Chapter 22
Zarabeth felt a stinging slap on her cheek, then a dash of cold water in her face. She sputtered with the shock of it and opened her eyes.
Ingunn was kneeling beside her, an empty wooden cup in her hands. a??So, youa??re not dead. Orm was worried that he had struck you too hard. But I told him that I would wake you quickly enough.a??
Zarabeth said nothing. Ingunn sat back on her heels, her eyes narrowing suddenly as Orm strode over to them. He came down on his haunches, leaned over, and took Zarabetha??s face between his hands. He studied the bruise on her jaw. His touch was gentle as he traced the now-yellowing flesh.
a??I hadna??t meant to strike you so very hard. You have been unconscious for a very long time.a?? Then he grinned at her. a??You wona??t ever fight me again, though, will you?a?? Again he touched her jaw. Not so gently this time.
Pain shot through the side of her face, but she didna??t make a sound. She looked at the man who had taken her from Malek. a??Where are we?a??
He smiled widely, but it wasna??t a pleasant smile. She braced herself for another blow, but he didna??t touch her. a??I told you before that I dislike shrill questioning, particularly from women.a??
a??I am not shrill. I am merely questioning.a??
a??She makes a mockery of me, but Ia??ll forgive her imprudence this time.a?? Orm grinned at Ingunn, whose face was tight. He said to Zarabeth, a??Not far from Malek. No, not far at all. Now that you are awake, you will make yourself useful. We must be gone soon. Ingunn, see that she obeys you.a??
Orm touched his fingers to Zarabetha??s hair, his gaze so intent it frightened her. He then rose, hands on his hips, to look down at her. a??Be about your tasks now.a??
a??Get up.a??
There was venom in Ingunna??s voice, and triumph as well. Zarabeth got to her feet, the movement sending waves of pain into her jaw. She rubbed it gently, then opened and closed her mouth several times. Her jaw wasna??t broken, thank her Christian God and the Viking gods as well.
a??You will get no sympathy from me, Zarabeth, so dona??t try your stupid tricks.a?? Ingunn stepped closer.
a??I told you I would pay you back for what you have done to me.
I told you I would make you regret what you did, and here you are.
Now, you will carry these things.a?? She threw several bound bundles at her.
Zarabeth picked them up. They were heavy.
Orm called out then, and she shifted the bundles in her arms.
There were only two of them walking, an older woman and she.
Orm and his two men and Ingunn all rode.
She wondered who the woman was, but she kept her head down and away from Zarabeth, as if she were afraid of her.
Whoever she was, the woman appeared to be a captured slave, just as she herself was.
Unconsciously Zarabeth touched her fingers to her throat where the iron slave collar had once encircled her.
She closed her eyes a moment and pictured Magnus in her mind.
He would find her. He would come for her. If he still cared at all about her.
Unless all the people at Malek convinced him that she had fled or that she had killed herself.
She remembered that last night with Magnus.
He had taken her and she had chanted over and over to herself that she hated what he was doing to her, hated him for forcing himself on her like that night after night, and the tears had come and shea??d known he was looking at her, seeing her tears but hearing no sounds from her, and hea??d pushed deeper then, and deeper still, as if to prove that what she felt, what she did, meant nothing to him.
Then he had left the next morning and she had looked away from him even after he had kissed her in front of his men and ridden away from her laughing.
With two of them walking, the pace was slow. Finally Orm called a halt. He called to one of the two men, Kol, and ordered him to take the other woman up on his horse. Orm took Zarabeth on his horse, in front of him.
Ingunn rode close. a??Let her have my horse, Orm. I will ride with you. This isna??t right, having a slave treated so finely.a??
a??I would think having her ride a horse singly, without one of us holding her, would be treating her more finely.a??
Ingunn chewed her lower lip, searching wildly for something to say that would change his mind.
She saw that Zarabeth was markedly silent.
She watched as Zarabeth accepted Orma??s hand, watched the muscles in his arm bunch as he lifted her up in front of him.
He then held her against his chest, his arms around her, holding the horsea??s reins in front of her.
Ingunn felt great fury, a greater sickness in her belly.
She wished she had a dagger; she would surely stick it in the womana??s ribs.
a??Ingunn!a??
She swallowed her anger and eased her mare beside his stallion. a??Aye?a??
a??Tell me more about this slave with her strange hair and strange name. You called her a slut and a whore and said she had bewitched your brother. Why is this?a??
a??My brother wished to wed with her, but she betrayed him. She sent him away and wedded with an old man who was richer than Magnus. Then she poisoned him slowly. She is not to be trusted. She is a witch, with many tricks.a??
a??I trust no one, man or woman, so I am safe. As for her tricks, well, do you believe me a fool, Ingunn?a??
She looked at him stupidly for a moment, then saw that his eyes had darkened, the blue irises blazing nearly black. Quickly, for she was suddenly afraid of him, she shook her head.
a??Say it,a?? he said.
a??Nay, you are not a fool, Orm.a??
a??Good. You please me when you are obedient, Ingunn.a?? His eyes lightened, and the wildness was gone from them as suddenly as it had come.
Ingunn remembered the brief speech shea??d had with him before hea??d gone to take Zarabeth.
She had said, her voice trembling, a??Perhaps I am a fool.a?? The instant the words were out of her mouth, she had hated herself for speaking them.
a??What mean you?a??
a??I came to you because I believed you loved me. I left my parentsa?? farmstead to come to you.a??
a??And now you change your womana??s mind? You are foolish, Ingunn. You will be my wife, doubt it not.a??
Now she said, a??What will you do with her?a??
a??I have yet to decide.a??
Ingunn had nothing more to say. In her minda??s eye, she had seen Zarabeth, that wild red hair loose and full down her back, and felt the familiar rancor boil in her belly.
She would still have her revenge. Orm was a man, and she mustna??t forget a mana??s weaknesses.
Magnus had succumbed to this woman and turned on her, his own sister, very quickly.
Orm was speaking again, but it wasna??t to her. It was to Zarabeth. a??Does your jaw still pain you?a??
a??Nay.a??
a??Excellent. You seem a strong woman, and that pleases me. Now, tell me, what do you think Magnus will do when he returns to Malek and finds you gone?a??
a??He will come after me and he will kill you.a??
It was Ingunn who laughed at that. a??Ha! All will tell him that you fled from him, or that you jumped into the viksfjord like that little idiot sister of yours.a??
Zarabeth twisted about to look at Ingunn, her face twisted with pain and rage. a??I told you never to speak of Lotti like that.a??
a??And what will you do about it, you slut?a??
Zarabeth tried to fling herself off the horse at Ingunn. Orm was taken by surprise and nearly missed grabbing her in time. She was flushed and breathing hard with fury, he realized, not with fear. a??Hold still, else I will strike you again!a??
a??My little sister isa??a??
a??Was, Zarabeth, was! Shea??s dead!a??
a??As dead as Egill! Do you mock him, Ingunn?a??
Ingunn hissed breath out. a??Say you nothing about Egill. He was a fine boy, he was Magnusa?? heir, not a pathetic little slave with no blood ties to him, to any of usa??a??
Again Zarabeth tried to pull free of Orm and fling herself upon Ingunn. Orm held her. He watched, his expression mocking, as Ingunn pulled her mare some distance away.
a??A slave shouldna??t have such passions,a?? he said, his breath warm against Zarabetha??s cheek, and he wrapped a thick tress of her hair round and round his hand until he was pulling her head back against his chest. a??Now, you will be silent. We have some way to go yet before we make camp.a??
Ingunn kept her distance.
Orm called a halt for the night when they reached a small copse of pine trees hidden from view near the base of a snow-covered mountain. a??In another day or so we will reach the Oslo Fjord and my vessel, the Wild Tern.a??
Zarabeth was desperate to know where he intended to sail, but she kept her mouth shut.
She realized, dispassionately, that she was afraid of him and that she had to tread warily around him.
She couldna??t begin to imagine what he would do, how he would react, from one moment to the next.
She was told to gather firewood. The man Kol stayed with her, doing nothing himself, merely watching her.
He was dark, his face pockmarked, and he was so silent, even when he moved, that she found herself continually looking over her shoulder to see where he was.
He didna??t try to touch her, merely watched her with that silent look of his until she wanted to scream.
She didna??t realize how hungry she was until Orm handed her a charred piece of roasted rabbit. It was delicious, even the black burned flakes. She wanted more.
He held a piece just out of her reach. a??What will you give me for another piece?a??
His voice was soft and teasing, not at all the voice of a vicious killer. He stood over her, his legs parted, and he waved the piece of rabbit in her face.
a??I have nothing to give you.a??