Chapter Four

- A Crimson King.

Pain shot through my knuckles as they made a connection and I stumbled back. He touched his nose and then stared at the blood smeared on his fingers before his eyes went back to me.

The mist of adrenaline had evaporated and I was in disbelief. "I don't know why I... gods I'm sorry!"

"You punch me in the nose and now you're apologising?" He laughs, the blood streaming into the hair of his upper lip. "You could of just said you had a husband."

"Brother, what are you doing?" A second man appeared at the head of the alley, slapping a hand down on my pursuer's shoulder. "There's a woman waiting back there who would very much like to caress a King's co-"

His sentence dried up as he noticed the bloodied nose and his eyes drifted to me, wringing my hands together nervously. Brother? A dirty blonde drape of hair framed one side of his face, whilst the other side of his head was shaven to almost bare skin. He stood slightly shorter and his shoulders lacked the same broadness. I couldn't see much of a resemblance between the two but that could of been due to the fact one was stained a violent shade of red from the nostrils down. The blood was leaking so fast now that drops of it fell from the tip of his beard and speckled on the ground. I was astounded by the accuracy of my hit.

"I see you're having woman troubles," the blonde remarked, barely containing the grin spreading on his face as he looked between us. "Perhaps they were too soon to name you Harald Finehair. I like the sound of Harald Softnose much better."

Harald gave him a shove with the hand that wasn't still dabbing at his nose. "Yet I've still felt weaker punches from you brother."

"And I am nowhere near as pleasing to the eye."

They both looked at me then and I felt my ears start to rush with heat, thankfully hidden under my-

I gasped, swatting at the air around my face where my hood should of been. I hadn't even noticed it fall down. Skies, could this of gone any worse? I snatched it back over my head. They hadn't seemed to of recognised me but I wasn't going to stay around to tempt fate.

"I really am sorry about...that," I nodded to Harald, trying not to sound as flustered as I felt. "But I do really have to go. So excuse me."

As I turned to leave, I heard the voice of the other brother over my shoulder. "Slogged and left out in the cold? Teach me your ways brother."

There was a thud and I wasn't sure who hit who, but by the sniggering laugh, I could guess. Rounding the corner, I heard Harald's voice call out.

"Just tell me one thing. Put a man out of his misery."

Despite myself, I paused and looked at him over my shoulder, hugging my cloak to me as a cool wind swept through the alley. He stood alone now - his brother must of headed back to the revelry after he had finished his goading.

"Do you have a husband?" he asked.

The blood from his nose had stopped gushing now but his face was a blight of red smears. His hand was covered in his blood and the front of his tunic, which looked to be finely made, was decorated with streaks of the same. I didn't think I'd punched someone since I was a child and my hand still throbbed with the proof.

I glanced around. Although the sounds of liveliness were still close, no one had seemed to of strayed further enough from the drinking to see us. If I was going to be in trouble then surely the damage had already been done. Would it matter so much about what I did next?

"No," I answered, turning back to face him. "Let me at least help you clean that up, please. Then we can both pretend like none of this happened."

He grinned, arms extended out. "I won't be so eager to tell anyone a woman nearly knocked my nose straight, but I'm sure Halfdan is already singing songs of the saga in the meadhall." I must of looked worried then as he added, "A few more horn-fulls and he won't remember his own name, so I think my reputation is safe."

The corner of his mouth curved into a smile and I cleared my throat, feeling flustered once again. Not trusting myself to speak, I beckoned him with a tilt of my head and walked on, not daring a glance back.

"Not one of my finest moments," Harald remarked, on his knees leaning over the side of the dock. He scooped another handful of sea water up and doused his face with it. Pale pink droplets trickled down his face, washing the dried blood away, his beard glistening. "You know, one day when I achieve my goals, you will be famous for bloodying the nose of the King of all Norway."

I stopped scrubbing his dampened tunic together and cast him a glance. He'd allowed me to try and lessen the stains on it while he cleaned off his face - thankfully he wore a loose undershirt beneath it. At the docks it was ghostly quiet, the shouts and songs in the distance now. The night had drawn darker, the sea spreading before us like a black bottomless abyss. I kept my hood up anyway just in case, though I had to pull it forwards every so often as the sharp sea breeze threatened to dislodge it.

"You must have big goals," I commented and then after a pause, continued working at the stains.

He dragged a hand down over his face and flicked the residue water away. "I'm an ambitious man." He straightened up and leaned back on his heels, looking much fresher faced. "And I'm already a king, what's a few more kingdoms?"

His words, so casually spoken, had weighted implications. My father being one - how could any man be King of Norway without overthrowing him first? What man would dare to try? And how had I ended up on the grimy dock floor scrubbing stains out of his clothing? Stains from when I had clobbered him in the nose no less? Oh gods, I'd punched a king. The day had grown evermore bizarre from the moment I finished my morning bathing.

"Very important to the people who live in them, I would imagine," I pointed out, choosing not to steer the conversation towards what it meant about my father. He seemed an undoubtedly confident man - perhaps they were just claims of grandeur to impress me. It was lost on me why he would want to though.

He grinned, rising to his feet. "Then they would be thankful for a strong leader no doubt."

Harald's impenetrable confidence really was quite remarkable. He held out his hand and I placed my smaller palm against his, allowing him to guide me up from the floor. He held my gaze for a moment too long, fingers still enclosed around my now limp hand as we stood only an arms length apart. I noticed what a dark shade of blue his eyes were and then quickly looked away across the dark horizon, pulling my hand back towards me as he released it.

"But until that day comes, we sail as allies, to take new lands from the Christians," he said.

It was likely that he would sail out with my father's ships in the morning and I would never see him again. His ambitions sounded like they would take him far across many lands, if he had spoken with real intention, and I... well I was promised to a life of solitude. We were meant for two separate worlds - his of the ever-changing, living, breathing present, and mine of hollow dreams and clouded visions of the future.

I held out his tunic to him and he accepted it with a softly curved smile. "I would of quite liked to of kept it stained, as a token. To remind me of being punched by such a beautiful woman." An odd feeling swooped through my stomach and my face blazed with heat. "And to humble me the next time I decide to pursue one."

I lowered my head, hiding the small smile creeping across my face, cheeks still the colour of peaches. "Perhaps just avoid dark alleyways. Goodnight, Harald."

I risked one last glance at him before I turned and walked away into the night, leaving him stood at the dock. My smile fought to spread wider across my face as I went, thinking about the grin on his as I had left.