‘We’ve been that way, too.’ Joarr sounded sombre. ‘We’ve searched all along the shore.’
‘What about to the east, through the mountain pass?’
‘To the other side of the island? Why would she go that way?’
‘Because it’s the only other place I can think of.’ His heart leapt at the idea. ‘I need a horse. It’ll be quicker if I ride.’
‘There’s more bad weather coming.’ Joarr gestured towards the horizon.
‘The weather is the reason I need to go.’ He remembered the perilous ridge over the mountain and shuddered. ‘She might be trapped somewhere or hurt.’
‘She knows how to take care of herself.’
‘I know, but I can’t just stay here and wait.’
‘Then I’d better go with you.’ Brandt looked grimly at his mother. ‘We’ll talk later. Right now we need horses and supplies.’
‘I’ll see to it.’ Joarr nodded.
‘Hurry!’ Danr was already running up the beach. ‘We need to leave now!’
* * *
Sissa lifted her head, examining the pile of rotten timber lying over her body in case she’d missed some obvious way out, then dropped it again despairingly. It was no use. Her arms and legs were trapped and there was no way for her to wriggle out. The shelf she’d been reaching for had given way beneath her fingertips, pulling down what was left of the wall and roof along with it. She supposed she ought to be grateful that the beams had missed her head and that she was pinned to the ground, rather than crushed. None of her limbs felt as though they were injured, but heave as she might, there was no way for her to dislodge the wood covering her all the way from her neck down to her toes.
She sighed. She hadn’t even intended to come here, only once she’d got back to the clearing, she’d calmed down enough to realise that she’d overreacted. There was no proof that Danr had lied. Any discussion he might have had about a new village with Hilda had likely been just that, a discussion. It wasn’t as if he would have been able to force her to live there anyway. It was probably just an idea and maybe—the thought had gradually occurred to her as she’d walked—maybe it wasn’t such a bad one. Maybe it really was time for her to start living with people again. In which case there was something she’d wanted to do first.
That was the reason she’d come here, on her own and without telling anyone, which with hindsight had definitely been a mistake. It was ironic. She’d come back to the site of her first home to say goodbye to the past and found herself trapped beneath it instead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the slightest bit funny.
‘I know. I shouldn’t have come.’ She turned her head to look at Tove, lying beside her, and then Halvar, a few feet away. ‘But I’m glad you’re both here.’
In truth, she was more than glad. Hunger and a painfully dry throat were bad enough, but the last night of utter blackness would have been well-nigh unbearable without their company.
‘I should have told Hilda where I was going,’ she went on regretfully, ‘but I thought she’d try to stop me. It was foolish, but I meant to go back. You believe me, don’t you?’
She sighed and looked up at the sky where yet more grey clouds were massing, threatening rain and worse. The temperature was already plummeting, making her shiver despite her fur cloak. Every time she breathed in she felt as though her lungs were filling with ice. It wouldn’t be long before she was either drenched or buried in snow. Just like the way she’d found Danr, she realised, her heart clenching at the thought. Where was he now? Still in Eireann probably, or maybe on his journey back, too far away to rescue her. When he returned to Skíð, they’d tell him that she’d gone, without a clue as to why or where. He’d search for her, but what if he thought she’d lied and tricked him again? And who could blame him? All he’d know was that she’d broken her promise and left.
* * *
‘You need to slow down!’ Brandt bellowed behind him.
‘I can’t!’ Danr didn’t look around, icy blasts of air whipping across his face as he leaned over his mount’s neck, thundering through yet another valley.
‘Yes, you can, or in this terrain your horse will stumble and then we’ll have to make our way on foot.’ Brandt charged up beside him and grabbed hold of his horse’s bridle. ‘I know how you feel, Brother, but you need to calm down. Getting yourself injured won’t help her.’
Danr gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to spur his horse on anyway. ‘It’s not that easy. I just...’
‘I know.’
He twisted his head at the sound of pain in his brother’s voice. For the first time, he realised how hard this must be for Brandt, racing to find a woman, just as he’d raced to save Ingrid...
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you come.’
‘You couldn’t have stopped me. Where are we going anyway?’
‘To her old village. It was almost completely destroyed by outlaws five years ago, but she still goes there sometimes. It’s the only place I can think of.’
‘How much further?’
‘Too far. We’re going to get wet.’
‘I can live with wet.’ Brandt gestured behind them, to where lightning was already streaking the horizon. ‘That’s what I’m worried about. We’ll need to find shelter soon.’
‘No.’ Danr clenched his jaw grimly. ‘I’m not stopping. I’ll ride through a storm if I have to.’
‘I believe you, Brother.’ Brandt held on to his gaze for a long moment and then nodded. ‘Let’s go, then.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
The rain started some time around what Sissa guessed was mid-afternoon, a light drizzle at first that turned swiftly into a torrential downpour, soaking through her fur cloak and into her skin. She shivered violently. What was it that Danr had said about the rain never stopping on Skíð? It had actually rained less than usual while he’d been there, as if his presence had brought sunshine back into her life for a while, which, fanciful though it sounded, was true. His arrival had brightened her days. Now he was gone, it was only fitting that the dark clouds were back and apparently determined to make up for lost time.
A raindrop hit her in one eye and she winced, turning her head so that one side of her face was protected at least. Beside her, Tove whimpered, as if she felt helpless, too, but at least she was all right. Sissa smiled and made a small murmur of reassurance. That was one consolation. No matter what happened to her, at least Tove would survive. Halvar would take care of her.
She glanced at the male wolf, surprised to see him prick up his ears and then raise himself on his front paws suddenly.
‘What is it?’ She tried not to feel hopeful. It was probably just an otter or deer passing by, she told herself, though if it was then apparently it could speak. If she wasn’t imagining things, she could hear shouting in the distance.
‘Sissa?’
Her heart leapt at the sound of Danr’s voice. She would have recognised it anywhere.
‘In here!’ she shouted back as loudly as she could through parched lips though it wasn’t loud enough. Fortunately, Halvar howled for her, guiding Danr towards them while she held her breath, waiting, willing him to be real and not a figment of her imagination. It seemed like an eternity passed until she heard footsteps and he appeared around the edge of the half-collapsed longhouse.
‘Sissa.’ He vaulted over the fallen planks to reach her. ‘What happened? Are you hurt?’
‘Questions later.’ Another man, a giant with dark hair and familiar-looking blue eyes, accompanied him. ‘Let’s get her out first.’
‘No. Wait.’ Her heart lifted as she looked up into Danr’s face. ‘I love you. I should have said it before you left, but I do.’
‘You love me?’ His gaze looked arrested.
‘Even more than I did when you left.’
‘Lift!’ The other man gestured to the uppermost beam. ‘Aft
er three.’
‘I love you even more, too.’ Danr sounded apologetic. ‘But this might hurt.’
‘I don’t care. Just get me out.’
‘One, two...’
They made quick work of the beam, tossing it away and then wrenching the other planks aside as if they were simply playing some bigger version of knuckle sticks.
‘Can you feel your legs?’ Danr reached down, skimming his hands gently over her limbs.
‘Yes.’ She heaved herself up on her elbows. ‘I was only pinned down. I don’t think anything was broken or crushed.’
‘We need to get you out of here.’
‘One of the other buildings looks reasonably sturdy.’ The other man frowned. ‘It’s not the best idea considering what happened here, but we need shelter. I’ll go and have a closer look.’ He started away and then stopped. ‘About the wolves...?’
‘They won’t hurt you.’ Danr slid his arms behind her knees and shoulders. ‘They know you’re with us.’
‘If you say so.’
‘Hold on to me,’ Danr murmured, gathering her against him and carrying her across the ruins of the old village. The rain was coming down in sheets now, soaking them both to the bone—just when she’d thought it was impossible to get any wetter! Still, at this moment she found it hard to care. Just seeing him again felt too good to be true.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked in wonderment.
‘What am I doing here?’ He gave her an exasperated look. ‘What are you doing here? You promised to stay with Hilda.’
‘I know, but you were gone for so long.’
‘Two weeks.’
‘It felt longer.’ She bit her lip guiltily. ‘But I was going to go back. It wasn’t another trick, I promise.’
‘I know.’ He lowered her down to the ground as soon as they were inside the last reasonably solid longhouse, where the other man was already inspecting the rafters. ‘That doesn’t matter now, but what were you were thinking, coming here alone, without telling anyone? You don’t have to do everything alone any more, Sissa.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry?’ Danr removed his cloak and draped it around her shoulders, soggy as it was. ‘Sorry isn’t good enough. Here, drink this.’ He handed her a flask of ale. ‘And don’t think you—’
‘Are you one of his brothers?’ she interrupted, glancing towards the other man, unwilling to be scolded in front of an audience.
‘I’m Brandt.’
‘The one who threatened to cut out his tongue?’
‘The same.’ His lips almost, but not quite, twitched. ‘Not that threatening him ever worked.’
‘I know. I’m Sissa.’
‘My new sister, I guessed.’ He looked her over with interest. ‘Let him bluster for a bit. He was truly worried. He almost lamed himself and two horses trying to get here.’
‘Really?’
‘What do you think?’ Danr sounded angry now. ‘Hilda said you just walked out of the village one day and then Joarr said there was no sign of you in the forest. I was afraid you might have fallen off a mountainside or something.’ His expression became anguished. ‘If we hadn’t arrived back when we did...’
‘I’ll go and find some firewood.’ Brandt made for the doorway again.
‘I really am sorry.’ Sissa reached for Danr’s hand. ‘I shouldn’t have left.’
‘No, you shouldn’t. Was it so hard being around people?’
She made a face. ‘It wasn’t easy, but then Hilda mentioned us building a hall and having children...’ She swallowed. ‘I panicked. I thought that maybe you’d lied about not telling me what to do. That’s why I went back to the forest. Only once I got there, I decided to trust you instead. I was going to go back, but I wanted to come here first.’
The angry look in his eye softened. ‘Why?’
‘To fetch something.’ She reached into her cloak and pulled out a wooden tafl figure. ‘My father carved this king when I was a girl. All the things I took from here belonged to other people. I never took anything from my own home. It was too painful to be reminded of my family.’
‘And now?’
‘Now I want to move on—and you kept saying we needed a game. I thought we could add this to the pieces you’ve already carved.’ There was a roll of thunder in the distance and she made a face. ‘Although I admit this probably wasn’t the best time to come.’
‘At least I found you. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life as I’ve been in the past few hours. Even that day in Maerr.’ He cupped her face in his hands, pressing his lips to her forehead and pulling her close. ‘Do you really love me?’
‘I do.’ She nuzzled her face against his neck. ‘Enough to live in a hall if that’s what you want?’
‘Who said I want that?’
‘No one, but—’
‘I told you, we’ll make decisions together, and we’ll live wherever you want. In a tree or a cave or...’
‘Here.’
‘Here?’ He looked around at the dilapidated building.
‘Well, not here, exactly, but close by. You said it was a good position. We could build our own longhouse.’
‘I’ll build you ten longhouses if that’s what you really want.’ He grinned. ‘And we’ll just go back to the forest whenever Hilda and I want to kill each other.’
‘So every other day?’ She laughed. ‘That sounds perfect.’
‘Sissa.’ The look in his eyes heated as he placed one hand beneath her chin, tilting it upwards so he could lower his lips to hers...
‘Ahem.’ Brandt cleared his throat loudly as he came back in, his arms laden with branches that he proceeded to drop in the old hearth. ‘These are the driest I could find, which isn’t saying much. We’ll just have to hope they light.’ A look of amusement crossed his features. ‘If it’s not hot enough in here already?’
Fortunately, after several minutes of futile strikes, a small flame flickered into life, accompanied by a growl of satisfaction from Brandt.
‘Come, you need to walk around, get some blood flowing back through your legs.’ Danr grasped hold of her elbows, levering her back to her feet.
‘I know.’ She stood up carefully and stretched up on her toes a few times. ‘But I feel all right.’
‘Are you certain?’ He still looked concerned. ‘Maybe I should take a look?’
‘Truly, I’m all right.’ Sissa smiled reassuringly, surprised by a snorting sound from the other side of the fire.
‘Well, you must still be hungry.’ Danr threw a swift glare at his brother and then reached into his pack for some bread. ‘Here. Eat this.’
* * *
Ten minutes later, they were all gathered around the fire, listening to the rain lashing overhead.
‘I always thought Maerr was bad for rain.’ Brandt peered outside. ‘But this place might be even worse.’
‘Are you going back there?’ Sissa looked towards him with interest. ‘Now that Danr’s told you what we discovered about your aunt.’
‘I’ll get to Maerr eventually. First I’m going to Katanes, to visit her new husband. He has a fortress there.’
‘So you think he’s involved?’
Brandt nodded, lifting a skin of ale to his lips. ‘We’ve exhausted every other possibility. This is the only one that makes sense. I need to travel there before winter sets in.’
‘Just you? You mean you’re going alone?’ She looked at Danr hopefully and he wrapped an arm around her.
‘I’m not going anywhere. My brothers have forgiven me.’
‘So your oath...’
‘Is fulfilled.’ His eyes darkened as they gazed into hers. ‘I’m back for good.’
‘Then that means we can mate now?’
This time the noise sounded like spluttering from the other side of t
he fire.
‘You must be getting old, Brother.’ Danr grinned, though he never moved his eyes from her face. ‘It seems you can’t handle your ale any more.’
‘I’m going to check on the horses.’ Brandt got to his feet, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like he was comparing his brother to sheep dung. ‘I’ll be back in an hour. No more, understand?’
‘Perfectly. Take the ale.’
‘What did you think I was going to do?’
‘It’s still raining,’ Sissa protested as he disappeared through the gap in the wall. ‘What about the storm?’
‘Don’t worry about him.’ Danr sounded unconcerned. ‘He’ll find shelter somewhere.’
‘But—’ She went silent as his lips touched upon hers again, kissing her with a tenderness that left her breathless.
‘What about nothing,’ he murmured against her mouth after a few mind-spinning moments. ‘A man can only endure for so long and I can’t keep my hands off you any longer.’
‘Neither can I.’ She gave a smile of assent and slid her hands up over his forearms, across his broad shoulders and then around his neck, forgetting all about Brandt as they lay back on Danr’s cloak. He made a low rumbling sound in his throat and a familiar quivering sensation took over her body, first in her stomach, then out through the rest of her limbs, heating her blood and sending tremors of excitement like hot sparks shooting along every nerve.
‘I still need to inspect your legs.’ He slid a hand beneath the hem of her tunic, caressing the skin beneath. ‘Mmm, just as I thought. They definitely need some attention.’
She tipped her head back, closing her eyes in pleasure as he bent his head and started to kiss his way up her legs, beginning with her ankles and gradually moving up between her thighs. She felt her pulse quicken, arching her back as his tongue played lightly over her skin, kissing and licking and nuzzling.
‘Danr...’ She moaned in frustration.
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