After a pause long enough to make it clear that the lack of response had been noted, Åke stepped back and opened his arms to all the riders. “The world is not as it was. But I hope that we will all remain friends. We have much to discuss, I know. For tonight, though, night is upon us. Let us show you our hospitality here in camp, and then we will ride to the castle after the dawn.”
He held out his hand to Brenna. “Brenna God’s-Eye, join me. I would have your word on the winter.”
She took a step toward him, holding her own hand out to Vali. Åke stopped and gave them both a bemused look. “I mean you no dishonor, Vali Storm-Wolf, but I have known the God’s-Eye long. I esteem her vision, and I would take a private moment with her.”
“I will stay with my wife,” Vali nearly snarled.
“We are wed, Jarl,” Brenna said at the same time.
Vali seemed jealous and territorial in a way beyond her expectation. Åke was no threat to her, not now, and she doubted that he ever would be. He could be harsh, and the raiders under his command were known to be particularly savage, but he had treated her well enough when she was his slave, and he had freed her when he owed her a debt.
He had put Leif to her training and given her the chance to be the shieldmaiden she was. He would be disappointed to lose her, yes. But he respected her as the God’s-Eye, if nothing else. He believed her charmed, and he would not risk the wrath of Odin by harming her.
And now, when she was still sworn to him, he would have no cause at all even to wish her ill.
At their simultaneous statements, Åke lifted his brows in surprise, then collected himself swiftly. Brenna saw that dark narrowing flash through his eyes then, but again, he smiled. “Then good tidings are in order, and we shall drink to the lasting goodwill of the gods. And I welcome the great Storm-Wolf into my clan.”
Feeling Vali tense as if to reject Åke’s assumption, Brenna squeezed his hand. This was not the time. Not in the dark, at camp, surrounded by men whose loyalty to Åke had not been stretched by a winter in a new home.
Her husband relaxed, and they followed Åke to his tent. Calder and Eivind fell in behind them. Though Brenna knew both men well, she was uneasy to have them at her back.
She caught Leif’s eye as they passed, and saw that he, too, was ill at ease.
Another storm to weather. She hoped Vali was right, and they would be standing together when it passed.
~oOo~
The talk in Åke’s tent was calm and unthreatening. He called Leif to join them, and they all sat, the jarl and his sons, and the leaders at the castle, facing each other, in something like a circle. The jarl poured mead and offered up a prayer for Vali and Brenna’s marriage. They drank, and then he asked them about the course of their months in Estland. He was curious and civil, and he seemed pleased that they had taken over Ivan’s princedom as well and grown the holdings in his name.
He offered Vali and Brenna a tent of their own, calling it their wedding tent, though they’d been married for months. When they were bedded down for the night and the camp had gone quiet, Vali lay on his back, fully dressed, his axes at his side.
Brenna sat beside him. She had worn her shield and sword, because she met her jarl as a shieldmaiden, but now they lay near the opening of the tent.
“There is wrong here,” Vali muttered, keeping his voice low lest it carry through the cloth walls of the tent. “Åke does not mean to settle. Why did we stay, then? What is it he wants?”
“Calder made the claim. Perhaps the jarls did not want it.” She didn’t believe the words coming from her own lips. When they had landed in the late summer before, she had wondered why they had moved inland so far, why they had sailed so late in the season. It only made sense if Åke—and, at the time, Snorri—had meant to explore for a possible settlement.
Vali lifted his head and stared at her. “You don’t believe that.”
She sighed. “No.”
“Snorri was a good man, Brenna. He was fair, and he found honor, not glory, in his power. The same cannot be said for Åke.”
“Hush.” Though she couldn’t see through the tent walls, she glanced around, worried, and listened for sounds that someone might be near. “Åke is hard, yes. But he is not bad. He has treated me well. He made me a shieldmaiden.”
“First he made you a slave.”
“I offered myself as a slave. I was starving and had no other choice.”
“You were a child. If he meant to take care of you, he could have done better than that.”
“I had had my first blood. He could have done worse than he did.”
Vali sat up and picked up the tail of the braid that draped over her shoulder. “We are at risk, my love. You need to see it. Open those beautiful eyes and see that we are but the breadth of this braid from real danger. Snorri is dead. Åke came with three ships full of raiders, and no settlers. He does not have peace in his heart, and those of us sworn to Snorri are surrounded by men he might make our enemies.”
The answer was simple and right before them. “You are sworn now to no one, Vali. Snorri is dead. You would not renounce him to swear an oath to Åke now. And then the risk is over.”
But Vali shook his head. “I will not swear on my arm ring to him, Brenna. I will not be beholden to him. I have no respect for him.”
“He was a great warrior.”
“Yet he is no great man.”
Brenna’s heart began to race. What Vali said—it truly was dangerous, more than she had ever expected. “He claims this land in his name alone. He claims Snorri’s jarldom as well. If you don’t swear to him, then we cannot stay here. And we will have no place on his ships. We will have nowhere to go.” The thought of losing this home she had found and fought for made her feel a fear deep and cold that settled in her bones.
“As I said, there is danger all around us.”
She clutched at his tunic and shook it. “Vali, you must swear. You must! I am sworn. Leif, your friend, is sworn to him. Would we be, were he so terrible?”
“Of course you would be. If you thought there were no other choice, which is why you urge me to do the same now. But I will concede this: I will learn more about Snorri’s death. When I do, I will decide if I will offer Åke my fealty—or if I will kill him.”
“Vali.”
He pulled her close and kissed her. “We’ll not find our ground tonight, shieldmaiden. Let us rest, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. I only want you to see. Do you now see?”
“I do.”
He lay down again, bringing her with him and settling her head on his chest. “Tell me that you’re with me, that we stand together.”
She had been willing to forswear Åke when she thought Snorri would have a claim in Estland. She would always choose Vali over any other. But now it meant that she would be truly homeless, more completely than ever before. “I am with you. But I’m afraid.”
“Be brave, my love. Believe that the gods are with us.”
Brenna thought that if the gods were with them, they would have had their son lying between them.
~oOo~
At dawn, they broke camp and set out for the castle, arriving at midday. Those who had stayed back had prepared for the jarl’s arrival—whether that meant good will or ill. Thus far, the mood had been friendly, though Brenna knew everyone felt what she did—a keen watchfulness, just under the surface.
Åke toured the castle and the grounds, then rode out with his sons, and with Leif and Knut, to see the village being rebuilt. He came back full of compliments and ideas, seeming enthusiastic for the settlement and all they had accomplished over the winter.
As the day’s light waned, they put out a feast in the hall to welcome the jarl and the ships. Brenna sat between Calder and Vali and scanned the long table, full of raiders and villagers, everyone talking and enjoying themselves. She felt hope.
Noticing an absence among her friends, Brenna leaned to Vali. “Where is Viger?”
Vali, still suspicious,
set down his cup and scanned the room as well. “I will see what I can find out.”
Brenna laid her hand on his thigh. “No. I’m sure he is fine. He has probably caught Eha for a tumble. Åke will remark if you leave the table before he speaks.”
“I do not care.”
“But I do. Please. If this might go smoothly, then we must assume the best.”
He frowned at her but settled back in his chair. Not long after, Åke stood, and the table went quiet.
“I have seen great things today,” he began. “And I have learned of even more. To those of you who gave up a winter warm in the bosom of your families to stake our claim here, I am honored to have had your good service. I know that many of you had sworn an oath to Jarl Snorri Thorsson. He was a great and honorable man, and he died an honorable death. I would be proud and humbled to take your oaths now and call you all my clansmen. The seers tell of a great raiding season coming, one that will fill our chests with gold and our blood with battle.”
“And what of settlers for this claim?”
Åke turned to Vali, his eyes glittering with irritation at having been interrupted. “Vali Storm-Wolf asks an excellent question. I cannot spare the raiding ships to carry farmers and seeds, but I will have ships built so that we might settle this good claim later this summer.”
“Now is the sowing season, Jarl.”
Åke gave up the pretense of good humor and scowled at Vali. “You have made friends of the villagers, have you not? Some of them sit among us at this table. They can sow the fields. What concern is farming of yours, Vali Storm-Wolf?”
Again, Brenna quieted her husband with her hand on his leg. Then she stood. “Vali and I would stay here and settle. This has become a home to us. We are building a longhouse in the village.”
She could see that she had shocked her jarl and taken his tongue. For an arduous moment, he stared at her—right at her, not wavering from her eye at all. Brenna stared back, unwilling to be the one who would break.
When he recollected his power of speech, he asked, his voice more quiet than before, “You would lay down your sword and shield, Brenna God’s-Eye? You are my sworn shieldmaiden.”
“I want to build a family, Åke. I would ask that you let me.”
She knew that Vali didn’t like her tone of request, but she knew Åke better than he, and a demand would not go far with him.
“I am disappointed. You think this is what Odin wants of you?”
“I do, yes.”
Again, he stared. Then he sighed—loudly, dramatically. “I cannot defy the will of the Allfather. And you have brought me great honor, and I would see you happy. If this is your path, then you have my blessing.”
Relief nearly folded her knees. “Thank you, Åke. Thank you.”
When she sat, she smiled at her husband. “We are safe, and we have our home. He is not a bad man, Vali. He is worth your fealty.”
Vali’s brow still bunched with wary concern.
~oOo~
Brenna went up before Vali that night, feeling lighter than she would have thought. Though Vali had not yet agreed to swear to Åke, he would see that it was the right choice. They would have their home and begin their life together in earnest.
When their house was built, she would be ready to make another child. The certainty of that truth hit her as she dropped her sleeping shift over her head and then unbraided her hair, standing before the unlit fire. She grinned.
Behind her, the door from the corridor opened with force, and she jumped, prepared to complain at Vali for coming in drunk. She had left him not so long before; he must have been vying with Leif and Orm again in a drinking contest.
But it wasn’t Vali. It was Calder.
“Calder, this is the room I share with my husband.” That thought almost made her smile, too—not so long ago, the idea of a private chamber like this had seemed bizarre and constraining.
She didn’t smile, though, because Calder strode directly to her, his expression blank. She understood that she was in danger with just enough time to glance at the wall across from her, where her sword and shield hung.
Calder swung at her, but she managed to get her arm up and block him. When she tried to run for her sword, her shift tangled around her legs and slowed her down. Calder grabbed for her hair and yanked her back, punching her in the side of the head. His fist felt doubly hard, as if he’d been wearing an armored gauntlet.
The room folded in on itself, and she fell.
While she lay on the floor, trying to make words or any sound at all, still trying to understand what was happening, he punched her again, and again, and she stopped thinking.
Vali sat at the table and studied the room. From every perspective, it was a room full of rough men, well fed and well drunk, enjoying a night of leisure. There were fewer women around the castle these days, as the village had been built up enough for most families to have moved in, even if they had to share quarters for a while. They were sowing their seeds and tending their flocks, and there was no time for the trek from and to the castle each day. Now, there were only the women who’d stayed on to manage the work here.
He was glad; Åke’s men were rough even with their clanswomen, and Vali had been concerned how the Estlander women would fare among them. But the raiders who had stayed the winter were keeping their newly arrived fellows in check, it seemed.
Still, he was ill at ease. He did not believe Åke would so easily give up his charmed shieldmaiden, and it stuck wrong in his head that he had sailed in three ships laden with raiders to bring the news that he was not yet ready to settle his claim. If he had meant to bring them all home, where had he meant to put them?
Frequently, he had sought out Olga’s glance as she moved through the men, managing the meal and the drinks after. She was clearly stressed and weary, and Vali thought she seemed sad as well. He guessed at the reason: she and Leif had grown close over these months and developed a deep friendship. Even under the best of circumstances, the arrival of the ships meant that Leif would be sailing soon.
Vali had suggested more than once that Leif take her home with him. And he’d thought his friend had begun to consider it, despite his reservations about her fitness for their world and his insistence that they were no more than friends.
Then they had brought her younger brothers back from Ivan’s land, and any consideration of taking her from Estland had seemingly ended.
Now, Leif sat near the fireplace, with Calder and Eivind. Vali’s suspicions of Åke did not fully extend to his sons. Calder was a brutal man, too, as Vali had witnessed. But he had seen enough of him to know that he sometimes felt conflict between his duty to his father and his honor as a man. Eivind was too young yet to have been overly hardened by his father’s way.
And there was no better endorsement for Åke’s sons than Leif’s friendship. So Vali sat at the table and drank his mead and watched the friends talk. Then they stood together and left the room through the back entrance, toward the kitchen.
Vali thought that Leif had shot him a look, but it was gone before he could be sure. Perhaps his wife was right, and his suspicion was unwarranted.
Brenna had gone up to bed not long before. She had found complete ease in Åke’s blessing of her desire to stay and make a home here in Estland. He’d seen it in her posture as her jarl had said the words: the breath that had softened her stance and unclenched her hands. She believed that they were safe. She had let her guard down completely.
Unwarranted or not, Vali felt restless in the room now, with Brenna away from him, and neither Åke nor his sons where he could see them. He finished his mead and left the room, headed to his wife.
He had just topped the wide, curving staircase when his good friend Leif stepped out, emerging from the shadow of a side corridor.
“Is there trouble?” he asked, resting his hand where his main axe would have been had he not been in his home and making an attempt, at his wife’s behest, not to challenge the jarl.
; “Yes, my friend. There is.”
Then Leif, still shrouded by the dark of the corridor—why were the torches out?—swung his axe.
~oOo~
He woke in his own bed, with his head throbbing and his arms aching. When he forced himself to sit, he groaned as the room tilted, but he pushed on until he could swing his legs over the side.
No one was with him. Had he been injured, or was he ill? Trying to clear his mind, he dropped his head into his hands and winced when he touched a tender, stitched wound above his ear.
God's Eye (The Northwomen Sagas #1) Page 22