Ulf was uneasy as he had made his resolution to kill his brother but now it was all about the opportunity, he watched Ragnar closely and his interaction with Signy.
"Are you okay, Ulf?" Birger asked, showing a false sense of concern.
"I am okay, I just have a lot of things in my head. It looks like this war might come to an end without more fighting…" Ulf muttered.
"You think your usurper has any intention of letting Vestfold remain independent? Askild plans on absorbing Vestfold into Kattegat and expanding his territory." Birger said behind his helmet.
Ulf looked at his eyes but he could not shake off that something was off with Birger, he was calm and collected but he had also shown to be a lot more prone to his emotions since arriving at Vestfold.
"Ulf?" Birger called out upon noticing that he was staring right at him without any sort of reaction.
"I sort of blanked out…" Ulf said, saving himself the embarrassment but Birger did not mind it.
"Are you sure you have the composure to kill your brother? If you do it, you can have the fame and glory Ragnar possesses, including his possessions." Birger whispered because these were words no one dared get an earful of or they would be executed on the spot.
"I can have everything Ragnar has…?" Ulf thought and the only thing that came to his mind was Lagertha and a renewed resolve followed this. He had always felt that Ragnar stole her from him as they were friends long before she met Ragnar but Ulf never made a move.
The moment Lagertha set eyes on Ragnar, the rest was history because her interest in him was from day one, and partly because of his reputation.
This was part of the reason Ulf strived for status, he was tired of Ragnar getting everything that he deemed rightfully his just because he was more famous than him.
"I want Lagertha…" Ulf muttered to himself, but Birger did not hear him as these words were only audible to Ulf.
"Ulf! I am surprised someone like you shares the blood of the famous Ragnar!" Skarda shouted, sitting right beside Ragnar's brother. He knew that his presence was not welcomed judging by the dismissive looks he got but he did not care much because he wanted to measure the kind of man Ulf was. Ulf had not done anything of note on the battlefield except the ship idea he had collaborated on with Hagen. Even the children of Ragnar were more impactful than him.
"Skarde, I do not think you should be here," Ulf responded. He wanted to say everything on his mind but he could not because despite Skarde's friendliness, he was still ranked higher than him so he was owed respect.
"I have heard quite a bit about you, but not enough to see how you stand out from the average warrior. So what kind of man are you, Ulf?" Skarde asked, he was sober and Skarde liked it best when he had alcohol in his system.
"I am your average warrior," Ulf said with a weak smile, but Skarde was not buying it.
"I know you are strong, and something tells me you have not shown your true strength but the question is, why are you hiding it, and from who?" Skarde questioned. This question even took Birger by surprise because Ulf did not stand out in his eyes too but he did not need superior combat skills to kill Ragnar considering Ragnar already trusted him so his guard should be done around Ulf.
"I am just teasing! You should see your face!" Skarde blurted out, slapping Ulf's back in the process as he cracked himself up.
Ulf laughed awkwardly because he did not know what was going on but he did not have to figure it out because Skarde soon excused himself.
"That was weird…" Ulf was left confused but Birger did not look bothered by what just happened. Skarde had a playful side to him but he was no fool.
"We should probably be more careful about how we speak, but you cannot kill Ragnar in this camp. I do not know if Aksild will be successful in scaling those walls but if he is, then an opportunity will definitely present itself."
-
"He did not bulge…" Skarde thought because he had used a better part of his strength to do that and for Ulf not to bulge showed he had excellent physicality.
This confirmed Skarde's suspicion that the only reason Ulf had not stood out on the battlefield was that he did not want to, not because he lacked the ability to.
"Skarde…" Sven called out and Skarde immediately walked towards him.
"You look like crap, Sven." Skarde blurted out without censor, he called it as he saw it because he looked like shit.
"We are in the middle of a war, am I supposed to look like some princess?" Sven fired back, Skarde chuckled as he had forgotten just how sharp a mouth his fellow commander had.
"What do you think about this?" Sven asked, this was about the hostage exchange because he did not know if it would go as smoothly as Askild envisioned but he doubted it.
"I do not think Asmund is one to use tricks but I do not know Asmund so I can not say for sure. I think we should be prepared for anything. The only grace we have is that the moonlight is not hidden behind the clouds so we can see to a degree but Vestfold still holds the advantage. All it takes for them to win this war is to deny the prisoner we hold. I do not think we can scale those walls even with Hagen's creations." Skarde spoke his mind and this drew a worried look from Sven.
"That means everything would have been for nothing…" Sven muttered under his breath. Skarde noticed he was feeling down and knew he had to console him.
"They are in Valhalla, dummy! No death has been in vain but I trust Askild. He has yet to fail me! We will win this war, I have no doubt!" Skarde sounded pumped, and Sven just smiled to himself.
"Haha! I guess you are right." Sven responded. The death of Oskar had affected him more than he cared to admit.
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