It was a terrifying sight to behold. Ragnar, Alvin, and many of the other heathen warlords were hanging our soldiers on a nearby island. Many were shuddering in fear, but instead I had shed a few tears. But I had to be strong. I knew some skill with the sword and I knew I had to protect some of the women from rape. I would stand and protect those who were gathered at the church to pray. Meanwhile, on the south shore of the Seine River, Stoick was furious with his rival Alvin.

"We had an agreement!" Stoick scolded. "These prisoners were to be ransomed! The remaining garrison in Paris has no chance to stand against us!"

"Oh I didn't do this against your wishes but on the command of Ragnar Lothbrok," Alvin replied.

"I gave the order and also this whole endeavor is mine," Ragnar declared.

"Then I should withdraw my men if you seek to claim everything for yourself!" Stoick shouted. "Do you intend to starve my people?!"

"I am nothing if not a man of my word Stoick," Ragnar replied. "Not unlike this Frankish emperor who violated his oath with me. So I intended to make his people pay and now they will pay for what they have done. Besides, this is a sacrifice so that all father may grant us victory."

"We cannot afford conflict as it is because we have already won a great victory," said Oswald. "The great raid of the Danes, Berserkers, and Hooligans will become legend if we take this city and I have already shared a side plan to allow the Berserkers and Hooligans to scale the walls and thus draw more of the garrison away from the gates so that by the time you breach the gates, we will take this city with even fewer casualties than if we were to ram the gates through both bridges."

"Very well," Ragnar replied. "My men will be waiting on both sides of the river. We shall commence the attack."

We were soon surrounded in the Seine and on the land. Some 158 ships been anchored in the Seine and then ladders were then at the wall. Stoick and his men were able to punch through the soft defenses and the shields were easily smashed against Stoick's war hammer. A few managed to get in and they were already tearing into the city but not to loot but to set fires in hopes of distracting some men from the gate, but ironically, I noticed that Spitelout, Valka, Spitelout, Avlin, and another they called Savage were pouring water to make sure the fires didn't get past this certain point. Another shield maiden then saw that I had witnessed the act and she was alarmed at this.

"We have a witness!" the shield maiden shouted. "I'll take care of him and I'll make sure he doesn't report to the Frankish army!"

"May God give me the strength to stand up for my people!" I exclaimed.

"Your God is a worthless one to allow someone so noble as yourself to die like a dog and it's a pity that I will have to bring you down so easily!" she shouted just as she lunged forward. It was a terrifying experience but surprisingly she missed every time as I kept dodging the blade at the entrance of the church. Suddenly, I swung my blade and disarmed her and then cut the upper part of her calf and demanded that she would yield. She got back up hastily and lunged at me, only for me to step aside and then knock her down to her feet and then I kicked the sword away from her and held my own blade at her throat.

"Ye'll not harm the innocents on my watch!" Fergus shouted. "Dunbroch gu brath!"

As Stoick shouted, he managed to cut down a few of the Hooligan warriors and then he and two other Dunbroch soldiers along with the Franks were just standing their ground between Stoick and the gate. It seems as though the soldiers were so few on the walls for a reason. As they knew they would lose the battle, they were hoping to take down one of the Viking chiefs while doing it. Stoick looked on as well as Valka, Spitelout, and the rest of the Hooligan warriors.

"You can choose to leave and live or we will die taking you down with us!" a Frankish knight shouted.

"VALHALLA!" Stoick shouted.

"Valhalla!" Spitelout followed. "Oh this was quite a fun raid, wasn't it Valka?"

"To Valhalla Spitelout!" Valka replied. "I'm with you all to the end.

Stoick then charged forth with a war cry. From the other side of the city, I could hear the hooting war cry of the Berserkers as the Danes had then broken through both of the gates and both groups of the garrison were surrounded. However, the garrison that Stoick would face wouldn't go down so easily. Though the first group of soldiers fell beneath the killing blows of the Hooligans, three Frankish knights then faced off against Stoick and Stoick had to keep his distance as to make sure he was not killed in the process.

Stoick drew his ax and used both his ax and his warhammer from which then he took down two of the knights at once and then the third one fell in a swift moment. Then after he and the heathens tore through the last line of my countrymen he came to the Frankish general and he drew his sword. It seemed to last longer than anticipated. Eventually, the Frankish soldier then soon found himself cut on the armed with a move Stoick used to get the hilt between his arms and then Stoick's blade was used at the insides of the arm as to bush the brunt of his weight down on the general's arms and thus disarm him.

It didn't do much harm there as he was wearing chain mail but then Stoick went around, turned, and thrust his blade up the armpit of the commander before he could rise.

"Very impressive, but your ruthless deeds will earn you God's disfavor," the Frankish general said.

Just then, Stoick cut his throat and the last of the Frankish men surrendered. He then lunged at Fergus, only to be disarmed in a split second. But as Fergus saw that the prisoners were about to be executed he shouted, "NO, stop! Spare their lives and I'll do anything for you! You may take me prisoner!"

The Vikings agreed and spared the last of the Frankish soldiers. But then they turned lose and began looting pillaging and plundering the city. My home, Paris, was now up in flames. I was leading many others out the back of the church before many of the Vikings could notice and then gave them instructions.

"Alright, you take these ladders and leave the city, at the southern tip of the isle," I told a young woman with her child. "There are a few boats that we prepared as we knew this was coming."

They fled and many others followed but most were inside their homes, helpless to get away. I witnessed in horror as Alvin, Savage, Spitelout, and many other Hooligan heathens took a liking to many of the women of our city. I saw in another case where Stoick , Valka, and a few other warriors ended up killing some women and even young girls. I was about to sneak up in the midst of the pillaging and launch a spear at Stoick, until I saw him go into a bakery and then he told a family to stay hidden and then covered them with a tarp and made sure that the wife and the daughters were safe. I then recognized that Stoick had killed those other women and little girls so they wouldn't have to suffer the rape of the most nefarious members of the Danes, Hooligans, and Berserkers.

Many of the Vikings then turned their attention towards my brethren in the church while I was still holding the shield maiden as prisoner. I shouted at them not to slaughter my church brethren and the sick within the church.

"Don't harm them!" I shouted. "You may take me prisoner and do whatever you want with me but please don't harm my brothers."

"You have yourself a deal," a blonde haired Viking declared. "It's impressive a peace loving Frank like yourself bested my sister in combat. No one was even able to best her at the top of her training not even me. Besting Helga Hofferson certainly shows you're probably a great warrior."

"Hardly," I replied. "It was simply God who gave me the ability to win."

"Yet your God seems to have abandoned you so why is He worthy of your worship?" the blonde Viking questioned.

"It is simply the judgment of God upon my people and my emperor for their wickedness," I declared. "But mark my words, for your mocking of God and harming of the innocent, you will all suffer God's judgment though not all of you will die as God's mercy will be offered to both Frank and Viking alike."

"Oh please, Odin granted us victory here and obviously has shown that his power is superior!" Spitelout scolded just before he and the blonde Viking started pillaging the church.

They overturned the pews and even desecrated the crucifix on the altar.

"Oh look at this," Spitelout mocked. "A dead god nailed to a Roman cross."

As much as I wanted to fight back, I had already surrendered and if I broke my word then the sick in the church and the priests and monks would all be left to the slaughter. I felt I could die in the moment when suddenly something unexpected happened.

"That's quite impressive, one who bested me in combat and at the same time stood up to protect his people!" the shield maiden exclaimed. "Most Berkians themselves would have just fought even if it meant the death of their fellows. That's unusual. I like it!"

She smiled at me with a glow in her eye. Though I was concerned worried that some of the Viking women would take a liking to some of the men but I heard very little of these heathens. I figured it was only the unrighteous that were being punished in the kingdom along with innocents suffering in the process. My thinking was about to change in belief that I myself was being judged because things were about to get a whole lot worse.