‘We can give him reasons, if he needs them.’
‘I’ve no doubt, with the cunning in both our tongues, that we can lead him to this course. After all,’ she chuckled, ‘are we not mere stitches in the weft of his fate? Mere tools in the hands of the Norns, used to raise him to his glorious destiny.’
‘Now the needle is in my hands, you’ll see what I can weave.’
‘Good. You shall be well rewarded for it.’
‘I ask for but one.’
‘What is that?’
‘The Aurvandil.’
‘Erlan?’ She was surprised. ‘What have you against him?’
‘Like you, my lady, I have my reasons. Like you, I will spare you any explanation.’
‘I have plans for him myself.’ Erlan was an appetite only just whetted. She had not finished with him yet. ‘Is he your price, then?’
‘Price?’ Vargalf’s eyes narrowed. ‘How about I put it another way? Agree to this and our interests will be harnessed as perfectly as Árvakr and Alsviðr.’
Saldas snorted. Vargalf was referring to the two steeds that were said to draw the sun across the sky. For a man who professed to like plain speech these words were most colourful. But she had a better idea. If it was a harness he wanted, he could share one with Sigurd. Indeed, she had a vision of her own – herself as goddess Freyja, riding resplendent in her chariot while the two of them laboured away in front like the Lady’s cats. They could mewl for their milk, and perhaps – if they did what they were told – she would let them wet their whiskers from time to time.
‘You cannot kill him. At least not until I say so. But I promise you, by the time we reap the harvest of our plans, you will be entirely satisfied. Are we agreed then?’
‘We are.’
‘Good. Then this is what we shall do.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Things were looking up for Kai. His master was going to be made an earl of the kingdom and, unless he was much mistaken, that meant he was well on the road to becoming a nobleman himself. A thane, at the very least.
Of course, it still had to be made official, but how he wished that old whoreson Torolf could see him now! His stepfather had always relished telling him what a steaming pile of horse manure his life was destined to become.
How wrong could a man be!
It wasn’t even a year since Kai had abandoned his stinking puddle of a fishing village to throw in his lot with Erlan. But here he was, right-hand man to the king’s darling, on the high road to wealth and glory. Of course, Erlan saw things differently. But then Erlan was a gloomy ass at the best of times, and his mood hadn’t lightened with all this shipbuilding nonsense the king had dumped in his lap. (Kai knew a man out of his depth when he saw one.)
Still, he wasn’t going to let Erlan bring him down. Once they were installed in Svartadal, the grand hall that went with the Nairka lands, there would be feasting and wenching a-plenty. Kai would see to that. And singing! Oh yes! And no one was going to tell him to shut up, neither. Hel, he might even see if Bara couldn’t be talked into coming.
His imagination ran on a bit – to when he’d have place of his own. A modest hall with a little lake, some woodland, a few fields. True, it all sounded a bit tame. But then he’d had his fill of fighting for the time being. A damned dangerous business, it had turned out. He supposed his appetite for it might return one day, but just now he had more pleasant things to consider.
He watched a bead of sweat swell below Bara’s ear. It grew fatter and fatter until, all of a sudden, it raced down her collarbone, colliding with a tiny splash against a ring of polished gold.
He rubbed the link between thumb and forefinger. ‘You got this from the queen, you say?’
‘I told you – she likes me.’
‘She must like you a Hel of a lot.’
‘So she should, the amount of service I give her.’
‘If that’s what it’s for, you should be giving the thing to me.’ He kissed her neck.
She giggled. ‘You’ll have to do a lot more than that to earn this.’
The heat in the loft was suffocating. He propped himself on an elbow. ‘Why don’t you take this stupid thing off?’ He plucked at her dress.
‘What about Erlan?’ Another giggle.
‘Oh, him! He’s off seeing foresters or something. Won’t be back for ages. Come on – off with it!’
Yielding, Bara slipped her dress over her head. She started to remove the necklace, too.
‘No – leave that. Gives me something aim for.’ He bit at her neck again, while his hands wandered down her body.
‘I’ll be getting a lot more like this one,’ she sighed, stretching like a contented kitten.
‘She can’t like you that much.’
‘Maybe it ain’t a question of how much she likes me,’ she grinned. ‘Maybe she’s got to keep me happy. Just like you.’
He dropped his hand a little lower, his fingertips drawing circles round her hips. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because she knows what’s good for her.’
‘Pah! What are you going to do if she doesn’t? Stab her with a brooch-pin?’
She took his hand, moved it lower. ‘No, idiot.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Mmm. Keep doing that.’
‘You like this, do you?’
‘Mmmm... Hey! Don’t stop!’
‘No more till you tell me.’
‘Tell you what? Come on!’
‘Not till you tell,’ he smirked.
Bara gave an exasperated sigh. ‘All I’ll say is she knows the value of a servant’s discretion.’
Kai’s eyes grew wide. ‘Gods, you’re not blackmailing the bitch, are you?’
‘Wouldn’t call it that exactly.’
‘What the Hel would you call it?’
‘We have an understanding.’
‘The kind of understanding where she gives you pretty things and you keep your mouth shut.’
‘I suppose.’
‘Are you out of your tiny mind?’
She blew her lips at him.
‘Who was it dreamed up this little arrangement? You or her?’
‘Me, I guess.’
Kai shook his head. ‘You’ve lost your wits, Bara.’ She began to look cross. ‘And you reckon on milking the queen as long as you want?’
‘Maybe... Anyway, she likes me. I know she does.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘Hey, so what if I do a little milking off her royal tit? She can spare it. All day long I do what I’m told to do, whether I like it or not. It’s time something went my way.’
‘Well, we’ve all got to do what someone else tells us. Me. My master. Even the bloody king’s under the gods, ain’t he?’
‘You have a choice. You all do. But I’m a thrall. There hasn’t been no choice in my life.’ She touched her necklace. ‘Until now. For the first time, I’ve got some power in my hands and it feels good!’
‘Well, I ain’t forcing you to do anything, am I?’
She pouted.
‘Well?’
‘Suppose not. But with you it’s different... I chose you. That’s why I like you.’
Kai looked down at her. Her pupils were big as cauldrons. ‘You know you’re crazier than I am. And that’s bad.’ He kissed her.
She let his lips linger, responding. But then, abruptly, she pushed him away. ‘Do you love me?’
‘What do you think? I want to jump you every time I see you.’
‘No. I mean feelings and that.’ She pointed to her heart. ‘I mean in here. Or there.’ She pointed at his.
‘Oh! I don’t know. Should I?’
‘I suppose not.’
‘Do you love me?’
She shook her head quickly. ‘I’d have to be crazy to love someone like you.’
‘Didn’t we decide that’s exactly what you are?’
She started giggling. ‘No one’s that crazy.’
‘Thanks a lot!’
For a while, neither spoke. Just star
ed up at the smoke drifting through the smoke-hole.
‘So what’s the big secret?’
‘Huh?’
‘The queen! What’s her secret? Must be a juicy one if she’s handing out chunks of metal like that one.’
‘I could hardly take her gold, then go straight and spill my guts to you, could I?’
‘Go on. I’d never tell.’
‘You! You’ve got the biggest mouth in Sveäland.’
‘All the better for kissing you.’ He leaned in and kissed her neck. ‘Here,’ he murmured. She threw her head back with a sigh.
‘And here.’ A collarbone. ‘And here.’ Lighter still, the swell of her breasts. She giggled, arching her body.
‘You know,’ he mumbled, ‘there’s only so many things it could be.’
‘You don’t give up.’
‘Something no one else knows,’ he whispered as the tip of his tongue traced her navel. ‘Especially not the king.’
Bara giggled. ‘Especially.’
‘Only two kinds of secret are worth paying out for. Either she wants someone dead, or else she’s giving the Old Goat another set of horns.’
‘I’m not telling,’ purred Bara, closing her eyes. Kai felt her fingers thread through his long flick of hair. Soon she was gasping and – for a while at least – Kai said nothing at all.
‘Well, it can’t be murder,’ he said, stopping, ‘or paying you off wouldn’t be enough. You’d be face down at the bottom of some lake. So—’
‘Just shut up and keep going,’ she gasped, her hand sliding round his head and pushing him down.
He obliged for a few seconds then stopped again. ‘Who is he?’
‘Don’t stop,’ she begged in a breathy voice.
‘Come on. One little name...’
‘You little shit – you’re killing me.’
‘Just a name. Bet it was one of them lusty northern thanes – or one of our Danish friends, eh?’
‘Keep going. I was so close.’
‘The name! Then I’ll give you what you want.’
She groaned, long and deep. ‘All right. But you’d better finish what you started.’
‘Oh, I will.’ He chuckled. ‘First, the name.’
‘Fine then! It’s your own stupid master. It’s Erlan!’
‘What? Erlan?’ No. He couldn’t believe that.
‘Now finish me,’ she urged. ‘You promised.’ She gripped his hair tighter, but he caught her wrist and pulled her hand away.
‘You’re telling me Erlan has been with the queen?’
Bara sat up, exasperated. ‘Yes – bloody Erlan! There, I’ve told you now. I swear I’ll wring your neck if you ever tell.’ She hit him for good measure.
‘Oww!’ Her punches were surprisingly effective but he was too distracted to complain right now. If it were true, how did he not know already? ‘Where the Hel did they do it? And when?’
‘You obviously don’t know everything your precious master gets up to, eh?’
‘Tell me! When?’
‘On the ride back from the Kolmark.’
‘And? There must be more.’
‘There is.’
‘Well?’
‘Swear you won’t tell?’
‘On my mother’s rosy backside. Come on, let’s hear it.’
So she told him. All of it – Lilla’s parting, the camp, Saldas’s good humour, the brews she tried to slip them (and how she was far too sharp to fall for that, of course). And the rest of it – the heavy darkness, the figure crouched by the fire, and then the wild sport the queen had off his master.
‘Course I daren’t look up when she came out. She would have had my eyes out right there and then if she’d suspected anything.’
‘But you heard it all.’
‘Did I? Hel, they could have heard in bloody Finnland!’
‘That’s some tale.’ Some tale indeed. And if true, then Erlan was in mortal danger. You don’t bed the king’s consort and wait around for a slap on the back and a gold arm-ring.
Kai had to find him.
Yet more alarming was that Bara was witless enough to think she could extort gold out of the queen and skip merrily on her way.
Suddenly, dread knotted in the pit of his belly. He knew Bara. She hadn’t a hope of keeping this to herself, not if her life depended on it. And he was almost certain her life did depend on it. But she’d already told him. Once out, this would spread like fire through a hay-barn.
Erlan’s life wouldn’t be worth a heap of chaff.
‘Well?’
He forced a laugh. ‘My master’s a sneaky one, ain’t he?’
He stroked the gold around her neck, trying to stop his brow from furrowing.
‘Promise you won’t tell a soul.’
‘I already did, didn’t I? Listen, if you want more of them baubles, you’ll keep that pretty mouth shut.’
If she didn’t, the next necklace she’d wear would be red and bloody and two inches deep.
‘I will.’ She smiled, her bright blue eyes sparkling with mischief. ‘Now then, Kai Askarsson. You’ve another promise to keep.’
‘I have?’
She pouted and pulled him closer.
‘I have,’ he said and kissed her. But behind the kiss, his mind was racing. He had to speak to Erlan at once.
The scent of Bara’s skin filled his nostrils.
There wasn’t a moment to lose.
Bara sighed under him.
Well, perhaps he could lose a moment.
A moment or two...
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Erlan was glad to be home. It had been a long day.
Budli Herkjarsson, the king’s forester, was nothing if not an enthusiast. He had taken Erlan through every wood within a league of the Great Hall on the hunt for good timber, marking it as they found it. If Sviggar wanted to double the size of his fleet, that meant sourcing an awful lot of the stuff.
This was only the beginning.
Erlan’s head throbbed with the scale of it all. Still, he might have felt satisfaction at a good day’s work done, but for the shadows plucking at the edges of his mind.
He had decided not to share his misgivings with Kai. Hadn’t wanted to burden the lad. Seemed churlish to spoil his excitement. That’s what he told himself, anyway. The truth was he felt ashamed at his humiliation. Vargalf’s threat had been real enough, the pain in his groin more so. But still he couldn’t imagine Sigurd doing anything drastic. The prince blustered a lot. Acted rather less.
As for that strange dream, the marks on his body... these were best kept to himself.
He went inside. Kai had his back to him, but spun around at once. ‘I’ve been looking for you bloody everywhere!’
‘What’s up?’
‘We need to talk.’
Erlan threw himself down on the bench. ‘Not without a drink, I hope.’
Kai scowled and hurried to the corner, rummaging around and soon returning with a couple of wooden cups and an ale-pitcher. He dumped them unceremoniously on the table.
‘Not sure you’ll be getting a job at the king’s table anytime soon with service like that. So what are we talking about?’ Erlan poured himself an ale.
‘Why don’t you tell me?’
‘Eh?’ For a second, Erlan thought he might be talking about Lilla again. ‘You mean the princess? Look, I told you before—’
‘Not that. Something else. Someone else.’
Erlan stared at him, perplexed. ‘I don’t understand.’
Kai leaned forward, peered deep in his eyes. ‘You really have no clue, do you?’
‘How about you stop sniffing round like a dog about to piss and come out and say whatever you’re getting at?’
So Kai told him. And Erlan listened, fury drip, drip, dripping like poison into his heart. The boy told of the queen’s ruse, of the potion and the darkness, of her clandestine visit and the noises from his tent. Told him everything just as Bara had told it.
The dream. Inga..
. Her, yet not her. And now, somehow, Saldas possessed her too... had reduced her to a stolen secret.
‘That devious fucking whore!’ he snarled, his fury finally brimming over, throwing his cup against the wall in a spray of beer.
Calmly, Kai retrieved it, set it back in front of him and refilled it. ‘You really remember none of it?’
Erlan clasped his head and shook it, as if that might dislodge the cloak of obscurity that veiled that night. Kai’s story gave some substance to his dream, but precious little.
‘I remember— No, not even a memory. More like a nightmare. She came to me and... I saw someone else...’
‘Who?’
Erlan took a swig of ale. ‘Doesn’t matter.’
‘But you knew her?’
‘I knew her.’
Kai must have seen a familiar look in Erlan’s eyes. He didn’t push. ‘What else do you recall?’
‘The night was full of weird visions. When I woke my head was thick as an ox-hide. But... I found these.’
He put down his cup and stood up, undid his belt and pulled off his tunic. Kai’s eyes widened in amazement. Even in the flaring torchlight, the welts and scores from Saldas’s nails were a livid purple on his chest.
‘Turn around. Hel’s teeth! They’re all over your back, too... I mean, was she screwing you or trying to kill you?’
‘That’s not funny.’
‘I’m serious!’ Kai was staring, bug-eyed. ‘So you really did it... Hey, where’s your necklace?’
Erlan’s hand went to his throat. His amulet had gone. It wasn’t valuable – a simple rendering of Thor’s hammer. But Inga had made it for him, promising him it would bring luck. She should have kept it for herself.
Something stirred in his mind. A memory from that night. ‘Saldas took it.’
‘What for?’
‘How the Hel should I know?’
Strangely the loss of Inga’s gift stung worse than all the rest. It wasn’t the luck it had brought him. It meant more to him than luck. Abruptly he pulled his tunic back on. ‘You learned all this from Bara, you say?’
‘I just told you!’
‘I mean... how? Did she just come out and tell you?’
‘Not exactly.’ Kai’s cheeks coloured.
‘You know what, it doesn’t matter. Who else knows?’
A Sacred Storm Page 27