Good morning, everybody who's reading! I hope you like this upcoming chapter. It feels like we're moving right along, so wish me luck getting this story finished.

This chapter will be in Athelstan's perspective (I hope), and there will again be stuff in here that recognizable. Telling a story through a canon character always kinda does that. I had to condense a couple of things, because there's much more I want to write. We'll see what happens.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed this story, and especially everyone who's put this in their favorites.

As usual, I don't own anything that's recognizable, but everything else (Lilith) is mine.

More notes at the bottom.


A New World

When the island had finally disappeared behind them, Athelstan could only clutch his robes around him as the sea drenched him and the boat rocked uncontrollably. It wasn't like any boat he had been in before. It was larger and sturdier, able to go faster and ride the waves better. He had no problem keeping his constitution, but he still had trouble maintaining his balance. The sky changed, becoming darker as the cloud grew in front of them. The sun crept back toward the west, giving way to a new night and new problems as Brother Cenwulf shivered beside him.

After the fool had run into the water, attempting escape or worse, he had not dried, nor had he stopped shaking. Athelstan felt no sympathy for him. He wasn't sure he wanted to, even if he knew he should. They were clearly going to a place not meant for them, but all Athelstan truly felt was relief. For the last few months, he'd endured accusing looks and hushed rumors, and that was all over now.

Lilith was no longer in danger of being persecuted just for being a child or a girl. He wasn't yet certain if she was in no danger at all. Already, one of the men in this boat had looked at her the way all men looked at grown women, and that worried him. But the man who had saved them was protecting her. With any hope, he would continue to do so.

Something else Athelstan was grateful for was the fact that with Brother Cenwulf chattering his teeth so loudly, he could no longer utter any words of fear or even contempt. Though the sound was annoying enough, it was bliss not to have to listen to him for once. And none of the others taken had spoken either. Maybe they all believed this was a punishment from God. Athelstan did not know if it was or wasn't. Perhaps God had forsaken them all for what they had done — all of the others for persecuting Lilith and him for not protecting her.

Lilith looked to be in good enough spirits, eating what looked like fish from the man watching her and then learning about the boat as he showed it to her. Her eyes found Athelstan's once in a while, and he would nod that he was all right. As long as she wasn't hurt, he wasn't worried about himself. There was a good distance between her and the big, burly one, so Athelstan could relax at that.

As each passing moment turned into hours, one thing that worried Athelstan was what would happen to Lilith once they arrived wherever they were going. Clearly these men had come from the North, and why they had decided to come to England was still a mystery, but what would happen when they got back with their treasure? Would Lilith also become a slave? From what Athelstan knew of other lands that used slaves, it was no better a life than the one she'd already had. How could he convince this man who had saved them that she deserved more?

The first night came, and though he couldn't sleep, Athelstan watched Lilith sleep away from the men on the boat. The stars above them belied their perilous circumstances, as did the moon when she rose to make the water glow like snow-covered mountains. He found himself thankful for the full belly he'd had that morning, and he was grateful that at least someone was concerned with Lilith's well-being.

He didn't know if it meant they would ever feed him, but he would survive.

The next night, again while nearly all the men were sleeping except for the blue-eyed man who had saved her, she found her way to Athelstan's side as he sat facing her.

"Athelstan," she whispered as she sat beside him.

Though he was tired, he gave her all his attention, barely noticing how the man watching them did so with a small smile.

"Yes, Lili?" he whispered.

"I needed to tell you something," she said. "Something I should have told you a long time ago. About my dreams."

Athelstan pulled in a deep, exhausted breath. "I told you, Lili, those were just dreams. There is no need to be afraid of them. Not even now."

She took his hands in hers, holding them as tightly as she could. "I know. But this one I had didn't make me afraid. I think it was trying to tell me something. Something about you and me."

He looked at her. "And what is that? What was this dream?"

Hesitating a little, she glanced around her before speaking in a determined voice. "I dreamt that a wave came and covered the island and washed everything away. It took Father Cuthbert and many of the other monks with it. Sometimes Brother Cenred died, and sometimes it was Brother Cenwulf. But you and I always survived."

When she finished, Athelstan just stared at her.

"Don't you see?" she whispered. "My dream came true."

Another day and night passed before the sun rose on a red morning, the tale of the previous days plain in the clouds. Blood had been spilled, and so the earth mourned. Then a squall rolled in, pitching the boat as the men around Athelstan began celebrating their victory and their treasure.

"We did it, brother," the blue-eyed man said to his brother, the burly one, Rollo.

A laugh followed, and the burly one responded. "Yes, brother, we did. Let's just hope the Earl sees it that way."

Athelstan looked up at the blue-eyed man settled in front of him, glancing up toward the bow where Lilith was just waking up.

"What is your name?" the man asked softly.

"Athelstan," was the reply he got.

"I am Ragnar. Lothbrok. And what was that place called?"

"Lindisfarne."

"England?" he asked.

Athelstan nodded. "Yes." Boldly, he leaned forward, remembering the reasons for the bells and the omen in the sky he had seen. "It was foretold that divine punishment for fall upon God's chosen people for all our grievous sins. And so it has happened. And that is why we're here."

Ragnar Lothbrok grinned his curious grin. "No. You're here because I spared your lives."

Athelstan clenched his jaws. "Why did you spare us? Out of all the others."

Ragnar glanced back at Lilith and then forward to the burly man who was his brother. "You, I don't know yet. But her. You said she is an orphan. How did an orphaned girl come to live in a place filled with men?"

Athelstan bowed his head. "She was placed on our doorstep by whom we think was her mother when she was an infant. There was nowhere else for her to go, and so she stayed with us." Athelstan paused and lowered his voice more. "Ragnar Lothbrok, I beg you. Wherever we're going, please, do not sell her as a slave. Though we were a simple monastery, my brothers were not kind to her, and she has suffered enough."

Ragnar leaned away, his face unreadable. "You speak of her as though she is yours, and yet you say she is not your child. You have raised her since she was a baby, yes?"

Athelstan nodded.

Ragnar shrugged. "So what would you have me do, Priest? If she will not be a slave, then what?"

"Surely, there is someone among your people who would be willing to take in a child who has no one."

"But she does not have no one, as you say," Ragnar pointed out. "She has you."

He went silent, contemplating without his face showing what he was thinking. Several minutes passed before he spoke.

"I will do this, Priest," he bargained. "When we reach Kattegat, I will make my decision on what to do with you both. It seems you will not leave her side, and so I will allow you to remain there for the duration of our journey back. But once there, you will be a captive. As to her, it will be decided when we arrive. Perhaps I will take her home with me. I have a young daughter at home who needs a sister."

Athelstan couldn't tell if Ragnar was being serious, but when the older man grinned and sat further up the hull next to Lilith, he gestured to Athelstan and nodded for her to go to him. She didn't hesitate, rising slowly and taking her new cloak with her as she sat down next to Athelstan.

"You're cold," she whispered and wrapped her little arms around him.

Athelstan bowed his head and kissed her hand. "I am, my dear girl. But I will survive. You will survive. I promise."

She lay her head over his shoulder and relaxed even as the sky grew pink from the early light illuminating the low clouds. He lay his head over hers, looking up at Ragnar.

"We're all right, Lili. I'm sure we'll be all right."

When Ragnar gave Lilith another bit of fish, she shared it with Athelstan, and when Ragnar reached for her, she waited for Athelstan to nod before she went to her new friend so he could show her something she never seen before.

When he lifted her up, his hands found something under her cloak, and Lilith squealed as he set her down and reached for what was under the heavy material.

"What is this?" he asked, more playfully than Athelstan expected him to.

"It is a book," Lilith said as Ragnar flipped through it to words she had written and images she had drawn. "Athelstan gave it to me when I was eleven."

Ragnar flipped through the pages, looking at her and then at Athelstan. "So you both speak our language," he deduced. "You both read and write. What marvels you show me with this book, Lilith."

She glanced at Athelstan, seeing his disapproving eyes and bowing her head. "I wanted to save it," she said, and Ragnar turned her face to him. "It was the only other thing I cared about."

Ragnar looked back at Athelstan. "Other than your teacher," he added.

"Yes," Lilith said.

Slowly, Ragnar closed the book and handed it back to her. "Keep your treasure safe, Lilith. I feel it will come in great use where we are headed."

She took it with both her little hands and clutched it to her chest, still allowing him to hold her as their journey continued.

With every passing minute, every passing hour, and every passing noon hour, Athelstan realized they were getting closer to land again. The waves calmed and the winds turned cool again. The other monks continued to shiver and whimper. They were all still terrified. Athelstan couldn't say he wasn't, but he decided he would do whatever it took to keep Lilith and himself safe. It didn't matter what that was anymore.

After so long sitting down, Athelstan realized he would give anything to stand up and stretch his legs. That turned out not to be the case for Brother Cenwulf, whose body had gone limp beside him. He didn't want to believe it true, but the man's cold body showed all the signs.

"Ragnar Lothbrok," he called up to the man who in turn sat up from his resting spot.

"What is it?"

"Brother Cenwulf here beside me," Athelstan gestured. "I think he's dead."

A short examination of the corpse confirmed Athelstan's fears, and Ragnar called back to another to help him.

"Leif."

Together, they lifted the man's body, and with little effort, tossed him over the side of the boat into the icy depths below.

Athelstan was stunned. He hadn't known what to expect. Of course these Northmen were not like him, but without a proper burial, it would be almost impossible for Brother Cenwulf's soul to be found in the afterlife. Athelstan felt himself praying for the man for the first time in a year, knowing that no man deserved such a fate.

"May God rest your soul, Brother Cenwulf," he whispered and crossed himself. He glanced at Lilith as he finished, seeing the same look on her face that was on his.

Suddenly, he remembered her dream. He looked around at the other monks who were just as frightened. A sinking feeling in his gut forced him to close his eyes. That meant they would all die as well.

God, Help them.

The fjord rose high above them on either side, green and lush and unfamiliar to Athelstan in every direction. He'd been to Denmark and Svealand, but this was completely new. The sky shined bright and blue, belying this new ominous world that sounded so unfamiliar. Whatever awaited Athelstan at the end of this journey, he hoped he was ready for it.

The other tall man, whose name was Leif, took possession of Lilith when they finally docked, disembarking the boat with her in one arm and a heavy gold casket in his other free hand. Athelstan followed the pull of the rope around his wrists, being grouped with the other monks until everything that had been in the boat was on the docks. Many people had gathered to greet them, and many offered congratulations on the successful raid. It was almost humiliating. Ragnar was the last one off the boat, tying another rope around Athelstan's neck and pulling him on to leave the docks like he was pulling a pack of dogs.

Athelstan tried to keep his sights on Lilith, even as a red-haired man shorter than Ragnar stopped him abruptly.

"Knut," Ragnar taunted, grinning. "You're too late. You missed the boat!"

Knut merely popped his chin out, pushing his shoulders back as he looked at Ragnar. "I came to tell you that Earl Haraldson summons you to see him in the Great Hall, Ragnar Lothbrok."

Ragnar smirked, thinking quickly before he responded. "It would be a pleasure," he agreed and started off without so much as a glance in Knut's direction. They walked on for several feet before Ragnar called back to him. "Are you coming, Knut?"

If the journey across the open sea hadn't worn Athelstan down, then this short walk from the docks to the Great Hall surely did, as he stumbled from one point to the other as if he'd forgotten how to walk. He glanced back a few times to make sure Lilith safe as she remained in Leif's care. Athelstan wondered if Ragnar Lothbrok would keep his word. Would he welcome a foreign child into his home solely on the word of a foreign man who happened to have raised her?

He could only hope.

The Great Hall reminded Athelstan of a grand church, with a tall roof, thatched with straw and wood, and two wide doors that were meant to receive large groups of people. There was certainly enough of that around here as men and women and children crowded around the returned travelers and their treasure. Athelstan couldn't look at everything fast enough, and it seemed to go by so quickly.

They all clamored into the Great Hall until it was full to the brim, and while it seemed like Ragnar's men kept Lilith at a distance, Athelstan was pulled all the way to the front where everyone could see him. He had tried to save a gospel from burning at the chapel, but because he hadn't, he felt naked now as he stood before these heathen people.

"My Lord," Ragnar said as he faced a regal looking man and woman who seemed to be in charge of these people. "It was easy to take all of these things. The priests in the temples. They had no weapons. They were like babies." He grabbed Athelstan's rope and tugged him forward. "This is one of their priests. We captured many of them to be sold as slaves." He shoved Athelstan away, continuing. "It must be true that there are many more places in England, and the west, and many more treasures. And to sail there, would benefit us all."

Earl Haraldson leaned forward. "How did you succeed sailing west, when so many others before you have failed?"

Ragnar grinned. "My Lord, we were more fortunate than others. We had Thor on our side."

The Earl nodded. "Yes. Then you were fortunate. But you understand that all of this," he said and waved his hands around, "belongs to me. By right."

They both hushed their voices to where Athelstan could not here, but it did not look like a happy agreement. Then Haraldson spoke up.

"Here is what I have decided," he said, as guards filtered into the hall. "Each of you will take one thing from this hoard."

"One?" Leif demanded.

"Yes, and you will all still be richer than you were before. And now the world will see how generous and magnanimous is your lord. Especially since you disobeyed me." He sat up straight and the leaned back to his chair. "So, Ragnar Lothbrok, what will you choose?"

Ragnar moved like it was a joke, from this trinket to that one, all while glancing back at the Earl with a flippant grin about his face. He even turned a golden bowl upside down on his head to sell his joke. Then he stopped and looked right at Athelstan, his gaze burning a hole through his chest before he turned to the Earl.

After a long pause, he decided. "I will take the priest. For my slave."

Earl Haraldson actually blinked, looking at Athelstan and then Ragnar. "The priest?" he confirmed.

The woman beside him giggled, and everyone else behind them did as well, but Athelstan knew Ragnar was being serious. After a few stolen laughs, the Earl did as well. He clenched his jaws then and pressed his lips together.

"Granted."

That ended the longest moment of Athelstan's life as he was sat down on the bench next to the fire, and Ragnar waved Leif forward.

"My Lord, I have one last grievance, in light of your benevolence," Ragnar said as Leif carried Lilith to the front and set her down in front of the Earl. "This orphaned little girl was being held captive amongst the priests where we raided. From what my new slave tells me, she has no other family and needs a good home in which to grow up. I humbly request that this child be made a member of my household, with all its advantages and privileges."

The Earl was instantly intrigued, glancing at the woman beside him and taking in her smile before he beckoned them both forward.

"Can you understand me, child?" he asked her.

Lilith nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And what is your name?"

"My name is Lilith, sir," she answered, to which a lot of people gasped.

Haralson glanced at the woman and then looked at her again. "And is it true that you have no family in that place where you come from?"

"Yes, it's true, sir."

He looked up at Ragnar. "And do you wish to become a part of this man's family even though he is not your father?"

Lilith looked up at Ragnar too, holding his hand tighter. He nodded, and she looked at Haraldson. "Yes, sir. I do."

Haraldson looked over her face and then her dress before he looked at the woman and then gestured to her. Lilith glanced at Ragnar, who again nodded, and then she stepped up to be in front of the woman.

"Hello," the brown-haired woman said sweetly. "I am Siggy. Your name is Lilith?"

Lilith bowed her head. "Yes, ma'am."

She reached for Lilith's hand and took it gently in both of hers. "You have been well-cared for. Did you lose your family in a sickness? Or a ship wreck?"

"No, ma'am. My mother left me at the monastery when I was a baby."

Siggy was surprised, glancing at Haraldson, who was clearly her spouse, before she pulled Lilith closer to lean forward and kiss her on the lips.

"Bless you, child. Go on with your new father."

Lilith glanced at Ragnar, allowing him to take her hand and pull her away to be back at his side.

"So you take full responsibility for this child and all of her care, all of her needs?" Earl Haraldson demanded of Ragnar.

"I do. Completely."

Haraldson nodded. "And so it will be. Go on."

Ragnar bowed as low as he could, keeping Lilith in his arm and tugging on the rope tied to Athelstan.

The burly man, Rollo, followed them out of the Great Hall, barreling through the streets as they walked passed little houses and people tending to animals. Athelstan listened to them argue, knowing it had to do with what Earl Haraldson had done and understanding Ragnar's anger. When he was done arguing with Rollo, Ragnar glanced at Athelstan and took Lilith under his arm to guide them away from the main part of the town.

"It will take over night to reach my home," Ragnar said as they walked briskly. He glanced at Athelstan again. "When we arrive, you will only speak once I've spoken to you." He looked at Lilith and smiled. "You, on the other hand, will be able to do as you please, my child."

Lilith smiled with him, looking at Athelstan and waiting for him to nod before she allowed Ragnar to take her hand.

Athelstan accepted that he would be treated differently now that he was as a slave. It wasn't something he believed would ever happen to him, but with Lilith safe and now in the charge of someone who genuinely seemed to care for her, Athelstan would take his lot in life. At least they were together.


Next chapter should be up in a week or so, depending on a lot of things. It will be from Lilith's perspective.

I'd like to say like the pros that I have this all mapped out somewhere, and that's true, because it's all in my head. So let's see how that pans out.

As usual, I hope you all like this chapter, and I'll see you next time!