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"They say Lunden is dangerous." Luna smiled at the two men and looked upon a place she never thought she would see again.

"Oh, it is. But Lunden is alive with every kind of life." Finan slings an arm around Sihtric's shoulders to tug him close.

"I hear women do not walk the streets unguarded, that bodies are found in the river, daily." Sihtric looks around curiously.

"Twice daily, with each and every tide." Uhtred adds.

"Lunden is not Winchester, but one year is worth ten elsewhere." Uhtred and Luna navigate them around the place, and the two have their hands intertwined as they walk.

"Then why do you not live here?"

"And end up dead in the river? Do I look like a fool?" They laugh and when they walk into the fortress she notices Sihtric grows alert, his eyes glance around to see all the danger surrounding them. She leans up to kiss his cheek to calm him.

"Uhtred, how is it that you know these streets so well?" Aethelred asks.

"I stayed here for a time, with Earl Ragnar the Fearless, when I was a boy."

"When you were a Dane." Uhtred turns to give him a dirty look.

"You will not speak to him like that again." She demanded and watched him scoff at her.

"As you can see, the one fact in our favor is that the whole of Lunden cannot be defended, it's too big. Even the walls surrounding the old Roman city would need many hundreds of men." Uhtred lectures the men on some history he acquired at a young age.

"So the brother's position is weak." Another man stated.

"Not weak but Lunden's been open to all tribes for a reason. The grounds are not far now. I shall speak.." Uhtred informs.

"You should ask for food and ale, lord. My belly believes my throat is cut." Clapa announces. Soon they come across a priest nailed to a cross in the archway.

"God preserve us."

"It is a death, nothing more." Finan says to the Mercian lord as they walk past the cross.

"Uhtred Ragnarsson, the future king of Mercia. Welcome to Lunden, your new home should you want it." Sigefrid announces and smirks seeing her. "And you brought along the lady ghost of Beamfleot!" Sigefrid chuckled at her glare.

"Sigefrid, I thought you might want to kill me still." Uhtred said matter of factly, he glanced at Luna.

"Oh, for a long time, I did. But then I grew to like my new hand. Though, I have to be careful when wiping my arse." He raised an arm and showed off the sword mounted to the stub, the brothers laughed at the joke.

"It is good to see you here, Uhtred. Though your friends are not familiar." Erik says casually.

"This is Aethelred of Mercia." Uhtred introduces the lord and looks at the brothers once more.

"Lord, my spies tell me you are to marry Alfred's daughter." Erik says walking closer.

"You're spies are wrong, lord. I've already married Alfred's daughter."

"Oh, how does she ride?" Sigefrid asked with a grin.

"I've no complaint."

"Uhtred, why is he here?" Erik questioned.

"I am here, lords, to ask you your price for leaving Lunden."

"Alfred wished to negotiate." Uhtred corrects.

"I wish to negotiate." Aethelred demands.

"We have only just arrived, why would we want to leave?" Erik looks at his sibling with a smirk.

"You're warriors, you will know that Lunden is impossible to defend, so, let's get this done."

"Is that a threat?" Sigefrid asks.

"Your price."

"It sounds like a threat." Sigefrid says.

"I'm asking you to retreat, lords, for a price, for silver."  The brothers glanced at one another in amusement.

"Flesh is our price. Your bride, Aethelflæd." Erik taunts hoping to get a reaction, and he does. "She has great beauty and a good mind. I'm in need of a wife. Or maybe your promised first wife, lady of Beamfleot?" Erik taunted looking at Luna, Uhtred slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close with a warning glare.

"I am in need of a hump, we will share." Sigefrid adds making Finan scoff in disbelief.

"She is my wife!"

"Aethelred, they're teasing you. Perhaps, we can begin with a cup of ale, it's a long walk from the river." Uhtred says attempting to gain control of the conversation.

"A cup of ale it is, lord Uhtred." Sigefrid walks them deeper into their newly gained home and sits on a fur-covered seat with his arms splayed on the back.

"Could you guarantee Ragnar and all the men he commands? Are you with us?" Erik questions.

"I'm here."

"Yes, but are you here for Alfred, yourself, or us?"

"Ragnar's in the north. It would take some time for the news to reach him, and more time for him to decide. I guarantee nothing, lord. Your prisoners are from where?" Uhtred asks looking at the priest that was kneeling in the dirt. Luna perks up at the mention of her best friend, the Dane who has visited her several times in the years time and always brings her something of dane origin.

"They are from Guthrum's ass."

"The Earl Guthrum is called Aethelstan now." The Mercian guard corrected. She rolled her eyes at the annoying man and closed her eyes to relax into Uhtred's side.

"Guthrum is a shit stain, he sends priests to Beamfleot begging for peace. Begging for warriors to settle and do what? Raise sheep?" Sigefrid said bluntly.

"Many men do, lord."

"There are no sheep farmers in Valhalla." Sigefrid spoke with smugness.

"Do you intend to put all the priests on the cross?" Uhtred questions and sees Sihtric and Finan both grow tense when Sigefrid points his sword hand at Luna mockingly.

"It is Sigefrid's game."

"I do not understand how it kills a man." Sigefrid said with a shrug.

"Slowly, lord. It's a cruel death." Finan stepped away from the background and stood next to Luna for more protection.

"Is what the priest there said."

"The priest is right." Finan said sharply.

"The priest looks like a pale bag of bones and dough, you should let him fight. The Romans used this square for just that purpose, combat." Uhtred looked at the brothers hoping to sway them to his idea.

"He would die too easily." Erik replied instead.

"Give him something to fight for....his freedom."

"Bolton? We need to be entertained! Are you man enough to kill a dane?" Sigefrid calls out and soon the men cheer. They watch from the crowd as Bolton and the priest battle it out, for a second she believed Bolton would win. She glanced at Uhtred and Finan who were both watching the fight with intense eyes. She would never understand the interest in killing one another for fun.

"Now, I do not wish to kill this idiot, as I'm sure his mother loved him," The priest announced with the Dane on his knees and the sword at his throat, he walked around the man and placed the tip of the sword at him. "But do I have your word as warriors, that I am now a freeman?"

"You have my word, priest." Erik shouted, it looked like Sigefrid was growing angry at the display.

"If all your men fight like this, Alfred will have no trouble throwing you out of Lunden." The priest taunts with a smirk.

"Put down your sword."

"Thank you, lord." The priest says. "It was a bit on the heavy side." He then stretches out his arms and then drops the sword. Doing so angered Sigefrid who shoved his way through the crowd and kills Bolton before getting in his face.

"Where have you learned to fight, priest, the monastery?"

"I'm a Britain, lord. I was brought up killing Saxons." He said casually, the crowd watched in silence.

"Then join us, join me."

"Ten years ago, maybe. But now I will fight for my god and my freedom it seems. If it is acceptable, I will return with the lord Uhtred."

"But not before we've settled on a price, I hope? How much...for you to leave Lunden." Gene smirked when Sigefrid just laughed and walked past the Mercian.

Now back at Coccham, the gang gathered in Uhtred's hall waiting on his arrival, Aethelred sat at the table alone while his guard walked around. Sihtric reached his arms out for her and she allowed him to pull her close with an arm around her waist as he laid his head against her stomach and ran her fingers over his head softly.

"I have not seen the inside of a pagan hall, I am surprised at its....warmth."

"Were you expecting to see heads on poles, lord?" She gave him a teasing smile as she went to sit down.

"I was, lady. Excuse my ignorance."

"I will excuse you, this one time. Uhtred and Luna do not take disrespecting me lightly." Gisela spoke and looked at Luna who smiled at her, the guard turned to her in confusion. "Will lady Aethelflæd be joining us after prayers, lord?"

"If she has the will, yes. She had not traveled well." The Mercian lord says flatly, Luna sighs in annoyance.

"Should she be traveling at all to battle?" Luna butted in and Aethelred glares at her.

"It was her wish to accompany her husband, they are newly married after all." The guard says. Æthelred watches as she leans down to kiss Sihtric and notices Gisela sending the two a soft look.

"She will be kept out of harm's way." Aethelred informed them, Thyra then got up and left the hall.

"Uhtred, has the king written that when the siege of Lunden begins I am to be first up the ladder? It is after all something you would do." Steapa turns to look at Aethelwold with an irritated look.

"You accept that I am in charge of all men?"

"It's the king's wish." Uhtred answers.

"It is."

"Oh, dear." Aethelwold mumbled.

"You are with us?" Aethelred watches as Uhtred grabs a sword and swings it around.

"Why would I not be? I am an Ealdorman of Wessex."

"Alfred had decided to give you this one last chance." Aethelred says smugly.

"I hope you die in battle." Luna spoke gathering the attention of everyone. She ignored them as she started braiding Sihtric's hair.

"Is that a threat?" The Mercian lord asks, insulted at the idea of her of all people speaking up.

"Keep talking and find out." Her boys and Gisela grin at her in approval while the Saxons grow tense.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Together we will travel down the river, meet with the armies of Mercia and Wessex, and make camp a short distance from Lunden." Aethelred explains Uhtred doesn't seem too interested.

"Do you have a plan of attack?"

"Yes, it is not too dissimilar from your plan. You will attack the north gate with your men. Once the assault is underway; I shall attack from the marshes with the main army." Luna watches as Finan starts to stab the wooden wall with his sword as an intimidation tactic. She finds it all a little too attractive. She hums quietly when Sihtric starts to rub her back, his fingers sending chills down her spine.

"And how will you know my assault is underway?" Uhtred asks the lord.

"I will know." Uhtred scoffs and turns away from him.

"You will know?"

"Uhtred, do not doubt me. I want this victory, Lunden belongs to Mercia and I am the lord of Mercia. I will go with everyman at my disposal to reclaim what is mine." Uhtred nods and Gisela squeezes his shoulder when he leans down for a cup of ale.

"Of course, Uhtred. I do not wish to see you die."

"I am with Uhtred." Steapa claims and Uhtred glances at the man for a moment.

"No, Steapa, you're with me."

"I am with Uhtred," He tells him once again and pulls out a slip of paper from his wrist armor. "The King says."

"Very well."

"I am with Steapa, behind Steapa." Aethelwold speaks up and looks around the group.

"Your bravery knows no beginning, Aethelwold. A toast to the Mercians who died for Wessex at Ethandun and to the men of Wessex who will fight for Mercia at Lunden. To allies!"

"To allies." Aethelred echoes and Uhtred takes a quick drink of the ale before turning away.