There were many things, Lon had anticipated happening upon meeting the barbarians that had set siege to his land and kidnapped his sister. That the notorious Ragnar Lothbrok, would know him by name, was not amongst his predications. The surprise Lon felt, did not affect him.
"I am Lontyr Wayland, and I have come to negotiate a sale of my sister, one of your slaves, Dianthra. I have come with treasure to buy her, Earl Ragnar." Lon announced, maintaining eye contact, his voice crisp.
"Buy her?" Ragnar repeated, straightening up. Casting a glance at one of his hunters, he asked. "Did you search him?"
The hunter responded by handing Ragnar a silk pouch that jingled with movement.
"A sign of good faith, Earl." Lon said, as Ragnar peeked into the pouch. "That my words are not hollow. The treasure is buried elsewhere, but only I know where it is."
"Take me to it." Ragnar replied flatly.
Lon inhaled half a breath, and shook his head. "I must see Dianthra first." Lon stated.
Studying Lon, Ragnar allowed silence to drift around them in a fog. His face was angular, cheeks stubbled, hair unkept, stare as unbreakable as his sisters'. Yet, Ragnar sensed a chink in Lon's armor, a tremble of fear in the blacksmith's throat and something more Ragnar was unable to label. What was it?
Ragnar shifted his gaze to the same hunter he had first laid eyes on. "Take these other men into the village. Find Floki and Agi. Bring them here."
"My sister Earl Ragnar, what of her?" Lon asked hurriedly. His ears ignored the protesting grunts surrounding him, as the trackers were rounded up by Ragnar's hunters.
"Agi is your sister." Ragnar answered pointedly. Ragnar observed how Lon grimaced. "Does her name trouble you?" Ragnar blurted.
Lon kept his gaze downward, struggling to keep his thoughts from straying into direness. "Should it?" Lon replied, though his voice had lost its vigor. "She is alive, that is all that matters." he reminded himself.
Ragnar sat down across from Lon, still trying to suss out the oddity in Lon's demeanor. His auburn eyes, a perfect rendering of Agi's orbitals, would dart onto Ragnar's bare torso, then rapidly retreat. Ragnar looked down at himself, at the gash Agi had inflicted to his abdomen. "Tell me about your sister." Ragnar said, prioritizing his pounders. "She told me she has killed...do you know of this?"
"...Yes." Lon muttered. When Ragnar motioned with his hand for Lon to continue, the redhead repressed a sigh and complied. "Dianthra has killed, just as I have killed. Together we slew a small band of people."
Ragnar sat forward slightly. "Why?"
"They intended to bring harm to us and there was no choice of merit to speak of."
"But there was choice."
"The only choice they presented was safety for Dianthra were she to wed one of them. My sister, was a very prideful woman - she refused." Lon responded.
"Is, very prideful." Ragnar corrected. "Or do you think we have stolen her pride?"
Lon's lips quaked in rage. "You stole her from her homeland, and robbed her of her purity, did you not?"
"Purity?" Ragnar repeated.
"Dianthra was pure for the sake of matrimony...as is our custom." Lon responded spitefully.
Ragnar's pulse thrived in desire, but he ignored it. "Who was she to wed?"
"...I kept out of her affairs, just as she kept from mine." Lon huffed.
"Then how are you certain she was a virgin?" Ragnar challenged. Lon's eyes slitted into a leer, but he remained quiet. Ragnar smirked a bit, twisting a clump of dirt thoughtfully. "Who were these people that wanted you dead?" Ragnar asked. Ragnar judged from the defiant gleam in Lon's darkened gaze, that he was through talking about that topic. Ragnar's smirk grew. "You raised Agi, so she said. I see she inherited your stubbornness." he remarked softly.
"My sister is a slave, naught but property...yet you seem to know her greatly." Lon mused.
"Why travel with the elderly?" Ragnar responded. "The men who were with you..could you find no one younger to travel at your side?"
"To face the mighty Northmen in their native land of Kattegat? No I could not." Lon replied, his words laced with sarcasm.
"Were you not afraid to do so?" Ragnar asked.
"No. I abandoned Dianthra once, I will not fail her again." Lon answered firmly.
Agi's downcast eyes did not acknowledge the sky darkening overhead, as she ate supper. Guilt squirmed within her core, but what bothered Agi more was an unshakable sense of foreboding. In a short amount of days, Agi would set sail on a voyage to pillage upon an unsuspecting settlement. Agi had experienced the untimely arrival of the Northmen firsthand, but the chaos and slaughter seemed a distant memory now. Fresh mayhem awaited, and she would be helping orchestrate it. Was freedom truly worth such a price?
Agi was startled out of her revere, by Floki. He sat down around her, one of his legs stretched out behind her, the other was propped up so that he could rest his forearm on his knee. "You are not hungry." he observed, his fingers tracing her spine. Thoughtlessly, Agi gazed from him, to the bowl in her lap. "Ragnar has already fed you." Floki mused. He instantly giggled at the sheer alarm Agi's face displayed.
With a scowl, Agi set down her half-eaten stew. "It was not that...but it was something. I am sorry Floki. I reminded him I am yours, but he persisted."
"And you let him." Floki pointed out.
Agi grimaced, recalling Ragnar's tongue tangling with hers. "I shouldn't have." she said firmly. "It won't happen again."
"It has already happened again." Floki responded, earning a stare from Agi. "It will keep happening until Ragnar beds you and even afterward..." Agi's mouth had opened in a silent protest, and Floki leaned forward linking his mouth with hers. "Don't be sorry Agi. It is our way, and you are soon one of us." he said softly, his face still near to hers.
"Floki." called someone from atop a horse. "Ragnar wishes me to take you and your slave into the forest - the outsider intends to buy her. Says he is her brother."
Agi's heart jumped to her throat, her eyes sealed shut.
"Yes, my slave." Floki murmured, keeping Agi from drowning in melancholy. "Let us not tell your brother, our plans for you, just yet."
"Why?" Agi muttered.
"There would be no fun in it!" Floki replied, jumping to his feet with a giggle. When Agi didn't budge, Floki eagerly added. "Think of it Agi, Lon believes he has come to rescue you. Do you really wish to tell him he needn't have bothered? Mm? Let us see how this plays out."
Agi did not argue, she did not know how to argue. She felt as if she were under the influence of a waking dream, and wished very much that she could awaken.
Ragnar leisurely paced around Lon. The blacksmith had lowered his head, as if he expected Ragnar to cleave it off at any moment. "Agi seemed certain you were dead. She did not want to comprehend that you had abandoned her." Ragnar remarked. He paused in an effort to gauge Lon's face, but the blacksmith's features had remained unchanged. "Why did Floki let you live?" he added curiously.
"...Did you not ask him yourself?" Lon retorted.
"I did. But I'm asking you." Ragnar replied.
Lon's sigh resembled a grumble. "...When..Floki bested me, I said 'There is no god.'...His axe was in the air, and then it was not...Floki said 'No, there are many Gods.'. Then I ran." Lon clenched his side, grimacing at the memory. "I doubt he intended I would live, likely thought I'd bleed out."
"In what was to be your last breath, you denounced your god - do you still denounce Him?" Ragnar mused.
Lon peered pensively up at Ragnar. "Do you intend to convert me?" he challenged. Ragnar remained silent. "Did you convert my sister?" Lon pressed.
Ragnar's lips parted to jeer. "Do you think her capable of being converted?"
"..No."
"Then that is your answer."
Lon's blank face darkened into a frown. "You ask many questions that are of no relevance. You don't ask how I found your land, you ask naught of the treasure I have brought. You ask only about myself and Dianthra..."
"What importance is there of how you came to find us? You have come to barter not fight." Ragnar responded, resuming his pacing.
Lon's head swiveled, following Ragnar's movement. "Is bartering possible? Or do you value Dianthra too dearly?"
"Value? She is naught but property, is that not what you said?" Ragnar retorted.
Lon gave a half-nod, then shook his head. "She would not have disclosed her killings to just anyone, not even an Earl."
"Perhaps I beat it out of her." Ragnar said.
"You didn't."
"How could you know?"
"Because you did not beat me." Lon stated.
A reluctant smirk ebbed onto Ragnar's lips. "Do you not fear I will, if your treasure does not please me?" he challenged. Tellingly, Lon lowered his gaze. "Do you still denounce your God?" he repeated.
"God damned me at birth, but I struggled to maintain faith even so. That struggle ended when you and your...clan...invaded my home." Lon responded bitterly.
Curiosity reaching a new height, Ragnar tapped a finger into Lon's temple. "How did your God damn you?" he inquired.
The galloping stomp of neighing horses, marked the arrival of Floki and Agi. Floki hopped off the horse in moments, closing the gap between himself and the blacksmith in three long strides. Lon stood, his gaze fixated on his sister. Floki prodded Lon's side, his nimble fingertips seeking out the scar he had given Lon. "So we meet again, Smith." Floki greeted, his tone sharp.
Despite having to angle his neck around Floki, Lon barely glanced at him. His sole focus was embedded on Agi, who was slowly slinking off of the horse's back. "...Dianthra..." he croaked, his voice ripe with emotion.
When Agi's feet touched ground, she felt as if she were sinking in quicksand. One of Agi's hands remained pasted to the horse's side to compensate. Her auburn eyes stared intently at her brother, as if he were a mirage that would disappear the moment she blinked. Feeling the strain of the questioning stares from the men situated before her, Agi's heart shambled irregularly in her chest. The nerves in Agi's legs were riled as she strode forward, almost as if she were convincing herself to walk off a cliff. When at last Agi reached Lon, his arms wrapped around her like a wave careening over a shipwrecked vessel.
"Did Agi bleed when you first bedded her?" Ragnar asked, softly, but not soft enough that Agi could not hear.
Floki's giggle cauterized into a laugh. "Ask Honir - the God will give you the same answer as I." Floki replied coyly.
"Keep your silence then.." Ragnar muttered good-heartedly, handing Floki the pouch of coins.
"Dianthra, are you listening to me?" Lon hummed, withdrawing from his embrace with her. Agi's dilated pupils, focused on her brother. "All will be fine very shortly sister, I swear to you." Lon whispered, his hands hooked onto her shoulders.
"You shouldn't have come Lontyr." Agi said faintly. Confusion lined her brother's face, but before Lon could respond, Ragnar spoke.
"You see, your sister is in good health. Take us to the treasure." Ragnar ordered.
"We need not ride the horses, it is not far..." Lon murmured, enclosing his fingers around Agi's palm.
With the pouch of coin in one hand, Floki roped his arm around Agi's shoulders, and hastened her to take a step backward, severing the physical contact between the siblings. "Lead then, Smith." Floki spat.
Apprehensively, Lon glanced from Floki, to Ragnar, and finally onto Agi. Lon was taller than his sister, but strikingly shorter than either Floki or Ragnar. Lon had hoped to no avail, that he had recalled the heights of the Northmen incorrectly. Begrudgingly, Lon turned on his heel, and began to lead. Floki followed in his footsteps, Agi rooted beside him. Ragnar whispered something to the hunter, seemingly dismissing him. Trailing behind Floki and Agi, Ragnar led the horses onward.
Agi stared at her brother's back for some time, before reassigning her gaze to Floki. Her eyes darted from the coin pouch he held, to the small gap between him and her, where she could glimpse Ragnar, walking behind them. "What happens now?" she asked worriedly.
"The Norns have guided your kin to us Agi, only they know what will happen now that he has arrived." Floki answered, referring to goddesses that Agi knew little of.
The forest parted into a small clearing, and in its center, stood a familiar face to Agi. He had pale skin, and black hair cut close to his scalp, his eyes were periwinkle blue. In his feeble grasp wee a bow and arrow, which he held reluctantly at the ready, though the arrow was pointed downward, his elbows quavering in fear against his petite form. "B-By the Lord's mercy.." Denyn whispered meekly to himself.
"Denyn, you brought Denyn?!" Agi hissed, reaching out and grabbing her brother's arm.
"He guilted himself into coming!" Lon told her. "Truly sister, where did you think I got the treasure from?"
"Dianthra, you look better than I'd have hoped!" Denyn announced, swiftly setting his bow onto the ground, and raising his palms into the air. He nervously cleared his throat, as Floki approached him, without Agi. "The bow wasn't a threat Ser, merely a precaution..hon-honest." he stammered sheepishly, as Floki peered down at him.
Floki tilted his head, then puffed his chest out, as if he were about to lunge at Denyn. Denyn cowered at the first movement, and dropped to the ground, visibly shaking, while Floki stood giggling. Floki cast a glance at Agi that slid past her onto Ragnar. The two warriors exchanged a smirk, then Ragnar nodded and Floki stepped around Denyn and knelt down to open the treasure chest Denyn had been guarding.
Ragnar flicked his gaze onto Lon. "You were not the only one to know where the treasure was - but you were the only man, who knew." Ragnar snickered, as Denyn scrambled to his feet and staggered sideways toward the siblings. Floki giggled in agreement, though he was busy pawing over the golden figurines. Agi felt both shame and sympathy as she gazed at Denyn, who swallowed a lump in his throat. "This is your treasure?" Ragnar continued, curiously.
"The treasure belonged to my relatives, Earl Ragnar. They perished, therefore they won't be needing it anymore." Denyn replied, with a sideways glance at the redheads. "Do you not wish to get a better look, Earl?" he added, gesturing at the chest.
"I see it fine from where I stand." Ragnar said, resting his weight against the horse's flank.
"And?" Lon piped. "I trust it is to your liking."
Ragnar's smile held smirky edges. "My liking is of no consequence. I do not hold ownership over Agi." he replied.
At those words, Floki rose from his hunched position, and faced the group. The pouch of coins had never left his palm, and as Floki strode over, he ushered open the tiny string with his thumb. Standing before Denyn and Lon, Floki shook out a few coins into his free palm. He pressed the coin purse into Denyn's abdomen, with enough force to cause Denyn to wobble backwards, then Floki sprinkled the coins from his palm onto Lon's head. "Agi is not for sale, Smith." he informed plainly.
Irritably, Lon turned his gaze onto Ragnar, ignoring Denyn who hastily crawled to collect the spilt coins. "Earl Ragnar?" Lon implored. Ragnar shrugged, though a smile threatened to emerge on his face. Lon released an anguished sigh. "You may not 'own' Dianthra, but you hold dominion over Floki you do not? Will you not allow me to leave your land with my sister?" Lon pressed, yanking Denyn onto his feet, then stepping around him.
Ragnar was silent a moment, his soul-stabbing eyes combing leisurely over Lon, Agi and Floki. "No." he stated.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this Earl Ragnar..." Lon said raising his right hand into the air.
A moment of inaction passed, during which Ragnar shrugged off his post against the horse, while Lon and Denyn exchanged anxious glances between one another. "That was to be the signal for your archers to ambush us, wasn't it?" Ragnar mused, strolling slowly forward.
That remark, instilled a sense of panic within Denyn, who hurriedly turned around and attempted to flee. He had barely passed two trees, when Rollo's fist collided into Denyn's face. The noble collapsed onto the ground, the coin purse thumping pitifully beside him. Rollo bent down and retrieved the coin pouch, meeting Agi's gaze in the process. Agi did not hold Rollo's stare long, her attention was drawn past him, to Torstein and a handful of other Norsemen who were slowly closing in. Agi was not surprised that Lon had planned an ambush, nor that Denyn had tried to run. What did surprise Agi, was that she did not care.
"You are a coward, Smith," Floki was saying. "But not a foolish one."
"You are right," Lon agreed. "Which is why, I demand to see King Horik at once."
Ragnar stepped closer to Agi's brother. "How do you know that name?" Ragnar asked softly.
"He is our uncle, on our mother's side." Lon answered. Agi stared wordlessly at her kin.
"When I first met King Horik, he told me all his sisters had been slain." Ragnar argued.
"He does not know we live." Lon replied firmly.
"Nor did I know he existed..." Agi spoke up. "Lontyr, is this a farce?" she whispered.
"You must trust me sister." Lon retorted, briefly looking at her.
"You did not answer me." Agi stated. "How have you learned this, why was I not told?"
"Because Father did not trust him!" Lon snapped, turning his full attention onto her. "Father warned me Horik was a devious man, and no matter what hardships befell us, never to run to him!" Lon's anger subsided, and a sadness crept into his voice. "I promised Father I would not...promised on the loving memory of Mother...never to call upon Uncle Horik...These giant barbarians have left me no choice, Dianthra..."
A mass of words clotted Agi's throat. "..Lon.."
"So be it." Ragnar declared. "I will make the preparations for you to meet King Horik. It was not so long ago, that I swore fidelity to him, after all. I am certain he would wish to know he has living kin." Agi gawked at Ragnar, who was readily watching her for a reaction. He smirked, gestured at Torstein to carry Denyn's motionless form, then Ragnar himself, retrieved the treasure chest and began to haul it away on foot.
"At last happenstance is kind to us, sister." Lon said softly, wrapping Agi in a hug.
"It was not happenstance, Smith. It was our Gods." Floki corrected with an agile sneer.
A/N - I suppose it's safe to say, I've invented a lapse of time between the (season one) episodes 'Sacrifice' and 'All Change', and in this extended timeframe I've invented, is when this story of mine, currently takes place. So in future chapters, I will be covering (in some measure) the mayhem of Jarl Borg, and the aftermath.
I planned that Dianthra and Lontyr's father, was the offspring of 'Wayland the Smith' who has ties to Norse mythology. I did not plan that their mother, would be akin to Horik. I admit, it was a decision of connivence, and I hope that it does not bother/disappoint you. I intend to keep this story relatively canon, but if I do venture outward, I sincerely doubt it would be to benefit Horik. (I didn't like him, or Jarl Borg for that matter. I do like King Ecbert, but I am uncertain if I will get the chance to write about him.)
Many thanks to my reviewers and a warm welcome to the new followers! 160 now, I can't believe it. *_*'