Page 75 of A Song of Ravens and Wolves
‘For each man that fights?’ said Agda.
‘It is Finnleik he chooses to fight against,’ Sigurd said finally. ‘Do you all want to go against Finnleik?’ I could feel the tension rippling around the room.
‘I will give you land that your men can fallow and seed. It will be coastal land so that you can access it by your seaways. You will have to divide the land amongst the men as you see fit. Do I have your agreement?’
Everyone waited for their chieftains to answer. Agda and Sigurd exchanged glances.
‘Finnleik threatens your borders?’ she asked.
‘The people of your lands should be burying what few possessions they have left and fleeing to safety,’ said Sigurd. ‘Before he sends them all to the corpse-goddess, Hel.’
I had never seen my husband afraid, not even when he lay in my arms dying. He always protected us; it was a privilege that we did not know we had. Without him, I thought we would be no more than outlaws, but here we sit, older and greyer. I made sure that we are still as privileged, we are still protected. As does my son.
‘Unless that land we fallow is filled with buried gold, my warriors will not fight,’ Agda said. ‘And even then, some may not agree.’
I looked around at worried faces. Hands touching Thor’s hammer around their necks. There was not a man nor woman in that room that wanted to go to war with Finnleik. But I have found, with enough gold you can usually, within reason, pay a man enough to do anything you ask of him.
‘What use is land, if all the men we need to farrow it are dead? Then it is just a piece of wasteland,’ said Sigurd.
‘Name your price,’ said Laird Malcolm.
Looking back at that night, I should have noticed the beads of sweat that glistened on the Earl of Moray’s forehead. I should have listened to his hitched breath at my father’s lies. I shouldhave noticed more than I did, but it is easy to see you were a fool when you have had years to look back on what has gone before.
A price was set. Once my father and his priest talked of the treasure they were willing to give for the bodies of Finnleik’s Danes, everyone in the hall was ready to fight under my father’s banner.
‘It is agreed, by the terms which you have set. You have our men and women. We will not go back on our word.’
‘Forgive me, Jarl Sigurd, but I have heard this all before. Once it is done, the price will be paid.’
‘Very well,’ conceded Sigurd. ‘What is it you will have me do.’
My husband was a proud man. He would not be controlled but that night, before my father he was happy to take orders, for a prize that was too good to be true.
‘You men and your chieftains, will they need time to raise their armies because from what has accompanied you here, there are not nearly enough.’
Sigurd was no fool and gave away nothing. ‘We will stay here while we send word north and bring the rest of our warriors.’
‘Then, we will not discuss strategy further today. First, we must feast. Please share my hospitality. Jarl Sigurd and Olith you will find her old chambers to your liking?’
I nodded.
‘The rest of you, I will find room.’ He clapped his hands and more women appeared. ‘Feast. Drink. Stay the evening and in the morrow, we can talk of strategy.’
The uneasiness in my throat crept up like bile. Whatever my father had planned I did not trust it.
Chapter 29
The One You Trust Can Disappoint you the Most
As the fading sun sunk beneath the first, Ligach lit the brazier and set candles about the crevices before she’d retired. I paced the floor.
Sigurd sat on the bed before the fire removing his shoes.
On Orkney, I had been able to forget our situation, but in Atholl, before my father, we had been abruptly plunged into reality and were sinking into a sea of unseen threats.
‘I do not trust them,’ I said to Sigurd, taking another lap of my chamber trying to calm my jangling nerves. ‘When do they plan to leave?’
‘Eventide Friday,’ he said matter of fact, pulling off his tunic and turning towards me. If I live a thousand more years, I will not forget the beauty of him before that firelight and the inked black crow on his chest watching me with a beady eye.
