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"Surround them! Give them no escape and then we'll kill every last one of the bastards!" Hæsten shouts as his men cheer. "Give up Uhtred and the rest of you will live. All I want is the Dane-slayer!" Sigyn panicked as his men circled Uhtred and his men, Skade reached out to grab her wrist with a warning look.

"You will die, sister. The monk is not worth dying for." Skade muttered to her as Hæsten continued to shout.

"You don't know what it is to care for someone. I do not wish for him to die." Sigyn snapped and ripped her sister's hand off her, she hissed in pain when Skade's nails cut her.

"What you will get Hæsten, is my sword up your hairy arse!" Finan shouts making Hæsten chuckle.

"As you wish. You will die on your knees. I want the head of Uhtred Ragnarsson!" Hæsten shouts as they close in.

"Turn the fields red with Saxon blood and flesh!" Skade shouts bloodthirsty and even Hæsten looks terrified. Sigyn fought the urge to kick her sister off the horse, but she feared it would do her no good.

"Stand! Every man is to stand! Dagfinn! Everyman is to stand!" Hæsten shouts with worry as an army emerges from the trees. Sigyn smiled at the sight, her monk would not die today.

"It's Alfred, he lives." Skade says as she grows tense.

"Stand! Everyman is to stand! Stand!" Skade inhaled sharply when she and Uhtred locked eyes, Skade looked at Hæsten before attempting to escape, but it did her no good as Hæsten knocked her out. Sigyn sighed in disappointment, she followed the man seeing as she liked being conscious.

Once they get to camp she smiles when Hæsten pulls Skade off her horse and into the mud. Hæsten holds his hand out for her to gently help her off, she smiles mockingly at Skade.

"Lord Hæsten, my friend," Cnut looked over at her in curiosity. "Lady Sigyn, as beautiful as ever." She recoiled in disgust.

"Cnut," Hæsten walks to the table for some ale. "Point your cock somewhere else, Bloodhair. The woman is mine, make no mistake. And as for the sister, she belongs to Uhtred's monk." Hæsten threatened Bloodhair and Sigyn blushed at the comment. She would very much like to belong to Osferth.

"What has happened?" Cnut asked.

"I have lost everything, bar what you see."

"You've lost more than half your men." Bloodhair stated.

"And my man, Dagfinn."

"How?"

"His pride. Uhtred threatened it and he had fallen for the trap." Sigyn said and watched as Cnut walked to her, she tensed when his hand caressed her face. Skade hissed at the man in anger and Cnut pulled away, she for once was grateful for her sister's possessiveness.

"Alfred lives, that is how they came at night, in their thousands." Hæsten says distraught at his loss.

"He lives?" Aethelwold questioned in shock.

"And Uhtred is with him."

"Who says Alfred lives?" Aethelwold questioned.

"I say. I saw him on horseback, as strong as he has ever been."

"That is nonsense. It must be."

"He lives! And half my men do not!" Hæsten shouted as he stood up in anger.

"If Uhtred is with Alfred, then it is over before it has begun." Aethelwold said defeated.

She had to agree. Uhtred was one of the best warriors she had ever seen.

"Nothing is over. Nothing is over! We are strong still!" Cnut demanded.

"How'd you come by Skade and Sigyn?" Bloodhair asked them.

"Skade's not important." Cnut cut him off, it didn't escape her that he failed to mention her name.

"Hæsten spared Uhtred." Skade taunted.

"You will shut your mouth!" Hæsten demanded her.

"It's true."

"We do not care." Cnut spoke and Skade continued.

"He could have easily killed Uhtred and the princess, but instead, he desired me. He thinks with his cock." Bloodhair chuckled.

"You find that amusing, Bloodhair?" Hæsten questioned.

"I've missed her sharp tongue."

"She is mine. I will lose nothing more." Hæsten ordered.

"We are meant to be one army. Hæsten, you will rest. Then the three of us shall sit and decide how we are to proceed. A war council." Cnut claimed.

"You mean the four of us?" Aethelwold says.

"Aethelwold, another word from you, and I shall take your head." Cnut snapped as he walked past the boy.

"Very well." The boy mumbled softly.

"You abandoned your fortress and your men abandoned you." Bloodhair taunted as they sat at the table feasting, she and Skade sat farther out.

"Some."

"You fell into Alfred's trap." Bloodhair spoke and looked over at Sigyn as she and Skade spoke quietly.

"I was told that Alfred was dead, by your messenger." Hæsten explained.

"The trap was Uhtred's. Alfred brought his armies to Beamfleot because that is what Uhtred asked of him. Alfred will die soon enough, but Uhtred we want dead. He should have died at Dunholm, but Ragnar was weak. If we are to make Wessex ours, we must rid it of its talisman. Uhtred of Bebbanburg must die."

"You are forgetting one important thing, lord." Sigyn spoke drawing their attention.

"And what would that be?" Bloodhair question.

"I have prayed to the gods to protect Uhtred and his men. And if what Skade says is true, I have untapped power inside of me that not even she knows the extent of." Sigyn smiled smugly at the faces of the men before her, only Cnut seemed happy about the news.

"When this is over, you shall be mine." Cnut promised looking at her.

"I would rather be with Alfred than you." She snapped making Skade grin.

"The days are short. We've been weakened and Ragnar's death is an omen. Wessex must wait."

"Aethelwold, you will return to Winchester." Cnut said.

"I cannot. I will not. For what reason?"

"You king promised to deliver us a Saxon army." Cnut clarified.

"Once Alfred is dead, yes. Æthelred is ripe for betrayal, as are many men of Wessex. But as a corpse, I can do nothing. Alfred would kill me." Aethelwold explained frantically.

"You will ask for forgiveness."

"And I will be ignored." Aethelwold backed up.

"Then you will beg! You will deliver me a Saxon army and if Uhtred has joined Alfred at Winchester, you will kill him." Cnut shouted.

"I will kill him, how?"

"As you killed Ragnar."

"Lord..." Aethelwold begged.

"He wouldn't have the balls." Hæsten said and smirked at the boy.

"Lord Cnut, you must learn to hold your tongue." Aethelwold said.

"This fool killed Ragnar?" Bloodhair questioned.

"Cnut is joking with you."

"While he slept." Cnut answered.

"He was not sleeping! It was either he died or I died. I am no fool."

"This  goes no further than this table."

"Are you part of this?" Bloodhair asked.

"I am no longer concerned by his death." Cnut said instead.

"You wish to lead?"

"Ragnar should have never allowed Uhtred to live. He should never have allowed him to leave with your woman." Cnut spoke playing to Bloodhair's ego and pride.

"Who is now my woman." Hæsten added.

"Who will take Ragnar's men?" Skade asked.

"Ragnar's men belong to Brida. They merely await her return. Aethelwold, you will leave tomorrow" Cnut ordered as they were.

"So, I am journeying to Wessex, to become a corpse, and from my grave, I am to raise an army. And kill the greatest warrior in the land?" Aethelwold scoffed at the mission.