Head over heels | Ragnar Lothbrok

Part 7

Pov Arnora

It's so... So... Green. I imagined it way different.
I thought it'd be more very snowy, empty plains.

"Not what you expected?" Ragnar asks as he places his hand on my lower back.

I shake my head "I thought it'd be snowy empty plains. That's all I thought it'd be. Like in Essex." I say, stunned by the beauty of Wessex. "So where are we gonna raid?" I ask my husband.

Ragnar points at a chapel not far from here. "We'll raid there first. But we have to set up camp before we take any actions."

I nod and start to help the other men.

"We don't need help from a woman." One of the men spat, glaring at me when I'd try to help them lift logs.

"As you wish, jerk." I glare back and drop the log, the men falling onto his knees due to the fact that the weight of the log was only being held up by his strength.

I grab my axe from my leather bag and walk into the forest. Ragnar keeping an eye on me as I walk. Once I found a tree that's gonna be my victim, I start to throw my axe in the bark.

Suddenly there's rustling of leafs, not the rustling from the wind but the sound made by actually creatures. Twigs snap, more rustling of the leafs. I look around me, the handle of my axe tightly clenched in my fist, ready to strike whatever is gonna attack me. Suddenly antlers poke out behind a tree and I exhale relieved. The animals make sure you're reminded that you're not alone in these woods. The deer suddenly speeds off, snapping more twigs on the way which causes me to frown.

There's suddenly yelling behind me, yelling of men. A group of men run towards me, their swords unsheathed and ready to strike. I block an attack of one of the men and slice him in the stomach. I continue to try to fight of the men but I soon see that I'm not able to hold my ground for long.

"Ragnar!" I yell, getting cut on the arm as I got distracted. I'm pushed onto the ground by someone that ambushed me from behind. I crawl backwards as quickly as I can but get stopped by a tree. My heart's racing in my chest. Is this then finally my time? Will I get sent to Valhalla because Odin needs me?

A sword pierces the torso of the man in front of me, blood squirting on my face. The man drops to his knees, Ragnar placing his sword at the man's throat before slicing it. The man makes a gagging sound before falling face down onto the ground. A pool of blood emerging from underneath him.

"Are you okay?" Ragnar asks concerned as he pulls me off the ground, checking me for any injuries. "Yeah I'm fine.." I mumble, still kind of blinded that Ragnar saved me.

"You got me worried. I already wondered where you were off to. You never stay away this long." Ragnar kisses me shorty before hugging me. I hug him back while looking at the bloody corpses around us.

"Are you hurt?" He asks as he looks at me, I lift up my arm a bit, still blood flowing out of the gash on my arm. "Lets get you cleaned up." Ragnar says and takes me back to camp. "Clean them up, take their weapons and return back to camp immediately."

Once we're back at camp, Ragnar presses a red hot blade on the gash on my arm. I clench my jaws to deal with the pain. He ties a cloth around it once he's done scorching the gash closed.

"Camp's finished already?" I ask surprised once I see close to everything was built already. "Yeah, the wall's steady and should protect us from up coming attacks incase they find us. We just need tiny huts and then we can raid."

"Why don't we raid right now?" I get up, looking questioning at him. "I suppose we can finish it later." He says and gets up as well, gathering a group of men before heading towards the chapel with me at his side.