Chapter 9 AN: It is very likely that the future chapters are going to be shorter than what they have been earlier, but I personally don't think that is a bad think and I hope at least some of you agree with me. The newer chapters are covering shorter spans of time and it would be meaningless to just drag out a chapter to get extra length on it.

And about next week, I hope I will be able to put up a chapter but I can't be certain. This weekend and all of next week will be spent outside doing fieldwork and that leaves little time to write. I'll try my best, but I rather skip one week than write something really crappy just to keep up a posting schedule.

And to Captain Awesomesauce: You brighten up my posting days^^ To cure you curiosity (hopefully) about the shoe… Both my shoes (and the rest of my singed clothes) were taken away for insurance purposes. The only thing I have left is a picture of the burnt shoe and it makes me think that maybe I wasn't too crazy having kicked it off to wander around in the snow without it.


A king there shall be 872

Almost a hundred years of Viking raid had passed since the very first attack on Lindisfarne. After Norway's suggestion the Scandinavians had split up to raid as separate people. Sweden and his people mostly kept to the east while Norway and Denmark usually crossed the sea to the east and went to England, Scotland and Ireland. They would visit other places as well but the personifications could not come along on every single raid their people went on.

On the raids Norway had been a part of himself, not all had been as easy as the first one where they barely met any resistance. Some of the people they met would try to fight of the Vikings… not that many of them had succeeded to well. And there were also the changing relationships with the other two nations to think about. Norway had ended up in a serious argument with Denmark when the Norwegians drove the Danes out of the town of Dublin and claimed it for themselves after the Danes had been there for two years.

Denmark had sought out Norway to demand an explanation to why the Norwegians had attacked him when their countries were supposed to be on friendly terms. Norway had only shrugged his shoulders and said that he was not in control of the actions of his people. Denmark had seemed hurt as he left but had left the issue alone afterwards. Norway had meant what he had said; he could not control his countrymen.

The chieftain the Norwegians had at that moment had not cared who they were fighting, as long as he gained more land and wealth. But it was only the one time the Norwegians had ended up on the opposite sides with the Danes and a few years later Denmark and Norway was yet again standing on the bow of a common ship, sailing west to attack some English village like nothing bad had ever happened between their people.

Denmark and Sweden had had some troubles between themselves as well, at least according to some of the rumors the Norwegian had heard. They had ended up in a fight or two, but Norway had no idea over what[1]. But the last hundred years had really been filled with a lot of fighting so there was no reason to get the details of every single one of them.

The three Scandinavians had really managed to spread fear around large portions of Europe. There were many stories of how they would slaughter, plunder and burn wherever they went. It was a bit exaggerated since they did a lot of trading and settling down in new places as well. But the bloodshed they had brought with them so many places was what stuck in the memories of people.


Previously the rule of Norway was split between different strong chieftains, ruling over different areas. But now things were starting to change. Denmark had gotten a king some years earlier and now Norway had a man named Harald Halvdansson claiming to be the rightful king over the land himself, after his father had died being the ruler of large portions of Norwegian land. The struggle for power had lasted for many years but the last two years the battles had become more frequent as the strongest men in the land fought to be the ruler of the land.

Norway had decided it was best for him to stay in his own land until the fighting had died down. Norwegians were fighting other Norwegians in the battle for power. The chieftains were not willing to have anyone rule over them and it made Norway feel sick whenever they engaged each other in battle. Harald Halvdansson had during the last two years gotten control over larger portions of lands and he was now gathering the forces necessary to beat down the last rebellions against his rule.


Norway was once again sitting on the hill with an overview of his village. People were too busy to come up here and that gave him a place of quiet to think and right now he really needed it. It was just typical of Denmark to arrive at this exact time. He had sensed his presence and had seen the ship land a few minutes ago. It wouldn't take the Dane too long to find him up on the hill.

He was very correct in that estimation, but at least Denmark was not used to climbing to many hills since his lands were extremely flat. And so he used a while to drag himself the entire way up, panting heavily when he finally reached the Norwegian sitting absolutely unmoving on a rock.

"Hello Denmark" Norway greeted flatly before the other had time to open his mouth. "You didn't even turn around! How can you possibly know it was me?" The Dane asked with a voice as loud as ever. Norway sighed "You should know that it is extremely hard to mistake you for Sweden and the other way around. I am perfectly capable of recognizing the ship you arrived with even from this distance."

"I guess you have a point there" Denmark said before he flopped down on the soft grass beside the rock where Norway was seated. "So what are you doing up here?" the Dane asked "I haven't seen you this quiet in years." Norway didn't answer and kept his eyes on the sea but that only made the Dane determined to get an answer. "I actually came just to ask you if you wanted to go raiding with me, but know I want to know why you are this quiet and you know that I will not leave before I have an answer."

Norway grumbled silently because he knew that was the truth and it was not like he was hiding a great secret. "There is going to be a battle very soon" he said still not moving from his place. That caused Denmark to narrow his eyebrows slightly. "In the last hundred years I have gone on several raids together and never have I seen you nervous about it at all. So what is wrong about this battle?"

A bitter smile grazed the Norwegians lips and he turned his face further away from the other in order to hide it. "This isn't like any other battle. If I join in this battle I will have to raise a sword against my own people. I don't know what to do." Denmark moved closer to the rock where Norway sat and placed one hand on the others knee and brought the other up to turn the others face towards him.

"If I am to understand what you are talking about, you need to give me some more information you know." Norway frowned and tried to look away again but the Dane kept his hand firmly in place and made it impossible for him to move his head to the side. Denmark's eyes usually sparkling with life were for once looking serious and had lost its playful hint. "Norge… Just tell me." His voice had almost turned into begging.

"There is a man claiming the title of king, but there are still some chieftains that do not recognize him as so. He lives just a few villages away and I have been asked to join the fight on his side. There is no problem if he is the winner because then he will be my king but if he loses then I will have raised sword against my people for nothing." Norway's eyes were cold and hard when he talked.

"Then why don't you just stay out of the fight and wait to see the result?" the Dane asked as that solution would seem obvious. Norway gave an annoyed snort "That would only be fine if he loses but what will he think of me if he wins and know that I stayed out of the fight?" Denmark was desperate to find a way to cheer up the other; he didn't like to be serious for too long at the time, it didn't suit him and he was way too restless to stay like that for long.

"Who is this guy claiming to be king then" Denmark asked. "Why do you care?" Norway asked and his voice had changed from the normal calm tone and to a slight snarling. "Because I care about you and I want to help you" Denmark said innocently with most of his usual chipper tone back, but Norway did not look amused.

"He goes by the name of Harald Halvdansson" the Norwegian answered "but people call him Harald Luva." That caused Denmark to bright up again "He's the guy with the hair right? I saw him down in the village just before I walked up here" Norway sighed "yes he is. The name makes that kind of obvious[2]." "So can you tell me why a guy walks around with hair and beard like that?" the Dane asked merrily.

Norway gave another sigh and Denmark returned to his original position on the ground, there was no longer any need to force the other to look at him. "Harald is in love with a woman called Gyda Eiriksdotter. She told him she don't want him unless he was the king of all of Norway and so he swore that he would not cut or comb his hair or beard until all of Norway is his."

Denmark's face lit up and he reached up to grab the Norwegians hands. "I think you should join the battle Norge" he said. "A man that dedicated to his cause is sure to win any battle." "But he is only that determined because of some woman" Norway said with furrowed brows. "If he does it for love, then it's even better than if he was doing it purely for power." Denmark said happily. "Love can push a man further than one would have thought possible. So go and join his army now, the sooner you get a king the sooner you can join me on a raid."

And with that Denmark stood up and forced the Norwegian to stand up. "Where is your sword Norge? You can't keep you king waiting, we don't want him to think you're a coward now do we?" Norway shot a murderous glare at the Dane, but as usual it was completely ignored by the overly cheery man. "You know that it will take weeks before I will be free to go raiding" Norway stated coldly. "It will take time to beat down the rebellion and have everybody accept Harald as the king."

"Then I will be back in a few weeks" Denmark said happily. "You take everything to serious, you need some cheering up." "Don't you have some country affairs to take care of back in your own lands?" Norway askedhiding his annoyance. "Nah… the only thing my king ever does is send me to whatever place is set on us raiding, and I strongly believe that my people will be fully capable of dealing with anything thrown at them, so I figured I could visit you and drag you along" The Dane said with the same happy tone of voice.

Norway sighed heavily but he let himself be led on the path down to the village. He could still not be sure about which way the battle would go, but he would join, and he would fight for his king, it was time for his country to be united. He just had to hope that he had picked the right side in the battle.


Standing on the same ship beside the partially self-proclaimed king he could not help but feel nervous. They were sailing along the coast, further north where the rebellious chieftains had gathered their forces in Hafrsfjord. At the stern of the boat stood Harald Luva himself, the mass of hair making him easy to separate from the rest of the crew. None of the others were able to compete with the hair he had been growing since the day about ten years ago when he made his wow not to cut it.

"Lukas" A voice called and Norway turned to see the king signal him over to the stern to join him. So he walked over and made a small bow in respect like it was normal to do. "What is it my lord?" he asked quietly when he stood up straight again. The king put a heavy arm around his shoulders "I just wanted to thank you for joining us for this upcoming battle." He said loud and clearly, voice resounding with authority.

"The people of your village told me that if I wanted to win the battle I should have you on my side. They said that despite you young looks you have been on more raids to the west than I could imagine, so I guess your experience will come in handy." "I will do my best" Norway said simply and Harald had no idea of what was really hidden behind the tiniest hint of a smile he could see on the other males face.

"Do you know who we are going to fight Lukas?" Harald asked. Norway nodded "From what I have understood their names are Eirik and Sulke." Harald shrugged, "You are right about the names. Eirik claims to be king of Hordaland and Sulke king of Rogaland[3]. They are the last chieftains opposing me, and as soon as they are defeated there are none left who oppose me."

"We are almost at Hafrsfjord; we better ready ourselves, because this is not going to be easy." The strongly bearded and hairy man patted Norway on the shoulder one more time before another man walked up to them seeking the king's attention.

Norway decided to leave the king and his jarl alone. He walked over to where he had put his sword and chainmail. In his first raids over the sea he hadn't bothered to put on any form of mail, it only served to slow him down and they never met too much resistance as their attacks usually came as a surprise on whoever they attacked. But now both parties knew of the upcoming battle and they were all Norsemen with great skills in combat, and he did not want to meet them unprepared.


The fleet of Eirik and Sulke was almost large enough to match the one of Harald Luva. The dragon heads carved on the bow of each ship made it seem like two armies of angry dragons were facing each other. Men on both sides had started crying out insults in an attempt to discourage the opponents, but nobody was going to back down.

Norway was the only one being quiet; he saw no need in throwing insults at his own people. Again he doubted his choice of joining the battle, but there was no backing down now. In the opponents fleet he could easily spot two ships greater than the others and identified them as the ships carrying the chieftains of Hordaland and Rogaland.

Harald was standing tall and proud at the stern of his ship. The helmet he bore had been embedded with a delicate pattern in gold pointing him out as the king and the cloak he bore had a thick fur lining to prove that he was of a higher class than the rest of the crew. He had started screaming out encouraging words to the men as they slowly glided over the waves and in to combat distance.

Norway was keeping a firm grip on the sword in one hand and shield in the other. The few seconds right before a battle broke out always seemed to pass much slower than what was normal. He could see the faces on the men on the ship sailing towards the one he was standing on. The men had looks of pure determination and even some bloodlust. But there was not a single face with a trace of fear any of them. They were all prepared to die for their cause, for their leader and there was no room to fear death. If they were to fall, then they would spend the night feasting in Valhalla with the gods[4].

There were a few more moments of calm before the first ships were scraping together and the voice of Harald Luva screamed "attack!" At that was all it took to start it all. Men on both sides starter boarding the opposing ships, expertly wielding their weapons and cutting down anyone they could reach. Battle cries and insults were exchanged with screams and the singing of metal.

Norway stood a few steps behind everybody else so he had more room to maneuver and stop anybody that got past the first line of defense. He had much experience in fighting and was able to best most humans without much difficulty. But he was not willing to be one of the persons to push further the assault. It was bad enough that he had to stop others from getting to the man he had chosen as his king.


Norway could feel every death from the battle as a punch to his stomach. He had also sensed the casualties of the battles Harald had lead earlier, but he found it to be very difficult to be a part of the battle tearing him apart inside. A death caused by the hands of a fellow Norwegian, and being a part of the slaughter was worse than just knowing of it.

A man running towards Norway with an axe lifted ready to strike, but Norway blocked the blow easily with the rounded shield and bashed it against his opponent. The man was knocked off balance and that was all the advantage Norway needed to end him with a simple strike of his sword. There was no excitement in this battle for him like it was in the attacks he fought across the waters, this was purely duty.

"Stop the berserker!" someone screamed, "they are trying to overwhelm us!" Norway could not locate the person yelling, but what he could see was the berserker he talked of, a giant of a man with a massive black beard wielding a long sword with both hands. One sweep and he had two men bleeding on the ground screaming in agony before death would take them.

Norway took it upon himself to stop the man before he could reach the king who was busy fighting his own battle. The berserker was just able to notice the shorter male and block the incoming strike before it could tear at his flesh. The berserker was much stronger and he easily forced the other to step take quick steps backwards to get away. Getting closer to the railing of the boat Norway quickly broke the stalemate between the two blades and took a quick step to the side.

The berserker had been so focused on forcing the other to back that he tumbled forward and was barely capable of blocking the next quick strike aimed at his side. But now Norway was the one with the upper hand and he was able to move much faster and carried a lighter weapon, so the berserker was not able to block many extra slashes before his defense broke down and he was left heaving for his breath looking down at the hilt of a blade sticking out of his chest.

He attempted to swing his sword one last time in an attempt to bring down the now unarmed man, but Norway took one calm step backwards and the berserker fell to his knees before him and at last fell over completely, a fall that he would never rise up from. Norway was left panting and without a weapon so he picked up the long sword I case any other opponents would come in his direction.

But there were no one else to come past the initial line of defense along the rim of the boat. The earlier stream of men to board the ship had let up and a quick look across the waters revealed that the other fleet was disintegrating. Many men had jumped overboard and taken the swim to land where they could escape inlands.

The leaders of the opposing army, Sulke and Eirik had fallen without ever making it to the flagship of Harald Luva. The berserker named Tore Hakland was the last great strength their army had, and when he fell the remainder of the army realized their battle was lost and the ones who had a chance escaped.

"Victory is ours!" Harald Luva was holding his blade up in the air while yelling at the top of his lungs and a roar of victory was quickly rising among the fleet. Harald's jarl stepped next up to the man "Victory to the true king of Norðvegr" he yelled "all hail the king!" And the roars grew even louder.

Norway was smiling for himself. He was surrounded by death, but still just hearing the words from the king and the jarl was a relief. For now the battle over power was over, there was only one true king over the lands. Norway was no longer a country ruled by separate strong willed and powerful men, but there was one man to take control over it all. From now on all the land was united under one true king.


When Harald had all of Norway under his rule, his wow was fulfilled and he could return to the woman he had originally made his wow to and she finally accepted his proposal. The plans for the wedding between Harald Luva Halvdansson and Gyda Eiriksdotter were quickly set in motion and the wedding was to be held at the end of the summer.

Norway had gotten an invitation from the king to meet with him a few days before the day of the wedding. So Norway rode the way from Kaupang where he still stayed and to the big farm owned by Harald so he could find out what the man wanted from him, it was not like they knew each other as friends. Norway had decided it might be wise of him to keep his secret to himself for the time being.

He was greeted to the farm by a young man taking control of the horse as soon as he dismounted to lead it to the stable and a young girl stepped up to him. "The king is expecting you" she said in a sweet and childish voice "Please just follow me and I'll take you to him. She quickly turned around and started leading the way to the main house and just inside of the door was a massive room with room for several people. Just back at the wall with overview over the entire room was a throne with the king seated on it.

When the king noticed Norway approaching, he quickly stood up and walked towards him welcoming with open arms. "Lukas" he said cheerily "it is so good to see you again, I am very pleased that you could take the time and come here." Norway gave a polite nod to Harald. "I would not ignore a request from my king" he said. "But I can't say I understand why you wanted me to come in the first place."

Harald smiled heartily "there is a great feast arranged for today. I have fulfilled my wow not to cut my hair until the day I was king, and my wedding is soon to come. So today I'm cutting my hair in celebration and I want the man who brought down the berserker to join in on the feast." And with that Harald gave Norway a slap on the back almost with enough strength to knock the personification over.


And a great feast it was indeed. Norway was three mugs into the mead and had a flashback to the day when he, Denmark and Sweden had first decided to go out in Viking. The feast had started with Harald yelling for a servant to fetch scissors and to cheers from the company of men gathered. A couple of minutes later the kings mass of hair and beard were reduced considerably and the man was almost not recognizable.

"You know what Harald" an extremely drunk man slurred as he supported his weight on the shoulder of his king later in the evening. "We cannot really call you Harald Luva anymore." Most of the men present agreed in the form of mutter and slurred cheers. "You are absolutely right" One of Harald's lesser drunk friends said. "The man before us is no longer Harald Luva, but instead the king Harald Hårfagre[5]!" And with agreeing cheers from the company gathered the name was set.


AN: A lot of the information is taken from Heimskringla the saga about the Norwegian kings written by the Icelander Snorre Sturlason in the 13th century or around that time. But I'm a bit careful about that information as he at times seems a lot fonder of Norwegians than of Danes and Swedes and I will make a point of that later on in the story.


[1] I found some information that seems to indicate that there have been a lot of battles between the Scandinavians, way too many for me to keep track of

[2] Harald Luva (rufsehovud) directly translated meaning something like "messy-head " but a better name would be "tanglehair"

[3] Hordaland and Rogaland are two Norwegian counties, and there seems to be many claims of being kings around this time

[4] Norse mythology: Those who fell in battle were said to end up in Valhalla where they would feast each night and fight, and if they died they would be brought back again to feast and fight the next day.

[5] Hårfagre means "fairhair" He didn't really get that name until after his time