Sigrun's Secret (14 page)

I had his attention now, I could tell. But before he could speak, Leif interrupted.

‘No,’ he said, firmly.

‘Please, Leif,’ I begged. ‘Don’t make this more difficult … ’

‘I’ll pay for the girl,’ Leif interrupted me, speaking to the horseman. ‘But you’ll not get nine marks of silver.’

‘Don’t I know you?’ asked the stranger.

To my surprise, Leif blushed deeply. ‘Yes, I’m Leif Thrangsson,’ he said, less confidently than usual.

The stranger nodded. The name meant something to him. He switched to his own language and began to bargain. I followed little of it, but finally Leif handed over some coins from his own purse. The stranger palmed them and roughly thrust the rope binding the girl into my hands. ‘She’s mute,’ he said. ‘A fine quality in a woman. Watch her, or she’ll run off.’ With that, he rode off without a backward glance.

I was left face to face with my new possession; a bruised and frightened human being.

I tugged at the knots that bound Maria’s wrists. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ I said to her softly. ‘We aren’t going to hurt you.’ I had no idea whether she understood, but I hoped my tone was reassuring.

‘Don’t be a fool, Sigrun,’ said Leif, placing his hand over mine as I struggled with the knots. ‘You can’t untie her here in the open street. You heard what Eadred said. She’s a runaway.’

‘Eadred?’ I asked. ‘You
know
that … brute?’

‘Come, Sigrun, please,’ said Leif, clearly uncomfortable. ‘Can we go home and discuss this in private?’

It was not until he said this that I noticed that the previously deserted alleyway was now quite full of people, staring at us openly. I blushed to realize I’d caused such a scene, and submitted to Leif taking the rope from my hands, and leading the girl. He took my hand in his free one, and hurried us both home.

‘Unn?’ called Leif as we went down the stairs. ‘We need some food and drink, please! And would you start to heat water for washing?’

‘You left the house empty and unlocked,’ Unn complained as she stoked the fire and fetched a jug of whey. ‘I was at the market.’

‘Well, there’s nothing missing is there?’ asked Leif impatiently. And as Unn shook her head, he added, ‘No harm done then.’

‘My father will pay you back the money you spent,’ I told Leif, as I wrestled once more with the tight knots around the girl’s wrists.

‘There’s no need,’ said Leif. ‘Consider her a gift, to seal the friendship between our families.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, restraining myself from pointing out that the word
gift
still made the girl sound like a possession.

‘You’re welcome. As long as you don’t let her run off.’

The ropes fell away at last, revealing chafed and bleeding wrists. I murmured my sympathy, and touched Maria’s hands gently. ‘That must hurt you very much,’ I said.

She looked away, neither answering nor meeting my eyes.

‘She doesn’t speak, don’t forget,’ said Leif. ‘She might not even understand Norse. Eadred’s household is Saxon.’ He tried speaking to her in the Saxon tongue, but got no more response than I had. He shrugged. ‘A recent slave, or a stubborn one,’ he said.

Unn brought goblets of whey, and I held one out to the girl. She hesitated, but then took it, and sipped a little of the sharp, sour liquid. I could see her hands were shaking.

‘Have some bread,’ I said holding some out. ‘Look, you can dip it in the whey.’ She seemed to understand, because she did as I suggested.

When the water was hot, Unn poured it into the wooden tub in the partitioned-off area of the downstairs room we all used for bathing and changing. I added a handful of the healing herbs I’d bought in the market, and then led Maria to the water. She stood there, unmoving, not looking at it. She must want a bath though; she smelled as though she’d slept in a midden. She’d been on the run, so perhaps she had.

‘You need to bathe,’ I told her slowly and clearly, pointing at the water. I helped her peel off her dirty garments, pulling her ragged tunic carefully over her head. She submitted, standing miserably, head down, as both Unn and I gasped over her injuries. Her back and legs were laced with cuts and bruises. She’d been beaten often. Tears of sympathy pricked my eyes.

‘The poor girl,’ muttered Unn.

We both helped Maria wash, tipping pans of warm water over her head, scrubbing her lice-infested hair clean with soap and combing it. I used a soft cloth to cleanse the many wounds on her body and wipe her face clean of dirt.

After the bath, we wrapped her in a clean, dry cloth and I smeared healing ointment on her many hurts. She winced, catching her breath as I touched the broken skin on her wrists, pulling her hand away.

‘I know it hurts,’ I said gently, ‘and I’m sorry, but it will stop infection. It’s important. Will you trust me?’ I looked up into Maria’s dark eyes, and sensed her fear and confusion. ‘I want to help you,’ I told her. ‘You’re safe here.’

Hesitantly, she held out her hands once more.

‘I’m Sigrun,’ I said, carefully spreading ointment over the lacerations. There was a long silence. Then she nodded slowly.

‘She’ll be gone by morning, if you don’t bind her,’ Leif said to me over the remains of nightmeal. The long late-summer day was fading outside and the room was lit by the glow of the cooking fire. Unn and Ivan, Thrang’s two slaves, sat by the fire on the far side of the room. Erik and the other men were on the ship, and Asgrim was still out somewhere, so the house was quiet. Maria was curled up asleep on a pile of furs, her cheek resting on one hand, her dark lashes closed over her eyes. I looked across at her.

‘She won’t run away if I treat her kindly. And in any case, would you honestly be able to bind a rough cord onto those injured wrists?’

‘You could tie her ankles,’ Leif suggested seriously. He picked up another piece of beef and sank his teeth into it.

I looked at him reproachfully, setting down my empty goblet. ‘They’re nearly as bad.’

‘I’m just trying to protect my investment,’ he said. ‘What’s the point of paying for a slave you don’t keep?’

‘She won’t be a slave,’ I said, annoyed with him. ‘Father would never allow me to own a slave, and I wouldn’t want to. But I hope I can persuade her to stay and be a companion to me. I can’t gain her trust by tying her up.’

Leif looked puzzled. ‘Everyone has slaves,’ he said, ignoring my point about trust. ‘How does your father farm?’

‘He pays his workers,’ I said, unwilling to discuss the real reason for my father’s principle. I changed the subject: ‘Where do you think Maria’s from?’ I asked.

Leif shrugged. ‘Could be anywhere,’ he said. ‘But I’d guess from the south somewhere. Maria isn’t a name I’ve heard before. She has dusky skin and black hair, and she’s more delicately built than the peoples from the east.’

‘Thank you for rescuing her,’ I said to Leif. ‘I didn’t think you wanted to help.’

‘I didn’t,’ he admitted. ‘We’d have done better to leave be. Eadred is a powerful man.’

‘He’s certainly a cruel one. What made you change your mind?’

‘I couldn’t let you trade that amulet,’ said Leif unexpectedly. ‘I think it means a lot to you.’

I was startled and must have shown it.

‘I’ve seen your hand go to your throat often when you’re unhappy or frightened,’ said Leif. ‘I hadn’t seen the amulet until today, but I guessed you wore something important.’

‘It means the world to me,’ I admitted. ‘I thought I’d kept it a secret.’

Leif smiled and was about to speak when there was an urgent knocking on the door upstairs.

‘I’ll get it,’ said Leif, getting to his feet.

I stared idly into the glow of the small fire, thinking about Maria. Voices drifted from upstairs and then two sets of feet hurried down. Leif came first, closely followed by Erik, who wore a worried frown.

‘Sigrun,’ he said, out of breath, ‘have you seen your brother at all?’

I half stood up, fear gripping me. ‘Not since yesterday,’ I said. ‘Is he in trouble?’

‘The ship’s disappeared,’ said Erik. ‘I left four men on board, but when I came back, it had sailed. I’ve asked people on the nearby ships: the man who was in charge answers to Asgrim’s description. Sigrun, I fear your brother has stolen our ship.’

‘Asgrim must have needed to take the boat for a short trip somewhere,’ I said, my voice shaking.

Erik sat down heavily on a bench and rubbed his face. He looked grey. Leif quietly poured a goblet of mead and put it into his hand. ‘Thank you,’ muttered Erik, but his hand shook so much he had to put the goblet down on the table. ‘Apparently, Asgrim hired new crew members and carried supplies on board,’ he told me. ‘It sounds like he’s taken on some of the raff and scaff of Jorvik. He must have talked our younger men into going adventuring with him.’

‘Surely not,’ I faltered. I sat down beside Erik on the bench, my knees weak and trembling. ‘There has to be some mistake.’

Erik shook his head. ‘I fear not. Asgrim’s taken this business of your father’s very badly. And it’s come at an age when he’s got more courage than sense.’ Erik put his work-worn hand over mine and clasped it tight. ‘I’m sorry, Sigrun. I’ve let you and your father down.’

‘No, no, Erik,
you
haven’t,’ I said distractedly, returning the pressure of his hand. ‘You’ve always been like a second father to us. Has he really gone? It couldn’t be a mistake?’

Erik shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not.’

‘If you ask me, Asgrim’s been desperate to go adventuring all along,’ said Leif quietly. ‘He talks of little else, out of his father’s hearing.’

I knew he was right and somehow Leif’s words made my brother’s desertion real.

‘Oh, how will we get home?’ I cried. My stomach twisted with panic at the thought that we were stranded here. ‘How could he do this to us?’

Leif put a hand on my shoulder. ‘If only we had our ship here,’ he said, ‘I could have pursued him.’

Erik snorted. ‘I suspect he thought all that through,’ he said angrily. ‘He’s timed this well. As if Bjorn hasn’t got enough to worry him. Asgrim is a spoiled, greedy, heedless young fool, mad for glory and riches. He has no idea what he’ll have to do to get them.’

‘I think he does know,’ I said reluctantly, remembering Ingvar’s dreadful tale, ‘but I don’t think he cares.’ I didn’t like to think so badly of Asgrim: until recently he’d been the best brother I could have wished for. But right now the very thought of him filled me with shame and anger.

I awoke the following morning having slept badly, a sense of deep dread inside me, and my head aching. It took me only a moment to recall that my brother had betrayed us and left us without a ship in this strange city. I rolled over and had a second shock. The sleeping furs next to me were empty. Maria had gone.

Sick with disappointment, I sat up. The room was empty. Tears of misery filled my eyes and spilled over. How could she run off? It was hard to remember I’d led an ordinary, happy life until a couple of months ago. Now my father was an outlaw, my mother injured, Asgrim a traitor, Maria had run away, and I was exiled from my home and from Ingvar. How could I even face another day?

A light tread on the stairs interrupted my self-pity. A slight figure came into view, almost tripping over a kirtle that was much too large, the sleeves rolled back clumsily. ‘Maria!’ I exclaimed, hastily wiping my eyes, embarrassed to be caught crying. The realization that she hadn’t fled in the night filled me with relief. Maria bowed her head, acknowledging me, and crouched by the fire, stirring some porridge. I could smell its creamy, comforting scent from where I sat.

Leif appeared over breakfast. Ladling himself a brimming bowl of porridge, he joined us at the table. ‘Erik’s begged passage on a boat downriver to hunt for Asgrim,’ he said. ‘I told him he’s wasting his time, but he feels he owes it to Bjorn.’

I nodded, ashamed that Erik, who was no longer a young man, should have so much trouble and worry over my heedless brother.

Leif glanced at Maria, then at me. ‘You were right and I was wrong,’ he said. ‘She’s still here.’

‘Yes.’ I smiled faintly. ‘I’m glad of it.’