"King Askild, we have come with news." Ulf led the conversation and it was clear from his tone that he was nervous but who could blame him?
The three men, on one knee, as King Askild liked the traditional courtesy shown to Kings despite the more unconventional approach of the previous King before he was killed in a duel he accepted from young Askild, who then assumed the position of kingship and shaped Kattegat into a kingdom to be feared but he lacked the diplomatic courtesy and this was where marrying Liv helped him in the political aspect due to her being related to the previous king, Xenophanes Vilfulf, for she was his sister and their father took this political stance to retain some of the power lost.
"What is the meaning of this, Ulf Lothbrok?" King Askild asked with his legs crossed, looking at the child from head to toe but he did not seem surprised by his skin color like some of the other Vikings.
"This child washed up on our shores, King Askild." Ulf responded with his head down, he did not dare make eye contact.
"Brandish him the mark of a slave and be rid of him. This matter is of no concern to me." King Askild responded, this was an underwhelming reaction but Ragnar saw an opportunity.
"My King…" Ragnar said, pausing until he had gotten the go-ahead to speak or he could easily lose his tongue.
"Ragnar Lothbrok, please do speak." King Askild said, showing a form of respect to the warrior that he had not shown his brother.
"I wish to take this child as mine, King Askild," Ragnar said, raising his head to lock eyes with him.
"You wish to claim a slave?" King Askild asked with a raised brow.
"I will pay his weight in silver, my king," Ragnar responded hoping to persuade the king.
"Silver? What kind of man would I be if I took silver from the famous Ragnar Lothbrok? No, I do not want something as trivial as silver from you, Ragnar." King Askild said with a faint chuckle accompanying the end of his sentence.
"What do you want then, my king?" Ragnar asked.
"I want you, Ragnar. Join me and I will give you much more than that child." King Askild gave his terms for he had never seen Ragnar interested in anything as he was this child.
Ragnar hesitated, looking at the frightened kid before refocusing his gaze on King Askild.
"Of course, you won't be just a foot soldier, Ragnar Lothbrok?" King Askild kept up the pressure but Ulf did not like this, he had been faithful to King Askild in hopes of climbing the ladder, and Ragnar, who had refused to join his raiding parties had now been offered a position most Vikings spend their entire life trying to attain.
"This ungrateful bastard…" Ulf thought to himself, clenching his fist in annoyance.
"Is this the only way?" Ragnar asked with King Askild nodding in affirmation.
"I accept your terms," Ragnar said with no further hesitation, with even Hagen surprised due to Ragnar's stand on such things, making him wonder just what or who this boy was.
-
The battle of Hillestad was about to begin between these two warriors and the excitement and cheer showed that these warriors saw this match-up as entertainment despite the importance of this duel for the losers will be vanquished but the honor of seeing both their leaders fight was one that they knew might never come again.
Both men stared at each other, none looked scared or nervous but rather, excited and bloodthirsty.
Asger whispered something directly at Arvid in a very low tone to make sure he was the only receiver but what this was, wasn't known at this time.
Egil, who had a broadsword in one hand, and a wooden shield in the other started moving towards Asger despite Asger, who just had a spear with no defenses.
This move by Egil was reckless considering his advance would put him in the range of Asger's spear and just that happened, with a one-handed thrust from Asger, but Egil expertly deflected it with his shield while continuing his advance.
Asger was left open, and without his spear to defend him against the incoming slash from Egil, certain death looked imminent or so it seemed as the horizontal swing meant to take off his head was dodged with a simple, fluid movement as he had crouched just in time.
A moment of silence as the crowd were witnessing two great warriors fighting and the skills they had shown with this single exchange was enough to make these warriors cheer even louder.
Amidst this, Arvid's hand made a strange gesture behind his back, a gesture his men seemed to instinctively understand as everyone's attention was focused on the ongoing battle.
"Hahaha! You are quite nimble, Asger!" Egil complimented him as he quickly regained his distance and moved out of the range of the spear in the process.
But he got no response from Asger, Egil was far too enthusiastic that he had momentarily forgotten that this was a battle between life and death which ultimately make him oblivious to the movements of Asger's men.
Asger did another one-handed thrust with his spear.
"You fool, I am out of your range." Egil thought to himself but of course, Asger was aware of this as he let go of the spear, using the generated momentum to turn this move into a throwing spear assault which caught Egil off guard due to how Asger wielded it.
He barely avoided it, as it grazed his left cheek before firmly implanting itself in the ground behind Egil.
Egil looked back at the spear, then the unarmed Asger.
"That was reckless, you have lost your only weapon now, Asger," Egil shouted.
Asger cracked a smile and raised his hands.
"I guess you are right, I lose this duel," Asger confessed but immediately he did this, Egil's men were impaled with arrows from Asger's men, as the gesture from Arvid was a signal for them to surround them, which they did.
This made the volley from multiple directions, making the chances of every arrow hitting more than 95% accompanied by assaults from the swordsmen.
"What is the meaning of this, Asger!? You agreed to this duel!" Egil shouted.
"Egil, the man of honor, I know who you are and I honored the terms of your duel, lost. But now, you shall honor the terms of my war." Asger said, as the men of Egil were cut down to more than half their original size due to being taken by surprise but they had regained their composure and were now fighting back despite losing so many men in what seemed like a second.
"Well then, shall we see who gets to Valhalla first?" Asger said with a smirk despite the furious look on Egil's face