Page 104 of A Tale of Two Vikings

“This is a rare peaceable time in Britain, Toste,” Eirik said. “Yea, I know many died at Stone Valley, but mostly the Saxons and Norsemen are at a truce, if not peace. In truth, much of Northumbria is overridden with the Vikings who have settled here. We are a mixture here now—a melting pot of the two cultures.”

“Bloody hell, Toste. I am as Viking as you are,” Tykir said. “If you are leaving for that reason, then I should go, too.”

“And me, as well,” Bolthor said.

“No one should leave Ravenshire for fear of a fight,” Eirik insisted. “None of my guests would dare object to your being here…any of you.”

“I have never walked away from a fight,” Toste said.

“Nor I,” Tykir and Bolthor said.

“There is something else to consider,” Eirik said. “I know it is a long shot, but what if Vagn’s killer were amongst the guardsmen accompanying my guests?”

Toste froze at the possibility. He agreed it was remote, but it was worth being on watch. “In any case, you all have a way of diverting a conversation this way and that.”

“Us?” they said.

“Yea, you. What I started to say before you all diverted me is that I need to get away from Ravenshire and travel to Evergreen.”

“Esme’s estate?”

“Yea. As I have told you before, something is not quite right about her situation. Why would a lord as powerful and wealthy as Blackthorne try so desperately for so many years to gain such a piddling little piece of land? Methinks I should take a day or two and ride there. Investigate a bit.”

They all nodded.

Eirik stroked his chin pensively. “My stepson John’s estate at Hawk’s Lair is not far distant from Evergreen. We could go there, see what John knows, then study the estate as well as we can without raising eyebrows.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Toste said, “except for the we part. I go alone.”

“Why?” Bolthor asked in a wounded tone. “I thought we were partners, you and me…especially now that Vagn is gone.”

“We are. We are.” He patted Bolthor’s arm. The skald was too sensitive by half. “But this is something best done alone, in disguise. What we don’t want is four big hulking Norsemen raising eyebrows about the countryside.”

Everyone nodded hesitantly in agreement.

“Will you go soon? On the morrow?” Eirik asked.

Toste shook his head, then smiled. “Nay, not till the beginning of next week. I have much more punishing to do.” With that, he picked up his tub and swaggered off.

And he was whistling.

The Clueless Viking Hall of Fame…

“Eirik, have you seen my large brass tub?” Eadyth asked that night.

“I might have.”

“Where?”

“Passing through the great hall.”

“You saw my tub going through the castle? By itself?”

“Not exactly. It was on Toste’s head.”

“Has he lost his mind?”

“Methinks so. Or another body part.”