Page 74 of A Song of Ravens and Wolves
The door groaned open.
‘Please,’ said Blaine, stepping back for us to enter.
I remember taking a deep breath. I felt no fear going before my father, not then, not even if his greasy priest wanted to baptise me again for the sake of my sinning. I had no plan of action, but I was not afraid.
‘Jarl Sigurd, so good of you to join us.’ My father’s rat face looked delighted. He truly thought that my husband had given in and he held sway over us. ‘Please be seated. Someone bring them wine.’
Two of the women, dressed delicately in blue silks flitted between the men, pouring wine while my father’s men lounged lazily. Plump and fat as a goose his priest was at his right hand and on his left, the Earl of Moray.
Fire-pits danced and licked, casting shadows of monsters and murderers against the walls. The women tittered amongst themselves. We filtered in, moving between them. Sigurd guided me so that we might sit closest to my father.
‘My daughter.’ He stretched out his arms as though to embrace me, something I did not think a snake could do. He kissed me gently. ‘You look radiant.’
I doubted very much he meant it.
‘Laird King.’ I bowed my head in thanks and took up my seat next to my husband. We danced around each other like two foxes waiting to fight.
‘I trust that the northern isles are keeping you well?’
I nodded. ‘They are, and my husband.’ It was all a pretence. A rouse. It felt like an ambush. ‘We are to visit but a short while, I wish to be home before the winter sets in and the bairn is born.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I will not keep you long, of that I can assure.’ He clapped his hands together and the women dotted about the outskirts of the room excused themselves. All but me.
‘Now, we must turn to the business that brings you here,’ he said solemnly. ‘Danes have been raiding up and down our lands. No doubt my daughter has told you.’
‘My wife has, but I want to hear it from you.’
‘Your sisters would do well to see you.’ He waved a hand to dismiss me. ‘Once your good lady has retired, we have much to discuss.’
I had no intention of getting into a pissing contest with my father. I went to stand but Sigurd gripped my wrist. The room became deathly silent.
‘We are here a while,’ Sigurd spoke. ‘My wife can see her sisters after our meeting.’ He spread his arms. ‘After all my warlords and I know nothing of your customs. We require my wife’s guidance. Anything you wish to say to me, you can say in front of Lady Olith.’
‘As you wish Jarl Sigurd,’ said Laird Malcolm, seething. ‘Where was I? Ah yes, they creep over our borders and into our lands like a poison, devouring everything in their path. What they cannot steal they burn to the ground.’
He always did love to provoke a reaction. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sigurd’s hands ball into fists.
‘Where are they raiding?’ Sigurd said.
He placed a hand on the shoulder of the Earl of Moray. ‘They belong to my soon-to-be son. I will guard them as I do my own.’
The Earl of Moray was a more befitting husband for my sister, but I did not trust him. My stomach tied itself in knots knowing that all it was hearing were lies.
‘Will it be the same for Orkney?’ I said, knowing only too well the true answer.
‘Of course,’ he said, although not gladly. ‘If I had another daughter to marry off to Finnleik, I could have settled this easily but alas… It makes me happy to know that my daughter has a strong husband to protect her.’
It sounded as though he had done Sigurd the favour.
‘I am an ambitious man, Jarl Sigurd, I have great plans. I hope that between us we can work together to make it favourable for all our sakes. Orkney, Moray and Alba.
‘I am not a man of gold, Laird King.’ Sigurd sat back and slipped his fingers through his beard thoughtfully. ‘But I am a man of the land. First and foremost, we are farmers.’
‘We are,’ agreed Agda Redaxe. ‘If there will be land as an offering for our services, you can have my shieldmaidens.’
‘You have not heard who raids his lands yet,’ Sigurd growled.
‘If you help me rid us of the raiders, I will give you the land you wish,’ said my father.
