And somewhere far from Kattegat, a prince of Wessex endeavors to save a captured Queen of Mercia.
But perhaps none of that matters.
For here, in Kattegat, a man has escaped.
Credit: Steve Wilkie/History
says Ragnar Lothbrok, his breakfast disrupted.
The nobles have risen in revolt against Queen Kwenthrith.
The kin-killing queen is a captive now, with her son Magnus, in some faraway tower.
(Youll recall that Magnus is the son of Ragnar Lothbrok or so Kwenthrith claims.)
For Ecbert, everything is an opportunity.
Mercia is in revolt?
To maintain a professional army is an expensive luxury.
Ecbert plays upon their fear of Ragnar Lothbrok.
(The Vikings were helpful allies, but theyre even more helpful as boogeymen.)
Will Ragnar return to Ecberts shores?
Vengeance calls the Northman King in many directions: West to Wessex, south to Frankia.
For now, he deals with problems closer to home.
While his children hunt Floki, he finds Flokis wife and daughter.
Ragnar knows Helge freed her husband, and doesnt blame her.
Floki loves you, she insists.
He only loves himself, Ragnar responds.
You know that better than anyone.
Ragnar has dark words for Helge.
Winter is coming, he says, seemingly quoting another series about lords and warriors.
You and your child will need to eat.
Ragnars army hunts his old friend.
Ecberts army prepares for war.
The scouts he sent to Wessex mostly return in pieces: heads and hands removed from missing bodies.
But Aethelwulf and Ecbert find one scout yet alive, with important information.
One Mercian nobleman passed along news: The location of Kwenthrith and her son, Magnus.
Aethelwulf sets off on a rescue mission, once again leaving his wife, Judith, home alone.
Farewell, wife, he says nonchalantly.
Now I trust you again, parting feels less sorrowful.
Judith hears him, with her one remaining ear.
But Ecbert surprises her.
I want you to be free, he says.
I can imagine you have never been free, not since you were born.
What does Judith truly want?
Ecbert is a monster, but hes a uniquely progressive monster.
Alone among theVikingscast, Ecbert strikes us as a man with a modern perspective.
What does Judith want?
Id like to be a painter, she says.
Then, Ecbert promises, they must find her a teacher.
With Count Odo, he plots a defense for the next attack by the Northmen.
A pair of towers, on either side of the river.
A chain between them to block Viking ships.
And a Frankish fleet, the counterattack.
Rollo spent a lifetime preparing for this betrayal.
Count Odo likes Rollo.
Yes, the great bear was a bitter nemesis not long ago.
But Odo recognizes that he is a great warrior.
Such men are in short supply in Paris.
Odo tells his mistress, Therese, that he has no love for the emperor.
Admittedly, he only tells her this with some subtle messaging from Therese herself.
Is Therese pushing Odo toward a coup?
Her game is more complicated: We see her abed with Roland, Odos second-in-command.
Together, they are plotting some more devious gambit.
Then, let the cards fall as they may.
In Wessex, a fresh arrival incites new incidents.
A monk named Prudentius is called by King Ecbert to teach.
He is horrified at the prospect of his student.
A scandal: To teach Judith,a woman, the sacred texts!
But Ecbert and the monk discuss the matter with the local bishop.
The bishop knows the score.
So Judith will learn.
Will this make her free?
Or is this some further entrapment by Ecbert?
(Perhaps it is both.)
Meanwhile, Floki runs and runs, and what seems like the entire village of Kattegat chases behind him.
He almost gets away.
But destiny is destiny.
Long ago, Floki built ships for a young farmer named Ragnar and befriended Ragnars young son.
Years have passed, and times have changed.
So it is that another son of Ragnar Lothbrok finds Floki, hiding in a stream.
And so it is that the young farmer has become a brutal king.
Why didnt the gods protect you?
Ragnar asks his prisoner.
Why didnt they hide you better?
Ragnar promises his old friend an embarrassing punishment.
Nothing heroic, he declares.
No chance to impress the gods.
Ragnars wife, Aslaug, has some opinions on the matter.
What did he do that was wrong?
All he did was kill a Christian.
Ragnar beats her, raging.
This is not about Christians and faith, he says.
Long ago, a warrior named Ragnar met a ravishing beauty in the forest.
Years have passed; times have changed: Love burned bright and then burned out.
Aslaug looks on her husband.
There is no fear in her eyes.
Only rage and pity.
In Mercia, Aethelwulfs men find the queen and her little prince in a tower.
A brutal battle breaks out.
the Mercian general commands.
They almost do: Kwenthrith herself fights for her life, slamming one soldiers head wide open.
Noble Aethelwulf rescues her, though its hard to say what for.
(What good is a queen without a country?)
Far from Kattegat, Bjorn digs through ice, searching for fish.
Bjorns father finds Flokis wife, digging a grave.
Her daughter is dead.
What did she die of?
This life is cold, and short for everyone.
Floki doesnt even know that his daughter is dead.
Ragnar has punished him in the manner of the trickster god Loki.
The sagas tell how Loki was imprisoned by the gods, held underneath dripping venom.
In a faraway cave, droplets fall upon Floki, driving him mad.
His arms are stretched out, bound to the cave walls.
But perhaps Floki is beyond all irony.
Perhaps the gods hear him; no one else can.
