by Denise Lynn
Certain they would quickly catch up to Elrik’s ship, she went back to the woman in labour. There was nothing she could do except offer comfort, so she knelt beside the struggling woman and took her hand. ‘We are heading for help. Where is your husband?’
‘He’s...on the first...ship.’ Her gasping answer brought Avelyn a measure of relief. Elrik wasn’t hard hearted. Surely, she could convince him to permit the man to be with his wife in her time of need.
* * *
Before too long, the captain called out, ‘Lady Roul, we are nearly abreast.’
She patted the woman’s shoulder and released her hand. ‘Soon, we will get you help soon.’
She rose and shook out the skirt of her tunic, not to make it presentable, but to give her a brief moment to gain a small measure of confidence before facing Elrik once again.
The captain escorted her to the ladder leading up to the forecastle and helped her climb up to the deck. She stared across the water at her husband. The wind whipped his silver-streaked hair about his face, his stance—legs spread, fisted hands on hips and that familiar dark scowl—only made her wonder how she’d been blessed to have been given such a fine-looking man. The odd thought made her smile, before she forced the smile from her lips.
He shouted at her, ‘Now what?’
‘We require a midwife.’
One of the men on the deck of his ship dropped a crate he’d been carrying and rushed to the side. ‘Is it Brigit?’
Avelyn nodded. The man gripped the side of the ship so hard his knuckles turned white.
Elrik cursed. ‘There is a pregnant woman aboard?’
A scream cut her off, but supplied the answer to his question.
Elrik cursed again.
‘My lord...’ Avelyn paused, knowing this was probably not the time to ask, but she had no choice, so began again. ‘My Lord Roul, can you spare her husband?’
A wicked half-smile curved his lips in a way that made her grasp the side of the ship so she didn’t swoon overboard into the sea, before he answered, ‘No, Lady Roul, I cannot. But when we make port, I will exchange him for you.’
After having issued what sounded ominously like a warning, he climbed down the ladder and headed towards the crew, pausing only to grab the father-to-be by the back of the neck and drag him along.
She didn’t want to hear that conversation. She was too worried about the one she and Elrik would soon be having. It was doubtful there would be many pleasant words spoken between them.
To her relief, the ships changed course almost immediately, and sooner than she’d expected, she could see land. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out another piece of her dwindling supply of ginger, hoping it would calm her stomach from not the motion of the ship, but from the worries of facing her husband without any distance between them.
The sudden churning of her stomach and the rapid beating of her heart made Avelyn wish she were anywhere else besides standing on the deck of this ship nervously awaiting his arrival.
Elrik, Samuel, Fulke and three other guards were already standing on the wharf as the ship she was on was tied up to a piling.
The other four ships had continued on, not coming into this harbour. She didn’t know where they had made landfall, but at least it appeared to be a good-sized town. Hopefully, it was one that had an experienced midwife in residence.
Samuel and Fulke both tipped their heads as they came aboard. One of the guards—the young one Elrik had singled out earlier—raced past her to go to his wife’s side. The other two carrying a litter and blankets followed behind the father-to-be.
Elrik jumped down from the plank on to the deck and paused to silently glare down at her. She felt an icy chill race against her—not from the wind, but from his stare that conveyed his anger clear to her soul.
Determined not to let him so easily intimidate her, she stiffened her spine, took a deep breath and returned his glare. He’d been the one who had left her behind. No matter his reasoning, or that he’d apologised, if anyone should be angry it should be her.
His only response was to hike one brow and nod before he went to talk to the captain of this vessel. Had he wanted her to stand tall before his anger, like he’d told her to do in the King’s hall? Did he expect her to accept his anger as her due for not following his order to remain behind? She bit her tongue to keep from saying anything she couldn’t unsay later.
The men loaded the distressed woman on to the litter and carried her off the ship. As he walked by, Fulke reached out and gently squeezed her fingers before following the others to the wharf.
Elrik finished his conversation with the captain and without a word of acknowledgement stepped up on to the plank that would take him from the ship to the wharf.
Avelyn’s heart seemed to skip a beat and she held her breath. He was going to once again leave her behind? But she needed to warn him about Osbert. How was she going to do that if they were on separate vessels?
Her eyes filled and she swiped a hand across them, refusing to shed even a single tear because of a man who so obviously did not want her near at the moment. No. She would not be like her mother, pining for someone she could never truly have at her side.
She turned away, intending to join the group of women who had befriended her yesterday. They might be whores, bawdy and brash, but at least they were kind and not ashamed to have her near.
‘Lady Avelyn.’ He grabbed her shoulder, preventing her from leaving.
When she stopped to see what Elrik wanted, she was surprised to see that he’d extended his arm, hand out to help her mount the plank.
She looked up at him and he said, ‘Come.’
His tone wasn’t friendly in the least, but neither was it overly harsh. He sounded more impatient than anything else.
At her hesitation he scanned the ship, then looked back down at her. ‘Not here. Not now.’
She, too, glanced at those on this ship and found everyone looking at them. Avelyn agreed, this was not the time nor the place for the discussion they had to have. She reached up and took his hand.
The fingers that closed over hers were warm. His touch filled her with a sense of safety she’d not realised had been missing until this heartbeat.
As he helped her up on to the plank, the women who’d become her friends rushed to the side of the ship to bid her farewell. One called out, ‘Don’t forget what we taught you.’
Even though she highly doubted she would get the opportunity to put any of their lessons to use, she promised, ‘I won’t.’
Elrik looked down at her and then over his shoulder at the women before once again giving her that hiked-brow stare she was coming to expect from him.
She said nothing. It wasn’t as if she was about to tell him the things the women had described to her. It would be far more embarrassing to confide in him than it had been to hear the lessons from the women in the first place.
After helping her to board his ship, he led her to a makeshift cabin beneath the forecastle and parted the heavy sail cloth to usher her inside. The unfamiliar semi-darkness, his overwhelming presence, the stifling air and their privacy only served to add fuel to her already tightly strung nerves.
She quickly glanced around the cabin, finding little else but a stool, clothes chest, small table and a pallet that seemed to her the largest item in the room besides its owner.
Avelyn clasped her hands together to still their trembling. She hated feeling like a twitchy cat, with every fibre of her being on high alert as if some danger threatened.
From talking with the women, she knew what to expect, she also remembered their claims that pleasure could be found in a man’s arms.
But those lessons did nothing to calm her.
Avelyn quickly spun around to bolt from the cabin and ran into an unmovable body blocking her exit.
He grasped her shou
lders and she struggled to free herself, crying out, ‘Let me go!’
‘Stop this.’ When she still fought him, he pulled her tightly against his chest and stroked her hair. ‘Avelyn, stop. Nobody is going to harm you, least of all me. So, stop this.’
She relaxed enough in his grasp to be able to think. In the time she’d known him, he’d never once offered to physically harm her. She knew that. Deep in her heart she was certain he wouldn’t do so now.
Yet, containing the tremors making her knees weak was nearly impossible. She was still afraid, but not of him. She oddly feared what was to come—not so much anything physical that might happen between them, although that did leave her a bit uneasy, she more dreaded the conversation.
How would he react when she told him about Osbert? Would he think she was somehow involved with her half-brother’s schemes? Or would he believe her innocent of any wrongdoing?
‘I must see to the arrangements for my men and Matthew’s wife.’ He released her. ‘Stay here. Rest. I’ll return as quickly as possible.’
She heard him give orders to guard the cabin and peeked out to find Samuel and Fulke positioned on either side of the flap opening.
Her sigh of relief must have caught their attention, because they both looked at her.
Samuel asked, ‘Were you expecting someone else to be here?’
She shook her head. ‘I wasn’t sure, but I am relieved to find the two of you.’
Fulke glowered at her. ‘We have better things to do than stand guard over you.’
His expression was far too menacing to be in earnest. She couldn’t help but laugh at him. ‘And what better things might those be?’
Just as she’d expected, his fierce glare eased. He shrugged. ‘Aboard this ship, not much.’
‘You do realise you disobeyed an order?’ Samuel asked.
‘For good cause.’
Fulke chimed in, ‘Punishment at sea for that disobedience is rather harsh.’
‘Will he throw me over the side?’ She doubted that would happen, but couldn’t envision harsher treatment.
‘Worse. A guard would find himself tied to the mast. His back bared and lashed for such defiance.’
Avelyn swayed and grasped the heavy cloth for support. The mere thought of being lashed in such a manner left her dizzy.
Samuel cursed at Fulke, then sought to ease her worries. ‘That has happened only one time aboard a Roul ship and Elrik was not the commander, his sire was.
‘The young guard lashed was your husband.’
In a near whisper, she asked, ‘His father was cruel enough to do such a thing?’ Her own father was unfeeling, but she doubted he’d be so unjust to one of his sons, not even his bastard ones, although it might have done Osbert a world of good.
‘The three of us, along with Elrik’s younger brother Gregor, pushed the man beyond his patience. And we foolishly did it intentionally,’ Fulke admitted.
Samuel added, ‘We never expected Elrik to bear the brunt of his rage.’
Curious, she asked, ‘What had you done to gain such wrath?’
‘None of us wanted to be on that voyage. We didn’t agree with the old lord or his companions and had no desire to commit treason against King David.’
She knew her own father had had a hand in that act, but didn’t know what he’d done. ‘How had that come about?’
The two men looked at each other, obviously hesitant to talk about it. So, she said, ‘King David told me that my father had been involved.’
Thankfully, that was enough to start them talking again.
Fulke asked, ‘Have you ever witnessed your father talk someone, or a group of men, into doing something?’
‘No.’ She’d only heard him shout or bluster, but then she’d never been around when he’d spoken to others. She wasn’t important enough to have been in attendance.
‘Well, Brandr knows how to speak to a group of men in a manner that quickly has them believing that his words were actually their thoughts. After he convinced them that King David was taking property, land and titles from them to hand over to Norman foreigners, it was easy to fire up their thirst for vengeance.’
‘It was something to watch.’ Samuel added. ‘All those old men shouting and acting as if they were twenty years younger, readily able to take on the King’s forces without any difficulty.’
‘We worried not just for their lives, but for their sanity. It was apparent they’d lost the ability to form any rational thought.’
Fulke explained further, ‘When we readied to set sail, we made our displeasure obvious by not helping with the loading of arms, or running of the ship, and by telling all who would listen how foolish the venture was.’
Samuel continued the tale. ‘The old lord took about two days of our defiance before he lost his patience and temper. Your father made a comment about how to deal with disobedience aboard ship. Lord Roul was angry enough to take hold of that suggestion and ordered Elrik be stripped and tied to the mast. His brother Gregor tried to reason with their father, but failed.’
‘My father suggested the man lash his own son?’
Both men nodded.
She wanted to scream or to sob at the mere thought of such a heartless action. What thoughts must have gone through Elrik’s mind?
‘I imagine Elrik didn’t make it easy for the men to carry out the orders.’
‘No.’ Samuel smiled wryly. ‘One went overboard in full armour and nearly drowned. Another suffered a broken leg to match his broken nose. He still walks with a limp.’
‘And while that fight may have been hard to witness...’ Fulke paused to rub his forehead before continuing ‘...it was harder to watch the punishment.’
Samuel, almost under his breath said, ‘I would have screamed like a crazed animal, but Elrik never made a sound.’
‘He never batted an eye. Didn’t even flinch. Just stared at his father while the lead oarsman flayed him.’
Avelyn shivered. How had he withstood the pain?
Not just the physical pain, but the mental agony of knowing his father had ordered the punishment at the instigation of another?
Now, knowing the person responsible had been her father, she understood the hatred Elrik felt for the man. What she couldn’t understand was how he could have taken her as his wife. How could he as much as look at her without having the urge to see her dead?
Fulke shook his head. ‘Less than a fortnight later, he was on the floor at King David’s feet, begging for mercy for his father’s act of treason.’
Why would he do so for a man who had treated him so cruelly?
‘No matter what you do to him, Lady Avelyn, he will remain loyal until he draws his last breath.’ Samuel’s comment sounded ominously like a warning.
‘Me? I have done nothing to him, nor do I have any plans to do so.’
Fulke dipped his head, to say, ‘Not all wounds are physical.’
She knew that, but she was taken aback by their certainty that she would seek to harm Elrik. Regardless what anyone thought, she was not her father’s daughter when it came to Elrik. ‘Where is this coming from? I have done nothing. He is my husband, my protector. It would be foolish of me to try to bring him pain or heartache.’
‘We have heard that from a woman before, yet the pain was inflicted as cleanly as it would have been with a finely honed knife.’
This was the first time, other than Elrik’s offhanded remark in the King’s Great Hall, that anyone had mentioned his previous wife. Avelyn stared at Samuel. ‘You speak of his first wife?’
The man nodded. ‘She went far in creating the man you see now. We will not stand by and let you finish the destruction she started.’
Destruction? ‘What did she do? Where is she?’
‘No.’ Fulke put a hand on Samuel’s shoulder. ‘That explanation is up to Elr
ik if he so chooses, not us. Lady Avelyn, just know that no matter how much he may snarl or growl, you are his responsibility and he takes that seriously. He will not turn his back on you, regardless of how the two of you carry on with each other. All we ask is that you not take advantage of his loyalty. We will protect you with our lives, as long as you deal with Elrik fairly.’
A raindrop bounced off the end of her nose. She looked up at the darkening sky and groaned. It was doubtful any amount of ginger would settle her stomach if they were to encounter a storm at sea.
Samuel looked up at the sky. ‘Fear not. It’s just a passing cloud. Are you hungry?’
‘No.’ She’d eaten little since leaving Carlisle, but she didn’t find the offer of food appealing. Besides, knowing these two, they would bring her every morsel of food on this ship, leaving none for any of the others.
Fulke looked at her and frowned. ‘You look tired. Why don’t you go back inside and get some rest, sleep while you can? Nobody will disturb you. Elrik will be a while yet and he’s the only one who will enter.’
She yawned, giving proof to his observation, then agreed, ‘Perhaps I’ll do that.’
Avelyn slipped back inside the cabin and looked at the pallet. Even though she’d slept well, after doing so on a hard deck, wedged between two water barrels last night, it appeared inviting. She removed her soft boots and stockings and debated on whether to leave her tunic on. She turned down the fur-lined cover on the pallet to find, what seemed to her, clean sheets beneath. Her tunic was damp and filthy, so she removed it, folded it and placed it on the stool before climbing between the sheets dressed only in her thin chemise.
A sigh escaped as she stretched out and drew the cover over her shoulder. There were many things she needed to think about before speaking with her husband. But surely a short nap wouldn’t be out of place, it would help to clear her mind so she could think better.
* * *
Elrik ducked through the flap of his dark cabin and dropped a pile of women’s clothing on the floor. At least this time she couldn’t argue his purchases—she was his wife, so it was his right to purchase anything he wished for her.
