Chapter Nineteen
-ASTRID-
Happy to see my sisters once more, I sailed alongside them in the sleighs of our youth, racing one another down steep, snowy hills, laughing as I dared them to keep up with me.
“And you us,” Freya challenged me. Was she still on her sleigh, or had she whispered in my ear? I could not tell.
“Follow us all the way home, little sister,” Tove whispered in my other ear, her voice challenging as well.
“Follow the wolf,” Freya called out, no longer in my ear but far away, her voice an echo on the cold wind.
“Follow the bear,” Tove demanded, her voice ferocious with the beast watching over us.
Blinking, desperate, I tried to see them, but I only saw the blurry gray wolf racing alongside my sleigh in the driving snow. A blink later, it was a massive white bear urging me on. Demanding that I move faster.
Fight harder.
Never give up.
“You are strong,” Freya cried out on the whistling wind.
“You are a Helvig,” Tove roared. “So go to him. Find him.”
Who? I could not recall.
“Return to him,” Freya whispered in my ear, right there when moments before she had been so far away. “Return to the land of the Scots.”
“Do you hear me, Astrid?” Tove said, right there now, too. “Do you see him?”
When I struggled to reply, both sisters roared at me at once. “See your husband now!”
Jolting to awareness, I cracked open my eyes to the blurry visage of men sitting around a small fire in the snow. For a moment, I thought I spied my sisters peering back at me through the flames, but a blink later, they were gone, and someone trickled cool water into my mouth.
“’Tis all right, my love,” a deep, husky voice with a Scottish burr murmured. “I am here.”
Coughing on the liquid, I had just enough time to gaze up into Declan’s worried yet blurry emerald eyes before pain speared my midsection and everything faded, leaving me struggling to get back to him.
Be with him.
Love him.
Yet deep down, even as I drifted, lost to wherever I was, I knew our love would never fade. It would burn brightly inside me for all eternity. Burn so brightly that it would lead me home, and I never lost faith in that. Whether his god or mine guided me back to his arms, I would find him again.
“Aye,” he rumbled in my ear, stirring me to awareness. “Because you never lost me, lass, nor will you ever.”
Cracking open my eyes, I once more gazed up into his verdant, loving eyes. This time, there was no blurriness, though. Only him, as he cupped my cheek and issued me a warm if not relieved smile. “Welcome back, my love.”
“My love,” I whispered hoarsely, my throat bone dry.
“All right, enough of that for now,” came Florie’s sweet but firm voice, as she nudged him away. “’Tis time for me to tend to her. You can join Stewart by the fire if you wish.”
Although Declan muttered something under his breath about not wanting to leave my side for a moment, he complied as any man in his right mind would when Florie ordered them.
“Hello, my dear friend,” she said softly, sitting on the side of a sizeable bed I didn’t recognize in an equally spacious castle chamber from what I could see of it while trying to acclimate. “Drink this, aye?”
Doing as requested, I drank down the bitter liquid when she held it to my lips, knowing it would both hydrate me and help me sleep, so I wasn’t surprised when darkness descended once again.
This time, I dreamt of leaving the Norwegian shore behind and sailing toward Scotland once more. This go around, there was no anger in my heart or fear of the unknown.
Instead, I sailed on calm seas, eager to see Declan again.
The sails billowed in a steady, gentle wind, and a swollen moon shimmered brightly over the crystalline water.
I looked to my right and saw Oksana sitting beside me, then to my left, only to see her brother again, his silver pelt rippling in the wind.
He looked back at me with steady dark blue eyes and licked my cheek.
Happy to see him again, I laughed, only to stir awake to find something else licking my cheek.
“Och, he’s an ambitious wee fellow,” Florie chastised, scooping up the little grey husky pup licking me. She settled him next to Oksana. “And quite fond of you, to be sure, my friend. As is his stubborn mother.”
Blinking back tears, I smiled at the sight of Oksana curled by my side with five plump, furry, perfect little pups, telling me I had been recovering for some time.
“Where am I?” I murmured, grateful for the cool water Florie held to my mouth as she helped me sit up and propped pillows behind me. From the looks of it, I was in the same bed and chamber as before. A kettle hung over a fire crackled invitingly on the sizeable hearth.
“’Tis the chieftain’s chamber,” she said softly. “Laird Lachlann would have you nowhere else whilst I tended to you.”
“But this is not Lachlann’s chamber, so…” I began, trailing off, understanding when I saw tears welling in Florie's eyes. “Oh, no,” I whispered, closing my eyes to a pain just as intense, if not more so, than the loss of my own father. “Lachlann has passed, and Declan is chieftain now.”
“Aye.” Sitting beside me, she held my hand as I grieved. “Lachlann lived long enough to know you were home and would survive, before passing on to the Almighty Lord.”
“’Tis good,” I murmured, leaning my head against her shoulder. Tears trickled down my cheeks as I reflected on everything Lachlann had done for me. How much of a hand he had played in not just my fate but that of my sisters.
“He was a good man who deserved to have his son and dearest friend with him at the end,” Florie said softly. “’Twas as it should have been.”
“Ja.” Doing my best to gather myself, I looked at her, worried. “And Declan? How is he?” Pulling down the plush furs covering me, I tried to inspect my wound and assess how much time might have passed. “How long has it been since Lachlann passed?”
“Over a fortnight now,” she revealed, surprising me.
“And several months since you were wounded.
‘Twas a grave injury full of poison that you never should have survived, yet God, two determined Scots and three relentless Norsemen were on your side.” A small smile curled her mouth.
“As was your husky, horse, and your special poultice that one can only make with fresh herbs you brought from your homeland mixed with those you found here in Scotland.”
“Ja,” I murmured, keeping the plants alive even during the winter in a pot in my cottage for times such as this. Herbs I had used to tend to Soren. “Tell me the rest. Tell me what happened.”
And so, she did, spinning a tale of such determination and perseverance that I was humbled.
Honored and grateful. How could I not be when I heard what Declan, Stewart, and the wounded Norsemen I had saved did for me, seeing me carried on my sleigh all the way back to Mackay Castle?
Most times, Declan pulled me on Wyvern, with Oksana racing alongside.
Other times, the men took turns carrying me.
“Yet every eve, ‘twas Declan sitting by your side, according to Stewart,” Florie said softly, a dreamy look in her eyes now. “’Twas always him talking to you unless he requested that the Norsemen sing tales of old to keep you with them when Odin tried to welcome you into the great halls of Valhalla, as they call it. For a great Helvig shield-maiden would go nowhere else.”
“And where are they now?” I wondered, worried about them. “Where are the Norsemen who helped save me?”
“Standing guard over you as they have been determined to do since the moment you did the same for them in their hour of need,” came Declan’s soft voice, rough with emotion as he entered. “As have we all.”
Just as it was the first time our gazes connected on the drawbridge, it felt like everything else fell away but him. This moment. The powerful, poignant feeling that fluctuated between us. Tethered us together. Made fresh tears spring to my eyes.
“I will give you two some time alone.” Florie squeezed my hand affectionately and left, but not before telling Declan, in passing, that he'd best see that I ate to regain my strength.
She had barely closed the door before he was in my arms after I held them out to him, desperate to hold him again and feel his warmth and vitality.
I held on tightly as he sat on the bed and gathered me against him, holding me gently, clearly worried he might hurt me.
We stayed just like that for a time, breathing in each other’s scent.
Cherishing these moments we thought lost to us.
A life that should have been snuffed out in that tavern with the thrust of a poisonous dagger.
“You dinnae know how much I feared losing you, lass,” he rumbled in my ear, cradling the back of my head as I suspected he often had when I hovered on the edge of the afterlife. “How verra close you came time and time again.”
“Yet here I am,” I whispered, my throat thick with emotion. “Alive and well, thanks to you and all the kind souls who nursed me back to health.”
And perhaps even my sisters, rallying me back from the brink of death into Declan's arms from across the cold, dark seas between us. I made no mention of that, though. Someday, but not right now. This moment was for reconnecting with the love of my life and for new beginnings.
“And thanks to our gods,” he murmured, ever grateful for my being here, invoking an all too familiar warmth at my chest. When he pulled back, I was shocked to discover it lingering in my cross even though my talisman hung around his neck.
“All of our gods, it seems,” he added.
“’Tis a good place for it,” I said softly, fingering my talisman, feeling it warm against his chest.
“As is this.” He did the same with the cross, his gaze lingering on it before his eyes rose to mine and, much to my surprise, he spoke in my language.
“A bridge of sorts betwixt us that I dinnae doubt will forever guide us.” A little twinkle lit his emerald eyes, and the corner of his mouth curled up. “My wee heathen wife.”
Recalling what he had called my people at the beginning, I met his small smile, only to remember what had brought his religion to me. Why this cross of protection hung around my neck.
“Oh, husband.” I pressed his warm palm to my cheek and leaned into his touch, blinking back fresh tears. “I am so sorry about your father. He was…”
“At peace in the end,” he assured softly, his voice rough with just as much emotion.
“At peace because he knew we had found love together in the end, and you would survive. ‘Twas my mother’s name on his lips in his sleep when he breathed his last breath. Her waiting arms, I dinnae doubt he went into.”
“I do not doubt it either,” I said softly, certain such things happened. “Not at all.”
We said nothing for several moments, taking the time to remember Lachlann fondly before he revealed that his father knew he was learning to speak my language, so that he could further help me in my endeavors as time went on.
“No doubt you did learn my language.” Shaking my head, I marveled at how far Declan had come. “And so fluently in little time.”
“Aye.” Touching my talisman, he told me what it had done for him.
How it helped him understand my native dialect, aiding him in communicating with the Norsemen as they got me home.
“Since then, they have been teaching me and I them my language, so that they might better get on in their new country. And, aye, I would say the talisman has helped me pick things up quickly.”
“You are fond of these Norsemen, ja?” I smiled at the warmth on his face as he spoke of them. “You get along well?”
“Ja,” he said, “Aye, how could I not, given all they have done for me?” He caressed my cheek, his gaze falling to my lips. “Us.”
“Us,” I murmured, my gaze dropping to his as well before he closed his lips over mine and I lost myself all over again to his kiss. The feel of him against me. In my arms again. His tongue against mine.
Or at least I was lost until
a little gray pup scurried up between us, only for Oksana to grab him by the scruff of his neck and plunk him back down with his brothers and sisters.
Smiling against Declan’s mouth, I pulled back and looked at the six fondly. “Oksana is a good mother, aye?”
“She tries to be.” He grinned and shook his head, eyeing the pups just as fondly.
“Though ‘tis safe to say they are wee hellions and dinnae make life easy for her. Both she and I gave up trying to keep the grey one away from you, so I allowed the lot of the blasted beasties on the bed whilst you recovered.” He shook his head.
“Still so young but such bloody energy!”
Remembering my previous husky litters, I couldn’t help but chuckle at what was coming as they aged.
At least for the first four winters or so.
Add in Sten's potential wolfen blood, and things were bound to be interesting.
I sensed, despite the huskies appearing perfectly normal, that their offspring would carry a trace of Sten and his ilk far into the future, making huskies a unique breed indeed.
“Oh, their energy is something to be sure,” I agreed with Declan, already bracing myself for years of delightful mischief and mayhem.
“You need to eat and rest, lass,” he counseled as I rested back against my pillow when a wave of exhaustion washed over me. All I wanted was to remain in his arms and pick up where we’d left off in the cold, snowy woodlands of the north, but I knew I wasn't healed enough yet for that.
“Ja, mayhap some food and rest is not such a bad idea,” I relented, fighting back a yawn.
“As long as you stay with me and catch me up on everything that has happened whilst I was recovering.” I glanced at the snow falling outside.
“How much I missed since we returned.” There was no stopping a sad sigh because I knew how much his new status had cost him. “Since you became chieftain.”
“Much,” he said softly, the look in his eyes different when they met mine again. Wary, if I did not know better. “Verra much, indeed.”