GREATNESS | BJORN IRONSIDE

2

Ylva quietly scoffed and turned to Bjorn. "What kinds of names are those?" She commented and Bjorn tried his best to not smile in amusement as he continued to glare at Rollo.

The children were brought away before Gisla stepped forward, speaking in a venomous tone.

"My wife wants to know why you are here," Rollo informed the group in a calm tone as he turned to face Bjorn and Ylva fully, "So do I."

Bjorn remained in place for a long moment before bending to reach for the map in his boot. The guards went to point their spears at him but Rollo was quick to tell them to stand down.

Bjorn sighed in annoyance, taking out the map before unrolling it. "Ylva and I want to go here," He informed his uncle in a calm tone as he placed the map down on the ground before the three of them crouched down in front of it, "To this sea. But we have to sail along your coastline to get there. We need safe passage for our fleet."

"In return for what?" Rollo questioned, raising a brow at Bjorn.

"In return not attacking your villages and towns, as we should," Ylva demanded in a low, threatening tone, "And maybe we shall, if we don't get our way."

Rollo smiled at Ylva and shook his head. "May I take this?" He asked, gesturing down to the map.

"No!" Bjorn exclaimed, but before he could react, Rollo had snatched the map and stood back up.

Bjorn was on the verge of lunging forward but was stopped by the guards' spears appearing in front of him. He turned, exchanging an annoyed look with Ylva as one of the guards began commanding orders in his language.

Ylva jumped, frowning as she turned to see a guard taking the dagger she had on her belt. They began to search her weapons, earning an eye roll from Ylva. "I don't believe I have a weapon in my boot," She complained, only to groan when the guard did end up finding one there.

She rolled her eyes and revealed another one hand in her hand, leading to the guard roughly shoving her back. She ended up colliding with Sihtric, who steadied his sister before she could stumble.

"How long do you think you can keep us prisoners, traitor?" Floki complained loudly as he glared at him hatefully, "We have sixty ships outside your ports full of Vikings! Don't you think they will come knocking soon, if we don't return?"

____

Hours had passed and still, the group was chained up, much to their annoyance. Ylva was chained up beside Bjorn and due to her boredom, she began to anxiously tap her foot.

Growing annoyed, Bjorn grabbed her leg. "Stop it," He scolded her, earning an eye roll from his wife.

"What? I can't help it," She complained to him in a whisper.

"This is an interesting place the two of you have brought us to," Harald spoke up in a sarcastic tone, "I hope it's not the last place on Earth I see."

"Why aren't you talking?" Halfdan snapped at the duo lowly since neither of them seemed to be responding to them, "Could it be because you know you made a bad judgment? We totally believed in you two, and thought the gods did also."

"Still, you must have a plan for getting us out of this mess," Harald spoke up in a calm tone, "And I'm sure we'd all like to hear what it is."

Halfdan roughly tugged on his chains as he glared at Bjorn and Ylva angrily. "How could you ever think you can do business with Rollo?" He shouted at them angrily as Bjorn rolled his eyes and stood up, making his way over to the window, "He's killed hundreds of our people! He's lied and cheated, double-crossed his own brother, renounced the gods, committed every crime known to man. We should have attacked his fleet! At least we could have fought and died like Vikings, instead of sheep."