“They will go, if you command it,” Valdr said.
Eric knew that, but he wanted them to make the choice. “If any man among you needed my help to save his family, I would give it, even at the cost of my own life.” The moment he spoke the words, he heard the truth in them. He had lived among these Vikings for only a few weeks, but he now understood that their survival depended upon each other. “As a tribe, we fight for each other against our enemies,” he said. “We stand together. But I do not command you to risk your lives. I ask you to make the choice.”
He met the hardened stare of each man, one by one. “We have a traitor who has stolen my wife and likely her brother, our kinsman. Will you come and fight with me?”
The men were silent for a time, glancing at one another. Even Valdr stared at him for a long moment. The man’s expression was unreadable, but at last he said, “I will come with you.” The older man checked his weapons and joined at his side.
Eric picked up his shield and nodded to the men, uncertain if any would follow. But from behind him, he heard the sound of their footsteps. It gave him a measure of hope.
“Do you want horses?” Valdr asked quietly.
Eric didn’t think it would be wise. “That might alert him to our presence. I think stealth would be best.” He whistled for Oda, and after a moment, the dog came racing toward them. With a high-pitched whine, Oda sniffed the ground until she caught Katarina’s scent.
The sky was fully dark now, and he ordered the men to put down their torches. “When we find her, I want you to surround them.” Eric pointed to several of the men, instructing them on which positions to take. Oda kept her nose to the ground, hurrying toward the lake, and they followed in pursuit.
He could only hope that they would find Katarina before it was too late.
Katarina knew she was going to die this night. She knew it with a certainty in her bones. But if she chose the right moment, she might kill Leif and save her brother.
Strangely, she felt no fear at all. Instead, she took in the small details all around her. The shower of sparks from the firelight…the crescent moon that hung within the dark sky…the cool softness of the grass beneath her bare feet.
An aching caught her heart at the thought that this might be her last chance to enjoy these simple moments of life.
“Yourhusbandwill find us soon enough,” Leif said. “But I want him to suffer before he dies.”
Eric would indeed come for her. But she didn’t know if he was strong enough or ruthless enough to defeat Leif.
“This is not only about vengeance for your mother’s death, is it?” she said softly. “Your hatred goes deeper than that. Even if you kill us both, it will not be enough, will it?”
Leif poked at the fire with a long stick, and the red sparks shattered in the air. For a time, he did not speak. His expression grew clouded, as if thoughts preyed upon him. “Valdr should have fostered me. But he wanted no one but his trueborn sons to bejarl.Especially not a bastard son he’d fathered.”
Understanding broke forth then. Leif’s driving desire to command was born from a childhood where he had felt unwanted by his true sire. He was Arik Thorgrim’s half brother, but he had never been acknowledged as such. He was a man who did not fit anywhere, and he had allowed hatred to poison his thoughts.
“You should journey across the sea,” she told him. “Make a new place for yourself where no one knows you. Rebuild and start again.”
She was doing everything within her power to stall him until Eric found her. Against her waist, she was conscious of the thin blade. Within her mind, she imagined sliding it up beneath his breastbone, directly into his heart. There would be only seconds to move, and she could not miss.
“I already started a new life, Katarina, when I came here a year ago. No one recognized me, and I let them believe I was a traveler.” His expression darkened. “But I knew what I wanted. For them to see me as the man who should have beenjarl.”
The longer he spoke, the more her mind calmed. He was waiting on Eric, and Katarina had no doubt he would come for her. When her husband arrived, there would be a slight distraction, which would give her the time she needed to stab Leif with her knife. But she was beginning to question whether a stab to the heart was the right place. Her blade might catch upon his breastbone, and it was a grave risk.
His throat, she decided. That was the best place to strike a killing blow before Leif would know what had hit him. But as she waited, her hands trembled.
Her brother began to regain consciousness, and he groaned aloud, lifting his head. The moment Hrafn realized he was bound to a post, he struggled against the ropes. Then his eyes focused upon her, and Katarina saw the confusion shift into violent anger. With his stump, he pushed against the ropes.
“Katarina, what has he done to you?” Hrafn demanded. “You need to get out of here.”
“Leif will not let me go,” she said quietly. “And even if he did, I am not leaving you. If our positions were reversed, you would never run.”
Her brother’s expression turned thunderous, and he directed his rage toward Leif. “I swear by the gods, I will flay the skin from your body and leave it for the crows.”
“All I have to do is light this fire,” Leif countered.
Katarina didn’t miss her brother’s uneasiness. But she would not risk fleeing this path she had chosen. Before the night was over, she intended to kill the man who had taken her sister’s life. “Arik will come for both of us. I promise you, he will.”
Hrafn’s eyes held pity, then. It was the look of a man who did not believe it was possible for Arik to defeat Leif. Katarina rested her hand upon the weapon at her waist and sent him a long look. Her brother’s mouth tightened, but he gave a faint nod of silent understanding. Even so, he did not like it.
She was well aware that Hrafn was discreetly loosening the ropes that bound him to the tree. Because Leif had been unable to bind her brother’s stump, Hrafn adjusted the ropes each time the man’s attention was elsewhere.
