20. Henrik
Henrik
I shut the cabin door behind me with a snick and took a deep breath. Leaving her was always painful, but it was finally hunting season, and I had my sights set on two residents of Grim.
I looked out over the tiny windswept village that nestled at the base of a craggy inlet beside Skolvik Fjord. Gray buildings littered the town, all battered by the weather and ocean that sat on its doorstep. Today, I was coming knocking, and I wasn’t leaving without slicing open some throats.
Storming down the gangplank, I turned to my crew keeping watch at the dock. “Nobody else leaves. Under any circumstance.”
“Yes, Cap’n.”
Good. I didn’t want to be here any longer than I needed to.
It was far too close to my father’s domain down the fjord, and I never wanted anything to do with that cruel man ever again.
I could easily go another hundred and ten years without seeing the man and it would still be too soon to lay eyes on the King of the Fjord.
No, today I had other men to find, and there was one place I could almost guarantee I would find them: the alehouse.
Raucous revelry grew louder with each step closer I got to Snorri’s establishment. The signboard swung to and fro in the breeze as warm light streamed from the thick-paned windows.
Hunting time.
Stepping inside, the room quieted and anticipation soaked the air as much as the bar top. Voices fell into murmurs then silence—all eyes locked on me in the middle of the rustic space.
“Snorri,” I said, looking around the room and finding the barkeep with a rag in hand behind the bar.
The gray-bearded man cocked a tentative grin. “It’s been some time, Captain Henrik.”
Patrons shifted in their stools at the sound of my name, and the sight brought me a sick sense of satisfaction.
I’d never grow old of the trembling that occurred when I walked into a room.
People often carried on with their day when they saw I was in good spirits, but when I was feeling as lethal as today…
Well, all creatures understood that one false move could be their last.
“That it has, Snorri,” I replied. “I’m looking for two people.”
“I’m certain we could find them for you.”
Ah, what a good man and business owner. “They go by the names of Sander and Marven.”
Two people at my four o’clock rolled their shoulders inward and found great interest in their wooden table. All my senses honed in on them while I added, “Any chance you’ve seen them? They did wrong by a friend of mine you see, and a debt needs to be repaid.”
Snorri swallowed audibly, his eyes flitting momentarily to the sword at my hip. “Debts must always be repaid.”
“Right you are.” I quirked a single brow. “Could point me in their direction?”
The barkeep tilted his chin to the two men in the back corner who had now gone deathly pale.
“Thank you for—”
They bolted, upending chairs as they scurried for the front door, their bedraggled clothes flapping about. I drew my sword and swung, landing and stopping with perfect precision on the first man’s neck. The room gasped.
“Which one might you be?” I asked, my tone deep and laced with the violence that thrummed through my veins. “Sander or Marven? It doesn’t matter really, but it’s always nice to put a name to a face, you know?”
Both men paled further. The one at the sharp end of my blade turned a sickly shade of green that many of my ship’s greenhorns had when they first started sailing with us.
“We best leave Snorri’s fine establishment,” I grumbled. “Wouldn’t want to make a mess of it.”
“Thank you, Captain Henrik,” the barkeep said. “Is there anything else we can help you with?”
“That will be all, Snorri. Thank you for your time.”
With that I motioned for the two men to step outside. It would be a shame to get blood on Snorri’s floors, even if they were stained by years of ale, salt, and sand.
Marven and Sander moved like sticks had been shoved up their arses, so I removed my blade, grabbed them by the collars, and hauled them out.
Flinging them onto the gravel road, they landed on their hands and knees. I brushed my hands across my trousers and pulled out my blade again. “We have business to settle. Walk down the road or find yourself thrown into the harbor, never to resurface.”
The one with blond hair spat at my feet as he rose to standing. “You’re just going to kill us anyway for whatever it is you think we’ve done.”
“Shut up, Sander.”
Ah, so the blond one is Sander and the other slimy one is Marven. “True, but your cooperation will determine what happens to you and how long I bother to show any mercy.”
“Really?” Marven said, still on the ground, growing greener and wobblier by the second.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I smirked. “Now, walk down that side road and don’t make any sudden movements you will regret.”
They both lumbered reluctantly around the corner and down the side street, passing little homes made of stone and wood. Both Sander and Marven looked like they could do with a wash. Smelled like it too. Their clothes hung from them in tatters.
I couldn’t believe these two scraps of shit had been the ones to bully Bryn all those years.
Then again, it was always those who were troubled who were the most vile to others.
Shame that they now had to face me instead.
Although when Bryn found out she would likely be disappointed to miss out on the fun.
Oh, well, she needed the rest after the ordeal with Hrim.
The two cretins came to a halt, and I pointed my sword at them once more. “You took something from the woman I hope to one day make my wife.”
“Like any bitch would have you,” Marven spat.
“Call her a bitch once more and I will see to it that no woman ever has you again.”
He swallowed hard and shut up.
Good.
“Now, as I was saying. You stole something. I would like it back.”
“What was it?” Sander asked.
“A golden locket.”
They both flinched.
“A golden locket,” I continued, “with a pretty little design on the front and two animals engraved on the inside. Sound familiar?” It was a rhetorical question. The fear that flooded their faces was answer enough, but I did so enjoy toying with pathetic men. “Well?”
Sander nodded, and Marven looked ready to vomit.
“Where is it, gentlemen?”
“Gone,” Sander replied.
Didn’t believe that for a second. If they’d sold it they would have spared change for new attire and replaced the threads they currently wore. No, they still had it. Had likely argued about what to do with it if Bryn was correct—which she usually was.
I pulled on my Fjord Fae magic and wrapped my sword in boiling water before drawing the liquid away again. My blade steamed, a light, reddish glow coloring the tip.
Pointing the sharp end toward Sander’s neck, I said, “Don’t bother lying to me. Where is it?”
His fear-filled eyes stared down at the sharp sword beneath his nose.
If he reached out and grabbed it, the heated metal would scald his hand.
If he made to run, the blade would go through his throat.
He was out of options, and realization was slowly dawning based on the way his shoulders slumped in defeat. Lovely.
“A chest in my hut.”
“Shut up, Sander.”
“What am I supposed to do, Marven? That bitch already—”
I tsked. “What did I say about calling her a bitch?”
Sander opened his mouth, but a female voice replied. “You said not to do it again, Captain.”
My heart stopped.
Bryn slinked around the corner, a tiny smirk tilting her lips, and a look I recognized as gleeful anticipation sat upon her features like a crown.
“Well, if it isn’t the bag of bones herself,” Sander sneered. “Come to check on your cock? Pathetic little cunt. You can’t even fight your own battles anymore.”
I was going to kill him last. Make him watch me kill Marven. Then slice him from balls to brain. If there even was one up there.
“Nice to see you too, Sander,” Bryn said and crossed her arms. Anger seeped from her like majestic waves.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her.
“When you didn’t show for evening drinks and bread with the crew, I figured I might find you in town. Then Sverre told me you’d gone hunting.”
Ah, yes, our code word for assassination.
“He’s lying you know,” she said and stepped around the men, coming to stand at my side. “The locket isn’t in his hut.”
“Oh, really?”
She nodded. “They’d never let something precious out of their sight.”
Both men sneered at her.
Part of me wanted to draw her in and kiss her right now, but the other part of me wanted revenge for her even more. The kissing would have to wait until after the bloodshed.
“Well, well, well. Bryn, my dear, do you know what I like to do with liars and thieves?”
Those big blue eyes stared up at me, excited wrinkles forming at the corners. “Castration?”
“At the very least.” I grinned and proffered a dagger to her. “Would you like the honors, love?”
She nodded, and in the next breath, she grabbed the dagger, launched down the street, and shoved the blade into Marven’s scrotum. I winced at the sight and my toes curled in my boots all while the man wailed. She was lethal when angered. It was a marvelous scene to witness.
She ripped the blade to the right and pulled it free, relieving the man of his manhood. He wailed anew and slumped forward, a pool of blood growing around him.
Sander vomited.
“Oh,” I said. “Don’t worry. You’re next. Want to tell us where that locket is before or after she starts slicing?”
She twirled the bloody dagger. “The longer you take to tell us, the longer I will take.”
He sneered and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. With a grunt, he shuffled to his keening comrade and knelt beside him, and after rootling around in the shabby jacket, he pulled out a shiny gold locket.
I sighed in relief, and Bryn’s shoulders shook minutely.
Sander threw the locket toward me, and I plucked the bloodied treasure off the gravel. With a flick of my power, an orb of water washed away the grime and scarlet streaks. The tinted water swirled and evaporated, and I passed her the locket.
Her fingers brushed against mine, a zing of energy passing between us—one I’d felt every time she touched me, even that first night. “Yours, I believe,” I said.
Tears filled the corners of her eyes like she couldn’t believe the necklace was finally back in her possession. Tucking it inside her coat, she turned that gaze back to the men and something else settled over her. A lethality that got my heart racing even more than her touch had.
She flew forward and jabbed her blade into Sander’s stomach, then into his crotch. I bit my bottom lip at the sight but relished in the relief and happiness radiating off her.
Turned out watching someone get their revenge was even sweeter than taking it myself. Or perhaps it was because it was her. It was probably the latter.
“Hrim would have shown a modicum of mercy,” she said with a shrug. “So, consider this a warning and a blessing. A warning not to harm anyone ever again, and a blessing that I didn’t just kill you both.”
Hmmm. Seemed like she’d taken to heart what happened in that cave. It only made me like her more. Although, her assessment might be wrong—Marven was losing a lot of blood and didn’t look like he would make it. Not my problem, though.
The two men limped and crawled toward the buildings lining the street, leaving streaks of blood in their wake.
“Come along”—I proffered my elbow to Bryn—“we have a ship to get back to.”
She wiped off the dagger on her thigh and handed it back to me.
I shook my head. “Lucky number seven. Keep the dagger for your collection.”
“Why thank you, love.”
“Oh, you caught that, did you?”
“I most certainly did,” she replied.
“And it doesn’t bother you?”
She smiled and hooked her arm through mine. “Not right now.”
I bit back a grin of my own. I was going to aim to keep that happy look on her face for the rest of my days. “Let’s get back to the ship. I’m pretty sure there is a loaf of bread with your name on it.”
She hummed in excitement as she stashed the blade in her belt and patted her chest where her mother’s necklace now laid.
Later that evening, stars twinkled down at us and waves lapped at the hull as we gently pulled out of the harbor.
Bryn stood at my side at the helm, her cloak wrapped around her while she toyed with the necklace now hanging around her neck.
The sight of her smiling out to sea brought a smile to my own face, and I followed her gaze.
A burst of water pierced the moonlit horizon, followed by the splash of a tail.
The two sights had my heart swelling and a feeling of peace settling into my bones.
Things were falling into place around here.
I’d found the treasure I’d been looking for, and now we could search these waters and protect the wildlife together, while partaking in some thievery along the way.
“Where to, Bryn?”
“You don’t have a heading?”
“I was thinking south, but where would you like to go?”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip and she dipped a hand into the satchel at her waist, retrieving a golden compass. She flicked it open and the arrow spun around wildly before locking on me. Or, more specifically, its twin in my pocket.
“Looks like the decision is yours, Captain,” she said slyly.
I was going to kiss that grin right off her face. “South it is.”
She chuckled and stashed the compass back in her bag. Peering up at me, eyes glinting with a mischief I’d come to love and adore, she said, “Now, about that gold you’ve been hiding from me.”
I laughed. “Never change, little thief. Never change.”