- Eivor: It's not coyness that keeps me quiet, Birstan. We grew close. I won't say more.
- Birstan: Fair enough. I should not pry.
Welcome to Assassin's Creed Wiki! Log in and join the community.
Twists and Turns
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Twists and Turns was a virtual representation of one of Eivor Varinsdottir's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.
Description[edit | edit source]
Eivor met with Birstan to secure the alliance between the Raven Clan and Essex.
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
Eivor traveled to the Hunter's Meet to find Birstan, talking with his dog, Percy.
- Birstan: No troubles bestir your heart, do they, Percy? All you think of is what next to eat. How I envy you.
There, there, old hound. Hold faith, for soon we'll be hunting.
A man, his dog, and the outdoors. What greater pleasure can there be than this?
Eivor spoke with the ealdorman.
- Eivor: Birstan. Estrid said you'd be here.
- Birstan: Eivor, dearheart! You who drew back the bow of Eros and reunited me with my one true love.
- Eivor: Have your thegns asked why you do not look for Estrid?
- Birstan: Pish! They have asked, yes. I said it was hopeless. Then I lay upon my couch sobbing and wailing. A pretty show.
- Eivor: That may not be enough.
- Birstan: Tut tut! The winds are soft upon our faces, and I am far from the whispering doors of Colcestre. Come, let's hunt!
Eivor followed Birstan to hunt.
- Eivor: What are we hunting now?
- Birstan: Boar! A majestic animal, don't you think? Driven by a fierce fire, blazing eyes, and sword-tusks.
- Eivor: I once knew a strong-armed shieldmaiden who rode a boar into battle! She named it Bristle-bold.
- Birstan: How wondrously strange! Your tales are worthy of the hearing. We'll not ride our boars but eat them! A feast in Alfida's honor.
- Eivor: A feast for your mistress? Birstan, if this ruse falls apart, King Aelfred will strip you of your title. Our alliance would be worthless.
- Birstan: Have no fear! I shall be discreet! We will eat and sup at my hall with a few friends and family. It is there our friendship will be sealed.
- Eivor: So soon after Lammas. Will people there not recognize me?
- Birstan: No, you are just one more Dane! And in that chaos, who remembers anything but the screams of dear Estrid?
- Eivor: These are your lands. I trust in your judgment. And how is Alfida?
- Birstan: She is a firebrand! We have rekindled our love as if we were teenagers. Even Eluric is a welcome addition. A younger brother to me, yet more alike to a son. The things I should like to teach him. Ah, this is the spot, the best boar here!
Eivor and Birstan hunted the boars.
- Birstan: Look at that fat hog! He'll make a delicious roast.
They are fearsome beasts. But tasty!
Come on, the feast table won't fill itself!
I shall suck the scrumptious marrow from your bones, you porcine devil!
You will serve my love well, hog. A haunch worthy of her arrival.
Eivor and Birstan killed enough boars.
- Birstan: My bow-arm aches! We did well, Eivor.
Eivor spoke with Birstan.
- Eivor: A good hunt, Birstan!
- Birstan: And enough for one day I think. Even my thegns will not go hungry with this catch, and they are as voracious as wolves snatching at my carcass!
- Eivor: They may give you grief, but I've been nothing but amused. They're a welcome change to warring jarls and piss-sodden politics.
- Birstan: You have brought us all true happiness, Eivor. I thank you, from the bottom of a heart full up from joy.
- Eivor: Birstan, the heart-hound who sought his true love by searching the sad haven of his memory and finding her there.
- Birstan: Beautifully said, my friend! Beautifully said. Come Percy, you hapless hound! Barely a boar worried, I do not know why I keep you in my employ.
Eivor and Birstan left the hunting grounds.
- Anglo-Saxon Man 1: Our lord is back! Gather up, men! Let's go collect the fruits of the master's hunt.
- Eivor may have stayed with Birstan on the return to Colcestre, instead of leaving to meet with Alfida and him later.
- Eivor: What are your plans for Essexe and your family?
- Birstan: There is much that is new in this old fling. Alfida is changed... the girl I fell in love with lies behind years of hardship.
- Eivor: And Eluric?
- Birstan: A soft lad, but with a heart as stout as his sister's. Their closeness does them both credit. The way he looks at me is often strange. His eyes furtive and downcast, like a hound waiting for his master's crop. It worries me, to be honest. Can I be both a brother to him and love to his sister?
- Eivor: Give him time, Birstan. He had his sister to himself all his life.
- Birstan: Yes, yes. But tell me, Eivor. Did you succumb to my flighted bird's charms? She can turn one atremble with her eyes.
- Eivor: You're talking of Estrid?
- Birstan: Do not be coy. It does not suit you.
- Eivor: Are you jealous, Birstan? After casting her aside?
- Birstan: Of course not! I could not be happier. I only wondered... for her sake.
- Birstan: All that to say, I am only glad she has found a chance at happiness again. Lord knows I could not give her that. But these are grim thoughts, and I will not let them lay their cold grip upon me. Tonight we feast and celebrate!
Eivor and Birstan arrived at the Ealdorman's House in Colcestre.
- Birstan: Home and hearth never used to stir the soul as the hunt did. But now my Alfida is here, all is changed.
They entered the upper left room, where Alfida awaited worriedly.
- Alfida: Birstan! You promised we would never be apart, not for one waking or sleeping moment! And already you're sneaking out to hunt!
- Birstan: For the feast, sweetling. We owe our mutual friend a great debt. One that I promised to repay over suckling pig and ale.
Eluric entered the room.
- Eluric: Sister, have you forgotten where you are?
- Alfida: I have a right to happiness, Eluric! Or am I to play nursemaid forever, you ungrateful pup?
- Eluric: Happiness, yes. But you embarrass yourself nightly, heaving and sweating with this ham hock!
- Alfida: Hold your tongue, boy! Lest we both speak our truths!
- Eluric: What truth have you to speak? That you've returned to this fickle man who abandoned you years ago for a a Frankish pet? A woman he paid this Dane to abduct in that Lammas shadow play?
- Eivor: Mind yourself, boy.
- Eluric: Or that you let him sniff and paw you and take him to your bed on a promise of nothing? The whole of Essexe whispers now! He's married still, his wife freshly stolen, and you are no more than... than his...
- Alfida: I am the mother of his child, you whelp!
- Birstan: Child? Alfida...?
Eluric figured out that Alfida and Birstan, the former of whom passed herself off as his sister, were in fact his parents. He was filled with anger at this revelation.
- Alfida: Please, my boy, I...
- Eluric: I will never forgive you for this. Never!
Alfida fell to her knees, sobbing, as Birstan comforted her. One of Birstan's men came in as Eluric stormed out.
- Anglo-Saxon Man 2: My lord! Joyous news! God smiles upon us this very day! Estrid has been found by Aelfred's men. They ride to her rescue as we speak!
Birstan simply glanced at Alfida before scowling at the man. The man simply nodded and left.
- Eivor: I will not let this plot be undone.
- Birstan: Nothing is safe until they are away to Francia.
- Eivor: I will fix this, and one day I will call on you, and you will come.
- Birstan: You can count on it, my friend.
Eivor left the room.
- Alfida: I wanted to tell you, so many times.
- Birstan: Hush, angel. Do not fret so.
- Alfida: He hates me. What have I done? We must go after him!
- Birstan: He will not stray far, lamb. Much has been said this day. But if... if he is my son... our son... we must believe he will return to us.
On her way out, Eivor could have spoken to Birstan's thegn Aldrich, who seemed to be well aware of the ruse.
- Eivor: Are you leering at me, lord?
- Aldrich: You, Birstan's hired Dane. Do not think what you did went unseen. Yet tell me one thing. Is Estrid safe? And happy?
- Eivor: She's happy, that much I know.
- Aldrich: Good. Now leave. And if we meet again, you will fall by my sword.
At the door, she could speak to Eadred, another of Birstan's thegns.
- Eadred: Estrid should have ruled this land, I would have followed her anywhere.
Eivor raced to Wulfaswic to aid Estrid and Rollo.
- Eivor: Estrid is so close to freedom. I hope I am not too late.
Eivor found and shouted to Rollo near the docks.
- Eivor: Rollo! Aelfred's men have found you!
- Rollo: What? How can this be?
- Eivor: Lork, stand by Estrid, guard her with your life. If she is taken, all is lost for us and Birstan.
- Lork: Come, lady. It would not do for them to take you back. Watch out!
Arrows flew and Lork sacrificed himself for Estrid.
- Rollo: Lork! Odin, no!
- Rollo: What? Found us how? Were we betrayed?
- Eivor: Gerhild, you protect Estrid. If she is taken, all is lost for Birstan.
- Eivor: They will skewer us like suckling pigs!
- Gerhild: Saxons! We have your whore-queen! Come take her.
- Rollo: Gerhild... you fetid blood-blister! Was it you?
- Rollo: Treacherous she-wolf! Damn you!
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 1: Release the woman, Danes! If she's unharmed, we may let some of you live.
- Rollo: Here come the bastards! Protect Estrid, prepare the ship!
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 2: Kill Rollo the Imprudent!
- Anglo-Saxon Soldier 3: Stop that ship from sailing!
- Norse Warrior 1: Look to the north! More Saxons!
After the Saxons were defeated, Eivor spoke with Estrid, her condition resulting from which of Rollo's warriors survived the interrogation.
- Estrid: Eivor!
- Eivor: Estrid. I promised I would free you of your life in Wessex. Francia awaits your return. Go now, with Aegir's blessing.
- Estrid: I will miss you, Eivor.
- Eivor: When winter is past, summer will come and wind you in a flowered skirt. For you are beauty and shall not wither.
- Rollo: Goddess Freyja, give me more of that!
- Eivor: Come. Take care of her, Rollo Stoutheart. And if you find yourself on England's shores again, I will expect you in my hall.
- Eivor: Estrid!
- Rollo: Gods! Gerhild the traitor? I should have listened to my gut! I always hated the way she carried herself, glared at me. This is my fault, Estrid. Mine alone.
- Estrid: Stop chiding yourself, Rollo. You could not have known it would come to this.
- Eivor: Can you move? I can pull the arrow from you, but I fear what pain it will cause.
- Estrid: I can stand... If I can lean upon you, Rollo?
- Rollo: If we stay here, we die. Come, sweet bird, I'll take you to the ship, and we'll tend your wounds. You will see Francia yet.
- Eivor: When winter is past, summer will come and wind you in a flowered skirt. For you are beauty and shall not wither. Take care of her, Rollo Stoutheart. And if you find yourself on England's shores again, I will welcome you in my hall.
Estrid and Rollo boarded the ship bound for Francia.
- Eivor: Good. They are safe.
- Eivor: Estrid's wound was grave. But she'll live long enough to see the shores of Francia. If only that.
- Eivor: Birstan got his end of the bargain, and Estrid is to Francia. I should return to Randvi.
Outcome[edit | edit source]
Eivor helped Rollo to fend off soldiers sent by King Alfred, allowing him to secure Estrid back to Francia.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
-
Eivor finding Birstan at the Hunting Camp -
Eivor and Birstan hunting boars -
Eivor alerting Rollo of the soldiers arrival -
Lork shifting to protect Estrid -
Eivor counting on Rollo to safeguard Estrid
