Harald

Large waves lapped against the bow of their longship, causing some sailors to topple over. "LAND!" a man cried out over the roaring wind. Harald stumbled to his feet, one arm wrapped around the mast. There, through the mist, he could see the outline of a sizeable craggy island, waves crashing against the cliffs. He could feel the ship turn under him as they veered away from certain death and began sailing around Bornholm.

They soon docked in a small fishing village, its port filled with small fishing rafts. As they disembarked, their small group was approached by two rather tall men wearing boiled leather armour. Stepping forward his father frowned at them, "Where is King Thurmund? Is it not a common courtesy in Denmark to greet your guests?" One of the two men worked his jaw, "Our King, sends his apologies, he wished he could come but there were a few things that needed his attention." His father nodded slowly and glanced back at him, "Come son, we shouldn't keep our host waiting." Harald clenched his jaw, he could tell that his father wasn't happy with the men's explanation.

As they slowly made their way up the tall hill in the centre of Bornholm, Harald felt someone nudge him. He turned only to find his brother grinning at him, "Excited?" He grinned back, "Of course." Halfdan wrapped his arm around him, "From what I've heard, she's supposedly a great beauty." Chuckling, he pulled his brother closer, "Well I hope so."

The fortress came into view long before they reached its front gates. Tall wooden walls looming above them, an intimidating presence from where they stood. One of the Danes called for them to be let inside and soon the thick gates swung open to reveal a courtyard with a massive longhouse in the middle. From what he had heard King Thurmund was a direct descendant of Thor and even looked like him, so the size of everything didn't surprise him. With a bang, one of the Danes threw open the door to the longhouse, and their small party entered.

The inside of the hall was quite dark and smoky with a massive bonfire in the centre. Harald squinted his eyes and through the smoke, people and fire, he spotted the intimidating figure of King Thurmund. His father usually didn't have problems making his presence known among fellow Norwegians but among these Danes, he almost seemed small. As such it took them longer than it should have to get to the high table, where Thurmund sat.

"AH KING HALFDAN!" the man roared, and immediately the entire hall fell silent. Harald's eyes grew wide as the King stood, the man must have been as tall as a bear, maybe even as large. "Welcome to my hall, drink and eat to your heart's content!" Thurmund said, gesturing around the room. Smiling back, his father gestured to him and his brother, "Thank you, let me introduce you to my sons, Harald and Halfdan, they'll be experiencing their fourteenth winter now."

Thurmund's grin widened and his gaze turned to Harald, "So you're the boy my daughter's going to marry?" The man's ice blue eyes bored into him, "Hm?" The King then smiled and gestured to his side, "What do you think?" Only then did Harald finally notice the red haired girl to the side, and his eyes grew wide. She was beautiful, exceptionally so. Her emerald gaze lingered on him for a few seconds before she looked at her father, and clenched her jaw, "Let's dine first."

And so they did, for over an hour eating and drinking. He had tried speaking to Valkya multiple times, but for some reason, she kept avoiding him and if she couldn't, only gave short answers. He had been in a deep conversation with his brother when he noticed that Valkya had disappeared from next to him. Harald frowned and began searching the room for any sign of her. He soon spotted her, staring at him from next to the door, through which she then disappeared waving for him to follow her. Sighing, Harald quickly finished his horn of mead, before clambering to his feet and disappearing into the crowd.

Exiting onto the courtyard, Harald immediately spotted Valkya, leaning against the fortress wall. "Come!" she ordered and without another word, ran out of the open gates and into the nearby forest. He groaned and ran after her, knowing that if he let her into the woods alone, Thurmund would probably rip his head off.

She was surprisingly spry, he even lost sight of her at some points, as they traversed the forest, but luckily the muddy ground made it easy to spot her tracks. There was one advantage of the constant running though, he wasn't getting cold.

He frowned as he saw her skid to a stop far up ahead, maybe she had spotted something or… or she might be in danger. That thought made him push on faster and faster. But when he finally reached her, what he found wasn't some wild animal or any landmark, it was a simple clearing, with some weapons stuck in a tree. He frowned as he spotted the spear in the girl's hand.

"Pick one!" she ordered, pointing at the blades. Harald frowned, "What?" Her eyes narrowed, "I said, pick one, vatnisse!" Clenching his jaw, he strode over to the weapons and pulled a sword out of the tree. With the blink of an eye, Valkya was next to him, spear approaching his head. He quickly moved out of the way, his heart racing a million miles an hour. He was about to tell her to stop, but Valkya didn't seem to want to give him the chance to, as she launched a flurry of attacks at him.

This went on for a few minutes until she finally hit his sword hand, cutting to the bone. Grunting Harald dropped his sword, before feeling the spear's shaft knock him across the head. Toppling to the ground, he awaited the final strike, but it never came. Raising his head he saw Valkya standing before him, spear by her side, and at that moment, she could have been mistaken for Freya.

"Just as I thought, you Norwegians really are weak!" she spat at him, "How could I ever marry someone like you!" Harald's eyes widened as his mind raced for anything he could say to change her mind. He just knew he had to have her, she was the perfect woman, beautiful and powerful. "How dare you even think of looking at-" he cut her off, "I'll give you anything!" Her frown deepened, and she crouched down before him. For a few terrifying moments, she didn't say a word, but then, "Alright. I'll marry you if… you give me all of Norway."

Harald blinked, shocked but happy, "I'll conquer it all and hand it to you, in exchange for your hand in marriage." Valkya smiled and was about to stand back up when something massive barreled into the clearing. Harald stiffened in shock and was about to grab his sword when a fountain of blood erupted from the bear's neck, from which Valkya had just pulled her spear. "And you're slow too."