Chapter Three #2
The fire smouldered on the roof, throwing an eerie orange glow on the walls, but the smoke-filled hall remained relatively intact. Svanna dipped a handkerchief in a jar of ale and put it over her face to give some relief from the searing heat.
She scanned the hall and spotted the Queen’s prone figure. A heavy table had been knocked over and the whetstone for saying the oaths had fallen on top of that, pinning Astrid to the ground.
‘We must get you out of here.’ She tugged at the heavy oaken table, but it refused to budge even a little fraction.
She shook Astrid, willing her to wake up.
Astrid’s eyes opened. ‘Svanna? Not safe… Go now…’
‘You’re alive. Thank the gods.’
‘Stuck. We tried…everyone. Save yourself. Go.’ Astrid pointed with her finger. ‘Now.’
‘Save your spit.’ She tore off her mask. ‘Put this over your mouth and breathe. It might help. I’ll return. Hang on.’
Out in the cool air, she shaded her eyes, looking for help. Still no Sigmund. She had no idea what she would say to Maer if both had perished. She spotted Rand supervising a bucket brigade while he waited for news.
She rushed over and grabbed his arm. ‘You must help me now.’
Rand frowned at the interruption. ‘What is going on?’
‘My foster-mother is in there. Alive. Her leg is trapped under a table. I can’t get it to move.
’ Her voice gave a little hiccup and she blinked rapidly, stuffing the fear down deep inside her.
‘We only have a little time. If we’re going to stop this disaster becoming worse, she must be saved. Send someone. Anyone.’
He tilted his head. ‘One condition.’
‘If I can give it, it is yours. My foster-mother must live.’
‘One single kiss.’ He gave a crooked smile, captured her chin between his forefinger and thumb and brushed his lips against hers.
A jolt went through her. She was tempted to touch her mouth but she kept her hands firmly away. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘Made a vow years ago when I escaped Agthir that if the chance ever arose, I’d kiss the Queen’s daughter. My mind is at rest. Finally. I’d have remembered something like that. Nothing ever happened between us.’ He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Remain here, Ingebord.’
She shook her head. After that unexpected meeting of mouths, dogged determination replaced the blind panic which had engulfed her after Turgeis’s salute. ‘Absolutely not. She requires me. I said I’d return.’
He sighed and signalled to someone behind her before fastening on a mask. ‘I won’t try to stop you then, but I make no promises about your safety.’
‘I’m not asking for any.’
He nodded and plunged through the door. She shook off one of his men’s restraining hand and summoned her fiercest glare. The warrior retreated several steps.
Grabbing the closet bucket from a servant, she doused her apron with water and plunged into the building.
The fierce intensity of the heat made her face burn and her throat hurt.
She lifted the wet apron over her nose and mouth.
With each heartbeat, she knew the rescue of Astrid was slipping away from her.
She forced her burning eyes open and breathed through the apron. The entire room glowed in an eerie light, but nothing else had fallen in the short time that she’d been gone. Rand gave her a brief nod.
Astrid lay still, her lower leg trapped under the table, but her eyes were open. Her lips turned up into a tired smile when Svanna approached.
‘If we move this whetstone even a little, we can pull her out,’ Rand said, beckoning her over. ‘A two-person task.’
‘If you lift, I pull,’ Svanna replied, dropping the apron from her face. ‘We don’t have time to get anyone else.’
‘Deal.’
He put his shoulder to the heavy stone. ‘One, two, three.’
It crashed to the ground with a thump. The entire hall shook. The oak beams started to creak and snap.
A renewed surge of urgency shot through Svanna. ‘The roof is going to come crashing down!’
Astrid groaned and turned her head in weary acceptance of the inevitable. ‘Svanna… Tell Ingebord that I love her. Go.’
‘You will be able to tell her yourself. Now, save your breath. Rand and I will rescue you.’
Rand lifted a brow. ‘You are not Ingebord?’
She smiled back at him and indicated that he should move the table. She grasped Astrid’s leg. ‘One, two three. One last try.’
He lifted the heavy table and this time she was able to pull the leg free.
‘Done. Let’s go’
Rand let the table drop with a thud. Svanna attempted to raise Astrid to her feet but her leg buckled under her.
‘I can’t walk, Svanna. Leave me.’
‘Never fear.’ With one movement, he picked up Astrid and tossed her over his shoulder. ‘Let’s go. All of us. Now.’
They rushed towards the door, Svanna allowing Rand and Astrid to go before her. Her heart eased slightly when she saw them out. ‘All will be well.’
Behind her a beam crashed down, catching her gown. Her scream echoed.
Rand’s hand grasped hers. ‘Come now.’
She pulled hard and heard the gown tear.
‘I liked that gown,’ she said, keeping focused on the small things rather than giving into the wave of panic which threatened to overwhelm her.
‘Gowns can be replaced.’ His fingers held hers. ‘Now.’
Together they plunged through the open door. Behind them, further beams crashed down, covering them in a shower of sparks. Rand’s men threw water over them.
‘Not going to go into any more burning buildings today, are we?’ Rand asked.
She dropped his hand. ‘All good.’
‘Excellent.’ He patted her back. ‘You recover, and I’ll make sure your mother gets medical attention.’
Rather than correcting him, Svanna put her hands on her knees and filled her lungs with cooling air. Astrid had a chance, which was all that mattered. She had to hope that Sigmund had also survived, but the wreckage of his dreams was clear in the smouldering buildings.
‘Where is Astrid?’ Sigmund called, rushing up to the smouldering remains of the hall. ‘Where is my darling? Was she in there? Or has she been captured? Is she alive?’
‘She is there…safe,’ she said in a croaking voice which sounded dimly like her own.
Svanna nodded to where Rand stood over Astrid’s prone body.
Sigmund went over to her and gathered her in his arms, murmuring over and over that he’d put her in danger and he planned to devote the remainder of his life to her.
Astrid weakly smiled and told him not to make promises he’d break, but he needed to thank the warrior who had saved her—Lord Randolfr Fullrson.
Sigmund’s eyes bulged. ‘Is this true, Svanna?’
‘He went into the burning building and rescued her. A table had fallen on her leg.’ Svanna kept quiet about her part in the rescue. ‘Just as well I disobeyed your direct order and allowed him to stay.’
Sigmund bowed his head. ‘I believe I owe you a life debt, Rand the Silver-Tongue. You predicted such a thing would happen when we last parted. I regret I failed to believe you.’
Rand bowed his head. ‘The only boon I ask is that you listen to the words from my king in due course. And perhaps find favour with his suggestion. I did come to warn you that an attack is imminent.’
‘Why is that?’
‘I too owe life debts, Halfr the Bold, and we now share a common enemy—the so-called Sons of Drengr. They seek to destroy you and the former Queen of Agthir.’
Sigmund gave a half-smile. ‘How convenient for both of us that you now know my birth-name, but those men are elsewhere.’
‘Turgeis Drengrson led the raiding party,’ Svanna said in a quiet tone, willing him to listen instead of picking a fight with Rand. ‘Rand had nothing to do with this.’
‘How do you know this? Because Silver-Tongue told you?’
‘No, because I witnessed Turgeis supervising the barricading of the hall. He saluted me as if he wanted me to take a warning back to Agthir. Back to Maer. The sons of Drengr will have vengeance.’ She pressed her hands against her ruined gown and bade the trembling of her limbs to go.
‘A few more heartbeats and we would not have been able to enter in time to save my foster-mother.’
Svanna was pleased her voice sounded loud and she had not given into the paralysing fear. She knew tonight her recurring dream would have a new twist—being trapped in a burning building while Turgeis gloated. She silently resolved to keep from sleeping for as long as possible.
‘Are you sure it was him? Astrid claimed he and his brothers had gone east after their father was rightly convicted of treason.’
She crossed her arms over the wet apron, aware that the wind moulded the dress against her bare legs. ‘I’m not bloody likely to forget his face after the torments he inflicted on me.’
Rand raised a brow, but Sigmund nodded. ‘Drengr was ever cruel. I suspect his sons are worse.’
‘I never liked them.’ Svanna wrapped her arms about her middle. ‘I tried to stay well away from them and not give them any opportunity.’
‘Silver-Tongue came to warn me of this attack? Why did you not run immediately to the church?’
‘No one knew it would happen today,’ Rand said. ‘My king simply had concerns and asked me to parley.’
‘When I require your opinion, I will ask for it. If Svanna knew it could be the sons of Drengr, her first duty should have been to alert me, rather than carrying on a conversation with you.’
‘You discounted the swineherd’s fears. Until I saw him, I too would have discounted Turgeis and his brothers as culprits, but I speak the truth.
’ She summoned her last ounce of strength and forced her backbone to straighten, refusing to cower even though she wanted to sink to her knees and scream at the unfairness of his words.
‘You do me a grave disservice when you fail to trust my word.’
After what seemed a lifetime, Sigmund pressed his lips together and nodded. ‘I see. Your enemy is indeed my enemy, Silver-Tongue. The battle is joined. You may inform your king of the fact.’
Rand made an ironic bow. ‘May it be the start of a productive friendship, Sigmund Sigmundson. Friendship between Islay and Tara is all I desire.’