429 Which King Shall Die?
Things were taking shape in the war against Northumbria, the Vikings had a plan to take Northumbria and it was all thanks to Ragnar's recklessness.
Ragnar knew he had to show the King of Northumbria his strength and he did so by beating his best warriors.
This allowed King Ælla to realize that Ragnar was no ordinary warrior and was deserving of a proper execution.
Ælla expected the Vikings to be snuffed out that night but he had made a miscalculation on his part, things didn't go as he planned.
He amped up the security in Northumbria, there was no way that the Vikings could break through, they lacked the numbers and the power to do so.
Killing Ragnar in such a public showing would show his people that Ragnar was just a man.
It would boost the morale of his soldiers once they see his head roll.
King Ælla sent multiple search parties out to retrieve Ecgberht or would it be more accurate to say kill him?
He knew that Ecgberht was the only thorn in his plan, he had the perfect execution plan for his nephew and the fact that his men failed woefully could backfire if his nephew should ever see his father again.
King Ælla would have violated the only condition given to him by his older brother and that was keeping his son safe.
He was confident that the Vikings would be killed by sunrise but a thought came to his mind.
He wanted to know how Ragnar found this land even though they weren't the first Vikings that they had heard of.
They didn't know them to be this organized and capable of raising an army let alone strategize.
That wasn't very barbarian of them and Ælla knew he had to have a conversation with Ragnar before his execution.
He went to his cell that night and saw that Ragnar was in a rather strange condition, none of his men had touched him.
He expected Ragnar to be beat up but for some reason, something told him that his warriors might see Ragnar as an enemy but respected him as a warrior.
Ælla had a translator with him so he could have a proper conversation with the Viking King.
"King Ragnar... I must say, I'm surprised such a warrior as yourself exists..." Ælla began the conversation to which Ragnar smiled upon hearing it from the translator's lips.
"If you lay down your sword, give your life to Christ and swear your fealty to me. I can guarantee your life. I wouldn't mind giving you your land but you will no longer be a King. They cannot be two Kings on my land, you see..." Ælla said. n--o-/v(-e(-l((b-(1/-n
Ragnar was surprised that he was even proposing this considering that Northumbria should have the advantage but Ragnar knew there was an opportunity here.
"I don't wear the crown because I want to, I wear it because I was chosen by the gods. Do you mock the decision of my gods?" Ragnar's eyes slowly opened, prompting Ælla to gulp in fear.
Ragnar was like a wild beast that no one could tame and King Ælla was worried not because of Ragnar's strength but because he didn't know how many more warriors of this caliber existed.
"Pagan..." King Ælla muttered under his breath on instinct but Ragnar had heard him.
"You come to bargain but do not respect me as a King? You don't understand, do you? I'm not the one in danger..." Ragnar said with a smirk.
This was ambiguous and Ælla didn't take this seriously, he thought Ragnar was just rambling.
King Ælla knew it was pointless and began to walk towards the door but the translator didn't leave with him.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Ælla shouted and the translator quickly ran to King Ælla's side amid suspicion from Ælla.
"What did he tell you?" King Ælla questioned.
"Nothing, my King. I was making sure the cell was locked properly," The translator said.
"I'm glad I bought you, you're really worth the coins I spent on you!" King Ælla boasted and the slave forced an awkward smile.
To be fair, he was treated better than most slaves and King Ælla didn't harm him physically and made sure he had all the food he wanted.
One wouldn't even think he was a slave with the way he was treated but this was also because King Ælla understood that slaves were the closest people that could get to a King.
He couldn't risk doing anything that would make them act irrationally even though he trusted that he could handle himself against them.
"Tick... Tick... Tick..." Ragnar muttered under his breath but there was something strange about Ragnar.
He wasn't calm or composed, he knew about the prophecy that awaited Tyr and was yet to tell the young warrior what fate had in store for him.
But Ragnar also knew that it was his duty to guide Tyr to this destiny, it was Tyr's destiny to topple and conquer Kingdoms, not his.
This was the first step in fulfilling that prophecy and as long as it was left unfilled, Tyr couldn't die.
Ragnar knew this might be him becoming arrogant but this would be the driving force behind Tyr's ascension.
-
The night came to an end and the sun slowly rose on the horizon, the soldiers of Northumbria were already mounted on the walls with their arrows ready to rain down on the enemies.
However, there were no enemies in sight which was strange considering Ragnar's execution was in less than an hour.
"The pagans are nowhere to be seen!" One Christian mocked and the rest of the warriors laughed out loud.
They were worried for nothing because the men that they feared were nowhere to be seen but someone was running towards them in the distance.
"Hey, someone is coming... Archers, get ready," A man commanded and the archers aimed in that direction, waiting for him to come within distance.
"Wait, he is one of ours..." They could identify him by the clothes he was wearing but what he was running from was unknown.
That question was soon answered as over fifty Vikings were running after him in the distance.
The Christians were amazed that the Vikings chose to charge right at them but the distance the warrior had managed to gain from them made it possible for them to open the gates and close it well before the Vikings reached.
Hagen had sabotaged the gates so there was no way that they could close but they allowed the man through.
This was the Christian that they had captured the night before and he was to serve as the messenger for Tyr, Tyr gave him a message to deliver to their King.
The moment he went through, the Vikings stopped advancing, they were out of the range of the arrows and everyone was confused about what they were doing considering this was an open field.
Tyr was the one in charge of this army and from past experiences, he wasn't to be taken lightly.
He had a creepy smile on his face as he pointed his axe right at the Kingdom before saying.
"Which King will die today?" Bjorn heard this and didn't understand what Tyr meant by this statement because surely, he had no intention of taking Ragnar's life, did he?
