“It was naught to grind up the malle leaves and the fist root.”
“How did you convince him to drink it?”
She laughed. “He believed I would still let him bed me, though I had told him earlier he was goat offal and a river snake. He simply didn’t believe that a woman could ever mean what she said. Thus, when I smiled at him and offered him a ginger drink, he leered at me and drank it down. He didn’t become ill until late the following day. He didn’t realize what I had done.”
“He was sicker than a river snake tied into knots. The men laughed behind their hands.”
“I am still a woman, Kerek,” she said. “I believed him, you see, truly believed that he loved me. No, I am no brave female to save anyone. I was nothing but a fool.”
“Had you ever known another man before?”
“Nay, but still—”
Kerek rose to stand in the opening. “I have come to know you in the past days. You will grow and learn. Ah, it begins to rain. The wind has suddenly risen. We will see if the navigator can truly sniff out the stars to keep us in the right direction.”
“I would just as soon he ran us aground.”
Kerek said quietly over his shoulder, “I would take you again for Ragnor. Know that I do it for the Viking Danelaw, not for that puffed-up little prince.”
Chessa eased back down onto the mat, pulling the blanket to her chin. He believed her a warrior woman? Kerek was mad.
They left Rouen to sail up the Seine into the Channel with two warships and two trading vessels. Merrik had said, “We have soapstone bowls of fine quality and reindeer combs and beautiful armlets fashioned by Gyre the Dane. York is a fine trading center. We will gain much silver.” He grinned down at his wife. “Besides, I wish to find you a gown of scarlet, a color you have never managed to get right with all your dyes.”
Naturally, the trading vessels also carried household goods—clothing, chests, fishing nets, seeds for planting—for none of them knew what they would find when they reached Scotland and sailed into the trading town of Inverness that sat at the end of the Moray Firth. Cleve had willingly given Kiri over to Laren, who grudgingly accepted being in charge of one of the trading vessels and his daughter.
“I want to stay with you and Merrik,” Laren had said, eyes narrowed on his face.
Merrik said easily, “The men would welcome your presence and your skald’s tales, but Oleg has begged me to allow you to oversee the second trading vessel. We haven’t enough leaders, he told me.”
“You lie with the ease of a dying man who swears he will sin no more.”
“It is why you adore me.”
She laughed, she couldn’t help it, swooped down, and swung Kiri up into her arms. “Come, love, you will see your papa tonight.”
Later, as the men rowed into the Channel, Merrik said, “It worries me that Kiri is with us. You should have left her at Malverne with the boys, or even here with Rollo.”
“Nay,” Cleve said. “We are going home, Merrik. I will protect her. Besides, you know that she doesn’t like to be apart from me.”
“That’s not the half of it and you know it. She doesn’t eat, she won’t play with the other children. She does the chores Laren gives to her but there is no joy in her. She looks like a pinched little ghost. It scares everyone to see this little girl waste away when her papa isn’t there.”
Cleve said, “You see, I am right to bring her with me, despite any risks. Choosing the correct number of days I’ll be gone is beyond difficult. I’d rather worry having her with me than worry having her waste away if I didn’t return in the time I promised her.”
“I doubt not we will manage to get Chessa back, but there will be problems, Cleve. We will have to take her to Rouen before we can voyage up to Scotland.”
“Aye, I know it, and I dislike the delay, but this girl Chessa is a good sort, as women go. She is bright. She is really quite beautiful. Her eyes are greener than the hills behind Oslo after a heavy rain.”
Merrik eyed his friend thoughtfully. “You like her?”
“Aye, I like her. She was open and friendly.”
“But you didn’t trust her.”
“I would have to be an ass to give my trust to another woman.”
“Cleve, you must forget Sarla.”
“It isn’t to the point, Merrik. It makes no difference if I believed her a crone or a Christian’s angel. She’s a princess. She is to wed William. It is good for William that she is open and friendly, or at least pretends to it.”
