Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
SIGRID
“Shield wall!” At the bellowed command from the Saxon captain, my instincts screamed at me to pick up an axe, a sword—any weapon I could wield against my enemies.
Memories of past battles rattled my senses, shaking my berserker from her slumber. She snapped and thrashed against the magical leash, convinced I was in mortal peril, but I had no way to soothe her and no release for the seething energy she worked up.
I wasn’t fighting against these men. I was supposed to be training with them. Shoulder to shoulder with these Saxon fucks who’d slaughtered the people of Ocracoke in cold blood.
“This is too much to ask,” I said, ignoring Bastian’s look of concern as I walked from the field to the buckets of water.
Let them think I’m exhausted and weak.
Training with them was infuriating because it was forcing me to see them as men, as individuals with weaknesses and personalities.
Men who had little to do with the decisions of their king.
Could I allow them the excuse of following orders when they’d killed Axel?
Would the gods grant such an allowance in order to release him from Niflheim?
Elric scoffed, then gave his men a significant look and flicked his head in my direction like he wanted them to enjoy the spectacle of a tired berserker. I was tired in my godsdamned bones, but it had nothing to do with his ridiculous drills.
The prince wanted to check on me so badly, I could practically see him straining against the temptation to move from his line. He was too perceptive not to realize that doing so would make me look even weaker, and he was too conscious of my feelings to make such a mistake.
Bastian’s cleverness knew no bounds. He was a strong fighter, but stronger still with his wits.
I’d nearly killed Elric before the banquet, but with just a little manipulation, Bastian had convinced the captain to do exactly what we wanted, all the while letting Elric believe he’d gotten the upper hand.
I’d need to keep a closer eye on the devious bastard. Bastian was probably playing head games with me too.
As one, the Saxons followed Elric’s command and moved into place just as they did on the battlefield, interlocking their shields for protection.
But there was a gap where my husband stood.
On either side of him, the men left a space, refusing to either protect or be protected by him in the shield wall.
It was a mark of disrespect intended to shame him, and from the look is his eyes, the blow hit its mark.
He was stoic in the face of almost anything, but this rattled him.
He cared what these useless soldiers thought of him.
“Will no one stand with our prince?” Elric drawled, clearly enjoying himself. He could’ve snapped at them and put an end to it, but he looked around casually, leaving Bastian to stew in his shame.
Muttered curses broke the silence, but no one took a step into the gaps. No one came to his defense in the face of all that hatred. Maybe now he’d finally stop defending them and help me achieve vengeance for Axel.
I was struck by the realization that he had no reason to stay here and take this abuse from people who were beneath him.
He could’ve gone back to his crew and left all this shame behind him.
Maybe he had a thing for self-flagellation…
and maybe he felt duty bound to stay now.
But I strongly suspected he was putting himself through this for me, suffering for my sake.
And damn if that wasn’t erotic. He had no right to be so annoyingly noble without expecting me to want to break him of it.
Arnulf, the son of Bastian’s mentor, stepped forward to take the place at my husband’s right, holding his shield up in protection.
The muttering grew louder, and a few men spat on the ground in disgust, but a look of such gratitude settled into Bastian’s expression that it annoyed me. He was desperate for their forgiveness, and none of them deserved it.
Elric focused his wrath on the young man, a glare that might’ve made a seasoned warrior quake, but Arnulf squared his shoulders and continued facing straight ahead.
It was a brave move to openly defy his captain like that. He’d likely be punished for it later, an idea that irrationally made my berserker stretch her claws like she wouldn’t allow it.
But there was still a gap on Bastian’s left, the place where he’d be expected to shield.
Elric smiled harshly. “Who dares to trust the protection of a coward who—”
I’d had enough.
“No wonder you’re so easy to defeat in battle,” I called, cutting him off. “You spend more time listening to your commander gloat than you do training.”
Oh, the fuckhead captain didn’t like that…
Elric whipped around, his eyes bulging in anger.
Before he could say anything, I pointed out, “If you had control of your men, you could order that gap closed and focus on what matters. Says more about you than Bastian that there’s a gap in your wall.”
He opened his mouth to speak before he’d decided what to say, then made a strangled noise of rage before he managed to snap, “While you’re on this field training, you’re under my command. If I’m going to order anyone to stand there, it’ll be you.”
I dusted some of the dirt off my filthy gown. “You could try. But I don’t answer to you, and I don’t fight with a shield.”
“Bullshit,” he spat. “Vikings fight in a shield wall just the same us.”
“Vikings do. Berserkers are expected to shatter your wall. Why would I waste an arm on a shield when it could hold a second axe?”
Bastian looked conflicted, like he wanted to intervene but recognized the precarious moment of tension and didn’t want to tip us over the edge.
“Go on, then,” Elric said, sweeping hand towards the shield wall. “Show us how you’d break the wall, Princess.” He rounded on the men, giving them a look that promised retribution if they let him down.
After Bastian’s manipulation, I could see Elric more clearly now. He wanted to remind them all that I was their enemy. And to see how weak I was.
“Advance!” Elric shouted, expecting them to move as a unit, but the man next to Bastian refused to step close enough to lock shields with him, and they were all so distracted, they edged forward two disjointed steps, with pronounced uncertainty.
On the battlefield, my berserker would’ve smelled their fear and howled for blood. She could obviously still feel it even if I couldn’t because she twisted and paced with anticipation.
Bastian gave me a desperate look over his shield that said, Don’t actually kill anyone.
I rolled my eyes and stepped towards the formation, tossing my sword to one side.
“Shield wall!” Elric bellowed once more, reminding them to square up their line. Then, with a smirk, he swept his hand towards the row of warriors in invitation. As though I hadn’t marked every last weak spot in their line as I’d drilled with them.
The clever thing to do would’ve been to pretend I was weaker than I was.
Bastian had set it up so that I could lay the perfect trap, but with the roiling energy of my leashed berserker building inside, I needed to hit something before it became unbearable.
I couldn’t tap into the berserker power, but tapping into my own strength seemed to calm her.
Besides…I knew exactly who I wanted to crush.
With no further hesitation, I charged at the wall of Saxons.
The guy to Bastian’s left, the one who’d refused to close the line, never bothered to brace his knees properly. He was a lazy shit who went through the motions without training like it mattered. The gap between his shield and Bastian’s made him even more vulnerable.
I threw my shoulder against his shield, and he flew backwards before landing on his ass and dropping both sword and shield as he fell.
With the pommel of his fallen sword, I swept out the knees of the four soldiers to his left, leaving a gaping breach in their wall that the Vikings would’ve torn through.
Elric marched towards the space with such anger that Bastian stepped forward like he meant to fight the captain, but Elric just yanked all the fallen soldiers to their feet with a scowl and a barked command to reassemble.
The cowardly shit I’d plowed down had the audacity to glare at me, so as I passed him, I murmured, “Next time the prince offers you protection, boy…I suggest you take it.”
I smirked when I saw how tightly he locked shields with Bastian after that. Nothing unites like a common enemy.
“Again!” Elric commanded.
I picked a different weak spot in their line, feinting to one side and, at the last second, shifting my weight into the shield of a man who constantly dropped his shoulder. He careened sideways into the men to his right, knocking another gap in their wall.
Elric seethed. I didn’t look at Bastian. With the pent-up energy from my berserker, I needed to properly fight or fuck someone, and if he was giving me one of those smoldering looks, it might just muddle the two.
“Again!”
Seven tries later, their wall still hadn’t held. It wasn’t doing enough to alleviate the increasingly painful energy inside me.
I dared a glance at Bastian, beginning to wonder if other options might work better.
Sure enough, my stomach swooped with desire the second we locked eyes.
Plenty of people had wanted me over the years, but it had been so wrapped up in fear that I’d been able to see their fantasies.
They wanted to live on the edge of a dagger for the night, just to see what it was like.
Bastian wanted the dagger.
I gritted my teeth, feeling true pain from my berserker now.
Bastian cocked his head in provocation, and the restless energy inside me hummed with excitement.
As soon as they locked their shields again, I charged at him, but he was ready for me.
He lowered his shield at the last second, and when I smashed into it, he raised it into the air, launching me over his back without breaking the wall.
I landed with a roll and sprung to my feet, facing him without so much as a practice weapon. He stepped out of the line, and the shields on either side of him closed to fill the gap like they would in battle, and Bastian came towards me, thumping his sword against his shield menacingly.
Good. Now this is a challenge.
He swung his sword at me in a sweeping arc that was easy to duck, but when he followed through with his shield, he managed to slam it into my left side. I staggered back, almost landing on my ass in front of half the Saxon army.
“Viking!” The shout from Elric was followed by a tossed sword, which I caught one-handed just in time to block Bastian’s next strike. Our swords clanged together with satisfying force.
If Elric had tossed me the weapon in the hope I’d humiliate Bastian, it was a grave mistake. The moment I met his thrust with a parry and deflected the blow, Bastian the tortured prince seemed to melt away, replaced by Bastian the ruthless pirate.
He charged at me with quick, relentless thrusts, never giving me time to turn the attack back on him.
I was on the defensive, giving ground as he struck again and again.
The moment I found an opening, he threw his shield at me, a move I hadn’t expected, so I had to abandon my attack to avoid the projectile.
“A dirty move. Thought princes were supposed to be noble…” I snarled at him.
He barely lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Pirate, remember?”
My berserker went from howling for blood to growling for satisfaction. This was the man who’d made me lose my wits with lust on Talon’s ship. When he channeled that infuriating control into violence, it was a sight to behold.
But I didn’t want to behold him. I wanted to sink my teeth into his flesh until he cried out and had to wear the mark of my bite for weeks.
I finally found an in and let him strike my sword so hard, he knocked it from my loose grasp. His eyes followed the movement of the sword, surprised I’d let it go, but they snapped shut when I backhanded him across the cheekbone with my left hand.
A low sound of shock went up from the soldiers, but it turned to ringing in my ears when Bastian’s fist connected with my jaw. He hadn’t even gotten his head upright before he’d swung back at me, pulling his punch, but jarring my reality all the same.
I grinned, spitting the blood from my mouth. He’d split my lip, but my teeth were intact.
My berserker had gone eerily calm, practically purring in the presence of someone who fed her no fear. He was a challenge, and she recognized in him a worthy opponent.
Or maybe that was just me…
An opponent all the same, I thought as I rolled to pick up my sword and made it to my feet in time to block his next thrust.