Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BASTIAN
Watching Sigrid fight was like watching lightning split the sky.
It was a thing of frightening beauty, at once overwhelming and awe-inspiring.
Actually being the one to fight her was like facing down a tidal wave.
She was relentless and strong, always there to exploit the slightest weakness.
There was no time to think with her, no time to hesitate.
She wasn’t moving with superhuman speed, but she was precise in a way I’d never seen another warrior match. Her movements were effortless but powerful, quick but unabating. It was hard to even imagine her being faster or stronger. I’d seen her fight, but I’d never seen her berserker take hold.
I was vaguely aware that the men around us had loosely formed a circle and that Elric was allowing us to see our match through, likely assuming that however it ended would reflect poorly on both of us.
To take time to read any of their expressions would be a fatal mistake while Sigrid was raining blows down on my shield, but the stunned silence spoke volumes. They were just as in awe as I was.
A series of groans interrupted the silence when Sigrid finally shattered my shield, causing splintered wood to fly in all directions. I had no choice but to drop it and lunge backwards, narrowly missing a swing of her sword that would’ve ended the fight.
I dodged two more swings, struggling to regain my footing enough to actually meet one of her downward swings and know it wouldn’t knock me to my knees. She swung her sword like a hammer of the gods.
“Finished already, Prince?” she purred, her cheeks flushed with color and her chest heaving with each breath.
God, she was beautiful. Violent and formidable and absolutely beautiful.
I grinned. “Not before the lady is satisfied….”
The spark of fire in her eyes could’ve made me forget we were surrounded and fight the clothes right off her.
She rolled her neck, taking a moment to regroup before what was sure to be a brutal onslaught I’d have to repel with only a sword.
“My lord!” someone called, and tossed a shield in front of me. I was so stunned they’d willingly help me that I lost precious seconds before lunging to pick it up. As I rose with it on my arm, a figure behind Sigrid caught my eye.
An older soldier drew his bow and shot an arrow at her back from across the ring. It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly, it felt like I was screaming her name in slow motion as it moved towards her. She was already turning to her attacker before I’d produced a sound.
She could’ve lunged to one side and avoided it. She probably could’ve sliced it from the air with the sword in her hand. Instead, she lowered her sword to snatch the arrow from the air with her left hand as it neared her chest.
Without her instincts, he would’ve shot her in the back.
In the shocked silence, Sigrid strode towards the aggressor, clearly intent on murder. I was too far away to stop her, but she couldn’t kill a Saxon soldier like this without my father punishing her for it.
“Murderous bitch,” he spat, holding his ground though death herself stalked towards him.
Before she’d made it three steps, I threw the knife Eleanor had tried to use on Sigrid, and it struck the would-be assassin in the chest. At almost the exact same instant, a bow hummed from behind me.
I shouted, thinking they’d aimed at Sigrid.
But the arrow struck the attacker in the chest next to my knife.
He collapsed to the ground with blood blooming from his wounds.
“Fucking coward!” called the man who’d shot him. I turned to find Godwin with a bow in his hand and a look of disgust on his face. I nodded my thanks as Elric jerked the bow from Godwin’s grasp.
“Get him to a healer,” Elric called, though it was clear to everyone he was already dead. “This is what comes of your disrespect for our fallen brothers on Ocracoke,” he said to Sigrid, loud enough for everyone to hear. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d put the soldier up to it.
Sigrid’s face contorted with rage. “My disrespect? Do you know what we were doing on Ocracoke when you attacked? We were having a peaceful wedding before your fuck of a king drugged the ale and attacked.”
Elric sneered. “It was a Viking stronghold. The Viking offenses against our people during the war were far worse than that.”
“Ocracoke is neutral territory, you fool. There are as many Saxons there as Danes, and we had no quarrel with you. Your brothers died slaughtering drugged innocents who owed allegiance to neither king. I killed them because they killed my unarmed brother in cold blood and were going after defenseless townspeople. If you believe otherwise, you were lied to.”
The calm conviction in her words struck a chord. Some men shook their heads or spat on the ground in disgust, but just as many studied her closely. Perhaps they were yet capable of change.
“You two, come with me!” Elric snarled, seeing that this public debate wasn’t going in his favor. “You can answer to the king for your execution without trial.” He looked between Godwin and me.
“Leave Godwin out of it. I struck first. He was already a dead man when Godwin’s arrow hit.”
“He was a dead man before you touched a knife,” Sigrid growled softly.
“Nonetheless,” I said, stepping between her and Elric. “I killed him. If anyone is answering to the king, it’ll be me.”
Elric only nodded and turned for the castle. “Clean up and head to the mess hall for supper,” he said to the men, who all looked stunned. They silently looked from me to Sigrid to the dead man, but their expressions didn’t hold the same hostility they had that morning.
I watched Sigrid and hesitated, unwilling to leave her, but knowing it was a bad idea to take her anywhere near my father’s wrath. She clutched a hand to her chest where the arrow had nearly struck, and I realized with alarm that blood bloomed under her fingers.
“It’s a scratch,” she snapped, angry I’d even acknowledged it.
“Go straight back to our chambers,” I said softly, wanting to reach for her, still seeing the arrow flying towards her in my mind.
He almost killed her.
In one day, two people had tried. How many attempts would it take before someone succeeded? She was formidable, but not invincible.
Like she could read my thoughts, her expression twisted with disgust. “You’ve mistaken me for a simpering Saxon wench you can order to do you bidding.”
Now wasn’t the time nor the place to have this argument with her. I just wanted her to get somewhere safe, as safe as she could be in a kingdom filled with people who despised her.
She tossed her sword to the ground and strode through the ranks of Saxon soldiers without another glance, leaving her back vulnerable, daring someone to attack her. She practically radiated violence, and I wondered if it was the rest of the court I should be worried about and not her.
“Prince Bastian,” Elric barked, and I reluctantly followed him. My father was the most immediate crisis. Everything else would have to wait.