Ivar the Boneless sat in the slush, ignoring the rain soaking into his clothes.
Around the edges of the courtyard, the surviving Norse raiders stood still.
Suddenly, the sound of iron boots splashing through the mud shattered the eerie silence.
Marching slowly through the smoking rubble of the main gates was another figure.
It was Halfdan, he wore bear furs and carried a pair of sharp iron axes.
Halfdan had been tasked with securing the outer city streets during the explosion, but the sudden silence from the keep had brought him running.
Halfdan stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes scanned the carnage of the courtyard.
He saw the dead Irish guards. He saw the lifeless body of High King Aedh MacNeill lying near the broken eastern wall.
And then, Halfdan's eyes locked entirely onto Ivar sitting in the mud with Ubba's corpse.
The axes slipped completely from Halfdan's thick hands, falling into the mud.
