It was a cold, dark evening in October when Eivor Varinsdottir was sitting by the fire of the longhouse in East Anglia. Her husband Oswald was sitting on his throne pondering with Kingly duties deep in thought. Eivor was reminscing about home as she stared into the fireplace. It had been a while since she left Ravensthorpe to move in with Oswald after their marriage to secure an alliance between the Norse and the saxons. And she missed home. She knew at this time of year, as Viking Halloween was approaching towards the end of October and the start of November there would be a festival on arranged by Randvi and her friends. She used to attend it and host it year after year, and she missed the festivities and her culture and friends.
Turning around, she called out to Oswald who had his fingers in his mouth while sitting on his throne deep in thought too.
"Hey Oswald, there's this festival that we Vikings like to attend every year it's in Ravensthorpe, It should be on around now during the evening, would you like to come my love?"
Oswald removed his fingers from his mouth, out of his thoughts as he abruptly moved his head to face Eivor who was speaking to him. He looked alarmed and in shock as he let Eivor's words sink in to him. He wasn't sure what it was and he hoped it wasn't any more raiding or killing he had seen enough of that. So he answered.
"Um, What is this festival called? I don't want to get involved if it involves any more raiding and killing. I've enough of that" he answered biting his fingers again due to his nerves at the thought of any more pillaging and killing.
With this, Eivor let out a deep laugh. She couldn't believe that her husband still thought that all vikings did was raid. Even more the reason she should take him to this festival, to show them their culture and to prove to him that they was not just about "raiding and killing" it was about hanging round the fireplace with your closest friends and family too.
She walked over to Oswald on his throne where he was nervously sitting biting his fingernails still. The poor chap, he was shaking his hands. Eivor put her arm round her husband in a cuddle from behind and held onto his hand. Oswald was still as pale as a ghost and some sweat had formed round his brow at the thought.
"No silly!" she chuckled, as Oswald frowned at her teasing. "It's called Oskoreia. I have been going to it since I was a very young child. It's a festival where we honour the dead and have fun with family and friends and sing songs by the fireplace celebrating norse culture. It's the opposite of what you think. Try it and you'll see". She smiled at Oswald as she placed a kiss on his cheek.
With this, Oswald let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god." he breathed, calming down. "Alright I'll give it a try. For your sake. I miss Ravensthorpe too". he sighed giving in to his wife's demands.
"That's my boy! Now come ! We have a festival to get to!" Eivor enthusiastically chided as Oswald followed her to the stables where Eivor's beloved horse was.
Minutes later, They was on a horse riding to Ravensthorpe. It was a peaceful, quiet cold night around the woods and the hills in the dark. Oswald thought as he hugged onto to Eivor's back while she rode and guided the horse towards Ravensthorpe. He was nervous and excitied at the thought of returning to his wife's settlement and meeting with her friends again after a long while. And experiencing this "norse culture" whatever it was. Breaking out of his thoughts Eivor called out to him.
"Are you alright back there?" she called back to Oswald.
"Yes dear... I'm fine" he answered , trying his best to hide his excitement and nerves and to speak in a clear voice.
"That's good" Eivor murmured while leading her stead on. "We should be nearly there, god I've missed this, I've missed my clan and my home" she wondered aloud, voicing her thoughts.
"I can imagine you did". Oswald responded giving her empathy and completely understanding. After all Eivor had given up everything to be by his side, including her home her friends and even her country moving from Norway. That was a lot. Oswald couldn't imagine giving up that much as he had stayed in East Anglia all his life with not much changes happening, well besides the events and the drama to become king that was.
"I'm sorry my love" he murmed quietly feeling bad for taking so much from her and not having to sacrifice anything for the relationship. They had now arrived. The bright lights and familiar view of Ravensthorpe and the docks was right in front of them, along with a strong smell of smoke , and was that was that a sinking ship in the middle of Ravensthorpe in dry land? What in the world was this? His depression quickly faded to confusion, however not before Eivor got off her horse and noticed.
"Here" she said walking to Oswald's side and putting a hand out for him so he could dismount.
He grabbed her soft large hands, Eivor caught him with her strong arms and placed him on the ground close to the entrance of Ravensthorpe. "I heard what you said, Oswald" she looked at him with serious expression not messing around.
Oswald gulped, he knew Eivor was upset and wasn't playing around When she did that expression, he knew he had accidentally upset her. "Oh no, What have I done now" he muttered guilty looking at the floor.
With this, Eivor grabbed Oswald's head with her hands and placed her other hand on Oswald's. "You don't need to be sorry. I chose this, to give up my life and my clan not only for an alliance, but because I wanted to be with you. And I don't like you whining and beating yourself up when I'm perfectly happy and in love with you". "I want today to be a happy evening where I introduce you to my culture . I took you out, because I'm fed up of seeing you stressed out and cooped up in that longhouse. It is doing you no good, Now I love you and want you to be happy not guilty and upset".
Oswald was stunned. He was lost for words. All he could do was look at Eivor's eyes and face with strong emotion. She was right, he had been cooped up in that damn longhouse for so long he hadn't even noticed and going on a simple ride with his wife already was doing benefits for your mental health. He pushed his depressed thoughts aside. He placed his hands on Eivor's hands and sighed knowing deep down in his heart she was right, it was just his own insecurity eating at him.
"Your right , I'm probably just stressed out from running a kingdom. I really do need a break. I know you do love me and I am grateful for this and for you, I love you too". he replied.
Eivor flashed him a smile, all stern looks gone in a instant. "Good! Now lets wash off your worries with some mead! To the drinking contest we go to! Grab a drinking horn baby!" she yelled in enthuisam pulling Oswald towards the drinking contest stall.
Oswald followed his wife towards the drinking contest with a horn in place. Everyone from the clan was unrecogonisable they was all stumbling and off their faces clearly having over done it with the mead. There was a barrel of mead while a small crowd had gathered spectacting. "EIVOR!" the woman who was running the drinking competition called out. Eivor responded equally as enthusiastic greeting the woman. They spoke for a bit before she pointed to Oswald.
"And who is this?" the woman asked looking towards Oswald who had been standing there watching the conversation.
"That's my husband, the King of East Anglia - Oswald" Eivor enthusiastically explained looking at her betrothed.
"Ummm. Yeah that's me, nice to meet you" he awkwardly greeted her in the little norse that Eivor had taught him
With that, the two women laughed at him. Oswald frowned. "What I was trying my best?" he exclaimed to them.
"I know you was" Eivor said clapping him on the back once she had recovered from her laughing fit. "I taught you those phrases".
The other woman piped up. "Enough chatter, Eivor is about to particpate in the drinking competition, would you like to compete against your wife? I can save you a space if you want" she inquired looking at Oswald for a response.
"UM... no I'm good thanks" he stuttered declining her . He didn't want to get drunk to take his mind off things especially not after seeing the Raven clan members collapsed and out on the floor.
"Oh come on!" Eivor chided him. "Don't you want to have some mead and see who gets drunk faster out of the two of us?" she jeered towards Oswald.
"Fine. I'll have one horn that's it. I'm not particpating in this competition. But I shall watch and cheer you from the sidelines. One of us needs to be sober to look after each other we both can't be passed out. How we will we return to Elmenham?". he responded with a straight serious face getting straight to the point. No bullshit.
For a moment, Eivor was speechless. She had been schooled by her wiser and sensible husband. "True. I didn't think of that , guess you will be carrying my drunk ass back home".
Oswald rolled his eyes. "Yes I will do. I will be carrying your drunk ass back. This is not the first time we both now that".
Eivor laughed and blew him a kiss "Yeah but you love me so" she winked at him
Oswald sighed and muttered "The things we do for love" and facepalmed as he knew what was coming.
Moments later Eivor was downing her second drink of mead as the crowd was cheering "SKAL SKAL!" Oswald stopped cheering he was genuinely worried for his wife, she was stumbling from side to side and was losing her balance he was no longer in the mood to cheer with the rest of them. He couldn't understand why these vikings were so overjoyed watching people get drunk and stumble off, perhaps they was not the one cleaning up their messes afterwards that would make sense. Just like Eivor would not understand how heavy and what a handful she was when she was drunk.
By the third glass, Eivor was stumbling and was slurring her words and couldn't speak anymore. The horn blew signifying the competiton was over. "We have a winner!" the woman who was hosting the competiton screamed . "Eivor has won the drinking contestant!"
"Blahhhhhhh" a drunk Eivor screamed. God she was a making a fool of herself, Oswald cringed. Thankfully everyone else was as drunk in the madness and would not remember the following day.
Eivor would of fell face into the mead barrel had Oswald not run up to her and stopped her falling face first into the mead and grabbed her stopping her falling into the barrel. "GAHHHH!" "Get off of meeeeeeeee!" she wailed weakly trying Oswald away. He rolled his eyes. It was just another day at the office handling his drunk wife. He just about managed to half drag half carry her to the longhouse, where Randvi was awaiting arms crossed.
"I need some help over here!" a struggling Oswald yelled. A drunk Eivor moaned. "Stop shouting Why are you yelling at me?" she wailed at Oswald.
"For god's sake I am not yelling at you I am trying to help you!" he answered fed up and frustrated at Eivor's stupid and reckless and behaviour.
"Whatever" she murmed.
Randvi came over noticing what the commotion was about. "I see Eivor is having another one of those drunk nights again" she said to Oswald.
"Tell me about it" he said rolling his eyes. "And this is why I don't drink. When will she realise that one mead is enough for a day" he scoffed annoyed.
"I'm afraid she won't. Knowing her that's just Eivor" Randvi responded.
"I need to get her to bed, could you help prepare the blankets and the bed while I get her settled down?" Oswald asked.
Noting the situation Randvi responded. "On it".
Oswald gently propped Eivor down. He finally could get a bloody good rest. God she was so heavy in her armour and while drunk he was exhausted dragging her all the way past the blacksmith's up the hill onto the top of the longhouse where her old room was . He was breathless and done. This was not what he signed up for. Whatever this buggered Festival was he sure as hell was not coming back to it the following year he made a mental note of that.
Ranvi came back a few minutes later. "The bed and blankets are all set up. I suggest you seek Valka the village's doctor for a hangover brew for Eivor the following morning when she wakes up with a headache and all sore".
"Thank you and I will do" Oswald nodded towards Randvi.
"Right I will leave you two in peace" Randvi responded.
Gathering up all his strength, Oswald bridal carried Eivor to the bed. He gently plopped her down on the bed pulling the covers over her, he was about to leave her to rest while he grabbed a drink when she tugged at his arm, sleepy and weak from the mead.
"Stay. I want to continue the festival, there is so much to do so much to see... I want to show you baby" she slurred quietly and weakly.
"Absolutely not!" Oswald reprimanded her. "Not in this state".
"But I'm fineeeeee" she wailed back at him.
"No not today, I'm not letting you, we can finish the festivities tomorrow evening or not before you've had a quick nap to sleep it off at least, I'm not letting you do anything else silly. That's enough for one night" he said sternly.
"Fine. Just one nap, but we're going to the archery next. I want to show you how to shoot" she wailed before passing out.
Oswald let out a sigh. Finally. I get peace and quiet he thought to himself. Well for now. Hopefully she will be better once she wakes up and we can do that darned archery. He sat on the bed keeping watch, while Eivor slept making sure she would not wake and escape under his watch.
A few hours passed, it was now midnight but the festival didn't show any signs of stopping as long as it was dark they would carry on with it. It seems like the residents of Ravensthorpe was night owls and liked to hang out in the evenings instead of during the day. "Where am I?" a now sober but slightly hungover Eivor croaked.
Oswald smiled back at her , glad his wife was back to her original senses . "You are at Ravensthorpe back home, You took me to the Oskoreia festival earlier and you did the competition with the mead before you nearly passed out and I had to carry your drunk ass back here. It's almost like tradition the amount of times I carry you when your drunk" he informed her and chuckled at the last bit of his joke.
"I did ?" she looked around dazed and confused. "Oh yes I did, I recognise where I am now this is my old room at Ravensthorpe's longhouse . What time is it, is the festival still on?" she wondered aloud getting up slowly and sitting up.
"That's right and it's just past midnight nearly one and yes the festival is still going. It shows no sign of stopping" Oswald smiled gently informing her.
"Ah I see" Eivor nodded, slowly gaining back her senses. "We must get to the target practice by the bridge of Ravensthorpe". With that she abruptly sat up putting her legs over the bed before wincing. "Ow my head hurts, I'm hungover again".
Oswald quickly rushed to his wife's side where she was. "Are you ok my dear? I'll get you some water outside stay here and don't move" he ordered her.
"Ugh" Eivor groaned as the room spun round her. Shouldn't have drunk so much. But I enjoy the mead too much and always end up regretting it the next day.
Oswald then came back a minute later with a flask and some water. He passed the flask to her. "Here, drink this you need it".
Eivor grabbed the flask and quickly drank it, the fresh cool water felt so good on her parched throat. After downing the flask and wiping the water off her mouth with her sleeve, she headed out. "I'm ready now, let's go to the archery" she abruptly got up as if the hangover never happened.
"Are you sure?" Oswald asked, looking at her with concern.
"I'm sure". She nodded determined and smiled back at him for reassurance.
They got to the archery practice where a woman was standing there smiling waiting for them. "Welcome to target practice!" She greeted them, "This is where you fire arrows with your bow at the target as fast as you can and whoever gets the most points wins". "I know Eivor is a pro at this she can fire even with her eyes closed... What about you have you fired an arrow before saxon?" she said looking towards Oswald.
"No I haven't. I've used melee weapons such as a sword and shield once but never an arrow". he answered the woman.
"Ah, good it's about time you mastered archery , I'm sure Eivor can give you a hand at it" she beamed
"I would love to" Eivor said smiling. Before turning to Oswald, "Are you ready?" she looked at him, asking.
"I'm ready" he answered with determined eyes, at the targets and the bow and at Eivor.
"Good, I shall leave you to it" the villager told Oswald and Eivor. "Let me know when you are done with the bows so I can refill them" she said turning to Eivor.
"I will do". Eivor replied to the villager.
"Now" she said turning back to Oswald.
"First of all you grab the bow, and attach the arrow where the little line and point is, and hook it on the string" she instructed Oswald as he grabbed the arrow and placed it on the string like she had told him. "Then you pull your arm out to hold the bow and focus on your target . Try and keep your arm as straight as possible. Breathe, take it easy . Squint at your target with your eyes it makes it easier, let go and let the arrow do it's job." "You think you got it now?" she said looking towards Oswald checking if he understood.
"I think so, I'll give it a try. Correct me if I'm wrong" he answered with focus and determination.
"Alright" Eivor nodded at him for the go.
Oswald readied his bow like Eivor instructed him and prepared to aim at the targets in front of him. "Is this it?" he looked at Eivor for confirmation.
Eivor walked around checking his stance and posture, making sure everything was correct. He had almost perfected it apart from one minor tweak. She went up to him and adjusted his stance and his arm. "There we go much better" she said after moving his waist and making his arm straighter.
Oswald smiled enjoying every bit of it, not really the archery but the intimate feel of his wife's hands moving at his waist and his arm. He missed the feel of it. He was over the moon . With one last cuddle on the waist from Eivor she whispered to his ear. "And now go". He fired. BAM! It was the sound of the arrow hitting the board of one of the targets. They watched in anticipation as it hit the red dot right in the middle. He had gotten a bullseye with his first shot!
When it had dawned on Oswald that he had gotten a bullseye with his first attempt of trying he cheered . " A bullseye!" he screamed in disbelief . "I can't believe it!" he ran screaming in joy with his arms up. "I did it Eivor I did it!"
Eivor beamed with pride. "Your a natural. I knew you could do it. You just need to have more confidence in yourself then you can do anything you want to". She smiled at him hugging him. He hugged her back laughing.
The woman came over having seen them cheering. "It seems like our young protege is ready to start the competition now. Are you ready to start? Or do you want to practice more?" she said looking at Oswald.
"I think I'm ready to start" he nodded smiling at the woman.
Moments later, the buzzer sounded the first round had begun. "No pressure Oswald" Eivor said smiling towards him.
Oswald smiled as he turned to face the targets, firing arrow after arrow with precision. Focusing on them and imaging it was Rued's head which helped a lot with the process and helped him fire faster. Meanwhile with every shot that he got, Eivor was cheering louder and louder behind him spurring him on. After 3 rounds, it was over and his hands never stung as much as they have done from gripping the bow and firing countless arrows in a such a short amount of time.
"Well done Oswald! That was the best we seen from a saxon any saxon" the host complimented him.
"Thanks" he smiled eagerly. This definately was fun and a lot easier than sword combat. If East Anglia was ever invaded ever again, Oswald would definitely be using a bow as weapon of choice after this experience. "What was my score?" he curiously asked the host.
"Your score based on our current standings, is second highest. You are second best in camp." she smiled and beamed at him.
"Then who got the highest?" Oswald asked intrigued.
"I did" Eivor said smiling. "But marginally, your almost as good as me. What a king you have become" she winked at him.
They walked away from the archery towards a small arena by some shallow water. "What is this?" Oswald asked Eivor curiously.
"Oh ... this is a small arena where I fight other warriors in 3 different rounds, Round 1 is some typical soldiers, Round 2 is slightly harder with some man beast at the end of it, and round 3 is the most complicated with all of them combined in one." "You can watch me if you want to, I know these holmgang's aren't really your thing"
"Nope". Oswald replied with a straight grim face. "It isn't. But do be careful out there, I don't like the sound of this". he looked around cautiously.
"Oh don't worry I will do my lovely" she said reassuring him and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
"ARE YOU READY TO ENTER THIS TOURNAMENT" the hostess bellowed loudly at Eivor.
"Yes I am ready"
"Choose your gear and weapons" she told Eivor.
While Eivor chose her gear and weapons. Oswald couldn't help but notice how eerie the whole thing was. It was foggy and misty and you could barely see more than a 100 metres ahead, there was also some funny green smoke in the arena. He had a bad feeling about this and just hoped that Eivor would be ok whatever this creepy thing was.
Eivor was standing in some shallow water that came just above her ankles as the group of soldiers approached. When they did, Oswald was shocked . There was 5 men in saxon army uniforms ready to take Eivor on. He thought she was going to fight other dane warriors from the same camp for fun but it seemed like the Raven Clan had captured 5 unsuspecting saxon soldiers for fun to fight in this arena against Norsemen and women. It made Oswald sick to the core. He couldn't ponder on that long, as the next min Eivor was on full on hand to hand combat with the soldiers. She stabbed them quickly with her axe and mercilesslesly as they went down one by one. He was relieved every time they went down. There was three left out of the original 5. While Eivor was distracted by one in front of her, Oswald as a spectator could see everything including the blind spots. "Be careful!" he shouted out to Eivor. "There's one behind you" he called out to her.
With a roar, Eivor turned around and parried one of the men's attacks while she sliced the other's neck with her hidden blade. He stumbled to the floor choking on his own blood before dying. There was only one man left. But she took him down. It was time for Round 2. with the same thing but this time the saxon men were the big juggernaughts, who were twice as big as Eivor and one oddly looking werewolf man who was big but had a wolf mask on and also used poison gas. Oswald watched in horror as the big men threw and slammed his wife around like she was a ragdoll who weighed nothing. His heart was beating so fast and his breath was hitched in his throat. He winced everytime Eivor fell but was very relieved when she got up an angrier.
"It's just a scratch!" she yelled back with cuts and bruises on her arm and face when she saw Oswald's worried expression. Still it hurt him deep inside seeing his lovely queen being thrown around and hurt and he couldn't do anything about it. His poor precious baby being hurt in front of him for something that they called "fun". Oswald didn't enjoy fighting he would only do so if his life was at risk as part of self defence or to protect Eivor and his people he wouldn't join a fighting arena for the sake of it. Unless life really was at stake. Sometimes he still didn't understand the norse culture why they would willingly fight even for fun. He saw no honour in that.
Eicor kept tirelessly fighting the juggernaught and the odd werewolf man both at the same time. The juggernaught eventually went down leaving the werewolf man . Suddenly some green smoke came out. It stank. Oswald coughed himself when the fumes reached him. Meanwhile Eivor was crouched down trying not to cough and retch from it. It was coming from the wolf. He was using some form of chemical to blind them mostly Eivor.
"Poison gas" she yelled while coughing. Eivor reached for her mask to cover her nose, that did most of it stopping the fumes entering her system and making her woozy. Meanwhile Oswald heard Eivor's shout of the poison gas and had grabbed his scarf to put over his nose. "I'm alright just about!" she coughed and called out to Oswald who worriedly looked at her again and was shifting muttering "Please don't pass out " while nervously shifting from feet to feet and fidgeting with his fingers.
With a angry howl the werewolf charged towards Eivor, Eivor dodged and ran around the arena making "werewolf man" tire himself out as Oswald watched breathlessly through his mask. The green smoke eventually disappeared as werewolf man got tired of chasing Eivor and she delivered blow after blow devasting him. Werewolf man finally collapsed as Eivor cheered and so did the small crowd that had just gathered from the fighting and commotion. Oswald hoped this would be it for the day, he had seen enough and was about to faint from the worry and the shock.
The host then walked into the centre of the arena. "To spice things up" she announced "We will be making this round harder. You can only use a knife in this round and will be stripped off all armour only your under garments meaning no armour and knives only". The crowd cheered harder as Eivor stood there cut and bruised and covered in blood and sweat . Oswald's jaw dropped to a O shape not believing what he just heard. That his wife was going to be almost naked and fighting juggernaughts , soldiers and weird wolf men all in one. God what madness was this ? The vikings were really crazy.
Eivor saw his face and smirked. "What never seen a shirtless woman before?" she asked him. Oswald blushed deep red and stuttered. "Ummm.. no I haven't I always thought it would be rude or undecent of me if I did" he muttered .
With this Eivor laughed even harder and louder "Then it's about time you did" she winked at him . He watched her undress onto her bra and underwear and boots while the host handed her a knife. A special knife shaped in a C shape, almost like it was a scalpel instead. His jaw dropped again when he saw Eivor's smooth muscular back slicked wet and shiny with sweat, full of tattoos of various shapes and sizes inked on her back and her muscular bumcheeks sticking out. What are you doing Oswald? Stop staring his brain chided him as his face and body burned bright red in embarrassment. However he couldn't she was perfect, he wondered how smooth it would be to trace and curve every line and shape of it with his fingers before he could continue his dirty thoughts any longer, the sound of the horn blew incoming the various enemies would come.
A group of juggernaughts, soldiers and two of those funny looking man beasts came this time they were bears instead of wolves. Making 10 of them in total. Eivor took down them one by one soldiers, juggernauts then the bear men after. And while she was doing so, he couldn't help notice the front of Eivor and how gorgeous her muscles and her arms, even her tattoos was just everything about her. He never realised she looked so strong and sexy and beautiful underneath all of that armour. He got so engaged and turned on watching her fight that he couldn't help yelling "That's my sexy wife right there!" while turning bright red as everyone turned to look at him he didn't care anymore he was simply too proud of her to care. Eivor just looked so badass and sexy hacking and fighting while half clothed. Soon enough the three rounds of fighting was over.
The hostess came over to the middle where Eivor was and held up her hand "We have a champion. Eivor has bested everyone in the arena!". The residents cheered along with Oswald. "
She has" he murmered to himself. Before shouting "That's my girl!" . Eivor looked around to him and beamed at him before walking over.
"How was it? The first time seeing your queen and wife shirtless, fighting mythical beasts in the arena?" she asked amused
Oswald blushed bright red again at the question. "It certainly was different, not what I expected... but in a good way" he admitted
Eivor smirked hiding in a laugh. "You know I heard you back there, You calling me your sexy wife" she chuckled.
Oswald burned even brighter his cheeks on fire feeling hotter than he ever was despite the cold night air. "You did ? That's because you are" he muttered quietly not looking at her because of embarrassment.
She stopped him in his tracks, and brought up his head so he could look at her again. "You don't need to be embarrassed I'm glad you think so. I'm not the curviest woman out there so I'm glad you think that I am". it was her turn to blush a little.
"Of course. I don't care about that" Oswald said reassuring her. "I just love you"
Eivor smiled after being reassured. "And I love you too"
Oswald smiled back as he took her hand in his "Time to get dressed and clean up those wounds of yours" he said leading her towards a more private space where she could do so away from the prying eyes of Ravensthorpe.