The last Viking Queen

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Raud held his daughter towards the sky, her little arms flailing around her. He had watched her mother, his wife, be dragged out of their home and strapped to a tree, her hands tied behind her. They had been raided late this night by their enemies, taken off guard as they slept. He watched as a man walked to his wife and slapped her. She retaliated by spitting in his face and he grabbed her jaw roughly as Raud yelled for the man to leave her alone.

“Don’t touch my wife!” he screamed at Renaldo. He did everything he could to get his arms free of the men holding him down. He was on his belly and helpless to save his wife. He watched as she lifted her chin and told Renaldo to go f**k himself in their old Norse language. It enraged him even more and he stepped up to her with his blade in his hand and slowly cut along the bottom of her belly.

She screamed in agony and tried to kick out at him with one leg. He did not stop though, he continued to cut into her belly until Raud’s unborn child fell to the ground. He screamed as he watched what was happening to the love of his life, the bravest woman he had ever met. Her eyes focused on him, tears streaming down her cheeks. She started to fall but her arms being tied behind her and around the tree kept her up. She watched as her child spilled to the ground and then she looked up at Raud as she mouthed “I love you, always”.

Her head fell forward, and her chest stopped rising. He struggled harder and screamed out his pain and agony. He lost the love of his life and now he’d lose their child. The men holding him down finally let go of him and gave him the room to crawl to his wife. Her eyes were still open, and she was staring lifelessly at their child who was squirming on the ground, still in the birthing sac. She was still alive he realized as he picked her up and ripped the sack open that she was cocooned in. His daughter didn’t make a sound as he held her towards the sky and begged the gods to have mercy on her.

“Raud, do you think I will let your child live?” Renaldo asked.

“She is but a new born babe. You cannot be that cold hearted to let a babe die.” He said.

“Ahh, but she is not my new born babe. I do not care what happens to her.” Renaldo said.

He brought his child down and laid her against his chest. She was cold, as the mid-winter winds blew hard and icy. Winter in Scandinavia was harsh, it could kill a man within hours if he didn’t have a way to keep warm. He wrapped her in his jacket and kissed her head. She will one day grow to be a beautiful Queen. His daughter, his only child is now Queen of her people and she cannot even rule yet. He kissed the top of her head again and rubbed his cheek against her.

He knew when a man stepped up behind him, just like he knew what was about to happen. This was it, he would die this day. The day his child was born, and his wife murdered before his eyes. He gently laid his babe down in the snow, with his heavy fur coat still wrapped around her. He prayed to the gods to listen and save his child. Let her live and become a great leader that he knew she could be. Let her find her people again and save them from a wandering life.

The blade that ripped through him didn’t hurt as bad as much as his breaking heart. He looked down again at his babe, who has yet to cry and saw the blade that was protruding out of his chest. The point directed towards her. He grabbed it with both hands and sat back on his haunches, so he would not fall on her. Then he shoved the blade back through his chest and fell to the side. His face close to his daughters. His last thought was how beautiful she would be when she grew, just like her mother.

“Renaldo, what do you want us to do with the babe?” Renaldo’s second in command asked.

“Leave her to the cold and the wolves. Let her die!” Renaldo said.

He took one last look at Raud’s still body on the ground and turned to get back on his horse, his men following him. A wolf cried in the distance, a heart-breaking sound of sorrow. Renaldo spurred his horse into a gallop and took off into the forest as the rest of his men followed. They had left bodies scattered through-out the village as the flames gained strength leaving it to burn.

Raud’s daughter laid on the ground, asleep and warm next to her father’s dead body. The babe left behind with no home and no family to take care of her. A wolf howled again in the distance, this time closer. Raud’s home fell in a burning heap and a gust of cold icy wind rushed up around the babe and yet she still did not cry. She would one day be a brave warrior, with her Father’s spirit to guide her.