072

(King Aella / Ealdorman Edgar POV)

- My Lord, local people have come to the castle, to inform us that a large group of warriors is plundering the kingdom and is capturing its people.

- Ealdorman Edgar, and who are these people ?! Is anything known about them? Scots?

- We don't know that yet, My Lord. Ealdorman Wigea went to check the information we had received, but only found settlements and abbeys burnt down, the monks were murdered. These barbarians spared neither women, nor children, nor old men.

- Do we know what they want, whether they came here to wage war or just to rob us?

- My Lord, from their behavior, it seems that they came only to plunder.

- Since they are only thieves, Aethelwulf will gather troops, track them down, and send them to hell where they belong. Send this order to my brother

(End POV)

From a distance we saw the pillar of smoke above Lindisfarne ... in one raid we managed to destroy the most important places of Christian worship ... but now our direction was Bamburgh Castle, home of the Kings of Northumbria and it's time to acquire real riches. The castle was located 15 kilometers south of the monastery, it shouldn't take us more than an hour to get there, so I decided to spend some time talking to a monk.

- What's your name, monk?

- Athelstan, my lord.

- Then listen to me, Athelstan, you will be our translator. We are going to visit the king of these lands and we need to communicate somehow ... failure to communication, may lead to war ... so monk you have to make an effort, the fate of this kingdom rests on your shoulders.

- Yes, My Lord.

- Yes, my lord... No, my lord ... no fun with you... ehh... but know my good will, choose a woman who is on the ship and have fun ... we never know when we will die, so use it while you can.

- Lord, what will happen to all these people?

- My friend Athelstan, we'll take them to our country and offer them all to our Gods ... or we'll do nothing.

Unfortunately, he did not take up my offer, but I teased him for a while ... a young virgin in the company of a group of vikings, in his whole life he did not hear as many dirty jokes as during this short journey.

We came to the shore a few kilometers from the castle. I ordered my people to camp, I also ordered them to build a fence, complete it with the construction of frisian horses (cheval de frise) and digging on the western side of the wolf pits with sharp sticks. I also sent two groups of 200 people for scouting and that they would burn the surrounding settlements, thus signaling our arrival.

Two hours later, both groups returned, leading with them prisoners, the head of the peasants, but there were also a few soldiers... as it turned out, one of the groups bumped into a hundred people a squad of soldiers under the leader of King Aelle's brother. Most of them died, but several people were captured, including the King's brother himself.

I decided to write a letter to the king, but unfortunately I did not have a pen, ink or paper. .

- Give me some fat man, tie him to a tree and gag him.

After a few moments, the lucky chosen one he was treated according to my instructions. I also took Athelstan with me to translate although it was not necessary, I was going to write in Latin.

I tore the man's clothes to reveal his back, grasped the knife, and began to write.

"Dear King Aelle, I am sorry to announce that ...

- You act like a scared horse ... You make the letters crooked ... a moment more and you will be free ... a little patience ... do you think cutting letters on your back is an easy task?

...that your brother has been captured by us, he is in no danger at this moment ... but this may change. How much is your brother worth to you? "

This was written tiring and I wasn't a good calligrapher and the letters were too shallow in places, but for sure someone in the castle would be able to read it. Athelstan was horrified at my idea for the letter, but he just need to get used to it.

The man was released and we only had to wait for a reply. In the meantime, I helped with the fortification of the camp. Three hours later, four horsemen approached our camp. I went with the monk, Raganr, Floki, and One-Eyed Arne to greet them.

- My name is Lord Edgar, I would like to know who I am dealing with and is Lord Aethelwulf safe and sound?

- My name is Ulf Erikson and I am Jarl of these people. The King's brother is still alive, but we don't know how long, of course we can free him for a small fee.

- King Aella invites you and some of your people to negotiate. The condition is the lack of weapons.

- Of course we agree, but if your king planned something ... from his castle will only leave a smoking pile of stones, and my people will kill all prisoners and plunder the entire kingdom. Tell it to your King, Lord Edgar. We will arrive at the castle tomorrow at noon.

The messengers left and I returned to prepare the battlefield and fortify the camp. In the TV series, King Aelle agreed to pay the ransom, but when he had enough to trade, the king's men attacked the camp.

(King Aella / Ealdorman Edgar POV)

- My Lord, what are your next orders?

- There will be a feast tomorrow, only after the negotiations will I make the final decisions, but gather all the troops, from every garrison, even from the northern border ... tomorrow we will gain some time during the negotiations ... Ulf Erikson ... You will regret the day when you came to my kingdom.

- I understand, Lord.

(End POV)