It was Turgeis Kristen looked at as she said this, but whether he heard her or not, she didn’t trust him to abide his lady’s orders. The others would, but he would not.
So Kristen told him plainly, “You follow at her peril. For every second that I see you, she will get ten lashes—if I do not kill her outright.”
“Then you will not see me, lady.”
Kristen glared at him for that response, for they understood each other perfectly. He was Norwegian like her, and loyalty was involved. She wouldn’t see him, but he would be near, and there was nothing more she could say to make it otherwise. So be it.
Kristen looked to her horse, but quickly discarded the notion of riding with Erika. She would be too exposed while getting her into the saddle. So she dragged her to the end of the wagon and dropped the back flap, intending to haul her in without taking the dagger from her throat. Ivan even moved his mount to partially shield her while she managed it. But Selig had heard most of what had transpired, and he was turned enough that he could see her and her hostage.
His whisper came to her, stopping her cold. “Keep her away from me, Kris, until I can defend myself.”
Erika paled, hearing those words. For the next moment she was sure she would be killed right there, so much fury did she sense in the woman holding her. Held facing Gronwood’s walls, Erika had yet to see Selig’s true condition. But his words were clear. He feared her, and the notion appalled her as much as it did his sister.
But Kristen controlled whatever impulses she had and looked to Ivarr in front of her. “Take her up with you.”
He hadn’t heard Selig’s words. “Nay, I would strangle her,” he said with so much disgust Kristen was surprised he didn’t spit on the woman.
She turned to Thorolf then, but he said, “Let her walk,” before she could even ask him the same.
“And slow us?”
Kristen made a low growl of frustration. Damned stubborn Vikings. They were affronted because a woman had done this to Selig. Had it been a man, they would simply have killed him. Had it been a man,shewould simply have killed him, and to hell with fighting their way out of there. But she wouldn’t argue with them in front of the woman.
“Take my horse, then,” she said angrily, “And, Ivarr, lead this wagon until we reach the others.” She then pulled Erika behind her into the wagon, and without looking back ather brother yet, said sharply, “Not another word, Selig. She will not harm you whilst I am here.”
Kristen didn’t stop until they reached the front of the wagon bed, no easy feat, since Selig had been placed on a pallet that took up more than half the floor space. Cramped, she pulled the hide cover over them, so it could not be readily seen that her dagger was no longer at Erika’s throat. But before she moved to sit, lifting Selig’s head carefully onto her lap, she yanked the neck of Erika’s gown back to stab her dagger through the cloth, pinning Erika to the bed of the wagon and leaving her lying prone next to him, the dagger still within her own reach.
It was not the most comfortable position for Erika. The neck of her gown choked her now, but to relieve the tightness of it had her shoulder touching the sharp edge of the dagger. Still, it was better than having the blade at her throat, she reasoned—until she chanced to turn her head and caught Selig’s eyes on her.
She shivered at the loathing she saw there in those bright gray eyes. With that reaction came the urge to grasp the dagger holding her in place, pull it out, and run. But she doubted she could work it loose quickly enough, her prone position giving her no leverage, and she didn’t care to find out yet what would happen if she tried and failed. She was away from immediate help now. These people had no reason to keep her alive, least of all the fierceNorsewoman, whose hand was tender only on her brother’s cheek.
Through the end of the wagon, still lowered, Kristen could see the gate and the men standing there as the party rolled away from it. So she was witness to one of those men getting his neck broken with the Viking’s assistance.
Seeing it happen, and so easily, caused a shiver of her own, though Kristen quickly shook it off. She had already known a man as large as Turgeis Ten Feet would have incredible strength. A demonstration of it hadn’t been necessary. And she had no reason to fear him. He could be held at bay as long as they held his lady. She wasn’t foolish enough to dismiss him as a worry, but neither would she let the promise of his dogging them plague her.
What was left was a mild curiosity that Kristen saw no reason not to appease. “Why would the giant kill one of your own men?”
Erika closed her eyes, groaning inwardly at the question. It had to be Wulnoth the woman referred to. Turgeis did not kill for no reason.
“If he has killed him, ’tis for what he thinks I will suffer before he has me back. He would blame that one for what has occurred this day.”
“And who do you blame?” she was asked with scathing contempt.
“Myself,” Erika admitted regrettably.
“We are agreed,” Kristen said.
“Very much agreed.”
That came in a whisper from the man beside her, and although Erika refused to look at him again, she could imagine the loathing was even brighter in his eyes. Turgeis was correct if he thought she was going to suffer. Selig the Blessed was going to demand it.
Chapter 12
THE WAGON HALTEDwhen it reached the rest of the men, but only long enough for Kristen to explain what had happened, and to assign a driver for it. They wouldn’t be leaving East Anglia as soon as anticipated now, not with the baggage wain slowing their progress. But at least a sturdy horse had been hitched to the conveyance, rather than a lumbering ox, which would have slowed them even more.
Kristen stayed with Selig, so she was forced to keep the Dane with her also, unwilling to let the woman out of her sight while still so close to Gronwood. Lady Erika was all she had to bargain with if her threats were ignored and an army was gathered to pursue them. Until they were safely in Wessex, she wanted her close at hand.
Selig might not like the Dane’s close proximity, but he had said no more about it, had in fact fallen asleep with the steady sway of the wagon. Kristen would have preferred he wait until she had learned what exactly was wrong with him, but she didn’t wake him to find out. Sleep was as beneficial as anything else sheknew for healing, which, unfortunately, was not much.
