Chapter 21
Magnus and three of his men left four days later for the meeting of the thing, held near Kaupang in a valley belonging to King Harald Fairhair.
They were riding, not going by the Sea Wind, for she was being repaired, her steering oar being replaced.
Zarabeth saw him mount his stallion, Thorgell, a huge beast bred by Magnusa?? father.
The slave holding the reins abruptly dropped them at Magnusa?? nod and Thorgell pranced to the side, then reared onto his hind legs.
Magnus laughed and patted the great beasta??s neck even as he clamped his thighs around the stalliona??s belly.
He looked magnificent in his thigh-length tunic of lavender wool over trousers of dark brown wool.
Cross-gartered brown leather boots came to his knees.
A wide leather belt studded with silver and gold was around his waist. His blond hair shone in the morning sunlight, and in that bright light his features were so clean and pure that it hurt Zarabeth to look at him.
She turned away, tired and depressed and already lonely, which was stupid, because she had wanted him to go, wanted more than anything to be left alone with her grief and with her emptiness.
He called out her name. She turned to see him riding toward her.
In the next moment he had leaned down and pulled her up and was holding her against him.
Thorgell danced to the side, and Magnus only laughed.
He kissed her hard and released her. She stared after him until he was gone from her sight around the outjutting point of land.
She worked, and worked harder still, hoping to so exhaust herself that she would sleep at night. More often than not, she lay there staring up at the beamed roof into that muted half-light of the summer nights and wished for blankness.
On the third day, she came out of the longhouse at the shout from a slave. It was Helgi, accompanied by six men, and she was clearly upset.
a??Ingunn is gone!a??
Zarabeth stared at her, and she said again, a??Ingunn is gone!a??
a??Come inside, Helgi.a??
Helgi saw her sister, Eldrid, and turned quickly away, her hand on Zarabetha??s sleeve. a??Sometime during last night, she ran away, that, or she was kidnapped. Have you seen her, Zarabeth? Have you heard anything?a??
a??Nay, nothing. Why would she leave her home?a??
a??Orm Ottarsson!a?? Helgia??s broad handsome face, flushed from her exertions, was now flushed with anger.
a??I knew she was lying when she assured her father she would obey him, I knew it because I know her.
She wanted Orm and she refused to believe that he was an outlaw, a man without honor!
By Thor, hea??ll shame her and our family.a??
a??Where is your husband?a?? Zarabeth struck her hand to her forehead. a??Oh, he is at the thing, as is Magnus.a??
a??Certainly Harald is at the thing! Ingunn waited, she isna??t a fool, though I would like to beat the girl until she weeps at my feet! Ah, Zarabeth, then you have neither heard nor seen anything of her?a??
Zarabeth shook her head. a??Ia??m sorry, Helgi. Here, drink some ale, it is newly brewed and cool.a??
Zarabeth saw Helgi glance over at her sister once again, then immediately turn away. a??Would you care to remain here, Helgi? We can send a messenger to your husband and to Magnus. He told me it was but a daya??s ride away.a??
a??Youa??re a good girl, Zarabeth.a?? Helgi sighed, the harsh color leaving her face.
a??Nay, I will return home. Perhaps the stupid girl has come back, though I doubt it.
I suppose whata??s done is done.a?? She rose, again sighing deeply.
As if it had just occurred to her, she smiled and said, a??You are all right, Zarabeth? a??
Zarabeth nodded, stiffening without conscious thought, awaiting the words she knew would come, and Helgi said, her voice cool and emotionless, a??Time lessens the pain, you will see.a??
Zarabeth looked into the older womana??s eyesa??Magnusa?? light blue eyesa??and said what was in her heart: a??Nay, I dona??t believe that it will. There is too much of it, you see, and I am not strong enough to allow it to lessen.a??
Helgi recognized that honesty. a??There has been too much change for you in too short a time, too much pain, too much uncertainty.
It has nothing to do with your strength or your weakness, Zarabeth.
But I will tell you this, daughter, you will carry your pain and your grief until you rid yourself of your guilt.
You cannot really begin to be my sona??s wife until you deal with this.
Now, tell me, how does Magnus deal with Egilla??s loss? a??
a??He dreamed he saw Egill alive, but in some sort of captivity.a??
Helgi touched the amulet she wore around her throat. a??Perhaps,a?? she said. a??Perhaps.a??
After Helgi and her men had left, Aunt Eldrid came to where Zarabeth stood, looking off into the distance at nothing in particular, and said, a??It is odda??this tale about Ingunn, I mean.
Ingunn isna??t stupid. At least she wasna??t stupid until you came, then she became a vindictive creature I scarce recognized.
Normally, Ingunn always acts for a reason.
No, my dear sister doesna??t know her daughter as well as she believes she does. Aye, it is odd.a??
She would say nothing more, even when Zarabeth questioned her closely. Sour old woman, she thought, and went about preparing some turnips to roast beside the herring just caught in the viksfjord.
The next day, it rained, a thick cold rain that gave a hint of the harshness of winter.
Zarabeth shivered, wondering about those cold, dark months that would surely come.
What would life be like then? She watched the heavy dark clouds billow over the mountains.
The waters of the viksfjord churned and heaved.
She wondered what Magnus was doing, what he was feeling.
It surprised her that she wondered about him.
Zarabeth found herself hoping that he was warm and protected from the rain. A wifely thought, she realized. A very wifely thought. By the Viking gods, she was a fool.
Late that afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out.
Everyone breathed a sigh of pleasure and poured out of the longhouse.
No one cared about the large pools of mud that pockmarked the ground both inside and outside the palisade.
The slaves went into the fields, women washed clothing in huge wooden tubs beside the bathhouse, and the children wrestled and shouted and fought and did the tasks assigned to them.
Rolloa??s hammer rang out loud and solid from the smithya??s hut.
Eldrid spun the fine flax into stout threads.
The air of normalcy had returned. All was as it should be again, except that it wasna??t.
Suddenly, as before, Zarabeth couldna??t bear it, this everyday laughter, the common jests and talk that surrounded her.
She walked through the palisade gates and down to the shore.
No one said anything. She walked to the watera??s edge.
The water still swirled, its color darkened from the churning.
She looked at the boat, the one she had taken, the one from which Lotti had jumpeda??jumped to save Magnusa??and she felt herself folding inward.
It was a strange sensation, one that allowed her to feel exactly what she was doing.
Head down, she began to walk up the shore, not caring where she was going.
She simply wanted to be alone for a while.
Suddenly she heard a dog bark and looked up.
There, in front of her, stood a young man, tall, as well-formed as Magnus, his hair a rich wheat color, his complexion fair, his eyes a startling silver blue.
He held a sword loosely in his hand and he was merely standing there staring at her.
a??Your hair,a?? he said at last. a??I have never before seen such a color, though my men have told me of it. Red as blood, they said.a??
Her hair! What nonsense was this? She looked at his sword. She looked behind him but could see no one else. He appeared to be alone. Surely there was no reason for her to be afraid of him, at least not yet.
a??Who are you?a??
He smiled, revealing very white teeth. He was a handsome man, she thought dispassionately, still eyeing that sword. She wondered if people above, within the palisade, could see them, and if so, what they would do.
a??I have waited for you, and the wait had become tedious. I would have attacked Malek earlier, but I didna??t really want to. I wanted only you, and now it appears that the gods have delivered you up to me. I doubted mine own eyes when I saw you leave the safety of the palisade.a??
a??I doubt your Viking gods have anything to do with my being here. Who are you? Why would you want me?a??
a??I do not like a womana??s tongue to be shrill, nor do I like demanding questions.a?? He took a step toward her, and Zarabeth took a step back. She eyed the distance up the incline to the palisade gate, wondering if she could outrun him.
He said, a??You cannot. You are but a woman, and thus you could never outrace me. Now, I would look more closely at you. I wona??t hurt you. Hold still.a??