Chapter 21

Hello all, thank you for reading. It's been a while since I updated, so to recap

Anna is still pregnant, but it's getting close to the birth

Johan has come back to Halsrafjord to warn Kristr of Helgena's plans, and Maria was a stowaway on his ship, so she's there now too.

Catherine and Ellrik are in Ireland, but are preparing to leave for the North again.

Helgena is still an outlaw, and is heading back to her lands in Shetland to share her golden hoard with Hrut
Blackbeard, the mercenary. She needs to buy his favour.

The wind was buffeting loudly into the sail as it pushed Hrut Blackbeard's ship forward towards Shetland. Using the distant craggy coast of Scotland as a guide, Elena reckoned that there would only be another day or two on the boat. She stared into the middle distance, the gentle rocking of the near empty barrel refocusing her attention to the long ship and her surroundings. Although provisions were running low, she never wanted to see or smell another piece of dried herring again. Her mouth watered as she thought of her former slave Ethel catching and skinning a rabbit for her natmal. Idly, she wondered if Ethel and Ruth were still alive. No doubt if the Greysteinns were involved, they would have freed them. Just like Kerik freed Aisling. Helgena stared into the barrel of salted fish. These disgusting meals would be worth it when Kristr yielded to her, and Kerik was on his knees as a former Jarl.

She glanced up when the shadow of the dark-haired Swede cast over the barrel. He reached in and pulled out a fish. His black curly hair whipped around his face and beard as he shoved the meat into his mouth, only pausing to spit out the bones. "A fine wind pushing me towards more coin, Valkryie." Hrut's dark expression lightened at the mention of gold. "You know, Valkryie, if you think that I will not turn you over to Greysteinn and his Jarls, you are mistaken. I will not accept treachery."

Helgena pulled away the cawl that covered her wind burned face. "Whether treachery or not, you will get your payment." She turned away in distaste as he drank greedily from a water skin, swished the liquid around his mouth and spat it out. "It is obvious you have not spent any time in the courts of the Franks or the Saxons, with your manners. Do you care never to take a wife?"

Hrut wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "I had a wife. She bore me a daughter in secret, and left the child to die because she wanted a son." He hawked and gobbed a mass of phlegm over the edge of the boat. "Now money is the only mistress in my life, lest you think your friendly thighs will suffice." She turned her back to him, ignoring his twisted smirk and smarting from his insult. "It will be a long time before I spread my thighs for you." Summoning all her confidence, she gave a dismissive flourish. "Now, Mercenary, leave me be."

Helgena kicked the cask again, but it only rocked back and forth before returning to its position. She refused to accept that she was past her prime. She was Helgena of the Jarlshof, a shield maiden and foster mother to a score of Norse sons. Now she was Helgena, an outlaw in worn out clothes with three moons of grime embedded into her skin. So what if she had taken her fosterlings to her furs? By Norse law they were men. The fathers should be thanking her, not hunting her.

She scowled when she saw Lorcan come forward and dip his hand into the barrel. Obviously she was not going to get any peace today to wallow in her thoughts. She chose to needle her companion instead. "What do you plan to do with the Halfling if Greysteinn has already left a scrap of a brat in her womb?" Lorcan's eyes narrowed. "Had you not thought of that? Do you intend to cut the child from her belly?" Seeing his discomfort, she continued. "Even if there is no child, you know that she will not be virgin now. What if you do not measure up to the standards of Kristr?"

Lorcan shrugged, then scratched his patchy beard. "If she is with child, I'll see what she bears. A boy, I have no need for. He will have too much of his father's spirit within him." He winked at Helgena. "Although if he reached twelve years of age, I'm sure you would enjoy taking him. After all you did lay with both my father and my brother many moons ago." He gave a hollow laugh. "A girl child would fetch a much higher price at market. When she came of age she'd make a bed slave. There is nothing like keeping the squealing child around to keep a wench in order docile and compliant."

Unsatisfied with his rebuttal, Helgena could not resist. "Is that why you lived? So that your milkmaid mother would service MacHyde?" She had not forgotten that Lorcan was the bastard offspring of Elizabeth the dairy maid and an insatiable MacHyde. Aisling had resisted his advances and had been beaten for her rejections. Elizabeth, permitted to keep her child, had acquiesced.

Lorcan hitched in his breath. "Be very careful Helgena. You may have bought loyalty from Hrut with gold. So far, I owe you nothing, yet you owe me everything. You hope to keep your womb clear for Greysteinn's seed, but," he pinched her cheek and she winced at the pain and the cold in his fingers. "My seed may be sown first." She twisted out of his grasp, and, rubbing her cheek, he walked the length of the long ship, his guttural laugh ringing in her head. She clamped her hands over her ears and screamed loudly, but the barbs of the men had sunk into her brain. The sooner she got onto her own land and could control matters again, the sooner she could see her plan to fruition.

The sun was bright in the sky, and the smell of mid-autumn was in the air in Donegal. The few trees that grew by the shore were already shedding their leaves, one by one in the light breeze. Ellrik took a deep breath, and rolled his shoulders. He was relieved to be sailing north again. By the time they reached Jarlshof, the halfway point, the nights would already be closing in. Winter was a challenge in the north, but he loved the preparations and the closeness of the family when they all shared the same living space. This season it would be different. The gentle breaths of his wife would be the sound of the night, rather than the loud yet rhythmic snoring of his father and sister. He chuckled inwardly. The black-haired Maria obviously looked nothing like her adoptive father, but was as animated as him.

The gentle familial scene in front of him, brought him back to the present. As well as Catherine's family, Joseph and Zannfe had come to say farewell. Zannfe had borne a boy, with skin so rich and smooth he might have passed for Joseph's own son. Joseph was still very protective of the former slave, fussing around her and the infant, making sure that the chill in the breeze was not affecting either of them. Without a hint of jealousy, he wondered if he would ever have a family of his own to cherish in this way.

Ellrik watched as Catherine hugged Emmett tightly. "I shall miss you brother." She nuzzled into his chest, and Ellrik hoped it was due to anxiety about leaving. Earlier that morning she had complained of a bellyache, and his only assumption was nerves. He had had some ideas on how to relieve them, but he would need the help of his brother-by-marriage.

Emmett dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead. "And my world will be a much emptier place without you around, and without your pagan husband to cause me consternation." He grinned when Ellrik cleared his throat and playfully punched him on the shoulder. "Of course, if anyone deserves my sister, and to become family, then I suppose it is this wild and crazy Northman." Breaking his embrace from his sister, he clasped Ellrik's arms. "Look after her, may you give her many fine sons and daughters." He turned away and swiped at his eye. His voice cracked "And keep her safe from harm."

Ellrik curled his arm around Catherine's waist and squinted at their longship at the small wooden dock. "It looks like the tide will turn shortly, and we will be on our way." He held her tighter. "Emmett, I love my wife dearly, and I will lay down my life for her. I also promise that if she ever finds me to be cruel, or if I fail to sire her children, that I will not hold her to the marriage."

The priest , his presence arranged by Ellrik and Emmett, came forward and sprinkled holy water on them and made the sign of the Cross. Catherine bowed her head in silent prayer and blessed herself. Ellrik did not, but nodded his thanks to the priest. He had arranged the visit through Emmett, and knew that the short ritual would ease Catherine's mind for the voyage home. In a few hours

Helgena's excitement was palpable as the long low buildings of her Jarlshof were now visible; their blurred shapes recognisable to her trained eye, even in the low morning light. She directed Hrut's men into the natural shallow harbour, the low water level easily accommodating the Viking ship. Suddenly the peace and quiet anticipation was shattered when the alarm was raised on the land by a young blond haired man, and his companion. Their loud shouting had now only roused the sentries on the land, but startled Hrut's men on the boat. Helgena watched in horror, as after so many weeks at sea, it was evident that their blood lust was pumping through their veins. They jumped from the boat and waded through the shallow water, hurling oaths at their enemies and swinging their axes.

"Hrut!" Helgena yelled at the top of her voice. "You must stop them!"

"I cannot, they are in berserker brain." Hrut tied the knots on his leather jerkin and pulled on his helmet. "Surely you have not lost your stomach for war, Valkryie?"

"Live hostages will be worth more than dead Jarls" she hissed. "Surely you know the value of a prisoner?"

"I know the value of your gold, Valkryie, and I know the value of a captive." Taking a length of rope, he slithered towards her. Helgena drew her dagger and lunged but he was too quick, and tripped her. She landed against the split rails of the deck with a thud, and he bound her ankles together, and pulled her by her feet until he reached the mast. Lashing her feet, he grabbed her salt-stiffened hair until she winced and released the dagger, skidding across the deck. She no longer fought as he bound her hands. "I shall hold you as wergild until I return, lest you think you shall renege on your promise of coin." Hrut jumped off the boat and into the melee.

Helgena was furious. She twisted angrily at the ropes and bit her lip when she realised she had caused her wrists to bleed. The salt in the air and on the ropes burned into her skin, and she hissed in pain,

"Lorcan! Untie me!" She twisted her body and saw Lorcan looking down at her in dark amusement. How could she have fallen so far, to be hostage to a man.

"I don't think so Helgena." He got down on his haunches and arranged her into a sitting position. "If I help you, I will lose my chance to take a bride, as Hrut would cut off my balls and let every man on board force his way into my arse." Lorcan was aware of the treatment of male prisoners, who were not Norse. The rape of a man was sometimes about sexual desire, but mostly to force submission and capitulation.

Finally freed by Hrut, Helgena chose to ignore him as picked her way through the bodies of a score of dead men, young and old. The smell of blood and death hung in the moist autumn air. Her stomach churned as she saw the lifeless eyes of a man, staring off at the sky, his head almost sliced clean off his shoulders, the spine jutting out at an angle. She looked to his grey right hand, still gripped around his sword. So young to lose his life but he would feast in Valhalla tonight. She refused to feel any guilt for the loss of life. This mayhem was caused by Hrut and his inability or reluctance to control his men. She looked behind at her companion and studied his garments. The fact that there were no spatters of brain or entrails on the mercenary's clothes indicated that he did not take part in any battle, despite the violent actions of his men.

"Well, Valkryie, I believe you owe me some gold." Hrut pinched a nostril shut and through the other blew a green mass, the mucus landing on the ground with a low splat. "Lead on."

Helgena looked at him in disgust, and tossed her muddy shawl onto a nearby bush. "Fine, come with me then, Gallowglass." She led him past her hall, and into an outbuilding. Lifting a trapdoor, they entered a souterrain.

Hrut sniffed loudly. "The air in here is fresh." He ran his fingers along the earthen wall, seeking a draught.

"You look in the wrong place, Hrut." Helgena bent over and slipped her hand, seemingly into the loose dirt on the floor. The soil, once moved, gave up its secret of another trap door. She gave a tug, and the clean air whooshed in. She was not going to give up the secret any further. "Stay here." She dropped down into the hole and a few seconds later she pulled herself back out. She handed Hrut a small tarnished silver box. "That should cover your services." Both of them would know that it was not all her gold, but this current display of treasure would meet the needs of Hrut and his men. "On one condition. I do not need any more bloody bodies and guts scattered across my land. Save your warmongering and blood-eagles for Halsrafjord and the Greysteinn family."

One of Hrut's men came into the hall. "A Norse ship has been sighted on the horizon, and it appears that they are making towards land here." He pulled his axe from the holder on his back.

"No!" Helgena shouted at the men. "I want to find out who these people are before you make a decision to kill them." The man stopped, and looked at Helgena, but his eyebrows rose questioningly to his leader, Hrut.

Hrut pursed his lips. "Let the woman have her way. We do not have any quarrel with this long ship – yet." He summoned his available men. "Stay concealed until they land. Then we shall let Valkryie make her decision. For a price, of course."