I am th'red, son of th'red.
Aethe/flaed, the lady of mere/a, has died and I am berefl'.
Aethe/ha/m has sought to install his grandson,
ae/fia/earo', on the mere/an throne.
But Edward was ruthless...
Did you see the ealdormen?
I did. They are dead.
I will do as god wills.
I will be king of the angles and of the saxons.
Ae/sw/th, fear/ng for her granddaughters safety,
tookae/fia/ynn and fled ll/lero/a.
The distraught brida has taken father pyrlig prisoner,
but his kindness has eased her pain.
Your daughter is at peace now.
Maybe in finding peace of your own, you might repent.
Aelflaed has become enthralled by the visionary, aalys.
Travel with us and do not tell them.
It is a holy tribute.
While her fatheraethe/helm, thwarted by Edward once again,
must find new ways to exert his influence.
This is not the way succession is determined!
Destiny is all/
You murderer! You killed my husband!
- You killed our ealdormen! - Oi! Get back here!
- You killed them all! - Ignore threats. Maintain your dignity.
Do not rise to provocation.
What news do you bring? Has eofennic located pyrlig?
No news of father pyrlig, lord king.
But I imagine sigtryggrwill be unsettled by the news from here.
Yes.
Perhaps we should make overtures to reassure them. Scotland too.
Let king constantin know we are minded to renew the alliance.
My lord, I do not serve you.
I am here only to say my farewells.
Whilst I understand your reasons, I cannot be a part of this.
Oh, how virtuous.
Aelfwynn would have presided over a civil war.
I loved my sister. I do not dishonor her.
You simply do what is best for mercia.
Should I have shown more mercy?
Was there another path?
A kingdom is never made without bloodshed.
But it does not need to be ruled by fear.
Show the world that you are just and that you live by the faith.
As a sign of our wish to atone
and reconcile with the sons of mercia,
we offer our fast until the masses are completed.
Accept these offerings from our table.
Feast here as our guests, even as we refrain.
It is my hope we put this turbulence behind us.
Do you think he's sincere?
I can no longer read his mood.
I feel just sickened with it all.
The brutality, the way he dishonors mother.
It's because you are a fine and true young man
who, one day, will be a mighty king.
If this is so, then why...
Why does he not name me the aetheling?
Some men cannot think of their own demise. It frightens them.
But with your permission, I will find a way to resolve this.
I need to be certain that nothing can be traced back to me.
The men can bear none of my insignia.
Yes, I understand and they will say they are from king sigtryggr.
I know what I'm doing.
You do realize this could start a war between Christian and Dane?
Hopefully, yes.
Ideally, the king falls in battle
and aelfweard inherits a land free of the heathen curse.
Time is running out for my bloodline.
Could you not wield influence another way?
Build a few minsters or declare a miracle?
How charmingly old-fashioned, bresal.
No, like the king,
I have learned nothing is as effective as the stench of death.
Do not worry.
When we have delivered the tapestry, you may return home from the holy isle.
With god's speed, the king may never learn that I have been away.
The light is fading. We shall be forced to sleep under trees.
You must regret traveling with simple folk.
You are not simple folk. You are a gift from the lord.
The life of a queen can be somewhat lonely.
Please...
Be careful. It could be a trick for thieves.
- Stand back until they are gone. - Lady, please.
- Have pity. - We must help this traveler, my lady.
Do not be softhearted. Stay.
He is a soul in need.
What happened here with you?
Which one of these is the farm girl from lewes?
I am the visionary.
A visionary, but you did not see us coming.
Whose men are you?
We were sent by king sigtryggr.
All of mercia's ealdormen? All of them?
Slaughtered, yes.
With his sister not yet cold.
She must have restrained Edward more than we knew.
I fear we could be next, that he will come to conquer.
Take a band to the border and double the patrol.
- Send a warning to the king himself. - Yes.
Dispatch a warrior to speak this in my name,
"if he chooses to come north, we will be ready."
We are restored!
Remove the Saxon sign!
Burnstone.
Very pretty.
Someone will buy it.
Lord haesten. Lord haesten!
You must see this.
Jesus, please...
Who did this?
They were sent from the king of jorvik.
They said sigtryggr wanted vengeance.
They spared me to spread the word.
Are you pilgrims?
Travelers with the dead queen.
Take the body down and clear all traces of this.
Now!
How many return to us?
How many?
Warn the alehouse! Osferth's thirsty!
Aethelstan, go straight to the boatman.
Get something fast. We can sail at high tide.
You're still alive.
Just
just is enough.
What of stiorra and her husband?
They are restored,
just.
But lady aethelflaed...
She has been taken from us.
That is a cruelty, father.
But she's at peace.
It is of some comfort.
There has been much cruelty.
Have you...
- Have you walked at all? - A little.
Many things are difficult, but
my body is strong.
- And my heart... - Will be avenged.
Brida lives. We fear she has father pyrlig,
at high tide, we take a boat to track her.
- With that you could come... - The lord is not calling me to revenge.
Of course.
To kill her might be my destiny alone.
Perhaps it's not your destiny.
You have a good life here, father.
Now that lady aethelflaed is departed,
you could find a wife,
have more children.
One son lost as a babe.
One now lying injured.
A daughter who fought alone for her life.
I would not curse another child with me as a father.
What of the son who was hidden, who does not know his father?
You do not know that.
It is not safe for you to know that.
His time will come.
Besides...
Aethelflaed...
Is not departed.
She, uh_.
She's with me still.
Then we both must walk with wounds that will not heal.
Here. This way.
We are not here to be seen.
Where is our boat?
- Where is the sea? - There is no sea.
Girl, you have no sense. I have changed the plan.
- In here... - What is happening?
- Is someone planning on having me killed? - No, child.
Someone is planning on giving you life.
What?
I will not have you living in the shadows, waiting for some assassin.
My mother bore that danger every day.
Yes, and living the way she did put a poison in her flesh
and robbed me of my most cherished gift.
What is your plan for me?
I have chosen you a husband.
Someone you know.
I will explain.
I have been asked to convey a message of great seriousness and secrecy.
The lady aelswith has noted your affection for her granddaughter
and asks that you convey yourself to buccstan for Sunday.
There you will meet with lady aelfwynn and marry her.
Why have I been selected for this alliance?
Because you're a nobody.
If aelfwynn marries you, no ealdorman can force her hand.
Then I will be honored to preserve the safety of the Princess.
Osferth.
The great warrior haesten, a man of trade.
I had heard of this, but I did not believe it.
A trader and owner of 30 ships.
You should see my settlement, uhtred.
Twice the size of this one, fertile farms and fat women.
Not like this...
Only fit for...
Pigs.
You have plenty of insults for a man who can no longer wield a sword.
I can wield it, uhtred.
I think you should go.
We must speak, somewhere out of sight.
- There's nothing I want from you. - Believe me, uhtred.
We must speak.
Where's this visionary now?
I placed her with my kin.
To trade her?
To keep her safe.
War will come from this.
Why would sigtryggr do something so stupid?
He has not.
This is not his command.
His brother, then? Or brida?
Perhaps mercians, seeking revenge.
There's quite a few who hate Edward now.
This is a bad omen, lord, for all of us.
I fear this death will only deliver more death.
Why did you bring me this?
We both have interest in keeping the peace, uhtred.
Me to trade and you, well...
I cannot think Edward will spare your daughter when he retaliates.
We must make sigtryggr denounce this act.
Finan, osferth, remain here.
You must guard the queen's body with all honor.
Sihtric, aethelstan, go to aegelesburg, both of you.
If they hear of this, come north to warn me.
No, we cannot hide news of the queen's slaughter. It's wrong.
She has a son who should know, a father.
Aethelhelm will want revenge. He will blame all daneland for this.
You will not have to hide it for long.
I will be swift and then I will bring the queen's body to aegelesburg myself.
Haesten, come with me to eofennic. Tell them what you've heard.
- Let me come to eofennic. - Aethelstan!
- Let him. I will have no part in this. - You are already a part of it. We all are.
If they hear this story of sigtryggr killing a queen,
there will be a slaughter beyond brida at her worst.
Does that not get heavy?
You do not have to hold your sword.
You're stronger than me. The sword makes us equal.
How far are we going?
This is where the journey ends.
Head south, eventually you'll reach Winchester.
Hear me on this.
Edward does not want battle with daneland or with Danes.
Come with me to Winchester and seek a peace.
They will execute me before I'm within the gates.
I will stand for you. You will be under my protection.
The war should end, brida.
The war you started
and the war within you.
Good luck with the wolves.
Father pyrlig?
I accept your offer of safe passage and protection.
Take me to uhtred.
But my offer was to Edward. He is the king.
But uhtred is the enemy with whom I must reconcile.
If I am to come to peace, he's the one.
What? I thought you believed I was ready for redemption.
We've had no word of the visionary's demise.
Word of this should be spreading!
The bodies will be found. They were left hanging near an open road.
If this has gone wrong...
You'll do what? Send an assassin to kill me?
What's aethelstan doing here?
The king must've summoned him.
Someone is ahead of me. They're trying to make use of this moment.
Have you found the whereabouts of lady aelswith?
Still making inquiries.
We must locate her and the lady aelfwynn in case there is a plot forming.
Do not start changing the plan.
In a fight to the death, a man must be nimble.
I jump to escape being pushed.
We will be noticed.
- Sihtric. We will be found. - Not if you stay quiet.
Learn to move by stealth.
Lord king, a moment?
We are leaving to visit some of my new estates.
It cannot wait, lord king.
An atrocity has occurred against the faith.
Big ride for a small woman.
It belongs to my husband.
Traveling light?
Empty-handed...
I do not know who you are
and I do not need your money.
Did the family reward you, then?
Show gratitude for all you did?
Where are they, ladies aelfwynn and aelswith?
Where have they gone?
I do not owe you an answer.
People are
concerned for lady aelfwynn's safety.
So, if you remember where they are...
Find me.
- I want the horse I paid for. Go. - All right.
- I need to leave aegelesburg tonight. - That man is looking for aelfwynn.
That one.
That is not good. Is he the king's man?
I do not know.
Do you know where they went?
- You do not have to tell me the place... - Yes, I do.
I will travel there to warn them that they are being tracked
if you stay to keep one eye on the king.
Little aalys
slaughtered as she carried the tapestry on its sacred journey.
Hung from a tree like a piece of rotten meat.
The visionary.
A symbol of your common people, murdered.
Let us join together now
to confront this Dane threat before sigtryggr
and his brother unite to slaughter us all!
Where did you hear this news?
You know I have friends in every town, but I urge you, lord king,
you cannot delay a response.
Fury must be met with fury.
Or the common people will act on your behalf.
I would like to have this properly confirmed.
You choose now to act with caution?
When you have shown such boldness of late?
The pilgrims may be resting peacefully in lindisfarne as we speak.
Or killers maraud your lands without consequence...
Perhaps!
But I will not be moved to retaliate until I am certain.
Is there truth in it?
I can make inquiries.
If he is correct, it will indeed cause dismay.
And great division between Christian and Dane.
I've observed you have not yet left mercia.
I hope I have reassured you I'm not wholly impulsive.
I need men here I can trust.
Stay here and watch aethelhelm.
If he has heard this much, he's going to hear much worse.
I am insulted.
Let me assure you, if I were attacking wessex,
I would do more than strangle a queen.
To be fair, uhtred said this.
Who do you think is responsible?
- Who acts in your name? - No one.
This is the work of Edward himself.
He hated the queen, and he hates us.
He has killed her to justify a war.
He does not want a battle.
But when he hears of this, he will have to retaliate.
Which is why we have sent men to our border.
I will go to him with your denial.
Though were you to journey with me, this matter could be settled easily.
And leave eofennic undefended once again?
I have given my word.
That is enough.
He suffers from his allies deserting him.
I did not desert you.
I have men this moment preparing to track brida...
Yet we sit alone in eofennic.
I'm trying to save you from a battle you will not win!
Edward has twice the sliver, twice the armies.
Now he has mercia...
I am not afraid of a man who cannot even protect his own wife.
Take me to the visionary.
I must find out who spread these lies.
There's a rider!
Out of the way, men!
What approaches?
They say a messenger from the Danes.
- What is the word of sigtryggr? - A declaration.
"If king Edward chooses to come north, we will be ready."
Sigtryggr has, in essence, called for war.
No, he has warned us not to approach.
- It is different. - I do not understand this reluctance.
Aethelstan?
Is uhtred with you?
No, he is visiting his daughter.
Now your greatest warrior has abandoned his post at rumcofa to join sigtryggr!
Lord uhtred is a man of honor.
He goes only to see his child, so do not inflame the matter.
Be wiser.
Please, lord aethelhelm.
Rather than press for battle, I would ask you take a gift to the Scots.
They will be nervous of trouble on their border.
Then, if that is your order,
I shall gladly leave aegelesburg.
You speak your mind.
I heard you were quite the fighter.
I need a loyal man to lead the mercian guard.
Live here alongside them and be my presence here in aegelesburg.
Perhaps that man could be you in recompense for...
My banishment?
There are worse fates than to be raised by uhtred.
It'll be a better use of your talent than spying on your father.
I should like to accept.
Do you want my oath?
Do I need it?
If I cannot trust my son, who can I trust?
I'm not sure this is wise, lord.
If Edward cannot be provoked, perhaps sigtryggr can.
He's clearly anticipating an attack, so let's give the heathen what he wants.
Come and meet my men.
They are common folk.
You'll like them.
Ignore it. Go to sleep.
Icannot
I have too much to consider.
What day will he come for us?
I have said Sunday. So, now we must be patient.
What is it like to be married?
When one is married to the right person,
it is the greatest gift the lord can bestow.
The passions of the flesh
when enacted within loving matrimony are transporting.
When one feels the tremors of male affection...
- Grandmother. - It is but an honest answer.
It is why Alfred and I had such beautiful children.
What if one is married to the wrong person?
I hardly know cynlaef.
I hardly knew Alfred.
It is the way of things.
With the wrong person
I'm told marriage is a living hell.
Nonetheless, the bond holds fast.
It grieves me to be the bearer of such news.
I know how much the visionary meant to you all.
And to think of that child strangled,
defiled, her body hung from a tree!
It's unbearable.
My man bresal here...
Informs me that the Dane assassins who killed her
now disguise themselves in godless rumcofa
among the heathen settlers there.
I cannot be seen
to go against my king's command.
But if any of you wishes to avenge this,
there will be warm fires to welcome you in my camp.
For too long we have let the Dane threat live alongside us,
welcomed them into our homes, our food in their mouths
while they plot bloody outrage!
Any man who wishes to avenge themselves is free to go
to seek the justice your king should seek!
- Whose men are you? - We come from the king.
Dane murderers are hiding here and you must hand them over.
Of course, my men will attend to it.
Bresal, no Dane here would kill queen aelflaed. They are good people.
Why do you speak of queen aelflaed?
Cynlaef!
Get your arse out here!
- No cynlaef? - No, why?
What's wrong?
I need someone to alert the men downriver.
But quietly, so it doesn't look like we want a fight. Soldiers have arrived.
They say they're from Edward, but I'm not sure I believe it.
- I'll go. - No!
I can raise the men of rumcofa.
They know me, and no one will notice me leave.
Do that.
Send them up and wait downriver until I say it's safe to return here.
Swear it.
I swear. Go.
What are you doing? These are innocent folk!
Get your hands off her!
Tell your men to stand down!
Who are you?
Finan! These men have been here before!
Danes of rumcofa have murdered our queen!
Queen killers! Dane-loving scum!
Do your duty and rid the cockles from the wheat!
Stop it!
Danes here! Christian there!
Separate them.
Dane! Saxon!
Danes in here, go! Come on!
Father, declare a sanctuary! Go!
You'll be safe in here.
Bresal, they are good people...
Get off me!
Osferth, cynlaef! This way! We must get ingrith!
Check the docks! Check the docks!
Come with me!
Ingrith!
Get out of my way!
Ingrith!
- Ingrith, go! - Come on!
Fight me, boy!
Ingrith!
- No! - No!
You're all right! You're all right. Hey, hey!
It's all right.
- Help! - Where's the wound?
Where is it?
Oh, my god, oh, my god, I'm going to die! I'm going to die!
It's all right.
Don't let me die, finan!
Shh, I'm here with you.
Do not be afraid, aalys.
Uhtred is no danger.
He seeks only to make this right.
I swear I mean you no harm. I come only to hear your story.
The men that attacked the queen...
They claimed to come from sigtryggr, yes?
How did they know where to find her?
We told no one the queen rode with us.
Her menfolk would have forbidden it.
Did they say why they wanted the queen?
They did not want her.
They came for me.
They did. They spoke my name.
But the lord guided her.
She stood for me, claimed my place in the slaughter.
I wanted only to see the holy isle.
Why did St. cuthbert lead me...
Then let this happen?
I've got him.
I'm sorry.
It's my fault!
It's all my fault.
Pater noster qui es in oaelis...
Do not do that.
Danes, they have other customs.
Take the survivors to danelaw.
Mercia is no place for us.
We will take osferth back to the place of his birth.
Let him rest in wessex.
Take finan with you to meet uhtred.
I will meet sihtric on the road to aegelesburg.
Take aalys to lindisfarne. I have a friend there who will hide her.
Killing a queen, I follow. But who would want to kill a farm girl?
Someone who wishes to stir the people.
Bnda?
It is too sly for her.
Whichever, I ride to tell the king.
He can perhaps be restrained if he knows his wife was not the prey.
This is slightly on the light side, uhtred.
I should be properly compensated for the hospitality I have shown the girl.
You were compensated
by whatever you stole from the dead queen.
People do not entirely change, haesten.
Let them through!
News from rumcofa!
- Fetch the guard! - This way?
Lord aelfweard.
- I'm aethelstan... - I know who you are.
I cannot forget the boy held hostage with me in Winchester
who offered the Danes his life for mine.
There is talk of an uprising in rumcofa.
People there found the men that slew the visionary.
You need to go inside immediately.
And you need to fetch the king... now.
We were close in spirit once.
When she was first brought to the palace, I felt...
I had found...
Not a beloved but at least a friend.
Someone should tell her father.
That falls to me, as penance for ignoring his warnings about the Danes.
Have him brought from the road to Scotland.
She was dishonored in life, so she will be honored in death.
We must ready both armies to extract justice from sigtryggr.
His wife... for mine.
I have been told the news.
It is...
Beyond words.
I did not know her well...
But you humped her husband nonetheless...
Ignored the bonds of matrimony,
gave your flesh freely and brought the wrath of god.
Lord...
That is your own guilt speaking.
Do not seek to place this on me for I am blameless...
We are not blameless!
How can this be anything other than judgment?
My god is not vengeful and neither should you be.
This is the work of men, not god.
Find the men that wronged her and have them feel your wrath.
Forgive me.
I'm not myself.
In truth, I feel a burning shame. I did not love her as I vowed to.
I am not... I am not a good man.
You are a good man.
It matters not you did not love her.
Others did. That is enough.
Tell the boy the dreadful news.
Pity him.
Do not pity yourself.
Think of no one but me.
Look at nothing but my eyes.
Feel nothing but my body.
Swear to me this will not destroy you.
Be a good king, not a good man.
Men, women and children herded into my church and slaughtered.
Farm boys wrenched from their loving mothers.
All unprovoked, all taken when they had no sword.
What reason did they give for the king's wrath?
They claimed it was revenge for the death of the queen.
Their reason is to cleanse all Danes from Saxon lands.
Although they have lived alongside them for many years,
they do not want them there.
Your new king and queen will protect you.
You are no longer people of mercia but live under the shield of eoferwic.
Christians will not harm you here.
Ordinary christians do not hate Danes.
And yet Edward will no longer let us thrive here!
We will avenge you.
We have to go to war.
We will go north and confront sigtryggr.
Send word he will pay in blood for this affront to us all.
You fight under one king for the first time.
No longer men of wessex or mercia...
But saxons all.
Come.
Take some guards to find lord aethelhelm. Bring him home to us, child.
Sihtric... tell me.
News is being spread in aegelesburg
with talk of confronting the Danes in battle.
- How did the news come? - Lord aethelhelm.
He spoke of the dead visionary and pressed for vengeance
but did not speak of the queen.
He did not know. She journeyed in secret.
What if he planned it?
- The killing... - What? Of his own daughter?
No, of aalys.
Aethelhelm was unaware his daughter traveled with the pilgrims.
So he arranged to kill the visionary to poison the people against the Danes.
Then I almost pity him.
Do not pity him.
What he has unleashed will throw my daughter against the saxons.
- We must alert Edward to the enemy within. - Lord!
What are you doing here?
Aelfwynn is in buccstan.
What news of rumcofa?
- What of my son? - My family?
Your son lives, lord.
Your wife and children too, but...
Many in rumcofa...
Where is osferth?
- Finan, where is osferth? - Finan!
Tell us. Where is osferth?
Make way for the king!
Sigtryggr, let me lead a warrior band.
Let me do more than buttress a shield wall.
Let him join the vanguard. Walk out front.
If you ask me to, I will turn back now.
I will not ask.
If the king seeks to threaten us, we retaliate...
Even if it means fighting against those that I love.
I never wanted to rend you from your family.
I held the peace so I may hold you, unfractured.
I am not fractured.
And we are united.
We leave to join our men on the border without delay.
We summon the Saxon king!
And in three days...
In three days...
Our army will destroy Edward's army upon the high hills.
Yes.
In three days, we slaughter him, his offspring
and those who fight in his name.
Tell the coward boy the battle place.
Tell him sigtryggr will be waiting.
Sigtryggr!
Lord aethelhelm.
We have scattered many men in search of you.
And you're the one to find gold.
I've been asked to bring you back to aegelesburg.
Why?
I do not know the reason, lord.
Please just return with me.
Not today.
Feed him.
Make him welcome.
This way, lord aethelstan.
The little bastard knows something he will not tell me.
Perhaps you'd like to get it out of him.
Come, see the men we have gathered for this adventure.
- The king will need... - Lord, I must speak.
The bastard may be concealing that which I myself learned in rumcofa.
Your daughter was traveling with the pilgrims
and was also slaughtered.
Lord.
Did you hear that?
I saw her body in rumcofa, lord.
It's been taken to her husband.
Forgive me. Had we any idea...
Lord, it's not my fault.
Had you have said...
I think it is quite clear where the blame lies.
Lord, put down the knife.
It is the honorable way.
Since when have we done the honorable thing, lord?
Your grandson needs you alive.
My grandson's fortunes are ruined.
Without the queen...
Our influence dies.
Then make them rise again.
Finish what you've started.
I know you can do this, lord. I know it.
Find yourself.
Find it.
Fight.