52 Preparations and going A-Viking!

In the middle of the night, while Lagertha is sleeping, I walk out of the palace. I grow a pair of large wings from my back and take flight towards Kattegat.

I want to know exactly what happened to Lagertha so I know how to proceed.

As I reach the small town, I get down to the ground and take the form of a pitch black cat.

I sneak through the village towards the earl's longhouse. Along my way I have to avoid the odd drunk here and there, as well as a few guards around the longhouse.

As I get inside I make my way to his bed. I approach him carefully, as I get close I notice how young he is and wonder if I got the right person. But I proceed to put my paw on his hand to see his memories nonetheless.

I specifically search for anything he knows about Lagertha.

Apparently the young Earl Haraldson here wasn't the one she stole from. It was a visiting earl, whom Haraldson could not afford to offend.

I then visit a few more people throughout the village to figure out more about Lagertha, her parents and life in this village.

After I've learned all I need to know I return to Odin's palace. I check on Lagertha and return to my bed.

I then spend the next 30 minutes or so devising a plan on how to proceed.

The next morning I wake up early and prepare a hearty breakfast. Oatmeal with plenty of fruits, eggs and sausages.

I walk up to her room to wake up Lagertha and sit on the edge of the bed. "Lagertha, wake up."

A few minutes later Lagertha is eating her breakfast when I decide to tell her what I did last night. "Last night I went to Kattegat and read the memories of the earl and a few other people to help me decide what to do. But I think ultimately it should be your choice.

So Lagertha, would you like to stay with me?"

"Yesh, pwease." She says with oatmeal dripping from her mouth.

"You should know I can make other arrangements. I could find some good people who will take care of you.' I say as I wipe her mouth with a napkin. 'And also, swallow your food before you talk."

"I'd like to stay with you." She answers immediately when I'm done wiping off the oatmeal. I throw the napkin in the air, snap my fingers and it bursts into purple flames, causing Lagertha to gaze at it in amazement.

"Alright then. Let's start preparing."

"Prepare? For what?" Lagertha asks looking confused.

"We're going to move to Kattegat."

"What? Why? What's wrong with this place?" Lagertha asks looking even more confused.

"Being raised secluded in a dusty old palace by an ancient god might sound pretty cool but it wouldn't be very conducive to a good upbringing."

At this point her confusion reaches its peak and she stares at me unresponsive, blinking a lot.

"You need to be around other people." I explain.

"Oooh, why didn't you just say so. What is the plan?"

"We can't just walk into Kattegat and start living there like nothing happened. So I came up with a ruse. Nobody in Kattegat knew much about Yrsa, your mom's life before she came there.

Only the earl knew a few things but I changed a few details in his memory.

So here's what we're going to do.

I'm your mom's brother who heard she died. So I come to Kattegat to claim custody over my niece only to find out she's not there anymore.

I think you can figure out the rest of the story, yeah?"

"You go to save me and we return to Kattegat together. But what if the slaver actually returns and sees me living there. He could claim me as his property. And what about Earl Hogun?"

"What kind of uncle would I be if I didn't exact my revenge upon the men who put my niece into slavery?"

"Bad one?"

"Exactly. So, I'll have to make a longship, gather some animals and give them the ability to turn into humans, forge weapons and armor for them and myself. All in all it'll take me... a day or so."

Over the next twenty-four hours I first summoned thirty animals indigenous to Norway. Ten wolves, five arctic foxes, five bears, five boars and five eagles.

I then granted them the ability to turn into humans and put them to work.

I first made every piece needed for the longship from oak trees and steel. I used telekinesis to cut the oak the way I needed it and used it along with Rodan's heat manipulation to forge the steel parts.

Once I was done making the parts for the ship my beastmen and women would put it all together while I forged armors, shields, weapons and other tools.

The longship, armors and weapons were all finished while Lagertha was sleeping so when she woke up the next morning and came outside after washing up and eating breakfast, she was met with an amazing sight.

A beautiful big longship with an intricately designed wolf's head headpiece and a howling wolf as a tailpiece.

Steel reinforcements all along the hull and a big black sail with a wolf's head, a star and a bird, beautifully designed in a circle.

Next to the ship are all the beastpeople training. The eagles with bows and arrows, the wolves and foxes with shields and axes along with swords while the bears and boars were practicing with huge axes and warhammers all while wearing awesome sets of armor that only the richest viking warlords could normally afford.

"Wow. You made all of this overnight? It's amazing. You look like you're ready to go raiding." Lagertha says while she's walking over to the shields on a rack.

She tries to pick one up but it's too heavy. "Try this."

She turns around and sees me holding a complete set of weapons and armor her size.

"For me?"

"Yes, I don't see any dwarves around. Try it on. It'll grow along with you. It's practically weightless but only if you wear it, and the weapons have a few minor enchantments as well that only you can use. None of it is flashy though. No one will know you use magic. It's all only for convenience and safety."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lagertha says as she runs up to me and hugs my leg.

"Alright, enough of that. Training starts now.

Everybody gather around!' immediately everyone stops practicing and once I have everyone's attention I continue.' Later today we're going to Kattegat. But first we train.

I've given you all basic techniques with the weapons you wield but none of you have actual experience wielding them.

You know how to cut a man into pieces but you don't know how it feels to push a sword through flesh, or to cave in a skull with your hammer.

You don't know the weight of a sword slammed against your shield by someone who's fighting for their life.

We're going to change that. I'm going to split you into two teams and you're going to fight each other to kill."

"But my lord, if we die we'll be dead. How can we serve you then?" One of the eagle women asks.

"You won't die. Before you start, you're all going to eat these.' I say as I conjure a basket full of golden apples out of nowhere.' If you eat these, you won't die for about three hours."

"The Golden Apples of Idunn." Lagertha says while staring at them in bewilderment.

"No, the Golden Apples of Fenrir. I made them myself."

As I split the group in half, Lagertha had already changed into her cute little armor with her cute little shield and her cute little sword. And was ready to eat an apple and join them.

I walk up to her, take the apple and pick her up by the scruff of her armor. "Whoa, hold on there little shield-maiden. Where do you think you're going?"

"Training." She says matter of factly.

"What kind of uncle would I be if I let you get cut, chopped and minced into little pieces by these beasts?"

"Good one?"

"Ha! Nice try. You're training with me."

Over the next six hours the beast people played several war games, while I created an aura construct of myself about Lagertha's size to spar with her while teaching her basic techniques.

After we're all done training for the day, everybody washes off the blood, revealing armors that actually look battle worn.

I then carry the ship down the mountain followed by my beast vikings. All but five of my wolves who stay behind to look after Lagertha, while I go start my ruse.

An hour later we are sailing into the fjord where we can already see Kattegat. As we approach the small town, we see a few people gathering on the beach.

We slowly approach the dock and anchor the ship. As I step onto the dock most people gathered are taken aback at my large, imposing stature standing at 2,2 meters tall, while wearing heavy armor and carrying a greatsword.

Followed by two of my wolf men, I walk towards the man I recognise as Earl Haraldson.

"Heill ok saell stranger, my name is Earl Haraldson." He introduces himself nervously, curious as to my intentions.

I take off my helmet and introduce myself using the name I've chosen. "Well met Earl Haraldson, my name is Fenrik and these are my men. I'm the brother of Yrsa. I came here to adopt my niece, Lagertha."

Immediately the young earl's face sinks as he starts sweating like crazy.

"Please follow me to the longhouse, I think we have much to discuss."

"I'm sure we do, but I'd like to see my niece first. Where is she?"

As he's getting visibly more nervous by the second I almost can't hold my laughter.

Having no choice but to tell me, he starts to explain the story. How it wasn't his fault and he was powerless against Earl Hogun.

"You're going to tell me two things. First, where can I find the slave trader? And second, where can I find this Hogun?"

"The s-slave trader m-mentioned Novgorod. (Russia) And Earl Hogun is from Vendill." (Kingdom in Denmark)

"When I come back, we will indeed have much to discuss." I say as I turn around and walk back to the longship.