. Una found a pair of riding pants and tossed them to him.
"Enlighten me then. Why were they traveling with you on this magical quest for my sword." Una laughed.
"They were Vikings, yes, but they were brigands who attacked my original group," Frey said as he put on his pants.
"Oh?" Una said, grabbing him a wool pair of stockings and gloves.
"Everyone was killed but me, as sexy as it would sound to say that those scars on my chest were from battle. They were from that whore of a woman. She tried to seduce me, and then she impaled me."
"That sounds oddly familiar." Una laughed, throwing him the gloves and socks.
"Will I really need these?" He laughed.
"Yes, it is raining pretty hard, and I'm sure your delicate little prince hands and feet will get stirrup and rein sores." Una laughed.
Frey laughed and patted the socks.
"Well, that was one problem too. I was so weak and weary from travel. They offered to spare my life and feed me if I were to give them the things I was traveling with. They knew where this kingdom was too."
"Is that why they were wearing noble garbs and jewelry?" Una laughed.
"And what is with the dresses?" Una laughed again.
"They're ceremonial if someone was to die. The other dresses were nightwear. I didn't need them anyway. I had lost so much tissue that everything fits too loose." His demeanor sunk.
"I lost a lot of good men out there in the north. They aren't very kind Danes like the ones in the east. To be frankly honest, you've been the kindest friend I have met in a long time." He grinned down at his socks as he slipped them on.
"Friend? That's an interesting thing to address me as after I almost poisoned you!" Una laughed.
"Truth be told, Una, I do trust you. I just have a hard time trusting myself after being betrayed so much throughout my travels. If I hadn't come across this kingdom, you saved my life. I would have never found sanctuary. And besides, you have to have a good friend on a long journey." He smiled genuinely up at Una as he laced his boots up.
"You know, you're not half bad either if you weren't so perverse or brazen." Una laughed, standing up and handing him a thick wool cloak.
"I'll try to work on that. It's hard to be myself when strangers surround you." Frey said honestly.
"So, you aren't entirely an ignoramus? That's refreshing to know." Una laughed.
"Quite the opposite, in fact." He smiled and stood up, and tried to make up the bed.
"Forget about the bed. I have maids that will do that. Now, help me get your things downstairs before we wake the entire castle up with our loudmouths."
Frey nodded and picked up the saddlebags. Una reached down and picked up his horn bags.
"Good Gods, did you put lead weights in these things!?" Una laughed.
"It's not as heavy as these! I may be thinner, but I am no less strong." He smiled and walked out of the door.
Una glared up and laughed to herself. How could a boy with hardly any muscles lift such weight?
"Oh, he is smarter than he acts. The fool put all his jewels in this and put bread and cheese in the saddlebags!" Una stated as she looked inside the bags.
"Humph, at least the pigeon is trying." Una laughed as she walked out.
"Wait!" Una hissed down the winding tower stairs.
"I know where I'm going." She heard him echo back up to her.
Una continued to follow. She sounded like she was going off to battle, with all the metal clanking against the leather. On her way down, she heard more voices coming up the stairs. Una huffed, knowing she had woken probably half of the castle. She walked to the nearest window and unlatched it. She stuck her head out to see three men arranging the bags on the horses.
"Oh, for the love of the Gods, what have I done." She huffed.
Una definitely was not a morning person. The moon was still shining bright overhead. Una closed the window and continued to clank down the steps. She couldn't have been louder. As Una almost made it to the bottom of the steps, she heard voices traveling up.
"Here, let me get this!" She heard a familiar voice ring out, and suddenly a man with dark wavy hair approached her.
"Aaron?" Una said, seeing his dark gray eyes shine like silver in the moonlight.
"What are you doing up before dawn?" She laughed, handing him the bag.
He winked at her and smirked.
"I usually get up before dawn anyway, to feed the horses," Aaron said as he pulled up on the heavy bags.
"Thank you, Aaron, but as my sit-in, you're supposed to be asleep, getting rested up for your new position." Una laughed.
He hoisted the bag up further up his arms.
"What did you put in this!" He laughed as the bags pulled him down a bit.
"His nick-knacks. I was tempted earlier just to throw it down the steps, but It would break his legs if it rolled on him!" Una laughed.
"Good idea, but...Well, truth be told, I couldn't sleep much." He laughed.
"How so? I fear I may have put too many responsibilities on your shoulders. Is that it?" Una said, slinging the other quilted bag from around her neck to under her arm.
"Nay, I fret for your journey to the east Dane lands." He said honestly with a sigh.
"I would have asked you to accompany me, but I knew I couldn't trust the kingdom being led by any other in my absence," Una said with a sigh.
"When I knew Yvar was going, I knew he would keep you safe. He's strong and diplomatic. I know he could weasel his way out of any bad situation, and if you and that Viking man-caused any trouble. There are some rough people out there beyond the mountains and in those hills. It's not the Danes I'm worried about. It's those bloody Saxons." He laughed.
"We will only be in their territory briefly before we make it to York," Una said with a sigh.
"You don't sound too optimistic," Aaron said as they approached the bottom grounds.
"Well, I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I wondered if going north and sailing to York would be easier, but then again, those Viking tribes are almost worse, if not the same as the Saxons. They would sink us for sure!" Una said.
"Are you sure you have to go on this journey?" Aaron said with hesitation.
"I mean, is it dire that you meet this man?" Arron asked.
"I told you what that man has done, and Frey and I have peaceful negotiations where no bloodshed will come anymore to the generations after us. We are both tired of war, and I want to hear this man's side of the story. There may be much more than what we have been led to believe." Una said, walking through a corridor to the stables on the side.
"Such as?" Aaron asked.
"My father might have betrayed this kingdom, and I intend on setting things right, for both sides, for Dane and my people alike," Una said valiantly.
"That is rather noble of you, my liege, but is it the best course of action?" Aaron asked, worried.
"It's better now than later. We cannot let this wound fester any longer, and besides, I may be able to work something out to press the Saxons away. Frey says they are pestering their borders as well."
"So you will be joined in battle by the Danes, I presume if you go to battle." Arron sighed.
"If duty calls the action that I must interrogate the Saxons for negotiations by winning a battle, then yes." Una did not hesitate.
"They are quite stuck up. They haven't acknowledged your letters for many years."
"I'm not bitter about it. I just think they are extremely imperious. The damned Romans have made them haughty about their rights. The Saxons replying to my negotiations would be like a heard of sheep asking their Sheppard to allow them to extend their flock more inland." Una laughed.
"So, you are admitting that the Saxons are more powerful?" Aaron asked in surprise.
"Gods no! What they lack in brains they make up in numbers. That is what I am worried about. They are not the brightest individuals, but I'd be damned to say that they spread like a disease. They might choke us out if our kingdoms don't act. Even if it means teaming up with the Danes against the Saxons, it will not be a fruitless endeavor." Una insisted.
"So, this isn't revenge. This is peace?" Aaron acted surprised as he walked over to Gwen, who already had a mass of supplies strapped to her.
"What have you done to the poor beast!" Aaron shouted in the distance.
Out of the dim light was Yvar, yawning as he approached Una and Aaron.
"Good morning, Una, Aaron." He smiled as he patted Gwen's neck.
"Is Roosa and Balder packed like this?" Aaron laughed, looking around for Una's and Yvar's horse.
"It will take us a few weeks to get to Jorvik, according to Frey," Yvar said.
"I think he thinks we will be spending only half the day riding then!" Una laughed.
"Regardless, this amount will only supply us for about ten days, without rationing." He said, tugging on a lock of Gwen's black and white mane.
"That should be plenty of time. This journey will only take less than a few days, no more than five days with the weather." Una watched as Frey walked sluggishly over to them.
"Are you sure you'll be fine with him?" Aaron laughed.
"He's our map once I get out of my range of knowing places here." Una sighed.
"Well, all the best to you then. May the Gods protect and watch over you on your journey. Make the kingdom proud. I know you will!" Aaron said as he patted Una on the back and hugged her tight.
"Take care," Una said, breaking away from his embrace.
"And when I get back if I see you have turned my castle into the whore capital of Europe..." Una started to say as she knew he was fonder of women than probably Frey.
"I can assure you that I will be the best that I can be for you, Una. Rest assured that there will be no tavern whores that cross my threshold." He laughed.
"Good, I can't have another louse infestation ever again!" Una laughed as she waved at Aaron walking away.
"Fare thee well, my dearest queen! Come back, a goddess!" He laughed, disappearing behind the steps.
"Is that everything?" Una asked the boys as she turned around.
Frey and Yvar looked at each other and then Una.
"Double check!" Una urged them.
"We can't be midway over the mountains and realize that one of you had forgotten your love potions or something." Una laughed and looked at Frey.
"Hey, why are you looking at me!" He laughed.
"Go check, now!" Una ordered Frey.
She had gotten most of her maids last night to carry out most of the light things. This morning Aaron, Una, Yvar, and Frey brought out the valuables. Una looked at how light Yvar had packed compared to Frey. You could tell they had very different priorities. Yvar was focused on survival and safety. Frey was too worried about what cloak was more fashionable than what repelled rain. At this moment, it was a downpour. It might set them back a few hours, but Una knew she had nothing to worry about, not until the first frost, that is.