“Cheeky, lad. Shall we see how well that sword swings in the lists tomorrow?”
“Always hard and at the ready, I bet,” Ninian teased.
“At least I know it’s reliable.” Liam shifted, pretending to look at Ninian’s back, where there was no sword sheathed like the Norse and Highlanders.
“I was polishing it earlier and left it at home.” Everyone laughed, knowing Ninian and his wife only had one child, but it wasn’t from a lack of trying.
“You chatter like old women,” Gunter interrupted. The four men were closer in age to Gunter than Liam, and turned to glare at the Norseman.
“Liam is family,” Hugh stated before turning his back on Gunter. It was true, even if distantly and several times removed. The four men were chieftains of their own villages but were second and third cousins. They all bore the surname Sinclair.
“Let’s move inside. The wind makes my joints ache,” Ninian complained jovially. The Highlanders formed a wall behind Liam and the Orcadians, forcing Gunter and his warriors to trail behind. Liam desperately wanted to look toward the hillside, praying Elene was well. But he would do nothing that made Gunter suspicious.
Liam, Dermot, and the Sinclairs entered the mead hall to cheers of welcome and good tidings. As he waved, he canted his head to see how Gunter responded to the warm welcome. A woman with rosy cheeks and gray hair tied in a bun bustled forward.
“Meg.” Liam smiled as he leaned nearly in half to embrace the woman.
“My, what a braw mon you’ve become. I know everyone says you have the look of your father, but there’s something in those eyes that reminds me of your grandfather. It doesn’t surprise me Laird Sinclair sent you on his behalf. You remind me of him when he was a young man, just before he met your grandmother, may her soul rest in peace.”
“My brother—” Gunter began, but Bernard interrupted.
“There’s time for that tomorrow. No politics this eve. We shall feast and welcome our Sinclair relatives.” Bernard pointed to the far end of the raised high table. “There is space for you and your second-in-command.”
Liam’s men found seats at a lower table, nodding to those around them since they spoke proficient Norn, but the villagers spoke no Gaelic. Dermot sat beside Liam, placing the men between Hugh and Ninian. It wasn’t long before women placed heaping trenchers before them. Liam had a wave of guilt that Elene and his other men wouldn’t be eating so well that night.
“I will try to sneak them food later. I’ll see what I can squirrel away in ma sporran,” Dermot offered.
“Thank ye. I dinna ken if they’ll dare a fire this eve. I worry they’ll all be too cold. I ken what ye all thought aboot last night. But she genuinely was too cold. I came back from watch, and she was frigid.”
The meal progressed with good cheer between the Orcadians and Highlanders, but the Norsemen scowled throughout. Liam knew Gunter stewed and would snarl by morning. He also understood the message the chieftains sent to both the Norsemen and their own villagers. The Sinclairs of Orkney stood alongside the Sinclairs of the Highlands. Any discussion of politics the next day or after would be pro forma. The chieftains already sided with Liam and the new Earl of Caithness. Gunter might have his chance to speak, but it would be of little consequence. From his murderous glare, Liam knew he understood the situation.
“Ninian will host us,” Liam whispered to Dermot as they ate. “He just told me, ye and the men are to come to his home, too. He warned us all to sleep with one eye open. He doesnae trust Gunter nae to attack.”
“I wasna eager to bed down in the stables or a barracks. Far too easy for them to get us. What aboot the others?”
“Ye ken they secure the gates here, and they dinna open them for anyone. This settlement’s nearly as secure as Varrich or Dunbeath, despite the walls being made of standing tree trunks rather than stones. I amnae worried that they’ll claim they’re headed to their longboats then search for Elene. I fear one or two of them going over the wall.”
“I thought the same.” The two men grew quiet as the meal progressed, then as they watched people move aside the tables and benches. As the music began, the Norse gathered to pass their mead horns and join in the dancing. The Sinclair men moved to the side, sipping whisky from their flasks. Dermot prepared to join them as a man slipped behind him and made his way to Ninian. The older man looked at Liam while his guard whispered to him. Liam wondered what the guard said since Ninian nodded, but his expression told Liam not to ask questions. He whispered something back to the man before the guard left.
Ninian kept his voice low. Speaking in Gaelic this time, he explained. “Ma guards didna approach, but they spied three Highlanders and a woman who looks suspiciously Orcadian. They were aboot three miles past the wall, atop the hill. Did ye lose some of yer warriors?”
“Ye ken I didna. And ye can guess who’s with them. Gunter and Elene have some type of past that’s made him vindictive toward her. He’s supposedly betrothed to her mother. I told ye, he’s threatened to drag Elene back to Norway then sell her as a bed slave.”
“The buggering hell he will. He may be King Haakon’s brother, but we are nay longer Norwegian. He’s a foreigner now, and he willna commit such a crime in Scotland. He can keep to his pagan ways, but we are good Christians here. We dinna allow any slave trading, and that includes forcing anyone into slavery.”
“Now ye understand why she’s with us. She couldnae stay on Rousay and be safe.”
“Aye, but ye’ve brought her to the mouth of the dragon. Ye need to get her away from here. He has his own scouting parties. It might take them longer than it did ma men, but they will find her. They’ll kill yer men and take her. Once they sail away, ye willna catch them, and ye willna ken where to follow. He could go anywhere in Norway. Nay one will turn away the king’s brother.”
“I ken. We didna expect to find him here.”
“We didna expect him to arrive, but once he accused ye of stealing his woman, we all kenned he came to make trouble beyond just politics. We need his trade, but nae at the expense of condoning such a sin as selling a person. Besides, I canna imagine—actually, I take that back. I can imagine what yer grandfather would do if he learned we abetted such a crime. Family or nae, he’d rain holy hell down on us. We dinna need the Sinclairs sailing here with the Mackays and Sutherlands adding to the fleet.”
“Ye ken ma grandfather willna abide any woman being mistreated. I heard the stories aboot ma Grandmama Kyla and how her father mistreated her. The Sinclair lairds have protected the women of our clan for generations, but ma grandfather is especially unyielding after what’s happened to ma grandmother, ma mother, and ma aunts Siùsan and Brighde.”
“I ken. Even if yer grandfather wasna now the Earl of SinclairandOrkney, I’d nae take on the women in yer family. I’d have a dirk in ma throat before I kenned where to look. It’d come from yer mother or Lady Siùsan. Ladies Deirdre and Brighde could fire an arrow through ma heart from halfway across the isle. And yer Aunt Ceit would have already spied on me and reported to yer other aunts.” Ninian shook his head. “Yer father and uncles are like a pack of pups compared to those she-wolves.”
“They’re a wee protective.”
