Page 86 of A Curse Carved in Bone
“Freya is the daughter of the goddess of death! She is a Hel-child!”
“But also Hlin’s!” Fire again filled my palm, but I forced thought of Tyr’s name out of my head and it faded. “Harald fears her, that is why he wanted her dead. If he thought there was a way to control her, he would have kept up his deception, tried to bind her in other ways. You have condemned the one person who can defeat him, the one person you know has more cause than any to destroy him, because you are afraid.”
Ylva waved a hand, dismissing my words. “Your arguments hold noweight, Bjorn, for I know that you argue only out of a desire to save your lover’s life.”
“That I argue for her life does not mean that I’m wrong!”
“Gag him, Ragnar,” Ylva said. “I no longer wish to listen to this honorless creature bargain for death’s life.”
“You’re a coward!” I snarled. “You condemn Skaland out of fear, not wisdom.”
Ragnar shoved a filthy piece of fabric in my mouth, binding it with another strip around my head so that I couldn’t spit it out. Not that it mattered. I could scream all the warnings, all the logic in the world, and they would not hear me. Because they believed that the only thing I cared about was Freya.
And they were right.
There was nothing that mattered to me more than her. Nothing I wouldn’t do to see her freed. But I also knew that Ylva was wrong, because I knew Freya’s heart. In all my life I’d never met anyone who cared so much for the well-being of others, usually to her own detriment, and hearing her namedmonsterfor it made me seethe. Made me want to show Ylva what real monstrosity looked like.
Burn the ropes,my rage screamed.Kill them all!
I could do it. When the ropes caught fire, they’d burn my flesh but I’d fought through worse pain. There were thirty warriors on this drakkar, but if I was quick, I could kill enough of them that the others would capitulate and turn the ship around. I silently calculated the number I’d need to leave alive to sail the vessel.
“My lady!” a voice called. “Torne is in sight! Two of Harald’s ships are at the docks.”
Only two?
I shoved away the thought, because if the village was in sight, the ship was close enough to shore that I could swim. All I’d have to do was escape into the forest, then steal a fishing vessel once darkness fell. Then I could make my way back to her.
Hold on,I silently willed Freya.I’ll come for you.
“Run up a white cloth so that they know we come to treat,” Ylva ordered.
Ragnar moved to obey her command and with him distracted, I whispered Tyr’s name. My axe flared to life in my right hand. The axe itself didn’t burn, but as I rotated to press it against the ropes, natural fire took hold. Agony lanced across my wrists and forearms as the ropes burned, the metal of my chain mail heating against my back.
I kept my eyes on Ylva, who was staring at the village.
Come on,I willed the fire even as I strained against the burning ropes.Burn.
Ylva’s nostrils abruptly flared, and her focus snapped to me. “Ragnar!”
I jerked my arms, blackened ropes falling against the hull. I rolled to my feet and ripped my mail vest over my head. Ragnar leaped at me, axe in hand, but I threw the mail. The heavy vest slammed into his face and knocked him back, giving me the space I needed.
Stepping onto a bench, I put a foot on the edge of the drakkar between two shields. The village was close, warriors running about on the docks, but my eyes were all for the stretch of empty beach.
I sucked in a breath, ready to dive, but then agony stabbed through my shoulder. A green brand, familiar and horrible, was spiked through my right shoulder. Slowly, I lifted my head to see Skade standing at the end of a dock. A smile formed on her face as she nocked the brand that had disappeared from my shoulder and was once again in her hands.
She loosed her arrow, eyes promising pain.
“Tyr,” I gasped, blood sluicing down my arm as my axe appeared in my palm. But I couldn’t lift it, my ruined shoulder muscles refusing to obey.
Pain lanced through my wrist, then thigh, Skade’s shot pinning my arm to my leg. My hand opened, axe falling to hiss against the water, glowing as it sank.
I swayed, then fell backward.
My back struck a bench, bouncing me sideways. Rolling, I got tomy feet in time for Ragnar’s weight to slam against me. Not just him, but all the warriors in the ship who’d abandoned their oars to pin me down.
“Don’t kill him,” Ylva shouted. “He’s no good to us if he’s dead!”
And if Skade had wanted me dead, I wouldbe.
