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A map stood at the center of the table within the tent, iron nails keeping it attached to the wooden surface. "Edric's army is stationed in the northern side of the plains, giving him plenty of natural cover" Ivar explained as the blonde princess who stood beside him followed his finger that trailed the land a few inches away from York. "We'll have a third of our army hidden across the woods, to attack them from both angles" he said, earning a frown from the woman.
"That's too close to their encampment, Ivar. They'll easily get spotted" she voiced, her eyes landing on her husband.
The youngest ragnarsson didn't miss a beat "Not if they are careful" he said, his eyes raising to meet his brother as an idea reached his head. "Hvitserk will lead them" he said as his brother was quick to hide the surprised look on his face.
"Fine" the princess said, not giving Hvitserk a chance to react further as she straightened her back "I'll be on the front line with Freder" she said, her eyes grazing the brunette man's that was already looking at her.
The prince pressed his lips together "No, you won't" he said, making the woman's head snap at his direction. "You've fought enough battles already. At this one, you'll be with me" he said, trying to give her no room for retorting.
His eyes then settled on the brunette man who looked at him when feeling his gaze on his face. "I'm sure Freder can do just fine leading offence on his own" he said, tilting his head, as if challenging the man standing before him.
Something close to fury filled the man's gaze for a second, before he cleared his throat and his eyes calmed. "Whatever you need" he said -as if forced- and then found the woman's eyes who gave him a reassuring look.
*
Iron against iron clashed as the cries of a thousand warriors sounded throughout the entirety of the big plain. Army against army, both sides dedicated to win a war that was not theirs to win. The blonde princess stood beside the brunette prince, her gaze stuck on the blonde man who sat upon his horse from afar, looking at her direction.
Ivar's gaze shifted to the woods not too far from the battlefield and Asdis knew it was time. Hvitserk should've been coming through the trees with his group, enhancing their power in battle.
A minute passed, then two. The prince frowned and kept his gaze on the woods as if he'd thought that if he stared hard enough at the trees, his brother would appear. Voices echoed, coming from the forest and the man's frown disappeared as he anticipated the older prince's entrance.
However from the forest emerged thousands of bloodied warriors, baring Alfheim's armor. Asdis's mouth fell agape as the youngest ragnarsson knitted his eyebrows again. The woman's head snapped towards her husband as they exchanged a look before she turned to look at the extended army that had started to corner theirs. The sound of the retreat horn travelled with the wind as Freder's voice followed suit after, yelling for everyone to fall back.
"Your Graces, we should get back to the camp" one of the guards said, making the prince looked at him and then at his wife. She didn't move for a few moments her furious gaze sticking to her father, before she turned around to leave without another word.
*
The princess sat beside one of the open tents, watching as her people transferred the wounded around, trying their best to heal all of them or at least keep them alive for the time being.
She and Ivar had broken down his plan countless of times and had filled every hole they'd found. It was flawless, cunning and ingenious, so how had it failed? It shouldn't have- it couldn't have. They had the upper hand, knowing the land better than her father ever could within the short amount of time he'd remained there, so why had it all fallen apart?
She inched to raise her head to the sky and ask the Gods what games they were playing, but her eyes got stuck to a blonde man inching to carry himself through the gate of their encampment.
Asdis jumped on her feet, recognition blinking on her face as she sprinted as fast as she could to get to the wounded man. "Hvitserk!" she called as she got close, wrapping one of his tired arms and throwing it across her shoulders as her hand wrapped tightly around his waist. The prince let his weight fall on the woman as she held him, steadily walking towards one of the tents.
Two healers helped Hvitserk off of the woman's hold and on one of the patted tables. The woman turned to one of the guards and told him to notify Ivar before she turned back to the oldest prince "What happened?" she asked whilst he turned to look at her.
"They were... waiting for us" the man said, his voice raspy as he grunted when one of the healers started to treat one of the gashes on his waist. "Your father... knew we were there. He... ambushed us" he said again, the woman's face forming a confused frown. Hvitserk's hand flew to catch the woman's as he looked at her intensely "I... tried... to-" his voice was cut short by another wave of pain that struck him.
Asdis tightened her grip on the man's hand pressing her lips together "Hush, Hvitserk" she reacted, her eyes travelling down his injuries. "You did good" she said, looking back at him. The prince wanted to give his sister-in-law a weak smile, but his eyes flattered closed and his grip weakened to nothing. The princess carefully placed his hand back beside him and told the healers to take good care of him before she made way for her tent.
*
Ivar sat in front of the laid out map searching his brilliant mind for another plan as his blonde wife paced across the tent. "How, hm?" she asked herself as she continued her rhythmic walk. "How did my father know we had people hidden in the woods?" she asked again her fingers tapping against each other. "He is not that smart, he couldn't have thought of it himself" she told herself and Ivar raised his eyes to meet with the woman's pacing figure and grinned for a short while -as if he was seconding her statement- before his eyes returned to the map.
"Someone had to have told him" she said, her mind tracing the thousands of of people their army held. "But who would dare?" she thought aloud, pausing for a moment, trying to think of someone who'd be capable of betrayal, but came down with nothing. A frustrated scream of agony left her mouth as she grabbed something and threw it across the room.
Ivar just barely dodged the axe that was thrown at him as it impaled the back of his chair. His eyes grazed the impaled axe inches away from his head and then the woman who yet again continued her pacing. "You are surprisingly accurate when you are mad" he said, raising his eyebrows.
The woman looked at her husband, unfazed by her accidental attempted kill. "You are not helping, Ivar" she told him harshly as she continued.
The prince folded his hands on the table, keeping his gaze on the blonde "Neither are you. Pacing won't find the traitor" he said, making the woman stop dead in her tracks.
She turned around to walk to the table, looking at the prince sat on the other side "Well, do you have a better plan?" she asked, her eyebrows arching as her face had taken a light red shade.
Ivar pressed his lips together, a small scowl forming on his face "Not yet" he admitted and the woman scowled back at him.
"Maybe we don't even need another plan from you, seeing the very success of the previous one" she spat, impulsively spurring the brunette's anger.
The prince's face formed a twisted look "Or maybe we don't need your childish recklessness, because it was been such a blessing to us" he said, sharing a staredown with his wife.
Asdis placed her hands on the edge of the table leaning forward, closer to the man's face "My recklessness is the reason we had the means to win this war. Your plan is the reason we lost so much ground and so many people!" she said, the man's grip on the arm of his chair tightening.
"My plans are why we're still alive to have this foolish argument! Your recklessness is what started this war in the first place!" Ivar yelled back the tension in the room getting more intense than one could handle.
The tent's entrance opened and before anyone could make another statement, the familiar brunette man stuck half his body inside the tent. The two rulers turned to look at him as his eyes jumped between them "I hate to interrupt, but Hvitserk has woken up" he said, making the prince roll his eyes as the princess let out a sigh.
Asdis raised her head to thank him, but paused for a moment. Her eyes scanned his woundless body, healed skin and clean clothes as she gazed at the worried look on his face. "Thank you, Freder" she said, more calmly than the man had expected. Nevertheless, he swallowed his mild surprise and nodded respectfully before leaving the tent.
The princess's gaze remained on the tent's entrance as thoughts started to form within her mind. Ivar expected her to continue yelling at him, but she'd stayed silent for too long.
Finally, she turned her head back to look at him -at how close their faces now where- a determined look resting on her face. She was no longer mad at him; something else had appeared to occupy her mind. "Form your plan. Execute it" she said, taking aback the man sat in front of her "No one will know it, except you" she added, then raised her chin and pressed her lips together. "I will not lose this war" she said before getting up to leave the prince with his genius of a mind and partly surprised.
She'd found a place to sit with Freder aside the open tents as her eyes trailed the wounded people. The chaos had died down, but the injured still remained. "How is Hvitserk?" she asked, her gaze lost in her people.
Freder sighed "The healers said he's better off not fighting tomorrow, but he'll live" he answered looking at the woman beside him. "How about you? How are you doing?" he asked, his eyes softening.
The princess scoffed "I wasn't the one in the battlefield" she said, her eyes trailing on the ground.
The man beside her placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him "But you are the one behind it, making the hard decisions" he offered, his soft expression remaining. "Those who fight, follow orders. Those who give the orders are the ones fighting the real battle" he said, he eyebrows forming a frown. "And things are not looking good" he added, as the woman nodded and looked back at the ground.
Freder pulled back his hand "The whole camp could hear you two arguing" he said, the woman's eyes landing on him once again. "Your coordination is bad and- I'm worried, Asdis" he confessed as he held the princess's gaze.
The woman stayed silent, her mind running miles as she processed the man's behavior the last few days. "You still believe we should have gone to my father, don't you?" She finally asked, breaking the intense silence as a frown falling on her face.
The man didn't reply at first. He only looked down for a moment, giving his answer without voicing it.
"Asdis-"
"Then perhaps you are on the wrong side" she said and rose from her seat to walk away, not baring the man another glance.
*
The cold had died down as a cool breeze pressed against the moving force of the two armies. The brunette prince sat in his chariot, aside of his wife, watching her gold strands of hair fly with the wind. Her hand was tightly wrapped around the hilt of her sword, outside its holster. On her face rested painted lines and symbols, hardly covering her scowl.
To say the truth, Ivar would've preferred she didn't fight, but Asdis had insisted this time. A fair statement, to say the least. Ivar might've been the one whose life had been endangered, but the princess seemed to have taken more offence than he had- it was her father after all.
Asdis straightened her back while she witnessed her homeland's army gather at the opposition. An army she used to dream of leading, of fighting with.
However now, it was one she would be fighting against. She'd tell herself it was her father she was fighting, not them. She wanted revenge from her father, not the people and she hoped they could see it as such. She hoped they saw it as her own people did.
Freder emerged from behind to find the blonde princess "Asdis, we can still back down" he said, a frown clouding his eyes as he kept his gaze on her rather than on the prince of Kattegat who had turned to look at him.
The princess didn't spare the man a look as she focused on the opposing army gathering before her eyes. "We have never surrendered and never will" she said, dedication seeping through her voice as her husband looked away with a smirk forming on his lips, satisfied with his wife's answer.
The brunette pressed his lips together at his failed attempt to steer the woman away and disappeared within the people not too long after.
Once the opposing army had gathered, Asdis turned to her husband, catching his forearm onto a strong grip as he caught hers. "Fight well" he told her and Asdis gave him a curt and assured nod.
"I will" she replied and with that their hands disconnected and Ivar led his chariot away from the battlefield, three dozens of men trailing behind him.
Asdis turned to look at her proclaimed enemy, her eyes fuming when she met with her father's figure. "Odin is with us!" she yelled, her hand twisting her sword once, twice before her voice sounded across the sky.
"Charge!"
Thousands of trained men and women charged with the young princess, their voices echoing through the vast field. A flame within the woman carried her forward when the two big forces clashed. Asdis struck her enemies, not thinking about who they were anymore, her desire was to reach her father and she was going to do so, even if it took every last one of her warriors.
Blood and gore had filled the low grass as the princess stabbed and slashed her sword, pushing and pushing Alfheim's army further and further back.
One of the opposing men attacked her and her sword flew to block his attack with ease. She then dealt his legs a kick, sending him to the ground. With a swift movement she plunged her sword into the man's chest then pulled it away, while the life left his body.
Their momentum carried them further forward as the prince watched his wife fight; agility, experience and fury seeping through her movements. If Ivar could say he was proud, he would, but the battle wasn't over. He signaled his men to prepare, eyes never leaving his wife.
The king's encampment came to sight, as the princess's blood pumped faster. Of course her father had fled his encampment, like the true coward he was. She inched her people forward as she fought away their last defenses until they'd enclosed themselves within their fortress.
In a heartbeat thousands of arrows released through the air to fall upon the princess's army. Instinctively, she ducked as she yelled the only thing she could think would save them "Shield wall!" she shouted as the warriors around her raised a wall with their shields to protect her and themselves.
However, as loved as that technique was amongst her people, it was slowly failing as more and more people got impaled by the falling arrows. The princess yelled for them keep pushing forward, a dedicated frown taking place on her bloody face. She would not lose the war.
A loud sound echoed through the air, covering the sound of the arrows soaring the wind as two giant pikes of flaming wood fell on each side of the encampment's wall setting it aflame. Ivar's group of warriors emerged from the sides, kicking down the wall until there was nothing but red and yellow chaos among them. A deranged smile reached Asdis's lips as she yelled for her army to move, crushing and slashing anyone that fell in their path.
Within the chaotic encampment stood the blonde man, sword in hand as he came in sight of the princess's eyes. Asdis clutched her sword tighter as blood dripped down its blade. "We don't have to do this, Asdis" he said, as the girl walked closer to him, her bloodshot eyes baring a dark shadow.
"No, father" she said as she paused her movement "You've made it so that we have no other choice" she said before striking with no further warning.
Edric dodged easily as he started to parry with his blood and flesh. "I don't want to have to kill you" he said while she bared him another attack.
"You won't have to kill me" she said letting a grunt leave her lips as her father's blade grazed the side of her face, splitting the end of her eyebrow.
Asdis let out a raged cry as she struck and struck her father again and again, but the man kept blocking and dodging her strikes as if they were nothing. "You are my daughter, Asdis. I know how you fight" he said hitting his sword against her knees.
Her muscles begged her to drop to the ground, but she stood her ground giving the man's head a good hit with the back of her sword "You don't know enough" she said twisting the sword around her wrist before she attacked again.
She'd keep fighting, not matter how many blows her father would deal her. The victory was hers and she'd claim it, even if it costed her her life.
The blonde man looked at his daughter as rage burned within him. He thrusted his sword towards the girl, sending her further back with every blow that she blocked until his sword grazed her cheek, gifting her another prize to wear.
The woman's vision started to get blurry as she tried to keep ahold of herself all the while blocking her father's attacks, when one of them sent her sprawling on the ground. She inched to get up but her muscles wouldn't move.
Edric approached the fallen princess as she gasped for air, almost choking on the blood that filled her throat "My sweet, brave Asdis" he said awhile the woman's hand reached for her sword, but her father was quick to kick it out of her grasp.
"My little girl who thought she could kill her own father" he said as he lowered himself on the ground looking at the face of his daughter; a face filled with hatred. "I, for one, do not wish to see you dead" he said as his gaze hardening. "If you tell your people to stand down and tell your... husband to bow to me, I will let you come back to me" he said his fingers trailing the woman's jawline.
Asdis looked at her father's eyes, as anger filled hers "Ivar will never bow to you" she spat, her fingers curling around the prince's black dagger within her sleeve. With all the might left in her, the princess thrusted the dagger deep inside the side of her father's throat as a wave of shock falshed before his eyes. The woman pulled the weapon away from her father's flesh with a last grunt and as blood gushed through his fatal wound, his body fell to the ground.
The chaos around them had ceased, everyone gazing at the fallen king and the princess laying on her back, as she let the dagger fall out of her hand. Ivar's chariot came to view as he gazed at his fallen wife, the eyebrows on his face knitting together. Asdis slowly picked herself up from the ground, stumbling on her own feet as she looked back at the people who looked at her.
"The king is dead! Long live the queen!" a man yelled from within the crowd as the woman searched the crowd for the source of the voice, but soon the whole encampment filled with voices.
"Long live the queen!" the people repeatedly, one after another falling on their knees, paying their respect to their new ruler. Asdis's gaze finally fell on Ivar's and sheer pride filled his eyes as he watched the glory of his wife.
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