It was already dusk when Una, Frey, and Yvar made it to the main River Severn, leaving behind their kingdom in Snowdon in the north. They had followed a branch of the river to guide them there. Una knew it by heart. Anything beyond that was out of Una's territory. She had never crossed beyond the Severn, only the little branches that stretched north into her kingdom. They knew that this bend in the river meant they would eventually find Offa's dyke if they head East. Beyond this was the realms of English Mercia, home of the not so warm Anglo-Saxons.
"Before we cross, I think we should camp here, you know, so we don't have those Saxons trying to slice us open if we ride over the dyke." Frey said.
"Are you tired?" Yvar looked at Una and then looked at Frey and began to speak Norse to him.
"I don't like secrets." Una laughed as she slid off her horse.
"But it's no secret that we are all tired." She winked at Frey and patted Roosa's neck.
"It's good you don't know what we are saying, Yvar has a nasty tongue." Frey laughed as he slid off Gwen.
Frey moaned when his feet touched the ground, both in pain and pleasure.
"It feels so good to stand!" He laughed, trying to walk.
Una watched as his legs trembled and shook as he walked.
"It's obviously been a while since you've ridden for so long." Una laughed, walking over to him, her legs barely shaking or bowing.
"Guess that's our answer," Yvar said, dismounting Balder.
"Should we build a fire?" Frey meekly said.
"A fire? Out here!? You want to die so badly!" Yvar laughed.
"Seriously, no fire?" He asked.
"Unless you want someone to come and raid us. I'm assuming you had a roaring fire when those brigands came along." Una laughed.
Frey gulped and sat down in the tall grass.
"I suppose it isn't a good idea. I'm just so cold!" Frey said, holding his arms close.
"It's going to get colder the further north we go, so it would be best if you started putting on some flesh you lost." Una laughed as she walked over to her saddlebag and pulled out a large piece of greasy stag meat.
"Here, this will bolster you up in no time." Una smiled and tossed him a piece.
He looked at the glistening piece of meat and ate it, slowly, like a rabbit nibbles on the grass.
"You don't like it?" Una laughed as she pulled out a large wool blanket and laid it on the ground.
"I prefer lamb, but this is a bit thicker and drier than I like. Still good, though." He laughed.
Una could tell he was trying to be excellent. It is true. It tasted like the way a barn smells, but it was meat, and it didn't rot with rain, heat, or snow. This is what Una and her soldiers all ate when traveling or in battle. It was lightweight, easy to make, and lasted forever, it seemed. It was an acquired taste, even Una still has trouble eating it, and Una's favorite food was usually offal, the sections of meat used in soups and stews, not to be eaten as a main dish.
"I brought my bow, so if we see any stag or bear, I can hunt us one so we won't have to eat those shingles of meat every day." Una laughed.
Frey's eyes glistened.
"Oh, I love beer and fruit!" He smiled.
Yvar looked at Frey and then at Una with a laugh.
"Keep your eye's peeled then!" Una said, taking her pack off her back and laying down.
It was almost completely dark now. It would have been foolish of them to continue to the Dyke. They have a good vantage point now to see it in the morning, before they head into the mountains of the north, past the Dyke.
"I smell the rain," Una said, grumbling.
"Tonight, you think?" Yvar asked.
"For certain, I feel it in my skull. My head has had a dull pain in it all day." Una huffed.
"What will we do if it rains?" Frey asked, gnawing still on the dried meat.
"Surely you've been to battle. Get cover in the forest or set up a tent. And we have no tent mind you since there is no battle." Una said, closing her eyes and covering them with her forearm.
"I have, but usually..." He paused for a second.
Yvar looked over at him, expressionless.
"You demand refuge in villages," Yvar said.
Frey looked down at the maroon colored chunk in his hand, feeling embarrassed to admit such a thing.
"Well...yes. We ask them to aid us by allowing us to stay under their roofs and for them to feed us.
"You ask?" Yvar smirked.
Yvar could barely see anything but Frey's pale hair, glowing in the dim light.
"Well, at least I do...most of the time." He hesitated.
"Are you sure you are a true Dane and not a Viking?" Yvar laughed at him.
"Please, could you talk in a language I can remotely understand a hair!?" Una mumbled from afar.
"You know, Una trusts you, just like you trust her. Can you be at least honest with me since we are all together?" Yvar begged.
"It depends. You're a man." Frey said, throwing the meat, aiming past Roosa, but accidentally hitting him in the head.
Roosa barely flinched but looked over at Frey as if he knew he had chucked that hunk of meat at him.
"That had better not be a stag, Frey. I know it tastes like boot leather, but you need that on your bones." Una sneered with a half-cocked smile.
"Um, that was a...bird?" Frey peered around, acting like he did nothing.
"You're such a horse's arse!" Una rose and threw the hunk of meat at his head, hitting Frey square in the middle of his eyes.
Frey was caught off guard, and he struggled to see the meat that bounced off his forehead. Una jeered and laid back down. Yvar bit his lip, trying not to laugh.
"Gods woman, I'd be a dead man if you had thrown a pebble!" He laughed.
"Dispose of another good piece of food like that, and I'll throw a stone at your head, then." Una laughed, rolling over on her side.
Yvar looked at Frey and laughed. They continued to talk in Norse, despite Una begging them to speak in a tongue she can understand.
"You'll figure out soon on this trip that she is no damsel. She's vigorous and resolute." He laughed.
Yvar looked over in the direction of Una.
"But also, valiant and kind. You know I've only seen her cry once. It wasn't a wound. I've seen her stabbed, shot at, and sliced so many times, and never once did she murmur out."
Frey gulped, remembering how he stabbed her in the breast, and she barely flinched.
"Why did she cry?" He asked.
Yvar looked back at Frey. He seemed genuinely concerned that Una was so headstrong.
"Her heart was broken," Yvar said softly.
Frey bit his lip.
"Her lover?" He asked.
"Everyone, all that she ever loved, what was left of them at least. The man she had affections for and her closest best friend."
"Why aren't you dead, then?" Frey asked.
"What do you mean?" Yvar laughed.
Suddenly Una rose again and looked at both of them. She could not see their faces, only the outline of their glowing pale hair.
"Could ye aw please for the love of the Gods tell me what you are saying? As alluring as that language sounds, it would be more pleasing to know what it means." Una said, monotoned.
"We're talking about which of our horses has the largest pizzle." Yvar laughed.
"Gods, such a typical conversation of you men. I should have known." Una said, rolling her eyes and rolling back over.
"Would you like me to enlighten you..." Frey laughed.
"Nay! Thank you!" Una interrupted and covered her ears.
"Good one!" Frey laughed at Yvar.
"She may have the strength of a man, looks like a warrior queen, but she is still a lady." Yvar smiled.
"No, seriously, are you not close to Una? You said everyone she ever loved has died, so why are you still moping around as her second hand?" He asked earnestly.
Yvar pursed his lips and laughed to himself.
"I used to love her, definitely more than any of her friends and lovers, but that was a long time ago." Yvar laughed and looked down at his hand.
He couldn't believe he said that. He told no one before, but somehow, he felt like he could trust this stranger beside him with his thoughts. Besides, he was the first Dane that spoke fluent old Norse since his grandmother.
"Why did you stop? I was just asking because it's pronounced that she likes you a lot, and you weren't put on a funeral pyre with all the rest. I'm saying this from a foreigner's point of view." He laughed.
Yvar wondered if it was apparent. Was he just oblivious of this behavior? He never thought Una cared for him. She was just trying to make amends for the past.
"A long time ago, we grew up together. For many years she was at my side. We were inseparable, and then out of the blue, she never came back to play with me. It wasn't until a year or two later that I saw a completely transformed Una. She had gone from a delicate wildflower to a warrior overnight."
"And, where were you? Did you not go after her to confront her?" Frey asked.
"I couldn't. She was untouchable. She was our queen. I was already a soldier when she came into power. She looked me dead in the eye many times, and for a moment, something churned in her, and she wanted to say something, but she never did. It was only a few years ago that she finally confronted me in battle after I took an arrow in the back of my neck for her." Yvar bit his lip and laughed.
"She probably didn't recognize you after so many years, especially if you had outgrown your youth," Frey said.
"I think so. I almost bled out and died one battle, but she took care of me. She pulled me into a tent and healed my neck. It was then that I brought up an old memory. Stinging nettle is good for blood loss, and I suggested she go and find some, but not to run barefoot in them like she used to do. She had her boots off because they were so muddied that they weighed her down. Anyways, it took her a brief moment. She had to do a double-take, but I'll never forget her expression. She screamed my name and shouted in joy and hugged my neck. It hurt so bad, but I didn't care. We hugged forever, and we had a good laugh until I started to lose feeling in my body, and then she ran out to find the nettle. She said when she got back, she thought I was dead, but I had just passed out."
"So since then, you've been this close?" Frey asked, pointing his hand to Una and then back at Yvar.
"No. I left the ranks soon after. I felt my calling was not slaying my own people, I felt I needed to heal, and I also wanted to help the kingdom with trade. Snowdon used to be a great post for trade before our relationship with the west Saxons went sour. We were once the richest kingdom in all of the lands until Una's father ceased all trade for some reason. About a year ago, I joined back as a diplomat, not a warrior. But if duty called me to pick up a sword, I would."
Frey laughed, knowing that it was his father and Una's father that caused this. After Cynan betrayed his father and killed his mother, his father choked him out, taking back the lands they shared where trade couldn't be an option because Cynan was forbidden there. He had to cut off work to conserve what gold he had left. It wasn't too long later that Frey's father came to take his head.
"So, you just now have rekindled your friendship...romance, I mean?" Frey laughed.
"It is not a romance!" Yvar insisted.
"Well, it might not be romantic to you, but Una could have picked any man. She picked Aaron to govern the kingdom while she is absent and chose you to be her lofty guide and guard! Shouldn't it be the reverse? Don't take it personally, but Aaron would have been a better fit for this journey since you are well versed in the arts of governing." Frey smiled.
Yvar's cheeks flushed, and he looked in the distance, thinking hard.
"Do you really think she has feelings for me?" Yvar said, laying down in the tall grass.
"Do you have feelings for her?" Frey said, laying down too.
"At one time, I admit, but now? I think she's different now." Yvar meekly replied.
"She would be saddened to know that," Frey said.
"I mourned her for so many years after she left me, after that day that she never came back to the woods with me," Yvar said, putting his arms behind his head.
"So, you hate her. It sounds like." Frey laughed, cuddling up in a ball to keep warm.
"No! I don't hate her. In fact, I think I hated myself for a long time after that. I thought I was the reason why she didn't want to see me anymore."
"Well, she was a princess, and playing in the woods probably wasn't the most ladylike behavior. What did you do, play in the mud with toads?" Frey said.
"Sometimes." Yvar laughed.
"You know, Frey. You're really easy to talk to."
"I have to be that way if I'm going to be a king one day." Frey laughed.
"Ha-ha, I supposed so." Yvar laughed.
Yvar sighed and yawned and thought to himself how he felt for Una. He knew deep down that he really did still love her, the old Una that was. Not the Una now that got kicks from ripping throats open. He loved the Una that climbed trees with flowers in her hair, that Una. He doubts that Una has affections for him beyond the nostalgia. She was just making up for a lost time and for breaking his heart. They could finally have a real ending of a friendship instead of abandoning it haphazardly. This journey was their final journey, the conclusion they always wanted and needed.