Hello all. This will make a lot more sense if you have read Silver and Steele.
Thanks Wattle, and DoV!
Chapter 2
One month previous
Helgena paced within her tiny chamber. Pulling on the door again she scowled in fury. The men never forgot to lock the door. Even if they were careless, the chain wrapped around her ankle gave her no more than five paces from the bed. She laughed dryly as she looked at the hammered iron chain secured around her foot. They were right to be cautious. Her family had lived on the Jarlshof for four generations, and she knew every secluded harbour, cave, tunnel and souterrain in the natural landscape of the island. If one knew where to go, they could hide in plain sight of every other resident. With a favourable tide, the concealed row boats on the south side would easily transport a dozen people down the coast to Albion. To sail north to Orkney was more challenging, but it could be done with a fair wind. When she escaped from here, she knew where she would go. Kristr Greysteinn was not the only fosterling that she had bedded. Under her fosterage, these gangly boys had become men, living all over Denmark and Scandinavia, exercising their power as Jarls, traders, and sea-captains. Inside the bed chamber, they owed her a sexual boon. Outside in the known world, they owed her a debt. Now was the time to collect.
She wondered if Ellrik would be as easily to tempt into seduction as Kerik had been. She never got to complete the deed with the older Greysteinn. As soon as her smiling younger sister had entered the hall, Kerik lost all interest in her, and she had never forgiven either of them that affront. Helgena had made use of her many skills from her young days as a she-warrior, thrown herself in to fostering boys, turning them into men. Some of them she made into men through education in her hall; others through an education on her bed furs. During his time in her fosterage, Kerik's precious second son became her favourite disciplined pet, and he was hers until Kristr had fallen in love with the hafling Anna.
She was disturbed from her thoughts by the rattling of the hasp in the door. Her own cold stare was met by ice-blue eyes, full of intense raw hatred. He looked like his mother in colouring, but had the countenance of his sire. The bloodline of the Greysteinn family was strong. It should have been her that carried that line, not Gertrude her sister, younger by a winter. Her expression softening as she turned on her female charms, she sat down obediently on the bed. 'Ellrik,' she purred, 'how nice to see you.'
'I am not enticed by your wiles, Helgena.' He threw a fresh kirtle on the bed. 'Taylr will be along shortly with water. I suggest you strip and wash, the smell of your body is as foul as your mind.' Ellrik's normal good manners disappeared in the presence of Helgena. She might be his aunt by blood, but she was his enemy in every other way.
She gave a hollow laugh as she thought back to Ellrik's arrival with Catherine. 'Another Greysteinn is in love with a slave?' Her eyes hardened. 'Another Greysteinn fathering half-breed runts.'
'Your poisonous words have no effect on me.' He remained impassive, though it took all his strength. 'Not all Vikings wish to raid. Some of us wish to settle and live out our lives in peace.'
She could not contain her temper. 'Silly fool. You may have land, but you know it is valuable, and you have to protect it from invaders. You are naive if you think we Norse can settle peaceably in Ireland.' Her voice rose to a shriek, 'We will take their green lands by force, and those who are foolish enough, to stand in our way, be they Irish or Norse, will pay with their dirty mixed blood!' She was silenced as Ellrik sharply grabbed her chin. He did not like her veiled threats against Kristr, or any member of his family.
'There is no "we" in this, Helgena.' He leaned into her face, so close his nose almost touched hers. 'You and I are not of the same beliefs, and you will not harm any member of my family, and I will be proud to die defending them.'
She jerked her head away as he turned to leave the chamber. 'That can be arranged, you bastard son of Kerik Greysteinn,' she shouted at the door, hearing the lock once again click into place. Pulling her filthy kirtle off, and ripping it apart in rage, she hurled curses at the rented fabric, wishing it was the entrails of a Greysteinn. She spun around as she heard the door open again. If that was the silent giant Taylr, she would throw the basin of hot water over him and listen in glee at his howls from scalds.
The man at the door raised a dagger. 'Get dressed and be silent about it, lest you want your tongue to join that kirtle.' He pointed to the shredded mess on the floor. 'Acting like a shrieking, spoiled wench will see you dead.' The upcoming distraction would not give him much time.
'As you wish' she sneered, giving an exaggerated curtsey. His eyes followed the swing of her braids and the gentle bounce of her breasts. He licked his lips, in appreciation. Taking a small chisel and mallet from his pouch to break through the chain link, there would be more than one debt to pay before this was over.
'How is our prisoner this morning Ellrik?' Johan queried between bites of bread and ham. He knew Helgena. She may know she was beaten at the moment, but she did not become a strong Viking woman by acquiescence. Helgena would go to her death or banishment before she admitted defeat.
'She is spitting her usual venom.' Ellrik shook his head. His own family situation aside, he had no time for the purity of blood that Helgena espoused.
Johan gave a rare frown. 'There are many like her, Brother. Not within the Danelaw or in the northwest Scandinavian lands, but you know as well as I do that those from the northeast would enslave and conquer those that they do not recognise.' His travels had taken him far and wide, and although he looked like a Northman courtesy of his father, half his blood was Irish, thanks to his mother. As he slipped and moved between societies, sometimes in disguise, he knew the greed and hatred that was out there for different peoples.
'When my father arrives, we should return and get her tried by the Allthing as soon as possible.' Ellrik stabbed at his own trencher of food. He had no desire to hold her as a prisoner in Halsarfjord. The sooner she was banished to Vinland in the far Northwest, the happier he would be. Johan grunted in agreement. Her poisonous thoughts, as toxic as arsenic, ate away at the sanity of those who came into contact with her.
Both men jumped up from the hearth when they heard the toll of the harbour bell, and made their way to the tiny dock, the charred remains of larger boats remained there, their blackened skeletons a chilling warning of Taylr's determination to prevent their enemies from leaving. Shading his eyes to afford a better view of the two ships that were sailing from the open sea towards the land, Ellrik's face broke into its trademark smile. Kerik had arrived.
The booming voice carried easily as the ships came into dock. 'My sons!' He grasped Ellrik's forearms, before pulling him into a bear hug. Kerik's oldest son might be 24 summers old, but he was still delighted to see his boy fit and well. He greeted Johan and Taylr, with a huge grin and a slap on the back. 'Where is my horn of ale? Have I missed the ceremony?'
Ellrik laughed at his sire 'The only women here are Helgena's thralls or the half-troll herself. It might be better if you do not sip from any cup that you have not poured yourself.'
Kerik looked around, surveying the buildings. Jarlshof was well cared for. Obviously Helgena had put her fosterlings to work. 'I take it that Kristr has taken Anna to Donegal?' If MacHyde was dead, he knew that Kristr would see any ransom demand waived. He felt sorrow for his son; the couple did love each other, but whether Anna's love for Kristr over her blood kin remained to be seen.
'Ja, they left after the raid. The coward MacHyde threw himself over the cliff, and Helgena has been captured. Come and enjoy the hospitality of our prisoner. I am sure you will enjoy some fresh meat in a dagmal.' These lands had become the spoils of war, and unless the Allthing required that danegeld or reparations be paid to the fosterlings, Ellrik presumed Jarlshof belonged to his mother Gertrude now.
Kerik growled as he thought of Helgena. 'Where is she anyway? She is a sly one.' He thanked the Norns, or Fates, for weaving his thread of life to the sweet Gertrude, rather than the conniving Helgena. When Kristr had finally confessed what she had done to him during his fosterage, it had given him many sleepless nights. If he could run his sword through her for those actions, he would do so gladly. Only his honour prevented him from killing her, like he would a man.
Ellrik led his father through the back of the hall to a small chamber used by the slaves. Opening the hasp of the door he was surprised that Helgena had not started with her litany of curses. Her submissive behaviour earlier in the day would not last. The silence was broken by his own tirade of swearing as he looked at the pile of tattered clothes on the floor and the broken chain snaking across the room.
It took a firm shake from Kerik to shake his son from his blind rage. His son would make a fine leader, but was still learning to control his emotions. 'Ellrik, you know how dangerous she is. You need to be calm and consider this position as a Jarl.'
'Ja. We will get our vengeance on her, but first we must get these fosterlings to safety within their familes, and locate Kristr and Anna in Donegal.' Kerik approved of his son's decision. The safety of their family was priority now over any revenge that was planned.
Nobody saw the turf cover of the hidden passageway open a crack, as the two people within observed the woman-hunt that was being undertaken on Jarlshof. Night could not come quickly enough. The smaller person snarled in rage. Kristr may have been able to save Anna from a life of slavery, but would the tiny Halfling be able to rescue him? The hiss of hatred continued. The debts would be collected.
