Her heart lifted in her chest. Not only had she learned to float on water, she heard news she never thought she’d hear. Like so many other families who were torn apart in these turbulent times, she’d presumed she had no hope of reconnecting with her kin. She looked at Leif and saw the solemn expression on his face. It was what brought her back to reality.
“But I will never be free to find him,” she muttered.
“That is a promise I cannot make. Not yet.”
She nodded. It was wishful thinking to imagine herself freely navigating her own life. Even when she was home on the hills of Éire, not all of her choices were her own. This was her new life. She was to serve the family who’d bought her until the day she passed from God’s green earth, or until she was set free, something she dared not hope for.
The final distance to the ship passed in silence. The only veg fit for eating were the yellow flowers and their stalks that spotted the grass. She wasn’t surprised to find them growing there, for they seemed to take root anywhere. Eilish popped one in her mouth, letting the flavorful and bitter taste wash over her taste buds. She handed some to Leif, who gave them a try. He helped her gather enough to bring back to the ship, and on their return Rúni held up a silvery fish and shouted boisterously.
Eilish wasn’t talkative through the evening, or the next day when they set sail once the winds were favorable again, though the skies were cloudy. She felt Leif’s eyes on her more than once as they traveled northwest along the coast, but she tried to focus on her inner resolve. She did her best to think of survival and not get distracted with hopes of freedom, but she only grew bitter and angry.
Following midday, the winds changed course, forcing them inland again. Leif assigned the same tasks to the crew as he had the previous day. They ran the ship aground on the flat, sandy shore before climbing out. Clouds covered the sky in an ashen tapestry, and the air smelled of rain.
Eilish walked alongside Leif while he muttered about finding a private bay for her swimming lessons. She followed in his footsteps in silence as they made their way carefully across the fields of green. He would often stop to squint at the horizon for any signs of habitation, then push on. Finally, he pointed to a rocky slope that descended into a cove surrounded by high cliffs.
They climbed down to the pebbly beach, and like he had done the prior day, he peeled off his upper layers and handed her his undertunic. While he faced away from her and took off his shoes, he asked, “You are so quiet. Is something wrong?”
She’d just finished removing the binding from her chest and hurriedly pulled on his undertunic. His smell enveloped her, but she didn’t care. His question riled her frustration, something she’d been careful to keep in check until now. “Of course something is wrong! I was taken from my home and separated from my father. I have no hope of ever seeing his face again. I am trying to accept my new life, but—”
Eilish stopped. She couldn’t bring herself to say more.
He looked over his shoulder before turning around. The cool breeze whipped over their bodies, raising goose bumps on his chest. His face pinched into a scowl. “Where did your courage go? Your fearlessness?”
She snapped back at him. “I do not live a moment without fear, but what choice do I have? What about you? Where is your courage to do as you please?”
“My father stole it from me.” He faced the sea, like she often noticed him do. “You cannot remain with me and my kin without being found out. Your beauty cannot stay hidden much longer.”
“Then set me free.”
Leif shook his head. “I need every hand to return home. Your disguise might keep you from rape, but not from getting run through. No thrall will ever escape my father’s hold unless it is upon departing the land of men.”
“If you are so unhappy, we could go together,” she suggested, hoping to find some way out of her predicament.
“I would if I could, but my father does not allow me stray from home, and I would not leave my friend behind. Ragna has a nose for tracking and will find me. This time he will not take it out on my hide, but Agnar’s, yours or maybe both. But there may be another way.”
She stood in silence, wondering how long he had thought about it, for it seemed he had ready answers that had stirred in his mind for a time already. Why would a barbarian she’d known for such a short time care about her so?
“The only thrall Ragna is happy to see depart is a dead one,” he said while he looked at her.
Eilish took a step back. Maybe she’d been wrong about him.
“Neinn. Stop.” He moved with her. “If he thought you dead, he would not search for you—if he thought you drowned. How determined are to you to find your father?”
“I would do anything.”
Leif nodded. “I thought as much. You must work hard if we are to make you a swimmer. We have little time. Upon my father’s return, there will be feasting to celebrate his treasure. We cannot wait longer than that.”
She thought he was going to say more, but he held back. She was left with a nagging thought. “I may be free from servitude, but I will have nothing and no means of protection.”
“I would not set you out without anything to rub together. We have time to plot yet, but are you willing to try?”
She couldn’t understand any of this. “I would not shy away from a challenge, but what of you?”
Leif began to wade into the chilly waves. He dove under the water, and when he emerged again, he stood up to wipe free the droplets from his face. “I will continue to await the time when Ragna meets his fate.”
Eilish followed him onto the rocky sea shelf, careful not to slip and fall. She couldn’t help but wonder if that time would ever come, but didn’t want to say as much. More questions bubbled in her mind. She set them aside for another time, for the water was waiting and so was Leif.
Chapter 10
Two days passed as they sailed north, stopping along the gloomy coast. The clear sky they’d experienced earlier in the trip was their only time spent in the sun. The gray-textured blanket of clouds also left the taste of rain in the air. The winds proved to be fickle. They blew into their sail, carrying them toward the islands to the north until changing direction again, forcing them to row inland. The journey was slow, which made Leif tense—it was a reminder that there was little time to make a swimmer out of Eilish. His father was right about one thing. He was drawn to people who needed help. Ragna thought it was his weakness. Maybe he was right.
The pressure of time weighed on him as he watched Eilish wade into the sea. She was eager to learn how to swim with the lure of freedom in her future. She was motivated enough at the thought of saving herself from oppression and finding her father, which was precisely why he didn’t want to put out the light in her shining blue eyes. If she knew about the sacrificial offering to Ægir following his father’s return home, it wouldn’t help to release her from her fear of the ocean or her possible demise.
Leif noticed Eilish glance at the waves as if she expected to find something or someone lurking there. Her shoulders were stiff, and she held her arms away from the water. She didn’t appear as nervous as she’d been at the start. She seemed to trust him. And trust was a valuable commodity to Leif, who’d been raised by a man who believed in making people do things by leverage and absolute power.
The cool waves splashed against Leif’s waist. Instead of thinking about the painful times he’d spent with his father training to become the kind of creature Ragna needed, he remembered his mother and how she would play with him in the fjords. Leif raised an eyebrow and cupped his palm. He quickly slid his hand over the water, sending a stream of water in the air toward Eilish.
It splashed against her back and shoulder, soaking the thin undertunic. A high-pitched screech bounced across the waves as she froze only momentarily. Eilish spun around with eyes narrowed. She put both palms in the surf and sent a spray in his direction.
Faster than the water could move, Leif dropped below the surfac
e of the waves and swam around her in a circle. With his eyes open, he watched Eilish pivot in place. The undertunic he’d lent her floated above her waist. Small air bubbles clung to her pale flesh, which was only an arm’s length away. She stepped deeper, following him away from the shore. If she moved much farther, more would be revealed.
He was having a hard enough time keeping his thoughts away from her alluring beauty. It would be impossible to sleep that night with the vision of her breasts etched in his thoughts. Leif swam nearer and broke the surface, stopping her forward progression. She met him with a splash of water. Her playfulness surprised him.
“You nixie!” he growled.
Her laughter was a welcome sound. Caught up in the moment, he seized her by the waist, sweeping her legs out from under her. Eilish’s arms wrapped around his neck, and she pulled herself closer to him.
He found himself staring into her eyes and feeling her warm breath on his face. Leif was uncertain what to do next. He’d been trying to avoid entanglement. Eilish might be a thrall, but he didn’t think of her in that way. She was unmarried and would have bad luck finding a freeman who would have her if she didn’t remain chaste. If she were to escape, she could find a husband and make a life for herself, but not if Leif couldn’t control himself.
He let go of her legs, trying to avoid looking at her. She straightened her body against his. Her touch sent a fever over his skin. Eilish’s nose lifted until her mouth was a breath away. Leif imagined what she would taste like, what she would feel like.
With his eyes pinched shut, he set his hands on her shoulders and stepped back. Her fingers dropped away from his neck, settling over his forearms. He took a deep breath and lifted his lids. Before he could think about how furious his body was with him, he grabbed her hands and stepped backward again, this time taking her with him.
Her confused expression broke into another smile as she was pulled through the water. He instructed her. “Kick your feet.”
Eilish frowned. It took a little more effort for Leif to show her what he meant, but before long she was paddling short distances on her own.
The following day, with the winds at their backs, they sailed north until Leif spotted a familiar peninsula off the mainland. He pointed at it through the mist. Rúni gave a nod while he clutched at the side rudder from the stern of the boat. White-bellied gulls called out, flying on the same air currents that carried them closer to the grassy enclave.
“A day away from home now,” Rúni called out. He didn’t seem very pleased about it though. He may have been considered an old man at over forty, but he liked to think of himself as a young raider and warrior. If he didn’t get blood on his hands after a season at sea, he wasn’t happy.
Leif looked at the spire of smoke rising into the cloudy skies. The fishermen of the small village trusted him enough to trade with him and share gossip. But they had a different opinion of the rest of his family. Leif couldn’t be noticed in a new trade ship when he was so close to home, although he felt it necessary to stop there. He liked hearing news from the region and faraway lands. Ragna had taken a hoard of valuables from many powerful people. And although they were careful to remain unconnected to the sea monster folklore, Leif feared it was only a matter of time before raiding parties searched for them. He was careful not to approach from a direction where the fishermen would see their sail.
When they got close enough for Leif to smell the cooking fire on the breeze, he glanced at Eilish. She stood on the bow decking with her nose raised, clearly observing the same aroma. Although her eyes were hidden by her hair, he noticed just how tightly her hands gripped the gunwale of the ship.
“We approach a fishing settlement where I seek news of the world outside of the South Isles,” Leif announced to the crew. “Tomorrow, if the winds are favorable, we sail home.”
He went to the rigging. Eilish and the other thralls prepared to help take down the sail. Leif was confident that none besides Birger had been familiar with seafaring before they were taken on board the Kraken, yet they had all come a long way in the little time spent on the ship.
Leif wondered which of these men might find themselves as an offering to the lord of the sea in a few weeks’ time. The thought chilled his bones, for he saw no end in sight. His father would continue to pirate and plunder the seas without any sign or signal from their supposed kin. If they were truly descendants of the ladies of the waves and Ægir himself, wouldn’t they have seen a message or sign? Maybe no sign was message enough.
He suspected his father had been cast out of favor with the gods. Their good opinion of Ragna must have been lost long ago when he’d set forth on his dishonorable path of lying, stealing and cheating. Otherwise he would have been shown the way to the opulent hall at the bottom of the sea.
Leif helped secure the yard to the stanchion while they floated toward the gravelly beach. The ship coasted ever closer to the shallows. When they were near enough, he jumped into the water. Rúni ordered the anchor cast overboard before Leif heard another splash. Sputtering coughs filled the air. He didn’t need to turn around to know it was Eilish.
“Let him drown,” Rúni shouted from the stern. “Why does it not surprise me you picked a scrawny rat who cannot swim?”
Leif gritted his teeth. He knew Eilish was far from a skilled swimmer, but after their time in the sea together, she could hold her breath and keep her head above water. He snuck a glance to see if she was truly drowning. Her arms were splashing wildly. Beyond the distracting show he determined she was safe. If Rúni thought she couldn’t swim, then all the better.
Leif turned his back to her and waded to the gravelly bank. He called over his shoulder to his uncle, “I think it best I greet Bo before he sets his men on you.”
“I want a taste of ale!”
“Will you respect the man’s land and kin?”
He almost wished Rúni would push it too far one of these times. He was a skilled warrior, but he had passed his prime long ago. Bo would be in his rights to duel his uncle over half the insults that Rúni had carelessly flung after drinking too much ale. And the fisherman was quick with his spear.
“I would not make an oath on it,” was the mumbled response Leif heard as he reached land. Water streamed down his soaked clothing to the barnacle-laden rocks on shore. The sound of movement from behind urged him to turn around.
Eilish’s black hair stuck to her forehead and droplets fell from her chin. Her woolen cloak hung heavy from her shoulders. Her lips were slick with seawater, he noticed guiltily before turning away again.
“I will go with you,” she said matter-of-factly.
Her forwardness almost made him smile, but he was careful to keep his amusement tucked away. He looked across the grassy hillside to the mounds of earth and rocks in the distance. The comforting aroma of the cooking fire was stronger on shore, and he was eager to greet the man he hadn’t seen since two summers’ passing. Leif shook his head. “Bo does not know you.”
“Aye,” she confirmed. “And there was a time he did not know you either.”
“I do not want him in a bad state,” Leif responded while he watched Eilish brush the excess water from her face and hair. She didn’t have an assuming form. Bo wouldn’t think twice at the sight of her, especially since she was an unarmed thrall. “I will do all the talking.”
Her lips pinched into a tight line, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d said something to upset her. His aunt and mother had crossed over to Helgafjell, the holy mountain in the afterlife, and his cousins didn’t have wives. Besides Rúni’s bed slave, Màiri, he’d had very little contact with women since they’d left their homeland in a stolen ship.
Annoyed he didn’t know how to decipher her mood, he dropped the matter. There were more important things at stake at the moment. He took one last look at Rúni, who was glancing longingly in the direction of the fishing village.
“I will give you,” Leif called to him, “one mark of silver if you stay to the ship
tonight.”
Rúni’s forehead wrinkled, then he said, “I will take your silver now.”
“On my return,” Leif answered and pressed his sodden leather shoes into the rocky shore, walking up the slope to a grassy ridge. Leif felt Eilish’s presence behind him. It did not take long before he neared the longhouse. Stone walls laid out as an oval were covered with sod roofs. A wooden fence prevented his entrance. It looped around the property, which included a series of other buildings that followed a gentle valley. A prolonged moo came from a milk cow that craned its neck in his direction from the fenced-in section.
A red-haired man wielding a long, pointed spear and a hand axe walked toward him with caution. His beard was darker than the hair on his head, and his yellow tunic appeared to have lost its vibrancy through time. Leif recognized him, but rested his hand on the pommel of his sword just the same. He raised his other hand in greeting. “I hope I find you happy and healthy, my friend.”
Bo’s narrowed eyes relaxed as he said carefully, “I am, though a little hungrier. Two years have passed since I saw you last, Leif.”
“I am sorry to hear of your hunger. The weather is relentless,” Leif answered with a smile, noticing the fisherman was still gripping his axe tight.
“Like a woman.” Bo laughed and peered beyond Leif’s shoulder. “Do you travel only with your thrall, or does your kin come with you?”
The reason for the man’s concern became clear. It was best for everyone to avoid any sort of confrontation. Leif had always respected Bo. He made good trades and was a man of honor who would defend his farmstead against the likes of Rúni. Rightfully so.
Leif glanced at Eilish before responding, “I travel with our thralls and my uncle. But I advised him to stay on the ship if he could not trust himself to respect your land.”
Bo nodded and fastened his axe to his belt. “Make sure that he does. I do not wish a quarrel with your father. I invite you into my home for some refreshment and news from home.”
Tides (Time of Myths: Shapeshifter Sagas Book 3) Page 12