Chapter 348 The Wolf In Sheep's Clothing



The chaotic scene was coming to an end, King Gryting had fallen and his men were rounded up by Grjötgard.

Grjötgard showed no mercy, they were all executed despite surrendering, Grjötgard was ruthless and the fact that Vegard was put in danger made this all the worse as Grjötgard did not mess around when it came to Vegard. 

Rugalf didn't like his methods but he could not interfere, they brought this upon themselves and death was the penalty for anyone that tried to harm them. The throne room was filled with his brothers, none were harmed but Askild's involvement was praised as King Rugalf thanked the King of Kattegat for saving his daughter and Tyr or he would have lost two very important people.

King Ragnar had a bandage around his shoulder but apart from that, he was fine. 

Ragnar knew for certain that if Askild wished harm on his children now would have been the perfect time but seeing as he did not and rather, protected him made him a lot more human in Ragnar's eyes. 

They hated to admit it but King Askild was slowly redeeming himself, this was crucial for the alliance.

Tryggve was arrested, his saving grace was that his men did not take any life even though they wanted to kill a specific set of people. 

Tryggve was true to his word, he accepted whatever punishment Rugalf saw fit despite Grjötgard's insistence that he too be executed as this would send a clear message to everyone but Rugalf was not on-board with this. Rugalf wanted to end the cycle that plagued them because he knew if he killed Tryggve or punished him, it will take a hit at his pride and that would make people question his authority over time. 

Rugalf knew he could let this slide, they did not provide adequate security and that was how Tor died so they were partly to blame for this as well. 

Salgard agreed with Grjötgard as he expected, but how other brothers agreed with Rugalf as there was already too much blood spilt. 

Tyr was indifferent about the situation because as long as Estrid was safe, he did not really care but he realized why Rugalf chose him specifically.

Tyr did not have a Kingdom seeing as he had been exiled, this meant he did not need to lose his daughter to another Kingdom but rather she could remain here as Tyr had the potential of succeeding him if Grjötgard did not want to be King. 

Grjötgard has always been a free spirit that would rather explore the outside world than be confined to such duties.

Salgard was far too sadistic to be King, he would be nothing short of a tyrant. 

Tyrggve was to have his arm amputated but Kung Rugalf showed him mercy as he had lost his son. 

He waved the punishment, and only taxed his Kingdom a certain amount of gold and silver. 

The lockdown was lifted, but the search for Ludvig was ongoing but they were focused outside of the Kingdom. 

Tyr could breathe a sigh of relief because everything somehow worked out in their favour. 

He noticed that Estrid was a lot calmer as well, something that put him on alert as he did not think his wife had such a darkness in her but he did not 'not' like it. Tyr knew that with such darkness in his wife, he did not need to hide who he really was from her. 

"Tyr, follow me," A voice said behind him, it was Salgard. Tyr did not like him one bit but he was family so there was nothing he could do but try to maintain some sort of relationship with him. 

Tyr knew another incident like last time would not be tolerated by Rugalf so he could rule that out fortunately and this was the only reason he even considered entertaining this idea. 

Tyr followed him because there was nothing else he could do and Salgard led him into a secluded area.

"You are not going to try and fight me again, are you?" Tyr asked, but Salgard remained quiet. 

He noticed Estrid was at this location, waiting for them and he could only imagine what this was. 

"How did you do it?" Estrid asked both of them.

She did not know who did but the idea was genius, there was no way in hell that they could have pointed it back to them even though she suspected Salgard as this looked like something more up his alley.

"What are you talking about?* Tyr asked Estrid, he thought she was the one that did it as it would have been easy for her to make it past the guards. 

"I told Uncle Salgard everything, he knows Tyr," Estrid said, looking over at the ever-smiling Salgard. 

She could not tell what was going on through his mind but she knew this was her chance to come clean to her husband about what truly happened. 

Estrid told Tyr everything, every single detail of what she did; she even went into more detail than she did with Salgard as she owed Tyr this. 

She thought that her husband would hate her for this revelation but Tyr just took a deep breath. 

"I will never understand women. You could have just asked…" Tyr said in an indifferent tone. 

Frankly, he did not care as he knew something was off, but he was glad that he knew exactly what was now. 

"YOU WOULD NOT GET IT! I WANTED TO KNOW!" Estrid fired back, she hoped for more of a reaction from her husband but nonchalance was the word of the day. 

"Tor is dead and I was not the one that killed him…" Tyr said bluntly, looking at Salgard. 

"I did not kill him either…" Salgard said but this was where the concern crept in because they knew from a single look at Estrid that she was not responsible for it. 

Tyr wanted to doubt Salgard but he had no reason for lying, there was nothing to gain as he could easily say so and nothing would happen.

"What the fuck is going on?" Tyr asked the question that was going through everyone's mind but no one had the answer.

The big question remained if it was not them then just who was responsible for this?

-

A few hours passed since the conclusion of the saga as everyone was allowed to leave but the revelation that the Gardssons were not responsible for the Tor's death made them question just who was.

"It is done at last," A man was seen undressing, the windows and blinds in his room were shut, shrouding the entire place in darkness and all the details of the room. 

Footsteps could be heard, he was walking to the other compartment of his house. 

"I am surprised…" Another voice said, still in the dark compartment of the room, pausing.

The air was dry but the voices of these men felt both familiar and unfamiliar as the door to the other compartment was opened to reveal who this person was. 

".... To think you would kill your own son," The voice concluded as the person revealed was King Tryggve who had a sickening grin across his face but what was even more interesting would soon be revealed. 

"Tor has always been a loud-mouthed fool. At least he died for something far greater than himself," Tryggve said coldly, he sounded like he was devoid of not only emotions but affection for his deceased son. 

"Tyr and Bjorn Ragnarsson, I fear that they might prove troublesome in the future. I hoped that the fool called Gryting could take care of them for me but he chose to fight King Ragnar instead…" Tryggve said. 

Tryggve had the opportunity to kill Bjorn but he could not because there were multiple witnesses.

There was no way he would not be held responsible if Bjorn died and that would put a huge wedge in his plan but what was the plan?

"They are the children of Ragnar Lothbrok, what did you expect?" The voice in the other room said. 

Tryggve was exhausted by putting up an act for so long, he grew tired even and a scar was revealed on his arm.

The same scar on Gryting's arm was seen on his but Tryggve looked down at it with a contented smile. 

"This was good work…" Tryggve said under his breath as he splashed water on it and it slowly faded. 

It was paint, it was anything but authentic.

"Why did you help me with my plan?" Tryggve asked the strange man behind the door. 

"Would you believe me if I said I was bored?" The man responded with a playful laugh but this was bullshit and Tryggve knew it. This, however, was the least of his problems. 

"I am honoured that you of all people chose to join my cause…." Tryggve paused briefly as he slicked his hair back before completing his sentence.

".... King Askild."