Chapter 19 #5
I only had time to take in the first one—a dark-haired man with a long beard and tattoos that did not belong to anyone from Skagerik—before they were on us.
Ilse’s back pressed against my own when they circled us, and as one of the men lunged, she sliced a deep gash into his shoulder, eliciting a violent tirade of what sounded like curses in a foreign tongue.
“Who are you?” Ilse hissed.
The men screamed something back, one of them pointing to me. The man in the front pounced, and Ilse cried out when he landed a blow to her shoulder that made my teeth slam together as she crashed into me.
“What the fuck do you want?” Ilse said as she lifted her hands again. “We haven’t done anything to you!”
“I don’t think they understand.” I kicked out with a leg to stop another’s advance.
The men were unarmed, but there was a fury in their faces that made my skin pebble. They were not here to capture—they were out to kill. As one of them screamed something, and the other two instantly responded to it, my blood chilled.
“Watch out,” I cried. But it was too late. Two of them went for Ilse, and while she managed to lodge her knife into one of their shoulders, the other took her down.
As I tried to get to her, the third man got into my path. His teeth glinted menacingly as he sidestepped to stop me from overtaking him.
I squeezed the hilt of the dagger as I lifted it.
“Elvara!”
Ivren’s voice breaking through the dark distracted me for a precious second, and the man coming for me landed a sharp jab to my throat. Stumbling backward, I struggled for air for the second time tonight, but as the man pinning Ilse to the ground got hold of her blade, I reacted instantly.
I threw my dagger with all the strength I had left, and it found its mark in the man’s throat. Ilse shoved him off as blood sprayed her shirt, and when the second man tried to go for her, Ivren got hold of his collar.
Pulling him against his chest, the heir wound his arm around the man’s neck and squeezed, refusing to budge an inch even as the man bucked and kicked to get away.
Viljan landed a hard blow to the one who’d managed to strike me, and before I had time to call out, Viljan snapped his neck, the crunch from its shattering rushing through me.
“Don’t kill him!” I screamed to Ivren.
My stomach turned when Ivren let him go and the man fell lifeless to the ground.
“Too late.” Ivren winced. “Fuck. I didn’t think!”
Ilse limped as she got up. “What was that? Who are they?”
“Enemies, I’d venture,” I said. “Like the ones who came for you and Rakkel.”
“How did they find you?” Viljan demanded, storming into Ilse’s space. “Did you lead them here? Did you take them to her?”
“No!” Ilse’s face went red. “Of course not!”
“Are you lying?” Viljan snarled. “How would they know where you were?”
“She helped me,” I said when Ilse shrunk under his glare. “She got me out of the water.”
“Why did you need help out of the water?” Ivren asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “Viljan, back down.”
“I don’t think so,” he snarled.
I lowered my voice, and I hated how Viljan stiffened at my tone. I’d never spoken to him like this before the Hird. “Back the fuck down.”
“You should listen to her.” Darcke came strolling into the glen, which was starting to feel very crowded. “There is still time for her to change her mind about tapping you for her second.”
Viljan and I spoke at the same time.
“I wouldn’t.”
“She wouldn’t.”
Torden laughed as he followed Darcke out of the forest, the latter shoving Ivren aside so he could kneel by the lifeless man at the heir’s feet. Using two fingers, Darcke checked the man’s pulse.
“Dead,” he confirmed quietly to Torden. “How convenient.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Darcke gave me a dismissive look that set my face aflame before he checked the other men, none of whose hearts were still beating.
Torden gave us a weak smile. “Go back to the longhouse. It’s not safe out here.”
I almost laughed. For some of us it wasn’t safe at the longhouse either.
“How did they get on the island without someone noticing?” I asked.
“How indeed,” Darcke mumbled before lifting his head. “Go to sleep.”
“But—” I started.
Ivren took my arm when Darcke’s face hardened. “Let’s go,” he said.
“What about the others?” I asked.
“We’ve already broken up the festivities.” Torden ignored Darcke’s furious stare. “There was another attack on the other side of the harbor.”
“What?” Viljan growled. “Two in one night?”
“They’re getting bolder,” I mumbled.
“What do you mean?” Ilse asked.
I shook my head, swallowing the rest of my words at Viljan’s frantic shake of the head. A strain wove across the glen, all of us staring suspiciously at each other.
I guessed it made sense. Someone on this island was helping them. That much was clear.
“Stay together,” Torden said as Ivren first, then Ilse, then Viljan and I spun to the Hird. “Our men will be patrolling the longhouse, but we don’t know if there are more of them out here.”
“Stay out of the woods tonight,” Darcke barked, his eyes on me.
I pressed my lips together as I avoided both his and Torden’s gazes.
There was no way I’d sleep in the longhouse.
There might be a few enemies stalking the dark.
But in the light I had so many more.