The story was interrupted by the call of a guard, this prompted Signy to tilt his head in the direction the voice echoed from, it called out his name with such urgency.
"Signy!" the voice called, he waited for the person's arrival with anticipation in his eyes.
"What is it?" Signy questioned.
"Our suppression party has not returned, I fear they might be dead," The person reported, Signy sighed in frustration because it has been a while since no one returned from this, this also meant that food reached the camp of Kattegat.
The timing could not have been worse because they were aware of what Hagen was building and they knew they stood no chance because not only was Erik there, Askild and the famous Ragnar were there as well.
"Send the retrieval unit to get their bodies, why are you bringing this to me?" Signy asked, sounding partly irritated because this was not something worth interrupting him for.
"W-We did, they never returned." The man reported and the shock on both Signy and Aksel's faces was telling. This was something that does not happen and should not happen yet.
"What?" Signy responded. He was speechless because there was no reason for them to be able to overwhelm them, not with their current level of strength.
"Where is King Asmund?" Kjell appeared, he had grown out his beard and looked different than he did a month ago.
"Where is King Asmund now, we need to see him," Kjell said and everyone was murmuring, they agreed with what was being said. King Asmund had not been seen ever since his battle with Askild and it was telling on their morale because while Signy was a competent leader, he lacked in ways that only Asmund could make up for.
But a familiar voice soon spoke, making the hair on their skin stand the moment the words reverberated in the air, this loving and compassionate voice was no other than Asmund.
"What is going on here? Do you not trust the judgment of my son?" Asmund asked, he was in his armor and his face looked better than ever.
Everyone dropped their heads the moment they laid eyes on their king.
"N-No King Asmund, I didn't mean to disrespect the young lord," Kjell apologized but Asmund's gentle hand on his shoulder calmed him down, Asmund took no offense to this.
"Questioning authority is good, you are not sheep but doubting your commander's decision will only cause unease. What do you think would have happened if I did not show up?" Asmund asked and Kjell realized his mistake. There were no malicious intentions behind it.
Asmund walked to the walls and looked beyond it, there was nothing in sight but the sky had darkened, it was about to rain and Asmund smiled at this change of weather.
"It is about to rain," Asmund smiled, looking up to the sky.
"F-Father…" Signy muttered timidly but he was not audible to anyone but himself. He was happy that his father was back on his feet because he had already feared the worst-case scenario.
"I do not want the bodies of my people out there when the rain starts, bring them back so their families can look upon their faces as we send them off to the gods…" Asmund said, and everyone looked at him with admiration because he was willing to go the extra mile for them, even in death.
"Signy, I want you to lead a unit to get them back," Asmund said, and everyone was surprised because he was putting his son in direct danger despite not needing to but it only showed that Asmund did not put the life of his son above the others, and this gave them a sense of equality.
Signy did not have any problem with this announcement either.
"Yes, King Asmund!" Signy said with a resolute tone but Earl Kjell did not want to leave Signy to get all the spotlight and opted to join him in the quest.
Signy welcomed this but Earl Aksel had no reason to join them on this quest and chose to stay behind the walls because he was needed here.
It took about ten minutes for Signy to organize a unit and he had a little over a hundred men under his command as they were all on horseback.
This already gave them an advantage over the foot soldiers but they knew the people to avoid in the ranks of Kattegat, and Erik was at the top of that list because he was a person devoid of reasoning, just a bloodthirsty monster.
It would take approximately twenty to thirty minutes for them to reach their position, that was enough time for their enemies to prepare for them.
-
"Tyr, what has gotten into you?" Oskar asked him, he had tagged with Tyr and co to look for food. Tyr needed to leave the camp to clear his mind because he felt like he was being singled out by the gazes of the others. They began to look at him like he was an outsider of some sort.
"What do you mean?" Tyr asked, cleaning his axes and Oskar pointed to the field littered with corpses and body parts. The good news was that they managed to get a good chunk of animals to their main camp, carried by a few of their men, cutting down their numbers presently to below ten. Tyr waited for them to return so they could continue hunting as he did not know when next such an opportunity would present itself.
"Tyr, what did you say to get King Askild in that state?" Oskar asked, he was making conversation with him as they waited for the others to return.
Erik did not tag along, they let Tyr and Oskar lead the food-hunting squad and this was a good thing as they were both level-headed.
"It is a pity everyone is so short-sighted, Erik would have never had that reaction" Tyr muttered and Oskar noticed that he was down.
"Enough pouting around, we need to get out of here before they come for the bodies and we need to get as much as we can back," Oskar said and Tyr sighed because he knew that he was right.
"What is honor to a Viking? Why does someone like Askild put honor above victory? Why is honor so important and not victory? Fuck honor, I will do whatever it takes to win. Even if I need to chew off my arm to claim it!" Tyr thought, digging his ax into the head of a corpse.
"...Anything!"
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