Just seconds later, a chaotic flurry of footsteps echoed loudly from the main spiral staircase.
"...What the fucking hell is going on up here?" King Ecgberht's voice shattered the silence of the hallway.
The King of Northumbria, completely out of breath and still holding a half-eaten turkey leg in his hand, came rushing up the stairs.
Right behind him was Prince Alfred of Wessex and King Burgred of Mercia, flanked by a dozen of their own heavily armed royal guards.
They all stopped dead in their tracks... The foreign royals stared in shock at the black smoke pouring out of the door, and then their eyes locked onto the red blood dripping freely from Ragnar's broad shoulder.
"By the gods..." Burgred gasped, taking a frightened step backward. "King Ragnar... You are bleeding!"
