For two days they traveled almost non-stop, pausing only long enough to rest the horse and constantly starting at the smallest sound from the forest. Rollo refused to sleep in the cart again and Lagertha worried that he would be attacked in the night, but they didn't see any other animals suffering from madness and she became convinced they had left any danger behind. It was almost noon of that second day when they crested a hill and saw a village in the valley below. A river ran close by, draining into the sea a few miles away, and there were crops of barley and oats and rye in the fields. On another hill a flock of goats was tended by a small boy, and there was a bustling air as people came and went about their business. Lagertha gazed at the place for a long moment, then clicked her tongue at the horse, pulling on the reins to turn the cart away.

Rollo caught the horse's bridle. "What are you doing?"

She lifted her chin at him but he stared her down and she said coldly, "That is not a place for us to go to."

His eyes widened but he said nothing, instead busying himself with unhitching the horse. The animal freed, he reached into the back of the cart and took out a bow and some arrows, handing them to Bjorn. "Go. See if you can get a deer." He gave the boy his knife. "If you can't carry it, cut off a haunch. And remember, only shoot at a buck, never a doe." Bjorn hesitated and Rollo lifted him out of the cart. "Go!"

Lagertha's face was like a thundercloud as she watched her son run off into the trees. "You had no right to do that."

"I want to talk to you," said Rollo.

"There is nothing I want to talk about," she said stubbornly.

"Then you can listen." The big warrior leaned against the cart, surveying the village below. "I wanted to die after Siggy…" He closed his eyes for a moment, then resumed more softly. "You saved my life, Lagertha, but I didn't know what to do with it once she was gone. Now I have to think of you and Bjorn."

Lagertha said forcefully, "We are not your responsibility."

He smiled. "Perhaps not. Perhaps once you are settled, I will go back to Kattegat and leave you to your new lives. But until then, I will do what I can to help you, and right now, you need my help more than ever." Lagertha glowered at Rollo and his smile broadened. "Normally I would listen to that look, shieldmaiden, but not today." He reached up and took her by the waist, pulling her out of the cart and dumping her unceremoniously on the ground. She bounced to her feet ready to fight but he was seating himself next to the cart, ignoring her outrage as she straightened her garments. He was studying the village again, and after a moment she sat next to him.

Rollo said quietly, "It is almost harvest time. Soon it will begin to be cold all the time, not just at night. We have to find a place to stay, at least for the winter, or we may not see the spring."

"I know," said Lagertha, grief in her voice. "It is just…"

"It is just while we are traveling, all we have to think about is finding food and water and a place to spend the night. Once we stop moving, we have to start living again. The thought frightens me too, Lagertha. And if it were only you and I, we could go on until we laid down to die somewhere no one would ever find us."

The shieldmaiden sighed. "Bjorn."

Rollo nodded. "He needs a home. He chose to come with you and now we have to find a place to live where he will be safe."

Lagertha's eyes filled with tears. "I keep thinking this is all a bad dream."

"I know the feeling." Rollo stretched out in the grass, his hands linked behind his head. "For a long time, every day when I woke up I reached for Siggy. I still cannot believe she will never be there again."

"She was a good friend to me."

"She was an amazing woman." Rollo's voice took on a distant tone. "The first time we met secretly, I was sure...she sent one of her women to tell me she would be waiting for me, and all I thought of was having sex with her, as I had with so many other women. But all she wanted was to warn me that Earl Haraldson hated me and would have my life if he could. I couldn't listen to her, of course-Torstein had told me you and Ragnar were hiding at Floki's and my brother was recovering from his wounds. I thought I was safe enough in Kattegat, and that if Haraldson had me to think about, it would give Ragnar the time he needed to get back on his feet…" His voice trailed away and he was silent for so long that Lagertha wondered if he meant to go on. Finally he said softly, "When Haraldson had me, when he did this…" He touched the scars on his face. "Siggy was the one who stopped him. Oh, she didn't plead for him to have mercy on me. She was too clever for that-he would have plunged the knife straight into my heart. No, she told him that if he released me, everyone would see what he had done and someone was sure to tell Ragnar. He had his men throw me, bleeding, into the street, and no one dared to even stop to see if I was alive or dead, but it fell out as Siggy said. Someone must have told Ragnar…"

The sun was blotted out as Lagertha leaned over Rollo. "Don't you know?"

He looked up at her curiously. "Know what?"

"It was Siggy herself who sent word to Ragnar. She met with Torstein and he came to tell us what had happened to you."

Rollo turned his head away. "She never told me. That was her way, though. She loved Haraldson, but she was afraid of him. She had formed a habit of staying in the background, never telling half of what she knew, and it took her a long time to really trust me."

"He was a cruel man," said Lagertha. "It was a good day for Kattegat when Ragnar killed him." Now she was the one who faltered and Rollo sat up, regarding her intently. "It was a bad day for me. I did not know it at the time, but everything changed between us that day. I still loved him, he still loved me, but he loved his destiny more." She smiled ruefully. "We were happy when Ragnar was a simple farmer. If only he had been content to stay that way."

"I could almost wish for your sake my brother had never become earl, but then I would never have known Siggy." There was a wistfulness in Rollo's voice as he went on. "I know how selfish that sounds but I cannot help it."

Lagertha took a deep breath. "It's fate, Rollo. It is all happening as it is meant to."

"Then I would say we were fated to find this village."

The shieldmaiden threw off her sadness. "Who am I to argue with fate?"