‘He was far simpler to catch than the old trout in the pond.’
‘I would be honoured to fight alongside my wife.’ He gave her a quick kiss.
‘What was that for?’
‘To remind you that while I shall depend on your skill as a warrior, I know you are my woman and I intend to have you in my bed when this is done.’
A warm bubble of happiness filled Sayrid. He saw her as both. She didn’t have to pretend one way or the other.
‘Shall we retake the hall?’
‘I will help as well,’ Magda declared. ‘Give me a knife. I can fight. I want to avenge the deaths of my countrymen.’
Sayrid glanced at Hrolf. He nodded.
‘All help gratefully received. I can’t do this on my own.’
Chapter Fifteen
Spying the ruins of the hall, Sayrid felt her heart shatter. Flames licked at the great structure and all was confusion where, a short time ago, it had been tranquil peace.
At the harbour’s edge, another ship was pulled up. Her mouth tasted of ash and her heart was sick. Regin’s betrayal had been complete.
An eerie silence hung over everything. So confident were the attackers that they had left the ship unguarded while they looted and pillaged.
Sayrid clenched impotent fists. After all she’d been through, it seemed unfair that this should happen to the place she loved.
Hrolf put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Lavrans.’
‘I recognise the sail,’ she choked out. ‘In my worst nightmares I never thought to see it here.’
‘Nor did I.’
‘Regin had best hope he dies in battle. That son of Loki is nothing to me.’ Sayrid set her jaw as she spied the mutilated body of one of the serving women.
‘We will find the truth, I promise. You have no idea if Regin was blackmailed.’
‘But right now we take back this land.’ Silently Sayrid prayed that some of Hrolf’s men were safe.
‘I search the outbuildings,’ Magda declared. ‘If you distract, they will not pay attention to an old woman. Maybe some of your warriors alive.’
Sayrid tossed her the keys. ‘Hopefully these will help.’
The woman bowed her thanks and hurried off.
‘It seems I have seriously underestimated a number of people,’ Hrolf said.
‘At least you are able to admit it.’
Sayrid rapidly gathered extra pieces of wood, buckets and an old fork as possible missiles. Hrolf, she noticed, did the same.
He nodded his approval. ‘We need all the weapons we can get.’
She bent down and tore a strip off her skirt and wadded it.
‘Let me guess—you need to be able to move your legs when you fight.’
‘That and I want to block his retreat.’ She dipped the makeshift torch in the burning embers and then walked purposefully to the unguarded ship. It was very easy to set it alight.
‘Shall we retake this hall?’ she asked Hrolf. ‘Even though we have no hope of survival, we will retain our honour.’
‘We go side by side.’ He smiled. ‘You have to like the odds.’
‘I have faced worse.’
His face sobered. ‘But I haven’t. You must stay safe.’
‘I will if you will.’
At that moment, a warrior emerged from one of the outbuildings, carrying a piglet. When he spied them, he stopped. Sayrid rolled a bucket forward. He went to go over it, but the piglet began to squirm and he toppled over.
Hrolf ran forward and swiftly dispatched him. But at his dying shout, others emerged from the building.
Sayrid engaged the first one, Although he was skilled, he was no match for her. With a few swift strokes, she beat him to the ground. As she finished, another warrior charged forward. This one was more deliberate in his actions, but not any real challenge.
‘Watch your back!’
Hrolf’s call caused her to pivot and instinctively raise her shield. A bone-jarring thud hit her shield, nearly cleaving it in half. The warrior fell at her feet.
‘I owe you a life debt,’ she choked out.
‘I’ll remind you of it later.’
There was a loud cry of ‘Hrolf! Hrolf! Hrolf!’ His remaining men streamed from their prison and the battle truly was joined.
Sayrid fought hard, but a grizzled warrior took advantage of her tiredness. She was forced on to her back foot as her bottom touched the wall. All her muscles ached and she doubted if she had enough strength to lift her sword.
Suddenly the warrior’s face developed a surprised expression. He toppled forward. Sayrid summoned her remaining energy to move out of the way.
‘I, too, can fight,’ Magda said, brandishing a bloody knife. ‘Revenge for my kinsmen.’
‘Keep up the good work!’
Sayrid raced back to where Hrolf stood with his men. Lavrans’s ship now blazed bright, lighting the sky.
‘Lavrans! Stop sulking! Come and fight like a man!’
‘Hrolf Sea-Rider, I have nothing against you.’ A large man emerged from the barn. He was handsome in an overly pretty way which had started to run to fat. There was a faint air of Regin about him and she had to wonder if the rumour about Regin not being her father’s was true. ‘Leave this place. Return to the East. My quarrel is with Ironfist and his children.’
‘You attacked my holdings, killed my men and destroyed my hall.’ Hrolf slapped his sword against his leg. The lines of weariness were clearly etched on his face. ‘I challenge you to a fight to decide this once and for all.’
Sayrid gulped hard. He would need every ounce of strength to fight an opponent like Lavrans.
‘A pleasure. This has been coming for some time.’
‘For far too long.’
Hrolf glanced at Sayrid. Sweat poured from her brow. Her gown was now splattered with mud and blood. A streak of dirt marred her cheek. But she had never appeared so lovely to him. Bravery, courage and passion flowed from every particle of her body. Finally he knew what he was fighting for. It wasn’t land, riches or even glory, but for this woman and the life he hoped to build with her. It wasn’t about her putting him first, but about him putting her there. There were so many things he wished he’d said to her. If Odin and Thor were with him, he would tell her tonight while they lay wrapped in each other’s arms.
‘I fight gladly.’
‘Then shall we have to? And don’t worry, your wife has no appeal for me, but it might be amusing to see how she waltzes with a bear.’
‘My wife is worth a thousand of you.’
Round and round, they circled each other, probing and testing. All of Hrolf’s muscles screamed, but he kept focused on his opponent, waiting for him to make a mistake. Then, when he thought he could no longer hold the sword another instant, he heard Sayrid call out. Lavrans turned his head.
In that split instant, Hrolf lunged forward, using the trick Sayrid had used against him. Lavrans ended up on the ground, his sword to one side.
Hrolf did not hesitate ‘This is for everyone you murdered.’
He drove his sword home. The cheers of his remaining men rang out. Lavrans’s men hastily signalled their surrender.
‘Is it over?’ Sayrid asked.
‘Yes, it is over.’ He wiped the sweat which half-blinded him from his eyes. ‘You are safe. I will not allow you to be hurt.’
‘And Regin?’
Hrolf’s heart squeezed. It gave him no joy to say, ‘Your brother betrayed us all.’
Sayrid gave an unhappy nod. ‘He is a traitor. If I had any lingering doubts, seeing Lavrans’s ship convinced me. I have no idea when or how he turned. He deserves a traitor’s death. Just do not ask me to watch.’
‘I wish it were otherwise.’ His face creased with concern. ‘I’d have preferred to meet him in battle.’
‘We need to find him.’ Sayrid concentrated on the barn. She could barely bring herself to voice her unspoken fear that, having lost his usefulness, Regin was already dead. And she had to know why he had b
ehaved in such a fashion. What could she have done to prevent it? Had it truly been because she had surrendered to Hrolf? ‘I must find him.’
‘You can stay here in the yard if you wish.’
Sayrid closed her eyes. Hrolf was attempting to be kind. They both knew what could be in that barn. But she was also reluctant to confess that she was afraid of losing him, or of him going in and not coming out again. ‘We go together. I will not have it said that I shirked my duty.’
His face closed to hard planes. ‘It is your choice.’
The barn held an unnatural stillness. All the animals had gone. Sayrid walked next to Hrolf, not speaking. Hrolf put an arm about her. ‘You don’t need to see this.’
A single tear ran down her cheek. ‘I do.’
‘Very well.’ He stepped aside and revealed the bloodied body, stretched spreadeagle in the stall where Regin’s favourite horse had been stabled. The horse, she saw with a pang, had been slaughtered. It was impossible to tell which was the blood from the horse and which was her brother’s blood.
‘Regin?’ she whispered through cracked lips. ‘Are you alive?’
Hrolf placed his weapons down and went over to the body. His face became creased with concern. ‘Whatever he hoped to gain, it wasn’t this.’
Sayrid forced her feet to move and she knelt beside the body. ‘Why, Regin? Why did you try to destroy us like this?’
No answer. She went to shut his eyes, but his hand grabbed her wrist.
‘Say?’ Regin said in a barely recognisable croak. ‘Say, I made a mistake. I’m sorry.’
Tears flowed down her face unchecked. ‘I know.’
‘I’m no traitor. I thought you’d just go off adventuring to the East and there’d be no need for this.’
‘Who are you protecting?’ Hrolf asked in a hard voice. ‘Your sister could have died today because of you. Brave men died today because of you. Is that what you wanted?’
‘Blodvin.’ His hand plucked at the blood-soaked straw. ‘Not my baby. Do not trust her. Wicked.’
Sayrid’s heart contracted. Not his baby? Blodvin had betrayed them all? Thinking back, she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. She’d never fully trusted Bloodaxe and she certainly should not have trusted his daughter. Regin had sworn that it had been only the one time. Her brother had been deceived in the worst possible way. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘We both are,’ Hrolf said.
‘Thought I was doing it for my child and the child wasn’t even mine,’ her brother said, gasping between each word. ‘Lavrans…’
‘Dead.’
Her brother gave a small semblance of a smile. ‘Good.’
‘Sayrid…’ Hrolf hauled her back against him. ‘I will ask Magda to make him comfortable. It is in the Norns’ spindles if he lives or dies. His injuries…I have seldom seen a man survive for long with that sort.’
Sayrid rose. She understood what Hrolf was offering. ‘I should stay. I have been on a battlefield before.’
Her brother’s head thrashed about on the straw. ‘Say…go. You need to find Blodvin. She took the little girl. I objected because I don’t make war against children and they beat me. Find the girl. Save her. You are good at that.’
The true horror of what Regin was saying hit Sayrid like a hammer blow. She hadn’t given Inga a second thought after Magda explained that Blodvin had her. She had assumed all would be well. Blodvin was known to be good with children and that was before she had heard of Blodvin’s treachery.
‘We need to go. Now. Regin, Magda will make you comfortable. And the Norns willing, I will see you again.’
‘Sayrid?’ Hrolf croaked, and then she watched as the horror sank in. ‘Blodvin has my daughter?’
Sayrid went cold. ‘Blodvin won’t have hurt her. The woman sheds tears at the slightest problem and she seems incapable of doing anything except looking pretty. She isn’t a cold-blooded murderess.’
Hrolf raised a brow. ‘You want to believe that. She is capable of far more than you want to think.’
Sayrid put her hand in his. ‘I have to believe we can save Inga, Hrolf. I have to believe that Blodvin won’t harm her…or at least not yet.’
‘Does your brother know where she is?’
Regin shook his head. ‘Hiding place.’
He gurgled faintly and collapsed.
‘We will get no more from him,’ Sayrid said, kneeling beside Regin’s body. She could see the faint rise and fall of his chest. He was alive, but barely. ‘Don’t try.’
Hrolf let out a great roar which echoed around the barn. ‘I’ve no idea where that witch has taken my daughter. I want my daughter found alive!’
Sayrid put her arms about him. ‘We will find her together. There is nothing more that can be done here. But we will find her.’
‘Thank you.’
Hrolf called for his remaining men and for Magda. The old nurse took one look and understood what needed to be done, immediately volunteering to stay with Regin.
‘Where do we start?’ he asked.
‘We start with the hiding places for women. My father feared attack. He caused three to be built. I made sure that Blodvin knew about them when we first arrived. I had thought her very nervous the way she kept going on about them, but she had obviously planned this well,’ Sayrid said bitterly. ‘I’ve no idea which one she’s used.’
‘Can you give directions? It will go quicker if we can split up. We know that Blodvin doesn’t have any warriors protecting her. It is simply a matter of finding her and Inga.’
Sayrid nodded. ‘You are right. It is best to split up. We can send men to the closest two, but it was the farthest she was most interested in.’
‘We will go to that one.’
Sayrid gave rapid instructions and two parties of warriors started off towards the nearest hiding places. Each party had strict instructions to blow three blasts on a hunting horn if they found her—dead or alive.
Sayrid hugged her arms about her waist. She refused to think about that little girl being dead or harmed in any fashion. She had to hope that Blodvin wanted to use the girl as a bargaining counter in case the attack went against her lover. ‘I never suspected Blodvin would harm her or I wouldn’t have suggested going into battle with you.’
‘If you hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened to me?’ Hrolf ran a hand through his hair. ‘For years I wondered if Inga was truly mine, but now I know it doesn’t matter. Inga is my daughter and I want her back.’
‘She is my daughter as well.’ Sayrid quickened her pace. ‘I should have known that there was more to Inga’s story about the ghost than simple imagination. I was so intent on proving Regin’s innocence that I missed the obvious connection. I underestimated her.’
‘We all did.’
* * *
Sayrid led the way to the furthest and most difficult-to-find hiding place. When they reached it, Sayrid moved the ivy which covered the entrance.
‘Blodvin? Inga? Everything is safe.’
The only answer was the wind whistling.
Her heart knocked. She turned towards Hrolf. ‘I’d been so sure. It made sense.’
He put his arm about her and she laid her head against his shoulder. He drew her in closer. ‘We will find them. They will be in another safe house, waiting to hear the outcome.’
‘Of course we will. And Inga will be safe.’ She put her hand on his chest. ‘I know it.’
‘Who are you trying to make feel better?’
‘The both of us.’
‘I wish I shared your confidence.’
Sayrid stiffened as her eye caught a brightly coloured bead. ‘What is that?’
She hurried over and picked it out of the dirt. ‘It looks like one of the beads Inga wears.’
‘It could have been here for years.’
Sayrid tightened her hand around the bead. It belonged to Inga. She had been here. Recently. And the only person she could have been with was Blodvin. The problem was to find th
e next clue. On her hands and knees she started to scour the area.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Searching. Inga is far more capable than Blodvin will give her credit for.’ Sayrid spotted the next bead, a rose-and-white one, lying under a tree. ‘There! Do you think that one is leftover from years ago as well?’
‘Truly remarkable.’ Hrolf held the bead in his hand. ‘Inga loved this bead. I brought it back to her from Constantinople.’
‘Clever girl. She is laying a trail for us to follow.’ Sayrid rocked back on her heels. ‘Hopefully we will find her before she runs out of beads.’
‘I hope we are in time.’ Hrolf started off at a slow run, looking left and right. He spotted the third bead and held it up. ‘We are going in the right direction.’
‘Give it to me,’ Sayrid said. ‘When we find Inga, we can give the beads back to her.’
‘Plus several extra!’
She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. He squeezed back. ‘My thinking exactly.’
After the third bead, the fourth and fifth were easy to spot, but the sixth proved elusive until Sayrid spotted it by a pond.
‘Of course,’ she murmured. ‘I know where they have gone.’
‘I thought there were only three hiding places.’
‘Blodvin is making for the cliff at the top of the headland. She will be able to observe what is happening and make her plans accordingly.’
‘If she harms a hair on my Inga’s head, she is a dead woman.’
Sayrid stopped abruptly. ‘I want Blodvin properly punished, but I also want to find out who else was involved. It is finally our chance to uncover the true traitor, the one who has been telling Lavrans all the shipping secrets.’
‘You mean her father.’
‘How else could Blodvin have met Lavrans?’ Silently she waited for Hrolf to agree. ‘The double-crossing swine. I should have known that a man who will cheat on wool will cheat on other things.’
He nodded reluctantly. ‘I will do all in my power to bring her to justice, even if my first inclination is to put a sword to her throat. If my daughter is dead, I will not spare the witch.’
‘Inga was alive when she dropped these beads. It isn’t much, but I hang on to it.’
‘I hadn’t thought of it in that way.’ He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m glad you are here.’
Taming His Viking Woman Page 21
