Chapter 8

There was a hill a a few miles outside Hedeby, taller then the rest, one she went to sometimes. As she grew closer though, she saw Freki, just sitting next to a man.

"Skadi." Ragnar barely looked up, carving away at another stick. It's worth mentioning that Skadi certainly hadn't noticed to broken noose tied around a lower branch.

Silently she sat next to him, watching his hands for a few moments.

"I take it you didn't come here to see me," the girl nodded. Freki nuzzling under her hand as if asking forgiveness for disappearing.

"Bjorn said you left this morning, you didn't make it very far."

Ragnar stopped moving only to look at her slowly. "What?"

"Your talking to me now,"

"I suppose I am." Ragnar smirks looking back down at his hands. They sat there, Skadi however felt it was very awkward. "I'm sorry I was rude to you, you didn't deserve that."

He didn't say anything, just sat there. He seriously talked for two days straight and now he quiet. Rude.

She kept quiet, for once. That is until a group of horses came out of the tree line.

Skadi gripped onto the knife she was holding, though her eyes never left them. Her father seemed far less concerned, then again he wasn't stabbed less then a fortnight ago. So.

"It's alright child," her eyes still stuck, "Skadi, do you see those shields," she nodded "those are used by an earl, Trygve, he's a friend of your mother's and mine." She still hadn't moved her hand, but her muscles did relax a bit.

Ragnar apparently wanted to test her nerves, standing, prepared to greet his old friend. The group was small, only Trygve and six guards with him. But that was still seven against an injured little girl and an old man. The odd weren't in they're favor.

"Skadi," Ragnar face her, though she didn't meet his gaze,"hey," her pulled chin up making her bi-color eyes meet his own blue ones. "I want let anything happen to you."

"Promise?" Her voice was low, and breathless. She hadn't realized how fast she was breathing until then.

"I promise."

The hoard stopped a few feet away when, the man she assumed was Trygve's smile widened, as he dismounted his horse.

"Ragnar Lothbrok." He wasn't very big, at least he seemed bigger on the horse. He could only be a few inches taller then herself, but nearly three times her width. He had a beard, a very long dark beard, with braids and cuffs decorating it. She couldn't see much from her spot behind her father, but when he smiled it at least seemed genuinely warm.

As the two men embraced, another man jumped down. This one was tall nearly Ragnar's height, but he shared the same dark hair and though his beard wasn't nearly as long, it was somewhat impressive. The again she wasn't really an expert on beards.

"Haha, it has been too long, far to long." Skadi had zoned them out while they conversed. She was trying to memorize the shields design. Her father seems to recognize it immediately, something she was sure he would have had to know while being king. Know the shields of your enemies and your friends. It seems like a good thing to know.

Though her thought was brought back to the conversation in front of her.

"This here is my son, Thurin." Ragnar smiled a greeting at the younger man, who returned it. Trygve's attention had turned to the young girl behind Ragnar. Long silver hair loose and flapping in the wind, mismatched eyes, both starkly different from each other, and a rather familiar stern face. Many people had told her she looked like her mother, though she never saw it.

Trygve smiled at her, "Your name is?"

"Skadi."

"We should get to Hedeby," Ragnar mounted her horse, before pulling her up in front of him.