Sacrifice
oneiriad
Disclaimer: Vikings does not belong to me, I'm just playing.
A/N: Written for mahmfic's comment-fic prompt: "Vikings, any, seasick"
It is the fourth summer of raiding in the West when Ragnar finally allows Bjorn to come, when his father finally looks at him and tells him to bring his shield and his axe down to the boat.
He is all pride, that day - strutting like a cock, telling little Sigurd all about how one day he too shall be a great warrior and go West like his big brother.
He is all pride as he stands on the boat between his father and mother, waving at the townspeople, at his siblings and his parents' priest, before getting down to take his place by an oar.
He is all pride and pride goes before the fall, or so Athelstan muttered once.
Eventually they leave the confines of the fjord. Eventually the boats - seven of them this year - reach the great Northern Sea. Eventually the wind picks up and the deck starts bucking like an untamed horse.
They laugh at him, then, as he leans out between two shields to make his sacrifices to Ægir and Ran. It is his mother who tells him to be a man and go back to his oar and he does, humiliated.
Rollo thumps his shoulder from behind.
"You should have seen your father, the first time he came along for a raid in the East. Green as the belly of a fish and couldn't eat a thing for the three days the passing lasted."
Bjorn snorts as his father raises his voice in protest. Then he grasps his oar and finds the rhythm.