I am uhfred, son of th'red.
The battle for influence threatens to break old alliances.
Edward is acting as if mercia is his kingdom and it is not!
Perhaps being so far from home has clouded your judgment.
Return to Winchester and all will be well.
As power sh/fl's /'n wessex, ae/s w/z'h sees her plans take hold.
I would like to take aethelstan to bedwyn and raise him there.
Make the arrangements. I will ask uhtred to accompany you.
Eara'wu/f's treache/y has been exposed by his sister.
Save yourself.
Without allies, he seeks those who also desire revenge.
He is the turd who will help us take Winchester
without a single drop of Danish blood being shed.
Laccepted an alter to rule mercia.
At long last I strike a bargain with uhtred of bebbanburg.
But / knew of a person more deserv/ng.
As my first act as lord of mercia...
I feel I have no choice but to relinquish the throne...
In favor of lady aethelflaed!
Lady aethelflaed cannot rule mercia!
Yet it was not without sacrifice.
I swear that as long as I hold the mercian throne, I will remain chaste.
- Is the witan agreed? - Agreed!
Then, lady aethelflaed, take your throne.
Destiny is all/
I will miss you, uhtred ragnarson.
Long live lady aethelflaed!
What is that?
Guards!
Take the priests.
Don't let them kill us.
I've been told you are in charge.
I am not the king.
I'm aware you're not the king.
Would you like to fight or to yield?
Yield.
Lock them up.
- Do we hold the town? - Soon enough.
We have ripped out the Saxon heart.
So, it begins!
- Ready yourselves. - Take your positions.
Am I the only one doing any work here?
If I make the fire, I'm not doing the cooking.
It's such a privilege to set up camp for lady aelswith.
Oh, yes. Edward honors us...
Escorting his mother.
When I arrive at bedwyn,
I will offer prayers of thanks on your behalf.
Yet I fear I will not be thankful.
God worked through you, uhtred. You did not make your sacrifice alone.
It was no sacrifice, no blood was spilt.
Pyrlig, flint!
Yet you gave what was most precious to you to the mercian people.
And for that, I will always be grateful.
Are you lady aelswith's man now?
If you would turn to Christ, perhaps I could find a way to reward you properly.
Then I shall go UN-rewarded. I will not pretend a faith I do not have.
Whilst it is unlikely that you and I will be friends...
I do now see how you might be of use to me.
That is indeed touching.
I meant in accomplishing the work my husband started.
I know now that it means something to you...
And I thought, if we could work together, then perhaps...
I cannot be part of your plan. I have my own children to look to.
What do you intend for the boy?
Nothing. I just want to bring up Alfred's bloodline, appropriately.
Is that not right, father pyrlig?
Uh, that is indeed what you say.
I thought you were not interested in her plan.
I am not. I've played my part.
The Dane-slayer is now a man of peace.
It is a great pity Alfred is not here to witness it.
My husband saw things in uhtred none of us understood.
Lady, we all understood it. I think it was just you that didn't.
That will not be enough. I feel the cold.
Please go and cut some more.
Of course, lady.
It's her way of showing she likes you.
Yeah.
- How long until we reach bedwyn? - With luck by tomorrow,
if we do not keep stopping on the road to pray.
- Then we will go on to coccham. - Mm.
- Is that not good news? - It is.
I do want to live alongside you, father.
It's just... coccham is small.
And peaceful and safe.
Could we not go to Winchester? We were happy there.
Have those riders been following us?
No. We are just on a trading route.
And what about them?
Lord!
What do they want?
We will see.
Stay calm.
Looks like an ambush.
Most definitely is an ambush.
Uhtred, what a surprise!
I heard you were heading south, but I didn't believe it.
As ever, the gods are with you.
We were in wait for the king.
But now you will have to do.
What do you want from us, haesten?
A gift, for my new lord.
And who has this misfortune?
Sigtryggr, the kin of ivar the boneless.
A boy without reputation.
Reputation will come.
He has landed from irland and he wants all Danes to follow him.
He delivered brida from wealas and she has joined.
She joined with cnut.
That did not go well for her.
You've sworn to a boy, haesten.
Indeed. He is young.
But...
He is cunning.
Whilst you played lord and the saxons fought amongst themselves, he...
Captured Winchester!
- No! - Yes! Lady aelswith, you're going home!
- Take the girl, too. - No.
You will not fight it!
Huh, I did not know you cared so much for Alfred's widow.
Come now, uhtred, we're even. Hm?
You took cnut's boys from me. I take these captives from you.
Lord!
- Listen to that pig squeal -lord, what do we do?
We have to get out of this alive.
Tie them. Leave them to die, slowly.
Sigtryggr wants you dead.
Then take me to him.
I will be happy to fight him.
And give him the reputation as the man who killed the Dane-slayer?
I want that honor to be mine.
I fear it is too soon to leave.
Should you not take the moment to place your authority in mercia?
If eofennic is vulnerable, we have an opportunity we cannot waste.
Then I shall come. I cannot let you take them on alone.
Edward, please, I have the men and the silver to do this for us both.
You have spent too much time in mercia
and, as much as my men respect you, one leader is enough for any army.
It is agreed. I will return to wessex and mercia has a lady to make her proud.
Thank you.
I promise I will bring the troops to Winchester
as soon as we have secured the northern border.
And we will welcome your men as brothers. I mean it.
We take eofen/vic and our father's dream is revived.
We banish the Danes within our lifetime.
Oh! I am told this is a peaceful way to die.
You go into something of a sleep, like a night with too much ale.
It will give you a chance to dream, uhtred.
And how you were finally defeated...
By the mighty haesten!
Oh-ho-ho!
Oh!
Oh, such a great warrior, huh?
Here's your sword. Come and retrieve it.
No?
You two, stay here and report which one dies first.
And if they take too long to die, slit their throats like hogs.
Yes, haesten.
Come, we return the queen to her palace
and finally get to see how much king Edward really loves his mother.
Calm down, sihtric.
You will need your energy.
Look at him, stealing from the dead.
Does he not feel rewarded?
It certainly suggests he does not trust us, which is probably wise of him.
I do not like him. He is too fawning.
- Yes, he's an arse-licker. - Hm.
But his word was good, and now we have the prize.
We should make a plan.
A plan for?
How we destroy them...
The town, their holy places... Everything that makes them who they are.
And what makes Edward who he is?
He's not the enemy his father was, but like all saxons,
he's made weak by his god.
Hurt their faith and you hurt them.
Start with their dead.
Unbury them. Dig them up.
They will hate that.
- Hm, I think we wait, see how they react. - And let the saxons take the lead?
You let them take the lead, they reveal who their true leaders are.
And then you take those men first.
And then we will be taking the Dane-slayer.
And you will get what you want.
Sihtric.
- Sihtric. - Yes.
Stay awake.
Sihtric! Stay awake!
Okay, look at me. You'll be fine.
Lambs waiting for the slaughter.
Huh?
I'll go.
- Can you reach the knot? - The ropes are too tight.
Lady?
Orm!
Orm?
Where are you?
Orm?
Orm, where did you go?
Orm?
Orm!
I tried.
- Eadith, quickly! Go to sihtric. - All right.
That's it. Release his hands first.
Faster.
Hurry up.
Make him fall, why don't you?
- Thank you! Pyrlig next. - Is he?
Wake up, sihtric!
You're safe.
Kill him, sihtric!
Kill the bastard!
Oh, thank you.
You're an angel.
Coming, lord.
Move! They cannot have taken them far!
- They've taken the horses, lord. - Ah!
We must get to stiorra!
Lord, they do not know she's your daughter.
Pyrlig, find Edward. Tell him what has happened here.
- Yes, lord. - We go ahead to Winchester.
They will not take what is not theirs, not whilst I live!
- Lord! - What?
Run!
Let's go.
What?
Hm?
I want to strike a bargain. I am a very rich man.
And?
And I can offer you more silver than you...
I have lived without the comfort of silver.
I only want one thing and that you cannot give.
- What? Perhaps. - Revenge.
Oh. On whom?
All of you.
I get to Winchester at last.
Do not look on it. It is not the place I left.
Be under no illusion. They will murder us. So, I suggest you say your prayers
and thank the lord for the lives you've led.
I will not. I'm not a Christian.
Speak nothing of how we vanquished the Dane-slayer.
We collect our reward from sigtryggr and leave this place with silver.
Only then do we let it be known who the true warriors are!
Lady aelswith.
I'm so happy to see your family reunited.
I want to speak with whoever leads you.
I lead here.
I mean, the man in charge of this.
Do not insult me.
I am not the one using insults.
But I am giving you a warning.
This incursion will not be tolerated.
My son will burn us all to the ground...
Before he concedes one square of wessex land.
You are a pack of fools...
Unknowingly, you have trapped yourselves within these walls.
For once, the heathen are all in one place.
And when the fire comes, as come it shall...
We will watch your souls burn as we ascend!
Have her servant girl feed her shit.
Torture me by all means, but you must know that she and the boy are Danes.
They were taken, as slaves, after our victory at tettenhall.
If you value your people, take them back.
Who is sjofn?
Handmaiden of frigga.
She is half Dane at most.
The monk boy not at all.
Half Dane is enough. Hold the young woman separately.
She's uhtred's daughter. I recognize her.
We met in mercia when my sister betrayed me.
I've never seen you before.
Of course, she has his look. And she is cunning like him.
Find uhtred. Send him her head.
- No! - Do it. It will bring him.
It will bring them all and the end will begin!
What?
I thought you welcomed the fire.
Put the queen and the others back where they keep their dead king.
She comes with me.
[Gasps}
What is it?
Oh, no, no, no, no.
- Oh, dear god! - Quick, up on the ramparts.
This does not mean they're dead.
Stiorra's strong. She'll have kept herself hidden.
Why have they strengthened their defenses?
They could be preparing for a siege.
- I thought that Danes did not like sieges. - Yes.
Perhaps sigtryggr learned something in irland.
He's cunning. Maybe he changes the strategy.
Strategy or not, there's too many of them.
What if we cannot find a way in?
If sigtryggr fought the Irish,
he'll know what hard bastards we are
and how we do not give up, even when it looks completely impossible.
Do not.
I will not harm you. Do not.
I only wish to speak with you.
Answer me truthfully and I will treat you kindly.
I've heard of men's kindness and I do not want it.
I am the Dane who took Winchester.
If I wanted to hump a woman, I would not need to use force.
Who was your mother?
Gisela, sister of guthred of northumbria.
Oh, so we share the same ancestors.
Yet we're not the same.
And where is your home?
Bebbanburg.
A young woman with land in the north.
Our lands were stolen, but my father will see them restored.
Hm, so, are you one of us, or one of them?
I'm both!
As are many living here, two generations, three.
This foolishness of who is Saxon and who is Dane!
When one side seeks to destroy the other, you must choose in order to survive.
Well, I refuse. It's a game for old men.
I won't be held to the feuds from years ago.
I have no fight with either side and I will not choose.
It would dishonor either my father or my mother.
Well, then, I would say this love of honor makes you a Dane.
The Saxon cares only for obedience to their god.
Then you know nothing of saxons.
They treasure honor as much as you do.
Yet they say their god is the god of peace.
Do you also believe them when they say their god came back from the dead?
Do you think there could be peace between Saxon and Dane?
They are new to me. I wish to understand their ways.
Many would like there to be.
Tell me of your father uhtred.
Why does he hate us?
- He doesn't. - Then why does he kill so many of my kin?
Why does he revel in his title Dane-slayer?
He doesn't revel in it. He hates it.
You speak like a man who's never killed.
Oh, I have killed, but only christians.
I would never betray my people.
He's never betrayed anyone.
He was often torn between those who loved him like their own
and those who were his blood.
My mother was a Dane and he loved her.
If uhtred were intent on destroying the Danes,
to clean us from the land, why am I here to speak of it?
- We could enter with those villagers. - We should do it now then.
If they get that food in and close the gate.
But, lord, you are known here.
We're all known here. This plan will not work.
Someone would betray us in return for their own safety.
I could go in.
I've not been here. I will not be noticed.
It is a journey with no quick return.
I can survive a siege. I will find out where the captives are being kept
and when you breach the walls, you will know where to look for them.
That could save them if it comes to a fight.
Uh, you do not have to do this.
No, no, I will.
We will get you provisions. You cannot go empty-handed.
They will close the gates. There will be no way out.
I know. It will bring them comfort to know that you are here.
To wessex.
Both?
- If they are... - Both my heirs?
Lord, assuming aelfweard was at the palace with the queen, yes.
Why... why did uhtred not protect those on the road?
He tried. There were too many to fight off.
Too many...
Did... did someone betray me?
- Betray, lord? - The Danes do not act by stealth!
Lord...
They must have been told we were absent from Winchester.
Lord, your presence in mercia was never hidden.
Are you suggesting it is my fault?
That I have failed my people worse than any king, hm?
That I am more stupid and more foolish than any who came before me?
Ready my men. Raise the fyrd!
Raise the mercian guard!
Raise the dead for all I care!
Winchester will be retaken!
Perhaps this man was a great warrior. What do you think?
- I demand you make them stop this! - Why?
This is clearly wrong! This is sacrilege!
But I am not a Christian. So?
Please, let these men rest peacefully.
I knew some of them. I fought alongside them.
I may have abandoned the lords of mercia, but I never abandoned simple warriors!
So, you lie to yourself, as well as everyone else!
You do not get to choose which saxons you've betrayed.
You've spat on all of them and now you must watch us do worse.
I have not spat!
I was forced to.
No one forced you. You begged us.
And as I said, I'm not a Christian.
And I'm yet to meet people who welcome traitors.
So, be glad these men are dead,
so they can't witness what you've become a part of.
Go.
Here.
I will never forgive this.
And I will never forgive the king. If he had not abandoned...
Cnut and sigtryggr would havejoined
and the threat we face would be double. Do you think that...
Hello.
Tell me, you're far too young
and too noble looking to be a servant to her,
so, why were you traveling with the lady aelswith?
I'm to be educated at bedwyn.
She must like you very much.
My name is lord aethelhelm. What's yours?
I've been told not to answer that.
You can tell me.
The king's my friend.
Aethelstan?
Is that your name?
I think it could be.
Why have you brought the king's bastard to wessex?
Because the king has asked me to.
The king would not do that.
The child has no more status than any son of a whore.
Well, perhaps you do not know his wishes as I do!
If we escape this, it will be righted.
But you will not escape this.
So, I suggest you focus on your account with god.
And perhaps you should reflect on your anger towards a poor child.
Aethelstan, come.
Look on your grandfather, king Alfred.
He was as strong as this stone...
But his eyes were very warm and bright.
His intelligence shone through him, as it shines through you.
Danes come for us to prize us from our god.
In those times, we hold steadfast to our lord and do not buckle.
We may not survive this...
But our kingdom will and that is all that matters.
Our sense of history is who we are.
It is how god separated us from the animals.
And I will not be treated as an animal.
Have we sent eadith to her death?
I do not think so.
What now, then?
We have to wait for Edward.
Oh, come on!
Since when do we sit on our arses waiting for royalty?
Since a boy with no reputation came out of nowhere and took the biggest prize.
Do you think I want to wait here when my daughter's within?
If they discover who she is, they will kill her.
So, act now, lord, before it's too late.
Take them on with swords?
I do not yet know how to win against him.
Hey, what happened to the man who always ran into battle?
I lost beocca in my haste at bebbanburg.
Understand if I try to find a more cautious path.
I'll be quiet.
I'm an arseling.
We care for the people within.
It puts us at a disadvantage.
I've been drinking ale.
I know.
What do you want?
To kill someone, I think.
Someone or myself, one of the two.
Sigtryggr wants me as a hostage.
I am of use to him alive.
Oh, don't be fooled.
He's playing with you.
Unlike myself, he's a man bereft of conscience.
Then don't anger him by killing me.
If you want favor amongst the Danes...
I don't want favor amongst the Danes!
Making a bargain with them was madness. I can see that now.
I will suffer whatever I choose.
So, I might as well take pleasure in a small scrap of vengeance.
I have done nothing to you.
Your father turned my sister from me.
Your father, lady aethelflaed, the king, all of them,
stole my chance to regain my honor.
Pushed my face in the dirt when all I wanted was to take back what was owed.
Do you know what it is to live your life derided?
To be forced to turn from your people to survive?
Do you know what that does to a man?
Turns him into a drunk?
Do not mock me.
Then don't be pitiful.
All this you brought upon yourself. You know that.
Is this how we play now?
We strike those weaker than ourselves?
Go on. I like this game.
- She's defiant and she does not fear me. - Is that how saxons are controlled?
I don't understand you.
In Saxon lands, are people subdued through fear?
- Are not all people subdued by fear? - Was this how Alfred thrived?
- Yes. - No! Alfred was loved!
Look at how they honor him.
And what of your lord aethelred whom you abandoned to choose a life with me?
Aethelred was loved and feared.
Not by you. You killed him in his bed.
It's why he ran from mercia.
- Is this true? - No, why would you believe a captive girl?
You lie worse than a child.
So, you killed the man whom you'd sworn allegiance to?
I knew there was something untrustworthy about you.
I brought you here. You can trust me. I've proved it.
And how should I rule here?
By fear?
Or by love?
I would always choose fear.
Sigtryggr, please! No.
Sigtryggr.
Arse-licker, did you fall in the shit?
They cutoff your tongue.
- What did he do? - He works to his own plan.
We need to be of one mind when the time comes.
He's playing with you.
The man is cold, but he will make a show of mercy.
I've come to know him.
We take this place because we seek a homeland!
We work as one to achieve this common good!
When we fight...
We fight with one heart to terrify the saxons!
But we do not succumb to anger.
And at all times we are united, unlike our forebears...
The men who tried and failed.
Ubba, bloodhair, cnut...
All taken in anger, as they tried to pursue their own glory.
This is the way of the old generation.
And there is no longer a place for it.
This man...
Is a man of ambition.
There's nothing wrong with that.
We should all have ambition.
But he works only for himself and his own desires.
And this ambition...
Is a poison...
A poison that has the power to seep!
And we must not
- let his venom spread amongst us. - Yes.
So, let this man's fate serve as a warning,
for the danger of anger and ambition.
No.
No, no, no, please, please, please.
I can't die, please.
Please spare this repentant sinner, god. Please!
Forgive me for I...
Forgive my sins, so that my soul can be saved, lord god.
Have mercy!
Who weeps for you?
Who has this faith?
She's a whore I once knew.
She is nothing. Discard her.
You dare speak against the greatest warriors who ever walked this land?
- Huh? - If they were the greatest...
Then where are they now?
- Psst! - [Gasps}
What are you doing?
I was asked to bring food to the captives.
You are almost convincing.
I think...
You could be his sister.
Eardwulf was not a man of lust
and he spoke of no one else who cared for him.
Are you not the woman who humped aethelred for silver?
I do not know who you speak of.
- Come. - Where are you taking me?
Somewhere sigtryggr won't find you.
You do not want to suffer your brother's fate.
Is that our chance to get in?
Perhaps, if they have more dead to bring out.
Finan, move!
Send word to sigtryggr!
Charge down those gates! Show them the face of death!
Show them no fear!
It makes no sense.
Dismount!
Archers ready!
Let's take back what is rightfully ours!
- That way to the walls. - Archers.
We have to stop them, lord, before it gets them all killed!
Stain the ground with their blood!
Pull back!
Stop! Hold with your king!
Men are coming from every corner of the Saxon kingdom!
By dawn tomorrow, you will be surrounded!
Surrender now and avoid being massacred!
Up shield!
- Build the shield wall! - Move, move, move!
Lord king!
Lord king! Hold back. Sigtryggr fights another way.
We need a better plan.
Do you surrender?
Do nothing.
The walls will hold. The fool built them strong.
Listen to me! Do not do this!
- Attack! - No!