Viking's Love (58 page)

Mira had the most basic necessities for her
child. Without a man and no means, she had little for the baby.
Allisande was fashioning some simple gowns for the baby, and used
scrap from Aelynn’s old clothes to make the child a new wardrobe.
Cassia was a Chieftain’s sister, and the daughter of a
self-proclaimed king of Dublin. Allisande was determined she would
be treated as such.

They never heard from Leonie again. Allisande
was pleased her friend sent her the message to let her know her
ruse with Ivar in York produced a positive result. Thinking of
Leonie happy with the man she loved made her feel as though she
returned her favor.

When she thought of the choice she intended
to make, her blood ran cold. The thought of not being with Joran
made her shiver with dread. The nightmares ceased after the
miscarriage. She rarely thought of Robert. He was in Hell, no doubt
miserable he hadn’t achieved his goals, but she wouldn’t let him
have the satisfaction of her thinking on him anymore.

When the light grew too dim to see her
stitches, she set her sewing aside and rose to make ready for bed.
Joran had not returned. The silence below was oppressive compared
to how jolly it always was this time in the evening.

Wulfstan would not stop until he had her.
Allisande knew none of them were safe until he was caught. She
sighed as she lay down, knowing she would not sleep until Joran was
next to her. She fretted until the wee hours of morning and heard
Joran enter.

He was quiet as he entered, not wanting to
wake up the babies. She sat up, the dim light from the hearth
showing his disappointment. She knew they had been unsuccessful in
finding any trace of Wulfstan.

****

“
It is too much of a risk to you! I
will not allow it!” Joran thundered as they discussed it, all of
them, the next day as they finished the meal. The other Vikings saw
the merit to it, but Joran would not hear of using his wife as bait
to catch Wulfstan before more were killed.

“
He will not stop, Joran! We have no
choice!” Allisande raged and jumped up and slammed her hand upon
the table. “I will not sit here while he cuts us down one at a time
while we can do nothing at all. We have five orphaned children
today. How many more will we have tomorrow?”

“
Use me to catch him,” Meghera said as
she listened to them argue heatedly, and all eyes slanted to the
girl. She raised her eyes to them, and they saw no fear in her
gaze, for in truth Meghera’s powers made it quite impossible for
Wulfstan to kill her. It was quite possible she could kill him and
his accomplices with a glance. She no longer needed to use her hand
to produce fire. She just needed to focus her mind in whatever
direction she wanted, and whatever she focused upon burst into
flames.

“
Wulfstan’s tastes do not run to
children, little one,” Joran said and shook his head. “If that were
the case, he would have killed all of the children when he got
Janna, but he did not. Allisande is right. He is after
her.”

“
I want to help!” Meghera cried sharply
and stood up. “You said I could, Joran. That is what you said! I am
less likely to be hurt than the others are. It will
work.”

Joran said he would think on it, and he did,
but putting Meghera in Wulfstan’s path was just as undesirable as
using his wife for bait. He needed every man available to keep
watch over his people while they searched.

Joran often remembered his last conversation
he had with Janna when he scornfully let her know what he thought
of her behavior with Rowan, and cringed with shame. He would never
forget the pain and hurt in her gaze as he judged her for her
actions. He had never spoken to her again, and now she was dead.
His closest friend was dead, as well. He had no choice.

Wulfstan was out there waiting for the
opportunity to get to his wife, probably blaming Allisande for his
change in circumstances now that Ivar threw him to the wolves.
Wulfstan would have to watch his back wherever he went now, labeled
a traitor to the cause when he helped Ulsted. All the gold in the
world wasn’t worth that.

Ivar hadn’t the stomach to kill his own son,
so he allowed him to run. The Danes, Eric and Murdoch, were
possibly with him, as they had also been implicated in the plot
against Ivar’s son. He debated the merits of both plans for the
rest of the day.

Allisande watched him enter the hall with a
look of resignation. He went upstairs to look for Meghera. She was
angry, but she realized she was far more vulnerable than Meghera
would ever be. The child acted like it was a game, and perhaps that
was best.

Meghera bundled up in her fur lined cloak and
pulled on the expensive boots Collin had insisted upon buying for
her before they left Oslo. The fur cap and thick gloves would keep
her warm as she wandered the woods with only Joran and Oram
watching from two separate positions to wait for Wulfstan to take
the bait.

She left Thor behind. He was so despondent,
he sat in the window the whole time, wagging his tail and whining
mournfully.

Meghera walked through the snow and acted
like she was gathering wood sticks. She was scouting the area from
the corners of her gaze as she skipped through the snow-covered
woods. She was far enough from the longhouse that if anyone was
watching, they would see her and follow. She felt no fear of the
men who were killing the women. She had been so bored by not being
allowed out that she looked forward to it.

It was many months since Collin left, and she
was miserable without him. She was miserable with him as well. Her
wings had grown twice the size as they had been at Lockwraithe with
the onset of her monthly courses. Then, as soon as they grew full
size, they fell off. Her back was smooth and unmarred, showing no
trace of them. She didn’t tell Joran she no longer needed the wings
to fly. He was upset enough over the murders.

Suddenly her vision grew dim. She felt faint
as the pictures in her mind formed. She saw three men in the
clearing, all laughing as they stood over Mira as she struggled to
get away. She saw what they did to her before they tossed her over
the ledge of the fjord.

She saw another picture form. This one had
yet to happen. A cry flew from her lips as she saw their intended
victim in the snow, being dragged into the woods. She saw Wulfstan
fall upon her and forced her eyes to open.

She knew the Danes were helping Wulfstan. The
images had been clear. Her blue eyes grew round. She began to run,
hoping to alert Oram and Joran as she ran back the way she
came.

“
Where is she going?” Joran muttered as
he came down the tree and jumped to the ground. Oram met him at the
clearing as Meghera ran to him. Her face was alarmed, and she
stammered as she told him of her vision, and whom she had seen
killing Mira in the woods, and that wasn’t all.

She saw his wife die by the same men’s hands.
Joran looked grim as he heard it. His face paled and he said
nothing as he considered what he knew to be true. He hung his head,
and Oram looked at him questioningly when he returned to his side.
He returned to the hall and stared into the flames in a chair by
the fire to absorb Meghera’s prophecy. His wife was safe for
now.

Eldred was found dead behind the kitchens,
they discovered later. Elwynn found her body in the snow outside,
and screamed the house down. Joran stared at her empty sockets
where her merry brown orbs had once been, and felt bile rise in his
throat and turned away as her body was carried away.

Allisande approached him later with another
matter. He nodded and closed his eyes as he stared into the flames
of the hearth. Allisande and Elwynn returned with the four small
children in tow.

Joran looked at the four little boys, and
felt his heart tug in anguish for them. Allisande took the boys
upstairs, and found rooms for them. She joined him by the fire and
could see he was hurting.

Grogan had been a close friend. His guilt
over his death was profound. He hadn’t found Wulfstan and the Danes
yet, and was full of self loathing.

“
You couldn’t have known, Joran! None
of us suspected they were out there! You could say we are all to
blame! You must stop this! Five people are dead! Five children are
without parents! And if you would blame yourself for more of this,
I will hit you!”

“
I am Chieftain here, Allisande!” Joran
raged and his blue eyes darkened with pain. “They are my
responsibility! Do you not know how enormous that is? I am here to
protect them and I cannot!”

“
Wulfstan will be caught! We will
double our efforts to trap him.” Allisande saw his ravaged features
and knew no amount of what she said was getting through to
him.

“
Meghera is having visions, Allisande.
I don’t know what it means. She is changing so much these days,”
Joran said and eyed her sorrowfully. “She has seen you die in the
same manner as the others. What would you have me do? I go out to
meet him alone tomorrow.”

Allisande stared at him and swallowed hard,
and wanted to say more but she noticed Meghera came in the hall and
eyed them worriedly, and they grew silent. “I am not done
discussing this!” Allisande hissed under her breath and he scowled
and turned away knowing he was in for a rousing argument with his
wife later over his determination to hunt Wulfstan alone. It was
the only way to draw him and the Danes away from his home.

They didn’t fight about it later as Joran
feared they would. Allisande was far too busy with the care of the
six children in their hall. She had little time to dwell on
anything else.

After several days, it was obvious that they
needed more help within the hall now that four women were gone.
Allisande and Elwynn were the only ones to see to the household.
Joran watched as his wife, Meghera, and Elwynn divided the
household chores and decided he had no choice but to seek out his
neighbor and see if he had any serfs he could spare until spring.
He would make his way into Oslo and see about securing more help
for his household when the weather cleared.

He watched as his wife fell asleep by the
fire every night in exhaustion after nursing the two babies and
seeing to the care of the four small boys, in addition to the
household matters. Talon was the eldest at eight, and angry and
confused about what happened to his parents and was sullen much of
the time. Whalen was five, and whined a great deal and cried, which
made his eldest brother angrier.

Joran pulled the boy off his younger brother
on many occasions and upbraided the boy for picking on the younger
ones. Janik was three, and often sat by the hearth playing with the
miniature wooden boat his father carved for him.

Ewan, barely one year of age, had his finger
in his mouth most of the time, his wide green eyes and bronze locks
so like Rowan’s, they were a painful reminder to Joran of how he
failed his friend when he refused to forgive her for her
transgression with Rowan.

His lips compressed when he saw how thin his
wife was becoming. She was working herself to the bone to keep his
household running. He informed Oram they would travel to Garran
Herricksson’s stronghold the following day. He would take a wagon
and five men to travel the treacherous mountain trek the five miles
to see about finding a solution to their problem until the ice
melted to allow them to travel.

His eyes flared as he imagined the scorn he
would receive from Garran when he arrived. Garran would no doubt
enjoy his discomfort because of his failed effort to force his hand
in offering for his sister at the last gathering. He did not expect
Garran to be willing to aid him, so he used some of the riches they
removed from Ulsted to sweeten the pot.

Garran eyed his neighbor in amusement as he
explained his plight the next day. He could see the older man’s
amusement when he mentioned he had so few women in his household
now.

“
Why do you come to me for aid, Joran?”
Garran asked sarcastically as set down his tankard of ale and
frowned at him. “You did not help my cause concerning Merta. My
wife and she are constantly at each other’s throats, and it is your
fault for sending her back!”

“
I never promised Merta anything,
Garran,” Joran said tersely and measured his words for he knew the
Chieftain was still sensitive of the matter. “I did not ask her to
stay the first time, nor return the second. You cannot blame me for
sending her back when she undermined my household as she did. Why
do you not just marry her off?”

Garran gave a bitter bark of laughter that
made him tense, and he wondered at his reasoning in seeking his
aid. “I would be happy to find her a husband, except she declares
herself in love with you and will have no other!” he snapped
irately and shook his head. “Besides, I will not wish her on any of
my men.”

“
I did not come here to create more
enmity between us, Garran,” Joran said tiredly and was frustrated
he would return empty-handed when his neighbor sighed, and said he
had three women who would leap at the chance to evade Merta’s spite
and leave his household.

Joran grinned with relief and tossed a pouch
onto the table in front of Garran. The man reached for it, and
opened it, and whistled as he looked at the gold coins within.

“
It is not often I have gold in my
pockets these days,” the older man said a trifle bitterly as he had
forgone raiding in recent years, and his coffers were considerably
thin. “This will please Reysa even if we cannot unload my sister
upon you.”

Joran chuckled at his words as Reysa
sauntered over and snatched the pouch of gold from his hands and
stalked away, eyeing them both balefully. Joran chuckled and
commiserated with the man over a couple of tankards of ale before
he made to leave.