Chapter 15 #2
Under the watchful gaze of the troop he saddled Bear.
While he got Sleipnir ready, he sent one of the boys to retrieve what they had used to sleep.
The blankets were quickly rolled up and attached to the saddle.
Finally, when everything was ready, he walked over to Gytha and took the stone from her hands.
Though she didn’t betray any emotion, he sensed her relief at being freed from the heavy burden.
“Bring the horses here,” he told her quietly. “Then climb on Bear. As soon as I’m on Sleipnir, we ride.”
She nodded, looking grateful he was taking over, and made her way back to the horses. Before she could reach them, a young girl with dark hair took a step in her direction.
“I’m sorry,” Haakon thought he heard her say. “I didn’t know.”
Gytha gave her a smile he wasn’t sure he would have found it in himself to give any of these people who had tricked them. But Gytha was not like him, she was good and kind.
A moment later she was standing with the two horses by his side.
Once she was safely in the saddle he dropped the stone and lifted the cage in his hands.
A murmur ran through the crowd. Were they worried he would throw it into the fire?
He would not. But he needed to keep a hold on it, because he didn’t trust the musicians not to try something to stop them at the last moment, to make up for the humiliation they had endured.
After giving the cage to Gytha, he vaulted onto Sleipnir’s back and stared at the people assembled on the other side of the fire.
“One person, and one person only, will follow us to the edge of the forest,” he said, taking hold of the birds once more. “When we are far enough and we see that no one is trying to stop us, I will give the cage back to them.”
The man with the golden earring stepped forward and spat on the ground. “What’s to say you won’t just ride away with it?”
“My word that we won’t.” They would have to be content with that. Besides, what choice did they have other than trust him?
“Very well, I’ll come,” the man finally said.
The three of them set off without another word. Haakon was eager to be rid of this company of despicable schemers and he could tell Gytha felt the same. The sooner they left that forest, the better.
It wasn’t long before he handed the cage to the man who glared at him. Gone was the smile he had welcome them with only last evening. How had they ever been fooled by it, Haakon wondered?
“Go!” he shouted to Gytha, kicking Sleipnir into a gallop.
The two of them departed in a thunder of hooves.
As soon as they exited the forest, Haakon let out a sigh of relief.
Reassured by the flat terrain, helped by the moon lighting their surroundings, he and Gytha were able to keep their mounts at an easy canter.
The more distance they put between themselves and the troop, the better, even if, being on foot, there was little chance the musicians would ever catch up with them.
“I should never have accepted your company,” Haakon told Gytha when they finally brought the horses back down to a walk. “This is a dangerous mission, even more so than I expected.”
“But I wanted to come. I’ve always wanted to help my father fight injustice, and no cause could be more worthy than to reunite a little girl and a mother who have been separated.”
He knew why this would be especially important to a woman who had just lost her own mother. Still. That didn’t make the trip any less dangerous.
“How did you know the men were stealing the horses?” She had to have known the youths’ intention even before they approached the animals, otherwise there wouldn’t have been time to stop them.
“After the exciting evening, I couldn’t sleep.
” Haakon thought he detected something like embarrassment in her voice.
Why? Had she lain in bed thinking of him and the tension between them?
Was that the real reason she had found it hard to settle?
“As I lay on my blanket, I overheard the group of four men talk. They said they would lead the horses to a nearby village where they knew an accommodating farmer. Three of them would come back before dawn, while one would remain with the animals, wait for the rest of the troop to join him later.”
“And they thought we wouldn’t notice something was amiss?” He was incredulous. “We would hardly have forgotten we had horses with us.”
“No, of course, but if only one man was missing, we might not have noticed his absence. I mean, I have no idea how many people were in the troop exactly. As to the horses, the musicians would have made it appear as if they had freed themselves and gone to find grass to graze on.”
“Do they really take us for such fools as to believe that both horses managed to loosen their ropes?” He was always extra careful when tying them up. He would have guessed something was wrong.
Gytha shrugged. “Even if we suspected them of foul play, what could we have done? We could have looked for the animals but we would eventually have had to give up when we couldn’t find them.”
“Mm. I suppose. I’m grateful you woke me.”
“Yes, well, if it comes to that, I’m grateful you stepped in. Alone, I would never have been able to stop the men.”
“Again, that was all down to the muscles I happened to be born with. But you used your intelligence and your own initiative to get me out of a very nasty situation. It was remarkable quick thinking on your part to threaten the starlings and very brave.”
“It wasn’t brave. It was the only solution.”
“Tell me. Would you really have killed the poor beasts?”
She turned to him, looking horrified, and he cursed himself for the question.
He had already guessed she would never have harmed anyone or anything.
“You know I would not! But there was no other choice. The idea that you could be hurt, or worse, for doing nothing more than defend what was ours was…unbearable. I would never—”
“Yes, I know you wouldn’t have hurt the birds,” he soothed, “because I know you for the kind, generous soul you are. But fortunately, the musicians, who don’t know you, took the threat seriously.”
“Yes. Fortunately.”
“Who was the dark-haired girl who apologized to you before we left?”
“Someone I talked to last night. She wasn’t aware of what they had planned, I don’t think and was genuinely sorry.”
“Mm.” Haakon was not convinced. After what they had been through, he was not as generously inclined as she was. “Well, it’s over now. And from now on we will avoid people offering suspicious hospitality.”
“I agree.”
Gytha carried on riding in silence.
When she had gone to wake Haakon up, the desire she felt for him, ever boiling under the surface, had threatened to erupt.
Despite the urgency of the situation, she had taken a heartbeat to admire his chiseled profile, his perfect body, and examine the effect they provoked inside her.
When he had opened his eyes, there had been a moment when she had thought he would draw her to him and kiss her.
And she had longed for that kiss.
Then when she had seen him in the men’s arms, in danger of being killed, her blood had frozen in her veins. She had seized that stone because there had been no other way. She could not stand there and watch him being harmed for doing nothing more than defend his possessions.
She would have to examine her feelings and her intentions very closely in the days to come, and decide what to do about them.
It was time she started to be in charge of her life, instead of watching it pass by.
Since her father had become reeve, she had put everything on hold, telling herself that she couldn’t attract anyone’s attention but now she was seeing that she had wasted some of the best years of her life waiting to be allowed to exist.
No more.
As if to signify his agreement, the sun chose this moment to send its first rays shooting above the horizon. It was a sign. Just like the day, a new part of her life was dawning. On impulse, she launched Bear into a gallop.
“Catch me if you can,” she cried to Haakon, who threw his mount into the chase without missing a beat.
Despite her efforts to stay in front it wasn’t long before he caught up with her. When they finally slowed back down into a trot her heart was beating hard and she was certain the race was not responsible for the fluttering in her chest.
Haakon skewered her with a sharp look. “Be warned. I will always catch you, Saxon.”
You’re mine now, he might as well have said. And she didn’t feel like protesting.
“We shall make a slight detour to go buy some food in town, enough to last the rest of the journey. I’m not risking depending on someone’s generosity again.”
She could only agree it was for the best.
They found everything they needed in town and set off again after a hearty meal at the local tavern.
Not being certain that Osberga had indeed gone to Matilda’s village or how long she had taken to walk there, they were in no hurry.
They reached their destination when the sun had already started its descent toward the horizon.
Having lived all her life in a town, Gytha had imagined all villages would be like the one where the Norsemen lived, neat and well maintained. This one was anything but.
Even though it was summer, the ground was a veritable mire, it had obviously not been raked and flattened in some years, miserable-looking chickens were wandering around, leaving feathers everywhere and many a hut was falling apart.
The one they were told belonged to Gundulf was the worst of all.
It looked as if it would collapse on itself as soon as you opened the door propping it up.
As they drew nearer, the buzzing of flies started to hum in her ears.
Judging from this and the noxious fumes reaching her nose, a decaying animal corpse was not far.
Lord, what was this place? She shivered.