by AJ Adams
“Yes,” Turid replied faintly. “The ones that aren’t in your arse, that is.”
All around us the Beasts were murmuring in surprise and wonder.
“She’s a vala, all right.”
“Yes, there’s no way this is a set-up. This match was totally unplanned.”
“She saved Knut!”
“And me,” Turid said loudly. “It would have been an accident, but I might have killed my brother!”
“Three cheers for our vala!”
I was enveloped in twin waves of cheers and emotion. Then they were crowding around, hands on my shoulders, kissing my hands and talking excitedly. It was exhilarating and overwhelming.
She’s ours! We have a future!
“Vala! Have you seen our people?”
The duke’s licked now!
“Do you see victory, vala?”
I want to see my sister!
“Vala, a moment of your time?”
I was seeing spots again when Siv broke through. “All right! Paws off my woman!”
“Hey! What do you mean, paws?”
“Yeah, what are we? Beasts?”
But they all stood back.
Rune immediately took charge. “Brothers, we have all seen our vala in action. Does anyone doubt her?”
“Not me!”
“Or me!”
“I vote she’s the true thing!”
“I second that!”
Rune lifted his hands for silence. “We can’t have a vote until the women join us.” Then he glanced at me. “You said visions tend to come in waves. Can we expect another one soon?”
Talk about pressure, right? “I’ve no idea. You can’t force the Lady.”
Siv touched my shoulder, “But Bliss, you said if you relax it helps. How about a drink?”
“I suppose I could try.” But as I spoke, my visions blurred.
The Patriarch was standing on the sand screaming, “You lying whore!”
“Stop!” I was yelling right back. “Nobody move!”
All around us, Beasts were holding muskets, some pale with anger, others set-faced. The duke’s men were sitting on the sand in rows, some wounded, and all of them weaponless and furious. Rose and Petronella were sitting with them, looking bruised and angry. A couple of bodies lay in the sand beyond. I could see yellow skirts covering a face.
“If you speak to our vala like that again,” Knut snarled, “I’ll gut you like a herring.”
“You’ll have to wait your turn,” Siv said calmly. “Because the fat gut hrafnasueltir is mine.”
“Gentlemen, please!” The duke was about to step forward, but a growl from the Beasts had him stepping right back again.
“Okay, that’s enough! Nobody’s gutting the silly bastard,” Rune was loud and clear. “Let’s focus on what matters. Do we fight, duke, and end it here, or will you bargain?”
Then there was a blur, and I was lying on the sand, bleeding from a knife in the gut. Siv was on his knees, crying, “Kisa! Oh my God, kisa!”
“Why isn’t she saying anything?”
“Is she sick?”
“Someone get the vala some water!”
“Wait!” Siv was holding me up, gazing anxiously at me. “You’re back,” he sighed. “Okay sweeting, just take a breath.”
“She had a vision.” Rune’s rumble came though clearly. “Siv’s right. Her eyes blur when she’s listening to the Lady.”
“Give her a bit of space.” That was Brant. “Wynne, maybe you should help her?”
“Why me?”
“You’re a woman! Fan her or something!”
Their concern and exhilaration battered my senses. I also felt sick. Although it was a vision, I felt that blade burning in my gut.
“Bliss, I’m going to take you home.” Siv was fussing. “Just put your arms around me, okay?”
The second I hugged him I felt tears falling down my face.
“Wotan’s hairy balls!” Wynne was staring at me. “Bad news?”
“Kind of,” I sniffed. “The duke’s going to be here soon, and I think I’m on my way out.”
Chapter Eighteen: Siv
“I’m not having it!” I was screaming because I was terrified. “I’d rather set all of Loki’s cursed children free before I let you go down there!”
“Now Siv, just calm down.” Bliss was keeping her cool. “And stop yelling. You’re worrying Saga.”
She always does that, and even though I know it’s a ploy, I can’t help myself. I was stroking the wolf’s ears before I could fight back.
“Don’t try managing me.” I was grumbling like a child instead of laying down the law like the warrior I am, that’s how crazy she makes me. “I’m not letting you go to your death!”
“Who’s dying?” Bliss said cheerfully. “I was supposed to be in for it when the Patriarch and his thugs came for me at the lodge, remember? It went down exactly as I saw, and I wasn’t even hurt!”
“So why were you dead scared at the beach?”
We’d been arguing all afternoon, mostly in circles, but Bliss wasn’t giving in. Now we were walking down the hill on our way to conclave. “You know how I get with visions,” she said comfortably. “I was totally hysterical when I saw the duke coming, too.”
The cunning she-wolf! Using my own sense against me. “Bliss, that’s not fair!”
She had her arms around me instantly, her own perfume swirling around me, clean and fresh as a tonic. “I’m wearing a body plate under my tunic, remember? Knut made it himself.”
I felt it against my chest. Reassuringly strong, a quarter of an inch thick and made of overlapping plates that would halt a sword, never mind a dagger. “It won’t protect you from having your throat cut!”
“As if the Patriarch could ever get near me,” Bliss scoffed. “Forewarned is forearmed, Siv. You know that. And with every single Beast, I mean brother, behind me, I feel safer than a duke in his keep.”
“If you knew how many keeps we’ve burned down to the ground, you wouldn’t be so damn smug,” I muttered, but I said it quietly.
I didn’t put my foot down and insist because in my heart of hearts I knew that Bliss had to be down there, on the beach, with the duke. “You’re not stepping an inch away from your guards,” I told her.
“Yes, Siv.”
“You’re to obey them, no matter what!”
“Yes, Siv.”
“You’re to stay behind them at all times!”
“Yes, Siv. Stop fussing, Siv.”
“I could send Brant to take my place,” I fretted. “He knows the plan, and he’s strong as a bull.”
“You know you can’t.” Bliss was practical. “They need you, Siv. You’re the one they have faith in. You’re the best, bravest and cleverest fighter.”
I knew she was right, but it was killing me. “You’re to stay behind Rune at all times!”
“Shut up, Siv.”
Everyone was gathered together, and when they saw Bliss, there were immediate cries of welcome.
“What have you seen, vala? Complete victory, I hear!”
“Of course we’ll win! We’re Skraeling!”
“Vala, what news from the Lady?”
But everyone was edgy because rumours had been flying.
“The vala saved Knut. I was there. It was a miracle, straight from the gods!”
“Friends, silence!” Rune was up and talking. “We’re here to discuss an important matter. Our vala had a vision.”
He laid out the bare bones of it: the duke at our mercy, his men disarmed, and Bliss being attacked. But he left out Bliss seeing two of the vixens with the duke’s men, and the sight of a girl in yellow skirts, dead in the sand.
“If the women are traitors, we should kill them now,” I’d argued.
“We make our own future,” Bliss had snapped back, “and we have no idea why the girls were there!”
“I think it’s clear,” Rune said gently. “We know the vixens are trouble, Bliss. Clearly they’ll wo
rk with the duke if they can.”
“We could lock them up,” Brant mused. “We don’t actually need to kill them, although it would be safer.”
“You violent bloody Beasts!” Wynne was yelling. “It’s your fault they’re here, and now you want to kill them? They’re not traitors! They’re the duke’s people!”
It was a hell of a fight, and I was glad we were in our cabin, well away from everyone else. If our brothers had heard us, we would have had a civil war on our hands. But Rune is clever, the best strategist we have, and Brant worked his usual magic, agreeing, soothing, and even shutting me up.
“We need to be sensible,” Brant read us all a lecture. “This is not about right and wrong, it’s about managing the situation as best we can.”
“Which would be easiest by cutting a couple of throats,” I said, but by that time I wasn’t meaning it because I could see that the vixens were simply loyal Prydain. “Damn it, Rune, we can’t fight the duke and our own women at the same time!”
“Maybe we don’t need to,” Rune said slowly. And then he’d called for conclave.
“We’ll cream the hrafnasueltir duke and his rassragr men!” Knut was yelling. “Revenge for our ship!”
The brothers were yelling along with him, but I was looking now, and I could see the women were upset. As they looked about, Wynne and Bliss were quietly getting them to one side, behind me and Brant.
“We have to talk,” Rune said seriously. “And we have to do it without heat, without temper, and without killing each other.”
That set everyone back.
“Who would kill a brother?” Turid asked, genuinely surprised.
“I’m not talking about brothers,” Rune said calmly. “I’m talking about the loyal Prydain we have among us. They will want to follow their duke.”
It took a second and then everyone was up and yelling again. I saw a brother lift his hand, about to wallop a girl, so I grabbed his hand and hissed, “No, you don’t! No fighting!”
With Rune, Brant and I all working together, we quickly had the remaining girls safely behind us.
“We’ve come to an important point,” Rune said loudly. “We have to choose our future.”
At that, Wynne came forward. “I’m Wynne of the Vale and I pledge my allegiance to this community,” she announced. Then she looked at me, and took Bliss’ hand. “Do I speak the truth, vala?”
My girl stood tall and proud, every inch the daughter of the goddess, “Yes. It is the truth.”
Wynne stepped across the circle and stood next to Knut. “Hello, brother,” she said. He just stared at her, totally surprised.
“We speak of each other as brothers,” Rune announced. “Brothers not by blood but brothers linked by fate.”
“I choose my fate,” Wynne called out. “Do you accept me?”
You could have heard a pin drop.
Then Brant roared, “Welcome, Wynne of the Vale, my sister!”
I tell you, it swept through the crowd like wildfire. Brant had told me it would be so, and I hadn’t believed it, but he was absolutely right. My brothers were whistling and cheering, passing Wynne around like a parcel, hugging her and kissing her.
Behind me, the other girls were staring, some looking surprised, some determined, and others frightened.
“Rose,” Bliss was speaking, “Come on. You’re next.”
I’ll say this: the vixen was brave. Her knees were knocking, but she stepped over to Bliss and then said defiantly, “I’m Prydain and a loyal subject of the duke.”
We’d rehearsed this, but her ungrateful insolence still stuck in my gut. I had to stop myself from growling at her.
Bliss though simply took her hands, “Yes. It is the truth. You are for the duke.” Then she very quietly spoke to her. Everyone was spellbound, not even daring to breathe. I’m sure all the girls and most of my brothers were expecting a bloodbath.
Then Bliss led Rose to Rune and said, “Rose of Brighthelme is loyal to her duke.”
“Then you’ll have to sit out the battle,” Rune said loudly.
“Kill her!” someone yelled. “The ungrateful Prydain she-wolf!”
“Silence!” Rune can really roar when he wants to. “Are we men, warriors on the field, or cowards who slaughter unarmed women?”
That shut everyone up.
Bliss stood forward and called loudly. “We have the knarr, and we will put it to good use. Those who are loyal to the duke will be anchored out in the bay. They can sit there and watch us win our battle.”
“That’s fair!” Brant called.
“I vote for that!” I shouted.
“The vala speaks wisely,” Rune yelled.
It took a bit of doing, but then everyone was agreeing. At least, the brothers were. Rune didn’t take a proper vote, he couldn’t really, but in times of war, you can’t always stick to the rules. You do what you can and hope for the best.
In the end, the five vixens stood in the circle, and all the others had been proclaimed sisters—except for Lizbeth. She stood alone, her chestnut curls bouncing with tension. “I don’t know,” she quavered. “I really don’t.”
To my surprise, Bjarke spoke. “Lizbeth, you don’t like me?”
She actually took his hand and smiled. “Yes, of course I like you.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” Lizbeth said, “of course not.”
She turned to me, of all people, and said, “I don’t know if I’m with you or not, but I give you my word I won’t interfere, on one side or the other.”
I don’t think I would have trusted her, but Bliss nodded, so I said, “Well, all right.” I couldn’t help adding, “But if you break your word, I’ll break your bloody neck!”
“Hey!” Bjarke yelled. “Nobody is hurting my Lizbeth!” which proves that even when a brother is hurt in the head, he still knows how to protect his mate and his honour.
It might have turned into another fight, but at that point fire arrows flew into the sky. The duke was here.
“Bliss, stay with Rune!” I yelled, “Saga, guard her!”
Brant was already hustling the vixens to the knarr, Knut helping him. He had them sailing out in less than a minute, jumping in after them and anchoring them in the middle of the bay. I saw him dive into the water, swimming back to shore with powerful strokes.
“They’ll never sit there,” Turid was grumbling. “Are we fools, Siv? To be so soft with them? After all, they are the enemy.”
“They can’t swim, and you know what happens when they try to sail.”
“True. They couldn’t paddle on dry land.” Turid was looking much happier. “Right, shall we be off, then?”
“Yes, let’s go do a little pirating.”
We Skraeling enjoy a scrap, and this fight was one for the books. It was my plan, and I have to say, it was a beauty.
“When the duke sails in, he’s going to have a couple of muskets, but mostly he’s relying on sword work,” I reminded Rune and Brant. “Also, as we burnt down their city, they’re out for revenge. They’ll want to get in close and personal.”
“We shoot them as they arrive,” Brant suggested. “We’ll get them before they even leave their ship.”
“No way. We’ll not get them all, and the rest will just sail away,” I warned him. “What we do, is we lure them ashore.”
“How?” Rune asked.
“We stay far back on land, behind a flimsy looking barricade. They’ll come blasting in because they’ll think we’re afraid.”
“Nobody’s going to fall for that,” Rune laughed. “We’re Skraeling!”
“Siv’s right,” Brant argued. “The Prydain think we’re stupid. That’s why they call us Beasts. They’ll want to believe we’re hrafnasueltir. That gives us an advantage.”
“The duke will leave a guard behind, probably a dozen men,” I continued. “So what we do is have a small group of us swim down from the bluff and circle round behind the ship.”
“Okay, tha
t will surprise him,” Rune said approvingly. “And instead of facing us and having his own men back him up, he’ll be caught between us.”
“He’ll piss himself,” Brant laughed. “Especially when he realises we have muskets!”
“Precisely!” I was laughing, too. “He’ll be running towards a barrage of firepower, and he won’t be able to turn back because we’ll be waiting for him with our long knives.”
We discussed the plan with our brothers, and all of them loved it.
“I’m a good swimmer,” Knut said. “I’ll come with you, Siv.”
“And me,” Turid agreed. “I’m still missing more than I hit with a musket, so I’m better off wielding my knives.”
I’m good with knives and muskets, and every other weapon I can think of, but I liked his thinking. “Three of us against twelve of them is fair.”
“Better be safe,” Knut said practically. “We’ll take Hakon, too. That will make it a certainty.”
I was feeling pretty good, but I do like to be certain myself. “We work on the timing, have a few practice swims, and when he arrives, we’ll be ready for him.”
You know, it worked as smoothly as a Volgard clock. The duke sailed in, proud as a peacock and just as silly. “Beasts,” he roared, “prepare to meet your doom!” Then he launched four very nice little boats and went charging towards the shore.
My brothers were there, waving their knives and catcalling.
“Come on, you hrafnasueltirs!”
“Yeah, come and fight!”
“Hey fat gut! Go have another drink! Maybe then you’ll have the courage to face me!”
The second the duke’s men stepped ashore, they put down their knives and pulled out their muskets. Then half of them knelt, while the other half stood and took aim. The duke landed with eighty men. Twenty of them fell in less than five paces. When the brothers who had shot first knelt and reloaded, the others stood up and fired. Another twenty of the duke’s men fell.
It was complete chaos. “To me, men! To me!” The duke was screaming, his face redder than a rooster, but I don’t know if it was rage or fear.
I didn’t see the next bit because I was climbing up the side of the duke’s ship. The oak is treated to be hard as stone, but if you have two good knives, you can wedge in the points and pull yourself up. I happen to have excellent knives.