Page 29 of Dalla's Royal Guards
She smiled slightly as she looked into Musad’s eyes and wrapped her hand around her bow. He reluctantly released it to her.
“Nei. I have rested long enough.”
Before any of them could protest, she blended into the night again. Musad shoved his hands into his pockets as Donovan released a low whistle. Nasser wanted to glare at his brother for letting her go, but really, what was he supposed to have done? Tied her up? Taken her bow and run?
“She is light on her feet,” Donovan murmured with appreciation.
“I’m going after her,” Nasser said.
“I’m going with you. Donovan—” Musad began.
“I’ll keep an eye on Nanna and Cianna,” Donovan assured them.
Nasser grabbed the jacket Musad had placed next to Dalla and followed what he hoped was the path she had taken. Away from the fire, only the light from the brilliant stars and the small crescent moon lit the rocky trail. They climbed to the top of the hill where Dalla and Musad had disappeared earlier.
He zipped his jacket when the cold seeped through the opening. Dalla sat silhouetted against the night sky. She was sitting on a large boulder and staring out across the valley.
He walked across and sat down to her right while Musad took her left. She took the jacket he held out and pulled it on before she wrapped her hands around her longbow.
“You two are persistent,” she mused.
“I like to think of us as curious,” Nasser replied.
“It’s cold up here,” Musad muttered.
She laughed. The sound was warm and full. “You don’t know what cold is until you’ve lived through a Norwegian winter in 832. It was Runa who was a baby about the cold then. She always insisted on being in the middle when we shared a bed. Aesa andI would always complain that her feet were like ice evenwithher in the warmest spot.” Her laughter faded. “I miss them… my family.”
“What happened to them?” Nasser asked.
Dalla continued to stare out into the distance. She wasn’t shocked that the men had followed her. Since their first meeting, one or the other had been beside her except when she had gone to relieve her bladder.
She folded her hands together around the curved staff of her bow and weighed the consequences of sharing her life. The little girl had said there were picture books about her. She wondered what those stories said—how much was true, how much imagined.
It is better to find out how these men will react to the truth sooner rather than later,she decided.
She found it difficult to describe how Jarl Leifsson’s greed had led to the death of her entire Thorpe and the death of all his sons. The sharp edges of this story had not faded with retellings—because she had never shared her past with anyone but Gerold and Pascal. Superstitions could have devastating consequences. She had learned that the hard way.
Even with the distance of time, it felt like it had happened only yesterday. She wound her arms around her waist. Caught up in her memories, she wasn’t aware that the two men behind her had risen. A soft, shuddering sigh slipped into the night as she told them of her family’s death and her own, told them whatshould have been the end of her story, but had instead been a beginning.
“What happened after that?” Nasser inquired.
“I woke. Time had passed. It was the year 1052, and I was in Britain. T’was a miserable time. I was thankful that I was not there for long,” she said with a shudder.
“You mentioned Gerold and Pascal,” Musad commented.
Her expression softened. “They were good men. Gerold had been the serious one. Pascal chased adventure, which often caught the two in situations that compromised them.”
“You keep staring out at the mountains. What is there that is so fascinating?” Musad asked.
She was silent. “A promise… from an old friend.”
Eight
“What have you discovered?” Kramer O’Toole asked in a calm voice.
“The princes of Narva came after the old woman and the child with help from some local rebels just as we anticipated,” Detri Malinski replied.
Kramer clasped his hands behind his back and stared out the massive glass pane of his Dubai high-rise office. He had expected some type of rescue mission from the brothers, but he was extremely disappointed with the outcome. Turning, he walked back to his desk and sat down.
