by Amy Faye
The raven-haired man stepped down from the back of the wagon and nodded to Gunnar. "Tomorrow, we'll fight, and then you can make your move. If you wait too long, I think you'll find fewer and fewer men want to take orders from someone who's been lollygagging in the back of a cart. Even—especially if it was with a girl like the one you're with."
Gunnar smiled at the comment. Yes, especially with a girl like Deirdre. That was very much right. He watched the flowers, but now that he was alone the questions came back. What was she doing in there? What took so long? If she were giving a simple report, she would be out and back shortly. She certainly wasn't in Valdemar's tent trying to figure out how to cure his immortality.
He immediately tried to push away the sting he felt at the thought. She could do whatever she wanted to do, and more than likely it had nothing to do with wanting. If she was doing… that, then she was doing it because she was doing what she had to do.
But couldn't she have come to him for help? Couldn't she have asked him to solve her problems for her? He was as strong a warrior as any he had ever known, and certainly among the strongest she knew.
Perhaps it was his failing as a warrior that had sent her away, but he doubted it. Even still, he didn't want to think too hard about it. Every thought that he had only seemed to lead to further frustration.
When he heard footsteps coming around the back of the wagon, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Finally she was back. Would he ask what had happened, or would he pretend that he wasn't worried about it? Neither seemed particularly ideal.
If he brought it up, then he looked pushy, even demanding, and she already clearly badly enough of him, whether she was attracted to him or not. He would do well not to make his situation any worse than it already was.
Yet, the question burned inside him just the same. He had to know, even though it was nothing. Even though she had just been told to go report, and she had gone as ordered.
He'd made up his mind just in time for her to climb up into the back of the wagon, accompanied by another one of the men. One of Valdemar's, he reasoned, and it made good sense that he would be.
Then another came, and another, until there were five men standing outside, and the one tying Deirdre's hands back down. Gunnar realized what was happening a moment too late as the man tying Deirdre turned and clipped him on the ear with an elbow.
Gunnar's head was spinning, and the young viking took the opportunity to grab him round the waist and throw Gunnar from the wagon. His arms, still tied down, twisted wickedly and pulled agonizingly, threatening at any moment to pop out sickeningly.
Then he was free and fell to the ground, rewarded with a stiff boot to the head, and another to his gut in a one-two rhythm. Another hit him, and another, the blows coming one after the other.
The pain exploded behind his eyes, his mind starting to go blank as the hits kept coming. A normal man might have been dead by now, he thought. It was only because of his particularly unique ability to withstand abuse that he was even still able to breathe, that his entire ribcage hadn't been broken.
He tried to fight back, for a moment. Wrapped his arms around one of their legs as it came kicking into his chest. He turned over, pulling the man to the ground, and then brought down his heavy hands, still tied together, on the boy's head. His nose exploded in bright red blood, streaming down his face.
Gunnar ignored it and tried to bring his hands down again like twin hammers, but a stiff boot to the skull sent him sprawling back to the ground, and before he could grab another the boy was on his feet again, continuing the beating with blood continuing to streak down his face.
He could feel his bones cracking, could feel his consciousness slip away. What was happening? Why? And what would happen to Deirdre?
The last question echoed in his mind as he tried to grit his teeth through the pain. What was he doing just leaving her there with them? Why wasn't he fighting any more?
And then the world was black.
Fifteen
Deirdre sucked in a breath and tried to calm herself down. There was nothing to be worried about. Valdemar had called her in, but that didn't mean anything. He was probably just hoping for an update on the injured.
The question, and the reason that she was starting to panic, was whether or not to tell him that Gunnar was healed up. If he were to win and Gunnar lost again, then all eyes would be on her to answer some very tough questions about why she hadn't thought to mention what he was planning.
If he lost, though, it wouldn't be hard to let the little detail slip to Gunnar, and that was the last thing that she wanted. That left her in between a rock and a hard place, especially since she knew that letting Gunnar continue the way he had been going was dangerous.
As she came into the tent the idea hit her like a shot. She wouldn't be able to get Gunnar to take her away right now. If she were to ask him, he would have laughed in her face. He had other concerns, concerns like commanding his raiding band and being a big damn hero.
If he was able to take control again, that is. If he wasn't—the thought kept running through her head, how easy it would be for Valdemar to kill him. She'd already told him how to find and use poison that would put him down for days at a time.
How could she avoid a fight between them, though? It would be easy. She slipped in and was surprised to find that Valdemar, unlike Gunnar, had already acquired chairs, and even a table, that looked to have been stolen during a previous raid. It made a stark contrast to the bare tent of the former leader.
"Sit down," he said, gesturing to an empty seat.
She did, not wanting to say anything too soon. She had to do this just right, or it could all turn around on her. "You called for me?"
"I did," he said, sitting back and looking her over. She was intensely aware of his eyes on her, similar to the feeling of Gunnar looking, but something set her on edge about it. She squirmed under the intensity of his gaze. "How are the men? Will they live?"
She tried to decide how much detail he wanted, and decided that he probably didn't want particularly much. "Yes, they'll live. The other two might not wake more than a few minutes at a time for… I don't know. Some time. But they'll live."
"Are you saying that Gunnar is different somehow?"
"He's less injured than he might have seemed at first."
Valdemar steepled his hands and nodded. "Good. Thank you for telling me. You may go."
That wasn't remotely what she had wanted. She'd wanted to drop that hint, and to have him ask her for her opinion. That was the risk that she had faced in trying to imply the danger rather than state it outright, though. Some people would always misunderstand, and the risk had always been there.
She stood up, struggling to decide whether or not to abandon her plans. Gunnar would be ready to go any time, and if she stuck with him, he might be able to protect her, like he had promised to already. She didn't have any trouble believing that he wanted to, that he was thinking about her.
But what did that mean? What did it matter if he was thinking about her best interests if he didn't know what her best interests even were?
The decision was already made, but she was too afraid to admit it to herself. She clenched her teeth together and stopped before she could get out. She had to do it now, or she wasn't going to do it at all.
"I think he's planning something," she said. Her voice sounded strange. Afraid. She hadn't thought that she felt afraid of anything, but now that she was there, saying the words, she realized what she was afraid of.
There wasn't any way to go back from this decision. She was betraying Gunnar. She'd have to live with that for the rest of whatever life she'd live, and hope to heaven that he was going to do what she wanted.
If he were to realize what had happened, to realize that it was her that had betrayed him, the consequences could be dire.
But then—what else would he think? She had gone away, and then Valdemar suddenly decided that he was worth dealing wi
th? She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, between being trapped and selling him out for a second time. Now that she was faced with the hardness of the stone she started to doubt, but the right decision was the right decision.
"What do you think he's planning?"
"I think, if you let him stay here, with medical attention and time to wait, it's only a matter of time before he's healed up completely, and he takes command back from you."
There were a thousand ways that Deirdre wanted to make herself more convincing. She wanted to seem confident, seem like she was doing this all because she was so interested in Valdemar, but she wasn't, and she couldn't make herself act that way, no matter how she tried.
In fact, she could barely hide the tremble of fear and sadness in her voice.
There was a long pause as Valdemar thought about what to do. Should she have left a long time ago? Deirdre wasn't sure, but the overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by men who could kill her with little more than a snap of their thick fingers made her feel startlingly like a hare, frozen by the sight of a predator.
And then as soon as she had realized the fear and uncertainty, Valdemar called out. A boy came in, not one that Deirdre had seen before, and the Northman said something to him. He came up behind Deirdre and guided her with a hand on her back. She wanted to kick him, wanted to protest, but she knew that wouldn't do.
She had to look like she was obediently serving Valdemar, or none of her little lie would work. She had to look absolutely terrified, and absolutely servile, and that meant that she let the seventeen-year-old act as if he owned her. Because Valdemar was watching, and he had told the boy to do it, which meant that it was as good as Valdemar doing it.
She climbed back up into the wagon, Gunnar still sitting. He wore an unusually pensive expression and watched her sit, watched the boy tie her back. What was he looking at her like that for? As far as he knew, she hadn't done anything wrong. He had no reason to doubt her, no reason to believe that she'd done anything wrong, and for that matter she didn't have any reason to believe that she had either.
She'd done what she had to do, and as long as Valdemar handled it properly by just kicking him out of camp there wouldn't be any problem.
The men that started to pile up outside the wagon told her everything she needed to know. There wasn't going to be any sort of subtle handling here. No, she was as sold out as she could be. She couldn't see any of them reaching for blades, though, and that was a small blessing by itself.
Gunnar didn't speak, but he looked as if he were getting set. Then the boy hit him hard and shoved him to the ground. They swarmed him before he could get back up and mount his response. He fought back as best he could, but five-to-one was bad odds for the best of fighters. When they finally separated, Gunnar wasn't moving.
Gunnar wasn't surprised to feel the ache that seemed to fill every part of his body, but that didn't mean that he liked it, either. No, the pain was beginning to become a constant companion, since he had taken the stab in the chest. He was only thankful that he hadn't tried to take another to fool them.
The first problem was the ropes that bound his arms, which had now been tied 'round his ankles in a hog-tie. If they'd intended him not to get out, they should have used better ropes. It took a long time to get free, laying there in the dark, but by working his arms one way, then the other, he was able to find his way free of them.
For a moment he considered leaving them, tied in a pile, but then he changed his mind. Rope could be useful, even if it were worn and stretched. He coiled it quickly and hung it over a thick shoulder. They hadn't left him with any supplies. It meant that he'd be running hungry, and he would be sleeping under the open stars.
But it also meant that he was traveling light, and he could go further in a day than the band he followed.
The second concern was to catch back up. He had two debts to repay now, and he couldn't begin to deal with them while he was separated from the rest of the Danes. A quick look around told him that he'd been unconscious or sleeping for the better part of the night, and now as dawn was beginning to break over the easterly hills, he was out in the cold and very, very alone.
A short climb took him to the top of a hill that let him look out for a mile or more, and no signs told him that they might be within an hour's walk. No, the entire camp must have packed up and left him nearly as soon as he'd been dropped off the wagon.
He wondered how Eirik had taken it. He might not have raised a hand, Gunnar thought. He took things in stride, and though they counted themselves friends, he wouldn't have gone against what the Gods told him.
More likely Ulf would have fought it, but Leif would contain him if the need arose. He closed his eyes and tried to get his bearings, looked for signs. With thirty men marching and at least three wagons now, they left a trail that wasn't too hard to pick up.
But that didn't mean it was going to be easy, by any means. No, he would have his work cut out for him trying to catch them. They were full and fat on food, no doubt. They took plenty with each raid, never even needing to stop to hunt. If Gunnar could catch them in a day, perhaps it would be fine to continue without finding something to eat.
But he wasn't going to. Eight hours or more, he guessed, was what would separate them. That would take more than a day to make up unless he went through the dark, and then he had as good a chance of losing their trail in the dark.
His body hurt to move, and it only got worse as he continued. It didn't take long to figure out what had happened, but Gunnar refused to believe it. Leif had been gone for minutes before the men had come to take him away. He could have revealed Gunnar's condition.
Anyone could have heard them speaking, as well, but he had little doubt. This was Deirdre's doing. He'd seen it in her face, moments before it happened. He'd seen the doubt and regret.
It wasn't hard to guess why, either. Part of Gunnar wanted to forgive her for it, straight away. She needed to do what she had to, in order to survive. She was surrounded by danger, by men would likely had exactly one thing on their minds.
But she had done what she had to do at his expense. He could have reclaimed the band. Could have beaten Valdemar in a fair duel, no question. She had taken that away from him by trying to play her woman's tricks.
He tried not to feel hurt by it. He might have done the same thing in her situation. The world that he lived in was a cruel one. Men did what they had to do to survive. But he had promised her protection, had thought that he felt something between them. Something that went past the brotherly trust he held for Eirik or Ulf.
The sort of thing that would make it hard for someone to betray the other person, and that was what he knew it was. A betrayal. He pushed his muscles to move harder. He would recover, or he would die, but he needed to make up quite a bit of distance.
Recovering was secondary. Eating was secondary, the pain in his ligaments was secondary. The only thing that mattered right now was repaying his debts. Valdemar had taken the band away from him. Had stolen it by attacking him when he was at his most vulnerable.
Deirdre had compounded on that, giving his rival the warning that he would need to get rid of him before he could do anything.
Yet, suddenly the question occurred. What would have happened if he had already challenged the duel? It would have been cowardice to attack him right before a duel, and he couldn't have run away from a man who he'd beaten while obviously injured. How would the Gods have looked at that?
He would have done it. Would have gone. But Deirdre was not alone in stopping him. Gods above, what if Leif had been involved as well?
As he moved through the hills, double time, more and more questions arose. How deep did this go? Who could he trust if he couldn't trust either of them?
He pushed on. There would be time to figure out what would come next. Right now he had to close the distance between them, and to do that he had to keep moving. Trying to figure out what to do next, that would only slow him down.
&nbs
p; Right now he needed to push his body. He closed off the thoughts of who to blame. The only person he needed to blame right now was Valdemar. That was enough to stoke the fire in his belly, and anything more risked breaking his concentration.
Valdemar had been trying to show him up since the outset of the expedition. He'd been the one pushing, constantly, to take control. When a chance had arisen, he had taken it. Then when Gunnar had been so close to reclaiming what was his, Valdemar had taken it away again.
Gunnar wasn't about to allow that to continue, no. He would repay his debts with advantages.
Valdemar wouldn't make it out of England alive.
Sixteen
She wasn't sure why she was so surprised that Valdemar immediately packed camp back up, even before they finished hog-tying Gunnar's unconscious body in the dirt. They were moving again before the sun had even finished dipping below the horizon, and they kept moving through the night.
It was dangerous, continuing the way they were, and it was a stupid risk, but staying would have been a bigger one, so she should have seen it coming. Still, it was easier for her, there in the cart, to lie back and doze as they moved. She could only imagine how the men were grumbling.
She was greeted by three familiar faces looking into the back of her little protected area, though she couldn't assign names to them. They had spoken more than once to Gunnar in front of her, and he'd seemed to regard them closely.
"Get up, girl," said one. The bald one.
She did as she was told and waited to hear more, but for a long time they just looked her over. It was a very different look than she was used to. Either she expected people to be afraid of her, or to notice the rapidly deteriorating neckline of her dress, but they seemed to be measuring her.
Finally he spoke again. "What have you done?"
She didn't answer him at first, but it wasn't hard to believe that they knew what she'd done. Who else could have warned Valdemar? The dark-haired man had passed by the tent; it wasn't hard to believe that he could have sent the message, but he stood right before her.
