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(King Ecbert / Ealdorman Eadric POV)

- Lord, what are you going to do with Prince Ecgberht and Princess Judith? (Ealdorman)

- At the moment it is not the most important thing. I'm more interested in this heathen army and whether they are going to attack Wessex, and if so, when they will attack us. (King Ecbert)

- From the guards who brought the princes, we learned that the army is commanded by the King of Norway, Ulf Erikson, and he got 4500 soldiers. (Ealdorman)

- I know about it, but neither his name nor the name of the country they come from tells me anything. Even when I was at the court of the King of the Franks, I did not come across such a name and there is nothing in Roman records either. It is hard to fight an enemy you know nothing about. (King Ecbert)

- Lord, we know they're in Northumbria, it's a long way to Wessex, they must first pass through the Kingdom of Mercia. Apparently, they return to their country during the winter and come back to England in the next spring... I believe that if they attack us, it won't be until next year. (Ealdorman)

- Perhaps, if their target is Mercia now, we'll be watching it from the side." If King Offa wins, there will be no heathen problem. If the heathens win, Mercia will be weakened and will need help ... Without Northumbria, only Wessex will be their ally. (King Ecbert)

- And the Welsh Kingdoms? (Ealdorman)

- They don't matter much, they are too weak ... You asked about the Prince Ecgberht... prince needs entertainment to console himself after the loss of his father and mother, the hunt will relax him ... and you, bribe one of the prince's men... Hunting is dangerous and falling from a horse can be fatal. His sister, Princess Judith will be engaged to my son Æthelwulf. (King Ecbert)

- My Lord, I understand. Should I do it quickly or wait some time so as not to arouse suspicion? (Ealdorman)

- Wait a month or two ... it's not that urgent. Let our people in Mercia keep a close eye on what is going on there. (King Ecbert)

(End POV)

Leif should be back any day now, and if everything goes as planned, we'll start the attack in a week.

(Lagertha / Hild POV)

- Yesss ... use your tongue ... (moan) wonderful ... and then take care... oh my yesss... of my breasts. (Lagertha)

- Yes Lady ... mhmm (slurp) ... mhmm, like now?

- (moan) Yesss, in this place ... I ssaw Leif ... (moan) Ulf ... will be back in ... yesss two or three monthsss... ooohhh (Lagertha)

(End POV)

- It's good that you've come back, what's up at home? (Ulf)

- Father complained a little about the number of slaves and the shortage of food, but he can handle it. (Leif)

- How's Ragnar? After Thora died, I didn't want to take him to the raid, especially since he has young children. (Ulf)

- I think it is better, it is difficult to judge, he was looked normally. (Leif)

After a few days of rest, we started to prepare for the attack on Lundenwic. There are only a hundred people left in Jorvik to guard the captives. Most of whom were locked up in various houses, workshops or churches anyway, for the sake of security... It shouldn't take us more than a day to get there.

- Landing ashore. (Ulf)

- There are still a few kilometers to our destination. (Floki)

- I know, but I remembered we sail past Canterbury ... there's a mint, an abbey and a cathedral. (Ulf)

Conquering Canterbury was not difficult, we dealt with the city in less than two hours, the robbery took us longer ... We locked everyone in the cathedral and set it on fire.

We quickly returned to the ships and returned to the original plan ... when we got to Lundenwice it was already late in the evening.

- Are we attacking or waiting? (Leif)

- I'm not sure, the evening and night give us the advantage of a surprise, but we do not know the terrain very well. (Ulf)

- We have almost 4,000 warriors, knowledge of the terrain will not do much. If in the morning or even now someone discovers our army, they will have time to prepare for defense. (Leif)

- Ballistae and ladders ready? (Ulf)

- Yes, we have over 200 ladders, they won't be able to stop everyone from climbing the walls. (Leif)

- Well... Place the ballistae at an appropriate distance. Harpoon attack on gate, reload and fire harpoons again. A thousand people on the ladders ... we need to get the gate, if our people get there, let them open it from the inside. (Ulf)

Ten minutes later the attack began, in a short time four harpoons hit the city gate ... and my men began to pull the ropes.

Thousands of warriors moved towards Lundenwic, carrying wooden ladders. Once at the foot of the city walls, my men began to lay them on the ground and prop them against the stone wall ... and they started to climb to the top using ladders. The first defenders appeared on the walls, they were surprised by such a large attack, but they didn't lose their cold blood. They began pushing ladders away from the walls and attacking those who had climbed almost to the top... but there were fewer defenders than attackers, despite their efforts, they were unable to stop the attack, for every pushed ladder, there were three after which my men climbed the walls ...

A dozen or so minutes later the defenders abandoned the defense of the walls and began to prepare for fights in the city... The only unconquered bastion was the gate... However, even the last defensive bastion had to finally give way under the pressure of my people, after long fighting the gate was opened from the inside.

I gave a signal and almost three thousand warriors moved towards the city ... London will be ours.