Chapter 16
CLEVE ROSE AS Kerek came into Baric’s small chamber, given to Baric by Olric some five years before.
“What is this about you wanting to speak to the princess, Baric? Why is this woman here?”
“Hello, Kerek.”
Kerek stared at that face with all its paint, at that black patch over the right eye, at those huge breasts.
“Come, Kerek. Bid me hello.”
“Oh no,” Kerek said, taking a step back. “You’re not a whore at all, are you? Is it you, Cleve?”
“Aye.”
“Many of the men want to bed you, including Ragnor. By the gods, you’ve disguised yourself well.
But it’s over. You must leave. The queen has Chessa hidden.
Even I don’t know where she is. You must escape the palace before someone discovers who you really are.
I’ve no wish to harm you, but if Ragnor sees you—sees you as you really are—he’ll do his best to see you flayed alive. ”
“I don’t think so, Kerek. That’s why you’re here. Baric, shut the door. Aye, that’s good. Stand against it. Now, another trade, Kerek. I have Ragnor. You have Chessa. He dies if you don’t give me Chessa. You have until the tide is in. That’s about three hours from now.”
Kerek just shook his head back and forth and began to moan aloud.
“Nothing has gone right, nothing. A simple kidnapping began it, and from that moment, everything turned sour. I had believed only the princess could bring me low, but now here you are dressed like a woman, painted like a harlot, and you’ve teased Ragnor until he’s ready to howl.
No one realized you were a man, even I.”
“Don’t tell me you wanted to bed me too, Kerek.”
“No, but my mind has been filled with so many details of late.”
“I’m relieved. Ragnor’s mind is filled only with the desire for my mead. He said it’s better than Utta’s.”
Kerek cursed softly. “You brought Utta’s mead, didn’t you? I should have guessed something was amiss.”
“Of course,” Cleve said. “My only concern is that the queen will refuse to give up Chessa because she believes her more valuable than Ragnor.”
“She’ll give her up. The Danes wouldn’t accept a woman ruling openly. But why didn’t you just leave her? You can have another woman. Why must it be Chessa?”
“Didn’t you tell me you were sorry when you made the trade for Kiri, sorry because I loved her?”
“Aye, but what does love have to do with anything? I’ve seen little enough of it around. Just look at you—Kiri’s mother tried to murder you. Forget love, Cleve, and leave. Chessa will be happy here, you’ll see.”
“Is that why Turella drugged her and has her hidden? Because she’s so concerned about how happy she’ll be? Give it up, Kerek. For the last time, give it up.”
“I must speak to the queen.”
“Why don’t both of us speak to her.”
They found Turella in her garden, on her hands and knees, sorting seeds. She was humming.
“Lady,” Kerek said and lightly touched his hand to her shoulder. She grew very still, then slowly, she looked up at him and Cleve saw that the look on her face was too tender for a queen toward her subject. He wondered how he could turn it to his advantage.
“Ah, Kerek. What have you done? You brought Baric’s woman. Why?”
Cleve said, “I’m really not a woman, my lady. My name is Cleve. I’m the father of Chessa’s babe. I’m here to fetch her and take her home.”
The queen slowly cleaned off her hands and rose. She looked at Cleve for a very long time, then said, her voice irritated, “I want to see what you look like as a man. I want to know what my grandson will look like.”
“Perhaps the babe will be the picture of Chessa,” Cleve said.
“You can’t have her, Cleve. It is done. You will leave willingly or I will give you to my son. He treated you badly before. Just imagine what he would do now.”
“Ragnor won’t do anything, lady. Your son is right now snoring blissfully, drugged to his brows, just as you drugged the princess.”
The queen staggered back. Kerek grabbed her arm to steady her. “Is he telling the truth, Kerek?”
“Aye, he is. I don’t know where he’s got Ragnor hidden. He wants to trade Ragnor for the princess.”
“I want it done now,” Cleve said. “Take me to Chessa.”
Slowly, the queen shook her head. “I cannot. She must wed Ragnor. She must someday rule the Danelaw.”
Cleve only smiled. He slipped a small very sharp knife from his tunic, grabbed Kerek, and stuck the knife point into his neck.
“Then first I will slit Kerek’s throat and then I will kill Ragnor.
You can keep Chessa, but I don’t know what you’ll do with her.
She’ll make you regret it too, if I know her.
Ah, I see that you do. Give over, lady.” He pressed the knife tip into Kerek’s throat.
A drop of blood trickled over the smooth blade.
Turella stepped forward. “No, don’t hurt him. By all the gods, what am I to do, Kerek?”
“Let him kill me, Turella, it doesn’t matter. But he will kill Ragnor as well and then where will we be? Cleve is right. It’s over. We must think of something else.”
The queen frowned down at her hands, at the black rich dirt beneath her nails. “We can find a silly little girl for Ragnor, I suppose. But it means that I must remain as I am, Kerek. I cannot die.”
“You won’t die,” Kerek said.
“This is all touching,” Cleve said. “Let’s end it. Will we trade?”
The queen nodded. “Release Kerek.”
Cleve did, then wiped the tip of the knife on his sleeve. “Take me to the princess.”
The queen started to protest but Kerek gently laid his hand on her arm. “You can believe him. He will release Ragnor. He will keep his word. He is that kind of man.”
Chessa lay on her back atop several soft furs in a small storage chamber. Two guards sat near her, rising quickly when the queen came into the room.
“Leave us,” she said.
Cleve dropped to his knees beside Chessa. He shook her gently. “She’s still unconscious. You drugged her yesterday.”
“She will be all right. I planned to lessen the drug tomorrow morning until she was just conscious enough to do as she was told during the marriage ceremony.”
Chessa moaned, but she didn’t awaken.
“Kerek, wrap her up in the furs. You will come with me. When I have her safe on board the warship, then I will tell you where Ragnor is.”
It was quickly done. Cleve’s last view of the queen made him smile. She was tapping her fingers against her temple. She was thinking and planning and plotting. He imagined that some poor girl would soon be in Ragnor’s bed.
They were out of York harbor within an hour.
“I have a gray hair,” Cleve said to Chessa, who was lying still unconscious across his thighs, “and I have known you only a short time. What will I look like when I reach Rorik’s advanced years?”
Rorik laughed as he rowed. “It’s true,” he said over his shoulder, “I’m aged. I am thirty at the beginning of summer. How can you see this gray hair? Your hair is golden.”
Hafter said, “He feels the gray hair, Rorik, and I understand that. Many times Entti will make me so angry I want to strangle her, I can actually feel my own gray hairs pushing to come up through my scalp. Is the princess awake yet, Cleve?”
“No, and it begins to worry me. She’s very pale. Her flesh feels too dry. I was stupid. I should have found out what drug the queen gave her.”
Gunleik said, “Wet a cloth in the water and wipe her face with it. Mayhap it will shock her awake.”
He lightly touched the wet cloth over her dry skin.
He smoothed her eyebrows, touched his fingertips to the tip of her nose, and rubbed the cloth over her throat.
Her lashes were thick and long. He hadn’t noticed that before.
Her mouth should be soft and moist, he’d noticed that, but now her lips were dry and cracked. How could this happen in just one day?
He began to worry when darkness fell that night.
He ate the dried herring Hafter handed to him and chewed on flatbread Aslak had bought at the marketplace.
She didn’t move. Cleve shook her, slapped her face several times.
She still didn’t awaken. Gunleik told him to continue wiping her with the wet cloth.
He carried her to the covered cargo space, laid her gently on several blankets, then stretched out beside her. He picked up her hand. It was small and dry and limp.
He stripped off her clothes and began wiping her with a wet cloth. Still, she didn’t wake up.
It was Gunleik who said just after dawn, “She must not have borne the queen’s potion well. We’ve got to make her wake up. I fear she’ll just fade away from us if she remains unconscious.”
Cleve had felt helpless in his life, many, many times, helpless and impotent, but now it was not just his need to do something to help her, it was necessary for him, she couldn’t die.
She was Kiri’s second papa. By all the gods, she was also important to him.
He felt fear in his guts. “What are we going to do?”
Gunleik rose. “I’ll get Rorik’s packet of medicines Mirana always sends with him. Perhaps there is something that will help.”
Gunleik was back with a large skin lined with soft linen and holding vials of creams and liquids. Rorik came in behind him. “There is nothing here that can help else I would have said something before.”
“She must wake up,” Cleve said. “She must wake up and see that I’m a man again. She’s been unconscious for nearly two days. She’ll starve to death if she doesn’t awaken.”
“Then we will pull close to shore and you can go overboard with her. Hold her in the cold water. Mayhap that’s what’s needed to shock her awake. Mirana did that once with our little boy, Ivar, and it worked.”
Cleve thought it a crazed idea, but he was desperate.