9 #2
Rorik finished the mead in his cup. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
The woman was chained in his sleeping chamber.
Hea??d refused to have food sent to her.
Let her suffer as he and his men had, damn her.
Shea??d already eaten enougha??given to her by those damnable treacherous womena??to hold her steady for a good week.
Shea??d dared to demand if hea??d been unfaithful to Inga. Hea??d wanted to kill her, at least to strike her at the sound of Ingaa??s name on her lips.
He heard someone approach, and slit open his right eye. It was Entti, and she was holding out a pitcher of mead. He allowed her to fill his cup again.
She was smiling at him, a very sweet smile that added warmth to the near vacant expression in her eyes.
She was simple, this girl hea??d captured on a raid the previous summer in the Rhineland, but kind.
She harbored ill will toward no one. There was no malice in her.
That she was a slave to a Viking seemed not to bother her at all.
She seemed to enjoy the men who had bedded her here on Hawkfell Island.
Shea??d not drawn away or screamed and pleaded.
Even the women were kind to her despite the mena??s lust for her.
Their revenge had been against the men, not against Entti.
Rorik thanked her. Her smile widened, showing dimples, and he realized that she wanted him to bed her.
She was really quite pretty, with her thick rich brown hair and her brown eyes, but those eyes were too childlike for him to appreciate, too blank in their intent, for him to consider bedding her.
She was tall and slender, full-breasted, really quite lovely, but still, he couldna??t bring himself to want her.
It would be like taking advantage of a child even though she was a woman grown, all of eighteen, he was certain.
Hafter had taken her first upon her capture.
Rorik wondered if shea??d been a virgin.
He said quietly, his voice low and gentle, a??Nay, Entti, not tonight. I must attend our prisoner.a??
Another female would have shown displeasure, but not Entti. She said, looking down at his empty plate, a??The food is delicious. I am so glad.a??
He laughed at that. a??Aye, all of us are glad. Seek out your bed, Entti, you have labored enough. I am sorry. I had not realized the women had fed you the swill theya??d given to us.a??
She lowered her eyes and her fingers began plucking at her gown sleeve.
He realized that she didna??t wish to sleep.
She wanted a man. He saw Hafter looking at Entti with more interest than a man should show a woman who wasna??t his wife, and said, a??Hafter looks unhappy.
I release you from your work. You may see to him.a??
She nodded happily, and left him.
Rorik rose, felt the chamber spin around him, shook his head as would a mongrel hound caught in the rain, and walked toward his sleeping chamber, Kerzog at his heels.
Ottar called out, a??Lord Rorik, do you go to whip the prisoner again?a??
Hafter laughed and called out, a??Oh nay, Ottar, hea??ll plow her belly, thata??s his thought.a??
Sculla raised his head from his conversation with Old Alna and said, a??Rorik is too sodden to plow a field, much less a woman.a??
Old Alna cackled.
Scullaa??s wife, Amma, said, a??He isna??t used to so much drink like the rest of you louts. His belly wona??t like him for this.a??
Rorik turned and said, a??All of you, keep your tongues behind your teeth. You chatter because your bellies are content.a??
a??Aye, thata??s the truth of it,a?? Askhold said. a??Beat the witch, Rorik.a??
Rorik didna??t hear him. He was thinking about his belly and his dulled head. He prayed Amma was wrong in her prediction but knew that she wasna??t. He didna??t hold drink well.
The sleeping chamber was dark as the deepest pit. He brought in a rush torch and fastened it into its holder on the wall. He saw her on the floor, on her side, her legs drawn up to her chest. He couldna??t see the chain, but he knew it was there, wrapped around her wrist.
She was awake. She hadna??t moved, hadna??t breathed, it seemed to him, but nonetheless, he knew she was awake. He didna??t care.
He pulled off his clothes, doused the rush torch, and flung himself down onto his bed.
a??You drunken lout. You disgust me.a??
He laughed, a drunken laugh that sounded demented. a??I begin to believe you have missed me, Mirana.a??
a??I would that you had rotted, you and all your vicious men.a??
a??You have been left too much alone,a?? he remarked to the darkness. a??Even I am welcome after your overlong solitude. You obviously have grown bored with your own company. Aye, thata??s a womana??s plaint, isna??t it? She cannot bear to be alone.a??
He could hear her breathing, harsh and deep.
a??Shall I tell you about the delicious meal we enjoyed? It was quite excellent, truth be told. The boar steaks were broiled; the fat sizzled on the sides. I decided to let your belly shrink a bita??youa??ve eaten too well in your captivity. Now, it is your turn. Would you like to say something?a??
a??Unfasten the chain.a??
He came up onto his elbow, weaved a bit, looking in the darkness toward her. a??I just might if you would say, a??Please, my lord Rorik, I would be your willing slave if you would free me.a?? Say it and I will consider releasing the chain.a??
Her breathing was deeper now and hoarse. He was glad she didna??t have a knife.
a??Say it, Mirana, else I will leave that chain on your wrist until you do.a??
He was drunk, he knew, and it was his only excuse. But he wouldna??t bear more from her. She would obey him else he would make her life a misery.
a??Please, my lord Rorik, I would be your willing slave if you would free me.a??
He stared toward her. He couldna??t believe it, yet the words hea??d demanded from her hung in the silence between them.
Shea??d done as hea??d asked. He didna??t understand.
His brain, filled with too much mead, suddenly rebelled.
He couldna??t make sense of her. He wanted to demand that she tell him what she was planning now, but his belly chose this moment to rebel as well.
He groaned and leapt from his bed. He managed to run to the palisade walls before retching.
His body shook and trembled. He leaned his forehead against the wooden planks and waited for his belly to calm.
It had been thus all his life. He couldna??t drink much of the delicious mead or even the fruity wine from the Rhineland without becoming violently ill.
He would not drink more than a cup of anything for months at a time and then he would forget, and drink too much.
And this was his punishment. It was the womana??s fault.
If she hadna??t taunted him, if she hadna??t then given in to him and dared to call him lord, he wouldna??t have become so ill.
He shuddered and straightened. He was so thirsty his tongue felt swelled in his mouth. It was some time before he returned to the longhouse and to his sleeping chamber, his belly emptied of the vile mead as well as of the wonderful boar steaks, the vegetables, and the bread.
Mirana waited until he was stretched out on his bed. Hea??d run as if a Christian demon had been after him. She waited another minute, slapped down her pride, hating herself even as she said, a??If you please, my lord Rorika??a??
She heard a deep snore.
She fell onto her back. Her hand was numb, the flesh on her wrist rubbed raw.
It hurt her so badly she would have begged him to release her, she would have called him Odin All-Father had he demanded it of her.
She wanted to howl and cry at the same time.
She did neither. She fell asleep with his snores sounding in her ears.