Chapter 60 Danger In Kattegat
"LAGERTHA!!!" Herfjötur screamed from the top of her lungs as she watched Lagertha's body hit the ground below, but she immediately took a defensive stance as another arrow narrowly missed her head.
Someone was attacking them but who, this was not just your average robbery, someone was coming for their heads.
Herfjötur's mind was split as she was worried about Lagertha and prayed to the heavens that she was not dead but it would take more than that to kill her.
She had to have faith in Lagertha and focus on herself.
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Herfjötur screamed and the moment she said this, backup arrived almost immediately.
"Commander!" They said, forming a shield wall to rebuff any potential arrows that may follow.
But Herfjötur felt something was amiss but before she could figure it out, a sharp pain was felt from her back as it slowly reached her torso and out of it was a sword that had impaled her clean through.
"W-What's going on!?" Herfjötur muttered but the majestic warrior did not fall to her knees despite the severity of the injuries as she realized the reason she felt something was amiss was that these were not people she knew or recognized.
These were strangers but how did they get into Kattegat, talkless of infiltrating her ranks in just a day? They had made brilliant use of the cover of night to manage a sneak attack on Herfjötur.
And with Herfjötur injured, there was a chance that they could kill her.
"Herfjötur, I am surprised you are still standing after taking a sword through the torso, did I miss a vital?" A lady, half the size of Herfjötur with a thinly shaped sword now covered in blood said.
She knew who Herfjötur was but then again, everyone knew who she was as she was famous.
"I know you.." Herfjötur muttered, applying pressure on her wound as she was surrounded by 30+ female warriors.
"Wrong! You knew me!" The lady said, gesturing as all warriors simultaneously charged at Herfjötur.
-
"Where is she?" The warriors that reached where Lagertha lay asked, she was no longer in the position that they had seen.
This either meant that she was in moving condition or someone moved her out of harm's way with the latter being less of a possibility despite it still being probable.
"Find Lagertha! We need to kill Lagertha!" The lady shouted as they spread out to cover more ground. This was a stealthy attack as the warriors under Herfjötur had been drugged to sleep like they were in a coma.
This meant that no one was coming to help them and whatever they planned on doing had to be done tonight or the attempt on both their lives would have been futile.
Lagertha was injured, luckily the arrow was lunged at her left shoulder and the fall was not as bad as it should have been as it was broken. She had leaned forward into the fall and managed to land on her side.
The composition of the ground also played a major role, Lagertha managed to get away as she knew that the only way someone could even get a shot at her was because of the integrity of those that were supposed to be protecting Kattegat being compromised.
It was strange because they thought this thing would end with Arvid but it felt like there was something they had missed as of that moment.
Lagertha was barely in any fighting condition but she knew that she needed to pick them off one by one now that they were divided.
She needed to believe in Herfjötur but this was barely even 24 hours since King Askild had left, was this a revolution to take the throne?
This was the only logical conclusion and Lagertha was not about to hide while their home was taken from right under their nose.
She wanted her family to return to their home and she was willing to die to make that happen.
-
"Wow, that was some sleep!" A lady said. The morning had come and the multiple screams from outside served as their alarm bell. They were surprised that they all slept so well and peacefully throughout the night considering they were on watch duties.
They grew suspicious when they realized it was not just one person that overslept but all of them, that was not a coincidence as they all rushed outside to see the bloodbath.
"W-What is this!?" A lady squirmed as she could not believe the horror before her.
They all unsheathed their swords and scurried in every direction to look for their leader and Lagertha, they found a few injured warriors showing that not everyone was killed.
""Find commander Herfjötur and Lagertha!" The lady that led the charge screamed.
She was a short brunette girl with a slender build, the worry in her green eyes was telling as her porky lips barked commands.
This was no doubt an attack and to think they slept through it meant that the enemy was in Kattegat.
The further they went, the more the dead bodies accumulated and they knew they were getting closer to knowing what happened to Herfjötur.
"The walls!" The brunette lady barked and they climbed the walls in a rush while still being cautious as they prayed to the gods that they would not meet the body of Herfjötur above.
But what they saw was something they could not unsee, littered body parts in every single direction, and this included entrails.
There was no doubt that this was the doing of their commander and upon closer inspection, they saw Herfjötur, backed against a wall, slumped over.
"Herfjötur!!!" The brunette lady screamed as she ran in her direction to see if she was dead or alive, she could feel her heart drop into her stomach because this was a sight she never saw she would see as cuts were all over her body but the relief that overcame her when she found out that Herfjötur was alive brought tears to her eyes.
She started sobbing profusely as she felt like this only opened because they were careless but to think that Herfjötur did this much damage alone was telling of their commander's strength.
"I…" Herfjötur tried to speak but she was urged to rest up as the brunette lady noticed that she was bleeding Herfjötur fastened a piece of cloth around her wounds but that cloth was the only reason she was alive.
"I-It is the same," Herfjötur muttered right before losing consciousness, the peace of mind she had gotten from her unit being her finally allowed her body to shut down.
Tiril was confused by what she meant by this but this was not her priority, her priority was the life of her commander.
"Tiril, we have a survivor!" Another lady said, standing over the lady that had injured Herfjötur.