Chapter Twenty-eight
Aoife looked from Tormod to Ulf. The same distrust was visible on both their faces.
Should she tell them her secret? Did she have any other choice?
She swallowed, unsure whether she was doing the right thing or not.
Was everyone in her life destined to turn against her?
She was indeed cursed. Cursed if she told the truth, cursed if she didn’t.
It was true she didn’t know why the animals were sick, but as H?kon’s farm was the most easily accessible from her father’s land, it was only reasonable the Norsemen were making the assumptions they were.
Either she had done something to cause the sickness, or she knew that her father had planned to do so. It didn’t matter that neither was true.
Her father had sacrificed her for the sake of Ula and her children.
She should have let them die at Alt Clut.
She pushed the uncharitable thought aside.
No, she would never behave as badly as Ula.
Though perhaps Ula would have preferred to die than to suffer the dishonour and suspicion that had followed them ever since the night of the feast. Aoife realised now there was simply no way to fix the problem.
The only things she could do were tell Tormod, trust him, and hope.
“I will come with you to H?kon’s farm,” she said to Tormod.
“And then I will tell you everything. But only to you. I will accept whatever decision you make then, but first let me see if I can help.” She glanced from one man to the other.
Tormod looked confused, while Ulf’s expression gave nothing away.
“Can you ride?” Arne asked her and she was grateful for his presence as he seemed to believe in her innocence. “Or will I hitch the cart?”
“I would prefer the cart.”
“I can look after my own wife, Arne,” Tormod said.
“Just be sure you do,” Arne said as he headed for the door.
“And make sure it is not one of us who suffers this time if you are wrong,” Ulf added.
“I will make sure you do not suffer, Ulf,” Tormod said as his cousin left the room.
Aoife tried to work out what was going on, but there was something she did not yet know, some piece of the puzzle she did not yet understand. “What happened with your first wife? Her death was not the problem, was it?” Aoife asked.
“If you are not ready to share your secrets, then I am not ready to share mine,” he said and turned away. “Come, we must go. We can talk of this later after we have been to the farm.”
As the cart trundled into the farm, Aoife wished she had simply stayed in bed.
While her feeling of sickness had not been so bad this morning, the odour of the farm and the beasts affected her.
At the edge of the field, just where the beach met the land, there was a pile of animal carcasses, their tongues lolling out as she had seen in her vision.
“Herre.” H?kon’s voice was urgent. “I fed them early this morning and then I heard the cries and came out to see them dying. All in this field are sick.”
The farmer caught sight of Aoife and his face fell. He pointed a bony finger at her. “Why is she here? Perhaps she is the cause of this sickness. She has been here almost every day. Or told the boy to do it.”
A chill slid down Aoife’s spine at H?kon not using Elisedd’s name. “I am not the cause.”
“She might be able to help,” Arne said, stepping between H?kon and the cart.
Aoife alighted and headed towards the animals’ feed trough. It was mostly empty, but she raked through it and withdrew a slender, white tuber. “Where did you get these roots?”
“They were grown last winter to feed the herd.”
“You grew these?” She waved it—it was a longer, narrower one than most of the others.
“It’s a parsnip, so?”
“It looks similar, but these are poisonous,” she said. “Did you put these in here?”
H?kon looked at them carefully. “No, you are right. Those are different. No.”
“I will check the barn,” Bjorn said. “Show me where you keep the animal feed,” he instructed H?kon. The two hurried off towards the barn and returned a few minutes later with a handful of the poisonous roots.
“They have been mixed through with the others,” Bjorn said. “It is definitely deliberate.”
“We all know your people do not want us here,” said H?kon to Aoife.
“I am not my people. And besides, why would I tell you about the roots? I could have said nothing and continued to let you feed them to your animals.”
Tormod stepped up to H?kon. “Do you dare to accuse my wife?”
“Wife? And are you sure that is how she sees it? She is not here merely as a spy, to ensure we fail? I heard she was sickly yesterday and now today the animals have also sickened. Her people say she is cursed. Everyone has heard the rumour. And the rumours she betrayed them, too.”
“And where did you hear this? Who spreads these lies about my wife?” Tormod rushed over to H?kon, loomed over him. The farmer took a step back.
Aoife grabbed Tormod’s arm, anxious to stop him doing something he might regret. She did not want Tormod damaging his status with his people for her sake. Not when it was not a lie.
“T-there were traders just the other day, Britons. And the boy—” H?kon gulped and took a step back. “I… I asked Elisedd and he told me it was true.”
“And I say my wife is not responsible for this,” said Tormod. “Do you wish to challenge me?”
“No.” H?kon looked at Tormod, then at Aoife. “But nor do I wish to be made a fool of. Again.”
H?kon started to turn away towards his fields, but Tormod pulled him around to face him. “What do you mean by that?”
Now Aoife could see real fear in H?kon’s face.
“Nothing, herre. Just that the Britons may have tricked… us.” H?kon blanched and lowered his gaze.
Tormod let him go and stood for a moment, anger playing across his face.
Aoife was surprised when Arne stepped forward. “No one has been tricked. It is just a coincidence that the animals became sick so soon after Lady Aoife. Besides, she has already shown how useful she is to us. You did not recognise the native plant as a poison, H?kon, but Aoife did.”
“And my wife’s sickness has nothing to do with your animals and everything to do with me,” Tormod said. “She is expecting a child. Now check your animal feed. Set a better watch on your barn and your fields. Our new arrivals may have some amongst them eager for such work.”
H?kon looked at Ulf, who shrugged. “You are the closest farm to Cadell’s lands,” Ulf pointed out. “The easiest target, but we will ride around, check the other farms.”
“Very well,” Tormod said.
They watched as the cousins rode off. Then H?kon took his leave, promising to mount a guard at all times.
Aoife turned to her husband, and he offered her his arm.
She took it, and they started to walk away.
She felt a little unsteady and was grateful for the support and that Arne had intervened when he had.
For a long moment, Tormod said nothing. Then, “H?kon was right, though. I have been deceived again. I am not fit to be jarl.”
Aoife stopped walking. “What? How can you even think that? You just said—”
“If H?kon has no respect for me, then I have no right to lead. And what I say to my people is not the same as I will say in private, to my wife.” He walked away from her.
“But you do,” she said, hurrying after him. “You have every right to lead. Your people are happy to follow you.”
“Then tell me what it is you are keeping from me.” They stopped and faced each other.
She stared at him. Once she told him, would he spare her life until he knew whether she carried his child or not? Or perhaps he would simply kill her, having no wish to have any child of his own be the spawn of a foreign devil.
“Your dreams,” he prompted. “The field, the fire, the animals dying… You knew about all of it.”
She took a step back. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t swallow, could barely breathe. Light-headedness overtook her and she swayed.
He reached out and gripped her arm, then pulled her body firmly against his own.
“Look at me.” It was a demand she had no choice but to obey.
“You knew all of it before you were told.” A sudden screech made them both look up to see the two ravens circling above. Could they be the same ones? “Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“About your dreams, about what you see, what you know,” Tormod said urgently, then let her go and stared up at the birds. “The ravens… they are with you. Why?”
“I… I see things,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“In dreams. In visions. I had a vision of the attack at Alt Clut and warned my family. They didn’t believe me, but were embarrassed because I had acted strangely at the king’s feast. We were the only ones who escaped before the siege.
Afterwards, the others claimed we were in league with the Norsemen. ”
Tormod stared at her.
“And so your parents blamed you when the other nobles voiced their suspicions?”
“Yes. And it was my fault.”
“Because you had a vision?”
“Yes, like this morning and just now. Sometimes it happens in a dream, a very vivid dream, where I can smell and taste the scene as if I am truly there. Other times the visions come upon me when I am awake. Sometimes I faint.”
“You see the future?”
“Only rarely. Sometimes it is the present, but in another place. I don’t know what I’m seeing. I can’t help it. What will you do to me?”
He didn’t answer her. “Is this true?” He shook her gently.
“Yes.” She tried to pull away, fearful he was going to break his promise not to hurt her and was shocked when instead, he leaned forward and kissed her.
“A seer!” he said, laughing. “I can’t believe it. Why did you think I would punish you for that?”
Her heart pounded. “You… you don’t think I’m evil?”
“Evil?”
“The Church, the priests, everyone. They whispered I was evil. The spawn of the devil. Had it not been for my father, I think Ula would have had me killed.”
“But this is a gift. A skill few possess. And your people see it as evil?”
“Maybe not in the past, but the Church… well, the Church sees things differently.”
“Yes, I am aware of that, but I didn’t realise they would reject one of their own because of it. This is why you were beaten at the abbey?”
“Yes.”
“Your father must have welcomed handing you over to a Norseman to marry. Punishment for you and justice in the eyes of the Britons.”
“I can only assume that is how he is regarding it,” she said. “Or rather, how Ula sees it.”
Tormod laughed. His grip on her loosened, but he still held her close to him. “Your father has no idea what he has given away. And I am indeed a fortunate man. A seer. Now, tell me what else you have seen.”
She frowned, still not quite believing his reaction. “Over the last two winters, most of my dreams were of darkness and storms and…” She stopped and laughed. “It is foolish.”
“Tell me.”
“It is nothing. A simple nightmare born of fear of a strange place. Thunder and bears, wolves and birds. The two ravens leading me to a circle of light, where I knew the bear and the wolf and the hawk waited for me. But I know there is a fourth presence. A man.”
Tormod smiled at her. Then he threw back his head and laughed again, then kissed her soundly.
Thankful his mood had lifted and he no longer seemed so angry, she kissed him back. His hands ran down her spine, letting her feel just how she affected him.
He broke their kiss, smirking. “This man — you have seen him?”
“No, never. I just know he is there. I feel him more than see him. I think he is the storm coming for me. The thunder. I can feel it in my bones. It engulfs me. And I don’t know whether to be afraid or not.
I’m sorry,” she said, turning away. “As your wife, I should not be thinking about another man.”
He turned her back around and stared into her eyes. “Good answer,” he said, smiling. “But you are not dreaming of another man. I am the thunder. Tormod, thunder. You have been dreaming of us all along. The bear, the wolf and the hawk. They are Bjorn, Ulf and Arne. That’s what their names mean.”
Should she tell him now what she had seen? The Brothers of Thunder walking through her father’s fort, across the bodies of her people. And of her father lying dead. The sound of screaming and the cold fear of betrayal.
“Then you must not go to Car Cadell,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
“I saw you there,” she said. “There was blood, so much blood and so many bodies. My father was one of them.”