Chapter Text
Lunden was cold, desolate, Order infested.
I met Stowe just outside the walls, trying to quell the surrounding crowd.
He was cute but young. Though he fought well in our scuffle, he still had much to learn.
‘Will this be another Oswald? Must I raise another child to the title of king? I will if I must. Anything for Ravensthorpe and its people. Perhaps they should change my name, Eivor King Maker has a nice ring to it. Far better than wolf kissed. Though, it certainly would make it harder to strike fear into the hearts of others with a name like King Maker.’
The city was at war, their leader Tryggr, dead, long before I had arrived.
Murdered by members of the Order, his head crudely releaved of his body on his very thrown.
‘He was haughty, or foolish. How else could one let those who meant him harm so near? With no weapon for self-defense insight?’
Erke was far less trusting than Stowe, but he too just wanted to return Lunden to the hands of peace.
I broke the Arrow, and bled the Leach, before setting my sights on the Compass.
His boats riddled the harbor, his men posted at every starboard. Springalds trained on the shore, waiting for me to descend.
Thanks to Stowe's advice, I had a Springald of my own, distracted prey makes for easy pickings.
He was stationed in the far back, on a barge in the middle, but I used his weapons against him.
Firing arrows from afar, until he destroyed them.
He was not so easy a target as the others. Weakened under fire, and punctured with Springald arrows, he stood before me bathed in blood, both old and new, like Tyr. He was a warrior, deadly like all well-trained soldiers are. But I had faced far worse, my flail brought him down with a sharp swing to his temple.
As always Odin spoke to me as I checked his pulse, Nephilim fed me his head on a platter, retribution for stealing the head of another. But as the darkness faded from my mind, I heard the panting breath of another.
I was on a barge in the middle of the water, my enemy was dead at my feet, but now another life stood behind me.
Odin's sight showed me his lumbering shape, slumped with an arm on his knee while the other dangled listlessly at his side.
There was only one man I knew who took that shape.
“Ha, I should’ve known you would’ve been able to handle this on your own.”
“Thegn Leofrith. I thought you were made for Rome?”
“I did. And I got my revenge… It was easier than I imagined it would be. He welcomed me with open arms, thought I was so loyal that his abandonment meant nothing, and that I had come to protect him even overseas.”
“Then he is dead?”
“Better, I took his tongue, and hands for all his lies. He’ll survive, but he’ll never bark another order or write one for that matter, figured it was fitting justice for a coward "king" like him.”
“Fitting indeed, though I've always found more reassurance in the death of my adversaries. Why have you returned?”
“I can't argue that, though... I am still breathing by your will alone, so perhaps not all of your adversaries? After everything was done, I looked all around but couldn't find a place that felt like home. Then I remembered your offer. That is... If it’s still viable…”
“You wish to join Ravensthorpe?”
“Yes, if you’ll have me.”
“Hmm, suppose we could make room for a Drengr like you. Still, that does not explain why you are here, and not there awaiting my return.”
“I heard word of someone hunting you, sailing with a small fleet to meet you here in Lunden. I caught the first ship here to join you. As I said, I should’ve trusted you to be capable of handling them on your own. After all, what’s a small fleet to Evoir Wolf kissed, solo decimator of thegn encampments. ”
“What a silver tongue you’ve found over in Rome. Or were you always capable of such flyting?”
“I’m a man of many surprises.”
“So it would seem… Come, I must meet up with my Lunden comrades and secure their alliance before we can make for home.”
“Home. I like the sound of that.”