Freya Ironside, Gifted by the Gods on Wattpad by stefivare
in this fanfic you’ll find only badass women and an extraordinary main character, a fighter, Gifted by the Gods, a shieldmaiden, standing up for who she loves and what she believes in!
Fanfics, Fictional characters/worlds, edits, stories, new obsessions
Part. I, Part. II, Part. IV, Part. V, Part VI, Part. VII, Part. VIII.
As the days passed, it became harder for you to cope with your mother's death. You had been forced by the situation to change your lifestyle, living in a more humble house, sleeping in the same room as Ubbe, and taking care of the food.
The grief was still too much in your mind and heart, unlike your brothers, you had experienced it first hand. You had been inches away from your mother when her body fell to the ground. Sitting in a chair, your eyes could not leave the flames of the fire that Ubbe had lit to warm you. The flames reflected in your eyes like those that had sent your mother to Valhalla. Without really realizing it, you were touching the scratch that Lagertha's arrow had left with your fingertips.
Ubbe gently grabbed your wrist, pulling your hand away from the scab you had just scratched.
"You'll end up hurting yourself." Sitting down beside you, your brother grabbed a piece of cloth before tending to your arm. Once that was done, he took your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him before he repeated that together you were safe. Just as he was about to take you in his arms, a man stormed into your house to inform your brothers of the arrival of a Saxon ship. Ivar had returned.
While Ubbe and Sigurd went to help your brother get home, you quickly made him something to eat. When you saw him, the first thing you did when you saw him was to take him in your arms and tell him how happy and grateful you were to the gods to see him alive. He was too weak to refuse contact. Pulling up a chair, you gave him a glass of ale before sitting on Ubbe's lap to listen to what Ivar had to say.
Revenge was one of the only words that came out of Ivar's mouth. He wanted revenge on King Ecbert and King Ælle who had both sent your father to his death.
"Father is dead?" you innocently asked, and the look Ivar gave you answered your question without even having to open his mouth. You lowered your head, dreading the moment when your brothers would tell him the bad news. Sigurd took care of it, but you couldn't listen to that again. You stood up, hands covering your ears, waiting for him to finish speaking before returning to the fire.
Probably fearing your brothers more than you, the new queen of Kattegat kept a constant eye on your family. You were always surrounded by shieldmaidens when you went to the market to buy food.
While Ubbe and Sigurd were swimming, you stayed on the grass beside Ivar. You told him the truth, that you couldn't bear to lose him too. As he had done before all this happened, he didn't move, he didn't say a word, but you needed to tell him. That need to talk had arisen again when, while half the people of Kattegat had gathered in the Great Hall, you had stayed with Ivar in your little house. You told him everything that had happened while he was away from home, from your days on the bridge to the moment when your whole life collapsed before your eyes.
After you had told everything, you felt liberated and asked Ivar to tell you what had happened to him in England and how Ragnar had surrendered to King Ecbert without resistance. It was the first time Ivar had let his emotions show so much, ending with a feeling you knew all too well, anger.
You followed him into the Skali, trying to stand straight before Lagertha as your brother threatened her. Discomfort, that was what your expression showed, especially when Lagertha called you over to talk to you alone for a moment. Your gaze met Ivar's, filled with anger before you turned to Ubbe who nodded that he would be there if needed and that once again, everything would be fine.
You stood paralyzed as she explained to you the reason why she had to do what she did. Contrary to what you might have thought, she apologized for unwittingly making you witness such a situation. As the tears began to roll down your cheeks, Lagertha frowned in pity before hugging you. You don't know what came over you, but you put your head on her shoulder before letting all the sadness, anxiety, and tension that had filled you since Hvitserk and Bjorn left, come out in sobs.
Caressing your hair, she assured you that she would never take it out on you but that she could not say the same for your brothers. Gradually coming to your senses, you apologized for your behavior, to which she responded with a sympathetic smile before you joined your brothers, curious to know what Lagertha was talking about with you.
You spent the rest of the day near the beach with Ubbe, who was preparing arrows for his next hunting trip. For the first time since his return from Hedeby, you spoke to him without the urge to cry or complain about anything. However, as your gaze was lost on the horizon, a man approached you both. Gray-haired, one eye missing, it could only be one person, Odin himself had come to tell all of Ragnar's children that their father had died, alone, in England, and that his body lay in a land unfit for the man he was.
Even though you didn't know Ragnar any better than that, the pain you could read on your brothers' faces hurt.
Waking up in Ivar's arms was a strange feeling, something you had never had the chance to experience before. You had never felt so close to him and you felt protected.
He had crawled into bed with you the night before after you explained over dinner that you were having trouble sleeping because you were afraid of reliving the previous days over and over again. Your head resting on his chest, his arm around you, his heart beating against your ear helped you fall asleep.
The return of Hvitserk and Bjorn lifted your family's spirits. Each of you needed some good news. But that didn't stop you from resuming your place on the deck, eyes on the horizon. But this time it was different as someone joined you. Coming up behind you, Bjorn put an animal skin on your shoulders to prevent you from catching a cold and, after a few minutes in complete silence, he finally spoke.
"Torvi explained to me what had happened, what you had seen. And to be honest, it wouldn't seem illegitimate to me if you wanted to go after Lagertha." You turned to him, one eyebrow raised.
"Are you laughing at me? Have you taken a good look at me? Do you really think I have a chance to beat your mother? I can't even kill a rabbit..." you exclaimed after Bjorn frowned in incomprehension. Crouching down in front of you, he placed his hands on your lap.
"Here's what I'm offering you. I will go to England with your brothers to avenge Ragnar and I want you to come with us. You won't fight but I'm sure it will do you good to get away for a while." Without waiting for your response, your older brother got up before leaving after ruffling your hair.
Staying alone for a little while, you then made your way to the Skali. With your eyes fixed on your feet, you collided with a young man with a disfigured face. Without wanting it, your glance remained captivated by the scars which covered his head
You had no idea what you were looking at, and you were riveted by the scars on his head before apologizing both for running into him and for staring at him as if he were an outcast.
He didn't smile much, and after reassuring you that you weren't the first or last to look at him that way, he disappeared into the crowd, not even giving you his name.
Entering the Great Hall, Lagertha was at first surprised to see you before smiling at you.
"Y/N, what brings you here?" Astrid walked up to you and, out of caution, started to want to search you before Lagertha stopped her.
"I want to learn to fight" your voice was so weak and without an ounce of will that the queen asked you to repeat.
"I want to learn how to fight, and you are one of the only people willing to teach me what she knows." Keeping eye contact, Lagertha stood up before approaching you.
"And what do your brothers think?" Frowning, you crossed your arms over your chest.
"Since when do you care what men think? I'm a woman now, I can make my own decisions." Shaking her head, Lagertha agreed to teach you a couple of things, indicating that since you had known her longer and trusted her, Torvi would be your training master.
Your first training took place that afternoon in the woods, hidden from view. None of your brothers knew about it, and you specifically asked Torvi not to reveal anything to Bjørn. No axes, shields, or swords, only your fists to test your abilities and especially your position.
As a teacher, Torvi knew how to be authoritative without being hard on you. It was not easy to learn how to fight and theory was never as difficult as practice. You had never killed anyone, so you needed time to train properly and get it into your head that one day someone would fall under your blows.
Your training had been intense, however, and you had not been spared, and by evening you had crumpled to the ground on your bed without even taking off your clothes. The next day would also be difficult to deal with.
Margrethe. She had always been helpful to you, mainly because you had always known her as a slave. However, when she began to associate with your brothers, your opinion of her changed slightly. Perhaps you were jealous that Ubbe would probably spend more time with her than with you. The organization had been arranged differently and now you had to share your room with Sigurd, which was a blessing in disguise since before going to sleep you could hear him play his instrument. You forced yourself, for Ubbe's sake, to attend his wedding.
The departure of your brothers was fast approaching, so you joined them at the docks. Ubbe, Sigurd, and Hvitserk had given you a questioning look before looking at each other while Bjorn had simply nodded.
"What are you doing here?" Hvitserk finally asked to end the suspense.
"I'm coming with you, Ragnar was my father too. Besides, I am the wisest of you." You retorted with a slight chuckle. To mock you, Ubbe put his elbow on your head before looking at Bjorn who approached you and in his fatherly tone told you that you would have to do whatever he or Ubbe asked of you without ever questioning their words. You nodded, ready to leave for England.
“I have loved you more than I have loved any other and to me, you’ll always be my mother who bore me, who raised me, who protected and fought for me. Now, I see that, like me, the earth itself isn’t willing to let you go. Farewell, Lagertha. I love you. I miss you. I will avenge you.”
gifs by @ivarthebadbitch @drogons @vikingshistory @midqueenally
@maidenxfthemxuntains had been gone too long. She and Lagertha had grown up together. Shield Maiden together. However after she was deemed the “bastard princess’ and left Kattegat to go to the mountains, she sent her only son to look for her. But Bjorn had no luck and was gone for such a long time.
She’d received noticed Bjorn had found her and her mother. and sent notice to return to Kattegatt to her friends and loved ones. It mattered not what had happened in the past. It was up to her friend to come what Lagertha to come home.
