024

(Floki/Ragnar POV)

- Floki do you think what Ulf said could be true?

- I don't know, but if anyone ever goes west, he'll do it on the ship I build.

- Me, you, Rollo, Leif, Torstein, Hakon, Kauko, Ulf. All together on one ship, sailing into the unknown.

- You're dreaming, Ragnar. We don't have a ship or the money, your crew is seven, and Ulf doesn't seem to be interested in raids. He's making good money here, next year Lagertha will be his wife ... why would he risk everything at sea?

- Maybe for fame and glory? but we do not have to count him, although he fights well ... We will certainly find people willing to go to such a raid.

(End POV)

All week I was in a bad mood, when a thought comes to my head, it's hard to get rid of it later. Lagertha hadn't betrayed me yet and maybe she would never do it, but I knew in my head how I was going to kill her lover. Exactly in the same way as Bolesław the Bold punished adulterers ... but without using a bridge... madness.

I couldn't concentrate on my job or anything else. I took all my anger out on chopping wood ... in doing so I destroyed two axes. Now I will have to go to my father's house to make a new one and I will do one more small thing. I took a few needed items out of my trunk and went to my old house.

Lagertha saw that I was in no mood, and tried to find out what was the reason for my upset, but I couldn't tell her it was because in the future you would betray me with Rollo or someone else.

It took me a whole day and a bit of a night to make two axes and a present for Lagerth. It made no sense for me to waste my time going home, so I decided to spend the rest of the night here, and only come back to my house in the morning. When I got back my future wife was already here.

- Ulf, I was worried about you. You didn't come back tonight. So I figured I'll stay here for the night and wait for you.

- Work took me longer than expected. Sit down, I have something for you.

I took two axes from my bag and placed them on the table, then took the thing wrapped in a cloth and handed it to Lagertha.

Lagertha unfolded the package and saw a silver bracelet with a piece of amber fitted.

- Ulf, it's beautiful. You did not have to.

- I didn't have to, but I wanted to. I'll tell you story, that my mother told me when I was a child. As you know, she was a slave girl from the land where Mira comes from.

- I know, you told me about it once.

(Whoever read the Commonwealth will know it already)

- In those lands, other Gods are confessed and this is a story about one of them.

"At the bottom of the sea there is an amber palace in which the beautiful Goddess Jurata lives, she was a woman of the God of war and storm Perun. One day she found out that one of the fishermen was catching too many fish and decided to punish him, she went to the surface and saw a fisherman there. She fell in love with him at first sight, and the fisherman fell in love with the Goddess. She took him to her underwater palace. Strzybóg, the wind god, saw it all and carried the message to his brother Perun. The jealous God sent a powerful lightning bolt in the surface of the sea, which reached the very bottom and hit the palace of the Goddess. Lightning broke the palace into small pieces and killed the fish ... People say that Perun also killed Jurat, others say that he chained the Goddesses to the bottom of the sea, where to this day she cries for her dead lover ... pieces of amber that throws the sea ashore these are fragments of her palace, or maybe her tears."... and that's the whole story, there's a piece of amber in the bracelet, maybe it's her tear. I hope I didn't bore you.

- No, a beautiful story. Do you know many such stories?

- Yes, my mother told them a lot, she sang a lot.

I was hoping that the story, even if Lagerta did not understand her now, would remain in her memory and be a warning. My future wife was now looking at the amber and she was probably trying to judge whether it was a tear or a piece of the goddess's palace, I approached her and kissed her head.

- I'll make us something to eat and then you can go home and convince Arne not to kill me. His daughter didn't come home for the night, he must be sharpening an ax already.

After finishing breakfast, Lagertha returned to her home, and I went to the workshop to do some work.

(Mira POV)

🤲👉👌🤘💪🤛🤛🤛

(End POV)

(Lagertha POV)

Ulf made another gift for me, he didn't have to, and it was a surprise to me. Frida said she's been with Arne for over 15 years and she never got a dress like me, what will she say today when she sees the bracelet, the day I got the dress Arne had to sleep in another room. Frida says I'm lucky to be Ulf's wife. I will also tell her story about Jurata.

(End POV)

I was making another toy. When suddenly the whole world froze, there was no sound, no wind ... I knew that I would meet Weles soon.

- Your Highness...

- Lord Weles I am no longer the King ... The King died 16 years ago. Now is Ulf. What can I do for you?

- You already do it, the story you told will be repeated from mouth to mouth and will last forever. Jurata will surely be grateful to you ... but I have a small request for you. Your new relatives invaded the Arkona area again, and they capture Bojan. Buy him out and set him free.

- Is this all I have to do? If they don't kill him sooner, he's already free.

Weles disappeared as suddenly as he appeared. Everything is back to normal.