Episode 15: After Yule

Floki informs King Sweyn that Ragnar's unit fought Thorkell to save Canute, only for the prince to vanish in the chaos, and that no relief can be sent before spring. Sweyn muses coldly that a son as gifted as his elder brother would never have gone missing. Far off, Thorkell sulks that winter has paused the war, regretting the loss of a captive he might have used to raise a new dynasty, and learns from Asgeir that England intends to recognize Sweyn as Bretwalda, an act amounting to full surrender.

At the seized village, Ear grumbles that Willibald, Ragnar, and Canute keep praying over the dead and drowning out his listening. When Willibald begins to doubt God's love, the prince stops him, insisting every father cherishes his children. Thorkell, meanwhile, hears of a lone Danish band snowed in near the head of the Severn and quickly deduces that they feigned a sea escape and stalled on land. Delighted, he rouses his five hundred and orders provisions for a march, reducing the innkeeper to tears.

Ear catches the sound of gathering soldiers and warns Askeladd that they have been discovered, forcing an immediate departure with only a pair of sleds finished. Askeladd instructs Bjorn to ready the men, seize the enemy commander to learn how they were found, and carry out something the two had privately arranged. In a warmer moment, Ragnar invites Thorfinn to share a rabbit stew he and Canute cook together, and the prince confides that cooking is a secret hobby dating to a childhood dish that once made Sweyn overturn the table in fury.

A messenger interrupts with word that a battle has begun and that the band will next head for Derby, and an incensed Ragnar follows the men into the woods to confront Askeladd. Sensing the fighting lies in the wrong direction, he realizes too late that he has been led into a trap. As he draws his sword, a spearman hidden in the snow runs him through from behind, and the killer apologizes, naming Askeladd's command as the cause.

Askeladd arrives to speak with the mortally wounded Ragnar alone, thanking him for keeping Canute alive and swearing, at the dying man's insistence, to protect the prince now that Ragnar has fallen fighting the English. But Ragnar uses his final strength to reveal the deeper danger. The court at Jelling has split over the succession between Canute and Harald, and Sweyn, fearing a divided Denmark, likely means to see one prince dead.

Ragnar concludes that Sweyn dragged Canute to war hoping he would perish, making the boy's true foe his own father, and urges Askeladd to flee into exile with the help of his brother at Gainsborough. As he collapses, he begs a final glimpse of the prince, which Askeladd denies, and in his last words he wishes only to cook poultry with Canute one day to please the king. His death sets the price of Askeladd's gamble on the boy's growth.