Iskjerne Vikings's Story

Slowly, the viking settlers of Iskjerne Bay would start to experience a change of luck. The arrival of the Rainstorm Dragonship struck fear into the hearts of Erling's knights. The Christians started to withdraw, fighting their way back in the direction they came. The gjallahorn blew loudly, echoing for miles, a newfound boost of morale as the vikings pushed forward, roaring sounds of victory or Valhöll, giving Sigurd Hring a chance to duel with Erling Snake more personally. The two former comrades gazed at one another with hatred, both of them walking slowly towards one another with their swords already prepared to strike. Sigurd would dodge a throwing axe as it flew past him, his eyes still focussing on the opponent in front of him.

"This ends here Snake," the king said as he approached the traitor. "Nice kingdom you have here. Took me a minute to find you!" King Erling lashed out, swinging his blade towards Sigurd's chest. The pagan king would respond by deflecting the blade with his own before trying to cut Erling's arm. Erling was fast however, and managed to evade Sigurd's steel before chuckling quietly. "You should have stayed in Iceland," Sigurd said calmly. "Aw, but don't you want to know how I got here?" Snake asked sarcastically, this time going in for an upward slash to Sigurd's chin. Sigurd would lean back, blocking the swing and redirecting it away from himself with his hand guard. Metal scraped metal, screeching with a small array of sparks from the force of their blows.

Sir Hadrid was walking around setting fire to the viking tents when suddenly an arrow whistled past his head. Looking up, he could see Gwyneth peering down at him from one of the wall towers. She quickly notched another arrow to her bow, but Sir Hadrid was undaunted. He would approach the tower as she fired arrows at him, one after another. He used his kite shield to stop one of the arrows before he tossed the lit torch into the wall tower. The wood was cold and dry, allowing the straw thatches to catch fire rather quickly. Within moments, Gwyneth would find herself trapped in a smoking tower. Sir Hadrid would gaze up at her and laugh loudly, only to be hit in the back of the head by Hrollaug's axe. There was a loud thud, followed by another as Hrollaug ripped the blade out and drove it into his spine. Sir Hadrid fell forward, dead before he could even hit the ground.

Sigurd Hring and Erling Snake continued their duel on the edge of the hill, swords clanking and clashing together with each passing swing. Meanwhile, Lord Bruce of Essex was still inside the tent with Takao and the Emperor, and confusion ensued between the Anglish Norse pagan and the Taiyou autokrator. Bruce wasn't sure what he should do, so he just kept his guard up and prepared to die mentally as he waited for the Emperor to attack him, or else state his case. Gwyneth scrambled to find a way down from the wall tower, which was slowly going up in flames. She gagged and coughed from the smoke billowing around her as she climbed to the outside of the tower and looked around. Seeing a rope attached to the warning bell, she slid her yew wooden bow over the rope, grabbing it with both hands while clenching an arrow between her teeth.

Just then, the outer wall of the viking ringfort started to crumble. Warriors pushed and shoved to get out of the way as the wall came crashing down near the entrance, a loud boom followed by a crashing wave of bricks and dust, forming a cloud which knocked Sigurd and Erling off of their feet. Sigurd's head started pounding. He felt dizzy as he sat up, being temporarily deafened by the loud crash of heavy logs and stones. As he sat up, he noticed people running around in mass hysteria. Dogs were barking. Women were panicking. There was a young child hiding under a table near one of the food tents, plugging their ears and crying in shock. There was ash and cinder, and rubble everywhere. It all seemed to be happening in slow motion as Sigurd staggered back to his feet slowly, ears still ringing. He tried to look around again for Erling Snake, but the Christian warlord had managed to slip away.

Back at the fallen gate, the vikings were holding strong. Gwyneth ziplined down the rope from the wall tower with her bow, landing gracefully on the ground as the Christian raiders continued to withdraw. By now they were retreating, and their flags waved on the wall, signalling them to fall back to the shore. At that moment, Gwyneth and Prince Hrollaug approached Sigurd and stood beside him on the edge of the hill, watching as the Christians retreated to their ship. It was one more victory for the king, but this time it would be short lived. The Soja was still orbiting up above the planet, prowling the skies like a shadowy wolf.

To make matters worse, other strange forces were now at work, and just then a viking herald rode up to the king on horseback. "My Lord Sigurd, I bring a message from the caves. The foreigners have returned. They have powerful weapons, and Jarl Evan is with them," the herald said before Sigurd nodded, waving a hand for him to go away. "Gwyneth," he mumbled. "Yes my king?" she answered. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes," she responded. "I have a new plan. Go fetch Kraiger, bring him before me. Our guests will no doubt wish to see us in person," Sigurd commented while sheathing his sword. Gwyneth nodded and quickly turned to go carry out her orders. Hrollaug placed his hand on Sigurd's shoulder and sighed, offering him a drinking horn filled with mead. Sigurd nodded quietly and took a sip, before staring out silently over the ravaged buildings before him.

Six months ago, King Sigurd sanctioned a longship for exploration. He personally selected a crew for this mission, as they set out from the Weargooth Mountains south of Iskjerne Bay in search of more lands. He sent a familar vessel into the high seas, the Nuörmbátur and its familar crew of vikings. Furdørn Ivansson, Engöll Corysson, Stryder Alvirsson, and the new earl, Hethel Svensson, all of whom had previously served Prince Úlfric and Jarl Hürgor the Archer during their victory against the Argosians, and who now served the House of Munso following Sigurd's victory over the previously reigning House of Ellrulf, were now heading back into open waters once again. For six long months the ulfhednar travelled, encountering tidal waves, water spouts and monsters of every kind before finally reaching a beach, where the fearless crew setup their encampment.

Empyrean Sea Beach...
Six months later...

What started as just a small camp on the beach was by now beginning to look more like a permanent settlement. The ulfhednar had wasted little time in building another ringfort. This one was smaller but similar to the viking fortress at Iskjerne, being built high up on the embankment of a large hill overlooking the shore. Furdørn the Wise and a dozen other men would work together to build a mote, an outer wall, and a decorated mead hall. Down on the beach, they built a shipyard with a sawmill. Further inland they built a forge, a well, and a guard tower with a bell. Meanwhile, another dozen workers went with Stryder to build a barracks, a manger, a stable, a guard shack and a food granary with a small windmill. Engöll Corysson and another dozen men would explore the area, gather resources and scout as much information as they could find. There were no caves in this part of the land, but instead they found an abundance of rocks and trees, and lots of sand.

Hethel Svensson, one of King Sigurd's new earls, was sitting in his tent observing the map that Engoll drew for him of the surrounding area. Hethel stared at the map quietly, taking a few puffs from his hand crafted weed pipe before exhaling a cloud of sweet scented smoke. Unlike the ship that King Sigurd had used to build his great hall in Iskjerne, Jarl Hethel kept the Nuormbatur intact. This mighty vessel sat on a palate of logs at the top of the hill, ready to be pushed back into the waters at a moments notice. Months went by, days, weeks and still the Nuormbatur's crew did not make any contact with the locals. Was this a peaceful place or what? For at the same time as King Sigurd and the vikings of Iskjerne were receiving constant threats and attacks from foreign invaders, Jarl Hethel and his gang had experienced nothing but the quiet serenity of the shores.

Another week flew by, and soon the vikings of the Empyrean Sea Beach had finished their construction. The settlement was grand and beautiful, a miniature replica of the Iskjerne viking settlement. Jarl Hethel walked around with Stryder and Fudorn, who showed him all the finer details and Jelling styled artwork, knotwork and wood carvings. Hethel was pleased, and so to commemorate their establishment, he ordered a large stone figure of Odinn the One-Eye to be placed on the top of the hill. The ulfhednar would worship the stone statue and make offerings upon it. Stryder caught some wild horses, and had them sacrificed as an offering to the gods. Hethel would take a pine branch and dip it in a bowl of the horse's blood before blessing the statue, the ulfhednar and himself. A drinking horn was passed around, and afterwards the remaining mead was taken by Fudorn outside of the camp where he poured it on the ground. Engoll and Stryder then walked around the entire ringfort, sprinkling blood on the outer wall to bless it.

That evening, after a nice warm bath in one of the salty aquifers, Jarl Hethel sat up looking at the skies. He noticed the same parahelion that Hrollaug had noticed in Weargtooth, for there was hardly ever a night in Ellaria, it's many suns providing constant light throughout most of the year. Still it was beautiful, and the vikings of the new Empyrean Sea Beach settlement admired the tranquil landscape with singing and praise. Sjonn the Skald would play his lyre and sing epic poems about King Sigurd's many exploits, retelling his long tales of heroic encounters with monsters and gods. Life was good here, as the vikings finally found rest and peace.

Sjonn the Skald was just finishing one of his poems about the Battle of Bravellir when suddenly the rock he was sitting on began to vibrate. He stopped playing his lyre and looked down at the ground in front of him, noticing that the ground was moving. The other vikings at the Empyrean Sea Beach settlement would experience the same shakey feeling, accompanied by a very feint humming sound which seemed to come from underneath. "Loki's bellowing," Furdørn whispered, everyone stopping to listen closely to the low pitched feint rumbling. It wasn't the first time the vikings had encountered an earth tremor. But what was odd about this particular tremor was the length of its duration. For three long days Hethel's men encountered this phenomenon, until finally one day it stopped.

"Praise the gods, it stopped!" Stryder Alvirsson shouted with a sigh of relief. "What was that?" Engöll Corysson asked. "We will soon find out, I am sure" Jarl Hethel answered calmly. Furdørn would wrap the bearhide blanket around himself, looking at the others quietly. "Hey, does anyone feel that?" Sjonn said as he walked into the mead hall with a smile, removing his snow cap. "Ay, the bellowing has stopped" Stryder said. "No, I mean the air, do you feel how cold it is?" Sjonn set down his lyre, grabbed a log and threw it on top of the central fireplace before sitting on the ground in front of it. "Sjonn is right, the air grows colder" Furdørn commented. Hethel Svensson stood up and walked over to the window, looking out over the beach. "Dark clouds seep in from the north. It's going to rain" he said quietly, hitting his weed pipe. "Good, maybe I'll finally get some sleep" Furdørn said, rolling over and closing his eyes.

Engöll stood up and walked over to Hethel, resting his hand on his shoulder. "I will stand watch with you tonight" he said, looking out the window at the barreling dark clouds rolling in over the sea. The vikings made preparations and prepared the best they could. They put the animals in the manger and horse stocks, and dressed appropriately for the weather, as most of them had brought warm clothes and waterproof leather hides aboard the dragonship. Soon the winds picked up and a drop in temperature came with the misty rains. The vikings had all gathered together in the great mead hall, where they waited for the storm to pass.

Lord Bruce gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, holding a European fighting stance. Shimizu kept himself in the Japanese sword stance as he stared down at the Englishman, but Takao could only stand by and do nothing, calling out the words 'Tennoheika!' and immediately prostrating himself at Shimizu's feet once the two knights had been felled. "Kare wa yūjin, watashi no Tennoheika." Lord Bruce of Essex watched in confusion as Takao started rambling and prostrated himself to the lone swordsman.

Shimizu briefly cast a sidelong glance down at Takao, and then he brought his eyes back to Bruce before the shimmering blue blade of light disappeared with a hissing sound, followed immediately by a popping sound. Bruce took notice of the glowing blade as the blueish light whisped away, but said nothing of it at that moment.

"Takao, do you know this man?"

Lord Bruce of Essex indeed spoke English, and this brought a raised eyebrow from Emperor Shimizu, who chose to answer in almost perfect English, lilty a strange accent that was unlike those of the Taiyou who attempted to speak English before. Shimizu's accent was closer to someone from Greece, or Rome who was speaking the Anglic tongue, and this Anglic tongue was what Bruce spoke fluently.

"Of course he knows me, I'm his Emperor." Shimizu replied, slowly bringing Sword Tenchi back down, and letting it clip to a small loop around his belt. Lord Bruce took a moment to digest Shimizu's words. "This settlement is under seige, and it seems our technology doesn't work here." Shimizu added, his words still in English.

Lord Bruce slowly lowered his sword, but kept an eire of caution as he watched the Emperor lower his weapon. He still had a million questions rolling through his mind, especially as to how or why the Christian Knights had infiltrated the kingdom, and what the Taiyou Emperor was doing here. One thing was for certain, however. The Taiyou and the Knights were not in cahoots together, for Lord Bruce had just watched Shimizu fell two of the invaders with his own eyes. This was something he had to consider, as Bruce quietly examined the dangerous individual in front of him.

"Your leader has some explaining to do, please; take me to him." Shimizu implored Bruce. "I see you have treated this man well, you will be rewarded for your efforts." Bruce raised an eyebrow curiously, as if questioning Shimizu's motives, and his understanding. "You mean Lord Sigurd," the Anglo-Saxon warrior exclaimed. "He is not my leader, but I will take you to him" Bruce nodded, sheathing his sword in the process.

The arrogance was seeping from Shimizu's words like venom, he regarded these primitives with incredible disdain, but that disdain was well concealed by a veneer of calm, and even a reassuring smile that Lord Bruce did not seem to notice. He stepped over the dead bodies on the floor and motioned for Shimizu to come, assuming that Takao would naturally follow them. But as he stepped outside the tent, Lord Bruce suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He gasped in agony and fell to one knee, placing his hand on his shoulder. At that moment, the Emperor and Takao would notice fresh red blood flowing out from beneath Bruce's armor. A small price to pay for guarding the Taiyou boy's life.

During the darker hour in the midst of the rainstorm, the wolfshirted warriors found time to relax. Many of them were motionlessly laying about in the great hall, the only sounds being the occasional snoring produced by Furdørn the Wise and others sleeping around him. The vikings didn't have individual houses like many other people had. Instead, they all slept in the great hall, a large building which accomodated all of them. Everyone was laying about on the floor on different blankets, all of them sleeping around a dimly lit central fireplace as Hethel and Engöll stood guard. Hethel himself had started to doze off, but a sudden chill awakened him. He seemed startled and slightly disoriented, as if by some unreal nightmare he was having.

Engöll was still awake as he walked over and sat down next to him near the window, offering the jarl a cup of hot tea. Hethel took the cup and nodded, taking a sip of the much needed sustenance. "It's still raining," Hethel said, peering out of the window towards the shore. "Ay, since this morning" Engöll replied. "And the clouds appear darker with each passing hour" Engöll added, looking out towards the sky. "What do you think it all means?" He asked. "Something, nothing, who knows?" Hethel replied, taking another hot sip of tea. He wasn't concerned with the strange weather at that moment. Hethel's mind was elsewhere thinking, when suddenly he spotted something in the water which looked like a surging wave.

"What's that?" he asked, setting the cup of tea on the table. Engöll would glance towards the shore as suddenly, a large monstrous head of a serpent appeared from out of the waves. It appeared to be another dragon, something these particular vikings had seen many times before. Sometimes their encounters were peaceful, but often times the vikings had been forced to defend their ships from the large winged creatures, making it difficult for them to decipher friend from foe in such trying times. But the beastie seemed to just poke its head out and snoop around without posing any real threat to the vikings. Hethel and Engöll stared at her quietly for a long time, trying to decide whether or not Urakena was a real thing, or whether she was just a ghostly apparition in the waves.

After some time of watching her, Hethel and Engöll decided that she wasn't a mirage, but an actual figure in the water. "What should we do about this?" Engöll whispered. "What can we do?" Hethel responded, turning to look around the hall at all his sleeping warriors. "It looks like it's waiting for something," Engöll whispered. "It's probably just hungry. Go out there and feed it, will ya?" Hethel said with a smile. Engöll didn't find the comment funny. Nor was it intended to be, for Hethel was being serious. Engöll just shook his head. "Why can't you have Stryder feed it?" he procrastinated. "Stryder's asleep. Why, are you scared?" Hethel nudged. Engöll just gazed at Urakena's bright blue eyes with awe and disbelief. Hethel sighed and stood up, grabbing his spear. "Fine, I'll go feed it" he said as he stepped quietly around all the sleeping vikings and towards the main doors. "If I get eaten, stay inside" he said before wrapping his wool cloak around himself and stepping out into the cold.

Within a few minutes, Hethel would fetch one of the wild horses from the stables and walk it down to the beach. To his surprise, Urakena was still there. Hethel stood on the high point at the top of the shore and gazed at the monster from a distance, her head alone being three times larger than Hethel's entire body. He held a spear and lit torch in one hand, and a rope in the other which he had tied to the horse. Hethel would stand there quietly, unmoving, waiting for the dragon to emerge from the water and approach him. All the while, Engöll watched silently from the window inside the great hall. He was nervous, moreso even than Hethel himself as he waited to see what would happen next.

Urakena raised her great head from the waves, extending her serpentine neck so that the ocean cascaded off of her scales. Hethel was a statue, raising his head to look up at the enormous creature as she extended her neck, towering over him. Even the large white horse that Hethel brought with him now seemed dwarfed by the dragon's size, and yet even now she had not fully emerged from the waters. She extended forward, but not too far, and gave Hethel and his horse a gentle sniff. As gentle as one could be with nostrils the size of the viking jarl's head. Hethel stiffened his back and remained steady, gazing into Urakena's large blue eyes.

As she rose her head and neck above the waters, Urakena exhaled a mist onto the beach, breathing deep the airs of Siv'en for the first time in a long time. The horse was shaken a bit with fear as Hethel Svensson's long flowing hair was blown back by the dragon's hot breath, but the jarl kept his composure and did not move an inch. He gazed up at her, marveling at the beastie's bioluminescent colors as the water near the shore started flickering and glowing around her; purple, blue and green scales shimmering beneath the surface. This was a different kind of sea dragon from the other ones Hethel had seen. She was very horse-like and leafy with colorful appendages, having strange fans or fins which made her difficult to identify. Her body was wavy and serpentine, almost transparent, and she had glowing bright blue ridges which gave her a sort of magical illuminating presence.

Nearby, and unbeknownst to the vikings, there was another presence in the midst. For nearby behind them in the tall grass, hiding within one of the sand dunes was a small female sea elf, watching the lone viking and the giant dragon on the beach as they looked eye to eye with one another. Aquari became increasingly curious as she made her way towards the strange settlement and closer to the dragon. The edges of Urakena's scales glowed faintly in the dimmed daylight. Beneath the surface of the water Urakena's bioluminescence rippled into effect. The waves cast an aurora of light on the beach surrounding Hethel and his horse, having magnified Urakena's blue-and-green projections.

"The sky has broken, child of man" the dragon said mysteriously, her low pitched voice being very soft yet still enough to echo over Hethel's shoulders as he gazed up at her in bewilderment. "Broken?" Hethel called out, almost shouting so that the giant monster could hear him. "What do you mean the sky has broken?" he shouted, his Nordic accent still not as loud as the dragon's whisper. The flame on his torch would flicker as the dragon exhaled, causing Hethel to sway slightly. He would raise the torch in front of him to get a better view of Urakena, the reflection of the yellow fire glinting off of her large blue eyes as she peered over him into the horizon.

Engöll was still watching the encounter from the window of the great hall. The thick wooden beams supporting the walls were enough to muffle whatever the dragon and the jarl were saying, but Engöll could see that they were saying something, just by the way that Hethel was moving. The rest of the vikings in the great hall were still sound asleep, but Engöll kept a watchful eye, mentally preparing for the worst. Still, there seemed to be no sign of any danger to the viking settlement, at least for the moment.

As the sun peaked through the dark clouds, a golden ray of light seemed to hover over the beach. The whole sighting was majestic, almost surreal in that moment as Hethel tightened his grip on the horse's reigns, stopping the wild animal from bucking at the sight of the dragon as she moved. That was the very reason Hethel never mounted the horse to begin with, foreseeing that it might get spooked easily by the dragon's very nature. At that minute, something else crossed the jarl's mind. He was standing face to face with a dragon, something few vikings had ever been privy to, and for a brief second Hethel wondered what the monster felt like to touch. He didn't dare to try, however, instead thrusting his spear into the ground and wrapping the horse's reigns around it. It was a pure white stallion, wild and without blemish. The vikings themselves rode different horses, but this particular one had been set aside for just an occassion such as this. Wild horses were used by the vikings for sacrificial and ritualistic purposes. This horse was specifically bred for the slaughter, a very ancient tradition that was still being practiced by the vikings even now.

After tying the horse off to the spear in the ground, Hethel slowly stepped back. He wasn't sure if Urakena would accept the offering or not, but the gesture of hospitality was important to Hethel, and appeasing to the gods. It was the viking way, and very often the vikings would leave offerings for the gods and land spirits. To them it was the gebo effect, an act of giving, as sacred to them as life itself. Hethel stood by quietly, watching the dragon with caution.

Urakena glanced at the small woman as she crept closer along the beach. Her eyes did not linger; the woman was not perceived to be a threat. The sea dragon returned her attention to Hethel, who did not appear to notice Aquari as she crept closer behind him. Hethel watched speechlessly as Urakena suddenly devoured the wild horse right in front of him. The unwitting stallion didn't even know what had hit him as the serpent seemed to swallow him whole with one quick snatch, breaking the horse's reigns over the mighty spear shaft. Hethel was stunned, and could only watch as she descended back into the waves, followed by a splurge of bubbles.

All of a sudden, Hethel thought he heard someone call his name from the distance. He turned to look around at the great hall, just one blink after Aquari hit the ground to hide in the tall grass just outside the outer wall which enclosed the viking jarldom. Hethel never saw her. At that point, a great white cloud formed taking the shape of a storming horse. It pranced in a circle, lightning hoof-prints and a great neigh of thunder, before taking off south towards the Exalted Mountains and towards the sky. Hethel could feel a slight chill moving in from the north as he peered up towards the white sky, deciding at that moment that he should leave the settlement and go up into the mountains.

Engöll watched with relief as the sea dragon descended back into the water. It was at that moment that he spotted something else from the window of the great hall. There hiding in the shadows crawling around the outside sheds was what appeared to Engöll to be a young girl, or at the very least, a short woman. She seemed to be snooping around, and to him she looked to be sneaking around the settlement. Engöll watched Aquari quietly, taking a sip of hot tea before setting his cup down on the table and turning to look at the bow and quiver on the wall above the hall entrance.

Bruce was down on one knee when the Emperor walked past him, paying no mind to his injury as something else caught his attention in the sky. It was at that moment that the Anglic lord would also notice that the sky was getting darker. Bruce looked up towards the distant mountains, focussing on a single white cloud which almost seemed to him like a running horse. Bruce blinked and squinted to look again, but the cloud faded away as he started to get dizzy. He was about to fall over when Takao suddenly ran up to him and started applying first aid. Meanwhile, the Emperor turned to look at King Sigurd, or someone who looked like he could be king, and shouted out at him in a language he didn't understand.

"Rex Sigurd!" Shimizu called out angrily in Anquietas, Staring upwards at the much larger Scandinavian monarch. "Dicere mihi ut quid Ego non uro hic mundus in cineres abit!" The Taiyou monarch called out again as King Sigurd turned at the sound of his name being singled out. "What did this monkey just say to me?" Sigurd asked lowly. "I think he just challenged you to holmgang," Hrollaug said, raising an eyebrow at Shimizu as he approached Sigurd with his sword charged once again. Sigurd would pick up a shield off the ground and do a couple neck rotations before tapping his crucible steel sword blade against his shield boss. He then started to approach Shimizu slowly as lightning bolts tore the sky asunder. He could sense the emperor's hatred, glaring at him quietly as he twirled his sword low through the air, looking down the hill towards him. King Sigurd started to think about the viking miners who got injured during the Taiyou's portal discovery, tucking his shield close like a battering ram while starting to speed up. Sigurd would point the tip of his viking sword at Shimizu as he ran, singling him out as if to let him know that his challenge had been accepted.

As the emperor continued to near closer and closer, Sigurd was about to lunge. But just before they were about to make contact, someone shouted. "Tennoheika!", a woman shouted loudly, drawing the emperor's attention away from Sigurd for just a moment. It was Yoko Kayabuki, the emperor's prime minister as she stumbled to climb over the rubble, with Azaka, and Director Miyagi in tow behind her. "King Sigurd! Stop!" another voice shouted. This time it was the viking jarl, Evan Skjalsson, who slid down the pile of rubble and rocks behind Miyagi, accompanying the Taiyou leaders. As he climbed down over the debri, Evan took note of a dead knight whose navy blue shield bore the symbol of a red serpent. He recognized the symbol immediately as belonging to the House of Norway, the kingdom of Evan's very own brother, Erling Snake.

Sigurd Hring stopped dead in his tracks, watching as the small group of characters gathered around him and Emperor Shimizu, urging both of them to stand down. King Sigurd would glance at Emperor Shimizu, not with hatred but rather with an utter fearlessness, as if ready to lunge out at him at a moment's notice. For his kingdom, for his people, Sigurd would gladly fight to the death. He kept his shield tucked and his sword drawn, ready to strike or defend in an instant as he spat on the ground, keeping his eyes fixed on the emperor as Evan slowly approached them, being cautious. As the settlers started to gather around, Gwyneth suddenly appeared accompanied by a handful of armed viking guards.

Gwyneth and the guards would walk through the gathering crowd as people began whispering under their breaths. For there in her possession was the prisoner Kraiger Nallesson, shackled and blindfolded. Seeing this display caused Sigurd to take a step back and lower his weapons, but he kept a watchful eye on Shimizu, looking for any sudden aggression which might cause him to react. Meanwhile, it seemed that Takao Eguchi had aided Lord Bruce of Essex and was now running around trying to help the injured soldiers. Yoko Kayabuki, Seno Miyagi and Jarl Evan would step forward to the front of the gathering crowd where Emperor Shimizu Takayama and Konung Sigurðr Randvérsson stood at arms. They were followed by the Taiyou crown princess, Yukiko Takayama, as Gwyneth the Shield-Maiden led Kraiger out of the crowd, removing his blindfold but not his shackles. Hrollaug and his men would stand guard and keep a watchful eye on the Taiyou foreigners, whilst also keeping another eye out for any sign of Erling Snake.