Vengeance Hammer (Viking Vengeance) (26 page)

His brothers and their wives occupied the bench on the dais.

“May we go to accompany Ívarr to the table?” Evie and Hjørdis, hands linked, hopped from one foot to the other.

“Aye, but walk to him. ’Tis too packed for running.” Xára cautioned the girls.

“My thanks, sister.” Evie and Hjørdis skipped away.

Xára shook her head. “Why did I bother?”

“Stop fretting. We celebrate this eve.” He twined their fingers together as they wound their way to the high table.

“Good eve, brother,” Konáll greeted him, his arm draped around Nyssa’s shoulder.

“You are ready for the morrow?”

“Aye. Though ’tis with both reluctance and eagerness Konáll and I will take our leave. I will miss you all dearly. How long will it be before we are all reunited again, I wonder?” Nyssa knuckled away a tear rolling down her cheek. “Mind me not. ’Tis maudlin I am, and I blame it all on our son.”

“Son?” Konáll straightened. “’Tis some goddess foresight that you now say our babe is a son when all along you have tortured me with the promise of a wee girl?”

Nyssa glared at her husband and lifted her chin. “Son or daughter, it matters not, does it?”

“Methinks Nyssa taunted Konáll with the promise of a daughter all along e’en though she knew the babe a boy,” Dráddør whispered as he helped Xára to sit. “She is willful. I thank Odin you are a biddable wife.”

“Biddable?” Xára jammed her hands onto her hips. “Think you I am meek and mild and pliable like a wind with no direction?”

“You jest. All winds have direction.” Dráddør settled on the bench and turned to face Brökk. “Women have no knowledge of sailing.”

“I have sailed the entire circumference of North Ronaldsay. And the channel ’tween the isle and South Ronaldsay is known as the wind without direction,” Xára declared and fixed him with a scowl.

Dráddør frowned for his wife had shown no signs of a temper until that moment. “’Tis one thing to sail around a tiny isle and yet another to cross vast seas. While I am cert you can manage a tiny boat, ’tis only a warrior who can captain a langskip.”

“Have you lost your wits?” Brökk asked. “Rest assured Skatha, I share not my doltish brother’s notions and am well aware a woman can do anything she sets her mind to.”

“Hear, hear. Well said Brökk. Xára, you should box Dráddør’s ears for sprouting such loutish nonsense.” Nyssa waved her eating knife at him.

Konáll murmured, “Best switch to another subject, brother, and be prepared to grovel later.”

Dráddør glowered down the table at Tighe whose raucous chortles threatened to drown the noisy hum of the crowd. “I do not grovel.”

“I have agreed to let Hjørdis stay here for the winter,” Brökk announced in a loud voice.

Immediately Evie and Hjørdis jumped up from their seats and ran around the table to hug Brökk whose cheeks flushed when the two girls peppered kisses all over his face.

“My thanks,” Hjørdis squealed. “I am so pleased, brother. Mayhap Evie can come to Bita Veðr in the spring?”

Brökk rolled his eyes. “Mayhap Evie is not as eager to leave Lathairn—”

“I would love to travel to the Norse lands.” Evie interjected, she released her stranglehold on Brökk’s neck, danced in place, and clapped. “I have ne’er been on the high seas. Is it true you see naught but the blue ocean for day after day?”

Dráddør noticed Xára’s fierce frown and he bent to whisper in her ear, “Is aught amiss?”

“I do not relish the notion of Evie travelling so far. She has seen but nine summers.” Xára toyed with her eating knife.

Dráddør considered all that had been said and a solution formed. He raised his voice and declared, “Why not let us all meet here at Lathairn in late summer? My lands are the southernmost and my harvesting will be first. You can help with the harvest, then we go to Rurari to help Konáll and Nyssa with their harvest, and then we can end at Bita Veðr afore returning to our lands for the winterfylleth. What say you?”

“I say my youngest brother has acquired wisdom in marriage. Aye. ’Tis a fine plan. Does this please you, wife?” Brökk turned to Skatha who swiped at a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Aye, husband. It pleases me well. For by then Nyssa would have had her babe and so would—” She cupped both hands over her mouth and rolled her eyes.

Brökk’s bronzed complexion greened. “You are with child. How long have you known?”

A pink hue dusted Skatha’s cheeks and forehead.

Brökk dragged Skatha to standing. “How long?”

His bellow effectively silenced the great hall’s audience.

“One moon,” Skatha murmured. “We are leaving on the morrow. There is no reason to be upset. I had Jorunn without any issue.”

Brökk slumped back onto the bench. He buried his face in his palms. “Eight more moons. ’Twill be a long, long, winter.”

“Mayhap the sickness will not affect you so this time.” Skatha captured one of her husband’s large hands and rubbed them ’tween hers. When she noticed Dráddør’s frown, she whispered, “While I do not suffer from the morning sickness of most women, Brökk does. ’Tis not pleasant.”

The rest of the meal occurred without any new revelations and before the prayer blessing, Dráddør announced that most of the bounty from the ships would be divided amongst the keep’s people and the villagers. Since Niketas’s cargo came from Miklagard and Lathairn’s inhabitants had never ventured farther than a few miles up or down the coat, none had seen the exotic fruits of oranges and lemons, which were distributed first.

Each family received one gold coin and a small parcel of food. Each child was given a marble ball, and the women a length of fabric for a gown. The excited hum blossomed into squeals of delight and marble races soon broke out.

Dráddør kept a close watch on Xára and Evie, and both appeared pleased and even happy to see how thrilled their people were. After the blessing, none made a move to return to their homes. Instead people gathered in groups to ooh and aah over each other’s treasures. Evie and Hjørdis organized a marble game pitting one set of boys and girls against another.

By the time Dráddør and Xára finally made it back to their chamber, ’twas well past the midnight hour and their need for each other made for a fierce, quick loving.

She had come to relish when they talked after as much as their actual swiving. In their bed alone together, her husband divulged more and more of himself. He kept much hoarded within him, but his actions spoke volumes. She had never heard of an Earl sharing wealth the way he had this eve. Pride caused her chest to ache.

“My thanks,” Xára murmured and snuggled closer to Dráddør. “Methinks tonight has changed the way all view Lathairn. Your generosity did not go unnoticed. ’Twas like a washing away of the old, a happy cleansing.”

“Say it.” Dráddør twirled one of his wife’s silky locks around his finger. “You wish Jennie had been here to see it.”

“I do.” She buried her nose in his chest. “’Tis not a bad thing, is it? To want Jennie to see her people happy once more?”

“Our people, Xára, for now ’tis up to you and me to shape Lathairn’s future.” He nuzzled her neck and she could not resist toying with his earbob.

Our people—she liked the sound of those words. A surge of joy made her smile. “Did you see how the smithy and his wife beamed when you announced Ívarr is to be trained as a warrior? Evie shed a tear. She pestered Egron until he agreed to show her the runes. Methinks you are her hero once more.”

“I foresee a stormy ride with Evie. One day I will be hero, the next a thorn in her side. She is as bright and spirited as Hjørdis, but more impulsive.” He traced the lines on her palm and her skin tingled beneath the slight contact.

“I am grateful for their fast friendship, but I fear we may have to accept that they will not want to be parted. Methinks I must prepare myself to see them both wander from us to Brökk and Skatha’s and thence to Konáll and Nyssa’s. I have only just gained a sister and ’twill be difficult to let her go.”

Dráddør kissed her forehead. “By then, if Odin grants us his favor, you will be busy tending to our babe.”

Xára suppressed a smile for she had missed her monthly courses, but ’twas still too soon to tell, according to Nyssa and Skatha. She bit her tongue and changed the subject. “Mayhap. I would ask your thoughts on another matter. ’Tis Evie’s inherited powers and her determination to learn all of spells and magik. I thought to invite auld Bessie who is learned in such things to live in the keep and teach her. I fear if we do not do so, Evie will sneak away and seek out others who may have evil intentions.”

“’Tis because Evie nigh approached Magnhildur for the potion to save Jennie you worry o’er this. Aye. I agree. Invite auld Bessie. ’Tis best we are aware of all that happens. What of you and your powers, sváss? What memories of mine have you seen?” His voice had a strange note.

“Naught. I can see naught from you, your brothers or their wives.” She inhaled the wonderful man-scent of him, the leather and spice, that both comforted and aroused. “In truth I was shocked when I saw Magnhildur’s, for I expected my terror of her to block all.”

“You have seen much in a short time. You had been in a convent all your life. Coming back to Lathairn must have been a shock. Your courage in the face of the evil you met here astounds me, wife.” He brushed his lips across her knuckles.

Xára rose onto her forearms to meet his gaze. “I know not what would have happened to us if you had not come when you did, Dráddør. I say a small prayer of thanks each day.”

He kissed the tip of one finger. “Only a small one?”

She grinned. “Mayhap a large one, then.”

He sat up and reached for her. In mere moments, she was sitting sideways on his lap, her head tucked under his chin, and the furs wrapped around both of them. “When did you know Magnhildur had poisoned both Arnfinn and Jennie?”

“’Twas the memory I caught when I had to kiss her hand in the great hall.” Xára bowed her head. “Those rings she wears—they are hollow in the middle. One twist and poison can be slipped into a drink. All along I had thought Jennie had poisoned Arnfinn to stop him marrying me to Néill. I still do not see what Néill and Magnhildur thought to gain.”

“’Tis an easy one. With all dead, Néill marries you, keeps you alive for two years, produces a child, and he inherits Lathairn. Greed. Naught like it.” He hugged her tight to him. “But we changed fate. Lathairn is ours and we will make it not only a wealthy fortress, but a home.”

“Aye. We will,” she said and tried to blink back her tears. “It has been a great relief to Evie to know that her mother did not poison anyone. Though she does not voice it, Evie believed Arnfinn her father most her life and holds much affection for him still.”

Dráddør caught her chin. “Can Evie truly cast spells?”

She shrugged. “Evie believes she can. And Nyssa did say the poison had left Jennie.”

“And you, wife, what memories of mine have you caught?”

Taken aback by the fact he had growled the question twice, she stared at him, and smiled. “Naught. ’Tis strange, but I see naught of your recollections.”

His mouth pursed. “Is this the truth you speak or are those words said to appease my mind?”

Xára had cause to remember her husband’s question oft after his brothers and their wives left Lathairn the following morning. For though they shared a bed and enjoyed swiving to the fullest, every so oft she caught him studying her the way a hunter tracks game he does not trust. As if he expected her to proclaim a memory of his after each loving.

With each new day, Evie’s spirits lifted a little, and after a moon, she began laughing again. To be cert there were many days when she dragged her feet and hid in her room, but those became fewer and fewer.

Xára enlisted the help of all the women in the refurbishing of the keep. She gave Evie and Hjørdis charge of the nursery, while she and Ulna concentrated on the rest of the castle.

Dráddør had divided the chores amongst his men. Liam led the hunting parties to shore up the castle’s stores before winter set in whilst her husband organized the tradesmen and embarked upon a massive refurbishing of the furniture and the placement of new windows.

Even on the darkest of days, the new multi-colored glass panes directed a dancing light into the great hall and ’twas there the keep’s people gathered for meals three times daily. In the morns Xára taught Evie and Hjordis, and after the noon meal both girls studied the runes with Egron and then magik with auld Bessie.

They prepared for the celebration of Christ’s birth by decorating the hall with holly and evergreen boughs. Cook prepared a sumptuous noon meal and after Monk Herbert gave the blessing, everyone feasted. Xára surveyed the chamber and smiled at the excited hubbub of conversation when Dráddør deposited an enormous sack at the bottom of the dais.

During the cataloguing of Niketas’s cargo, her husband had discovered a dozen chess sets, all made of precious ivory and marble. He had taught her the game over the last while and this was to be their gift to their people. She expected ’twould quickly become an obsession with all during the long days of winter when they were confined to the keep.

Chapter Fourteen

It had been over four moons since Konáll, Nyssa, Brökk, Skatha and Jorunn had departed.

Tighe had remained for a while, but he, too, had left before the ice set in.

Five eves ago, King Kenneth’s messenger had arrived with a scroll ordering Dráddør to claim and secure Godfraid’s lands. He had left on that very day.

Xára had awoken with the knowledge her husband would return before noon. Her acute hearing had not only intensified, but grown selective. She could hear Evie, Hjørdis, and Ulna, from nigh anywhere in the holding. When she opened her eyes at dawn, Xára clearly heard Dráddør’s voice.

She could scarce contain her excitement.

’Twas the third time she had missed her courses. Would her husband be pleased? Unable to resist, she smoothed a hand over her flat belly.

After considering the advice given her by Nyssa and Skatha, she had decided to tell Dráddør today, but let him believe the babe would arrive in time for the Fall harvest. While in fact she would birth their son or daughter by mid-summer.