Wulfgar’s eyes glinted. ‘Did you gain her consent for that by the same means I heard you use just now?’
Anwyn’s eyes widened. How long had he been there? How much had he heard and seen? Hot colour dyed her neck and face as joy was replaced by an overpowering sense of shame. Hurriedly she drew the edges of the torn gown across her breasts.
‘I shall pleasure her all night before your eyes,’ taunted Ingvar, ‘and then I shall kill you—slowly.’
‘Again, I think not.’
Ingvar bent and retrieved his sword, drawing it free of the scabbard. ‘Let us make a test of that.’
The two men closed and the blades clashed. Anwyn gasped and scrambled away across the bed, watching in horrified fascination. Then, from somewhere outside, the quiet was split by running feet, a deafening roar of voices and clashing swords.
‘I did not return alone,’ said Wulfgar.
Ingvar glared and renewed the attack, driving him back a couple of paces and forcing him to parry swiftly. Wulfgar was quick to recover and returned him blow for blow. The noise without intensified, too, the clash of metal interspersed with shouts and curses and the cries of injured men. Ingvar heard it with grim satisfaction.
‘You have just sentenced the boy to death.’ Hearing Anwyn’s stifled cry he smiled. ‘Too bad.’
‘The boy is quite safe,’ replied Wulfgar. ‘I freed him a while ago.’
As fast as they had plummeted, Anwyn’s spirits rose. Ingvar glowered.
‘You lie. Only I have a key to his prison.’
‘Ah, his prison. That’s something else I wanted to discuss.’
Wulfgar’s sword thrust under Ingvar’s guard and slashed across his ribs. Ingvar jumped backwards with a snarl, clapping a hand to his side. Blood dripped through his fingers.
‘I take his maltreatment much amiss,’ continued Wulfgar. ‘I also take it much amiss that you should lay hands upon my wife.’
The sword caught Ingvar across the arm. Blood flowed from the cut. Ingvar’s eyes blazed with fury and hatred.
‘She belongs to me now.’
He flung himself at his foe, pressing him hard, but each time his blade was turned.
‘Not only laid hands on her,’ Wulfgar continued, ‘but suffered her to endure public humiliation and private shame.’
Ingvar’s lip curled. ‘The shame is yours, Viking. If you cannot protect a woman, then you shouldn’t be surprised if another looks upon her nakedness.’
Wulfgar’s gaze became as cold as frosted steel. ‘For that alone I will cut out your heart and feed it to the crows.’
Ingvar sensed the tide turning against him and his swordplay grew wilder and more desperate. Darting a glance around, he grabbed a stool and flung it. Wulfgar ducked and the missile sailed past, crashing harmlessly against the wall. Ingvar threw himself sideways and dived across the bed towards Anwyn. With a shriek she turned to flee, only to be brought up short as an arm locked around her neck. The point of his sword checked Wulfgar’s furious advance.
‘One step more, Viking, and she dies.’
Wulfgar stopped in his tracks. ‘Let her go, Ingvar.’
‘Did I not tell you she was mine?’
‘I will never be yours,’ Anwyn ground out.
‘We’ll see.’ Ingvar looked across at Wulfgar. ‘Throw down the sword.’ Seeing him hesitate, he lifted his own blade to his captive’s throat. ‘I said throw it down.’
In impotent wrath Wulfgar obeyed. ‘This will gain you nothing.’
Ingvar edged towards the door, dragging Anwyn with him. A test of his hold disabused her of the thought that it might weaken. He smiled sardonically and tightened his grip until she gasped.
‘I’ll hurt you if I must, Anwyn.’
Wulfgar’s eyes blazed fury. ‘Let her go, coward.’
Anwyn drew a breath and felt Ingvar’s hold slacken a little. Without warning she bent her head and sank her teeth into his arm. She heard him swear. His hold loosened and she tore free. Wulfgar dived for the fallen sword, grabbed the hilt and swung the blade at Ingvar’s leg. With the full force of his arm behind it the blow would have severed the limb. As it was Ingvar yelled and staggered, blood flowing from the wound in his calf. Wulfgar sprang to his feet and came on, driving his enemy remorselessly back. Forced into a corner, Ingvar had nowhere to go. His face registered fear and he cast aside his weapon.
‘I yield. Don’t kill me!’
Wulfgar’s lip curled in contempt. ‘The world will be well rid of you, filth.’ He lifted his sword.
‘Wulfgar, no!’ Anwyn’s voice rang out.
Wulfgar checked, the point of his blade hovering over Ingvar’s throat. ‘What madness is this, Anwyn?’
‘He has yielded, Wulfgar. You cannot cut him down. If you do, then you are no better than he is.’
‘After what he has done he can expect no mercy.’
‘And yet mercy may still be shown.’
‘So that the snake can recover and attack again?’
‘No. He must swear to leave and never return.’
‘You think he will honour such a bargain?’
‘I will honour it,’ said Ingvar. ‘I swear it.’ Beads of sweat trickled down his face and he grimaced in pain.
Wulfgar regarded him in disgust, but he lowered the sword a fraction. ‘Have your worthless life then, cur, but if ever I see your face again that hour is your last.’
Ingvar nodded and then looked across at Anwyn. ‘You are merciful, my lady. I shall not forget it.’
Wulfgar lowered the sword. ‘Get out.’
He watched as Ingvar limped towards the door. He paused briefly on the threshold and then moved on towards the far door. Wulfgar turned away and looked at Anwyn. She managed a tremulous smile, her heart full.
‘Thank you.’
He sighed. ‘You are a bad influence, my sweet.’
‘Was it true what you said before? Is Eyvind safe?’
‘He is safe.’
Some of the tension went out of her. ‘I have been in terror of what might happen.’
‘He is unharmed and eager to see you again.’
‘As I am to see him. From the bottom of my heart I—’ She broke off with a scream. ‘Wulfgar, look out!’
He whipped round, lifting his sword instinctively. He had a swift impression of a raised dagger, a snarling face and then a sensation of weight on his arm. Carried by the momentum of his attack Ingvar was unable to check in time to avoid the weapon aimed at his chest. The point plunged deep. He gasped and froze. Wulfgar tugged free his blade and thrust again. Ingvar’s snarl became an expression of astonishment and the dagger slipped from his grasp. Then he collapsed beside it in a pool of blood.
For a moment Wulfgar surveyed him in silence, breathing hard. Then he turned to look at Anwyn. The blue eyes smouldered. She swallowed convulsively.
‘Wulfgar, forgive me. I had no idea he would—’
There was no time for more because he was across the room in three strides and she was forcibly seized, crushed against him in a fierce embrace. Then his mouth came down over hers, hot, searing, avid. Far from resenting this treatment, she returned the kiss in like manner, oblivious to everything else. For some time they remained thus before eventually he drew back a little to look into her face.
‘It is I who should apologise, Anwyn. I’ve been such an almighty fool, unable to see what was right in front of me.’ He paused. ‘I love you more than my life. It wasn’t until I thought I had lost you that I realised how much.’
A lump formed in her throat and she was unable to speak. Wulfgar sighed.
‘I’m not surprised that you should doubt it after the way I’ve behaved, but I’d gladly spend the rest of my life making it up to you if I thought there was the slightest chance you might forgive—’
The sentence was cut short by a kiss, a gentle and lingering embrace that set his heart thumping and whose implications filled him with painful hope.
‘I love you, Wulfgar. I always have.
’
‘Then you wouldn’t mind if I stayed?’
‘Mind? It’s what I always dreamed of but…Wulfgar, are you sure?’
‘I was never more sure of anything in my life.’ He drew her to his breast. ‘The gods have given me a second chance and I don’t mean to throw it away.’
‘The gods have given us rather more than that,’ she replied.
He glanced down at her. ‘How so, my love?’
She took a deep breath. ‘In a few months from now there’s going to be another addition to the family.’
It took a moment or two before the import of her words sank in. Then he stared at her dumbfounded. ‘A child?’
‘Our child.’
A slow grin spread across his face. ‘That’s marvellous!’
‘You don’t mind?’
‘It’s wonderful news. Why would I mind?’
‘What you said before…about not wanting more sons…I thought maybe the news might not be welcome.’
Wulfgar froze. He had almost forgotten that conversation, but now it returned with terrible clarity and, for the first time, he understood its significance.
‘You knew back then.’
‘Suspected only.’
‘And I let you think that I had no interest in such things.’ He was appalled. ‘I only said it because I thought you didn’t want more children. The circumstances were complicated enough—thanks largely to my high-handedness—and I felt I had no right to make you feel guilty over the matter.’ He paused. ‘Besides, I believed…you said you had taken precautions.’
‘With Torstein. Never with you.’
His throat tightened. ‘Then the thought of bearing my sons is not repugnant to you?’
‘It never was, Wulfgar.’
The knowledge of what he had so nearly lost was chilling. ‘I’ve been a blind fool. Can you ever—?’
She silenced him with a finger to his lips. ‘I love you. I will always love you, but I don’t want to try to hold you here if it is your will to be gone. You said from the start that you would not stay for ever.’
‘I seem to recall that I said a lot of stupid things back then.’ He shook his head. ‘The words of a man so fearful of loving that he dared not risk his heart.’ He hesitated. ‘But my heart is yours, Anwyn—if you want it.’
‘Can you doubt it?’
‘No, it was my own steadfastness that was in doubt.’
‘You have been steadfast, my lord. No man more.’
‘I mean to be. You are my home now and I will not leave you again.’
Her heart gave a painful lurch. She took another deep breath, dreading to speak what was on her mind, yet knowing she must. ‘I would not have you leave, but you have your men to consider, Wulfgar.’
‘They will manage well enough under Hermund’s command and, if they ever tire of adventuring, there will always be a place for them at Drakensburgh.’
Anwyn regarded him anxiously. ‘Are you quite sure about this?’
‘I was never more certain of anything.’ He drew her closer. ‘I want a future, Anwyn, and I want to share it with you.’
‘But what about Rollo?’
‘Rollo wants good fighting men and he’s going to get them.’ He grinned. ‘All but one, that is. I can’t see him losing any sleep over that.’
They were rudely interrupted by shouting and then the heavy thud of axes against the wooden door without. Wulfgar listened a moment and sighed.
‘My men, I imagine.’ Reluctantly he relinquished his hold on her. ‘I’d better let them know we’re here.’
He went into the next room and shouted to the men outside the door. The axe blows ceased. Then he lifted the bar and opened the door. Hermund and half-a-dozen others stepped into the room, looking around.
‘Everything all right, my lord?’
Wulfgar grinned. ‘Aye, all is well.’
‘And Lady Anwyn?’
‘Safe.’
‘The gods be thanked.’ Hermund paused. ‘Where’s Ingvar?’
‘Dead.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’
His companions voiced their agreement.
‘What’s happened in my absence?’ asked Wulfgar.
‘Pretty much what we’d planned, my lord. Almost all of the scum were in the hall like we hoped, and most of them half-drunk to boot. By the time they realised what was happening we were on them. To be honest it wasn’t much of a fight. Still, you can’t have everything.’ He glanced over his shoulder at the few remaining combatants outside. ‘We’re mopping up the remnants now.’
As he finished speaking some more of the Sea Wolf’s crew hove into sight. Among them were Asulf and Thrand, the latter carrying a battered helmet on the point of his spear. Wulfgar glanced at it and then at the bearer’s grinning face.
‘All right, I’m going to ask.’
Thrand glanced up at his prize and beamed. ‘I found Grymar Big Mouth.’
Hermund chuckled softly. ‘Good lad.’
‘It was he who slew Ina,’ Thrand continued. ‘The boy told us.’
Wulfgar nodded, aware of intense inner satisfaction. ‘Then Ina is justly avenged.’
‘Most mightily, lord,’ said Asulf. ‘We’ve taken no prisoners.’
‘And the servants?’
‘We let them go, lord, as you commanded. They didn’t need telling twice, either. Seemed only too glad to get out of the place.’
‘That’s understandable.’
Thrand nodded. ‘We liberated Ingvar’s stores of grain, too, while we were at it.’ He grinned. ‘Oddly enough Grymar argued with us over that, but I was able to persuade him in the end. Now there’s enough to keep Drakensburgh fed until harvest and beyond.’
‘Excellent. Anything else of value?’
‘Aye, plenty,’ said Thrand. ‘The men have liberated that as well.’
‘And I declare Beranhold lands annexed to Drakensburgh,’ replied Wulfgar. ‘All that remains now is to burn this rats’ nest to the ground.’
Hermund looked around at his companions. ‘You heard him. Get to it.’
Nothing loath, they hurried off to do his bidding. For a moment Wulfgar watched them go. Then he returned to the inner chamber where Anwyn waited.
‘Did you hear all that?’
She nodded. ‘I am glad. The people hereabouts will sleep easier at night knowing that this robber crew can no longer prey upon their homes and livelihoods.’
‘We will rebuild what they have destroyed.’ He sighed. ‘If I had not left, it mightn’t have happened in the first place.’
‘If I had not interfered, you would have dealt with the threat long since,’ she sighed. ‘Forgive me, Wulfgar.’
‘You only did what you thought right at the time.’
‘I let my heart rule my head.’
‘And I once did just the opposite.’ He smiled wryly. ‘It was a costly mistake, but I shall not repeat it.’
The smell of smoke drifted in through the open doorway. Wulfgar glanced across the compound.
‘My men have taken me at my word. We must go.’ He reached out a hand to lead her from the room, but Anwyn checked.
‘Wait. There’s something else.’
She ran back to the inner chamber. Wulfgar followed, bemused, pausing in the doorway to watch as she scanned the rushes on the floor. Presently he saw her smile and, following her gaze, detected the soft gleam of metal. Anwyn bent down to retrieve it.
‘What is it, love?’ he asked.
‘Something Ingvar threw away.’
She extended her hand and he saw the ring on her open palm. One glance served to identify it and his eyes narrowed. Then he looked at Anwyn. She met his gaze steadily.
‘Will you put it back where it belongs, Wulfgar?’
He drew off Ingvar’s ring and slid the original onto her finger once more. Then he glanced contemptuously at the body and tossed the unwanted ring across the room to join it. Anwyn shuddered and turned away. Wulfgar squeezed her hand gently.
‘He cannot hurt anyone now,’ she replied, ‘though that is no thanks to me.’
‘Forget him. We have more important things to think about.’
‘I want to see my son, Wulfgar. I want to be sure he’s really safe.’
‘He’s safe.’ Wulfgar grinned. ‘Thanks to Frodi. He was the one who picked the lock. Without him I’d have been in real trouble.’
He led her to the outer entrance. Seeing the heavy wooden plank beside it, she threw him a quizzical glance.
‘Ingvar barred the door after he brought me here. How did you get in?’
‘I was here before you,’ he replied. ‘Fortunately the shadows in the corners are deep and Ingvar too preoccupied to notice.’
Anwyn’s cheeks burned. ‘You heard everything then?’
‘Aye, I did. It makes killing him even more satisfying.’
They stepped outside. The smell of burning was much stronger now and several buildings were already well alight. Wulfgar grasped her hand.
‘Come.’
Wulfgar skirted the battle zone and led her towards the main gate, now standing wide. A group of men stood watching their approach, their faces lit by the flames from the fortress.
‘Osric?’ she murmured. ‘What on earth is he doing here?’
‘He arrived in time to play a part in your deliverance,’ replied Wulfgar.
‘He did?’
Before they could say more her brother strode forwards. For a second or two he surveyed her keenly, his expression cool.
‘I am glad to see you safe, Sister, though, frankly, it was your own wilful folly that brought you so close to disaster. Had it not been for Lord Wulfgar…’
She held her temper. ‘I know what I owe to Lord Wulfgar.’
‘No doubt you do.’
‘But I still don’t understand how you came to be here in the first place.’
‘I told you I’d be back, Anwyn. I am come to escort you into the north country.’
Her eyes glittered. ‘Would this be connected with the unknown earl and the splendid match you proposed on your last visit?’
He reddened a little. ‘Someone must look to your interests if you will not.’
‘My interests or yours?’
‘It amounts to the same thing. I will not permit you to throw away this wonderful chance.’ He paused. ‘If you will not come willingly I regret that I shall have to remove you by force.’
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