athelstanthescribe | (no subject)

"You're going home," Ragnar says, "but I have to be off on a mission for King Horik before we even get there. I need you to look after our family again."

"...Lady Lagertha will be there, won't she?" Meaning she'll be the one looking after them. "When will you be leaving us?"

"Three valleys over," Ragnar says. "That's where the roads part."

For a given value of 'roads'.

Athelstan nods.

"Then the others will wait for us there, if not closer."

"They will," Ragnar says, "so we don't have to hurry. We'll sort everything out there, and then part."

"What do you think of King Horik?" he asks curiously. "Between us."

"He's testing me with this duty he gave me," Ragnar says. "He might not like the result. Especially if I do win."

"You think he's hoping this man Jarl Borg will refuse, and drive things to war?"

"Why should he suddenly give in simply because I come to see him -- for the sake of my pretty blue eyes?" Ragnar says, grinning. "Of course he'll start some sort of war. If not at once, then in a little while."

Athelstan shakes his head.

"And you'll get the blame for failing to negotiate well enough."

"I will end up with Jarl Borg as my enemy, one way or another," Ragnar says, "and when I get rid of him, King Horik will start considering me a threat to his power."

"As the last Earl did."

And they both know how that ended.

"Just so," Ragnar says. "The gods are most likely having a good laugh at my expense by this point."

"Or perhaps", he says carefully, "they're making you an offer, though you never asked for it."

"They're making an offer that I definitely not asked for," Ragnar says. "I really just wanted to go raiding to interesting places occasionally, and sit at home enjoying my prize and my family for the rest of the time."

"And yet", he says with a faint smile, "they have their own plans."

"They do," Ragnar says. "Even if it's just for their entertainment, like men watching a cock-fight. So they're setting me against Jarl Borg now, and after that it might well be King Horik."

"And neither of them", Athelstan says softly, "is an old man past his best like Earl Haraldson."

"They're raising the stakes," Ragnar says. "It wouldn't be fun otherwise, would it?"

"I suppose not." He glances sideways at Ragnar. "At least you won't have to face it alone this time."

"No," Ragnar says. "I will have you, and Floki, and the entire range in-between."

"And all your warriors, and Lady Lagertha", he says with a nod.

"Exactly those," Ragnar says. "It also means the stakes get higher, of course. Not just for the gods betting on us."

"If you fail", Athelstan agrees slowly, " - perhaps not against Jarl Borg, but certainly against the king, the consequences will be heavy."

"For all of us," Ragnar says. "Which I can't allow."