Blood and Loyalty

by Abigail Riherd

  “Ay,” she snorted. “I know Bassi.”

  “He captured a girl earlier. She may have been injured. Do you know where they’re keeping her?”

  “They brought in a girl today, but she’s not injured. Bump on the head and a mouth that’d make the trickster God himself blush, but she’s ok.”

  Finn sighed. “Ay, that’d be her.”

  “She’s tied up with the horses. She was giving the Jarl a headache,” the woman grinned, clearly pleased with the idea. “Hobbled just on the other side of the tree line,” she added, gesturing into the darkness.

  “Thank you,” Finn said as he reached into his belt to offer her coin.

  She waved him away. “Oh, be off with you. We’re headed south in the morning. Watching the men grumble and fight will be payment enough. Get your girl then and be safely away.”

  “Thank you,” he repeated before setting off in the direction she’d pointed, adding the woman to the list in his mind. He owed much to many for this past week.

  He felt at ease amongst the horses. All was quiet save for the occasional shuffling of hooves or a low whinny. Whatever boys were supposed to be tending to the horses had run off to eat and the animals paid him no mind as he crept amongst them.

  He heard her sawing the bindings against a tree before he saw her struggling silhouette. She sighed and held her arms out to the nearest horse. “Are you sure you don’t want a little nibble?”

  It wasn’t Disa. Her voice was too high, too youthful. And now that he took a harder look, she was shorter and lankier than Disa, too. It wasn’t her.

  And if it wasn’t Disa...if it wasn’t Disa that meant…

  Finn roared, drawing his sword and hacking at the tree closest to him over and over and over again. He groaned with each hit, wood flying everywhere, and his eyes burned with unshed tears while the horses closest to him shied away in surprise. He’d nearly cut the trunk all the way through before he stopped, his blood still too hot for his veins. When he looked over at the girl again she was staring at him, wide-eyes not quite fearful but unsure all the same.

  “You’re not her,” he said dully as he forced himself to move towards her. He cut the anchor rope and then used it to pull her towards him so he could undo the tight knots with his fingers instead of risking a cut to her wrist from his knife. Normally he’d say something reassuring, look the girl in the eyes and explain he wouldn’t hurt her, but he didn’t much care what her opinion was of him at this point. He couldn’t leave her tied up just because she wasn’t… Anyway. He’d point her in the direction of Holmland, give her Helga’s name, and then he was going to march into this camp of rented soldiers and cut Bassi’s throat. Or the Brothers’. Or both, if he could manage it.

  Once the girl was free she stood still as if awaiting instruction, rubbing at the marks on her wrists. Finn jerked his head further into the darkness and they walked in silence. The girl seemed to trust him even after watching him kill a tree. “Disa.”

  Finn whipped his head around, half expecting to see Disa walking towards him. “What did you say?” he growled.

  “Disa. That’s who you thought I was.”

  “How did you know?” As he grabbed her arm and forced her to face him, Finn heard the ominous creak of a bow being drawn.

  Finn pulled her behind him roughly and faced the sound, sword in hand. “Oli, enough with that thing. It’s Finn.”

  The boy stepped out from the shadows but he didn’t lower his weapon. “I know who it is. Let go of her arm.”

  Finn dropped it, unaware he’d kept the grip, but stayed close to the girl. The boy was familiar. A servant maybe? And how did this girl know his name? “Tell me how you know Disa,” he demanded, one eye still on the archer.

  “She’s from my village. I knew who you were as soon as I saw you. I was there when you first arrived, a few weeks before the Thing.”

  “What are you doing so far south?”

  “I was at the Thing as well. It’s a long story,” she added hastily when she saw his frowning mouth open to ask another question. “One we don’t have time to tell just now. But I saw Disa in the woods today just before we were ambushed. I was caught first. I was on the back of Bassi’s horse when they ran her down.”

  “What happened to her?” He didn’t want to know but he needed to torture himself all the same. He needed a complete picture when he marched back into the camp.

  “They ran her off a cliff.” Finn closed his eyes. He must have been feet away from where she’d gone over before he’d followed that useless blood trail. “I think.”

  Finn snapped his eyes open and stared at the girl, her lip jutted in concentration. “What do you mean, you think?”

  “I got knocked on the head pretty hard. I was sort of in and out. And I was hanging upside down because...well you know, I was hanging off a horse.”

  “So you didn’t see her fall.”

  “No, but the men did. They were whispering about it. They said--” The girl grimaced and swallowed hard. “They said she jumped. They were ranting about sailing home once they’d been paid. I think they had a hard time in Holmland and then seeing a fine lady jump...It was too much, I guess.”

  The archer laughed mirthlessly, finally lowering his weapon. Finn continued to ignore him. “She jumped you say?” It wasn’t Disa. She wouldn’t go near a cliff unless one of those men got off their horse and pushed her. “It couldn’t be her. Are you sure it was her?”

  “I’m sure. I’ve known her my whole life. I’m sure it was her.”

  She wouldn’t, though. Would she? “Can you show me?” he asked, seized with a dangerous hope.

  “Yes.”

  “No,” the boy asserted.

  “Oli,” she admonished.

  “Luta,” he shot back, his voice an imitation of her own. He pinned Finn with the fierce sort of look that made him feel as if calling him ‘boy’ wasn’t quite right after all. “I understand you’re trying to protect your woman but so am I. We need to keep moving forward.”

  Luta glared at Oli. “Of course I’ll--”

  “No, he’s right. I think I know about where it was. I followed your tracks earlier. Near the stream? By where he shot an arrow?” he gestured to the archer.

  “Yes,” Luta answered. “Where the stream runs over the edge. Just there.”

  Finn nodded and looked back at the fires in the distance. He would go and check. If it was her, if she’d died, maybe he could get her body. Light a pyre or...Finn shook the thought away. He’ll deal with it as it comes. Until then, these men could keep. He’d kill them tomorrow. Or the day after. No one in that camp was going to live as long as he had a sword in hand.

  Finn nodded. “Go. Quickly. I’d say the men are nearing the end of their dinner and sooner or later a few will be heading this way to watch over the horses.”

  Luta looked as if she wanted to protest but said nothing, instead standing on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Gods keep you,” she whispered as Oli pulled her away. But Finn couldn’t help thinking it was the Gods that would need saving should he find Disa dead.

  Finn walked boldly down the main path the entire way, daring a stray soldier to appear and challenge him. He would have stolen a horse as well if it wouldn’t have been too cumbersome once it was time to hack back through the underbrush and reach the stream. Darkness had settled thick and inky but the sky was clear and the moon was bright. Finn was able to pick his way back easier than he would have liked. Where it took ages to get to the camp, he was back where he’d started in no time. He splashed through the water, following it downstream like some sort of damp march to death, his mind absolutely empty of everything except what was happening in the moment: the pebbles beneath his boots, the water level falling as he neared the edge, the numbing cold of it on his ankles. He broke through the vegetation, the stream pouring over the edge not a dozen strides ahead, and tried not to look at the white scrapes where enemy hooves had scrambled over rock.

  “D
isa?” he tried to yell, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. “DISA!” He was met with silence and the sounds of the night. No answering cry. He started to breath faster as he shuffled to the edge and knelt on the rock. “Disa?”

  He thought he might have heard something but it easily could have been the waterfall. He would have to look. He needed to look. One peek, and then it was over, one way or another. Finn got on his stomach and slid forward to peer over the edge, his jaw already clenched in anticipation.

  She’d jumped.

  He stared at her below him, body wet from the water, skin glowing white, and squeezed his eyes shut tight.

  The tracks were easy enough to find. They’d left on horses, which forced them to stick to the large, flat lanes if they didn’t want to risk the animals breaking a leg on the loose stony bush paths. More than once Disa had been forced to dart for cover when she thought she heard voices converging on her, but each time it was for naught. The echoes off the rocks and the roar of the ocean were playing tricks on her, creating something from nothing or carrying voices to her from far away.

  She couldn’t help but think she was getting close, though. The hoof prints, at first deep and even, were beginning to change, becoming shallow and more defined as the pursuers had slowed, or else doubled back on themselves. Something had attracted their attention; Disa just had to figure out what. The absurdity of the situation was starting to clear her head. She should have waited for Finn. If it is her brother that Whistle had seen, he was perfectly capable of protecting himself against the likes of Bassi.

  Disa heard it then, a muffled argument, and all thoughts of being safe and practical blew away on the wind. She bent low and shuffled toward the sound, and while she couldn’t see the source, it was definitely a man and a woman. The words were hard to make out; their voices low and obscured more by water of some kind, a brook or small waterfall, maybe. Just a little closer, she thought desperately.

  The grass was tall and tangled with thorns. She had to be getting close to the water’s edge. Disa pushed her hands through the vegetation and parted it as best she could, hoping to get a better look before she revealed itself. A few pops of breaking sticks and she’d managed to make a window only to be faced with a familiar black tunic squatting just on the other side of her cover.

  Disa heard her own sharp intake of air as she fell on her ass in surprise and immediately regretted it. She held still, hoping against hope the men were too focused on the strangers to have heard her, but her luck had officially run out.

  The two dark figures stood and leered down at her. “Well, hello there,” crooned Bassi, his eyes looking beyond her. “Have you come without your husband, then?” His tongue flicked down around his crooked tooth and Disa couldn’t make herself move.

  “She’s frozen like a little rabbit,” Bassi’s man said through a garish smile and blackened teeth. “I warned your husband what would happen if we found you out here again.”

  Bassi leaned over the reeds, studying her closely. “Who are you, really?”

  The feel of his breath on her face was enough to wake her up. Rabbits may freeze but they can run, too. Disa drew her leg back and kicked Bassi hard between his legs before turning to launch herself up and away. She heard Bassi choke in pain but she didn’t turn back and didn’t mind where she was going, she just went. She flew through the brush, turning at random, her heels kicking high behind her. The thorns were cutting at her calves and the stinging only pushed her forward faster. She couldn’t hear any footsteps behind her and for a moment Disa was sure she was free.

  And then she ran into the horse.

  She couldn’t have stopped if she’d tried; she was going too fast. Disa burst from the undergrowth into the path right where the Mercenaries’ horses were tethered, startling the beast and the third man still astride his animal. They looked at each other in alarm but he didn’t have the chance to reach for her. Disa slapped the already spooked animal on the rump and he neighed in annoyance, rearing slightly and forcing the man to tend to his fellows horses lest they break their ties and bolt.

  Disa sprinted down the path and chose a spot at random to escape once more into the dense scrub. The terrain all looked similar but getting lost was the least of her worries right now. Her side began to cramp and she slowed, dropping between two trees to catch her breath. She could hear the stream nearby and decided to head towards it. If it was shallow, maybe she could run up it for a while, confuse her tracks,? and keep the men from following her.

  Disa began to run again when she heard a shout. She didn’t turn to see who it was, but she could hear the pounding of hoof beats. She kept moving towards the sound of water, her heart beating in her throat. By the time she’d crashed through the stream she’d abandoned the idea of using it to cover her tracks. It’d leave her too exposed.

  Disa climbed up the bank and around a few tall standing boulders when she found herself across the clearing from the mysterious voice they’d all been drawn to. Only she wasn’t so mysterious. They each froze in surprise, their eyes widening in recognition. It was Luta, one of the girls from her village. Like Disa, her family was arranging a marriage for her at the Thing.

  Before either of them could say anything, a man Disa didn’t know came bursting through the tree line, his bow pointed directly at her. Luta shouted and shoved him roughly to the side, his arrow skimming along the side of her arm instead of planting itself in her heart. Disa barely felt it.

  “Run,” she growled as she took off, not waiting to see if they’d follow, praying they had the good sense to go the opposite direction. She hit the cliffside almost immediately and cursed this rotten day as her stomach churned like the waters far, far below. There were raised voices and the sounds of a scuffle nearby.

  Keep moving, she commanded herself.

  Disa picked a direction and ran along the cliff’s edge, looking back as one of the horsemen broke through and reared up just in time to keep from going over. The path began to narrow and Disa’s heart clenched. The vegetation was beginning to thin and up ahead it was nothing but rock and a measly stream dropping off steeply into the sea.

  Dead end.

  She pushed through to the other side of the path and was met with another cliff edge and another rider coming towards her, this one with an unconscious Luta thrown over the back of his horse.

  She’d stranded herself.

  Disa ran forward anyway, skidding to a stop when she reached the end, and peered over hopefully. The height pushed bile into her throat and she had to squeeze her eyes shut against the dizzy spell that clawed at her vision.

  This was it. She had to make a choice.

  Bassi’s partner laughed wheezily. “Stuck now, aren’t we little rabbit? Nowhere to dash to, eh?”

  Bassi sat up tall on his horse looking bored with the entire scene. “Grab her, won’t you?” he drawled as he gestured to a stirring Luta. “I’m out of room over here.”

  The man pushed his horse towards her, all too happy to comply. “Come here, little one,” he sang, clucking at her like she was nothing more than a timid dog. “I’ll treat you nice and gentle, don’t you worry.”

  “You’re not touching me,” she assured him.

  The man gave her a pitying look, the gesture undercut by his wicked grin. “Gonna do a bit more than that, I’m afraid, little rabbit.”

  “Enough of this,” Bassi barked. “Finish it.”

  She felt a dangerous resistance rise within her. They would not touch her. Disa lifted her chin, closed her eyes and stepped backward off the edge.

  Bassi and his man stood aghast, staring at the air where she’d once been. “She killed herself!” the underling yelled before a volley of arrows arced from the cover making the animals dance.

  “They’re insane. This entire island is insane,” Bassi spat. Luta groaned and tried to push herself off the horse. “Run down the boy, and don’t get yourself shot.” The man continued to stare, mouth agape as he tried to coax his hor
se closer to the edge. “NOW!” Bassi hollered.

  When the man finally turned away, there was no mistaking his frightened face and it had nothing to do with a silly boy and his bow. The woman’s contempt still burned in his vision. “Hell swallow these islands into the sea. I’m through.” Bassi urged his horse to turn and gallop, muttering all the while. “They’re insane.”

  Disa tried to keep from shivering but failed. The spray from the waterfall that had been a blessing during the day, keeping her cool and quenching her thirst, was quickly turning into a hazard now that it was dark. The rocks were covered in a slick green moss, and with every involuntary spasm, she felt like she was going to slide right off into the seething dark water below.

  Now that she’d had longer than she’d like to contemplate her rash decision, she wondered if she shouldn’t have just let Bassi catch her. She’d barely had time to consider when it was all happening. She’d looked over the edge and saw the long ledge, saw the way the water had worn down the rock over time, and didn’t stop to think; she’d just gone over. Remembering the way he and his men had leered and reached for her made Disa shiver again. She’d landed lightly and pressed herself to the wall, held her breath, and hoped against reason they wouldn’t investigate further.

  And then they didn’t.

  She was pleased for about a minute and then she’d looked down and remembered that she’s now quite terrified of heights and with the walls worn smooth by water and wind, there was no way she’d be able to climb out on her own.

  Was that a voice? Disa strained her ears, willing her teeth to stop chattering.

  “DISA!”

  Finn. She sat up straighter and her foot immediately shot into empty space. She jerked it back and sank her fingers into the soft green. Finn. She tried to open her mouth but nothing would come out. He called her name again, closer than before. Finn.