Chapter Four - A pack of Wolves

When Gudrun opened her eyes, she was not in the cave any more. The air felt warm and soft, and the darkness was gone. When her eyes became accustomed to the light, she discovered she was in a bed. Not a beautiful or comfortable bed, it seemed more like a slave one. But still, it was a bed. A fire was happily burning next to her, and she almost felt too hot. The back of her head felt sore and when she reached out to touch it, she discovered it was laced with bandages. She winced in pain.

She suddenly remembered everything from that night. The chasing, the two Northmen who had attacked them, her and Rollo. Rollo... Where was he?! She had left him behind like a coward to tell Ragnar of the oncoming danger. She would have been no use to him but she was bound to him as his slave. She had not quite understood the exchange between him and Haraldsson, but apparently her mother came from Kattegat. And her father wasn't her real father? Everything felt so mixed in her head. But Rollo was right: if she had Viking blood, then she should not be a slave. Why, then, had the Earl reacted so brutally? She was sure it were his warriors that attacked them in the forest.

Someone entered the room peacefully, and she recognised Athelstan. A bitter taste crept up her mouth. If it was Athelstan who was healing her, it probably meant she was still considered as a slave. But if he was here, at the same time, it meant she had reached Ragnar's house safely and was not in a madman's hands.

"Are you feeling alright?" asked Athelstan.

She nodded, her throat unable to form words.

"Good." he smiled. "We have found you unconscious, we were alerted by the screaming outside. One of Haraldsson's men has sent you an axe in the head, you're lucky you've been only touched by the handle."

"An axe?!" she felt like crying again. She could have easily died.

"Yes, but it's fine now! I healed you, and Ragnar was watching over you when you slept."

"How much did I sleep?"

"Uhm..." Athelstan cleared his throat. "Three days..."

She swallowed hardly. Three days. Only God knew where Rollo was, now...

"And... Have you found Rollo?" she asked in a little voice.

"When we killed Haraldsson's warrior, we knew he couldn't be alone chasing you. So Lagertha and Ragnar went in the forest, following your trail in the other way. They heard some screaming and found Rollo fighting three men. He had already defeated one, so I guess the other three came later."

Athelstan paused, and looked carefully at Gudrun. Her face was contorted into something that looked like shock, and her eyes were gleaming with tears.

"Oh no, please, don't be scared... You're already very tired and you shouldn't loose any more energy..."

He tucked the covers on her back again, but she pushed them aside.

"What happened? Where are Ragnar, Rollo and Lagertha?"

Athelstan sighed. He looked sadly at Gudrun.

"Lagertha... Was the only that came back. She's the one that told me about that night. Ragnar and Rollo were probably captured, she doesn't know... But since they defied the Earl, they're now outlaws. As are we, being their slaves. Now, Lagertha and Floki watch the Earl's place day and night. They try to find a plan."

"I... Am not a slave, Athelstan." she blew.

He looked at her with a little pity in his eyes.

"It's true! Don't look at me like that, please..."

"I'm sorry... But I know we all wish it were so." he sadly answered.

She began to feel annoyed. They had to believe her, or she could not do anything to help. Anything to find Rollo and Ragnar, maybe the seer, to find out more about her parentage. She had to know.

"Where is Lagertha?"

"I don't know... But there is Floki. You can speak to him if you want more information."

"Alright." she got up, but her legs quivered and she fell back on the so-called bed.

"Ow..." she muttered.

"We are in Floki's house." Athelstan informed her. "Ragnar's too close from Kattegat."

"Please, get me to Floki." she said, reaching out a hand for him to help her.

"I'll rather get him there, just wait a few seconds." he said, smiling warmly.

He left, walking at a good pace. Gudrun thought that even behind his longer beard and her, his hardened look, he still looked very English. She wondered if it was the same of her. If the people out there disregarded her because she was a slave, or because they thought she was English. She thought that, in the best future possible, she would be accepted by her righteous kind. She would become one of theirs and maybe live a happy life. She tried not to think so loudly as she saw Floki was coming.

"Gudrun." he said, twitching his lips in his usual cheeky smile. Gudrun noted how he had remembered her name, even if he had barely talked to her before.

"Floki." she answered, not resisting the urge to smile back.

"Athelstan told me you wanted to see me."

"Yes... I wanted to ask you if, back when you were younger you knew someone." she said silently.

"Well, I knew a lot of people but I know the gods even better. Ask, girl."

"Do you remember of a woman named... Hilda Varnsdottir?" her lip quivered at the name of her mother.

Floki's eyes widened.

"You said... Varnsdottir? Hilda Varnsdottir?"

Before she could answered him he giggled clumsily, his eyes lost in the ceiling. His eyes were twinkling and he was smiling. Gudrun intensely eyed him, not prepared at all at this reaction.

"Hilda Varnsdottir..." Floki rolled the name in his mouth, apparently marvelling at it.

Gudrun was about to ask him again if he knew her but to her surprise, he began to cry. It was not some ugly sobbing, but some silent tears. Of sorrow or of joy, Gudrun didn't know. She shyly put a hand on Floki's shoulder. He softly took it and looked at her.

"How do you know her?"

"She was my mother." Gudrun said, her heart beating fast.

"And she was my cousin." Floki smiled weakly.

Gudrun looked at him with round eyes, not knowing if she had to cry too or to smile. Finally, she did both. She rested her head on Floki's shoulder, not believing this could be true. A relative. In all those years of despair, of asking herself where she came from, and only by luck, she had found a relative in this despair. A few tears escaped her eyes and landed on Floki's shoulder.

"How... On Midgard... Could the Gods be kind enough so they brought you back to me?" Floki shakily said, stroking her hair.

Gudrun didn't answer, but soaked in that moment. She wished it would last forever.

Suddenly, Floki dropped her and looked at her suspiciously.

"But... But isn't this a trick? Have the Gods abandoned me?"

He rose immediately to his feet, scanning the air with his black painted eyes.

"Are you tricking me? Answer! Is she really Hilda's daughter?"

He began crying again, in a more angry way but still silent. He fell to his knees and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Gudrun..."

"It's... fine..." she answered. She didn't know what to do, and didn't know how Floki had suddenly become so instable.

"Look... I'm sorry... It's just when your mother left, the only family I had was gone. I was alone." he patted her shoulder and looked deeply in her eyes, smiling. "But now you're here, I'm not alone any more. Oh, I have Helga of course. I must present her to you, she's wonderful."

His tears were gone and Gudrun couldn't help but smile at him. When she looked closely at his face, she saw he looked a lot like her mother. He had the same thin intelligent eyes, the same smile.

"I'm glad I found you, Floki..." she said calmly, warmly. Floki couldn't help but like her already.

"And when I think you've been slave to that ass Rollo... I'm going to crush him when he comes back... If he does..." Floki said in anger.

"No! No! Floki... He's been rather kind to me! I was his servant, but... He's the one that tried to free me!"

Floki stayed sceptical and stared in the emptiness in the air, but Athelstan stormed into the room and said: "They're back!"

As the heavy axe lowered itself to take his life, Rollo rolled on the side of the man and planted the dagger deep into his ribcage. With an ugly gurgling and a silent scream, his attacker fall on the ground, rivers of blood pouring from his mouth and from his wound. Rollo savoured the easy victory but his instinct told him it wasn't finished. And it was right: three other men were running towards him, screaming and spinning their weapons above their heads. He quickly took the axe from the dead man and prepared himself to fight.

An silent arrow split the air in two as it dug deep in the bark of the tree next to Rollo. He dove as a second arrow pierced the night, and tightened his grip on the handle of his weapon.

"Rollo!" screamed the familiar voice of Ragnar.

Relieved at his brother's arrival, he then screamed at him:

"Hide! They have arrows!"

And at the moment where he finished his sentence, a bolt ripped his flesh as it dug in him. Rollo growled in pain, and pulled it out. Ragnar came to his side, followed by his shield-maiden wife, Lagertha.

"Are you hurt, brother?" Ragnar asked, on his guards.

"Not much." answered briefly Rollo.

They then all focused on what was to become their battlefield. Though the terrain was not shaped for battle at all, it didn't even have the right amount of light. One could almost see nothing, and the only way the three could see their opponents was by observing the glinting of their weapons' steel.

"Get into formation!" screamed Ragnar.

He held his shield strongly in place, while Rollo was on his side, his axe prepared, and Lagertha with her shield too, her sword ready for battle.

When they collided with the Earl's men, the fury of war had taken them all. Lagertha had already wounded her opponent, his blood had slightly poured on her face. But he was strong, and hit her hard in the nose. Ragnar's was the bowman. He was swift and fast, and nicked Ragnar's cheek. Rollo didn't have the right initiative by picking the most massive of the three. He knew that man, and had fought on his side during many battles. He was as strong as a bear, and as tall as a mountain giant. People in Kattegat never knew his father, but after time they had all assumed it was a Jötun.

He waved his spiked mace above his head and missed Rollo as he brutally lowered it on the ground. Rollo got behind him and hit his back with his axe, but sadly he was wearing enough armour to protect him. Rollo cursed and continued to avoid his attempts to kill him. He should have traded with Ragnar.

Lagertha screamed in victory as the first of Haraldsson's men fell all bloody in the ferns, almost decapitated. She ran to help Rollo and began to fight the mountain with him. She was pushed aside by a violent hit and fell unconscious against the bark of a mossy tree. Rollo kept on fighting alone, looking for a breach in the warrior's defence. Suddenly, a strong arm pinned him violently against the floor, and he lost his weapon. The man breathed loudly above him, smirking like a monster.

"I know who you're fighting for, Lothbrok..." he breathed.

Rollo couldn't speak since he was holding his throat. He answered by shortly groaning of pain.

"Yes, I know everything..." he smirked even more painfully, making Rollo's eyes burn in anger.

"I know the truth the Earl wants to hide... And I don't care if she's one of us... When I kill you, I'll find her, then I'll rape her, rape her, rape her again... Until she begs for death. I'll fuck her so badly even Hel won't want of her soul." he dug his hand deeper in Rollo's flesh, and showed him his mace.

At the second where the mace was going to fall on Rollo, a sword had penetrated in his chest. An ugly sound left his lips, and his dying body fell on Rollo. He pushed him aside, choking under his heavy weight. Rollo saw Ragnar, proudly ripping his bloody sword from the ugly corpse. He broadly smiled and extended his hand for his brother to stand again.

"You owe me one."

Rollo smirked and patted him on the shoulder. He was glad to have Ragnar.

"Can you help me carry Lagertha?" he asked from behind him.

Rollo nodded and turned around to help Ragnar hold the shield-maiden. He noticed the corpse of Ragnar's opponent, and smirked at the bloody sore that was left on the body. Lagertha opened her eyes painfully, and smiled at her husband.

"I see you didn't leave one for me."

"You already had yours." smirked back Ragnar.

Lagertha quivered and shakily got back on her feet, weakened by the hit she had received.

"You better tell us what all of this is about Rollo, I don't like fighting for nothing. Especially with the Earl's men."

"So you have found Gudrun?" he asked.

"Your slave?" said Ragnar ironically. "Yes, she was hit by another one. We killed him and followed his trail to find you. Explain, brother."

Rollo breathed deeply and eyed his brother in the darkness.

"Gudrun is not my slave..."

"That's not what it seems..." said Lagertha, apparently troubled.

"She is not." Strongly asserted Rollo.

"... But not according to the Earl..." completed Ragnar. "I see what you mean. Does she belong with us?"

"Her mother was a Viking. Her father too, apparently. She came from Kattegat, and that's why the Earl did strike. He doesn't want us to know, and I think he wants her dead."

"What was her mother's name?" asked Lagertha.

"Hilda... Varnsdottir, I think."

"I recall her... Yes, I remember." Lagertha smiled. "It's true she looks a bit like her."

"Am I the only one who doesn't know that woman?" asked Ragnar irritatedly.

"We didn't live in Kattegat when we were younger. I don't know her neither, only her name." answered Rollo.

Suddenly, a loud screaming came from deep in the woods. Ragnar's eye were glinting and his gears were showing. He looked at Rollo, then at his wife. He held her by the shoulders and began to mutter, for them only to hear:

"Lagertha, Haraldsson's men are coming again. They're going to take us. I know the Earl wants to talk to me, I'll tell you later. We mustn't loose time, so please, go and seek Athelstan and the girl. Go to Floki's."

"No, Ragnar! I want to fight with you!" she replied angrily.

"You must go! Please!" Ragnar said again.

Rollo prepared his axe and a dagger and looked at Ragnar.

"Quick, they're coming."

Ragnar looked at the shield-maiden who had now anger and fear burning in her eyes.

"Go!"

Lagertha turned around and ran off in the darkness, leaving her husband and his brother to face all these men. Alone. She didn't know what Ragnar spoke off, and she hoped as he said that he will tell her later. She still felt sore from the previous fight and her head was spinning; still she had to go. Not looking back, she heard the clinking of metal and the shouts of battle. Noises she was used to and had embraced long ago. She prayed the Gods hoping that Ragnar was right, that the Earl would not kill them. But if he did, she swore to herself that she would slit his throat cold-blooded.

[A/N: I'm sorry for the longer wait, but don't worry this story won't be abandoned. I had a difficult week and going to school again is pretty depressing -_-

I also lost my cat yesterday, I saw it get hit by a car and die and I feel so sad right now that all I'm writing may be dark...

I hope this chapter made sense, if you don't understand it message me privately.

I also appreciated a lot the reviews from wabi-sabi1090 and from Natalya Rose, it was nice to have some feedback! ^_^ I'm also surprised by all the follows, wow! It couldn't make me happier, so thank you guys! I hope you'll keep on liking this story!

And don't forget to REVIEW!]