...
As Ragnar and Arthur took a seat, Ragnar couldn't help himself, "where did you get that sword, it's craft is nothing like I've seen before, are you planning on not using an axe".
Arthur shook his head, "I've got my axes..", "they're hunting axes, not an axe", "same thing ain't it".
Arthur saw a woman of similar age, who kept sneaking glances at Ragnar, so Arthur couldn't help himself either.
"That maiden keeps stealing glances at you, I think she already has her sights set on you as her shield".
Ragnar followed his gaze and saw his childhood friend, "you mean to say she wants to be my shield maiden, once she does that, she won't be able to leave my side".
"That's her decision, not your's..", Ragnar felt his head banging, "and once she's your shield maiden, you'll have no choice but to protect her chastity, until you take her in as your wife or else the other's, will look down on you".
Ragnar frowned at this, he found it extremely troublesome deal with, but he wouldn't just throw her aside, he too harbored feeling's for her, he was just too shy to express it.
Arthur nudged him, "don't worry, once she swears to be your shield maiden, I'll throw you a 'Skal' to get you out of that shyness".
Ragnar glared at him, even nudging him to stop teasing him, the two were constantly nudging eachother like good buddies, until the sails dropped, they became serious.
A couple of hours on the sea, Arthur asked Thors a question, "how long is this sail, 5 day's?".
"no, 7, we'll have to scout at night, then wait another day, we'll raid the next night, we'll have get them unprepared, we can't go straight ahead, you guy's aren't ready for that, not yet".
Arthur nodded, [a two week trip, good job I have no one back at home waiting for me...], "ah.., I didn't tell Hela about this".
He got a couple of strange gazes, but he wasn't bothered by them.
Six days past by, the young Vikings were already eager to get onshore, their backsides were aching, making their rage build up slowly, and they will take all of it out on the one's they were gonna raid soon.
Thors came back after a small scout check with Thorkell and he nodded to his young men.
"Prepare yourselves, we'll be attacking tonight, ready your weapons and young bear heart's, I don't want anyone freezing up on the slightest bit of blood".
Thorkell clapped his hands together, "you should understand brat's, if one of you freezes, it could cost you your own life, even those closest to you..".
Staring at the young bears, Thorkell paused, he could see that all of them were ready, "hahaha!, that's the spirit!".
Later that night, Thors and Thorkell passed berserker mushrooms to those who were shaking to ease their nerves.
"It's time boy's, it's time to make a name for yourselves", Thors nodded, "set forth, we're going for a raid! To feed your families".
Setting off for the raid, the moment they reached the shore, Thorkell pulled out his horn and blew it, "aha, let's go boy's!".
Grabbing their shields, they jumped off the ship and ran towards the small settlement of wildlings full of high spirits and anger.
"Attack!, we're being attacked!, get your weapon's!", one of the wildlings, shouted after seeing the small 15 young men and two adults at their lead rushing forward.
Coming out of their tents fully armed, they too charged forward, the small 17 Vikings, looked tiny to the stark difference of a hundred wildlings.
But it didn't scare the bears, instead it only invigorated them.
Both Thors and Thorkell went in two separate locations, making sure that the young bears didn't get snuck up from behind by surprise.
Arthur and Ragnar alongside a woman were like glue once they started charging forward, no words were spoken, just an understanding that they had each other's backs.
The moment Arthur swung his sword, he cleaved two men in two and when Ragnar saw it, his eyes widened, he could've sworn he just saw Arthur move with incredible speed.
He looked at his sword glowing, "eyes sharp!, question it later!", hearing the woman behind him, he nodded and threw his axe at an incoming wildling, hitting the guy square in his face.
Wherever Arthur went,bodies flew into the sky, well half bodies.
And on Thorkell's side his giant frame and long axe was doing the same thing, Thors was just doing clean slashes at speeds the eyes couldn't keep up with, their heads slashed, his movements fluid.
It only took the group to handle the ones outside in less than half an hour, Thors stopped his movements and stared at a nearby hill.
"There's more, the Wolf clan only spoke of a hundred men, this is far more than a hundred", Thorkell made his way over and when he heard Thors words, he immediately went into a frenzy.
"Those bastards, they must've botched the information, hoping we'd be killed!, those bastards!, when we get back, we can't allow a single one of em to remain alive!".
Thors remained quiet, he turned to see Arthur's strength in the distance and nodded, [he's much stronger again, that's good, this will be easier than expected.]
Thorkell followed his gaze and smiled brightly, "good good, by Odin's beard, he's better than I thought he'd be!..".
"Come on Arthur!, we got more ahead of us!, come and join us!".
Arthur was in his world at the moment, everything was moving in slow motion, when he gazed at the hill and saw another hundred wildlings, he shot forth with speed no one could understand.
Thorkell and Thors also charged forward, leaving behind the young bears, to finish off the small group behind them.
Just three men, against a hundred, although it sounds like a fantasy, it was happening and the young bears all stared blankly at the scene, after finishing up on their end.
"Hey Ragnar, you said he was your rival right, but he seems to be on par with the legends in front of us".
"No Lagertha, he is my rival, I may not rival his strength, but I rival his charisma, we're both destined for having an army behind us".
When the battle ended, Thors, Thorkell and Arthur walked over to the young bears covered in blood, sweat and mud.
"Hoh, we only lost three, Thors, we got ourselves a bunch of bears!", Thors nodded, "grab everything of value, we're leaving in an hour".
Thorkell didn't forget to shout in after Thors spoke, "be sure to grab some meat for the next few day's!, unless you wanna eat that dried meat along the way again!".
Everyone grunted in response, they didn't wanna eat that dried meat for 7 days straight again, so they went into picking out some chickens or other small animals.
When most of the young bears left to gather supplies, Thors turned to Arthur who was staring into the sky.
Walking over to his side, he placed his hand on his shoulder, "your first raid was splendid, already being able to fight on par with me and Thorkell, would undoubtedly spread your fame into the heart's of your enemies, in the future".
Arthur just nodded his head, his mind was still replaying the scenes of their screams and despair, as he and his sword was moving towards them.
Tapping his shoulder again, Thors smiled, "I know.., it isn't easy to forget their faces, it sticks with you for life, but it also helps knowing your putting food on plates back at home".
"You also said there wouldn't be over a hundred wildlings, there was more than two hundred in this raid, where did you get the information for this, only the Raven clan gives out the correct planning, they care about their standing, so who was it".
Thors closed his eyes, then reopened them, "we don't have enough gold for Raven planning, so we went to the Wolf clan instead".
Arthur shot his eyes towards Thors, "the Wolf clan, you know those scum won't play fair, as long as one clan disappears, they'll reap all the benefits like barbarians".
Thors nodded, not daring to answer it, however Thorkell overheard their words and butted in, "then we go back and wipe them out!, I don't care if that puts us in the same boat as them, let Hela take their sins to the underworld!".
Arthur thought about it and nodded, "we'll go with your words Thorkell, we'll just have to wait until they've screwed up big time".
"Heh!, they'll definitely screw up, now come!, I've just got us a bear, fucker was hard to deal with, but I got it! Wahahaha!".
Arthur wretched a little, he knew how annoyingly chewy bear meat is, but he still ate it along with his new Viking brothers.
"So.. that sword of your's.., is it a gift from the all father, Ragnar finally let out his question, he was deeply interested in the sword now.
"You could say that, though.., it only helps me in controlling my powers, other than that, it's just sharper than most swords", Ragnar stared at the sword once more, he could clearly see it vibrating.
"Easy, I know your better than most.., I'm sorry, I didn't mean to belittle you", Ragnar's lips twitched seeing him speaking to the sword.
[A sentimental weapon, does it speak to him just like the tales of Thor's hammer.], Ragnar was lost in his own thoughts, until Lagertha sat by his side.
"Your brother keeps staring at me with hungry eyes, keep him away from me, or I'll kick him so hard his balls come out of his mouth", she spoke with annoyance and Ragnar woke up from his thoughts and followed her gaze.
Seeing his brother actually gazing at Lagertha hungrily, he didn't know what to do, he sighed and spoke in a low voice, "if he does anything, I'll be sure to stop it and if I'm not there, you have full authority to bash his ball in".
...