Page 68 of The Blue Viking

“Notice that I am not amused by your poor attempt at mirth.” He shrugged.

“Rurik, this is my battle. I should be involved. This is a Campbell feud.”

“Uh-uh-uh, Maire, do you misremember already? I was voted a Campbell by your very clan. Rurik Campbell, that’s what Old John called me.” God, did I really give credit to that ridiculous notion?

Her small groan indicated that she had, indeed, forgotten. “You are no more Rurik Campbell than I am Maire …” She paused and examined his face closely, as if searching for answers. “What is your other name?”

“I have none.”

“You must. Do you Vikings not take on the name of your father … as in Thork Ericsson, which would be Thork, son of Eric?”

He pressed his lips together tightly and refused to answer.

“You do know your father’s name?” she asked tentatively, sensing that she opened the gate to a path he would not walk.

“Yea, I know my father’s name,” he snarled. “But he denied me at birth, and I would not give him the respect of using his name now.”

She gasped and reached out a hand, as if to comfort him.

He stepped back, being long past the stage of wanting or needing pity for his family’s ill treatment. “Back to our plan,” he said. “In my travel bags, I have ten ells of sheer fabric that I obtained in the Eastern lands, where the houri wear them whilst dancing for their sultan masters.” He waited for that information to sink in, as indicated by the blooming blush on Make’s cheeks. “Eirik’s wife, Eadyth, is a beekeeper, and she commissioned me to purchase the cloth, which she uses to make head-to-toe garments to avoid being stung by her bees. I figure that Toste and Vagn can drape themselves with lengths of this ethereal fabric and thus, in a dim light, resemble—”

“—ghosts,” Maire finished for him.

He smiled. “Yea. The most lustful ghosts this side of the Skelljefjord. But let me explain further. At first, I will warn Duncan and his chiefs that, unless they comply with my demands, you will inflict a grievous spell on their land that involves the ghosts of their misdeeds … which they will of course scoff at… till they see Toste and Vagn in all their spiritual glory. Because they are twins, they will be able to confuse their victims into believing they can float about from one place to another. They will be seen in multiple places at the same time. The next part of the plan will be ingenious, really, stemming from something you started.”

“Me?”

He nodded. “Yea, I will tell them that not only will their keep be infested with ghosts, but a curse will be placed on them whereby …” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Go on,” she prodded, already suspicious.

“… whereby their man parts will shrink, and they will be unable to perform in the bed furs.”

She laughed then, despite her obvious inclination to frown at him. “Hit them where it hurts the most, you mean.”

“Precisely. But the whole point is that eventually we want to lead them to Ailt Olc.

“Ailt Olc? Devil’s Gorge?”

He nodded. “That narrow valley that separates your land and theirs on the north side. There we will attack them till they are all dead or have surrendered.”

“But, Rurik, even if you are able to accomplish all that, you fail to consider two things. One, that is an exposed area, visible from all sides, with few hiding places. Second, we Campbells are still severely outnumbered by the enemy.”

He smiled widely. “That is the best part of our plan. Look below and see our plan in operation.” Maire directed her gaze to where he pointed off in the distance to the military exercise fields beyond the castle walls. There, she noticed something she hadn’t seen before. All the young boys, even Jamie under the watchful eye of Stigand, were target practicing with slingshots, of all things, and some of them were very, very good. It took only a moment for understanding to dawn. “Like David and Goliath, from the Bible.”

“Yea. Am I not brilliant?”

The wench did not respond to his self-compliment. Instead, she glared at him. “You would use children to fight? You would place children in that kind of danger?”

“Nay, you misunderstand. The young ones would only be used in the background where it is safe.”

She seemed to accept his explanation without argument … for now. “And those sheep moving along the periphery of the field… what are they doing there?”

Rurik chuckled. “Look closer, m’lady. I got the idea from your tapestry. Remember how you said that things are not always what they appear from a distance.”

“Rurik!” she exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes and peered more closely. “Those are not sheep. Those are men hiding under those sheepskins.”

He couldn’t resist then. It had been much too long since he’d held her in his arms … at least two hours. So, Rurik picked her up by the waist and swung her into a hearty embrace. Breathing deeply of her scent, he placed a kiss at the curve of neck where it met her shoulder and whispered, “The plan could work. Dost agree?”