Viking Fire

by Andrea R. Cooper

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Rhiannon smirked at the scene. From her mistress’ window, she watched the battle. Both the laird and lady waited at the far end of the keep, in the west guard tower. The last place an enemy would look for them.

  But Rhiannon knew. She helped Feoras drag them by their hair then rip the fine damask clothing from them.

  Previous skirmishes with the O’Neill clan had created this west tower as a better concealment for them.

  She may allow her master and mistress to live, as her pets. Until she received her fill of their remorse for causing her servitude here, they would answer for their snobbery to their new lady.

  The Liannon clan’s scattered bodies littered the courtyard.

  Never again would she tend the dyes. Never again suffer the whimsical commands of the Laird and Lady Liannon.

  She would be lady of the Liannon and the O’Neill lands.

  At seeing the Lochlann’s horse collapse beneath him, she clapped her hands in joy. Leaning forward on the stone windowsill, she watched.

  She hated not seeing her husband die…the void of death in his eyes. If it had not been for her son, the man might have outlived them all.

  She fingered the purple velvet dress she now wore. Snatched during the laundering, as she knew her mistress would not have the chance to ask for it again.

  She told the laundry women her mistress wanted the gown straightway. But she lied to Lady Liannon, telling her she caned the launder maids for ripping the fabric.

  Rhiannon tailored the violet gown to her measurements. She would grace her subjects as the lady. Her hair was stretched tight in a bun. She smoothed her grey hair to ensure no strand shifted its way loose.

  Soon she would meet her loyal clansmen, loyal men to her son and her. Then, they would take the west tower.

  And to ensure the Liannon clan’s cooperation, and avoid any future uprisings, Kaireen, the foolish girl, would be wed to her son.

  As soon as she birthed a son, she would die in childbirth.

  Rhiannon would rather another wife for her son, Rebecca or Constance. Both would be manageable. Neither would vie for her son’s attention with her.

  But Kaireen was too strong minded, unbecoming of a lady. Rhiannon would pay for herbs to get her ripe with child on their marriage night with a son.

  After nine moons, she would be rid of her. An O’Neill midwife would deliver the babe into the hands of his new mother. And she would ensure Kaireen would never hold her son. Never force her taint upon the child.

  Simple enough for her to die after the birthing. No one would be suspicious. Herbs would cause her to bleed out her life, unable to wake from fever. The midwife would be her witness to Kaireen’s failing health.

  Rhiannon would have a future laird to raise. Would mold him as she had Feoras. And he would reign after his father when the time was right. He would rule all of this land and conquer others.

  He would be better than her son, whom she had not been able to raise through adulthood. Because of her meddling husband, she was forced to abandon her son, her clan.

  Movement from the corner of her eye outside caught her attention. She chided herself for not watching the battle. This was her and Feoras’ victory. They would sing ballads of his triumph by the fire.

  She wanted this scene etched in her mind forever. Turning back to the window a gasp escaped her. She straightened, rubbing her eyes against the mirage.

  Men fought, oblivious to all, except killing their foe. High in her mistress’ chambers, she saw everything.

  Feoras laughed as men piled onto Bram. Did her son not see the eerie fog creeping around them? From all sides of the courtyard, as though stalking them?

  The courtyard was not engulfed in the mist yet. Edges of the mist rose and fell; slithering like a snake underneath a sleeper’s bed. Rhiannon watched, frozen, as the fog thickened, and spread further until it concealed everything.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Kaireen slapped away a piece of her auburn hair. Willing her mare to keep in view of Elva, she snapped the reins.

  A glance around her, she found that the Lochlanns matched her pace.

  Yesterday, she would have never thought to race alongside their kind. Now they were her only hope to save her family—and Bram.

  In the distance, the fog enclosed as a wall after the last man hurried forward.

  Elva.

  If they survived this battle, and Bram lived, she would have a long discussion with her handmaid. No slipping round the matter like the woman normally did.

  She prayed their horses swifter. Their horses’ huffs and pounding hooves resonated through the trees.

  Miles stretched on and on ’til Kaireen thought they must have reached the other side of Ireland by now.

  The Lochlanns galloped with her. All watched for signs of the enemy. Beside her the flame haired giant rode. She worried the gelding he rode strained with effort carrying the massive man.

  At her stare, he gave her a quick smile. She smiled back then focused on the trail ahead.

  She thought of Bram. He must stay alive. She tried to ignore the vision clouding her mind of his body stiff among autumn’s leaves. The red leaves blended with his dried blood, gold and yellow poorly mimicking his hair. Her heart, the broken brown leaves.

  She bit her lip, then prayed he was still alive. How could she have believed she might marry another? What if Bram did not want her any longer…she could not bear to love without him.

  His kisses, his smiles, and the way the blue in his eyes swirled as though in merriment when he goaded her.

  Grief gripped her heart. It squeezed until she thought she no longer breathed. Tears threatened, but she forced them back. She hunched, and the pain lessened.

  Damn her for a fool. She loved Bram and nothing would change her love, not even her stubbornness. Love had found a path around her willful heart. She ached to find Bram alive, at least to tell him of her love.

  And she did not care if words of love ever crossed his lips, since he had never told her of his love, so long as he lived. Hadn’t he shown her in other words and his deeds of his love? She wondered why he never said the words; I love you, to her. Perhaps he dreaded her temper and thought she wouldn’t believe him.

  The giant pointed to broken bodies lining the path.

  Liannon and O’Neill carcasses lay around them. O’Neill’s? Why would they attack?

  Before she was born, the two clans had lived in peace. Decades ago they fought, but the new laird had worked to end the feuding.

  Together, they had defeated the Lochlanns who threatened Bram at the invasion on her lands.

  Why did they fight now? Her horse skirted around one who moaned in agony. A Liannon, Marc. He was three winters older than she.

  They could do nothing for him. His wound spilled his insides and it was only a matter of minutes before he died. The giant beside her ended his suffering with his sword. Kaireen turned her head away to keep her stomach and out of respect for the man.

  Another mile. Bodies marked the way. Soon they would be in the mist of the battle.

  But before Elva, the fog was as thick as a stone wall. Kaireen saw nothing but her group.

  She strained to listen. The faint sound of men’s shouts and swords crashed in echo through the fog.

  Where was Bram? She wanted to leap from her horse and call his name. Search the keep for him.

  They reached the gates. Planks of gouged wood hung from the stone walls. Pieces of the gate creaked under their horses’ steps.

  Kaireen was shocked. How did the O’Neill clan make their way this far in?

  By now, they may have possession of the keep. The arrow slits in the walls were fewer here. Her father had thought it useless to have so many holes for arrows and had ordered the ones here in the courtyard sealed with rolled glass.

  No doubt Bram would fight their enemy until they killed him. He would never allow them to pass unless…she choked back the bile rising in her throa
t.

  Part of her wanted to find his body and wail her sorrow to the heavens. The other refused to think on such things.

  Why had the fates given her love, only to take him away? A sob escaped her throat.

  Elva spun her horse around. With her finger, she asked for silence.

  Her handmaid smiled at her nod and then gestured them to the left, through the courtyard.

  Following Elva’s zigzag paths through the fog, they maneuvered closer to the keep.

  Then Elva pointed to the group of Lochlanns, directing them in silence around an oak tree. They were in the courtyard now. The oak tree shaded stone benches.

  Clashes of shouts and metal resonated round them, yet Kaireen saw nothing but Elva and the other Lochlanns.

  “You shoot?” the Lochlann beside her asked, waving his bow before her.

  “Aye.” She nodded.

  He gestured to another and gibbered in their foreign language. The man was thinner than the rest. He frowned at whatever his companion said, but then grasped his bow. After thrusting the bow into the giant’s outstretched hand, his quiver of arrows followed.

  With a smile the red giant handed her the long bow and quiver.

  She thanked him and then strapped the leather pouch around her side. She knew she must appear a sight. Dirty from cleaning the monastery, twigs and fragments of leaves poking through her hair, and dressed in a friar’s brown robes, the waist cinched with a rope belt.

  The Lochlann unsheathed his sword.

  Kaireen knew they were in the center of the battle. Yet, due to the fog, no one knew of their presence.

  Perhaps they had a chance after all. The enemy would not expect reinforcements. And certainly not as though they fell from the sky among them. She tested the strength of the bow, a little too taunt for her liking, but she would make do. She must.

  She whispered a prayer for Bram. Let him be safe. Let her arrows fly true.

  If he died, then she would die in battle with him. She was ready now to face whatever demons possessed the O’Neills to fight.

  And she was ready to face her love. Face Bram with love in her heart and her words.

  Elva clapped her hands and the mist fell away.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Liannon and O’Neill clansmen stumbled. They watched the fog crawl back to whence it came.

  Elva lowered her arms. “Kaireen!” she shouted pointing, to a mound of men three strides from her. “Underneath their squirms lays Bram.”

  Kaireen did not waste a moment contemplating if her handmaid spoke truth or not. Instead, she nocked an arrow, and then sent it sailing into an enemy’s back. Grateful the tension of the bow was not beyond her strength.

  All around her Lochlanns, O’Neill’s, and Liannon fought.

  “The Lochlanns are on our side!” At Kaireen’s words, the Liannon clan did not battle with them, but accepted their help.

  Another arrow flung into a man’s shoulder within the pile. She wanted a sword to hack the men who concealed her beloved.

  The red Lochlann jumped from his horse. He slashed through men, making his way to the pile of squirming bodies.

  After he placed his sword in his scabbard, he grabbed a man in each hand, banged their heads together and then tossed them backward.

  Kaireen nocked a third arrow. She scanned the field, aimed to shoot any enemy who came too close to the giant.

  Five more bodies flew past her. Three more men scampered away from Bram as the giant stretched to snatch them. They did not turn back as they raced across the courtyard.

  Bram laid still, his tunic covered in blood. She slid from her horse and then ran to him.

  His flesh was cold to her touch and she screamed. She knelt beside him cradling his arm to her chest.

  She thought of all the words she never spoke. Her love she refused to admit. He must not die without knowing the truth. Words tore from her throat through her sobs. “I love you, Bram. I-I tried to come sooner.” Oh, she’d crush Elva’s neck for this, for making her a widow.

  She hollered when she was yanked backwards by her hair. She fought whoever seized her, her eyes never leaving Bram’s body. With a curse, she was released. Then she crawled back to him letting her lips touch his.

  A glint flashed in the sun and a blade of a sword waved passed her face. The sword’s edge came below her chin pressing her away.

  “If you wish to save your lord father and mother,” Feoras’ voice whispered in her ear, “you will come with me.”

  Cold steel brushed her chin. A shudder ran through her, making her tremble.

  Feoras jerked her by her arm and pulled her back with him. With his sword under her chin, his other hand clutched a dagger. He dragged her toward the west guard tower.

  When one Liannon tried to block his escape, Feoras threw the dagger at him. The mark hit true, and lodged into the man’s throat.

  How many would die because of her? she thought. Kaireen glanced to Bram’s lifeless body. A gasp escaped from her lips.

  At his side, Elva kneeled, pounding her fists upon his chest.

  The blade pressed into Kaireen’s neck and she felt the stinging trickle of blood. She watched in horror as Elva covered Bram’s lifeless mouth with hers.

  Bram was dead. Why did Elva suffer Bram with these atrocities against his body?

  “Watch it, wench,” Feoras said. He did not notice Elva nor care.

  She felt the drying of her blood, sticky upon her neck. Kaireen wished she could die. Her chest spasmed with each breath. Bram, her thoughts screamed. How could she endure this torture?

  Never would she love again. Love was too raw, too deep. She would help her mother and father after the battle nursing them back to health. Her hopes for marriage and happiness of her own flew away with Bram’s spirit as he approached the heavenly places.

  Then she would join a convent as a nun. She chuckled at the irony. At least she was dressed in a friar’s cloaks, ready for servitude.

  Chapter Thirty

  Inside the west guard tower, Kaireen stumbled on the stairs. Feoras climbed after her with his drawn sword between them.

  Torches had been snuffed along the stone walls. In the darkness, Kaireen fell. Feoras hissed a reprimand to her. So she groped along the stairs with one hand against the wall, the other held her wool robe. She thought about throwing herself down the stairs against Feoras. But she doubted he would die from the fall. And no doubt the sword point would find its way into her. They came to the door at the top of the tower. It was locked.

  Feoras shoved her aside, and then banged on the door.

  Kaireen knew her family huddled inside.

  But she would not cry out for them. Even if he sliced her until nothing was left. Her family would be safe.

  He turned and watched her. The shadows elongated his nose and chin, making her step backward. Coldness filled his expression. “Feoras has arrived,” he shouted.

  Kaireen opened her mouth to protest his insanity. Her family would never open the door to an outsider.

  At hearing the iron bar slide open, she jumped. What were her lord father and mother doing? Had they lost their senses?

  “No!” She screamed.

  But the door creaked opened and then Feoras jerked her inside with him.

  As Kaireen’s vision adjusted to the room, she saw Rhiannon slam the door shut behind them.

  Her mother, father, and Shay were tied with ropes and sat along the far wall.

  Cloths were stuffed into their mouths. Two O’Neill clansmen stood guard.

  Her mother’s handmaid and Feoras hugged each other and then kissed each other upon the cheeks. They spoke like long-lost friends.

  Kaireen ran to her family. Her father’s was face was red and sweaty, as though he strained to holler. The whole side of his face was swollen and a dark shade of purple. He was bent over and holding his side. Her mother’s red-gold hair was disheveled and her left eye was swollen shut and a cut on her lip had dried blood.

  Shay a
ppeared the least disturbed. She was tied and gagged like the others, but looked not as if she fought. Instead, her blond hair shone like rays of the sun. Kaireen smelled the hint of rose perfume. Did she dress so because of Elva’s words, or to look her best for the battle?

  Where was Shay’s daughter, Megan?

  Gathering her robe, she knelt in front of them. She eased the linen strips from their mouths. “What darkness is this?”

  “Rhiannon.” Her mother spoke first, shifting on the stone floor. “She is behind this. Behind it all-she’s the traitor we’ve been searching for. I should have listened to your father when he did not want to take her in.”

  Her father spit the last piece of wet linen from his mouth. “Damn their clan to the tenth generation.”

  “Careful,” the guard to his right waved an axe, “or our Lady Mistress may ask your head removed if you cannot keep your mouth shut. She is the now Lady of this keep and you will address her as such.”

  Her father sputtered, but then acquiesced.

  “Lady Mistress?” Kaireen looked around the tower. “The O’Neill clan has no Lady Mistress. The laird is th…”

  The guard snatched her by the arm and dragged her to Rhiannon.

  She stood in front of her mother’s handmaid, confusion in her eyes. Long ago when Kaireen had been about Megan’s age, Rhiannon had come into her clan, an outsider, an O’Neill. She had grown up with the woman around and never thought to question why she was allowed to live here. But surly— Rhiannon’s stare was hard like quarry stones. Her taunt skin was pulled tight by the grey bun of her hair. She nodded to the guard, who kicked the back of Kaireen’s legs, forcing her to kneel.

  A gasp escaped Kaireen at the sight of her mother’s velvet gown on this servant. “My mother’s…” she said as the guard twisted her arm.

  “Do not speak unless addressed from her lady mistress,” he seethed.

  “My son and I rule here now,” Rhiannon leered. “The fight is nearly done and we triumph.”

  Had everyone gone daft? “You have no authority here, nor anywhere.” Kaireen shook her head as it couldn’t be true. Why would her parents allow a Laird’s wife — ?