"I don't want to touch a raw nerve, King Ragnar, but I understand that your brother betrayed you." "That he stands between us and Paris." "So, what do you suggest we do?" "I suggest we do the obvious." "We try and sail straight past the fort, up river." "But we protect our heads as we force our way through." "Isn't that what your brother is going to expect us to do?" "Yes, but he won't be expecting us to attack by land also." "In unison with the boats, we'll send a party on foot to the nearest fort." "And they will engage the archers, diverting their attention away from the boats." "Yes?" "I agree." "The boats have more chance without the archers' hindrance." "Any objections?" "I'll lead that party by foot." "Then it is agreed we attack tomorrow." "At least, let ours be the first boat through." "Erlendur." "This belongs to you, yes?" "It is your father, King Horik's ring." "Mmm." "No, you're mistaken." "I've never seen that ring before." " What happened?" " He said it was not his ring." "He's lying." "I know it is his father's ring." "Forgive me for caring, but you shouldn't fight tomorrow." "Let me explain something to you." "A long time ago, the Seer prophesized that I would never have another child." "If he's right, it doesn't matter what I do." "Well." "You're certainly doing everything in your power to prove the Seer's prophecy right." "Father." "Can we fight with you tomorrow?" " Please." " You're not strong enough yet, boys." "I want you to stay here." "I want you to protect all the food and the supplies." " Can you do that for me?" " Yes, Father." " Yes?" "Okay." " Yes." "Good boys." "Keep your bows close." " I live for this." " The only reason to be alive." "The space between life and death, that's where we are the most alive." "I hate my uncle." "I want to kill him." "Good." "May God be with us this day!" " Don't be afraid." " If I was afraid, I wouldn't be here." "Not yet." "Pull!" "Pull!" " Pull!" " Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull harder!" "**" "**" "Where is your mother?" "Everybody out!" "Dry land to the left!" "Halt." "Forward!" " Pull!" " Heave!" "Men, go forward!" "**" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Come on!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Initiate!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Go back!" "Turn starboard!" "Stop!" "Halt!" "Turn right!" "Push!" "Push!" "Pull!" "Up onto the overturned keel." "Clamber, with a heart of steel." "Cold is the ocean's spray." "And your death is on its way." "Come!" "Please, please, come." "Shields!" "Take my hand!" "No!" "Boys!" "Ubbe!" "Run!" "Run!" " From the other side!" " Attack!" "Retreat!" "Retreat!" "Take it!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Shields!" "Shields!" " Help the others!" " And this is how you repay me." "Shields up!" "Father!" "Ragnar!" "Father!" "When everyone wanted you dead," "I kept you alive!" "You hurt me, brother." "You hurt me, brother." "We have to retreat." "And this is how you repay my love?" "Row!" "Row away!" "Row away!" "Row!" " Row!" "Row!" " Shields!" "A great victory, Count Rollo, hmm?" "So many women." "Who'd have thought." "They're as brave as the men." "Sometimes, they are much braver than the men." "And the most fierce, her name is Lagertha." "You know her?" "She was my brother's wife." " Is she with him now?" " Yes." " Did you see her?" " Yes." "Then perhaps I will see her." "Even get to meet her." "Perhaps." "I don't understand why you are here." "You had no idea Ragnar had gone away to Paris?" "No." "But I heard about the raid on Paris." "I heard he was very sick." "I wondered, in fact, if he was still alive." "He has gone back to Paris." "This time, he's taken Ubbe and Hvitserk with him." "He's punishing me because of what happened last time." "Where else have your wanderings taken you?" "Oh, so many places, uh," "I could not count them." "Walked between worlds, between the living and the dead." "I often dream of you." "After all," "I'm glad to be back." "Go on!" "Mount up!" "Attention!" "May the Lord bless your journey to Mercia." "Go on!" " Halt!" " Halt!" "Halt!" "Helga!" "Helga!" "Where are you, Horik?" "Floki." "Morag!" "Where are you?" "No, don't die, Helga." "Please don't die." "Father." "Father!" "So, the Northmen were repulsed." "Yes, Your Highness." "Today, your forces won a great victory." "We sunk many of their ships and routed them in the field!" "What do you say, Your Grace?" "I say we have simply delayed my brother's passage up the river." "That is all." "Oh, come, come, Your Grace." "Much more than that, surely!" "You saw how it was." "We should celebrate a great victory." "As long as my brother is still alive, there is nothing to celebrate." "Ah, perhaps you do not wish to celebrate the defeat of your own kind." "I saw how it was today, Count Odo." "And after all the Duke has done for us, how dare you accuse him of not being committed to our cause?" "My Lady, I merely asked a question." "Personally, I see no reason to doubt His Grace's sincerity." "Nor do I." "And I take notice of his warning that our struggles are only just beginning." "After all, Count Odo," "His Grace knows the ways of the Northmen far better than you." "Why can't you tell me what happened?" " It's difficult." " Why is it difficult?" "Because it is my father's fault." "Are you happy?" "Do you have children?" "You know how to get children, don't you?" "Haven't you seen what the horses do to the mares?" "You'll have three children." "Don't worry." " Where is your husband?" " He has gone riding with King Ragnar." "You must be very lonely." "You are too beautiful to be sad." "I can't understand it." "I don't know who you are, but when you look at me, I feel happy and good." "Full of hope for the future." "I know you are truly a holy man." "A man close to the gods." "Yidu!" "Yidu!" "Give me some of that Chinese medicine." "But don't you want to sleep?" " No, just give it to me." " There's no more left." "Look, woman, things went very badly today." "I won't argue." "Just give it to me." "Please." " King Harald said today..." " I don't care what King Harald..." "Where is it?" "Where is it?" "Ragnar." "These runes will cure you, my dear Helga." "Amen." "This is the man I knew only as W, who is really Prince Wigstan of the Mercian royal family." " Is that correct?" " Yes, King Ecbert." "That is correct." "Interesting place for our meeting." "I believe it is." "For this is the mausoleum of the kings and queens of Mercia." "My family." "Those caskets contain the bones of my ancestors." "Many from the golden age of Mercia when our kingdom was powerful, proud, and stood head and shoulders above any other kingdom on this island." "Many more contain the bones of those who have died in the frenzied bloodlettings of our recent past." "Here lie my father, brother, uncles, and my sons." "And here is my sainted mother." "She watched her grandsons butchered before her eyes before they blinded her, cut out her tongue, cut off her breasts, and burnt her while she was still alive." " And who did this?" " My family." "The ruined, corrupt, decadent dregs of a once illustrious name." "And you shelter for your own purposes another of my mad descendants." "Kwenthrith, whose only claim to the throne rests in the murder of her own uncle and two of her own brothers." "I do not shelter her out of any love for her person, but because I thought she might be a stabilizing factor." "The last thing I needed was a chaotic neighbor." "If you ever supposed that Kwenthrith could play a calming, stabilizing role in this madhouse we call Mercia, then you are as mad as the rest of them." "However, I doubt it." "I know your ambitions." "And to the point." "You proposed this meeting." " To what end?" " Yes." "To the end." "Exactly." "The ruling council, as they call themselves, are a lot of fools, monkeys and drunkards." "Mostly distant relations." "I say a plague on them." "My proposal is simple." "I still have an army, of sorts." "We will join with the army you have brought, and easily, believe me, overcome the council and their lickspits." "And then?" "And then, I mean to renounce this world." "I have seen enough of its ways." "They corrupted me, I know that." "But how is it possible not to be corrupted." "I also lost my faith in God." "I could no longer conceive that our Lord could sanction the death of everyone I loved." "But that is the road to despair." "And I wish before I die to take the road of hope." "Therefore, after we are victorious," "I shall quit Mercia and England." "And travel in pilgrimage to Rome as a common beggar." "I only want a chance to redeem my sins." "And the kingdom?" "Waerferth, bring my mother's casket." "I shall formally renounce the kingdom in your name." "You will afterwards be king of Wessex and Mercia." "Your kingdom will be huge." "But in you, I see a leader strong and ambitious enough to take both our countries forward and defend them against our enemies." "Especially, the Northmen." "Open it." "This was once the ancestral crown of Mercia." "Now it will be your crown," "King Ecbert." "We have waited three days for a plan of attack." "The longer we wait, the more chances the Franks will attack us." "What is your decision?" "Father!" "Tell them tomorrow that we go back down river." " Are you all right?" " Just tell them tomorrow we retreat!" "What?" "Yes." "Tomorrow." "We retreat."