“Ahh, the shield maiden has a part to play in this after all. She is a fierce warrior, but do you tell me she has a strategist’s mind as well?”
“She always has,” Magnus said. He had to give her that much. He may never be perfectly happy with her having married a Scot, but he had to give her the credit she was due.
“Then that is enough for me as well. It appears I have underestimated women of late.”
“What does that mean?” Magnus asked. Unbidden, a lock of flaming hair flashed across his memory and he swore he could smell cloves.
“It means, I plan to listen more,” Olaf said and grinned.
“I am never given the chance,” Gunnar said. “Between my sisters and our healer, I am usually in the wrong.”
Magnus gave his brother a sidelong glance and noted the forlorn look about him. He suspected the man’s connection to their healer Freydis and his missing her of late from her time spent with Saga in Ayr, but perhaps now was not the time to belabour that point.
“Where does this leave us?” Magnus asked. The conversation had taken an odd turn and he wanted to refocus and return to the ship. Something about this place unnerved him.
“You do not like my hall?” Olaf asked.
“I admire your hall, King Olaf.”
“But?”
“Will you be offended if I speak freely?” Magnus usually did, but under circumstances where he understood the people in his company better. Right now, he wasn’t even certain he knew Gunnar that well.
“Your hall and everything inside the palisade walls are bountiful and pleasant.” Magnus glanced at Gunnar who shook his head slightly.
“Go on.”
“Outside—”
“Outside people are starving and rotting like the food they are trying to peddle.”
“That is what I viewed.”
“And what is your question?”
Did this man have no conscience? “My question is how could you let that happen?”
Olaf smiled and leaned back. “You are the first man in two years to ask me this. I commend your bravery. The truth is the people inside of these walls have pledged their fealty to me and me alone. They are rewarded with food and drink and shelter as long as they continue to do so and rise to the occasion when they are asked. Those outside the walls have determined they do not need my protection as they do not want to serve a Viking king. Should they change their minds, they will be welcomed inside.”
“And the children?”
“All orphaned children are immediately brought within these walls and paired with a family who will care for them until they come of age and can decide for themselves.”
While it sounded like a reasonable arrangement, something still felt off about the place. The hair had been prickling at the base of his neck ever since he’d walked through the last gate, and he couldn’t shake the feeling.
“And your men? Are they loyal?”
“No one truly knows if one’s men are loyal, Magnus. Do you think your brother would bet on your loyalty with his life?”
“I would,” Gunnar said quietly.
“I honour my family,” Magnus said.
“Ja, but that has not always been the case. Did you not steal from a rival going against your chieftain’s wishes?”
“I did, but that was to protect the clan.”
“But you disobeyed him. That would be enough for me to question your loyalty to me.”
