by Fabio
"Think you it wise to battle the enemy so soon after your injury?"
'Think you I will let my stepdaughter and her brat escape Vanaheim unscathed after she came here and threatened my very life?" Wolfgard retorted. "Nay, the Valkyrie has pushed me too far this time. I will slay her, her brat, her husband, and all of their people."
"And what of the boy, Alain, who came to bargain with you?" Egil asked with a puzzled frown.
Wolfgard's cold gray eyes gleamed with bloodlust. "That fool? Before the dawn breaks, the dim-witted whoreson will drown in his own screams/'
Now Egil's grin was broad. "As you wish, jarl,"
"Rouse my men. We sail at once."
Egil rushed from the chamber.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Well before dawn, Reyna awakened and lumbered out of bed. She stretched her lethargic body, then winced. She felt exhausted and the small of her back ached, no doubt from, the pressure of the babe.
As she had done throughout much of the night, Reyna again questioned her radical decision to leave Viktor this day. He was her husband and she loved him fiercely, despite their differences. Taking a sea voyage so close to her delivery could also risk injury to her baby.
Yet Reyna remained convinced that a much greater peril to her child loomed if she remained on Vanaheim—for if she had the baby here and rubbed Wolfgard's nose in the disgrace of his own defeat, he would never rest until she and her child were dead. Although she would gladly give her own life for her husband, never would she risk their precious babe!
Moving around slowly and awkwardly, Reyna dressed in a long wool garment, a mantle with a hood, and warm boots. She packed a few essentials in a walrus-skin bag, then dared to glance at Viktor, who looked almost boyishly innocent as he slept sprawled on his side, an arm outstretched where she should have lain.
Love, anguish, and regret welled inside her with painful intensity. How she hated leaving him! How it broke her heart to defy his wishes and even dishonor her wedding vows! But she could not remain and allow his fool's dream to destroy them all; she would put the welfare of their child first, even if he would not.
Tears filled her eyes as she leaned over, gently kissing him one last time. He stirred slightly, smiling in his sleep as her lips brushed his—and that smile was almost her undoing. Her baby's sluggish kick reminded her of what was at stake. Before she could lose her nerve, she turned quickly, grabbed her bag, and left the room.
In Alain's chamber, she found him already dressed and gathering his things.
"Good morrow, my sister," he said cheerfully. "Are you ready to sail for home?"
But this is home, Reyna almost replied, confusion and guilt surging within her anew. "I cannot feel true joy in this day," she replied dismally. "Of course I am heartened to anticipate living in Loire with you and Ragar. Nonetheless, the idea of leaving my husband brings me great heartache. Tis only fear for my child's safety that moves me to take this rash step."
"I realize that," Alain said cajolingly. "And you are entirely warranted in leaving Vanaheim. Your baby will be in the greatest danger otherwise, as you know." He touched her arm and smiled. "Now let us hurry. My kinsmen should be meeting us at the stable."
Taking a smoky steatite lamp, the two left the house and proceeded through the chill air toward the stable, moving slowly due to Reyna's cumbersome girth. The smells of animals and manure greeted them as they entered the darkened building. Several of the animals snorted nervously as Alain opened a stall. A stout blond horse jerked up his head and neighed at them.
Scowling, Reyna watched Alain take down a saddle and move toward the animal. "That is my husband's horse," she protested.
Not even hesitating, Alain threw the saddle onto Sleipnir's back, while the horse stamped the ground with a foreleg. " 'Tis no matter. I plan to leave my mount at the wharf before we sail away from Vanaheim."
Reyna stepped forward to grab his hand, restraining him. "Nay. Take another horse."
He turned to her in exasperation. "What matters it if we are leaving?"
"It matters to me. Tis regrettable enough I am deserting my husband. I will not have him thinking we stole his horse."
Alain uttered a curse. "I have told my men to gather provisions from your husband's stores. Surely you will not object to that as well?"
"Nay, supplies are necessary. But you may not take my husband's horse."
Hurling his sister a resentful glance, Alain hauled the saddle off Sleipnir's back and moved to the next stall, where he saddled a small brown horse. Reyna proceeded to the stall where her own black pony was stabled. She was stroking the animal when suddenly she felt a presence behind her. She whirled to see a man pointing a knife at her.
"Where do you think you are going, milady?' he asked with a sneer.
"Nevin, what are you doing here?" she replied confusedly. Watching him advance with a cruel smile, she screamed, "Alain!" and reached for her own dagger—
But the thrall grabbed Reyna before she could unsheathe her weapon. He quickly pinned her against him and pressed his knife to her throat. Terrified for her unborn child, Reyna dared not move.
"Reyna, what is the matter?"
At the sound of Alain's alarmed voice and advancing footsteps, Nevin spun around with Reyna still clutched against him. "Halt!" he ordered.
Alain skidded to a stop before them, taking in the scene with a look of horror. "How dare you threaten milady, slave! Release my sister at once."
"So you may help her leave Vanaheim?" Nevin scoffed.
"Out"
"Nay!" Nevin replied, his dark eyes burning with malice. "Your sister has heaped terrible disgrace on her stepfather."
"What matter is that of yours?" demanded Alain.
Nevin sneered a laugh. "I would slay her on Wolfgard's behalf, rather than let her flee before feeling his vengeance."
Reyna twisted about, staring at Nevin in realization and terror. "You are the spy, then!"
"Yea."
"But why?"
"Why should I serve those who enslaved me?” he countered harshly. "Your stepfather gives me respect, and pieces of silver for my loyalty." He regarded Reyna with contempt. "He will award me a generous bounty for slaying you. And he has promised to free me once he defeats Viktor."
"To free you?" Reyna mocked. "If you believe that lie, then you are a fool."
Nevin's features convulsed with fury, and he tightened the pressure of the knife. "And your evil tongue is about to be silenced, traitor!"
Glimpsing the lethal purpose in his eyes, Reyna felt panic encroaching. "Please, you would not harm my child—"
"A brat born only to disgrace your stepfather?" Nevin taunted.
"You will let my sister go, slave," Alain ordered.
"Nay."
"If you hurt her, I will kill you afterward," Alain vowed vengefully. "And I swear 'twill be slow."
Nevin hesitated for a moment, his fingers trembling on the knife at Reyna's throat-Then, mercifully, she heard the bang of the stable door blowing open and the thud of footsteps approaching, and she realized with intense gratitude that Alain's kinsmen must have arrived. Even more blessed, the noises distracted Nevin for the split second Reyna needed. She grabbed his wrist, yanking his hand away from her throat.
Even as Nevin howled a protest and struggled with her, Alain leaped forward, quickly wresting the knife away from the thrall and restraining him with the weapon. Reyna lurched away, slumping against the wall of the stall, nauseated and breathing convulsively, her hand pressed protectively to her belly. A dull pain gripped the small of her back, and she grew terrified that the ordeal might have harmed her child.
Alain's two kinsmen appeared before them, quickly taking in the scene. Dropping the sacks of grain and the parcels of dried meat they had fetched with them, Gilles and Barde rushed inside the stall to help Alain.
"Seize him!" Alain commanded.
He shoved the captive toward his kinsmen, who held Nevin firmly restrained as Alain threatened the slave wit
h the knife.
"Not so proud now, are we, thrall?" he demanded, wielding the weapon in Nevin's face.
Though Nevin's eyes were bright with fear, he did not reply.
Alain hauled the knife back and spoke savagely. "This is for trying to murder my sister!"
On the sidelines, realizing her brother's deadly intent, Reyna screamed, "Alain, no!" but it was too late. As she watched, horrified, he brutally thrust the knife deep into Nevin's belly, then just as savagely yanked the weapon out. The thrall's scream of agony lanced Reyna's ears; sickened, she watched him fall, jerking with torment, to the hay-strewn floor.
"He will die slowly," Alain informed his sister with sadistic relish. " Tis fitting/'
Her features ashen, Reyna stepped forward to grip Alain's arm, the sounds of the thrall's terrible moans making her even more nauseated. "Why did you gut him? You had him trapped and helpless already! Verily, you could have tied him
up-"
"He was a traitor who threatened your life," Alain retorted ferociously. "You have gone soft, my sister, and I will hear no more of this. We are leaving now.'
Still sickened by the man's cries of pain, Reyna was tempted to ask Alain to put Nevin out of his misery, but was equally afraid of how—or even if—he would honor her request.
A moment later, as the four of them rode out of the stable, Reyna continued to feel horribly repulsed. Alain's show of barbarism had disturbed her greatly, and made her wonder if she really knew her brother at all.
She also felt shocked by how deeply the slave's suffering had affected her, when a year ago the show of savagery would have been meaningless to her. She realized she had dramatically changed: knowing and loving Viktor had altered her heart and soul and conscience, making violence and warfare as loathsome to her as it had always been to her husband. With awe, she recognized that their lives, their feelings and beliefs, had truly melded in every way. They were indeed like one being now, and in leaving him, she felt as if a part of her heart, the essence of her soul, were being ripped away.
Yet how could she turn back and subject her child to life in a brutal world where their enemies would never share their vision?
The journey to the wharf was slow, and the pain in the small of Reyna's back increased as they navigated their way down the craggy fell. What was equally daunting, Reyna had begun to see an unusual red glow in the skies to the south, along the Atlantic horizon. The illumination was alarming and surreal—a sunrise where no sun dwelled. Reyna feared that hell itself was opening up to forbid their passage, and she began even more intently to question the wisdom of her decision.
After they had dismounted and started down the pier, Reyna touched her brother's arm. "Alain, I am no longer completely certain we should leave—"
"Do you want your child to die?" he cut in furiously. He jerked his thumb toward the small sailing ship awaiting them. "Board the vessel. We embark now."
"But look at the sky!" she cried, pointing to the southern horizon. "The red is surely a warning"
" 'Tis only a reflection of the sunrise," he scoffed, grabbing her arm and tugging her onward.
Reyna had little choice but to comply and climb the gangplank to the ship. After loading the provisions, Alain's kinsmen cut the mooring ties and maneuvered the boat into the turbulent fjord. The rocky motion of the vessel left Reyna awash in new nausea and dizziness. Emotionally she felt very conflicted, tempted to beg her brother to return them to the wharf. Then she glanced northward and spotted a new menace—the ominous bulk of a longship, outlined in the red glow of torches, gliding down the fjord toward the wharf they had just abandoned.
"What is this?" she demanded of Alain, gesturing wildly.
He laughed in contempt. "Most likely Wolfgard, come to kill your whoreson husband."
"What?" she whispered, aghast. "What are you saying? I thought you made a bargain with Wolfgard regarding my husband—"
"I did, sister, but I lied to you about its terms."
Reyna stared at Alain. His eyes were gleaming with such raw malice that she felt as if she were looking at him for the first time. "Why?" she gasped. "Why would you lie?"
"For your own benefit. Wolfgard promised me that if I could convince you to leave Vanaheim with me, he would not attack your husband until after your departure." Alain's voice softened to a triumphant sneer. "So now you are gone, and Wolfgard is free to kill the bastard who put his seed in you."
"You betrayed me!" she cried in outrage. "You must take me back at once!"
"Nay, my sister." He glanced contemptuously toward her belly. "And if you want me to tolerate Viktor's brat, you had best start demonstrating a more biddable attitude."
Watching him turn away to speak with one of his kinsmen, Reyna was horrified. What a fool she had been to allow her brother to dupe her. Alain s heart was clearly poisoned by hatred—a rancor that possibly extended even to her unborn babe!
Reyna realized that, like Wolfgard, Alain was another man who wanted to control her and dominate her life, while the man she truly loved, the man to whom she owed her allegiance, had been left to die at Wolfgard's traitorous hands! Viktor had been right all along to insist that she remain at his side, but she had grasped the truth too late!
In his dreams, Viktor felt strangely bereft. He came slowly awake and reached for Reyna. She was gone!
Instantly alert, he bolted out of bed and threw on his clothes. Perhaps she had just become restless again or hungry, he mused. Perhaps her labor had begun, and she had sought out Sibeal.
Yet somehow Viktor knew such hopes were futile; he was dogged by a sickening feeling that she had left him. His fear was confirmed when he rushed into Alain's chamber and found the boy gone as well, his belongings missing.
God help them! Alain must have convinced Reyna to return with him to Loire. And he himself had doubtless pushed his wife over the edge with his unyielding attitude last night.
Viktor ran to Sibeal's chamber and shook her awake. "Have you seen milady?"
She sat up. "Nay, jarl."
"I fear she has left with her brother."
Sibeal's eyes went wide with fear. "This is most distressing! Milady's time is close at hand, I am certain."
"I will go after her at once, and pray I am not too late."
Sibeal clutched Viktor's arm. "Let me come with you, jarl. I have a strong feeling milady may need me. I can sense disaster looming."
As could Viktor! "Meet me at the stable," he ordered, already tearing out of the room-He hurried to Svein's cottage, roused him, and set him to the task of awakening the other warriors. A moment later, Viktor rushed inside the stable to the sound of moans. He spotted Nevin inside a stall, bleeding profusely from a stomach wound, his features stark with agony.
Setting down his lamp, he knelt beside the thrall. "What happened, man?"
"Your wife's brother slew me!" Nevin gurgled, blood spewing from his mouth.
"Reyna and Alain were here?"
"Yea!"
"But why would Alain have hurt you?"
Nevin snorted in contempt. "Because I would have slain your wife!"
"What?" Utterly panicked, Viktor seized him by his garment. "Did you hurt my wife? By God, if you did—"
"Nay!" the man shrieked between shudders of pain. "Can you not see that I am the one murdered?"
With this, Nevin succumbed to new shrieks of misery, while Viktor heard a quiet voice behind him say, "Mayhap we have found our traitor, jarl?"
Viktor glanced around to see that Svein, Sibeal, and several of his warriors had entered the stable. All stood grim-faced, evidently having overheard most of his exchange with Nevin.
Standing up, Viktor nodded to Svein. "Yea, we have found the traitor—and he even tried to hurt Reyna. We must hurry to the wharf and pray there is still time to detain her and her brother/'
"Yea, jarl—the other men are on their way," answered Svein.
Canute nodded toward the agonized man on the floor, "Shall I put him out of his misery, jarl?"
"Nay," Viktor replied. "We are human beings. We do not put down our fellow man as if he is an animal." He nodded to Sibeal. "See if you can help him."
As Sibeal dutifully sank to her knees beside Nevin, Viktor rushed off to saddle Sleipnir. Leading the horse to the door, he again passed the stall where Nevin lay, only to watch, horrified, as Sibeal handed the wounded thrall a dagger.
"No!" Viktor cried.
But his command came too late. Nevin at once thrust the knife through his breast and slumped over, dead.
Viktor rushed toward Sibeal. "Damn it, woman, what were my instructions?"
Rising, she shook her head and spoke with keen regret. "Jarl, there was no hope. Nevin was suffering terribly, and he begged me for the dagger."
Viktor sighed deeply. "Very well. Let us all prepare to ride."
His remaining warriors soon joined them, and within moments the large band was riding for the wharf, with Viktor and his kinsmen leading the charge. Viktor was alarmed to see a bizarre red glow on the horizon to the south of them and he wondered what the light could be. A sickening fear for his wife and child—the same feeling of impending doom that Sibeal had mentioned—threatened him with renewed panic.
As he galloped with the others down the fell, Viktor's heart sank, for he noted that Alain's vessel was nowhere in sight. Worse yet, he found to his mystification that the eerie red light now spewed forth from both the north and the south. Down toward the Atlantic, an unearthly crimson dawn was breaking where no dawn should be! Even more unnerving, closer to them up the fjord, another blot of fire made its way toward them ... Good Lord, it was a longship loaded with torch-waving barbarians! It was like a nightmarish repeat performance of the very night be had arrived in Vanaheim!
"Wolfgard is attacking!" cried Ottar.
"He will reach the wharf before we can board!" added Orm.
"I realize that—but what is the glow to the south of us?" Viktor yelled. "Oh, God! Please don't let Alain's ship be on fire, and my wife on board!"
"The glow is too large to be a vessel!" Rollo shouted.
"Then what is it?"
" Tis the vengeance of the gods!" cried Canute.