Worrying Developments

Another month passed and Thorfinn had begun to notice certain changes in his body. He currently stood naked in the river that ran through his land, he had always been muscled but he had usually been on the lean side. However after he had begun his training with Elijah he had started to put on muscle, not much, but some. However in this past month, he had put on quite a noticeable amount, doing the exercises like the book suggested seemed to make him strong. His women seemed to like it as well.

Thorfinn turned to see Rebekah and Hild washing themselves in the river while Arywn and Blaeja washed their clothing. Blaeja had surprisingly not been shy about exposing herself in front of Thorfinn, and he wouldn't complain as she had quite a beautiful body, one he expected to see on a princess. He continued to clean himself with the wet rag in his hands, but seeing his women bending over and exposing their holes to him was making blood rush to his cock. He knew he couldn't take them here, the river was too cold; he turned away and tried to distract himself.

"Wæter ārīsan," he whispered as he reached his hand out. The water rose out of the water touching his hand where he swirled it around. He had been improving with his control over his magic, while he was nowhere close to mastering it he could summon a flame strong enough to light a fire and move water like this. He had no teacher for magic apart from Floki, but even then he only had knowledge of runes.

Letting the water fall back into the water he turned back around, his cock was still hard. 'Who cares... this is my land,' he thought to himself as he strode over to Rebekah and Hild the latter of whom washed the formers back. Both blonde girls smiled at him as he approached them, though Rebekah's smile turned into one of exasperation when she saw his cock moving above the water.

"You are insatiable!" She said hitting his chest as she pressed her body into him.

Thorfinn smiled as he kissed her neck "Can you blame me when my woman is such a goddess," he whispered, nipping her ear and making her moan.

"Release me beast!" She said with a giggle.

"You've hurt my womanhood with your relentless rutting, Hild and Arwyn will have to take care of you," she said pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"I am always ready for you Thorfinn," Hild breathed out as she pressed into his side.

"My womanhood aches too... but you can use my other hole," she whispered into his ear as she grabbed his hand and moved it to her bum where she urged him to rub her tight hole.

His cock almost released his seed there at the thought of taking her in there. He tightened his grip on her cheeks before smirking at the woman "Finish washing, don't keep me waiting," He almost growled to her.

"Thorfinn!"

Thorfinn turned to the bank of the river where Helga strode towards them. "Helga?! Is something wrong?" He replied.

"Floki and Storri need you to come immediately to the mine!" She shouted.

Thorfinn groaned in frustration as his cock still throbbed with anticipation at taking Hild in her arse. Rebekah giggled at the look on his face and gripped his cock "Go my love you have work to do, and tonight we will both reward you," she whispered lightly squeezing the head of it making him hiss in pleasure.

"I hope you're ready for I will not be merciful," he said as he grabbed both Hild and Rebekah, tracing his fingers across their lower lips.

He reluctantly strode out of the water, he saw that Helga looked at his body intensely. He supposed he did look quite different from most of the other men in Kattegat; you'd be hard-pressed to find a man who was not strong, but while they were strong they usually had fat around their bellies. Though there were a few exceptions it was still rare for someone to have such a densely muscled body. He gave Helga a polite smile as he walked to the nearby tree and took his clothes that were hanging on the branch.

"Make sure they return safely, I don't want anyone from the village stumbling upon them," Thorfinn requested.

Helga stopped inspecting his body and smiled "Of course Thorfinn, now don't keep Floki waiting," she responded.

As he strode past the treeline he turned back around and saw Helga removing her down and joking the girls in the water. He licked his lips as he watched her cheeks jiggle, he only wished that she would turn around so he would get a view of her front.

He turned around and headed back into the forest adjusting his hosur's to accommodate his hard cock.

...

It didn't take long for Thorfinn to reach the mine as it wasn't too far away from the river. When he reached there Floki and Storri seemed to be in an intense discussion, beneath them was a man perhaps a decade older than Thorfinn, his hands and feet had been bound and he had a gag in his mouth. "Helga said you needed me?" Thorfinn said as he approached the duo.

They ceased their talking and looked over to Thorfinn, the man on the ground shouted and pleaded for help but Floki kicked him before walking over. "What's going on Floki?" Thorfinn asked with a frown, he recognised the man on the floor, his name was Aksel, and he was quiet and mostly kept to himself. He volunteered to mine the iron and so far he had received no complaints about him nor had he experienced any problems personally.

"This one has been keeping secrets Thorfinn," he said with a smile as he pointed his dagger at the man's neck.

"MMMMM!!!" Aksel screamed as he tried to struggle. Upon closer inspection Thorfinn could tell the man had been beaten, his eyes were starting to swell and he could see blood stains around his tunic. Floki kicked him again which stopped his struggling; Thorfinn stepped in and grabbed Floki's shoulder. "Tell me what's going on," he said in a much sterner voice.

"Magni noticed that Aksel would disappear during the nights and would sometimes not return until the following day," Storri explained.

Thorfinn shrugged "So? A man's free time is his own," he said as he crossed his arms.

"Indeed, but in his free time Aksel decides to venture into the mines," Storri said.

"Look what we found on him Thorfinn!" Floki interrupted Storri before he could finish. Floki pulled out a piece of ore that was a shiny grey colour, it wasn't very big only filling the palm of his hand. "Is that what I think it is Floki?" Thorfinn asked as his eyes widened.

Thorfinn knelt next to Aksel grabbing his hair and pulling his head back "Where did you find this?!" He said before pulling the gag from his mouth.

"It wasn't in your mine Lord I swear by the gods!" Aksel said as tears streamed down his bruised face.

"Liar!" Floki shouted as he kicked him once again.

"We found this piece of silver ore when we caught him leaving the mine early," Storri said as he looked at Aksel with disappointment.

"No, I swear it wasn't!" Aksel said desperately.

"My friend, you have been caught, lying will not make your situation better," Thorfinn stated.

"Tell me where you found this ore and I will consider letting you live," Thorfinn offered.

Aksel however didn't speak causing Thorfinn to grab him by the throat and punch him in the face with his other arm. "Speak!" He boomed out before drawing his fist back again.

"I don't know! I swear! Please lord, you must believe me!" Aksel said as he tried to hide his face from Thorfinn by pressing it into the earth.

Thorfinn spat on him as he stood up "Hang him from the tree over there, feed his body to the pigs," he said which caused Aksels eyes to widen.

"Wait! Lord! Wait!" He shouted as he struggled in Floki's grasp.

"If you can't tell me what I wish to know then I can not show any mercy to you," Thorfinn said with a shrug as he began to walk away. Aksel screamed for help hoping anyone might hear, but no one came. His desperate cries increased when Floki tied a rope around his neck and he was dragged to the closest tree.

"I'll SPEAK!!! I'll SPEAK!!!" He cried out desperately as Storri and Floki started pulling him up over the branch.

Thorfinn gestured for them to stop and walked to him "Speak then and know that if you lie there will be no saving you."

"Deep down the cave... I found an unexplored set of tunnels, there is a lot of silver in the walls and on the ground, I only mean to take a bit I promise!" He explained desperately trying to save his life.

Thorfinn thought for a moment before nodding to the others who stopped pulling on the rope. "Show Storri and Floki where to find it and I'll forgive you for your slight," he said.

"Keep his hands bound," Floki and Storri. The old man grabbed Aksel and lifted him up pushing him towards the entrance of the mine; Floki was grabbed by Thorfinn before he could go with them. "Kill him after he shows you where it is," he told him.

Floki giggled "You needn't have told me Thorfinn... I was going to anyway," he replied.

Thorfinn nodded, if what they had discovered was true then this needed to be kept a secret. A silver mine so close to Kattegat? The Jarl would kill all of them to take it. Right now they couldn't defend themselves properly, they were still smelting iron and had only just repaired the smithy. Storri would be showing Thorfinn how to forge, not only him but a couple of the younger boys from the village. Thorfinn would pay for them to apprentice to Storri, they needed skilled workers.

"I think we should protect this place Floki," Thorfinn commented before drawing his dagger. Over the past month, Thorfinn had come to know quite a lot of runes, it didn't surprise him as they were a form of language and he seemed to have a gift for learning them.

Floki rubbed his beard "I do not know how a rune that could stop men from walking in."

Thorfinn didn't either, he hoped Floki might have. He sat down on a wooden stump trying to think of a solution; it was at times like this he wished he could be like the men of the Roman Empire, they seemed to have such great knowledge. They were able to discover new things that even a thousand years later his people had not discovered. However, as he thought of those men a frown marred his face. 'Why can't I be like them...' he thought to himself. He wanted to be a great warrior, so why not be a great scholar as well.

"Floki... how does a person become great?" He asked, he wasn't really expecting an answer but it didn't hurt to ask.

Floki rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about the answer. "Becoming great means doing something no one else has done before, I would imagine," he replied.

Thorfinn hummed as he considered that answer. Everything was created at some point by great people whether they be man or god, perhaps that was where the secret lay. "If there is no suitable rune perhaps we should make one," Thorfinn commented as he stood up.

"An interesting idea, how do you propose we create something out of nothing?" Floki asked with a giggle.

Thorfinn shook his head "Not nothing, but is there a reason rune can not be altered?" He asked.

"I have never tried," Floki admitted.

Thorfinn approached a tree and brought out his knife. There were two times he thought might work, the runic symbol for humans and the runic symbol for predators. The former was useless but the latter was used to ward off animals in the night or so he was told. 'I need to discover how to combine them...' Thorfinn thought to himself as he considered the best way to do it.

He drew out both of the runes and inspected them. For a while his mind came up blank, he wondered if his talent in languages only extended as far as learning and not creating. Though just as he was about to give up a spark lit inside his mind, like a small ember burning a piece of kindling. He noticed there were quite a few similarities with the runes, as he began to think deeply about it he noticed that all the runes he knew had common characteristics.

However they also had markings unique to themselves, 'If I combine the unique markings into one rune then perhaps it'll work,' he considered as he began carving the rune into the tree. The difficulty was deciding where each of the markings should go within the hexagonal shape. He had to stop his work and start again multiple times before he got something he was happy with, he closed his eyes and focused as he held his hand over the rune. He felt a slight tug as his magic moved within his body and into the rune.

He breathed out slightly winded, powering runes was a lot more tiring than using spells. When he turned to look at Floki the easygoing man had a frown on his face, his hand was on his axe and he looked ready to fight someone. "Are you okay Floki?" Thorfinn asked.

Floki's face scrunched up "I'm not sure Thorfinn, for some reason I feel as if I am in danger but I cannot explain why, I feel very much like leaving," he said with a humourless giggle.

A wide smile made its way upon Thorfinns face and he dragged his dagger through the centre of the tune which dispelled its effects. He saw Floki let out a breath and relax "What did you do Thorfinn?" He asked.

"I combined two runes together and made one that will ward off people," Thorfinn said with a grin on his face.

Floki shook his head as he giggled "I have studied runes all my life and you have surpassed me in a month,"

Thorfinn snickered "You are more knowledgeable than you give yourself credit for."

Thorfinn then crouched on the ground and picked up a small flat stone; Floki had always told him that when carving and empowering runes the material mattered. Wood would deteriorate, but the stone would last for a long time. He carved the rune onto the stone and watched as Floki tensed again, "We shouldn't mine the silver until we can properly protect the land, for now, we will leave this at the entrance to the tunnel," Thorfinn said before he entered the mine, with Floki following close behind.

...

When they all later emerged from the mine Thorfinn watched as Floki pushed Aksel to the ground. "Lord I showed you! Will you let me go?!" He begged as he got to his knees.

"No I won't let you go," Thorfinn replied.

"But you said you'd show mercy!" He said desperation laced in his voice.

Thorfinn nodded "You're right, and I will."

"Floki give him your axe," Thorfinn instructed. Floki eyed him strangely before acquiescing and throwing it down before him.

"You have the chance to die with a weapon in hand, your mercy is Valhalla not being closed to you," he said coldly as he drew his sword and slashed down cutting his bindings in a single strike.

"Lord! Please release me! I won't speak of what I know I swear!" Aksel cried out.

Thorfinn just looked down on him with a cold expression on his face. He had originally planned for Floki to slit his throat and leave him for the wolves, but he decided to allow him the chance to die as a warrior. He was coming to regret this decision however as the man cowered in front of him. "Die on your feet or your knees it makes no difference to me," Thorfinn said as he prepared to strike.

Aksel picked up the axe and screamed as he ran towards Thorfinn with the axe held high. Thorfinn couldn't help but wonder if he was that bad at fighting before he started training, he sidestepped Aksel before slicing through his neck making him collapse to the ground after walking a few steps.

Thorfinn looked at him holding his neck he had discarded the axe in his hand in favour of trying to keep the blood in his body. He could understand not wanting to die, there were many things he wished to do before he passed through the gates of Valhalla. However he could never imagine acting like such a craven in the face of death, "Even when given the chance to die honourably he condemns himself with his own cowardice," Floki said spitting on the ground.

Thorfinn watched as his strength faded and the light left his eyes. When he was finally dead he grabbed him by his foot and dragged him off to the forest and left him to be eaten by the animals that resided there.

"Come let's go back," He told both Floki and Storri.

...

Floki and Thorfinn parted ways with Storri who had gone back to his own home. When they emerged out of the tree line and came within sight of the Longhouse they felt relief as their stomachs had rumbled for the past few hours now.

When Thorfinn opened the door and walked inside he was surprised when someone crashed into him. "Thorfinn!"

Thorfinn looked down and his eyes widened "Gyda?!" He said confused as to why she was here.

"I told you I would visit you did I not?" She said with a wide smile on her face.

"And I'm glad you have, you've made a bad day much better," he said before hugging her tighter and pressing her head into his chest. Gyda was surprised to feel how different Thorfinn felt. When she hugged him before she could feel his bones along his back, but now all she felt was hard muscle —the same with his chest.

"Is she the only one to get a hug?" He heard someone say from further down the corridor. He smiled when he saw Lagertha approaching him, and he detached himself from Gyda —much to her displeasure— and embraced Lagertha.

"It's good to see you, is Ragnar and Bjorn here as well?" He asked as he moved back from the shieldmaiden.

She shook her head "It is just us, Ragnar... has been busy as of late," she replied though it was clear to see she was uneasy.

"I wanted to visit sooner, but we weren't able to," Gyda said leaning closely to him.

"Think nothing of it, the important thing is you are here now," He replied.

"It is strange to hear you so quiet Floki, are we not friends?" Lagertha said jokingly, looking past Thorfinn.

Floki giggled "I did not want to interrupt such a beautiful reunion."

Lagertha rolled her eyes as did Thorfinn. "Come let us go and eat, you can tell me what you've been doing since I last saw you," he said leading them into the main hall where the rest of the women and Elijah were.

Rebekah, Hild and Arwyn stood up as he entered and each hugged him before placing a kiss on his cheek. "I thought you'd never return, did something happen?" Rebekah asked.

Thorfinn shook his head "There was a problem but it's been solved, nothing to worry about," he said as he kissed her head.

"Come and sit, we've prepared supper," Hild said leading him to his seat.

From the other side of the fire pit, Blaeja and Elijah sat, both of them had already begun eating their food. "For some reason, this pisses me off," Blaeja said with a deadpan expression.

"Me as well," Elijah added as he spooned his food into his mouth.

Rebekah giggled before slapping her brother's shoulder and sitting down next to him. Hild and Arwyn happily served everyone food and they all made small talk and caught up with each other's lives; Thorfinn and Floki had finally created one of the contraptions from the books he had taken. It was called a heavy plow and it would carve deeper groves in the earth while having a section to place seeds where they'd fall out as it moved.

The land in the north was hard and the soil was thick, many times the shaft of their hoes would break and they'd need to be replaced. Lagertha was interested in the contraption as a farmer, but Gyda was more interested in his description of a bathhouse. She had only ever had a hot bath once in her life and it was one of the most divine things she'd ever experienced.

Thorfinn smiled as they all ate and laughed together, this was the kind of life he wanted. Seeing everyone here together happy and content made him wonder if something bad was just around the corner; nothing good ever lasts forever, at least in his experience.

Floki and Helga were the first to retire to their rooms as his hunger had been sated and now another desire needed to be. Elijah and Blaeja were next though Blaeja would likely spend her time trying to read some of her untranslated books.

"I think me and Hild are going to retire my love," Rebekah said as she placed a kiss on his cheek and stood up. The bump on her belly had become even more noticeable, he was thankful that she was here with him as there would be no way she would be able to hide such a thing from her family. Hild linked her arm through Rebekah and they both left the room; Thorfinn was happy at how close Rebekah and Hild had gotten since she came here, he supposed that their joint pregnancy gave them something to bond over.

Thorfinn watched them leave before his gaze went down to Lagertha. "Are you ready to speak now?" He said which made her raise an eyebrow at him.

Lagertha looked over to Arwyn who sat close to Thorfinn. "Don't worry about Arwyn, she's still learning the language, and you can trust her as well," he assured her.

Thorfinn could see that Gyda looked uneasy and he offered a hand to her which she gladly accepted. "There has been a lot of tension in Kattegat as of late," Lagertha said slowly.

Thorfinn had been quite disconnected from the town so he didn't get much news about it. However, he could guess what the problem was. "The Jarl and Ragnar?" He asked though it was obvious.

Lagertha nodded. "It began with subtle things, such as not inviting Ragnar to the feats and hosting the 'Thing' when he knew Ragnar wasn't available."

"Then he began to impose taxes on landowners-"

Thorfinn frowned. "I've not received any notice of this."

She shook her head "You wouldn't, it only applied to land of a certain size, Ragnar was one of the only ones affected..." she spat out with a scowl making its way onto her face.

Thorfinn stood up and walked over to the table grabbing the pitcher of mead and pouring everyone another cup. Lagertha took a healthy gulp from her cup before continuing. "It's only gotten worse, they confiscated Ragnar and Floki's ship-"

"They? Who is they?" Thorfinn asked.

"Mikael, he has been supporting the Jarl's endeavours," she replied.

Thorfinn cursed before drinking from his cup, this would undoubtedly complicate things. "They took Tor and Ragni too!" Gyda said with an angry expression.

Thorfinn raised his brows in surprise. "Surely they cannot be allowed to take Livestock," he said looking back at Lagertha.

"We have no proof it was them, they disappeared in the dead of night," she said.

Thorfinn breathed out heavily "What has Ragnar been doing in return?" He asked.

"He's been gathering as many weapons as he can and the men to wield them, it is only a matter of time before things turn violent," Lagertha stated though she didn't look disappointed by the prospect.

"You wanted to know if you could rely on me," Thorfinn said, to which Lagertha nodded.

"Of course Lagertha, you know you and Ragnar are family to me and I will fight to defend you from anyone," Thorfinn said which made the shieldmaiden smile.

"I knew you would, in truth, Ragnar did not want to ask he knew you were happy here and did not want to spoil it by bringing you into his problems," she stated with slight exasperation.

"He is not spoiling anything, if he needs me then I am there, tomorrow we can go over this in more detail, but I think for now it's time we rested," Thorfinn said as she stood up.

Lagertha nodded in agreement and reached out to Gyda "Will you show me around tomorrow?" Gyda asked.

"Of course," Thorfinn replied before kissing her on the cheek and wishing them both goodnight.

Thorfinn sat back down looking at the fireplace. If things continued to get worse he would be forced to send Elijah back to Kattegat, he couldn't expect his friend to fight against his family for Ragnar —a man he didn't know well. He only hoped that he wouldn't come to blows with Elijah when it came to Rebekah because there was no way he would be allowing her to go back to Kattegat with the way things were now.

"Is everything okay lord?" Arwyn asked as she leaned hooked her arm in his and looked up at him with her bright eyes.

Thorfinn smiled at her before patting her hand "I hope so Arywn..."

(AN: So we are getting to the main conflict in this arc, or at least one of the main conflicts. Things are going to be different from canon as Ragnar was not arrested and had more support than in canon. The Jarl is trying to be smarter in dealing with Ragnar but things are soon to get more violent. Magic is being developed though without a teacher it's a slow pace and Gyda has finally arrived. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.)

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