Episode 16: History of Beasts

Ragnar's corpse is returned to Canute, and Askeladd claims a spear took him from behind during the fighting before ordering an immediate retreat with Thorfinn set to guard the prince. Alone with Bjorn, Askeladd defends the murder, arguing that Canute lacks any proof and that Ragnar's coddling was the very thing keeping the boy weak. He wants a lord worth serving, and if the prince sinks into despair and never recovers, he intends to cast him aside.

Askeladd then joins his men as they beat a captured English officer for information, demanding to know the size of the reinforcements, their timing, and how the band was located. When the captain refuses even under torture and spits that the Danes are beasts who slaughtered his family, Askeladd counters with a lesson in conquest. The Celts once held this land, the Romans shared knowledge with them, and the Anglo-Saxons seized it by force five centuries ago, making them beasts by the same measure.

Ear rushes in with word that a large force approaches by night, and the laughing captain finally reveals the truth: Thorkell is coming. Panic ripples through the band. Outside the village, Thorkell divides his men into three groups with orders to spare only the prince and Thorfinn. When Canute refuses to abandon Ragnar's body without a funeral, Askeladd slaps him and states plainly that the dead man will not be returning.

Two deserters hoping to defect are dragged before Askeladd, echoing Ragnar's claim that his luck has run dry. He tells the whole band they may follow whoever they wish, but any who stay must march without rest or food, and stragglers will be left to die. By morning Thorkell reaches the village and cuts down the men who lingered to join him, dismissing them as worthless cowards who surrendered without a fight.

After the column crosses a bridge, Askeladd orders Atli and Torgrim to destroy it, though Torgrim protests that the shallow river makes the effort pointless and grumbles that the leader has lost his edge. Reading treachery in the faces around him, Askeladd shifts Canute onto a separate sled with Bjorn driving and Thorfinn on guard. Torgrim, meanwhile, works to convince a reluctant Atli that they should hand the prince to Thorkell as a peace offering.

When Thorkell appears atop a hill and kills four men with a single thrown spear, Askeladd urges calm, noting the enemy remains far off and burdened by cargo they cannot easily carry across the river. Torgrim refuses to endure another day of endless marching with no promise of survival, and when Askeladd declares that their paths must therefore diverge, his men close in and surround him at the sled, setting the stage for open rebellion.