4

3rd person pov

Thanks to the information from the soldier Ragnar decided to take alive, we learned of a small town close to the island of Lindisfarne called Hexham. We travel over beautiful green pastures and grass-covered hills until we saw the small town from a cliff overlooking its location. We decide to observe the town from inside the thick forest that surrounds it. Its walls were not as impressive as the monastery made only of wood, but it still looked reasonably fortified. Even if the walls were not very high, we would still lose men taking it.

Rollo in his normal impatience said " let`s attack right away"

Ragnar said "no"." we attack tomorrow"

Haraldr could see on Ragnar´s face that he had a plan in mind, of course. Haraldr could read his mind but Ragnar was Haraldr´s friend, his first friend in this new world so he chose not to comment. However, he did agree with Ragnar that we needed a plan to take the town.

Rollo upset that Ragnar again takes charge of the raid asks "why wait?"

Ragnar looks exasperated by Rollo and replies " it is a large town, and we have few men".

Rollo answers back " then surprise is our best advantage"

While Haraldr had to give Rollo that one. Attacking fortified locations with no information about the layout of the town would be stupid.

He decided to join the conversation "I could have Hedwig scout out the town for any weaknesses in their defenses".

Ragnar turned to Haraldr and said, "no need, you will see tomorrow."

Then he looked to Arne and said " Arne what day is it today"

Arne was combing his beard when he said "Saturday".

That is when a lightbulb went off in Haraldr´s head and he starts laughing "hahaha oh that is clever Ragnar".

Ragnar smiles at me when Lagetha asks both of us "why what happens tomorrow?", both of us just smiled mysteriously.

Although Ragnar still answered his wife "you will see tomorrow". Rollo got frustrated and walked away while the rest of the men set up camp for tomorrow´s raid.

Early in the morning the next day after bonding between the men and sleeping under the open sky all he could think of was 'while not as bad as a cupboard, I am still happy to have a proper bed inside my trunk.'

Looking around, Haraldr observed what seem to be some form of commotion in the group. Haraldr decided to walk up to Ragnar to ask what was going on.

He approached and asked, "what is going on?".

Ragnar turned to face him and answered: "Cnut fucked up, he tied the rope around the Anglo-Saxon to loosely so the soldier to escaped in the night".

'Shit, I have gotten sloppy with my awareness thanks to my concerns for my magic'.

Haraldr looked at Ragnar "well we have a night's head start on the soldier and he clearly did not warn the town, because there is no increased activity. So he most likely ran to a local lord for reinforcements. If we meet resistance on the way back from the raid it won`t be as bad as if the man on the horse had gotten away and warned the king".

Ragnar looked a little better at that news but not completely "yes thank Thor, for your majestic bird." Before walking towards his wife to talk to her in preparation for the raid ahead of us.

We geared up and stood in the early morning sun waiting for the church bells to ring.

Rollo and Leif both asked " what are we waiting for now"

Ragnar said, "just shut up and listen". After a short moment, you could finally hear the church bells in the distance signaling morning mass. Lagertha seems to have understood as she picked up her things.

'Ragnar must have explained it to her last night' thought Haraldr

Ragnar looked towards the men and said: "Let`s go".

Confused the men followed Ragnar and Haraldr towards the walls of the town. Where they took out wooden grappling hooks attached to some rope and threw it over the wall attaching it to the other side. And starts climbing over it.

When we had successfully sneaked inside the town. Haraldr saw that the streets were completely emptied except for the farm animals that were still running around. He and Ragnar were slowly leading the men towards the middle of the town where the church was located. Rollo started looking through the empty houses while Lagetha decided to deviate and that is when Haraldr noticed Cnut following her making red flags pop up in his brain, so Haraldr decided to discreetly cast a disillusionment and silencing charm on himself and his boots.

Cnut decided to go his separate way while Haraldr continued to follow Lagetha in case anything happened. After Haraldr had followed Lagetha for a while she stumbled upon a house where Cnut was raping an Anglo-Saxon woman. Although he was used to seeing atrocities in battle, one of the things that he had a hard time swallowing was rape. He could not do anything about the scene in front of him since he had very little influence among the Northman right now and Cnut was just too well connected.

'Have I become so jaded with life?' Haraldr asked himself, but before he could get more introspective. Lagertha had decided to take matters into her own hands

She did not have the same concern as Haraldr and was trying to stop Cnut from raping the woman. His admiration for her went up tenfold. A scuffle ensued, but when Haraldr saw Cnut then try to rape Lagetha. He got seriously pissed and walked up behind Cnut and just backhanded him with his basilisk covered hand and Cnut went out like a light.

Lagertha looked at me ungrateful and said "why did you not let me kill him"

Haraldr could see a knife in her hand that was about to stab Cnut before Haraldr knocked him out. He looked at her " Haraldsson is looking for any excuse to kill Ragnar, he thinks Ragnar is a threat to his authority in Kattegatt and you killing Cnut might have just given him the means to do that"

She looked at me angrily but still understanding "Fine, but do not expect a thank you"

Before she could leave and return to the others Haraldr answered: "I was not looking for one, I knew you could take him." She gave me a nod and he picked up the unconscious Cnut. But not before putting an impotent curse on him and a obliviate so he would forget all about Hedwig as Haraldr returned to the others.

Ragnar and the others looked like they had been successful with the raid as we joined seeing them carry weapons and crosses made of gold.

Ragnar looked at me "is that Cnut?"

Haraldr answered "yes"

Ragnar replied, "and why is he unconscious?".

Lagertha was the one who spoke up this time "Cnut tried to rape an Anglo-Saxon woman and then he tried to rape me".

Ragnar and the rest men were stumped "why is he still alive" asked Ragnar knowing his wife would not stand such an insult.

Lagertha looked at me " why don`t you ask him" nodding her head towards Haraldr.

Haraldr answered Ragnar seeing his furious facial expression " you know why Ragnar, we talked about it before the raid besides I made sure he can never fuck a woman again"

Ragnar lost some of his anger at that "fine" before asking " how?".

Haraldr knew what he meant and just answered with a smile "Magic".

Ragnar then looked towards his brother "and where were you?" before leaving not wanting to hear Rollo´s answer.

As we approached the boat with our loot from Hexham there was about a small contingent of men waiting on the beach about 28 men 20 spearmen, 5 archers, and a commander on horseback.

'Most likely an Earl.'

They had already seen us coming and stood in a defensive position on the beach to stop us from reaching our boat. They had already killed the men left behind to guard the boat and Ragnar stopped us before moving closer, the men put down the loot while Haraldr put down Cnut`s unconscious body next to it. Since he did not have a shield it was decided that he would stay back with the archers.

Unfortunately, Haraldr´s presence would just undermine the shield wall but he could still offer magical support from behind. Our raiding party went down to the beach and took their defensive position before the Anglo-Saxons could put their archers forward and fire. Ragnar then took command and shouted "shield wall" where everyone put their shields on top of each other and crouched creating a turtle-like shell. With small gaps where spears were sticking out from.

The arrows started to fly and the shield wall held without casualties.

'However the Northmen's shields could use an upgrade considering a few almost went cleanly through'.

Haraldr on the other hand just put up his hand and released a wandless protego to stop the arrows from hitting his face.

After the archery volley was over the Anglo-Saxon commander decided that this was the time for his spearmen to advance slowly in a similar formation. As the north men looked at the advancing Anglo-Saxons.

Ragnar said "stand" as the two sides clashed, both sides started pushing against each other trying to break ground.

While a few moved out of the formation to the rear with Haraldr. Ragnar opened a small gap and pulled at one of the spears and pushed the spearman through the gap where he was vulnerable and easily cut down by Haraldr. Looking around he realized that this stalemate would not end without something to tip the scale. So he threw up his hands and cast several tripping jinxes on the first and second line of the Anglo-Saxon spearmen. Making the formation completely collapse, allowing the Northmen and Haraldr to completely cut them down. When the Earl saw his men get cut down and the Northmen seemingly fearless in battle, he panicked and rode his horse away from the battlefield fleeing for his life.

In the aftermath of the battlefield, Harald noticed that they had lost a few men as he observed Ragnar sitting next to a body that he realized was Kauko, he went to check his pulse but Kauko was already gone, there was nothing he could do. " He is in Valhalla feasting with the gods," Haraldr said trying to make Ragnar feel better.

Ragnar gives a pained smile " yes, he is even happier then we are", but even Haraldr could hear that Ragnar was in pain from the loss of his friend.

'It takes one who has experienced the same pain to recognize it'.

We left no survivors as revenge for taking one of ours. Before burying Kauko as best we could and returned home to Kattegatt.

As we approach Kattegatt Haraldr could see Haraldsson and the people waiting for their loved ones on the dock.

'Probably hoping Cnut succeeded with provoking Ragnar and killing him'

He decided to use a stunning spell to keep Cnut unconscious through the journey back while giving him water by vanishing it directly into Cnut´s stomach. When we finally stood on the docks, people were to busy greeting their loved ones to notice me carrying Cnut, Ragnar puts down the treasure and starts a glorious tale of our raid and victorious battle against the Anglo-Saxons.

Haraldsson comes up to us and sees our bounty and with a fake smile says "Ragnar Lothbrok my friend" " you are the man people claim you to be, but I do not see my man Cnut, where is he"?.

Haraldr just throws Cnut off his shoulder and on to the ground casting a reviving spell as Cnut´s body lands. "Here he is," He says in a flippant tone.

Haraldsson looks confused "what is the meaning of this, why was my man unconscious?" while Cnut regains his equilibrium.

"Oh, I did that" Haraldr answered, Haraldsson looks at him upset probably hoping the situation could have been used against Ragnar.

"And why would you do that," he asked.

"Because he tried to rape my friend Ragnar`s wife".

Haraldsson frowned, asking "and who are you to strike a jarl`s brother? You are not one of my men nor have you sworn upon my arm ring."

Haraldr smiled, responding "I am Haraldr as for what right I have, none! but the fact remains. As I am sure many of the men in the raiding party will attest to. Is that your brother tried to rape a free woman and if he wants to prove himself to the gods. Cnut will face me in a Holmgang to restore his favor with the aesir".

Cnut was up on his feet at this point and snarled at Haraldr "I would gladly kill this foreigner and prove my innocence in the eyes of the gods".

Haraldsson did not look happy "while I do not approve of this Holmgang. My bastard brother has spoken and the Holmgang will be held in 3 days' time." Then he walked back to the great hall with his housecarls in tow.

Ragnar almost stomped towards me " while I am not ungrateful why would you admit your blame?".

Haraldr answered, " if I had not, he would have accused you and conducted a farce trial with the deck standing against you."

Ragnar did not look happy " I could have handled it, it is the least I owe you after everything you have done for my family".

He smirked "well I did not do it entirely for you. I need to grow my own fame and can not always stand in the shadow of the "great" Ragnar Lothbrok" Haraldr says half-jokingly.

We have a good laugh at that, as Haraldr becomes serious again and says "if you really want to help with something, teach me to fight with spear and shield".

Ragnar smiled " of course my friend" before looking to his wife "let´s go see the kids."

The night after we got back from the raid, we hear about the death of Erik, and while Ragnar is upset about his friend's death. We both realize that a final confrontation between Haraldsson and Ragnar is imminent.

Ragnar decides to mentally prepare himself by going up into the mountain.

While Haraldr goes and prepares for his own battle with Cnut 'not I intend to fight him. I asked for the Holmgang to make a statement'.

The day of the Holmgang was here and Haraldr was standing in a circle with Cnut, the entire settlement watching. The only ones who were not there were Ragnar and his children for obvious reason, although Lagetha had to be there as the offended party and not to make the Jarl to suspicious of Ragnar`s activities.

Haraldsson started speaking " we are here today in front of the gods to ascertain my bastard brothers guilt or innocence of the crime of raping a free woman of our settlement"

Haraldr was standing in the ring with his basilisk gambeson and coif, while his opponent Cnut had clearly been given everything by the jarl to win this Holmgang.

Cnut has on him a gambeson, mail shirt, and a helmet, He is also equipped with a spear and shield, and looked quite formidable. If this was a normal fight Haraldr would have a hard time winning on sword skill alone, but a simple iron spear can not penetrate a gambeson made of basilisk hide. However, he had no intention of it letting it get that far.

As soon as the jarl said, "begin".

Cnut safe in his victory starts walking forward spear pointed towards Haraldr when out of the blue, storm clouds started to forming above us. Lightning and thunder were heard cracking overhead. The people of the settlement started whispering " Thor is angry"

Cnut seeing the storm hesitates a second, but that is enough for a lightning bolt to fall from the sky and crash right on top of Cnut frying him and the armor in an instant and falls down on the ground, The horrible smell saturating the air around them. Haraldr smirks when the jarl looks at him and says " It seems like Thor favors me".

The jarl pissed at the death of his brother and the hands of in his mind one of Ragnar's men through an act of divine judgment. He points at me in a panic "kill him" " kill him and take Lagetha now".

Hearing this Haraldr runs to Lagertha, grab her, and then focus on Bjorn`s necklace that has his magical signature and apparate with a small pop.

We arrive next to Bjorn and Gidda sitting in the boat with Athelstan.

Lagertha, happy at seeing her kids do not question how we got here. She looks over her children and asks " where is your father?"

Bjorn looked at his mother and said: " some of Haraldsson men came and burned down the farm, Father told Athelstan to take us and go".

We were drifting further down the river to another small dock. When we saw a limping Ragnar who had a slash wound on his leg and chest. He was pursued by two of Haraldsson`s men and It was too far away from shore for him to jump to safety. Haraldr casts two cutting curses that travel past Ragnar and slashes the two men in half before he levitates Ragnar into the boat.

Ragnar`s family and Athelstan say nothing as they were getting used to seeing me do magic, Bjorn just says " let`s take him to Floki".

When we arrive at Floki´s home, we are greeted by an unknown naked woman standing there shamelessly. Haraldr could not help but getting some weird Luna vibes from this woman.

He was carrying Ragnar over his shoulder when Bjorn asks "is Floki here?" in a desperate plea.

Floki appeared from the door entrance and is about to ask Bjorn what it is that is bothering him.

Floki sees Haraldr carrying Ragnar over his shoulder and says " Let`s get him inside".

We put Ragnar on Floki´s bed that he seems to have made himself when he Floki opens his mouth again "we have to cauterize it".

Haraldr looks to Floki " while that is a good idea in most circumstances I have a magical potion called the essence of dittany that could fix Ragnar wounds"

Floki looked giddy overhearing more about magic "show us this miracle medicine.

'Here goes nothing'

"Dobby".

Dobby appeared with a pop bouncing on his heels " master Haraldr sir calls for dobby."

Everyone around him looks amazed at the little creature. Until Floki asks in fascination " are you one of the dvergr?"

Tensions rose inside Floki´s home as they waited with bated breath for Dobby´s response.

Dobby ears flopped downwards " Dobby is not a dwarf, he is a house-elf!".

Haraldr had to take control over this conversation" Look a man is dying right now, so can we have this conversation later?"

Dobby perks up " yes master Haraldr sir".

"Can you bring me a bottle of essence of dittany, please?"

Dobby looks teary-eyed " master Haraldr says please, master Haraldr is such a good master to Dobby" before again disappearing with a pop.

10 seconds later there was a bottle with some sort of liquid directly in Haraldr`s hands. He opens the bottle and pours the content on Ragnar`s open wounds, green smokes start billowing from the wounds until they are completely gone.

The entire room looks at him in awe but Haraldr does not notice the dislike in Athelstan's eyes. "Now he has still lost a lot of blood so he is going to need a couple of days to recover but after that, he should be at full strength"

Lagertha comes up to me and gives me a hug before saying " I will never forget what you have done for us and Ragnar".

Floki smiles and says "that is what friends are for" as he and Floki leave the house to give the family some much-needed privacy.

It took about 6 weeks for Ragnar to recover completely from the blood loss. He spent most of that time on his feet making sure his muscles did not atrophy before his final confrontation with Haraldsson.

Haraldr spent that time reading up on magic and what he could do, to make the Norse embrace magic as part of their every day lives. Winter was on the horizon as he saw the snow starting to fall over the forest where Floki lived. It was one of those days that Torstein came to visit, having been tipped off by Rollo of Ragnar`s possible whereabouts.

Torstein joined us in Flokis home and greets Ragnar "my friend, how are you?".

Ragnar answered " I am well, thanks to Haraldr but the boredom is killing me so please get me away from this place" half-heartedly.

"The Stormbringer?"

Haraldr speaks up "Stormbringer?".

Torstein turned to me " yes, after the display at the Holmgang the people of the settlement have given you the name Haraldr Stormbringer. Some of them think you are blessed by the gods, others think you are the god Thor himself in disguise".

Ragnar having some jealousy in his eyes but still happy for this friend says " congratulations Haraldr Stormbringer, you are now truly one of us".

'it seems my ploy with Hedwig worked, and my fame is increasing' Haraldr came out of his musings and looked to Torstein "surely you have more news to share?"

Torstein who was looking at Helga, the naked girl from earlier with interest and it looks like the feeling was mutual. He came out of his hormonal infused thoughts and said " yes, Haraldsson is still searching for you and has the rest of the crew watched, but I made sure no one followed me" indicating that Torstein killed his watcher before coming here.

Ragnar answered "it is good to see you" as Floki said it was time to eat. Passing out bowls to the entire population of the small wooden house.

We were sitting down with the food who looked like some sort of porridge with cabbages and onions.

'The first thing I am doing for the Northman when I have enough clout is to introduce some variation in dishes, Winky is a fantastic cook who could teach them a thing or two' Haraldr thought.

He looked around the hut at what was his new "family" since coming here. While Haraldr wanted to create something of his own one day this was not so bad.

Torstein opened his mouth again "I heard Haraldrsson burned down your farm."

Lagertha who was with the kids using a mortar and pestle to grind some spices. Possibly dill or mustard seeds said, " the livestock as well, we have nothing left".

Haraldr intervened with that thought " your family is alive, your children are alive, there are far worse fates" painfully reminding himself of all he has lost.

While Lagetha felt she had a hit a sore point, she continued " we still need to eat, and we are eating trough some of Floki`s winter supplies".

Floki looked at Lagetha and smiled " the gods will provide" like he knew something we did not.

Both Haraldr and Athelstan were skeptical of that. For different reasons obviously, but Haraldr decided to sneakily cast some duplication charms on his winter supplies to make sure Floki is set. While the charm is very inefficient at feeding an entire settlement, it was more than enough for one man´s winter supplies, and besides the man deserves it.

Torstein spent the night and during the evening when Floki noticed that his winter stores were replenished Haraldr saw Floki looking at him and said: "I told you the gods would provide".

Haraldr did not like the connotation when Floki was looking at him, but he did not regret his actions. So Haraldr just gave Floki a nod and turned his head around and went to sleep.

The next day Haraldr finds out that Torstein has left after having had a chat with Ragnar in the night where he told him that Haraldsson and confiscated their boat and that his daughter is marrying a jarl from Svealand and that the boat was the girl`s dowry. Ragnar was not concerned about the boat sense Floki could always build a new one, but Haraldr could see from his eyes that he made a decision last night that will affect all of us.

During the day Haraldr saw Ragnar, Floki, and Helga telling Athelstan and the kids about the Asatru faith, and while the kids seem to be eating it up, Athelstan, on the other hand, was clearly trying to understand some of the faith but was clearly having a hard time believing it, even though he has seen from Haraldr that magic is more than just the tool of evil like the church preaches.

Then the door was slammed open by Torstein who looked exhausted after marching through the heavy cold rain outside, Haraldr and Floki helped him to the fire when he said "I was visited by Haraldsson wife in secret last night and she told me that her husband has captured Rollo in order to find your location, he then started to torture him"

Ragnar looked very unhappy at the news but had already decided last night what he was going to about the jarl and tells Floki that he needs one more favor, using the jarl pride against him Ragnar asks Floki to go to Kattegatt to ask the jarl for a fight to the death and if he refused he would be shamed for all time and not allowed into Valhalla.

Haraldr thought 'This is a huge gamble by Ragnar but because of his growing fame and the fact he has sworn on an armring to the jarl. Only to then be unfairly punished by the man. The Jarl might have no choice but to accept the challenge to crush any dissent among the residents of Kattegatt and the rest of the Scandinavian community'.

We find out the next day that Haraldsson accepts Ragnar's challenge but Floki accurately warns Ragnar that this is a trap. Ragnar shrugs the warnings of thinking that it is his fate to face Haraldsson. And considering Haraldsson agreed to it, the jarl must agree with Ragnar on some level that their fate is intertwined.

'I do not approve of this thinking since so-called fate has caused me nothing but pain. We make our own fate!' thought Haraldr.

The fight between Haraldsson and Ragnar happens 3 days after the challenge was issued. In that time Floki takes our share of the Hexham raid to buy Ragnar a mail shirt to improve his chances of winning. Haraldr also put some strengthening and lightweight runes. To make it stronger and also make it sure Ragnar barely even notice it is there. Not that Ragnar should need it he has the speed and age advantage over Haraldsson. Who while a formidable fighter will not stand a chance against Ragnar thanks to the improvements Haraldr had made to Ragnar´s armor.

The atmosphere was tense, Haraldsson came out with both a mail shirt over his gambeson and a helmet looking confident in his victory. Both men were going to use a spear which was a tradition and tribute to Odin. Everyone was standing in a circle around the two men even the Jarl from Svealand and Rollo with his redecorated face. Haraldsson confident in his victory throws both the first and second shield away, leaving himself without accepts the condition and throws his shield away, and then the fight begins.

if Haraldr had to describe the fight, he would say it was chaotic, both men were so evenly matched. Trading blow for blow, but Ragnar`s chain mail and speed protected him from all thrusts to the body. Not that Haraldsson noticed this because while Haraldr respected Haraldsson fighting prowess. He no longer had the stamina for a prolonged fight and seem to know that. Since the Jarl goes for a desperate thrust with all his remaining strength towards Ragnar's heart but the spear edge just bounces off the chain mail hard. Making the jarl lose his grip, to caught up in the moment to realize what just happened. Ragnar thrust his own spear in the heart of Haraldsson right through the inferior mail and the jarl falls to the ground. Spear still attached to him, the jarl was dead before he hit the ground.

Siggy, Haraldsson's wife takes advantage of the situation by unsheathing a knife and stabbing the jarl from Svealand to death. Before hugging her daughter who was showing her happiness at getting out of that marriage.

She then looks towards her dead husband before she turns to Ragnar and goes to one knee and says "Hail jarl Ragnar".

The rest of the settlement except Haraldr goes down on their knees and says "Hail jarl Ragnar" "Hail jarl Ragnar".

He refused to bend the knee not because he was not happy for Ragnar but he would never subject himself to another`s authority again, but he would always help Ragnar in the future as a friend.