When Maleus walked out into the darkness of the night, the rain stopped some minutes later. He reached a big stone and leaned against it. The wetness craweled into his clothes but he still ignored it. He only stood and tried to calm himself down.
After a short while the danish ruler heared a noise from behind. It was Ulric. The protector took place on the stne which was big like a cow. „This was a nice punch. I never saw someone hit Wulfgar like you.“ Maleus snorred but said nothing. Both men looked into the dark and stood in silence.

„Do you pity your enemys in battle?“ Maleus asked after quite an hour without talking. „Do you feel guilty when you kill they?“ „No, of course not. They are our enemys. I kill then or they will kill me.“ Ulric looked surprised. „Why do you ask?“ „Isabell feels guilty because of such things. This has something to do with her faith. I called the Christians weak instead of this some time ago. She told me she was sick of this big war and that she misses our children. There was a big dispute between me and her. After all I acceped to sign the peace treaty. I wanted to spend more time with my family.“ Ulric nodded in silence. „But in the polish village, when she visited this cathedral, she met a priest who gave her the task to visit one of the holy places of the Christians to earn forgiveness for her so called sins. She should do a pilgrimage. And now she want to go and do like this black robed son of a pig told her.“ „And Wulfgar knew it?“ „Yes, he did and even said a word.“ „Aye, I understand. You don´t like the idea of this pilgrimage?“ „No, of cause not. Why I should like it? How mad someone has to be to walk to the other side of the world for nothing?“ „Maybe you should join her?“ Maleus looked to Ulric. „Are you insane! Why should I do this?“ „To learn more about their faith. Maybe to understand why she want to do this. It looks to my you don´t be able to at the moment, am I right?“ A gnarling was the answer. „And you can protect her on this journey. A beautiful woman, alone... I thinks she will need protection.“ The growling in Maleus throut became louder. „Think about it my king. The other way would be to let her go alone. And each day will be filled with doubts if she is alright.“ He jumped down the stone and went back to the barn. „Just think about it. And maybe there will be a possibility to change her mind ans show her that the Aesir are stronger than her god is. But now I will go and get some sleep.“ He walked away and left Maleus alone. „Maybe you are right my friend. But I don´t like it. And I never will.“

It was short till dawn when the danish ruler entered the barn and moved to his doss and tried to get some sleep.

Trying her hardest to breathe regularly and keep her eyes closed, Ish was very much aware of her husband when he came into the barn. But she ignored his presence.
By the time that dawn had fully broken she rose from her blankets and began to tidy the place where she had slept before performing all her other morning tasks but unlike usual she did so in utter silence.
She knew everyone would see that she had not slept, her eyes felt dry and she felt sluggish but ignoring this she served breakfast and helped to prepare for their departure.

The time they spent riding, she kept her silence, swaying in the saddle occasionally when tiredness threatened to overcome her. Increasingly the rain turned into snow and she sat shivering atop her horse, trying desperately to warm her hands under the mane.
After a while even the wet snow could not keep her from nodding off occasionally and Ish slid from the horse and began to walk next to her, lost in thoughts. She had no idea what she was going to do if they were going to spend the night in an inn.

Since few days, there had been no word spoken between Maleus and Ish. The mood of the little group was exactly like the weather was: Bad! It was snowing every day. Sometimes it was nearly impossible to find the road.

It was after dawn when they reached a little village. Some houses and a little church. But there was a little inn also. Maleus entered the hall und looked around. It was small but clean and there was the smell of stew in the air. „Inkeeper! We need rooms for people. It would be good if we can get 3 rooms.“ „Of course mylord.“ The man looked a little bit surprised but a single smile showed that he was happy to have guests. „And may we can get some dishes of this tasty stew? It is cold outside and a hot meal would warm us frin inside.“ „Sure. Come in and my wife will serve it in few moments. You look like you came from far away.“ The other members of the group had entered the room. „First bring me to my room!“ Maleus ordered. „I want to change my clothes. And maybe you could heat some water. I think my wife will have a hot bath later.“ The inkeeper nodded and moved to the stairs. „Please follow me. I will take you to your rooms.“ Before the danish ruler moved on he looked to Ish and said: „I´m going to accompany you on your pilgrimage. I will see this holy places, which are so importent for your salvation. More important than anything else.“ Then turned around and got ready to climb the stairs.

The difficult journey and the continued silence were taking their toll on Ish, but since she was at least as pig-headed as her husband she gritted her teeth and kept on going.
In the evenings she was usually at the end of her strength and more than willing to just find a bed or something else soft to fall into. This evening was no difference, she could hardly keep her eyes open and she feared that a hot bath would simply send her off to sleep. But all senses suddenly came awake when Maleus looked at her and mentioned that he was going to accompany her on her pilgrimage. He said it grudgingly and she could not keep a flicker of surprise from her features as she looked after him. For the duration of a few heartbeats she just stood, then she smiled tiredly at the innkeeper and told him that she would like her stew to be served in her room after her bath.

As she sat in the hot water it took all of her strength not to fall asleep. She felt better for knowing that Maleus would accompany her but at the same time there was a nagging doubt. This confrontation was not over yet. The number of rooms were a sign of that.
Steam rose from her skin as she finally clambered out of the bath and dried herself, feeling warm for the first time in a number of days. Winter was the worst time to quarrel with one's husband, she decided while she dressed herself and asked her guard to go and fetch the servants to take the tub away.

The cold had crept into the room and Ish awoke shivering. She could hear snoring through the thin walls of the room and for a moment she felt disorientated all by herself. It would be a lie if she even thought that she did not miss her husband but she was not ready to speak to him. For a few more moments she lay there, trying to feel her toes before she gave up and reached for her dress and her coat and spread both over the bed she lay in before curling back up to try and sleep some more.

It was a quiet trip to Touraine. Most of the time all members of the group stood in silence. Only when they had to rest he and his wife talked to each other, but not more than few words. It hurt him because he loved his wife more than his own life. But he couldn´t understand her and her actings. „I will show her that my gods are stronger. With help from Odin, I will win this tourney.“ he mumbled.

After they arrived the danish ruler separated himself and Ulric from the other. He wanted to train and to pray to Odin for strength. He was confident to win, as long as he didn´t has to fight against his own wife.

Before the first fight of the tourney, Maleus praied to Odin for the strength to be victorious.

His first opponent was the irish queen Seighin herself. It was a pity, because she was a good friend of his wife, but to show the world the power of the northmen, he has had to defeat her. The irish banrion fought well but Maleus was even better. After she laid down in the sand he reached out his hand to her and helped her up. „You are a strong woman, but you are no match for me.“ he growled. Then he left her to prepare himself for the joust.

Here he lost like he did in Poland. Ish was better and defeated her opponent easely. After her win he moved to the stable. His wife was grooming her horse so she didn´t noticed his arriving.
„You did well in the joust.“ he said. „But in the duel you lost. I will revenge you.“ Without waiting for a reaction he left.

The next day, Maleus drubbed another irish knight without any problems. And the next day he fought against the conqueror of his wife. The burgundian knight was strong. For a short moment, Maleus was near to give up. But then the rage of the berserk came over him and with a loud shout he hit his opponent again and again untill he laid on the ground. „This is for beating my wife!“ He shouted to Waldemar. Then he faltered to his room.

Trygve held the door open for Ish as she entered the tavern. It was noisy and the air seemed stale and all in all the atmosphere was festive. She was still in no mood for festivities although her meeting with Seighin had done much to lift her spirits. Now she was waiting for her sons and her daughter to arrive. How much they would have grown. Also she was looking forward to seeing Thordis again, ever since their first meeting they had become close and sometimes she felt the former slave was one of her most important allies in the Danish fortress.
An almost evil smile played on her face as she thought that it might be time to tell her husband of the impending arrival of their children. He'd either fly into a new rage or.. well. It was probably going to keep him grumpy at the very least.
As she ascended the stairs that knot formed in her belly once more, it was not fear but rather apprehension. However she affected a neutral face and entered, closing the door behind her. "Were you hurt?", she asked quietly and gazed at the man she loved, even though their relationship was currently to be termed cool.

Maleus looked up. „He hit my head. You see, no importent part of me is damaged.“ He was surprised to see her. He had lost the last fight of the tourney and this defeat didn´t taste good. „I had forgotten to pray to Odin before the fight. So he didn´t gave me the strength to win.“ He looked to his wife, thinking that she looked beautieful like the day he married her. „How long will we stay? I would like to start your pilgrimage as soon as possible.“

She sighed and leant against the closed door. "I would like to start soon too. However we need to wait for a few people. Three of them quite important. Hopefully they will be with us soon. Seighin and her sister are going to accompany us as well. You should regain your strength, husband." The slightly crazy part in her brought a gently mocking smile to her face and she wondered how quickly he would understand.

The danish ruler signed. „Three important people? I hope no priest, because I couldn´t promise that he would end this trip alive. And the irish queen and her sister will join us too?“ He shook his head. „More silly Christians. Wonderful. I think I have to tell Ulric to buy a lot of mead. A waggonload lot maybe. And do you know by now, where we will go?“