^^ Bryn's Father, Ansar Thorn ^^

I threw the Priest over my shoulder, and looked at Andy. "Let's go, my love. The Gods Await."

She chuckled. "I'm sure..." She leapt over the side of the ship, onto the dock, without touching anything, and turned to me, waiting.

I walked down the gangplank, and chuckled. "Show-off." I quipped.

She shrugged. "Not my fault I'm stronger than you..." she whistled innocently until my free hand laid across her ass as hard as I could.

She squealed like a stuck pig, clutching her ass protectively, and Nadia laughed, walking towards us. "I knew you were the woman for her!! Ha! Now, I'm sure you're eager to go see the Temple, but you must report the Vike to the Earl first, my dears."

I nodded. "Alright... we can do that."

Andy smiled. "I can't wait to see Gia. I need a dose of adorable after a few months with these brutes." She whacked one of my crew on the skull, and he just laughed, agreeing easily.

We started towards the hall, just as Father Marcus began to wake up, and struggle. I smothered him quickly, knocking him out, and threw him back over my shoulder.

As our party stepped into the Great Hall, the Earl looked up. "Ah! My Triumphant Vikings and our swede friends!! Very good! You've arrived just when you said you would! No storms blocked your way?"

"Several, actually, but Hansen's Ship managed to shield ours from the worst of them." I nodded, bowing my head quickly  in respect of an earl.

He laughed. "None of that Bowing nonsense!! You're family now, as I've heard!! Good for you!! Now. The success of your Vike?"

I grinned. "Explicit, almost. It feels dirty to say the amounts..." I waved a hand, and my men brought in the Earl's quarter of the Gold and silver, along with a few rugs, while the books were silently taken to Andy's Hall.

He grinned. "Very nice indeed... I assume you've already taken your King's Share?"

I nodded. "My king wished half of the taking, and this portion of the rest is yours, one half of what was left. The rest is pay for the massive crew. I wouldn't have taken so much for less men, but... and Hansen is selling the Slaves along the Belt, so will be back with even more, soon. We took Fifty healthy slaves, so that's quite a lot of money."

He grinned again. "Good! I only expect a portion of Hansen's loot, he and I reached an understanding many years ago... now! The money is taken care of! Now, you have a mission to complete, and we have a Feast to plan! Good luck to you both, and Blessings of Freyr." He winked in my direction, and I smiled.

"Thank you, Earl Götten." I nodded, and dragged Father Marcus out.

I looked at Andy. "So where's the Temple?" I asked.

She pointed with a long knuckle to the northeast. "That way, around six miles. We should go."

We started walking, and I stopped when I heard a cracking behind us. She chuckled. "Come on, Nadia. Bring mother along, but be silent." She called back.

The small woman who was Magna's wife came forward, holding the other woman up, it seemed. Andy picked the larger woman up, and laid her across her shoulders easily. "Let's get moving." She said sternly, and darted forward.

I picked up Nadia and followed as fast as I could.

---

We stopped running in front of a giant Shrine, and I grinned. "This is it? It's huge!!"

She chuckled wearily, and set her mother on her feet, pulling her arm over her shoulder. "Nadia can handle Marcus. Help me with her." She growled tiredly.

I set both of my charges down, and grabbed the woman's other arm. I looked at Nadia, and she grinned, throwing the man over her shoulder with a grunt. She warbled after us as we went inside, grumbling about fat christians.

As soon as we all stepped inside, the lights dimmed, and Nadia gulped audibly. "Okay... you don't need me here anymore, right? Okay-"

The doors slammed closed in front of her, and the entire room darkened, the torches snuffing out.

I laid Andy's mother down on the alter before Thor's statuette, and breathed deep. "Okay... we brought you the eyes and Marcus, and Andehar's mother... have we succeeded, Thor, Tyr?" I called out.

Thor appeared with a crack of lightning, standing next to his statue, with a boar's pelt his only clothes. Nadia squeaked in terror, and I just grinned. "What's up, Pops?" I asked Thor.

He laughed heartily, and I ignored the thunder. "Ha! I like this one. Yes... ah! Right, she's my descendant already anyway! And you, Tyr's daughter. You've managed your task! Good! The eye?" He held out a hand the size of a shield.

She placed the jar of honey into his hand, and he chuckled. "Honey... good. That preserved it well, very intelligent. Well, my part is done, so I will heal your mother and be going. Odin only allows us so much time in this plane of existence. Good bye, children." He disappeared, and Magna's labored breathing quieted, to a peaceful sleeping breath.

The blood on her shirt disappeared, and Andy checked her wound, to find it gone, with a savage scar in its place. "He healed her... good. And Tyr? Have you something to say to her? Some bargain to strike?" She asked loudly.

Tyr appeared with no sound at all, the wind in the clearing shifting in his favor, so we couldn't even smell him. He grinned from under his wolf-pelt hood, his fangs gleaming. "I am most impressed... the eye?" I handed him the jar, and he nodded. "Good... place him on the altar, and use my Tears to end his life." He nodded at Marcus.

Andy pulled her mother down from the altar, laying her next to Nadia, and I threw Father Marcus onto it, then buried one of the Tears of Ymir into his throat.

His body slowly liquified, turning into pure water, which poured endlessly from atop the Altar into the rivets on the floor, and out of the building.

I looked at Tyr. "So we are good?"

He nodded. "Indeed. Your woman will be pregnant within the hour, though you understand the process... you won't see any signs until the second month... that is, of course, if she agrees..."

Andy laughed. "Of course. What needs doing?"

"All I need is your blood and hers. Freyr will do the rest." He shrugged, leaning against his statue. "I hate this statue. My nose is always wrong..."

"Well, if you stopped changing your nose, that might not be so." Andy said simply.

He blinked. "Oh. True, I suppose..."

She pricked her finger and poured a bit of her blood into a small vial, then handed it to me, smiling. I eagerly copied her, and corked it, tossing it to the God in front of us.

He caught it, and bowed his head. "Until again, my sweet children... oh, and an explanation is in order... you and your Child will Conquer much of the World, starting in Norway, Sweden, and Finland... England is then next... and so many more. And Your grandson will discover a new continent, all on his own. But that will not happen if you stay in Norway, Andehar. You must go with your lover, and-"

Lightning crashed, and he growled wolfishly. "Damn... Odin forbids me to give you much more guidance... Go to Sweden, and have your child. Bless it in my blood, and the child will make me proud. That is all I can promise." He disappeared simply, a crow flying away.

Andy sighed. "He's always doing that... sigh... well, I guess I'm moving in with you, lover." She kissed my cheek.

I laughed. "This is going to be great. My father will love you."

She smirked. "Of course. Who wouldn't?" She said arrogantly, sheathing her weapons and drinking from the small fountain that was still pouring steadily. "Oh! That's actually good water! Ha! Whoever would have thought... anyway. Let's get mother back to our Hall, and start Packing."

I smiled. "Yes. But first..."

I slowly knelt in front of her, and she blushed for one of the first times I'd seen. She growled at me. "Don't do anything dramatic, woman, I have no patience for-"

"Will you be my wife, Andehar Tyrannous?" I smiled.

She stuttered, and stopped talking, covering her face, until her mother mumbled. "You don't say yes, I will. Dumb... daughter... ~~~snore~~~." She fell back asleep, snoring like a boar, and I giggled.

Nadia smiled. "Oh she's fine, that's sure."

I looked at Andy, and held out a small ring I'd snitched from the hoard, worked out of Black Silver, a very rare metal, and with blue fire opals and diamonds embedded into it. It was worth at least double the entire hoard we'd given to the Earl, but luckily no one had missed it, as it had been Father Marcus's.

She gasped, and slowly slid it onto her pinky, (the only finger it fit on, which was hilarious,) and then swooped down, kissing me thoroughly, before her hands went into my clothes, questing.

I cleared my throat. "Hum... lover!?! We're still in-EEP!- the Temple!!"

She stopped for a moment, looked around, and smirked. "Apparently the Gods wanted us together... and much worse has happened in these halls." She said mischievously, and dived downwards again.

---

I traced lazy circles on her bare shoulders, and kissed her throat. "You never did answer..." I whispered.

She blushed. "Hmm... I didn't, did I?... well, I'll think about it." She said naughtily, chuckling at my indignant glare. "Of course, my love." She kissed me sweetly. "I would love to be your wife. But I still wonder whether our son will be like me or you..."

"A son was never promised... Tyr and Thor were very certain to use 'your child' or 'it'. I wonder why..." I hummed.

"Well, they said they didn't know, didn't they? Said only the Norn and Odin knew." She shrugged.

I nodded, standing. "That must be it... let's get to your house, maybe your mother is awake by now."

She nodded. "And likely screwing Nadia thoroughly. She can wait..." she took me down to the floor again, laughing loudly at my squawk of surprise.

---

I sat up, and she smiled. "Okay... fine. Let's go. I enjoyed this, though... maybe we should do it in the cold more often... your nipples get very stiff." She said, grinning.

I blushed. "It's a natural reaction! Rude woman... just because you can't feel the cold doesn't mean I can't! Humph..." I stood, and dressed quickly, shivering now that I wasn't in contact with the ferociously heated woman. "How are you so hot, anyway?" I asked.

She shrugged. "A gift from Tyr. The cold doesn't bother a true hunter. I've swam in the glacial lakes, and come up as pink as a newborn." I blushed, envisioning that, and she laughed. "And yes, I was naked." She smirked.

I smiled. "Such a tease... anyway, let's go, get dressed."

She shrugged. "I don't really like clothes, so I think I'll just throw these on and be done." She pulled on her underclothes, and then her breast-band, and laced her belt on to hold her weapons. She rolled her thin shirt and leather pants and boots into a bundle, threw her quiver and bow over a shoulder, and stepped into the snow, barefoot, and didn't even flinch from the cold, before she stared humming a tune.

I sighed and hugged her for warmth. "No fair." I mumbled.

She laughed. "So be it, hmm? Let's go, before you freeze. A mountaintop is no place for a woman dressed as lightly as you."

---

I grinned as my city came into view. I screamed out a hello, and my father waved his hammer, before returning to mending something on the docks.

Andy gasped, stepping forward. "Magnus?" She asked quietly, and I smiled, patting her shoulder.

"No, dear. That's my father, Ansar Thorn. He's a blacksmith, like me... does he look like your father?"

"... no, now that I see him clearer... his frame is the same, but the eye and skin are different. Different tattoo's, as well." She shook her head to clear it, and I nodded.

"Hmm... oh damn. Get ready to be ambushed." I spotted my little brothers, sprinting up the docks towards us as we slowed to a halt, the ropes thrown overboard just as Roark, Damon, and Sky jumped in, and tackled me.

She laughed. "They're definitely adorable. Hello, little ones!" She picked up one of them, and he grinned.

"I'm Roark, the oldest!! Don't believe Sky, he's a liar!! Ask papa, I'm the oldest!" He said firmly.

She nodded serenely. "Of course. And I am Andehar, your sisters Wife. I am also the oldest of my siblings." She smiled, and shook his hand seriously. Then she cuddled him to her chest, giggling. "He's adorable!!! They're all adorable!!!" She snatched the other two, and hugged them. "Hello, little ones!!"

They began struggling, complaining about 'too much affection! We're men, not cuddle-toys!!!'

I laughed. "Release them, Love, you can cuddle them later. We have to unload the ship, and your belongings."

Laga spoke up. "Yes, I think it'll take a bit of... work."

I looked at the massive collection of trees that floated behind us, and frowned. "Why did you want these specific trees anyway?"

"They're special." Andy shrugged, releasing the little ones.

"How so?" I asked, amused by the children's complaints.

"Each of them was Lightning-split, chosen by Thor." She shrugged again, and grinned. "So I brought them. Simple. Ah! You have to meet your Jarl, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, and so do you... we'll talk about the house later. Lostway! Let's get the gold on the docks!"

---

"So. This is your Hoard, Bryn Thorn, Daughter of Ansar... very impressive. I assume your crew has been paid already?" The Jarl asked.

I nodded. "They have."

"And I do not see any slaves? Did you become overzealous, and simply kill them all?" He grinned.

"No, Jarl. A Ghoul named Hansen had an English vessel he'd outfitted as a Slave ship. He asked for only slaves, and not gold, for his participation. It turned out that we needed him, as the monastery was heavily guarded, despite our knowledge otherwise. We lost no men, though one man on Hansen's crew lost an eye." I explained.

"And so he took the slaves, and gave you all the gold, then promised to sell them, and give you some portion of the profit?" He asked, stroking his beard. "I've heard of Hansen, he's a good man, if odd. He will deliver once he's done tormenting them. Good. Now, the matter of the giantess standing next to you? I never thought I'd meet a woman or man who trounced you in size..." He hummed.

She smiled. "I am Andehar Tyrannous, Granddaughter of Tyr, Daughter of Magnus Eisen-Blut." She said clearly.

He blinked. "Ahh... the Wife Bryn was promised... and you carry her child, I assume?"

She grinned. "Soon I will know, but Tyr has spoken, so I say yes."

He nodded. "Good. Perhaps a grandchild will smooth Ansar's temper... good. Now, Bryn. The Shop you wished is yours, and per your request, it has been demolished, so you may build it yourself. In light of your massive success, I will reduce your tax to 1/6, providing you go a-Viking again, during the next summer raids."

I bowed my head. "Understood, My Jarl. Thank you."

He smiled. "I look forward to your child, Bryn. I'm sure it will be quite the warrior, seeing as who it's mother is..."

"Thank you." We nodded in sync, and laughed.