‘Vikings’ Season 2 Spoilers: Ragnar Raids Wessex, Bjorn Grows Up And Kattegat Is Under Attack In Episode 3; What Happened In ‘Treachery’? [RECAP]

The “Vikings” are back! And they’re bloodier than ever. Or at least that’s what we witnessed during episode 3, “Treachery,” which aired Thursday night. The History Channel hunks we’ve all come to love/fear are swinging their swords once again as they try to conquer Wessex. But will the Northmen succeed? Let’s just say Ragnar and his fierce warriors are not to be reckoned with this season!

“Treachery” begins with the Vikings attempt of taking over a church that holds “a lot of hidden treasure,” as Athelstan promised. But while the bearded brawnies are plotting their raid, King Ecbert and his men are preparing for a fight too.

“Now it’s out time to deal with these ruffians, these pagans,” the angry King says. “And deal with them we shall and must.” King Ecbert decides to gather up his fiercest fighters and sliest spies to protect their land. “Let us not be afraid but rather watchful,” he says. Patience is not something the Vikings have learned to master, but it turns out to be a vital strategy for the King.

And Ecbert isn’t the only one in “Vikings” who is displaying a significant amount of endurance. Lagertha is also proving her persistence through her abusive marriage with the Earl Sigvard of Scandinavia for the sake of Bjorn’s well being. After a heated conversation regarding her current husband’s poor treatment toward her son, Lagertha is struck in the face.

“Forgive me, Lagertha. I am a tempered man. I find it difficult to control myself. I have loved and desired you. If your son will only meet me half way, I will make sure he has a good future,” Sigvard promised, attempting to wipe the dripping blood from his wife’s lip. But Lagertha can take care of herself.

Meanwhile, the Vikings had begun their raid on Winchester. The Monks spotted the raggedy bunch of warriors lurking from the woods and warn the village with the ring of a bell. The small town erupted in panic as they prepared for what would undoubtedly be a massacre. And that’s exactly what it turned into as the Vikings took over Winchester, slitting the throats of every man, women and priest they came in contact with. However, during the raid, we watched Ragnar spare the life of a hidden child just as Athelstan tried to save the life of a priest.

“You speak out language? How?” the priest asked when Athelstan told him to hide. After admitting he was one of them, the priest grimly explained that one day he would be caught and crucified. Floki walks in on the conversation and decides to use the priest to his advantage. Something about Athelstan just doesn’t sit right with him and he’s going to find out!

Enraged that the priest worships a different God then he, King Horik ties the Christian priest up and the Vikings begin to torture the innocent man by shooting arrows into him. As they hear him praying, they decided to shut up him up once and for all.

“Suffer no more but trust in my salvation,” Athelstan said before slitting the priest’s throat. As the blood soaked the floor, the Vikings left with their hidden treasure in hand.

“How did you know?” Ragnar asked why Athelstan knew how to find the gold.

“It’s a Christian habit to bury the treasure,” he replied. Athelstan better be careful. The more he reveals about Christianity, the more his knowledge will be questioned -- specifically by Floki, who has it out for the young fighter.

Bjorn also is picked upon during episode 3 as his stepfather continues to mock him and his father and attack his mother.

“Mother, why would you allow him to do that to you?” he questioned his mom. “Has he hit you before? Will you let him hit you again? If [he] does, I’ll kill him.”

That’s when mother and son begin their heart-to-heart about his father.

“Sometimes I think of him. I miss him I can’t help it,” he confessed. After assuring her son she’d not longer be attacked, she engaged in the subject of the man who cheated on her saying that Bjorn should be proud to have Ragnar as his father.

“Vikings” then cuts to a scene of Siggy and Aslaug as Rollo’s lover is introduced to their new child, Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye. In awe, Siggy spots the creature slithering in Ragnar's son’s pupil.

But that’s not the craziest thing that happened in “Treachery.” We learned exactly why King Ecbert allowed for one of his holiest villages to be attacked. According to the intelligent leader, he wanted to learn the whereabouts of the “pagans.” Then he sent a messenger to meet with the Vikings to discuss what they want.

“The King regrets your attack on the holy town of Winchester,” the priest says. “He wonders how much longer you will stay in his kingdom.”

“That depends,” Rollo said while picking flowers. “Upon what you offer us to leave [or] what you’ll offer us to stay. We want to make piece with the King so we don’t have to kill anymore of you.”

While the men are leaving, King Horik butchers one of their men in front of them to let it be known who means business.

Ragnar and his men have found great pleasure in Wessex thus far. While Horik has become mesmerized by the gold, the Earl has become rather intrigued by the soil.

“Compared to the poor countries where it is hard to farm, hard to live. Here, it is easy. Here we could feed everybody. There would be no hungry,” he said.

Little does Ragnar know, his village, Kattegat, has just been invaded by Jarl Borg. During his wedding reception, Borg announces to his people that he was insulted when Ragnar and King Horik raided the west without him.

“I have to do something about this insult. I blame King Horik but I think about Ragnar’s land. He’s abandoned them -- left his wife [with] his drunken brother. I declare today that I will seek vengeance. By all our gods I swear I will seize all his land,” Borg confessed, adding that he was determined to kill Rollo with an ax.

But Rollo won’t go down fighting. As a warrior, he prepares as best he can for the unfair fight against Borg and his warriors. He sends Siggy to the mountains to protect herself, Aslaug and Ragnar’s children while the rest of the villagers who are “able to hold a weapon” fight for their village. Unfortunately, Borg seizes Kattegat and Ragnar’s village is left in a bloody mess, decorated with lifeless bodies.

Rollo is told that his duty is to protect Ragnar’s family and so he leaves his village behind, only to watch it become taken over by the vengeance-seeking fighter.

What did you think tonight’s episode of “Vikings”? Let us know in the comments section below!