- Eivor: Heroic display. He makes a powerful first impression.
- Faravid: Just the way he likes it. Welcome to Eurvicscire, friend.
- Eivor: Well met, Faravid. I was hoping your jarl would be as welcoming. But I suppose I must earn his trust.
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War in the North
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War in the North was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
Description
Eivor began her journey to meet with the lord of Northumbria, Halfdan Ragnarsson.
Dialogue
At Ravensthorpe, Eivor talked about pledging to Eurvicscire with Randvi.
- Eivor: What awaits in Eurvicscire?
- Randvi: Halfdan Ragnarsson, Conqueror of the North, sends his greeting. He wishes to meet with Eivor Wolf-Kissed personally.
- Eivor: Halfdan Jarl. I have heard the man's name so often, I feel as though I know already.
- Randvi: He is currently tangled in a war with the Picts of the northern hills. I suspect he wants your council. Or your axe. If you are keen to meet him, he asks that you join him at his war camp. I have the location here.
Eivor pledged to Eurvicscire.
- Eivor: I will go at once.
- Olav: With caution, Eivor. Eurvicscire is currently at war with the Picts, a proud clan that lives just beyond the Roman wall.
At this moment, Eivor left and travelled to Anlaf's Lookout. When she arrived, Eivor looked around the abandoned area.
- Eivor: Signs of battle.
As Eivor investigated, she noticed bodies and blood around.
- Eivor: Hard fought on both sides.
As she climbed the hills, Eivor noticed the remaining army of Halfdan and Faravid leading them.
- Norse Soldier 1: Hey, who's that?
- Norse Soldier 2: Everyone all right?
- Faravid: Help the wounded. And get every man's name. We leave none behind.
As Eivor approached, Faravid gave salutations as Eivor initiated their conversation.
- Faravid: Well met, Eivor Raven-Friend. Now there's a face I've seen before.
- Eivor: Faravid. We met in Jorvik, the Yuletide feast.
- Faravid: The Yuletide massacre, I remember. What brings you here?
- Eivor: Halfdan Jarl, he summoned me. Is he near?
- Faravid: He was, but the Picts hit us hard. We were separated.
Within their conversation, Faravid overheard the screams of the enemy Picts as Eivor sheathed her weapon.
- Eivor: Fresh attack, from the hills!
As the fighting began, Faravid ordered his men.
- Faravid: Circle round! Watch your backs!
- Eivor: Picts. They won't be happy to see the likes of me.
Eivor fought with Faravid and his group against the Picts. Eivor shouted at the Picts while fighting.
- Eivor: Odin take you all!
After disposing of the first wave, Eivor regrouped with Faravid.
- Faravid: The Picts are just ahead. Lead the way and we'll watch your back.
- Eivor: Are you wounded?
- Eivor: Gorm Kjotvesson.
Eivor looked atop of the hill, where the Picts stood, as she and Faravid readied themselves for another fight.
- Faravid: If we die today, tonight we drink with Odin. Either way, we claim victory.
Out of view, a battle horn blew as Halfdan shouted a battle cry.
- Halfdan: For Thor!
Halfdan came behind the Picts and single-handedly took out two men. Halfdan threw his hammer as he yelled.
- Halfdan: For Ragnar!
After taking out the rest of the Picts, Halfdan roared his victory cry.
- Halfdan: For Halfdan!
Faravid and Eivor rejoiced as Halfdan came down to meet.
- Halfdan: You owe me your life, old friend. Once again.
- Eivor: Halfdan Ragnarsson, we meet in the forge of battle. Surely a good sign.
- Halfdan: I don't know you. One of Faravid's new dogs?
- Eivor: I am Eivor of the Raven Clan.
- Halfdan: Eivor, yes. Down in Mercia. Kingmaker with my brothers Ivarr and Ubba. And Finnr in East Anglia. From the tales I hear, I feared you might be taller.
- Eivor: That's not a fear you feel often, I imagine.
- Halfdan: So you answered my summons. But the timing is poor as you can see. Too many here are spent ... battle-sore ... thirsty. Faravid. Have your men build field pyres for the dead.
- Faravid: At once, my jarl.
As Faravid left, Halfdan's demeanor changed as he whispered to Eivor.
- Halfdan: Not here. Not now.
Eivor nodded as Halfdan left.
- Halfdan: Then to Donecaestre for a victory feast!
Faravid came back to talk with Eivor.
- Faravid: The oldest son of Ragnar Lothbrok, so he says. What do you make of him?
- Eivor: Kings and jarls, bishops and earls, I've met them all. Halfdan is but a man like all the rest.
- Faravid: He conquered East Anglia, took Northumbria for his own, and sacked Lunden. What warrior could claim more?
- Eivor: Winning battles is easy. It's winning trust that brings an end of war.
- Halfdan: What I think does not matter. I'm interested in what his men think of him. Is he honest, trustworthy, loyal?
- Faravid: Is that why you've come here? To earn Halfdan's trust? To find a seat at his table?
- Eivor: I have my own table. What I want is a bond of friendship between the new lords of England.
- Faravid: Among whom you count yourself, I suppose.
- Eivor: It is an ally I seek, not a master.
- Faravud: Well, there is one Lord of Northumbria.
Faravid left to do his duty as Eivor looked at Donecaestre, her next destination. Faravid ordered his men to follow Halfdan's previous command.
- Faravid: You heard the jarl. Take the gear and start digging.
Eivor then left to meet with Halfdan. As she arrived, Eivor marvelled at the fortress.
- Eivor: The Roman giants outdid themselves with this fortress.
Within the fortress, Eivor wondered where Halfdan might be.
- Eivor: Where would Halfdan Jarl hold court?
- Within the castle of Donecaestre, Eivor could have done many activities. Eivor overheard some comments from his soldiers.
- Norse Soldier 3: Only a fool makes a long war in winter.
- Norse Soldier 4: He should drink good honest mead, not that bitter Frankish wine.
- Eivor had a chance to meet Lady Moira, as Moira was consoling a patron.
- Anglo-Saxon Man 1: Please, Lady Moira. My wife grows ill.
- Moira: I will attend to her soon, I promise. But Halfdan needs me now.
Eivor went up to Moira to talk.
- Eivor: Are you a nun? I thought nuns dressed like geese.
- Moira: Nothing of the sort. I am Moira of Wyke, Halfdan's herbalist. He is an ill man, and I do what I can to give succor and hope.
- Eivor: I saw him fight. He was in fine health then.
- Moira: Thanks in part to my soothing tonics. Would you pardon me?
- Eivor interacted by dancing with people. Eivor may have done a fist-fight with Anglo-Saxon Soldier as she approached him.
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: You? Care to test the speed of your fists?
- Eivor: Fair warning, ceorl. My fists have hammered nails and strangled sharks. Still care to brawl?
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Swift and strong you may be. It's the one most righteous who wins the right.
Eivor fist-fought the soldier and won.
- Eivor: You fought well, warrior. But here your legend ends, bound to no name.
- Upstairs, Eivor spoke with a woman near an Orlog table and Eivor accepted and won the Orlog challenge.
- Anglo-Saxon Woman 1: Here, Dane. Try your luck at throwing bones.
- Eivor: My luck overspills like the ocean's tide. Only fate will keep me from winning.
- Anglo-Saxon Woman 1: Then come and see! What fate do these dice hold for you?
- Outside from the Orlog table, there was a drinking contest with a man. Eivor joined and beat the man at this contest.
- Norse Man 1: Warrior! You can swing an axe, but can you lift a horn?
- Eivor: As Thor swallowed the ocean, I can lift many horns and drain them too.
- Norse Man 1: A bold claim! I'll drink to that.
- If Eivor looked around a busy table, she found a note to Halfdan's staff.
- Servant's Scribble:
Mildreth dear,
Have a care when you serve Lord Halfdan. He grows wroth at the slightest thing these days and rages at all.
Last fortnight, he had a poor server tossed into a pig-sty for spilling a dash of wine out of his bloody unicorn's horn. - If Eivor did these tasks, she exclaimed her worries.
- Eivor: I've put off Halfdan for too long. Atop the tower of stone, he said.
When Eivor decided to meet Halfdan, King Ricsige was already agruing with Halfdan.
- Halfdan: We crush them in spring. No sooner. That is the plan.
- Ricsige: Yet my people suffer day by day—
- Halfdan: Your people? Do you rule a shadow kingdom under my nose?
- Ricsige: Our people suffer from these brutal winter raids.
Eivor then joined conversation.
- Ricsige: This war must end, that is my first concern. The time to strike is—
- Halfdan: Is when I say we strike. Halfdan's hammer protects this land. Tell my people that, King Ricsige.
Halfdan ordered King Ricsige to take leave.
- Ricsige: As you wish, my lord.
King Ricsige took leave and passed by Eivor. Halfdan looked over.
- Eivor: Who is this? Come closer.
- Eivor: Halfdan Ragnarsson. My sword-arm answers your call.
- Eivor: Thank you for your tribute, Eivor Wolf-Kissed. Your battles and deeds are well known to me. And you are the Hero of Jorvik, so sing my skalds.
Faravid walked into the conversation.
- Faravid: Not just any hero. Eivor brought order to the city when King Ricsige could not.
- Halfdan: They say you rooted a gang of thieves and traitors.
- Eivor: Not alone. But I led the charge.
- Halfdan: You gifted my silver to the karls and ceorls of Jorvik.
- Eivor: To men and women who needed it most.
- Halfdan: A foolish choice. The coin never left King Ricsige's treasury.
- Eivor: I try never to regret the decisions I make in a time of war.
- Halfdan: Agreed. To second guess ourselves would only stall the victory.
- Eivor: I don't regret sending Faravid to lead our strike against the Picts ... in spite of Eivor winning the day.
- Faravid: Eivor and I felled them, Halfdan Jarl, so you could sweep in, stab a few cold corpses, and claim a glorious victory.
- Halfdan: Old friend, your jests hit like Odin's spear, always on the mark.
- Faravid: I would not be here without your hammer, great jarl. Please accept this, your share of the loot we won today.
Faravid handed Halfdan a grail.
- Halfdan: A thing of beauty. Frankish, I believe. What do you think, Eivor?
- Eivor: A fine piece of work, fit for the lips of a king.
- Halfdan: Or a man who makes kings.
- Eivor: A cup is a cup. What matters is the brew that sloshes inside.
- Eivor: Wine goblets are for Roman kneelers. Give me a horn of mead any day.
Halfdan nodded.
- Eivor: There's wisdom in the one, Faravid.
- Eivor: By your leave, lord, I must return to my forward camp. It's a long, cold ride.
Halfdan nodded as Faravid left.
- Halfdan: A two-faced, smirking glory hound...
- Eivor: My lord, in your summons you said—
- Halfdan: Shhh, not here, not now. Dance, sing, and fill yourself with ale, then meet me atop this tower of stone.
Eivor nodded.
- Halfdan: There I will weave a tale of friendship and treachery. A tale as old as the world.
Eivor, if not done so, did some of the activities and overheard King Ricsige's brief talk with a soldier.
- Ricsige: How true! I shall send a strongly worded note in protest.
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 2: But sir, I'm told Halfdan can't read.
Eivor climbed up the stairs to speak with Halfdan privately. There, Halfdan mumbled to himself amongst his dog.
- Halfdan: Dogs don't beg for silver. Dogs don't yearn to be jarls. But I'm a wolf. No, a wolf king.
Halfdan noticed Eivor wanting to speak.
- Halfdan: Ah, Eivor. Come, let me show you a wonder.
Both of them walk to a balcony to talk. Eivor admired the outlook of the wintery landscape.
- Halfdan: All this. We conquered this. He and I. Together.
- Eivor: You've earned great fame, won many battles across England.
- Halfdan: But not alone, no no. Björn Ironside, fearless Ubba, Ivarr the Boneless, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. Great warriors all. My brothers.
- Eivor: Gold is good and battle better, but glory never dies. Forever it lives in the hall of heroes, high on valor's steed.
- Halfdan: Together, we have conquered. Together with my friends, my clan. Faravid above all others. One sword is not an army, Eivor. Even a hero needs loyal friends. I have never lost sight of that. Never!
- Eivor: Have you room for one more among those you call friend?
- Eivor: What does friendship mean to you, Eivor?
- Eivor: Friendship goes beyond words. It is a solemn bond, a chain unbroken.
- Halfdan: Spoken like the volur. It is indeed a kind of magic.
- Eivor: You wriggle like an eel in a basket, Halfdan. What has caught you?
- Eivor: It's but a name for an alliance. What matters is keeping your oath.
- Halfdan: A hard way to see the world. Hard, but fair.
- Eivor: You wriggle like an eel in a basket, Halfdan. What has caught you?
- Halfdan: Friendship can also spoil, like rotten meat. After all these years, he dares to bite my hand.
- Eivor: Faravid? He seems a good and loyal man.
- Halfdan: Seems, yes. As a bright sky in winter seems warm. But rumors fly of little men plotting treason in the dark.
- Eivor: Have you proof of his treachery?
- Halfdan: Not yet. That is where you enter my saga. Prove this for me. Discover if Faravid has been disloyal. Then we shall talk of oaths.
- Eivor: Start me somewhere. Give me something to go on.
Halfdan nodded and showed Eivor a narwhal horn.
- Halfdan: You see this? From a sea unicorn. I filter my mead and wine with it.
- Eivor: I've heard of such beasts. They swim below the ice, beyond the world's edge.
- Halfdan: And their horns protect against poison.
- Eivor: You believe Faravid wants to poison you?
- Halfdan: I fear he has tried. Countless times. And failed them all. You don't believe me, but I know the man. His gifts of wine. His easy smile. His envy. His plots. Learn the truth. Dig up ... unearth this treason.
- Eivor: Why trust me with such a task?
- Halfdan: Jorvik. You stopped the ill deeds of Audun and his swarm of rats. You can do the same here.
- Eivor: Like a good sword, honor has two edges. I'll help you.
- Halfdan: Faravid has left the feast already, heading for his camp upriver. Join his war band. And behind his back, dig.
- Eivor: And if I find nothing? If he's a good and loyal man?
- Halfdan: Even better, even better.
- Eivor: Fair enough. I will find what I find, then return, my friend.
Halfdan left but then stated to Eivor.
- Halfdan: Don't let Faravid fool you. He's hiding something.
Outcome
Halfdan tasked Eivor to investigate Faravid and learns of his allegiance.