Chapter 21 #3
Magnus listened with half an ear to their jests.
He missed Zarabeth and he worried about her.
He didna??t want it to be true, but it was.
Other men joined them, and Magnus moved away, wanting to be alone.
He had felt wounded since the day Lotti and Egill had died, wounded inwardly, where none could see.
He strode to the edge of the giant encampment and looked back at the myriad tents and cook fires spewing smoke into the air.
He turned to stare at the snow-covered mountains in the distance.
He had dreamed again of his son, and Egill appeared the same way he had in the first dreama??alive but ragged and dirty.
It ate at him, this damnable dream, for he was a straightforward man and this dream, or whatever it was, disturbed him profoundly.
No, his son was dead, just as was Lotti.
He had to accept it, for if he didna??t, how could he expect Zarabeth to?
He wanted to return to Malek.
He had to see her again.
Orm caught her in half a dozen steps. He grabbed her around the waist and hauled her off her feet, back against him, and he held her there, laughing, pressing his face against the back of her head. Then, without warning, he whirled her about and slapped her.
Not hard, just enough to sting her flesh and make an imprint of his hand on her cheek.
Just hard enough so that she would fear him.
a??A taste of punishment,a?? he said, his face very close to hers.
He was studying her expression, looking closely, hoping to see tears in her eyes.
There were none, and he was tempted to hit her again, but he didna??t.
It was enough for now. a??You gave me no choice but to strike you.
Dona??t be foolish again, Zarabeth, else I will have to give you more than a simple taste of pain.a??
But she couldna??t help herself. She slammed her fist into his belly, then began to struggle against him, tried to rip his face with her fingernails, and finally he grunted in disgust and slammed his fist to her jaw.
She slumped against him, unconscious. As he lifted her over his shoulder, he looked upward to see if any in the farmstead was looking. He saw no one.
He carried his sword in his right hand and held his left to her buttocks to hold her steady over his shoulder.
When he reached the pine forest some fifty yards up the shoreline, one of his men emerged.
a??By Odin, look at that haira??a??tis magic, that color. Let me touch it.a??
a??Nay,a?? Orm said. a??Let us away from here. If we are quick about it, we will be back to our camp by this evening.a??
a??She is gone,a?? Eldrid said again.
Magnus was shaking his head. No, it couldna??t be true.
a??Two days ago. She simply disappeared. It was after a storm and she left the palisade and none saw her again. I am too frail for this, Magnus. The girl is flighty and wounded. Leave her be. Aye, perhaps she will return on her own.a??
Magnus wanted to strike the old woman. He turned on his heel and went to Hollvard, the old man who had guarded the palisade gates of Malek for two decades.
a??Aye, Magnus, I watched her leave, her head bent, deep into her thoughts, I remembered thinking. It had rained so hard that all of us were annoyed with each other, all of us just wanted to be outside, and so it was that she left the palisade and walked down the path to the water.a??
a??She had nothing with her?a??
Hollvard shook his head.
a??Then someone took her away by force.a??
a??Aye, perhaps.a??
He heard the doubt in the old mana??s voice. Hollvard believed, as did all the rest of his people, that she had killed herself or simply walked away into the woods, there to be killed by wild animals. Magnus didna??t believe it for a minute. Zarabeth was a fighter. She would not destroy herself.
He called all his men together, and another search began. None of them said a thing, merely searched as they had for Egill. It was Ragnar who found a ragged piece of her gown on a bush some twenty yards into the pine forest.
Magnus studied the piece of cloth and the bush. a??She was being carried,a?? he said at last, standing. a??Over a mana??s shoulder, a man nearly of my height. She was taken from Malek.a?? He wanted to yell with the relief he felt at their discovery, but it was quickly quelled.
She had been taken. By whom? Was she still alive?
Eines, a small man who was a superb tracker, came forward. a??This way, Magnus. There are still prints, vague, but enough for me. Thank Odin that it hasna??t rained since that day.a??
Eines, Magnus thought, falling into step behind him, had no shortage of conceit. He prayed the man was right and not bragging to hear himself speak. They came upon the camp late in the day. It had been abandoned, Eines stated, some two days before.
a??What do we do now, Magnus?a??
He turned to Ragnar. a??We arm ourselves and prepare for stealth and cunning. I know who took her and I will have the bastarda??s blood.a??