“It has only begun. What mean you?”
“You, Magnus, freely offer me your impertinent advice about my wife. To do you justice, I admit that I did allow Glyda to enjoy herself last night with my body. I felt her womb when I spilled my seed into her. Perhaps this time she will bear me a live child.” Mattias paused a moment, staring toward Zarabeth. “I am not blind, nor am I particularly stupid. You watch this woman with her strange red hair like a hungry wolf who wants to devour her or strangle her. Then you gaze at her as though you would give your life to protect her. You can explain it to me, brother. Have you lost your wits and your manhood to this wench who poisoned her husband?”
“It is none of your concern.”
“Father wished to know all of it, and so Horkel was bound to tell him what had happened. He says that you have acted with great honor.”
“Horkel knows little of anything. He knows almost nothing, and yet he brays on and on.”
“He knew that you wished to marry the wench and that she betrayed you.”
“Enough, Mattias. I see Jon over there teasing one of my women. I will go best him with swords. He grows audacious as he gains his man years.”
Mattias watched his brothers buffet each other on the shoulder and proceed to insult each other with easy fluency. He watched them draw their swords and go into mock battle. Jon was built more slightly than his powerful brother, but he was faster, his movements agile. Both of them were laughing, mocking each other’s skills. There would be no spilled blood, not today, not between these brothers. Men began to gather around them and shout advice.
“I would speak to Magnus about Orm,” Harald said to his eldest son, Mattias. “I trust not the whelp. He will try to take Ingunn, I doubt it not.”
“Ingunn would not go with him.”
“Ha! I am not so certain of that. She mouths all the right words, Mattias, but she wants him. The girl is sullen and gives me evil looks. Her temper has always been uncertain; it becomes more uneven now that I have refused her Orm. And even if she obeyed me and rejected him, he would force her, and then I would have to kill him.” Harald sighed deeply. “What if he gets her with child before I can kill him?”
Mattias laughed. “Father, you weave a tale with an ending that suits you not, even before the tale can come to its beginning! Magnus is here now. He will not allow Orm to come within the palisade gates.”
Harald grunted, but was still frowning as he looked toward his daughter, Ingunn, who was talking to Zarabeth. She was angry, he could tell from even this distance. He hoped she would not strike the woman again. There would be trouble, though, he scented it in the air, just as he knew Orm would move on Malek to take Ingunn.
Ingunn was furious at the woman’s insolence. Her hands trembled. “All you do is look at that foolish little girl! You will work, slave, else I will have you whipped!”
At that moment Egill, angry because Lotti had taken the thrown ball not intended for her, bellowed and threw himself upon the child. Lotti, not hearing him, had no warning, and Egill knocked her flat.
Zarabeth cried out and ran to the children. She lifted Egill and threw him off Lotti. When she turned the child over, she blinked in mute surprise. Lotti was grinning and pointing at Egill.
She shouted in her slurred yet perfectly recognizable way, “Egill! Fun!”
To Zarabeth’s further astonishment, Lotti scrambled to her feet, shouting again, “Egill!” at the top of her lungs, and hurled herself at the boy. They went down together, arms and legs tangling, buffeting each other.
The children watched just for a brief moment; then they paired off and four different fights began.
Magnus, through sheer strength, pressed Jon’s sword beside his face. “Do you cry ‘Enough,’ little brother?”
“Aye, but only until next time, Magnus!”
The men laughed and sheathed their swords. Then Magnus looked up to see all their audience turned away. And he saw the children wrestling, fighting, yelling, and his first thought was of Lotti. He felt a coldness in his belly. “Quickly!” he called to Jon, and ran toward the children.
To his surprise, there was Lotti, sitting astride Egill, her small hands fisted in his hair, yanking and laughing and bouncing up and down on him. As for his son, Egill was pulling at the little girl, trying to jerk her off him, but Lotti’s legs were strong and she wasn’t ready to give up her advantage. Magnus realized quickly that the boy was doing his best not to hurt her, and it pleased him. He saw soon enough that Egill was also trying not to laugh.
Magnus saw Zarabeth lean over and grasp Lotti beneath the arms and lift her. Zarabeth was laughing and kissing the child’s dirty face. The sound was sweet and magical and it lighted up her face. He swallowed, turning away. It was the first time she had laughed since... No, he wouldn’t remember that. It had all been a lie, all of it.
He wanted her. He bided his time all during the long day. He went hunting with his men, taking Egill with them. He watched her throughout the evening, working and serving, and always, she watched Lotti. He wanted to tell her that every adult in the house was aware of every child, but he didn’t. She wouldn’t believe him. The hours passed, and still he watched her. He had dismissed Cyra, had finally told Ingunn that Zarabeth had worked enough. He saw that his sister wasn’t pleased at his interference, but she nodded, saying nothing. Still, he waited. He watched her pick up Lotti and carry her off to bed.
He waited another half-hour. Horkel began a song of Magnus’ father, the hero in a sea battle of some twenty winters past, and how he had captured twenty slaves and several casks of gold and silver.
At last, when others were yawning, Magnus rose and bade his good-nights. It took him not long to realize that Zarabeth wasn’t in the longhouse. He went to the slave hut. She wasn’t there. He found her speaking to one of his guards who sat at his post atop the northern palisade. Magnus felt rage and jealousy flow through him until he realized with pain at his own weakness that the man was Hollvard, an old man, wizened, toothless, and with frailty in his muscles.
He walked quietly to them and stopped.
“Aye, mistress,” Hollvard was saying in his slow precise way, “there be outlaws in the mountains, and so many places for them to hide. Aye, even a man with six other men must take care. ’Tis not always easy, this time or this land.”
“Zarabeth,” Magnus said, and placed his hand on her shoulder. He felt her stiffen, but she made no sound.
