“Come,” Turgeis said, helping Selig to his feet. “There is no more to do here.”
“Come where?” Selig snarled bitterly. “I was so certain she would be here. Now where do we look?”
“Lord Durwyn will tell you naught, but he was not alone at Wyndhurst. We still have his messenger to find, and I will rip the answers from his throat if I have to.”
They rode back to Wyndhurst with no less speed than before. Royce was encountered onthe way, and Selig informed him, “We found the camp, but she was not there, so leave your men to still search for the while.”
“And where do you go?”
“I fear looking for her will produce no results. We will have to be told where she was taken.”
“Durwyn will not do it,” Royce insisted. “His only hope is to protest his innocence to the bitter end.”
“But his messenger will know,” Selig said. “And his messenger is still at Wyndhurst. Turgeis plans to rip the answers out of him.”
“Do you set Turgeis on him, the man will die of fright,” Royce predicted, and not entirely in jest.
Selig repeated that for Turgeis’s benefit. The giant merely grunted. Selig’s expression hardened, though, when he added for Royce, “Iwillhave answers, one way or another. And I would ask that you stay near me, to speak for me. I would already know where Erika is if Durwyn’s last man had understood me when I promised him freedom. Instead he fled and died anyway, but by accident.”
When they reached Wyndhurst and entered the bailey, they found it twice as crowded as it had been that morning. Near the hall, Durwyn stood with two guards on either side of him. As Selig rode that way, the guards both reached for their swords in warning.
“’Twould seem Alfred is now convinced of his guilt. You must let the king have him, Selig,” Royce said.
“He can have him as long as I can find my answer elsewhere. What goes here?”
Since Royce had no idea, he shouted for his wife. She was not far away and came running. “Did you find her?” she asked first.
“Nay, but what is going on?”
Kristen quickly explained. “If Durwyn had men here, Alfred wants them as well, yet will they not give themselves up. So everyone is to account for his own people, and those accounted for, separated from the rest. Whoever is left unclaimed had best have good reason for being in the king’s party, and be able to prove it.”
“How much longer will this take?”
“It has only just begun. Those accounted for are being moved over there.” She pointed to the far side of the bailey. “I have been sending our own people over, one by one. Now you are here, you can help.”
“That may not be necessary,” Royce said as he stared into the crowd, then suddenly nudged Selig. “There, the man in the leather jerkin. If I am not mistaken, he was with Lord Durwyn when he stopped here last week. Give me a moment and I may be able to find the rest.”
Selig stared at the man; then his eyes widened. “That one wears my sword!”
“Proof positive.” They started toward the man. “Do you interrogate him, or cut him up some first?”
“You can offer him his life,” Selig replied. “If he gives me back Erika, he need not bleedat all. He can even keep my sword.”
Royce grinned. He just couldn’t help it after a telling remark like that. “When did you start loving her?”
“Odin only knows.” Selig sighed.
Ogden was already in a state of terror, with guards pushing him closer and closer to the line of separation. The king was there to identify his personal household and his lords and ladies. And those lords and ladies had to identify their own servants and retainers. Anyone unclaimed was in dire trouble, and one luckless thief had already been taken away by the king’s guards.
His fear kept him from thinking clearly and coming up with a logical reason for being there, one that could be verified. That was the rub, and that damned Lady Kristen had suggested that proof be required, so that a good liar couldn’t talk his way out of this.
And then he saw that the Viking was back with Lord Royce, and his terror turned to panic when he saw them staring directly at him, and then starting toward him. The end, then. He was going to die—nay, he would finish what had begun last month first. If he had done his job properly the first time, this wouldn’t be happening. The Viking should have died with the others. He would see to it now.
Ogden waited until Selig was almost upon him before he drew his sword and attacked—withhissword. The jest was on the Viking, that he would be killed with his own sword. But the man dodged Ogden’s first swipe anddrew his own blade. Ogden swung again and again, but met only the steel of the other blade each time.
“Desist, man,” Lord Royce shouted at him. “Tell him where his wife is and he will let you go.”
Ogden did not pause in his attack, though he shouted back, “You lie. If he does not kill me, the king will have it done. Think you I would aid a damn Dane when I am to die anyway? You will never find her, yet she is right beneath your nose.” And he laughed—just before Selig’s sword hilt slammed against his head.
