Rollo sat several feet outside his home, skinning a rabbit for his stew. His dark eyes assessing Ragnar, Rollo's lips conveyed a stern grimace. "Does not surprise me brother," Rollo began. "That the little wisp ran to her true master.."
Ragnar slowed his walk to a stop, a foot away from Rollo. "Agi is not running anywhere," Ragnar replied. "she is still slumbering last I heard."
Rollo snickered darkly. "A slave allowed to slumber of her own will...the same slave that is to become a shield maiden, for no reason at all.."
"I believe Agi will be of value to our shield wall." Ragnar said.
"Based on - her temperance?" Rollo challenged, his fingers abandoning their toil.
Ragnar's eyelids seized in a minor leer. "Why does it matter to you so Rollo?"
Rollo rose from the log he sat upon. "Agi is naught but a harpy, and you tethered to her willingly. Do you think it has gone unnoticed? You are Earl, she is nothing. Ravish her and be done with it."
Ragnar's smirk crawled onto his face. "No Rollo, she is not nothing. If I am 'tethered', as you say, then what are you? Are you not also fascinated by her, is that not why you did what you did."
Rollo's mouth flexed in a smirk that did not fully form. "Do I need a reason?" he jeered.
Ragnar stepped closer, and spoke softer. "Do not touch her again, brother. Or there will be consequences. It is our law, after all, not to mishandle another's property."
"And have you not touched her?" Rollo responded, his tone irked.
"Yes. But I am Earl." Ragnar retorted, walking away. Ragnar had not ventured far, when Floki appeared alongside him, chortling naughtily. "How did it go?" Ragnar pressed.
"Oh it was not easy, guiding the lambs silently into Rollo's abode, but I prevailed. One began its birthing as I snuck out!" Floki responded, giggling wickedly.
"Why did Uncle hurt you Agi?" Bjorn asked, the edges of his cheeks scrunched in confusion.
Agi exchanged glances with Lagertha across the room, who had graciously served her supper. Agi cleared her throat, and looked back at Bjorn. "Because your uncle does not like me."
"Why?" Bjorn pressed.
"Because I do not like him." Agi stated.
"You do not know him!" Bjorn said, with a hint of anger.
"...What I do know, I do not like." Agi responded carefully.
"But..." Bjorn protested.
"Bjorn." Lagertha intervened, drawing the instant attention of her son. "Enough. It is time for bed."
Bjorn argued like any child, but Agi's ears did not register his complaints. She felt sickly within her own skin, routinely rolling her knuckles inward, until her fingertips clenched into her palm. Knots of despair clustered in her stomach, her shoulders stiff yet stifling. Athelstan had remained by her side, and occasionally his hand would hover anxiously over Agi's furling fists, as if he wanted to calm her, but was unsure how calming an affect he would exhibit through touch alone.
At last Ragnar returned, with Floki and Torstein trailing closely behind. Agi stood, eager to return home, but as she stood, Torstein kneeled. "Agi...I have failed you, just as I have failed Earl Ragnar. I have disgraced you as the warrior you will become, and I beg forgiveness." Torstein pled, bowing his head.
Agi's eyes were wide, her mouth slightly ajar. She wondered briefly, if she was hallucinating, and subconsciously she grazed the bump on her forehead. Torstein gazed earnestly at Agi, head still bowed. Agi's gaze darted from Floki to Ragnar and back again. Both were doing a faulty job of concealing a smile. "...Thank you, Torstein..." Agi murmured. Torstein did not budge, but rather continued to look at her expectantly, as too did Ragnar and Floki. "And I forgive you, of course!" Agi added hurriedly. She was uncomfortable, seeing such a tall, proud man, knelt before her.
Snickers from Floki and Ragnar, bade Torstein to stand. Agi turned her flustered gaze onto Athelstan, the corners of her mouth sharpened in agitation, upon discovery that he was laughing too.
Floki rapt his knuckle against Torstein's back. "Well what are you waiting for Torstein?" he said, gesturing toward Agi. "Torstein will carry you home Agi, the least he can do after what happened today.." Floki readily explained, one foot out the door.
For the second time within two minutes, Agi's selective words became barricaded by shock. "...I..." she stammered blankly.
"Don't argue." Ragnar piped, his eyes were still bright with laughter. When Agi's irate gaze revolved onto him again, Ragnar stepped toward her. "Toys do not argue with being carried...and you weigh no more than a toy, Agi." he mocked good-heartedly. Ragnar's lips curled as recognition ignited in Agi's eyes. The claim Agi had made the day before, that Ragnar regarded her as a toy, had not been forgotten so easily. Agi scowled, and Ragnar was contented. His thumb traced the excess suave beneath the gash across Agi's cheekbone. Agi's neck ticked, as if she wanted to shy from his touch, but didn't. Ragnar shifted his gaze past Agi. "Athelstan...pray to your God, that Agi recovers quickly. And I shall pray to mine." Ragnar instructed, his nails cascading the underside of Agi's hair, before he caught side of Lagertha and ceased the physical contact.
Agi scoffed. "The cuts are shallow."
"Your cuts were not what I spoke of." Ragnar replied.
Agi sensed compassion in his tone, which inspired wrath in her own voice. "And what of my fellow townsfolk Jai and Lan? Do you pray to your Gods for them to recover each day from the rape they suffer? And what of countless others?" Agi challenged, knowingly. "Rape is commonplace for slaves, and that you would think me to be excluded Ragnar, is precisely why Rollo attempted."
From her perch, near the children's room, Lagertha said. "You speak as though you lament being saved."
"I lament, those who are less fortunate than I." Agi corrected, her anger fading in exhaustion. "Those who are abused but ignored." Agi repressed a sigh, and glanced over her shoulder. "I thank you again Lagertha. Goodnight Athelstan...do not waste prayer on me." Agi added, walking forward into Torstein's embrace. Torstein lifted her into his arms as if she were a sack of flour, halting Agi's breath in her throat. Her wounds ached, and Agi could feel fresh blood congealing through the suave on the cuts on her waist.
Sleep alluded Agi. She laid on her back, but still she could feel Rollo's arms snaked around her body. She listened to the crackling of the fire, the creaking of the swaying trees, but still Rollo's voice plagued her. In a state of restlessness, Agi decided to bathe herself with the drinking water. The muscles in her back and arms protested against Agi leaving the bed. Agi fetched the basin, carried it beside the dying fire, shed her clothes, cupped her hands into the cold water, and began to drizzle it across her skin. Agi bathed slowly, wondering how swiftly her fortune would expire, once she became a free woman. Perhaps remaining a slave would be safer? Agi guffawed at the notion. She would be expected to carry Athelstan's child, which would only make her weak. Unless she bore Ragnar's seed instead, then she would be untouchable. Agi shook her head rapidly, accelerating the soreness in her spine. What a crazed thought! She was losing herself, wasn't she?
Agi upturned the basin in a huff, uncaring if it awoke Floki or Helga. Agi watched the water absorb into the earth, banding itself into a little river linking toward the doorway, sloping against the uneven terrain. Agi heard an infant cry, and her gaze darted to the threshold of the door. The water from the basin had pooled around Ragnar's feet, who stood hunched near to the ground, examining a baby. Pride gleamed in his eyes, happiness stamped upon his mouth. Ragnar pulled a toy from his tonic, a doll with red yarn for hair. "Here is your mother..." Ragnar cooed, waving the doll before the child's face. The baby's laugh was miniature, its chubby fingers surpassing the toy to grasp at Ragnar's beard.
"Agi!" hissed Floki, startling Agi from her revere. Floki was propped on an elbow, his body still resting beside Helga. "What do you see?" he pried.
Agi's imagining continued. Ragnar laughed blissfully, kissing the child's forehead, and standing in the same instance that Agi herself stood. "Goodnight, Dianthra." he said, cuddling the child against his chest. Ragnar turned to leave, the last embers of the fire sizzling into nonexistence.
When Agi faced the bed, her heart slammed into her mouth. Floki had arisen, bare-chested and stood within reach. His face was serious, eyes seemingly uninterested in her nakedness. Even so, Agi's arms throbbed tensely, longing to shield her bare body, but lacking the willpower to proceed. "I saw nothing worth seeing Floki. A vision spawned from delirium, nothing else." Agi whispered, stepping around him.
Floki craned his neck to watch Agi's nude form, crawl into bed beside Helga, but his body remained pivoted toward the door. Floki's gaze slid onto the area Agi had been gawking at, his eyes lowering onto the split water. He leaned down, raked his fingers against the damp earth, collecting a small handful. Floki pressed the dirt to his nose, then licked it, in search of an answer. "It was Ragnar..wasn't it?" Floki guessed, sprinkling the soil from his fingertips. When he turned to Agi, Floki saw her eyes were closed but her jaw was flexed in a grimace. "It was." Floki said to himself.
Agi opened her eyes, a sigh gritting past her teeth. "It does not matter." she whispered, inching closer to Helga for warmth.
"Our Gods sent you a vision...and you say it does not matter...The question is, which God was it? What did you see Agi?" Floki responded, hovering beside the bed. Helga stirred but did not wake.
"Floki please." Agi muttered, her voice ripe with emotion.
"I do not ask much from you Agi, but I will ask this. What was it the Gods showed you?" Floki persisted.
Agi's voice started soft but grew hard the longer she spoke. "..Ragnar held a baby, my baby..it was a delusion, my mind playing a trick. Not a godsend."
Floki's giggle was faint, as if he was unsure whether to laugh or not. "Was he the father?"
Agi stared at Floki wordlessly. The gloom of the early morning darkness, sheathed Floki's face in indifference, yet there was jealousy renovating in his words. "..I do not know." she said with reluctance.
"Yes you do, Agi." Floki retorted. "That you do not say, means it must have been Ragnar's offspring."
A sudden burst of adrenaline propelled Agi to her feet. An inch separated her from Floki. "It was not a prophetic vision Floki, it was madness. The madness that you and your people inflict upon me, try as I might to prevail!" she snapped.
A great amount of threads were tied to a single string, when Helga spoke her name. "Agi."
"My people?" Floki repeated imploringly, the weight of his stare crushing into her.
A rivet ruptured the stony facade Agi wore, vulernabipity leaked outward. "I am not yet one of you." Agi pointed out. Floki sneered a bit, finding her response to be unacceptable. Agi shut her eyes glumly, and spoke from the pit of her soul. "What I endured today, repulsed me..." Agi's eyes crept open. "Yet the temptress within me, was not quelled.." Agi's hand quivered, but her gaze remained steady. Her fingertips dragged longingly against Floki's chin. "Is that not madness itself?" she asked, her voice cracking as her heart eroded onto her lungs.
Floki momentarily looked past Agi, at Helga who was now sitting up. Helga smiled encouragingly. Laughing softly, Floki mirrored her smile, then his lips met Agi's. His palm grappled her neck, deepening the kiss and pressing her nude body against his partially clothed one. Agi did not resist, her tongue slinking around his lustfully. Helga gingerly lowered Agi onto the bed, mindful of the wounds on her shoulder and waist. Floki carefully straddled atop Agi, unhooking the loops of his trouser fastenings. The kiss was only broken when Floki entered Agi. Floki watched Agi's eyes glaze over in avidity and their unity commenced. His pelvis lapped repeatedly against hers, slow yet thorough. His mouth nuzzled her neck, from jawline to collarbone. Agi pasted her hands upon his back, urging him closer. From her corner of the bed, a smiling Helga reached out, and clasped her palm around Agi's hand, Helga's fingers, resting fitfully on Floki's shoulderblade.
A/N - I'm sort of unhappy with this chapter. Definitely the most difficult one I've written, I'm still uncertain if I captured the atmospheres right.