The Viking Maiden Box Set
Page 14
“We’re going to have to figure out who and what he is,” Hagen finally said.
“Yes, and then?” Jorg asked.
Ingrid kept her eyes focused on her lap. A quick glance out the side of her eye told her that Selby was doing the same.
Hagen let out a long breath and stood up. “Let’s see what he says first, then decide what to do with him.” Jorg nodded and rose to go along. “Ingrid, you stay here. I don’t want him influencing you again. Selby . . .”
Ingrid and Selby both looked at Hagen when he didn’t continue speaking.
“What?” Selby asked.
“Stay with her. Got it?” He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for her response.
“Yeah,” she sneered at him. “Did you think I would leave her sitting here by herself?” She looked away and huffed.
Ingrid smiled at her friend, then looked up at the boys. “Be careful.”
“We will. I mean it; stay here,” Hagen said with his brows raised and eyes pleading rather than stern.
Ingrid forced a smile that looked more like a grimace and nodded.
Jorg looked at Ingrid, and the muscles in his jaw tightened. Then he gave a quick nod and strode after Hagen.
Confused, Ingrid looked at Selby for help.
She only raised her eyebrows and shook her head.
Ingrid couldn’t help glancing in the boys’ direction every couple minutes, fidgeting with her fingers and her skirt. Selby caught her eye, and they looked at one another without speaking.
Together, they jumped up and scurried toward the corner of the building. Ingrid dropped to her knees, and Selby crouched over her as they peered around the corner. They could see the three men, too far away to hear. The captured man sat against a tree with his legs extended; his arms were tied behind him, around the trunk. Hagen crouched at his side, eye-level with him. He must have been the one talking, because Jorg stood tall on the man’s other side, his legs slightly apart and arms folded over his chest.
Ingrid watched the way his nut-brown hair fell loose onto his shoulders, with the top pulled away from his face and tied at the crown, his perfectly shaped eyebrows and straight nose clearly visible.
He is so strong and handsome. She sighed.
“I don’t think you’re looking at what I am,” Selby whispered.
Ingrid felt a flush rise into her cheeks, and when she looked back, Jorg was facing them. He narrowed his eyes and jerked his chin slightly, urging them to go back. Ingrid swore she saw a slight tug on his lips before he resumed his guardian stance. A nudge to the back of her shoulder said Selby noticed it, too.
Scooting back a couple feet on her hands and knees, she knelt down again on the other side of the building. Selby followed her, remaining hunched over.
“What do you want to do?” Selby asked in what passed as her quiet voice.
“I think we should go back to our things and wait.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
They sat back down among the gathered supplies and waited. Selby wrapped and unwrapped a piece of straw around her fingers. Ingrid tucked her legs between her arms and bounced her toes nonstop. Birds chirped, and a mouse scurried through the straw a few feet away from them, as if it were any other, average day.
“Ugh, I hate waiting with nothing to do,” Selby whined and paced.
Both of them stopped moving and watched the corner when they heard footsteps approaching, sighing in relief when only Hagen and Jorg rounded the corner.
“What did he say?” Ingrid’s mouth was dry, and her nerves jumped all over her body.
“A lot of nonsense,” Hagen mumbled. Anger radiated off of him like a riled bull. “Why isn’t all of this stuff packed so we can leave?” he snarled.
She ignored him and looked to Jorg. His lips were pressed into a tight, white line offering no help.
“What did you do with him?” Selby asked.
“Left him.”
“Tied to the tree?”
“I smell smoke,” Ingrid cried, and started to run toward the prisoner.
Jorg grabbed her arm and stopped her. “It’s the burning cloak, nothing more,” he said, holding her stare until she nodded acceptance. “Pack up. He’ll be fine.”
Selby and Ingrid looked at each other, then helped with a mutual understanding that it wasn’t the best time to push the boys for information. Within minutes, everyone had packs secured to their backs, and they were on their way.
Cold settled over Ingrid, and she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. Without looking back, they worked their way out of the village and back onto the open moor.
The long, mournful cry of a lone, sorrowful wolf pierced the air. Ingrid’s breath hitched as she waited to hear it again.
Silence answered, thick and heavy.
13
Walking single file, they picked their way along, watching for hidden bogs.
Caught up in thoughts of wolves and fires, Ingrid stumbled and lost her balance. Before she got halfway to the ground, Jorg’s strong arms wrapped her in an embrace. He pulled her to her feet and held her back against his chest, but he didn’t release her.
Without looking up, she said, “Stop catching me.” Her voice came out feeble and unconvincing.
Leaning down, he rested his face near her ear, and his breath brushed against her cheek as he whispered, “I will always catch you.”
Standing tall, he finally released her, and she took a step forward, but he didn’t move. When she forced herself to look back, his gaze was all-consuming. It took all her concentration to keep her breathing steady and her face neutral. Finally, he stared up at the sky and closed his eyes. When he looked back at her, he smiled and walked ahead, brushing past her to catch up to Hagen.
Unable to move, she willed her thudding heart to slow down. Then she took a few shaky steps forward.
Selby sidled up to her and walked by her side without a word. Ingrid closed her eyes for a second and bit her lips together for strength—a quiet Selby was never a good sign. Anything brewing inside of her never stayed there for long.
“Do you think a man will ever look at me that way?” she finally asked quietly.
Not what I expected. “What are you talking about?”
“The way Jorg looks at you. And don’t tell me you don’t know. I’ve seen you looking at him, too.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I don’t know what’s happening with him and me. But I know you are smart, beautiful and . . . fun.” She couldn’t keep the snicker out of her voice. The man who won Selby’s heart would have his hands full.
Ingrid expected Selby to laugh also, but she kept her eyes focused on the ground and sighed.
I’ve been such a bad friend. “I was only joking. Everything will work out, you’ll see.” She wrapped an arm around Selby’s waist and leaned into her.
“That’s really all I want.” Selby kicked a rock out of the way. “I’m not like you.”
“I know. You are brave and strong, and there’s barely anyone who can defeat you in training.”
“But I don’t want any of that like you do. It isn’t what’s important to me; it’s what’s expected. And I’m good at it.”
They walked in silence while Ingrid thought about her words. What could she say? ‘I’m sorry I haven’t paid any attention to you or your dreams because I’ve only cared about my own?’ That’s what she should say, but she felt too guilty to let the words come out.
“What do you want?”
“To be a wife and a mother. Live on a bit of land, and farm. Quietly.”
“Why haven’t you ever told me that before?”
“Didn’t seem right, I guess. But we’ll take care of each other, no matter what, remember? Glory and honor and all that.” She smiled over at Ingrid as she mocked the conversations they’d had so many times.
“Of course you can always count on me. I understand what it’s like to want a life different from what’s expected. You know that.”
“Don’t say that. I’m beginning to question my desire to fight in battles to earn glory. Maybe you have the right idea.” Ingrid touched her jaw, remembering the fight she’d had in Jorvik. “Besides, you’re the one with all the curves. Men will be falling at your feet in no time.”
Selby snorted a laugh and peered sideways at Ingrid. “Well, that’s true enough—about the curves, anyway.” Exaggerating the swing of her hips as she walked, she made them both giggle.
In complete confusion, the boys looked back at them, increasing the girls’ laughter.
Linking arms, they walked on together through the squishy peat and grassy meadows of the moor, following the confused boys.
Using the bow and arrows he found in the village, Jorg hunted for their dinner while the rest of them set up camp for the night. Thanks to his uncanny vision, even at dusk, they were roasting two rabbits in no time.
“How is it you’re the same age as Hagen, yet your face stays silky smooth, while his looks like something you’d use to scrub a pot?” Selby asked Jorg.
Directing a glare at her, he lowered his dinner and clamped his lips into a tight white line. As he worked to keep his composure, Ingrid watched his muscles tense and his nostrils flare.
“You’re being rude, Selby,” she said, trying to defuse the situation.
“I wondered, that’s all.”
“I. Don’t. Know,” Jorg answered through clenched teeth. “It’s the way it is for me, I guess.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it. Besides,” Selby flashed a grin at Ingrid before looking back at Jorg, “it shows your dimple easier, and I know someone who enjoys that.”
Heat crept across Ingrid’s face, and she tried to shrink into the darkness. The corner of Jorg’s mouth twitched, but he softened his eyes toward Selby.
“You’re not a very good friend.” He popped a piece of meat into his mouth and shook his head at her.
“What? I’m the best!” Selby put her hand to her chest in feigned outrage.
Ingrid groaned. “Not always,” she muttered. She shook her head, while finding the folds of her skirt increasingly interesting.
Hagen stood and aimed to change the subject. “Ingrid, come with me, I need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Come with me for a minute.”
“Why can’t you talk with me right here?”
“I was trying to save you more embarrassment, but fine.” Sitting back down, he pinned her with his stare. “You were stupid when we were fighting off the wolves, and your carelessness is exactly the reason you should stop trying to be a shieldmaiden,” he said.
“I was not stupid! You take that back.”
“You stood frozen and didn’t even try to fight.”
Ingrid could feel tension spike into Selby’s muscles next to her, as they sat on the same rock, and she caught the motion of Jorg leaning forward.
Jumping up to defend herself, she did her best to seem taller. “I was not just standing there. There was a wound in the man’s shoulder, did you see? I did that, but then something happened between the wolf-man and me. I . . . I don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t hurt him anymore.” So much for my defense.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll think I’m crazy.” Everything about this situation is crazy. “We connected somehow, me and the wolf. I saw things in my head. I saw him standing there as a man.” Out of habit, she rolled her lip between her teeth.
No one said anything. A quick peek at Selby found a wide-open mouth, with a half-chewed bite of rabbit in full view.
“You were drunk and making excuses when you mentioned seeing him inside your mind,” Hagen said, his eyes wide and head shaking. “That’s not possible.”
“It is.”
Startled at his support, all eyes turned toward Jorg.
“There are those with the gift of sight who can connect with many things from nature. I’ve heard it talked about before,” Jorg said, looking at Ingrid with soft eyes. Kind, accepting eyes.
Hagen glared at his friend. “Don’t encourage this. Ingrid’s not a völva." Angered by Jorg’s comments, he stepped closer to his sister. “You froze, and you could have been killed.”
Ingrid did not falter as he came closer. What happened to her was too intense for her to allow him to dismiss it as impossible. Maybe she wasn’t a seer, a völva—the stories she’d heard of women with the gift to use Freya’s seiðr magic scared her—but she would not let him decide that for her.
“Hnossa and the woman in the woods both said that I have special gifts and should embrace them.”
“Who is Hnossa?” Jorg asked, his brows nearly touching as he stood.
“What are you talking about?” Hagen glowered back and forth between them, clenching his fists.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about it. But when I was in the river, before the trolls caught me, I had a vision. I met a woman who called herself Hnossa. She told me I was in Asgard, and that she’d brought me there so she could help me develop my gifts. We didn’t talk long. I thought it was a dream, but I don’t think so now. Not after the wolf.”
“My mom’s aunt lived in a village where a woman claimed to be a seer,” Jorg told them. “She would go out in the woods alone for days, and when she came back, she’d say she had talked with the goddess Freya, and learned what the village should do next.”
“So you think Ingrid should go off into the woods by herself so she can talk to wolves before they eat her?” Hagen growled. He looked as if he could shoot arrows out of his eyes.
“No, of course, not. But I am saying that maybe she has a gift she didn’t know about before, and we should help her with it instead of ignore it.”
"Wait, a seer?" Selby joined the conversation. “Do you think you can do magic like Freya?” Selby’s voice rose in pitch with excitement, but her eyes were wide with fear.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I can’t see the future, and I can’t do magic. I’m sorry I didn’t fight the wolves like you wanted, Hagen.” She plopped down on the rock, hoping they would all let it go, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Maybe that’s why your bead was glowing,” Selby offered.
“My bead? What are you talking about?”
“Your amber one; it was glowing while you and the wolf-man were staring at each other. Did either of you goats see that?” She raised her brows and looked at Hagen and Jorg.
“I saw it,” Jorg said.
Ingrid didn’t know what to think about any of it. The experience with the wolf was not one she wanted to live through again.
Tears stung the back of her eyes. Staring at the fire, she forced her mind to clear.
“Behind the wall, when you got sick, your hands were warm, too. Then as you calmed down, they started getting cold again,” Selby related in a calmer, gentler voice.
“My hands were warm, too?” She sighed and absently rubbed her hands together.
At a loss about why her life had spun out of control, she retreated inside herself, blocking out the others’ voices and focusing on the rhythm of her pulse and the orange and yellow of the fire that flickered against her closed eyelids.
Alarmed by a gentle touch on her shoulder, she gasped and opened her eyes.
“Are there other times when your bead glows?” Jorg asked, breaking her meditation.
“At weird times. I haven’t paid attention to it enough to notice a pattern.”
“I bet it happens when your hands get hot, too. Like when you help someone who is sick.” Selby sat up taller, an eager glimmer in her eyes. “Remember last fall, when you brought those herbs to Einar when he was sick? You made him tea, and he complained when you handed him the cup that you’d made it too hot and you could’ve burned your hands. But you didn’t.” Selby bounced, recalling the incident.
“When we get h
ome, we should talk to father about this,” Hagen stated. “He’ll know who we should ask about it. Maybe we shouldn’t try to figure it out just now.” He walked away, toward the other side of the fire, and spread out his cloak to sleep on.
Ingrid watched as his muscles tightened in his back and he kept clenching his fists then releasing them. He doesn’t know how to fix this. Neither do I, big brother.
Selby kept talking. “But this could be huge. Maybe you have other gifts that are just starting to wake up or something?”
“Let’s just go to sleep. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
They exchanged looks for a minute, each daring the other one to give in. With a big sigh, Selby gave up. Thankful for the reprieve, Ingrid lay down on her cloak and rolled away from the others. Tied in knots, her stomach ached.
According to Hnossa and the woman in the woods, her gifts were special. If they were right, her life would never be the same. Each had warned her about trusting others, as well.
This is all too confusing.
In the blackest of night, sleep finally gave her peace.
They were walking toward home before the first tangerine and rose-colored rays of sunlight filled the sky. If they walked hard and stopped as little as possible, they could make it home in another two days.
Clear and sunny, the day had started out with promise, but the horizon showed an outline of black clouds brewing. Shelter became the top priority as they picked up their pace. Unfortunately, out on the moors, there wasn’t much available, but for a time, they thought they could manage. They pulled up their cloaks and pushed on when the rains started. Fast-moving and looking angrier by the minute, the storm caught quickly up to them. Soon, rain soaked through their cloaks, and before long, they heard the low growl of thunder.
When it ended, there was not a single sound—not a bird chirping or a rodent scuttling. It was eerily quiet. A tingle danced through the hair on Ingrid’s arms, and a squeal flew from her throat when she noticed the wisps of hair floating up from everyone’s heads.
Several large boulders jutted out over a small ravine not far ahead of them; the group scrambled for them as fast as they could against the wind. In her hurry, Selby caught her foot against a small stone, and tumbled down. Hagen turned back to help.