Viking's Love (2 page)

“
We don’t know, Joran.” Grogan winced
from the dark look from his leader.

“
Either they live or they’re dead.
Which is it?” Joran was ready to journey home. He wanted to be on
the evening tide before nightfall. His disappointment to not have
the baron as his prisoner was evident. “We haven’t all
night!”

“
Wulfstan was in charge of securing the
keep,” Grogan recounted with a look of anger. “He and his brother
were more inclined to loot the baron’s riches and raid his stash of
drink. When I arrived after the village was burned; it was realized
the women weren’t identified during the confusion. None of us knows
their tongue to ask them,” Grogan finished with a scowl. “Drakon
was a bit over excited and killed the scribe in the hall before we
could learn which of the women are Lockwraithe’s wife and daughter.
We managed to only learn his son is at his king’s court. Drakon
thought me done with him. He felled the man before we learned
more.”

Joran flung him a black look before he
stepped over to the large group of women huddling against the stone
wall. His cold blue stare made many shrink back against the wall,
horror etched in their faces to see the huge, towering Berserker up
close. They stared death in the face as they saw the carnage that
stained his fur skin coverings. The axe strapped over his massive
shoulder was still dripping with fresh blood.

“
Which of you are the Baroness of
Lockwraithe and her daughter?”Joran startled them all with his use
of their English tongue. “We haven’t all day!” he barked, making
some jump from his biting tone. “You there, come here!” He gestured
to the old female serf who looked the least afraid of him. “Where
are your lady and her daughter? No harm will come to them. You have
my word.”

“
My lady escaped before the gates were
breeched,” the old woman cried in a fearful voice, eyes still
lowered. “She fled to the abbey with her servants. I don’t know
where her daughter is. The lady Allisande has not been seen since
mid-morning. I swear it is all I know.”

Joran reached out and jerked up the woman’s
chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. She flinched from his cold,
emotionless stare. He was satisfied by her terrified expression
that she spoke the truth. He nodded and released her and gestured
for her to return to sit with the others.

His expression looked grim as he turned back
to Grogan, an irritated expression on his face. “Where are Wulfstan
and Danik now?” he asked harshly.

“
They dragged a pair of wenches up to
the baron’s chambers the last I saw of them,” Grogan answered with
a look of disgust.

Joran eyed one of his men standing nearby and
snapped his fingers and pointed. “Sarne, go back inside and get
Wulfstan and Danik out here now. Whatever men remain in the hall
should make ready to sail. We leave here within the hour.”

The young Viking named Sarne grinned and took
off at a run back within the hall. Grogan hid his smile of
amusement. Joran’s men enjoyed the idea of Wulfstan and his brother
being blamed for losing the baron’s wife and daughter in the
fray.

“
What did the serf say?” Grogan was
mindful of his leader’s sour mood.

“
She said Lockwraithe’s wife fled
before the siege began. The woman doesn’t know the fate of her
daughter,” Joran relayed with a grim look.

“
Joran, she lies to you.”Grogan drew
his leader aside, and glowered back at the group of women before he
spoke under his breath. “None could have escaped the keep once we
got inside. The baron’s daughter didn’t sprout wings. She is still
here hiding behind her servants.”

Joran smiled grimly with little humor. “I
think you may be right, Grogan. There is only one way to be
sure.”

“
What do you mean to do?”

“
We will draw her out. It is the only
way.” Joran unsheathed his sword, winking at his companion before
he turned to address the women, his face filled with somber
resignation. “Unless one of you comes forward to identify the
baron’s daughter, we will kill each one of you until we are
satisfied you speak the truth.”

Shrieks and cries were heard at the Viking
leader’s edict. The women were crying and holding each other. The
pleading and sobbing made him stiffen, hardly enjoying tormenting
the women to gauge the truth. Before he could carry out his threat,
a tall, blond Viking strode outside.

Wulfstan’s face was wreathed in annoyance as
he spied his leader, his gaze filled with obvious dislike. The man
was adorned with the riches of the keep, his massive neck
displaying the jewelry and other items he pilfered from Lady
Edwina’s room.

Wulfstan glared at Joran as he and his
brother came forward. Danik was a smaller version of his older
brother. Wulfstan and Danik were his father’s men, in addition to
another man named Hagar, who hung back sheepishly behind the
pair.

Wulfstan’s face was flushed from drink and
the heat of battle. He and Joran shared the same pale,
wheat-colored hair and large, powerful build, but for their eye
color. Wulfstan’s steely grey eyes narrowed as he met Joran’s
piercing blue stare.

All the Vikings in their war party knew there
was more tension than affection between the pair, even if they were
both Ivar’s bastard sons from different women. The brother’s locked
eyes. Wulfstan flinched from the censure he saw in Joran’s
contemptuous gaze.

“
Might you have waited to enjoy
Lockwraithe’s bounty until the baron’s wife and daughter were
found, Wulfstan?” Joran glared a muttering Danik into
silence.

“
The baron’s wife was gone when we
broke through!” Wulfstan glared at his half brother in defiance.
“She fled with her servants into the marshes. I sent men to search.
They found nothing. We never found his daughter. We assume she fled
with her mother.”

“
You know this to be a fact, Wulfstan?
Or did you not bother to find out?”

Wulfstan flung an angry hand to the group
huddled against the wall of the keep. “Do any of those ugly crows
look like a lady to you, Joran? My men and I looked them all over
when we secured the hall. The lady and her daughter fled, I tell
you. You cannot blame me for this.”

“
Only the baron’s wife got away,
Wulfstan,” Joran explained, as if speaking to a little child. The
condescension made Wulfstan stiffen with fury. “That means the
baron’s daughter is still here hiding among her servants. You gave
her ample time to disguise herself as a serf when you began your
wenching. Now we have to threaten them to get them to tell us which
of them is she.”

Wulfstan flung his leader a look of venom,
but said nothing. Joran stalked to the group of women, grabbing one
and jerking her away from the group. The woman screamed and begged
with tears streaming down her face. He held his sword aloft and
eyed the crying woman grimly.

“
Where is your mistress, girl?” Joran
held the sword over her shrinking head, eyeing the group of women.
He gauged the horrified reactions of the group, seeing their
frightened expressions. He began to lower his sword. A feminine
voice suddenly called out sharply from the back of the
group.

“
Stop, do not kill the girl!” She
startled them all with her use of their Norse tongue. The small
group parted to reveal a figure swathed in rags and a hooded cloak
that moved forward with determination. The hood was flung
back.

The Vikings stared at the lovely,
raven-haired beauty before them in disbelief. Her violet eyes
filled with disgust and hatred as they met Joran’s.

“
Leave the girl alone, Viking! She is
naught but a serf and did only as I commanded her!”

“
Your sudden grasp of our tongue is
appreciated, Lady Allisande.” Joran pushed the girl back to the
group of women. “Had you not thought to speak up
sooner?”

Allisande eyed the Viking leader with little
fear in her gaze and shrugged. “Why should I make it easy for you
after you destroyed my home, Viking dog?”

Joran glared at the small-statured woman. He
bristled at her insult. “We waste time here debating your reasons
for staying quiet. Where is your mother?” Joran saw her small chin
raise and a look of amusement crossed her arresting face.

“
She was sent to safety hours ago by
me, Viking!” Allisande gave an arrogant toss of her head, making
the blue-black ringlets that hung to her waist unfurl and fall
across her shoulders in a blanket of silk. “She is safe from
you!”

Joran gazed at the baron’s beautiful daughter
in silent admiration, seeing how she held her ground among them,
not shrinking away as she should. Her heavily-lashed, violet-hued
eyes drew his notice. They were filled with loathing as they met
his. “Why should I believe you, Allisande of Lockwraithe?”

“
Why should you not? I have no cause to
lie, unlike you, Viking scum!”

“
You will mind your tongue, Lady
Allisande. I know you would say whatever you had to in order to
protect your lady mother and we both know it. How do you come to
know our language?” Joran was outraged by her continued insults.
Did the woman have a death wish? Already his men grumbled to hear a
woman talk to their leader thusly.

“
My mother thought it important I be
able to be understood when I insult you, Viking! Did you not say I
wouldn’t be harmed?” She gave a scornful laugh at his angry
expression as she turned his words around on him. “Do you lie about
that? Am I in danger now?”

“
I have lied about nothing!” Joran’s
eyes narrowed as she gestured to the burning village behind them in
the distance and laughed mockingly at his words, her violet eyes
bright with unshed tears.

“
My father paid Ivar Ragnorsson tribute
for years to avoid this, Viking! It doesn’t appear that you have
honored that promise today.”

Joran knew at once the baron’s daughter
didn’t know the real connection between Ivar and her father. She
believed the baron paid tribute to keep the Vikings from invading
their lands. She had no inkling her father was in collusion with
the Vikings, setting up his own neighbors to be raided, and sharing
in the stolen wealth.

He reverted to English suddenly, seeing
Wulfstan’s rapt expression as he listened to their words. Joran
knew the least the girl knew the better. Learning her father was a
traitor here, before her own people, was not something he wished
for. Judging from the proud tilt of her chin, he knew the news
would not go over well.

“
We will speak of it later, Allisande
of Lockwraithe. We sail within the hour, Lady. You will accompany
us to Norway.”

Allisande looked shocked, all color draining
from her face. “What do you mean? You said I would not be harmed?”
She began backing away, looking at him like a hunted animal.

Joran folded his arms over his massive chest
and gazed at the girl with an irritated expression. She would not
go willingly, it appeared, but go she would. He gestured to Hagar
and Danik absently, who gaped appreciatively at the English
beauty.

“
Tie her with the others.” Joran
avoided gazing directly at the girl, unnerved by the way her lovely
eyes filled with fury and disbelief.

Danik and Hagar stepped closer to the girl.
Everything happened too quickly. Joran was slow to react, not
thinking the Lockwraithe girl was armed until it was too late. Her
hand snaked out of the folds of her cloak.

A small sword appeared in a flash before she
drove the weapon deep into Hagar’s chest. The man went down first,
his eyes filled with surprise and pain.

Allisande yanked the weapon free of Hagar’s
chest. With a practiced stroke of her supple wrist the sword swung
wide and severed open Danik’s neck, sending a blood spray that
rained upon his companions. The man toppled holding his throat. He
was dead before he hit the ground. The girl backed away, sword
outstretched. She flung off the cloak around her shoulders. She
wore chain mail and a suit of male attire beneath.

Joran swore viciously as she backed away from
the group of women grimly, eyeing the five Vikings on the
drawbridge with hate spewing from her eyes.

“
I’m not going anywhere, barbarian
scum!” Allisande backed away, seeing the five reach for their
weapons and advance purposefully. “You will have to kill me
first!”

“
Hold!” Joran shouted as he saw
Wulfstan’s intent. The man was in shock to see his brother and
friend die at the hands of the tiny woman, and bore down on her
with broadsword raised threateningly. “Fall back now, Wulfstan! We
will shed no more blood here today!”

Wulfstan gestured to where his brother lay
unmoving in the dirt, and Hagar who lay not far away. “It is my
right! The bitch killed my brother! You have no right to stop me!
Danik and Hagar will be avenged!”

“
Had you done what you were sent up
here to do, the wench wouldn’t still have a weapon, Wulfstan!”
Joran approached and stepped between him and his pursuit of the
girl. “You have only yourself to blame!”

“
The Lockwraithe bitch belongs to
me!”

“
She is under my protection until we
take the matter to Ivar, Wulfstan.”

“
You go too far!” Wulfstan’s nostrils
flared in outrage. His sword arm shook with the effort to withdraw.
“She killed my brother and you stand there and do nothing? Our
father will hear of this, Joran, and how you killed the baron in
error this day!”

Joran saw the girl’s eyes widen in dismay to
learn her father was dead. She backed farther into the inner
bailey. Her eyes filled with tears. She eyed him like the lowest,
most vile of creatures.