The Two Kings (Afterlife Saga) (50 page)

“When I was human my views were different
,
yes
,
but how I came to what I am now is the reasons they changed. My murder played a big part in that
.
” I gulped at the word “Murder” and sadness replaced my frustration.

“What happened to you?”
I said in a low voice, full of concern for my unlikely friend.
I waited for a facial feature to tell me he was uncomfortable with me asking but there were none. If anything he just leaned back and looked casual on the door
frame before starting his first
life story
as a human
.

“My name is
Ragnar Lodbrok
and I was a Viking warrior who
became King of Denmark and a large part of Sweden but it was short lived.”

“Because you
were murdered for it
?
” The look on
his face
told me
I guessed wrong.

“
No, I was murdered because I ch
ose a loved one over my throne, over the rule of my people and my need for power
.
” I was stunned to silence, so he carried on his heart-breaking story.

“Before I became King I had a family. My wife was also a warrior, we call them
‘
shie
ldmaidens
’
and that’s how I met her. She became injured in battle and when the wounded were rounded up one of my men discovered a woman lay in the dirt dressed like a man. I remembered seeing her fight and her skills on the battle field impressed me enough
to save her life, even though she had been fighting against me. Her name was Lathgertha and she bore me five strong sons and an even stronger daughter. She had the beauty of her mother and the wisdom of a great leader.
” He closed his eyes briefly
,
seeing his daughter behind closed lids
,
I imagined. 

“
She was my light
,
so she was rightly named
Dalla
which means
‘
brilliance
’
in my old language, Norse
. It was my love for the g
irl that was to become my end.” I had tears welling up in my eyes and I hoped he couldn’t see them from the other end of the room.

“Why, what happened to her?”
I whispered my question.

“The English arrived on our lands and found
Dalla
and her mother by the river. We found the bodies but no ship in sight. My wife and daughter fought with the courage of an army as my wife’s body was among the fifteen dead. My daughter was nowhere to be found but after torturing the only survivors
,
I
soon
learnt that she had been taken as a gift for an English ruler. The King Aella of Northumbria was to take her into his bed before probably killing her.
”
I gasped at the thought and Ragnar looking past it, ignoring my sympathy.

“
My sons were all around the world on their own conqu
ests and knew nothing of this. So a
gainst the better judgement of my advisors
,
I left my kingdom taking only two Knarr’s and set out for your homeland
.
” Oh great
,
not only was I human, I was also English, making it a double whammy in the eyes of Ragnar. No wonder he hated me!

I had given up trying to hide my tears as soon as he had mentioned the death of his wife. I could just picture it, the two Viking beauties fighting to save themselves and each other. Back to back
,
taking
them down, one by one they fell,
only it was all
to be
in vain. I wondered how many of them
were
there and how different this story would have been if they had given up and ran. Would we even be having this conversation?
Would he even be here?

“What happened when you got to England?”

“I took my small army and went to rescue my daughter but I was too late. I found her lifeless body strung from a tree outside the gates.
She had not met an honourable death by the hands of that tyrant, so in a rage,
I ordered my men into a suicide mission and stormed the castle. We did not get far and in my
uncontrollable wrath,
I had lost my senses. My men died for nothing and I had been captured only to serve an even worse fate
.
”

“What did they do to you?” I whispered before trying to sniff back yet even more tears.

“The king ordered me to be thrown into a pit of snakes, where they slowly bit me to death. Draven had followed my life with great interest because of my blood line. I am a descendant of Odin, God of war
,
and the
leader of souls. It was therefore natural for me to take my place by his side. My only
request was for
my revenge to be carried out by
the hands of my sons
.
”

“And was it?” I knew the answer as soon as I saw the sadistic smile creep upon his rough large lips.

“Yes, my sons fulfilled my wish and the wish of the Gods. Aella met his end by the
mighty
blood eagle.”

“Does that mean he was eaten by birds?” I asked naively but when he laughed I felt embarrassed.

“We
ll what is it then?
”

“I think you have experienced enough horror for one night
.
”

“I’m a big girl, I think I can handle it!” He rolled his eyes at my stubborn behaviour before giving in.

“Alright
,
but don’t say I didn’t warn you! This method of torture and execution is performed by cutting the ribs by the spine
before then breaking them. This is so they
resemble blood stained wings…
and then
of course
we pull the lungs out before pouring salt into the wounds but usually the victim
had died
by this point.” He said this so matter of fact that it chilled me to the bone. This just proved that my pig headedness had nearly made me vomit!
 
He must have seen me turn green and proved that even Demons love stating the obvious.

“I told you so
.
” He said in a very satisfied tone. I gave him a fake smile that I added to a sarcastic look of
disapproval.

“No wonder you hate me.
”
I stated shamefully.

“I didn’t ever hate you
.” H
e tilted his head like I had misread everything he had ever said to me.

“But you said…”
   

“I said I didn’t like humans but
that was never the reason I didn’t want to be your bodyguard.”

“I don’t understand, then why?” I shook my head as a natural reaction.

“Do you remember when I said you reminded me of someone?” I nodded and looked down at my feet as my face went red.

“My daughter had t
he same wilful sprit
.
” He also
looked down to find his own feet and for a moment we shared in the same awkward silence for reasons relating to the same
. This was
name
d Dalla.

That was why he found it so hard being near me. I reminded him of the daughter that he had lost in the most awful way you can imagine and now he had to protect me.
He was now forced to spend painful time around me. My guilt was unbearable.

“I will speak to Draven
.
” I was sure once he knew the circumstances he would relieve Ragnar from his duties concerning me.

“Why would you do that?” he looked confused.

“So that you don’t have to protect me anymore
.
” He was shaking his head like I was missing something.

“He already knows my feelings, it was one of the reasons
that I was chosen to guard you.
He
wanted me to
form a connection, a bond so
that I would guard you with my own life
.
”

“But
...
that was
so
cruel. To play on your history…your loss
.
” He shook his head
before rubbing the back of his neck with a large red skinned palm.

“Not cruel, it was smart and I would have done the same
.” At this I reached
my limit. I leant my head down into my hands and lost myself by counting up all the problems I had caused. I wanted to run away and try to make sense of all this craziness. I was human after all and knew that I would soon crack. I wondered just how long the conversation would take between me and Draven to go through everything that happened today. Tonight had made me realise just how little
I knew about the man
that
I loved.

I wanted to say more but I couldn’t find any words of comfort or any of my thoughts that would have made sense to say to him. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry. Sorry for everything, hi
s loss, his lack of faith in
humankind but more than anything I was sorry for all the trouble I had caused him. In the end I didn’t have time to say any of these things. Ragnar had strai
ghtened up at the sound of his K
ing
’
s footsteps coming closer. I held my breath and tried in vain to still my beating heart.
   
 

Draven marched into the mid
dle of the room between me and R
agnar
and it looked as though his temper hadn’t yet subsided. If anything this added to his impressive beauty. He was a hard and handsome man painted on a rough canvas. The lower part of his face was covered in black stubble and his hair had been pulled back from his face in a black cord. This made his chiselled features all the more star
t
ling. He still wore his black cloak which made his dark eyes look
as black as this horrible
night. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and his didn’t leave mine. I was hoping to find love and compassion in
them but there was none. He hid
it well and I knew why.

This was the only way that Draven knew how to operate. He was going to try and frighten the answers out of me
. But one thing he didn’t
count on was how well I knew his games
,
because even though he clearly intimidated me
,
I was never truly frightened of him. I knew he would never hurt me but I was wondering just how far he would take this inte
r
r
og
ation of
his.

He
tactically removed his cloak with
one flick of his wrist and then threw it toward Ragnar to take away. I had to catch my breath at the sight of his tanned naked torso that was ripple after ripple of solid muscle. Ok
,
so that intimidation level just went up a notc
h! He knew what he was doing as
it looked like he knew me well also. He only wore black fitted trousers with a black belt that had his family crest in brushed
steel
at the front.

“Did you find out who needs to be punished?” He asked Ragnar without looking at him and even though he couldn’t see, Ragnar still bowed his head in respect.

“
My Lord, she is telling the truth
.
” At this Draven let out a growl and turned his head towards him
,
making Ragnar take a step back.

“LEAVE US! I will get to the bottom of this myself!” At this he turned his attentions back at me but Ragnar didn’t leave
and Draven noticed.

“My Lord
,
if I may? She holds the mark to prove her story
.
” He also found my eyes and I mentally thanked him
,
for at least one person was on my side.

“Is that so
?
” Draven was being an arrogant fool now and I felt like chucking a glass of water in his face and telling him to grow u
p…but I
was no way brave enough, no matter how much
foolish
ness
still remained with me.

Draven nodded to the door as way of an order for Ragnar to leave but still he remained firm.

“You have more to say?”

“Yes…I think you should
pursue this after she has had
some rest….I think she is too fragile for your questions…she
is also
hurt
.
” At this Draven look
ed furious, turning to face him.
I felt like running in
between them both and protecting my loyal friend.