╚════════*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*════════╝

Finan and Osferth walk to Thyra and Beocca's home as they hear people screaming and the smell of something burning, upon seeing the house on fire Finan places his hands on his head in panic. Sigyn froze at the sight of the house burning, she felt dread fill her. Osferth turned to her in concern and reached out a hand for her, she quickly grasped his hand to soothe her panic.

"Oh, bejesus." He mumbled horrified.

"Oh, dear lord." Osferth muttered.

"Fetch Father Beocca! Fetch him now! Go!" Finan orders as he sees Sihtric and the men toss buckets of water onto the flames.

"Sihtric! Thyra, is she inside?" Finan asked frantically.

"I thought she was at the palace?" Sihtric asked in confusion.

"No, no, she left. She walked out!" Finan began to panic when he realized Thyra was possibly in there.

"Get the door! Get the door!" Sihtric ordered and then got shoved back when the house began to collapse, and people screamed around them. Beocca raced past them to the house. Sigyn wanted to comfort the man but she was sure a heathen like her wouldn't bring him any ease

"No! No, this is not happening! Thyra! I'm here. I am here!" He shouts and fights against Sihtric and Finan's hold when they grab him. He falls to the ground in grief when the house burns up. He screams and cries as Sihtric and Finan hug him on the ground. Osferth squeezed her hand gently as she watched the sad scene.

Later when the house is nothing but ash, Hild joins them. Finan and Sihtric lean against the beam behind the two as they stand quietly. Osferth left to pray for Thyra's soul, she felt Sihtric nudge her arm to gain her attention.

"What is it? You seem more skittish than normal." He whispered to her. Sigyn wished she could tell him of her sister's ghost but she was afraid he would think she had lost her mind.

"I do not like being here." She answered instead. Sihtric wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, she relaxed into the man and imagined her life if he had been her brother instead of her sister Skade.

"Father, she is with God now. You know that and he will welcome her, I'm sure." Hild said as she sat next to him.

"It's how her family died, in a fire. You think that would be a comfort or would it terrify her further?" He asked as he shuffled.

"Father, all we know is that she's at peace now. She's at peace." Hild said with a sad look.

"You need to walk away now, Father. A drink of ale, maybe? Once the heat is gone, I shall recover her and wrap her for you to bury." Finan claims as he kneels next to the man and places a hand on his shoulder.

"I...no...I will find her. She is my wife." Becca said stuttering out a response.

"She is. We'll help you then." Finan stated as he looked at Sihtric.

"This fire did not just happen. It did not." Beocca said with certainty.

"Lord? What is this, a hunting party?" Finan asked when he saw Uhtred. Sigyn and Osferth followed behind the man with their fingers intertwined.

"I am an outlaw once again, to be banished or executed." He says with amusement.

"Should we follow you, lord? Leave Winchester for the Danes?" Uhtred stops when he hears what Sihtric said.

"Lord? Walk," Steapa motioned to the horse as Uhtred turned to Edward. "Uhtred, you will get up onto your horse." Uhtred sighs and slowly holds up his hands and shows off the letter.

"I am a free man, I have a letter of pardon. It bears the king's seal it is written in the king's hand. Does the word of Alfred count for nothing in Winchester now that he is gone?" Uhtred shouts as he turns.

"And you  are a man who once held a knight to the king's throat!" Ælswith shouts in anger.

"Show us one witness who can say this letter was written willingly. One witness." The bishop says smugly and Uhtred looks away.

"There was no witness."

"We are gifting you your life! You shall be grateful and you shall leave this land in peace!" Ælswith says.

"There will be no peace, lady. War is coming! There is a Dane army marching this very moment and I will abandon the people of Wessex—" He is quickly interrupted by the Ælswith.

"Who do you think you are? Steapa!" The man in question unsheathed his sword as two men grabbed Uhtred.

"Lady Ælswith, I cannot let this injustice go unchallenged. If Uhtred of Bebbanburg claims to have been made a free man by King Alfred himself, we cannot dismiss it so lightly. Only a king can deny a king." Beocca defends the man.

"Wessex has no king." Aethelwold says in bitterness.

"We have Edward Rex."

"The Witan decides who is king." Aethelwold hissed out. Sigyn narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"Edward is the aetheling." Uhtred adds.

"He has no authority. He is Alfred's son and no more. I'm sure the monasteries are full of Alfred's bastard sons. Do all bastards have a claim to the crown?" Aethelwold claims with a smirk.

"Bishop Erkenwald, you will end this display."

"King or not, if Edward believes the letter of pardon to be untrue, then I will leave Wessex." Uhtred offers as he looks directly at Edward.

"Steapa, you will return the prisoner to the palace. This is no place for such decisions." The bishop orders.

"This is precisely the place. Justice must be seen, to be done." Beocca replied with a glare.

"Steapa! Unhand the prisoner. Though he remains a prisoner, I will allow lord Uhtred to speak. He has earned that right." Edward ordered instead with a determined look.

"Though you have not, lord, not yet. You have no authority."

"Do you object to the people bearing witness to justice, lord Aethelwold?" Edward says shutting the boy up.

"I do not."

"Uhtred, the king swore that you were to die. Why the change in his heart?" Edward questioned and Uhtred sighed.

"Because he believed that I deserved his forgiveness."

"Is that a boast?" Ælswith questioned.

"Look at his chronicle. I am there on every page."

"That is a lie! You are not named, even once." Ælswith screamed in anger.

"But I am there, unwritten lady, but I am there. The Warriors of Wessex know it, the Danes know it and it is what the king has told me himself. I am with him from the Somerset marshes to Ethandun and all of the battles that have followed, we were bonded him and I.  He was the man that I could never be nor did I wish to be. He was the man that I loved and despise, but it was never less than an honor to serve him. He was my king, and he did not wish to go to his God, without granting me what I have earned many times over, my freedom." The crowd begins to murmur about when he finishes.

"But the question remains: why did he choose not to announce it?"

"You will remember my great friend, Leofric, a warrior and a Saxon to the bone. He told me once that I could never better Alfred because 'the bastard thinks,' he said." The crowd chuckles. "Perhaps your father chose not to announce my freedom for this very reason, so that people could witness their new king, Edward, dispensing justice. Fairly, I hope."

"Will you accept the decision of Edward Rex?" Beocca asked.

"I will give you my word."

"Lord?" Beocca questioned.

"Again, I say, and with respect, the boy does not have the power to make such a statement. He is an aetheling and nothing more. He is no more an heir to the crown than myself." Aethelwold snapped in envy and hatred.

"Lord, the decision is yours to make." Beocca glares at Aethelwold.

"My father, King Alfred, demanded loyalty, unity. He believed in his God and doubted those who did not," Edward begins to walk to Uhtred and Finan readied himself to unsheathe his sword if necessary. "A heathen would not be trusted completely until he has embraced Alfred's god as his own. And yet, it was a heathen he did trust most. It was the word of Uhtred that he respected most. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, I find the letter written by my father to be true. Alfred's pardon does stand. You are a free man, able to choose your own path." The crowd cheers.

"May I ask? Lord Uhtred, may I ask now that you are a free man once, where will your path lead? I would like to know?" Beocca questioned the Dane.

"Steapa, my sword. One day, Father, I hope that my path will eventually lead north to Bebbanburg, but not, I believe I am needed here. I will follow Edward Rex." Edward pulls Uhtred into a hug.

At the camp, the warriors sit around the campfire as Osferth serves them some stew. She had offered to help her lover but he just gently pushed her to sit and enjoy his food, she pouted at him and hummed quietly when Osferth leaned down to kiss her sweetly.

"I have noticed Aethelwold is not with us." Sihtric says bluntly and grins at the two.

"I wondered why the stench is gone. No doubt he's making his way to the Danes." Beocca said as he took the stew from Osferth.

"He may know of Bedanford. He will tell them." Osferth we asked with worry.

"Which is why we're headed towards the woods. Beyond Bedanford." Finan speaks up.

"We are?"

"We assemble at Bedanford as requested in the letter but then we march on to attack the Danes in the woodlands. A small advantage for our smaller numbers," Uhtred says and then turns to Osferth. "You have the blood kept safe?"

"I do, lord. Always. And it is blessed."

"Thyra's blood." Beocca says.

"Yes."

"And it will save Ragnar's soul?" He asked the Dane.

"It will take him from Nifelheim to Valhalla, yes. From hell into heaven. I must kill the man who killed Ragnar, with a blade marked with Ragnar's blood." Uhtred explained.

"Thyra's blood."

"It is the same." Uhtred said dismissing it.

"Who is this man you will kill?" Beocca asked with curiosity.

"I do not know."

Sihtric, Finan, and a few others drag the Dane spies to the hill, Uhtred wanted them to hang from the trees in a warning. Finan ordered them to shoot the next batch as Sihtric and a man dragged another body.

"There is nothing more useless than a dead spy." Finan mumbled. Sihtric stands alert as he unsheathed his sword.

"Finan." Finan turns to see a lonesome rider watching them. They bring him back to camp to speak with Uhtred.

"Jackdaw." Sihtric glanced around once he noticed Sigyn was nowhere to be found.

"He says he has a message, lord." Finan informs the man.

"I do, lord. It's from Brida." Uhtred tensed at the name and grew serious.

"Say it."

"Am I to be spared?"

"Yes, you will be spared, but you will not be returning to the Danes. Say your message."

"She says, 'Aethelwold,' lord. She says, 'Do not fail.'" Uhtred becomes visibly angry at the message.

"How long before they come?"

"They are near. You are facing death, for certain." Jackdaw claimed.

"You are wrong, Jackdaw. I will not die." Uhtred says confidently as they lead him away. "Osferth, the blood."

"Where is she?" Sihtric asked the monk with worry.

"I am not sure, it was something pagan. A ritual, I believe?" Sihtric nodded and patted his back as he went looking for the blonde.

Sigyn was kneeling under a dead tree, her hands dirty from the mud as she carved runes into the earth. She mumbled multiple incantations in hopes one would bind her sister to the tree and not her soul.

"You are weak!" Sigyn flinched at the viciousness and avoided her piercing gaze.

"And yet, I live and you do not." Sigyn snapped in irritation as she felt her skin crawl.

"I will kill you and possess your body, you are mine to control."

Sigyn shivered when she felt something pet her hair mockingly, Skade leaned in close and the smell of decay filled the air. Sigyn flinched when Skade twirled her blonde hair between her fingers before scowling.

"Leave me alone, Skade." Sigyn hissed in pain when Skade jerked her head back as Skade hovered above her. Skade had worms falling from her empty eye sockets and water pouring from her mouth as she laughed hysterically. Sigyn reached for the protection charm but was too slow, Skade wrapped her hand around Sigyn's throat.

Sigyn gripped her sister's wrist as she fought to gain air, Skade leaned her forehead against Sigyn's as she grinned.

"Where are your saviors now? Hmm, poor little Sigyn, all alone with her evil sister." Skade mocked as she tightened her grip and Sigyn began to panic.

"Sigyn? Sigyn!" Skade scowled at the voice of Sihtric in the distance and shoved Sigyn to the ground as she gasped for air.

"Next time, you die."

Sigyn quickly finished the curse and bound her sister's spirit to the tree as she paused for a moment, she knew that her throat had bruises and she wondered how she would be able to hide it. She tucked her hair closer to her face and throat to hopefully hide the finger-shaped bruises. She stood just as Sihtric cleared the distance and reached her, he sighed in relief at the sight of her safe.

"You had me worried, Sig." Sihtric pulled her into an embrace, one she melted into, and shakily hugged him back. When they pulled away the wind had caught her hair and allowed Sihtric to see her injury, his eyes sharpened in anger as he gently touched the bruises.

"Who did this? I will kill them," He promised with a snarl. "Sigyn, who did this? Was it Osferth?" He asked quieter and she quickly shook her head no but regretted it immediately as the pain shot up her neck.

"Skade." She whispered hoarsely and Sihtric just pulled her into another hug.

"We will find a way to end this, I swear it." Sihtric kissed her head as he glared at the tree, he could feel something menacing lurking within it. Skade no doubt, if the binding runes were anything to go by.

"Today, I ask you not to fight for Alfred. I ask you not to fight for Edward, not the crown. But to fight for yourselves, and your forefathers. They are buried in the soil of Wessex and Mercia, and they have become the soil. They are the land. And even as I speak, it is for them we are fighting." Edward screams as they gather to hear his speech, and the men around them shout.

Sigyn stayed back much to Sihtric's complaints, she was safe for now. She was sure of it. She chose to listen to Jackdaw speak of his time at Denholm with Brida and Ragnar.

On the order, they charge into the unaware Danes with shouts and cries of war.

"Uhtred, there's too many of the bastards!" Finan shouts as they slash down any Dane they come across.

"Keep your ground!"

"Where are the Mercians?" Sihtric shouts as he and Finan grunt.

"Uhtred, the line is breaking!"

"Push back! Where is Sigebriht?" Uhtred says in anger.

"Lord! Horses!" They turn to see Aethelflæd and her men charge.

"It is Aethelflaed! It is Mercia!" Uhtred says happily before meeting Aethelwold's eyes and then turning to Brida when he runs. The battle ends soon enough with Cnut and Hæsten fleeing and Uhtred killing Aethelwold.