Chapter 5 #2
“Gemma?” he yelled, knocking on the door again.
Rhiannon pulled it open. “She’s not here yet. Can you ask her to come?”
Arne cursed. “She is gone.” A mixture of guilt and anger flooded him.
“Gone?” Rhiannon paled and chewed on her bottom lip, looked at him, then away. “I think this is my fault. I… I think I might have upset her last night.”
“What did you say?”
Rhiannon peered at her hands, then into the room towards Aoife. From inside the room, Arne heard his mother speaking reassuringly to Aoife. Arne touched Rhiannon’s chin to make her look at him, but she jerked back and he held up his hands.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I said Aoife and I were in more danger because of her presence here. If she has run away—” Rhiannon glanced at him as she rubbed at her chin where he had touched her.
“I think she has more likely left with her kin and gone back home.” Arne dismissed Rhiannon’s statement with a wave of his hand.
“No, I don’t think… she wouldn’t put Caelin in danger like that.”
“Surely he is not in danger returning to his own lands?”
“Without a husband to protect her… I don’t know. Why do you think Gemma is here? No, I should not have said the things I said to her last night. She only wants to keep her son safe.”
“I understand. I want to make sure Elisedd and Einar are safe, too.”
“I know,” Rhiannon said, finally looking at him again. “It is not the same with foster children, Arne.”
“No,” he said and spun away, resenting once again the terrible truth he must keep hidden. He hoped that once Tormod’s child was born, the guilt would lessen.
“There… there have been soldiers looking for them in Ir Ysgyn.”
Arne turned slowly back to face her, his heart beating faster in his chest. “You think she has gone to meet them?”
“What? No!” Rhiannon shook her head. “I think she has run from them.”
“From her own people?”
“But… you can’t think… Arne, she was scared when I told her.
She didn’t want them to find her. Especially as—” Rhiannon stopped but Arne waited and eventually she added, “they were offering a reward. Gold. She will be worried that someone will betray her for the gold. Or… or perhaps she has just hidden from the fishermen. If she has left, there will be items missing.”
Arne nodded at her. “I will look.”
“And Arne?” Rhiannon called after him as he headed towards Gemma’s room. He stopped, his hand on the door. “If she has gone, no matter where or with whom, please find her. Make sure she is safe.”
For a moment, Arne considered refusing, then he nodded and pushed open the door. He looked around the room. The Hnafetafl game board was gone from the table and it looked like some clothes and blankets were missing.
“Gemma, Gemma, Gemma.” He shook his head.
Had she gone with the fishermen? He needed to find out.
But if Rhiannon was correct, it was unlikely.
Where would she go? Or had the fishermen managed to pass on a message to her before leaving?
Was there someone waiting for her somewhere else to take her to safety?
The more he thought about it, the more he thought it unlikely she had gone with the fishermen.
She had spoken to him and her door was still barred when he had found the fishermen missing.
Could they have passed on information to her?
Doubtful. He had been in front of her door all night.
If she was worried by the soldiers searching for her as Rhiannon believed, then she would most likely have headed away from Caelin’s lands, not towards them.
If she hadn’t gone by sea, she might have gone west towards the abandoned church site at Nevyth. Or north, towards the isthmus. Or perhaps east before reaching the isthmus to head for Car Cadell. He just needed to work out which way she would have chosen. Why? Why was he going after her?
He tried to tell himself it was because Rhiannon had asked him to, or because he thought that once she had left, the settlement might be in more danger… but mostly, he just wanted to know if she was safe.
He met Tormod as he closed the door to Gemma’s room. “She is gone.”
“Gemma?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must find her.” Tormod waved down the passageway towards his own room.
“They have told me to leave. Said I was getting in the way, although Ragna has said she will fetch me in time to witness the birth.” Tormod paused for a moment and took a breath, then looked at him with worried eyes.
“Do you think Aoife will be all right? After Ingrid…”
“Aoife is not Ingrid.”
“No. She is not. But my child killed Ingrid, while her lover’s did not.” The bitterness but also the fear in Tormod’s voice was clear.
“What do I know about childbirth?” Even as he spoke, nausea coiled in his stomach. He didn’t want to keep lying to Tormod, but after all this time, he couldn’t tell the truth either.
Tormod rubbed a hand over his face. “I want to do something. It is hard when my wife faces something which I, as a warrior, cannot fight.” He swallowed and reached for Arne’s arm. “It is too early for the child.”
“She needs you to be strong for her. Your child needs you to be strong. As do we all. Aoife is no Ingrid.” Arne placed a hand on his cousin’s shoulder.
“No,” Tormod said. He took a deep breath and looked at Arne. “Nor is Gemma. Please, Arne, do whatever you can to find her. I am sure Aoife would like her with her. If not now, then… after. If there is an after.”
“There will be an after, Tormod. You must believe that.”
Tormod nodded, then glanced at the door to his room and sighed. “I suppose for now, I must sit and wait. Go search for Gemma and Caelin. If she has chosen to leave, then I think we must let her. Accompany her wherever she wishes to go. She is a guest, not a prisoner.”
“Perhaps she has been warned of an attack and has left…”
But Tormod was shaking his head. “I don’t believe that. She would not risk Aoife’s life like that. Gemma cares about her.”
Arne nodded, feeling a twinge of guilt about the way he had insisted Gemma remain in her room the night before. But that had been to keep her safe as much as the settlement, hadn’t it?
“Rhiannon overheard the fishermen say that soldiers had been seen in Ir Ysgyn, searching for them. Offering a reward.”
“Then you must find them before they do. Or anyone else.”
He returned to his own house long enough to dress in his lightly armoured leathers he used when hunting. They would offer some protection if he had to fight, and allow him to travel quickly. Then he put on his warmest cloak before he headed back out.
Ulf came running as he started towards the shore. “Where are you going alone, brother?”
“Gemma and her son have gone. I am going to search for them. Will you come?”
“Gone? Of their own free will?”
Arne shrugged. “It would seem so. Either way, they must be found.”
“Of course.” Ulf fell into step beside him as they headed for the shore.
“Tormod is remembering Ingrid today,” Arne said.
“Tormod may remember her death, but I think you are remembering her for another reason.”
Arne glared at his younger brother. Did Ulf know? Surely not. If he did, then he would have said something long ago. “If I am, then it is only sensible to do so.”
Ulf shook his head. “Caution is never a bad thing, Arne. Only be careful it does not blind you to other possibilities.”
“What other possibilities?”
“That Gemma is not your enemy, even if Ingrid was.”
Arne opened his mouth to speak and closed it again.
“Come, let us find her,” Ulf said. “Bjorn can stay with Tormod. They have more in common with each other than with us for now.”
“I wonder how Ylva will deal with childbirth,” Arne said.
“Ylva will deal with it the way she deals with everything.” Ulf laughed. “By charging into it headfirst and taking it all in her stride. Now that is one thing I am happy to let Bjorn deal with all on his own. Now, let’s speak to the watchman by the shore.”
The man hailed them as they approached.
“Did you see the fishermen’s coracle leaving?” Ulf asked.
“I did,” he said, nodding. “Just before first light.”
“Why did you let them go?” Arne folded his arms and glared at the watchman.
The man frowned. “I didn’t know I was supposed to keep them here. Tormod gave me no orders to prevent them from leaving.”
Arne and Ulf exchanged a look.
“And there were four of them?”
“Yes, the four men rescued yesterday. Good for them to be willing to recross the firth so soon after. The waters are calmer this morning.”
Arne squinted across the water.
“There was definitely no woman nor a child with them?” Ulf asked.
“No, no one else. Just the four fishermen,” the man said. “Had there been anyone else, I would have stopped them.”
“Well,” Ulf said. “At least this saves us from having to row across the firth.”
“Yes,” Arne agreed, “although it doesn’t answer the question of what happened to Gemma.”
“The lady is missing?” the watchman asked.
“You haven’t seen her or her son, have you?” Arne asked.
“No, not since I saw you walking with her back up to the hall yesterday.”
It appeared the man was observant, so if he said Gemma and Caelin had not been with the men, then he was most likely correct. He sighed and thanked the watchman and they headed back towards the houses.
“If they didn’t leave with the fishermen, then where do you think they have gone? And when? I thought you were intent on guarding her door all night.”
Arne glared at Ulf. “I did, but I was woken by Aoife, and Tormod asked me to fetch our mother.” He frowned, remembering. “The fishermen were already gone by then and Gemma was still in her room.”
“So, they are likely alone and travelling on land. We should check none of the horses are missing,” Ulf said. “Although I don’t think she would have risked drawing attention to herself by taking a horse.”
“She has shown no interest in the stables since she arrived.”
“How closely have you been watching her, brother?”
“Very closely. And I think this proves I was right to do so.”