Lord of the Seas Read online

  She hesitated. He didn’t seem inclined to let her go, so at this point telling him her name wouldn’t matter. “Elfwynn.”

  “Very pretty.” His voice softened. “You and your sister look nothing alike. She’s dark, while you’re the image of your father. Your light brown hair is the same as his, and your brother’s. All three of you are very similar, even to your blue eyes. I would know you by that, if nothing else.”

  There was no sense denying it. “Then send the message to him. I would be away from you as quickly as possible.”

  Rorik grinned as he tightened his arms around her and urged the horse forward. “Yes, my lady. Whatever she demands.”

  Rowena had said he was reputed to be handsome, but that didn’t begin to tell the tale up close. When his smile washed over her, she had to look away. He was like no man she had ever seen. He had the face of a fallen angel. His body was as solid as a brick wall behind her, his arms like iron bands. His scent was that of the wind and waves, mixed with leather. But no matter what he looked like, he was a pagan, barbaric and crude. Still, something in his words rang true. He wouldn’t hurt her.

  Her breathing slowed. Father would lose no time sending the ransom. He had intended to pay the Northman anyhow until the ship had burned. He would surely do so now.

  She faced forward. “You can untie me now. I won’t go anywhere. I can’t outrun you on the horse you obviously stole. If not for that, you might not have caught me.”

  “Don’t be so certain. Whatever I want, I get.” His breath moved her hair as he spoke very close to her.

  A shiver ran along her arms. He didn’t move to untie her and she didn’t ask again. She was too vulnerable, too helpless, and she couldn’t risk antagonizing him. His large arm was wrapped just below her breasts. If he wanted to take advantage of the situation, he had only to lift his hand and touch her. She could do nothing to stop him. But he kept his arm where it was, pressing her back closer to him as he signaled the horse to move faster.

  Men stood to greet him when he rode into the clearing. The longships were visible through the trees. The five vessels rested on the shore, their great dragonheads rising into the sky.

  He slid off the horse, then lifted her down into his arms. As he carried her through the gathering crowd, she kicked.

  “Set me down. I’m not a babe to be carried.”

  “Be quiet. I’m taking you to where you can sit down.”

  Around them, the men talked. She could grasp some of what they said, which surprised her. “How is it I can understand some of your language? And why do you speak mine?”

  “Our languages are very similar. Our peoples must have come from the same place in the past. I speak many tongues, including yours, as does my sister, Kaia. And I imagine I’ll be hearing her curse me in both languages very soon.”

  As he set her on a fallen tree trunk, a tall, very beautiful woman strode toward them. She was dressed the same as many of the men, with a long tunic and leggings. Her black hair was braided back from her face and she looked much like the Northman. She was frowning. She was also wearing a sword.

  Gripping the hilt, she spoke to him in their language, and Elfwynn could understand enough to know she wasn’t pleased. Kaia gestured toward her bound arms and Rorik shook his head.

  Kaia crossed her arms, scowling at her brother as she spoke in Northumbrian. “Rorik said you’re to remain tied. He’s an idiot.”

  Elfwynn shifted on the tree trunk. All the men in the camp were staring at her. There must have been over two hundred of them. They were large, their hair long, or shaved in odd ways. Many of them had designs on their bodies, and their beards were braided with beads and gold. Some of them had dark pigment painted around their eyes, giving them an exotic appearance. They were hard, cold-looking men.

  Kaia moved in front of her, head up, feet apart. She spoke in a sharp voice to them and they moved off. Rorik stood to the side, watching. Elfwynn glanced at him. His expression was inscrutable.

  He nodded to her. “I’ll send a man with the ransom demand to your father.” He walked away.

  Elfwynn studied Kaia. Her arms were well-muscled, yet slender. Her body was tight and hard. She not only wore a sword but a long knife suspended horizontally below her belt. The slight scars on her skin attested to the fact that she fought.

  “You go into battle alongside the men?” She couldn’t help her curiosity.

  “I’m a skjaldmær. What you would call a shieldmaiden in your language. I fight. There are not so many of us among the Norse, but the Danes have had hundreds. I lead five others for my brother. They are there, around the fire.” She pointed with her chin. Five tall, elegant women laughed with several other warriors.

  They were so magnificent, it took her breath away. Like something from the old tales.

  Kaia said, “My cousin just married one this past spring. Do you not have any here?”

  “No. Our histories tell us that women once fought. Long ago. I never thought to see such a thing.”

  Kaia smiled. She was quite striking. Like her brother. Elfwynn looked away, her cheeks heating. What was she thinking? He was a barbarian. The last she saw of him couldn’t come soon enough.

  It appeared she’d have to see him a bit more. He walked across the camp toward her. Men gave way before him. Others stopped him to speak with him, then rushed off. He commanded the attention of all near him and she couldn’t keep from watching.

  Another man joined Rorik and they spoke as they walked. His shoulder-length hair was dark, the sun picking up gold streaks in it. As they stopped in front of her, he narrowed his eyes at her, then spoke to Rorik. Kaia tossed out a sharp word at her brother. Rorik shrugged.

  Moving behind her, he said, “Kaia and Leif both feel it’s safe to untie you. And they don’t agree on much, so it must be true.”

  The ropes fell away from her wrists and he walked around in front of her. She rubbed her skin while glaring at him. “As though I could go anywhere with hundreds of your men surrounding me.”

  “Keep that in mind. Would you like to eat? Are you thirsty?”

  “I’m fine. I don’t intend to be here long. I’ll eat when I get home.” She crossed her arms and looked away from him. “You needn’t concern yourself with me.”

  He leaned forward, his hands gripping the tree trunk on either side of her. She tried to back away from him, but she couldn’t escape. His silver-green eyes caught hers and held them. “You are my concern while you’re here. I brought you here and it’s my responsibility to make certain you’re cared for. I told you that you would come to no harm and that includes going hungry or thirsty. Now, are you hungry?”

  “No.” Not with his face so close to hers, his gaze boring into her. Her stomach was twisting. “But I am a bit thirsty.”

  “Would ale suit my lady?”

  “Fine.”

  As he pushed away from her, his hair slid over his shoulder and brushed her arm. She swallowed. He spun away from her and shouted an order to a servant who ran off as though the gates of Hell were opening behind him. No wonder the poor man was so thin.

  “Don’t let my brother daunt you.” Kaia frowned at Rorik. “He’s too accustomed to women falling all over themselves for him.”

  “You’re probably the first one he’s actually had to chase, though.” Leif shrugged as Rorik and Kaia stared at him. “You’re not the only one of our people who can speak Northumbrian. I’m a trader and it comes in handy. Especially when talking to beautiful foreign ladies.”

  He grinned at her and his smile was infectious. Elfwynn couldn’t help but return it. This would be over soon. They were treating her well. Litwin and Oshern were, no doubt, already back at the keep and her father was amassing his forces. Word of the ransom would come. He’d either pay it or rescue her. Her shawl was still near the road and it would help guide them to her. By nightfall, she’d be home.

  But why had the two men left her to begin with? It wasn’t as though all the heathens chased them. On
ly the Northman. Why had they run from one man and not stopped for her?

  She looked at the massive warships lining the shore, remembering what he had told her. They led me right to you. Bile rose into her throat as her certainty faded. Something was very, very wrong.

  Chapter Three

  Elfwynn swallowed the last of the ale as she watched the Northman and one of his warriors speaking. The man shook his head, making a slashing motion with his hand. They spoke together for another moment, then Rorik yelled out to his men. They all shouted and rushed toward the tents, drawing their swords. Many of them grabbed spears, axes and shields.

  He strode to her, Kaia and Leif following. She would not meet him sitting down, so she stood.

  Stopping in front of her, he bit out his words between clenched teeth. “Your father has refused to pay the ransom. He says because you’re illegitimate, you’re not worth that much.”

  Her legs gave out and she sank to the ground. It could not be. Her father loved her, no matter what her birth.

  There had to be a mistake. “Your warrior must have heard him incorrectly.” Her voice hardly worked. “He didn’t understand my language well enough.”

  “He speaks it as well as I do. I made certain of that. Turns out I picked the wrong flower. The one that doesn’t belong in the garden.”

  All through the camp, men gathered weapons, sharpened blades, and put on mail. Rorik pivoted and called out orders to waiting men.

  “Northman.” She whispered the word, but he heard and turned back to her.

  “What is it?” His hard eyes pressed her into the tree trunk behind her.

  “What’s happening? What are you going to do?”

  “I told you I wouldn’t harm you and so I won’t. I’m raiding your keep. I’ll get the gold one way or the other. It was your father’s choice and now people will die because of his foolish decision.” He turned back to his men.

  People would die? Her mother. Her father. All the people she knew. Her head spun and she wanted to be sick. The Northman wanted gold. She had a small amount, but not enough to pay for one of those ships. She could weave for the rest of her life and never make enough for that. Think. How could she get the ransom?

  Ransom. That was it. “Northman.”

  He rounded on her so fast, she almost forgot what she was going to say. “What?”

  “I know how you can get the money.”

  He held his hand up and all the preparations stopped. He came to her and sat on his heels in front of her. “I’m listening.”

  Even crouching down, he overshadowed her. She buried her hands in her skirt so he wouldn’t see them shaking. “The Church. It will pay for hostages of the pag—the Northmen. You could take me to a church. They’ll give you gold.”

  “No church close to here would have that much.”

  She grasped at anything she could. “London. Canterbury. They have large churches. Wealthy churches. They would pay.”

  He barked out a laugh. “Can you see me sailing down the Thames into London, getting off the ship, walking you to a church and asking them kindly for gold? I’m not suicidal. Second, a massive force of our longships has recently attacked London and Canterbury, sacking them and destroying everything. I assure you, there isn’t any gold left anywhere in those cities. And probably not much else. I can’t take you to a church in your lands. I’d be slaughtered before I could even go ashore with you.”

  He stood and shouted at his men and they continued preparing. There had to be something else she could use. She’d told Wulf she’d sell her soul to protect the keep and all within. Offering herself would do no good. He could have taken her already if he wanted, but all he desired was gold.

  If only he were a Christian, she could speak with him on that level. Then she’d use the risk to his soul to get him to listen to reason. But he had no soul. He came from a place where God didn’t exist. And yet, there was a monk, Anskar, who traveled through the northern lands converting the pagans, and it was said that even the Danish king, Horik, had found God. He’d allowed Anskar to build a church . . .

  She tried to stand, but she was shaking too hard. “Northman.”

  He whipped around and sat on his heels again, face to face with her. “What now?”

  Fisting her hands in her skirt, she gathered her courage. “There’s a church in Hedeby where the Danes live. It was built last year. Those are your allies, are they not? Don’t your people trade there? You could take me to that church. I’d go with you willingly. Just don’t attack my home. Please.”

  Her vision blurred with tears. If the Northman agreed to take her to Hedeby, then Redbank would be safe. Her mother, and all the people there, would live.

  And her father. She fought down a sob. In spite of his betrayal, she couldn’t let anything happen to him. He’d at least take care of her mother if she were gone. No one else would.

  Until that day, she’d felt safe and secure in her father’s love for her. He had always carried her above the waves of a cold, empty ocean. Now he’d left her out in that turbulent sea, without a sail, without oars, without even a star to guide her back home. She could never face him again. If the Northman agreed to take her to Hedeby, she didn’t know how she’d get home again, but it didn’t matter.

  Because, after this, she had no home.

  * * *

  Rorik stood and spun toward Kaia. “What do you know of this church? Do they truly pay for Christian hostages?”

  How could this have gone so wrong? It was all supposed to be simple. Those fools even led him right to one of the earl’s daughters. He’d thought he’d have to be here for days, weeks, spying and hoping to catch a glimpse of one of them. Then Elfwynn was delivered right into his hands. Except she was the wrong daughter. He hadn’t heard that one of them was baseborn. It shouldn’t have mattered. What father would abandon his own flesh and blood this way?

  Kaia nodded. “I know of it. You haven’t been to Hedeby in the past few years. There’s talk that Horik has, indeed, turned from the old gods. At least, on the face of it. It’s likely so the Christian merchants will do business with him. Still, his rule is becoming tenuous because of that. He did allow a monk to build a church there. And I have heard of the ransoms they pay. They don’t want us to poison their flock’s beliefs, so they’ll pay to get them back.”

  “I don’t have time for this. I have to get back to Vargfjell to meet with Jarl Thorir. If I don’t, he’ll act without me against the southern jarls who encroach on our lands, and that would upset the balance of power.”

  “I didn’t tell you to come here and start this mess.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “If you back down and let her go, all these men will see it and say you’re weak. Word will spread that you gave in to the earl, exactly what you didn’t want to happen. You might as well throw blood into the water and jump in after it. Both your enemies and those who seek your favor would become as sharks, ready to rip you apart.”

  “I’ve never harmed a woman. I promised her that I’d let her go.”

  “I know. But that was before her father did the unthinkable and refused to pay. I don’t like it any more than you do, but you know I’m right. You can’t go into negotiations with Thorir with this on your back. You have to go in from a position of strength. He has to know you don’t back down. If you let her go, you’ll be sliding down the slope so fast, you’ll never see the top again. And right now, even with my two ships and the three you had with you, you don’t have enough strength to assure yourself of a victory.”

  Kaia had a point. He needed more ships, more warriors. As for Elfwynn, it wouldn’t be as though he was taking her to sell as a slave. He was giving her—well, ransoming her—to her own people. Christians.

  He took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose it’s so different from what I wanted to do with her father. Except she’ll be going to a church instead of her home. Just not right now. I have to return to Vargfjell. I had to strike the earl immediately, but I’ve already spent too
long on this. She’ll have to come home with us. Later this summer, I can take her to Hedeby. Until then, she’ll be our guest. I’ll wager Vargfjell is far grander than anything she’s ever seen. It won’t be too much of a hardship.”

  Kaia was grim. “If her father’s this much of a bastard, she’s probably better off not returning. Who knows how he treated her? It strikes too close to home for my taste.”

  “Mine as well.” They shared a long look. Then he regarded Elfwynn. Her eyes were watery and she gazed at him with such hope and pleading, he almost changed his mind about the entire thing. This wasn’t her fault, yet she was paying the price. He glanced at the men waiting on his signal to attack. They watched his every move, every decision. His fortune, reputation, and the welfare of his people rested on this moment. He couldn’t afford to exhibit any weakness.

  She’d shown remarkable strength. As upset and terrified as she was, she’d had the fortitude to think of a solution and present it to him. Not many Christian women would. Perhaps it was because her father was heartless, she was baseborn, and no one wanted her. She’d had to remain strong to survive. She’d be all right in the end. He’d make certain of it.

  “Do you get the sea sickness?”

  She paled, but gathered herself with a visible effort. “I’ve never been in a boat before.”

  He chuckled and clapped his hand on Kaia’s shoulder. “Good luck, Sister. She goes with you.”

  He went to the center of the camp and his men gathered around him. “The earl has refused to pay the ransom, and we don’t have the numbers to attack him. So I’m taking his daughter.” The men banged their weapons on their shields in approval. “He won’t be able to make allies through her marriage, so his position is weakened. That gives us a better chance to defeat him when I can come here with all my ships and the two thousand warriors I command.” A great shout went up around him. “We will not fight and raid this day, but I swear to you that before this summer is ended, your sea chests will be filled with silver. I will regain what I have lost when I sell the woman in the slave market at Staraya Ladoga later this season. Understand this. She is mine. No one is to touch her or speak to her. Her maidenhead is her value to me and I keep what is mine. For now, we sail for Vargfjell. Prepare the ships.”