Bonnie climbed the hill that led to the clearing where the battle would take place. As she did so her stare swept over the many faces which surrounded her for one. Guthrum's. She hadn't seen him since he'd happened upon her gifting Sigurd with a solace kiss instead of a threesome. Any other time she may have entertained such a notion as having Halfdan and Sigurd, but with all the shit falling around them no boundaries threesomes didn't rank high on her priority list. Yet keeping her husband and Guthrum alive shot to the top as if it had been strapped to a rocket.

When she noticed Torvi and Ubbe marched not far from her she moved closer to question them. All the while hoping the eve before lingered in their rearview. "Torvi, have you seen Guthrum? He came by my lodgings earlier, but I haven't sighted him since." The blonde squared her shoulders and lifted her chin as if she hadn't heard a damn thing. Bonnie's questioning gaze flicked to Ubbe who in turn gave her an apologetic shrug. "Torvi?" She tried once more.

Instead of answering her Torvi sped up her pace so she no longer dawdled at her side. "He asked Bjorn to place him with the first line of warriors," Ubbe said, putting her out of her misery.

"What?!" She screeched.

Ubbe raised his hands. "Remain at ease. Bjorn refused and placed him with the fourth line instead."

"I wanted him at my side, but fourth line works as well," she said exhaling, her hand going straight to her stomach.

Ubbe's eyes strayed to her belly and a current of pain moved within his azure stare. "Well done to you and Halfdan on the babe. May Freyja bless you both with many more sons to come." With that he moved on.

An arm wrapped around her waist as they crested the hill. The sight that greeted them decommissioned her lungs. Ivar, Hvitserk, and Harald didn't just bring an army, they brought legions upon legions of every got damned branch in the military. Fifty-eleven bodies peppered the horizon as far as the eyes could see and not a wisp of mystical energy could be claimed among the lot of them. Son of a bitch!

"Supreme!" An army of warriors poured from the south side of the forests led by her almost father in law.

"Ansel!" Relief and confusion fucked slow in her mind. What the absolute hell was he doing there? Ayanna said he and his kin quit the forest soon after she sailed for England to avenge Ragnar. "Why would you come?" She gasped when he towered over her.

"Because my Supreme had need of me and as her trusted how can I not come when this is the situation?" He placed a fist to his chest in a warrior salute. "My only regret is I did not make it in time for the first battle."

In that moment he reminded her so much of his son she threw herself in his arms. Damn her pregnancy hormones! "You shouldn't have come, but I'm so glad you're here," she whispered next to his ear.

"There is never an occasion when I won't come to your aide." He pulled away to stare down into her eyes. What she saw there flamed the unsupernatural part of her intuition. "You must've already known this to be true."

"Bonnie?" Halfdan called in a gentle but possessive tone.

She backed out of Ansel's embrace to retake her place at Halfdan's side. "Halfdan this is Ansel a close friend and one of my trusted." Her gaze swept back to her would be father in law. "Ansel this is my husband Halfdan."

The two eyed each other before exchanging a warrior's handshake.

"Earl Fenrirsson," Bjorn said as he too exchanged greetings with Ansel. "It gladdens me you have come to fight at our side this rising."

"It is I who is gladdened to go into battle with you, Bjorn Ironside." His gaze moved back to Bonnie's "And of course our Supreme."

Drums started to beat in the distance. Lagertha joined them. "It is time."

When she moved to follow, Bjorn grabbed her arm to hold her in place. "Have a care for yourself and the babe this rising...I beg of you, Mystical One."

She studied him for a moment, and then dipped her head in the affirmative. They both then turned back to the sight which loomed before them. Halfdan lifted the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Without looking at him, she spoke, "Remember your vow to me, husband. For I mean to hold you to it."

"This rising I shall fight with more vigor than I've ever fought with before. On this you have my vow, my beautiful wife." He kissed the back of her hand once more, and then moved into position.

As she watched him go a foreshadow obscured her third eye. An ominous premonition burdened her heart. Her vision blurred. A sob swelled within her chest. Halfdan...

"Come, Bonnie," Bjorn said from behind her, his tone as somber as the vibe flowing through a funeral for the young. "I task that you truly remain at my side this rising."

"Bjorn?" Though the end of this battle may bring her nothing but heart ache this didn't have to be the case for her protector. "Snaefrid-,"

He placed a finger over her lips. "The past is prologue. If it cannot be changed then we mustn't burden our minds. Not now, Mystical One...not here."

Reluctantly she turned to follow him to their position. When everyone was readied to Bjorn's liking and Lagertha dropped sword, he bellowed the order. "Loose!"

Hell rose up on command and began to crank shit. Ivar's and Harald's soldiers advanced. Even the reference of Titans couldn't describe the clash of their warriors. Within seconds four of the sons and daughters under her dominion were dead by her blade. Guilt and grief came for her like it had a fucking open invitation. Yet her sword never stopped swinging. How could it? For every one of their warriors there was ten of Ivar's and Harald's. To lay down her arms would only mean more deaths of her sons and daughters.

****

Hvitserk swung his ax without prejudice. He swung no matter what end met his blades aim. Be it Blida's gullet or Hilda's breast it mattered not. Rage ruled him. It nurtured him. It strengthened him.

It was the only emotion allowed to thrive within him. All other feelings...affections, drained away the moment his whore of a former mate tore their bond asunder to take another. Now he only wanted to tear away everything she'd ever hoped to have stand. He needed her to know how it felt to know joy...rapture even and have it set to flames before her wicked verdant eyes.

From the cut of his gaze he caught sight of her. She was still as beautiful as she'd been when he'd seen her last. Even more so while cloaked in battle lust. As if she knew he watched, her gaze met his across the impaling and bludgeoning of the battlefield. It all faded until they were back in the bed chambers they all shared in England...

Ivar had chosen to spend another eve in his throne room plotting battle strategies, while he'd chosen to spend another eve in his favorite place on Midgard. Bonnie and he had just sated themselves from another bout of coupling.

As he rested his head at the cradle of her breasts, he stroked the flat of her stomach. "I look forward to the day when I begin to fill you with my babes. I must admit, I'm over anxious to meet Bjorn and Elena."

"Well, my heart," Bonnie said as she stroked his hair. "From the looks of the vision you have a looong wait. Like fifty-eleven solstice cycles worth a wait."

"Well, perhaps Bjorn and Elena has need of an older sibling to teach them the way of it." His hand slipped from her stomach to travel the southern passage.

His finger collided with the firm nub between her feminine lips. A gasp tumbled from her mind addling mouth. "P-Perhaps..."

^^^^

Hvitserk reached down and yanked his blade from Hilda's breast. In one swing, he completely severed Blida's head from her body. Gripping it by the bloody tangled clumps of hair he raised the decapitated head high for his former mate to see.

Horror nigh ejected her eyes from her sockets as the contents of her stomach shot from her mouth. She screamed and her wail of agony hurtled to him from across the battlefield. "Hvits, no!"

He roared every bit of his rage back at her, and then turned away to continue cutting down more of her sons and daughters.

****

Halfdan kept his vow to his wife. He fought with the same vigor which earned him the name, The Black. Swift, brutal, and merciless aided his blade in keeping his feet planted to the ground of Midgard. Blood painted his sight red, while battle cries and screams of agony serenaded him. He'd been cast in his on personal likeness of Helheim. Yet through the gore he'd keep walking if it meant the end saw him returned to his wife's arms. As if Odin had heard his musings the path before him cleared. There, she fought. More breath defying than anyone, thing, or sight he'd ever known. Her movements flowed like a well spun saga...

^^^^

Halfdan had every intent of taking Bonnie with raider's force and reckless abandon. He'd waited long and now she'd compensate him for his troubles. She threw herself in his arms before he could reach for her. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she took possession of his mouth. Her tongue parted his lips and engaged his. Then she broke the kiss.

"Get your clothes off, Halfdan." As she backed away from him, she began to snatch away the scraps of material that covered her bosom and her...bare muff?

He knew she appeared to be at the dawn of her sixteenth summer. Yet he refused to touch her if she still hadn't entered womanhood. What was he pondering? Of course she'd entered womanhood. She'd done so solstice cycles ago.

"Bonnie, your muff-," he began.

"Is sooo wet, husband. Think you can help me dam this flood?" Bonnie lay back on the bed furs. She cocked her legs open and slipped her finger between her feminine lips. Without shame, she toyed with the slickness pooling at her opening, and then utilized the wetness to saturate her nub. She bit her lip as if to trap a moan. "Shall we consummate our marriage vows now or do you prefer to spend your eve watching?"

No need for further urging he joined her on the furs, pulling her hand from her kunta as he did so. With great pleasure he suckled the juices from each of her lovely fingers. She smelt of flowered land overran with wild musky yearning. Far from able to resist he splayed her legs wide and dove between them face first. Before he could plunge his tongue in her sweetness to his favoring, she'd flipped him flat on his back and mounted him before he could even think what she was about.

If he thought the savor of her was beyond what Midgard had to offer, the feel of her was beyond anything even the gods of the Aesir could imagine. Her heated sheath grasped him so tight he nigh broke his toes and hobbled himself afore battle. Yet she had not a care for his feet or heart that meant to leap right from his mouth. No, she just continued to writhe, roll, and bounce away until he screamed her name at a high feminine pitch which nigh bled his throat dry.

Yet then the vision from so many summers ago came back to him. He yanked her down to capture her lips with his. After he had his fill of her mouth, he held her hips and plunged upwards into the inviting warmness of her hearth. "You said it would take place in the Mediterranean. Yet the vision we both foresaw was this moment now."

A smile had the privilege of gracing her beautiful face. "The consummation of our wedding vows."

"I could perish right now and enter the halls of Valhalla at peace and fulfilled," he whispered through a groan as he thrust slow circles upwards into her.

She lifted her arm and a wound opened at her wrist by an unseen hand. "If you perish this night then how will you ever love me forever, Halfdan mate to my Soul? For you see I do plan to love you for as long as forever shall allow." His eyes flared at her admission of love. She laughed as she place her wrist to his lips. "Now drink of me so you may be strong when we go into battle."

Bonnie engaged three warriors with ease. She incapacitated two and plunged her sword in to the heart of the third. Agony twisted her face. Halfdan could tell she knew the fallen warrior by the care she took to deposit his body to the ground. He closed the distance between them. Enough was enough. This would no longer be their fate. They were leaving this senselessness behind. Bonnie's purpose was bigger than Norway, Scandinavia even. He halted but a few paces away from her to give her an instance of sorrow. As she took a moment to mourn a past acquaintance a fourth warrior crept her from behind with his sword raised and poised for a kill. The blade sliced through the air. There was no more time...

"Harald, no!" Halfdan threw himself in front of Bonnie as the blade descended and he took the sharpened edge to the center of his chest.

****

Bonnie turned and her husband fell into her arms. Before she understood what had occurred she noticed the blood. Oh goddess there was so much blood! Her gaze darted to Harald who stood before them, bloody sword in hand. Too scared to look down she sank to the ground with Halfdan in her arms.

"Oh my Goddess! Harald, what did you do? What did you do?" She screamed.

"I-I-Halfdan..." The sword slipped from Harald's hand as he dropped to his knees in front of her.

"B-Bonnie," Halfdan's voice rattled out. "I-I'm s-sorr-,"

"Shh," she hushed him as she tried to heal him, but because of all the magic she'd expelled the eve before she could barely even take away his pain. "I can't heal you, it's not working!"

"What?" Harald bellowed. "You have to...I didn't mean-,"

"I-It's f-fate. I-I'm r-ready, my b-beauti-ful w-wife," his drooping eyes swept to Harald. Renewed strength filled his voice. "You must have a care for Bonnie and the babe." His gaze move back to her. "Y-You both must h-have a care for the other. Do you vow?" She and Harald's gaze met and each of their heads bobbed with great reluctance. "Y-You must v-vow!"

"We vow it!" the both swore in unison.

Halfdan's fading stare settled on her. "Now say you love me once more so I may enter your halls with it resonating within my chest."

Her vision blurred as she suppressed a sob. She sniffled and forced a smile. "I love you, Halfdan the Black. And I know in my heart that our souls will find each other again."

She leaned down to press her lips to his and felt the exact moment he exhaled his last breath.

Forgetting the battle raging around them everything she'd attempted to hold up and together came tumbling down on top of her. Needing someone to blame...to smite...she lifted her head to fix her glare on Harald. The look upon his face shattered her even more. The fists she'd raised to beat him with she lowered to his chest and sobbed. For she didn't know what else to do. So much death...so much loss. Harald grabbed her shoulders as he rested his forehead on hers. For a moment or an infinity they just stared at each other.

The disturbing sight to the right of her decimated their moment of mourning. Without explanation she tore herself from Harald's grasp and struck out across the battlefield.

****

Guthrum had disobeyed his stepfather. Instead of positioning himself with the fourth line he'd secreted himself onto the first. Now he fought in the center of the battlefield holding his own as so many had taught him to do during the ever changing summers. Disobedience was not his way. Anyone who knew him would confirm as such. Yet he needed Bonnie and everyone else to sight him as a man. For only then would she be willing to accept him as something more.

After felling another seasoned warrior he turned and there stood his fate...

Guthrum sat with Ayanna in her garden. They'd harvested a few of her herbs and roots, while planting more as they went. "Do you believe my path will someday be as great as Ivar's? So great, Bonnie shall one rising love me as she loves him?"

Ayanna snorted to herself as she tugged another blood root from the soil. "Young Guthrum you have two possible paths which lay before you, neither of which are yours to choose. On one you will achieve greatness, and the other," she shrugged, "only death. Bonnie holds your fate in her hands. For your sake and the rest of us I pray she chooses well." Ayanna cut an eye at him. "Were I you Guthrum I'd thank the Goddess for having the mind to guzzle down the blood she'd tasked you and young Ingrid with sprinkling upon the other children of Kattegat. For had you not, you and Ingrid's sorcery would still be dormant."

Guthrum sensed the great sorcery which rolled off of Hvitserk. The potency and essence itself didn't feel exact in likeness to the other Sons of Ragnar. No his mystical energy could nigh be likened to Bonnie's. It felt ancient and above all divine. If Bonnie didn't intercede then he knew this rising would be his last on Midgard. He managed to parry a few blows only to discover himself on his back seconds later with Hvitserk's ax descending at a swift pace. Just when he thought he finally knew his path a streak hurled itself in front of him, blocked Hvitserk's blow, and then bashed him in the face with the handle of their sword.

"You would dare?!" The bellow which tore from Bonnie ripped vibrations through the air and shook the earth. Hvitserk threw his head back and laughed at the heavens. Bonnie continued to glare at him with all of Helheim flashing in her verdant hued eyes. "You want him, there he is, but through me is the only way you're gonna get him. So if you're feeling like this rising is your rising, Lord Hvitserk, then let's do this."

Hvitserk regarded her for a moment and then backed away. When he was far enough away that she no longer considered him a threat, she reached down and snatched him from the ground.

"Guthrum!" His mother hurried to him and checked him for injury. "Bonnie, you saved him. I should've never misplaced my faith in you. I'm sorr-,"