The Son Of Ragnar

General Grjötgard and the rest of the gang had successfully scaled the wall and managed to assume the identity of a few of the guards.

Grjötgard knew that the reinforcement to invade the castle wasn't coming, he knew that they meant business and Northumbria wasn't like anything that they had encountered.

They were disciplined and Grjötgard knew even if Tyr was to emerge victorious, it wouldn't be at the cost of losing men.

The weaker they got, the more likely failure looked but Grjötgard knew that their priority was freeing Ragnar.

He made a bet with Bjorn and Grjötgard was ready to gamble on the young man's faith otherwise the smart thing would have been to retreat.

"Bjorn Ragnarsson, you're an impressive warrior," Salgard complimented Tyr's brother.

This was rare for the young man, he only did so with exceptional warriors.

Bjorn couldn't let compliments derail him and knew he had to remain focused as he didn't know how long the bodies could remain hidden.

Bjorn and Salgard blended in with their skin complexion, they weren't sure if they recognized their warriors by face in which case, their disguise would come undone but it was a risk that they had to take.

Whatever they wanted to do, it had to be done tonight, anything later than that would spell disaster.

They had no idea where to go or what to do next as they were visitors in this land and didn't know where their prisoners were kept.

Grjötgard knew they had to split up to increase the possibility of success but he soon second guessed this as he saw someone transporting a man with a cloth over his head.

There was no doubt that this was a prisoner and most likely, Ragnar.

Everyone but him missed it as their eyes were focused on different parts of the kingdom to make sure they had all their axes covered.

"King Ragnar, hang in there," Grjötgard muttered and Bjorn heard him say this, Bjorn wondered the kind of relationship he had with Ragnar that would make him take such a risk.

"I will cause a diversion, you two sneak in while the guards come to me," Grjötgard said and Hagen was confused with this reckless decision.

Hagen knew the warriors within these walls would be a lot stronger than the one he had disposed of outside them.

"Are you sure, General Grjötgard?" Bjorn asked, he expected Salgard to share his worries but Salgard was ecstatic because this meant he too was allowed to go all out.

Grjötgard had placed a restriction on his younger brother because when he allowed his blood lust to take over, he was a very dangerous man to stop, even for Grjötgard himself.

"Hagen, I want you to remain on the wall and be ready to pull me up when I signal you," Grjötgard said, this confidence. He looked at Bjorn and whispered something in his ear.

He was sure he was going to make it out even when the odds were stacked in his favor.

Hagen nodded to show agreement and Grjötgard took a deep sigh.

"Here I go!" Grjötgard screamed as he jumped down from the wall like some wild beast, plunging his sword right head top of the first person he landed on.

Of course, before he did this, he gave Bjorn and Salgard the necessary information that they would need to get Ragnar.

"Enemy attack!" The alert was up in no time and even the guards on the wall had to rush down.

Salgard and Bjorn used this opportunity to descend and they proceeded to fade out of sight.

Grjötgard sighed, he knew things were about to get hectic but he wasn't worried because there was no way their sword would touch him and he was right.

Grjötgard cut down multiple people with one strike and the moment he did, the other warriors that surrounded him took a step back.

They couldn't believe what they had seen, they took a couple of steps back in a bid to try and stay out of his range but Grjötgard already knew what came next.

"Now comes the arrow," He muttered, grabbing one of the corpses of the men he had killed and used as a shield against the arrow before throwing the dead body with such force that it basically scattered upon impact with the archer.

Unknown to this warrior, Northumbria were blessed with warriors equally skilled and there were multiple that resided within these walls.

Grjötgard didn't have an easy battle ahead and this could very well be where he fell.

-

Salgard and Bjorn managed to use the loud distraction to their advantage, they moved within the cover of darkness, avoiding the well lit places and guards that were rushing towards Grjötgard.

"General Grjötgard is amazing," Bjorn heaped praises on the man because he was casually doing what others couldn't.

That was something to be feared and respected at the same time but Salgard didn't have time for conversations, they needed to remain focused.

Slagard had on his creepy smile and Bjorn didn't know if it was some sort of facial expression or that was how his face was naturally.

There was no way someone could be smiling that much without their face hurting.

"This is the place," Salgard said and Bjorn's attention readjusted to the situation at hand.

"You're right," Bjorn confirmed, it was obvious as there were two guards stationed at the entrance of the door.

They had no reason to remain here when everyone else was off fighting except they were guarding something more important than that.

Salgard knew they just couldn't rush in as they didn't know if there were any guards inside, they had to find a way to sneak through the door.

"We need a diversion," Salgard said, he wanted to go out to draw them out but his hand

"What are you doing?" Bjorn asked and Salgard scratched his head in confusion.

"I'm going to kill them," Salgard responded bluntly before yanking his hand away from Bjorn.

Bjorn quickly picked up a rock and threw it somewhere not too far away, this alerted the guards and Salgard immediately squatted back down before looking at Bjorn.

"What was that for?" Salgard asked.

"I don't know what you are thinking but your actions don't just affect your life. It affects both mine and my father. I will not allow you to be reckless," Bjorn said and Salgard noticed one of the guards had split off from the other in a bid to investigate the area the sound came from.

Salgard remained quiet but Bjorn could feel a cold bead of sweat trickle down his forehead.

He knew that if he tried what he just did again, Salgard would kill him.

He knew this without the man even uttering a word due to the killing intent that he felt oozing from him and this made him remember what Grjötgard whispered into his ear.

"If you can prevent it, do not let my little brother kill anyone before you save your father…" 

This was a warning that Bjorn didn't quite understand but he didn't have time to question it.

Bjorn looked over his shoulder to see if there were any more people around and before he returned his head, Salgard was gone.

"Damn it! Where did he go!?" Bjorn said, if Salgard was gone, this meant that his window of opportunity was closing.

He had to make a move now or things had the potential to go south.

Bjorn took a step forward and noticed that the other guard was getting agitated due to his partner taking some time to return to his post.

Bjorn knew he had to exploit this because if he raised an alarm, then their mission would have been rendered a failure and there is no telling if they would execute Ragnar upon this.

Bjorn was shocked when he saw that the man returned, this meant that Salgard didn't sneak off to go kill him when he was inspecting the sound.

So where was he? 

Bjorn saw a shadowy figure sneaking up behind the guard that had stayed put, a hand wrapped around his mouth to make sure he couldn't scream as he slit his throat.

The other guard noticed this too late and was decapitated before he could even escape.

Bjorn's jaw dropped, he didn't know how he did it but he did, those skills were fit for an assassin as he killed two men in no less than five seconds.

Bjorn wasn't sure he could replicate this feat but he would like to try.

He walked towards Slagard, his footsteps uncertain as he didn't know what Grjötgard warning was about and knew it was in his best interest to be cautious.

Salgard was crouched down, back turned to Bjorn with the teenager having no idea what he was doing with the bodies.

"There you are," Salgard said right before tossing Bjorn a set of keys.

"Go inside, I will keep watch," Salgard said, dragging the bodies out of sight.

This made Bjorn wonder what Grjötgard was so worried about, Salgard looked to be perfectly fine.

He wasn't acting strange or doing anything out of the ordinary, Bjorn opened the door and gained entry into the prison that potentially held King Ragnar.

But what was Grjötgard warning, did Bjorn fail to stop the calamity that would jeoperdize their mission or was this Grjötgard just being cautious?

This would soon be known.