Birger's intention was unknown, no one knew the goal or ambition of this man.
It was thought he wanted to punish Askild for killing Xenophanes but recent development showed he wanted Ragnar in Kattegat, which would only bring more of his enemies around him.
Tyr was injured, but his injuries were not severe, the fate of Herfjötur and Ulf were unknown.
Tyr recollected the event last night and knew that Ulrik did not have the patience to wait for Tyr's recovery and as such, Tyr narrated the event of the previous night to him.
-
After Birger's offer, Lagertha returned to the house she was imprisoned in and did not attempt to escape again but things didn't go as planned.
"A son that cannot protect his mother? Then again she is not your mother, is she?" Birger attempted to provoke the young boy and Tyr, who was already on edge, gnawed his teeth in anger.
"The boy with no home," Birger continued and Ulf watched in silence as the provocation continued. Things became complicated the moment Tyr entered Kattegat, Ulf had begun to see Tyr as some sort of bad luck, he did not understand what was so special about him that even his brother took him as a son.
Maybe Kattegat's bad luck would come to an end here if he died but Ulf could not do anything because he knew the importance Lagertha placed on his life.
"Tyr, that is enough…" Ulf tried to calm the raging child down but this only made Birger focus his taunts on Ulf as well.
"Tyr, there is a secret Ulf is keeping from you…" Birger's voice echoed, but Ulf was unbothered by this, watching Tyr shoot him a curious gaze. Ulf knew it was better Tyr heard it from his lips than that of Birger.
"When you first washed up on the shore of Kattegat, I wanted to kill you and I would do it again if given the chance only this time, I would make sure I succeed," Ulf said in an indifferent tone and Tyr's hatred only grew as he now began to perceive Ulf as an actual threat, not someone he just disliked.
"Hahaha! I was not talking about that, Ulf," Birger said, Ulf had unknowingly played into his hands and he kissed his teeth in irritation.
"I was talking about how you wish to fuck Lagertha and steal her from your mother," Birger said and Ulf's surprise at this revelation was telling, there was no way Birger should know about this.
"W-What?" Tyr muttered, and now they had a problem, Ulf had only one job at this moment and that was to either confirm or deny this.
But something happened that diverted their attention away from this conversation, and that was distant screams and panic from the void of darkness.
"She has escaped! Don't let her escape!" A man shouted but this was a strange thing to say considering Birger had accepted to release her.
"You guessed it, Ulf. I plan to kill you three tonight," Birger replied and the moment he said this, arrows came out of the darkness with the sole intention of killing Tyr, Tyr was the first target.
The trajectory of the arrows made it impossible for Tyr to avoid it and all he could do was brace himself and hope that this minimizes the damages to some degree.
But Tyr felt his small body tumbling onto the ground, someone had pushed him out of the arrow's path and he could not believe the person that was responsible for this, it was Ulf.
"R-Run!" Ulf commanded, and he was impaled with an arrow sticking out from his stomach and left shoulder respectively.
"W-Why?" Tyr asked but Ulf did not answer him and instead unsheathed his sword.
"Just go! I will hold them off here!" Ulf said and without thinking, Tyr ran but of course, they gave chase and that was why he reapplied the mud to conceal himself and blend with the environment amid the darkness but not before engaging a few of them, this resulted in the injuries around his body. Tyr knew the situation was hopeless, and Herfjötur escaping gave him his go-ahead to retreat because that meant she had somehow managed to escape her captives.
This was all the information Tyr could give, Lagertha was naive in thinking Birger was a man of his word.
-
Ulrik's eyes widened in horror, he was devastated because he knew what losing Herfjötur would mean for them as a whole as the war had already claimed far too many.
Herfjötur would have returned if she wanted to, Ulrik assumed she was stuck in Kattegat and did not want to risk being followed back to the camp.
Ulf, on the other hand, if what Tyr said was true then Ulf was most likely dead, his survival was low but he was surprised Ulf risked his life to save Tyr.
"Thank you for telling me, I am sorry about your mother…" Ulrik said; he was glad that Tyr was transparent with him.
"It is fine," Tyr said, he looked over his shoulder and saw Bjorn sleeping soundly, both boys were injured but they were alive. Tyr was reminded how weak he was, he was nowhere near strong.
Only if he was stronger, he would not need to live like such a coward and he knew there was no way he could protect anyone as he currently was.
"I have to become stronger…" Tyr said; he could feel his sight become foggy as tears poured out uncontrollably. Tyr's mind was tired, only if he stayed the night then maybe Herfjötur would be okay. He had gotten carried away, Tyr cursed his arrogance and felt helpless.
He laughed at the idea that he thought he could kill Birger, Birger was not someone that was killed.
A man that bested Askild in wits? Tyr had been given a reality check.
Ulrik watched in silence as the young warrior wept, he did not say a word because he knew how important those tears shed were.
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