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Brenda led them through the village to a large house. She rapped her knuckles on the door and then burst through, for Erik always had a policy that anyone could come and see him if they wished. As the leader of the village, he had to be available to help whenever anyone needed him.

“Erik! Are you here?” she asked. Douglas and Colby filed in after her. Douglas looked around slowly, reminding himself of this place. “I have a surprise for you,” Brenda added.

There were footsteps from another room, and then Erik presented himself. There was a smile on his face at the thought of seeing his cousin, but when he saw Douglas, the smile widened, and he stopped in his tracks.

“Douglas, is it really you?” he said in one breath.

Douglas only said one word in reply. His voice was hoarse and heavy. “Aye,” he said.

Erik strode up to him and clasped him like a brother. Douglas’s arms were hesitant and reluctant, but they wrapped around Erik. Erik then stepped back and grabbed the man by the arms, shaking him a little. He beamed with happiness.

“I was afraid I’d never see you again! Brenda, this is wonderful! How did you come to be here?” Erik asked.

“It’s a long story,” Douglas said.

“I’d love to hear it,” he said. Before anyone could say anything else, Colby stepped forward and thrust his hand between Douglas and Brenda.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Laird. My name is Colby Trueson. I’m a simple trader, always in search of new opportunities. I helped Douglas escaped, and I hope that will bring me favor when I try and arrange a deal with you.”

Erik didn’t seem to mind the man as much as Brenda did. “I’m sure that can be taken into consideration. Come in, please. Have some food, make yourself at home. It’s been too long, Douglas. I want to hear everything that happened.”

Douglas’s stomach churned. He was in this place that he had once called home, but it wasn’t home to him any longer. For so long, his home had been a prison cell, and he had been surrounded by enemies. He had learned to miss no detail in case anyone proved a threat to him, and as such, he knew that Brenda had been looking at him on their journey here. He felt guilty for having to push her away, but there was no use humoring her interest any longer when she had done what he needed her to do. He had hated lying to her, though. The truth was that the Highlands were different from Norway. As soon as he had stepped back on that hallowed land, his heart was filled with hope, and it was as though his spirits had been renewed. The air was different from what he had been used to, sweeter, and the surrounding area burst with color. He had been overwhelmed with emotion, but he had gotten used to keeping it all buried inside him, so he showed no trace of his true feelings to Brenda.

Then he had seen the village. It was just as he remembered it, as though the past two years had never happened. And yet, at the same time, he knew he was a stranger. He had been plucked away from this place, and everyone had continued with their lives. There were children scampering about who had not even been born when he left. It may have only been two years, but in some ways, it felt like a lifetime.

And then there was Erik. The closer they got to his home, the more Douglas’s stomach tightened and twisted, as though a cord of rope was being knotted inside him. He didn’t know what to do or say when Erik presented himself, and he certainly didn’t know how to react when Erik came up to embrace him.

For a moment, Douglas’s mind flashed back to a time when they had really been brothers—when they had trained and feasted together—and it hadn’t mattered that one of them was a Viking and the other a Highlander. They were both men, and they had vowed to be with each other until death caught up with them. But then Erik had left him.

As Douglas’s arms wrapped around Erik, he was almost tempted to squeeze as hard as he could until Erik’s ribs cracked and his entire body snapped, but he stopped himself. That wasn’t part of the plan. Instead, he bore the sorrow and kept pushing his emotion down inside him, wishing that he could push it so far down that it wouldn’t exist at all.

They moved into the kitchen, and Erik fetched them some food and drink. He slapped the table, unable to wipe the smile on his face.

“This is such a happy occasion! I can’t wait until Sigrid returns, and you have to meet our son as well. Oh, Douglas, you really are a sight for sore eyes! Tell me how you escaped. I’m glad that your spirit was unwavering,” he said.

Douglas went through the story that he and Colby had concocted together. The words were emotionless up until the point when he got to the most recent part, where he had washed up on the shore and had been found by Brenda. He turned to look at her, and he wasn’t quite sure what it was; perhaps it was the way she was sitting or how the light that poured in through the window framed her in a golden radiance, but she looked stunning. Breath caught in his throat, and his heart skipped a beat as he looked at the way her red hair curled as it flowed down the sides of her face, and how she gazed at him intently. She had shown him nothing but kindness, and he was going to throw it right back in her face. He steeled himself against his emotion because he couldn’t let any hint of weakness creep into his mind. Erik hadn’t shown any such weakness when he had left Norway, when he had left Douglas in the clutches of the Bjork clan.

“That’s remarkable, Douglas. I’m really proud of you. You’ve been through so much, and now you are home. This is wonderful news,” Erik said. “It’s fitting that we should all be back together.”

“Aye, although ye managed tae make it home a wee bit sooner than I,” Douglas said.

For the first time since Douglas entered, the smile fell from Erik’s face. He nodded softly. “I know. I’m sure that Brenda has told you all that has happened here over the past two years. I want to say that I’m sorry, Douglas. I never intended to leave you there. When I returned with Sigrid to rescue the prisoners, you had been taken away somewhere else. I couldn’t find you, and I simply didn’t have the time to search for you. It has weighed heavily on my heart since that day. I have continued to pray to the gods every day that you would be safe, and I’m glad to see that my prayers have been answered.”

The apology took Douglas by surprise. It almost made everything better—almost—but the anger had burned for too long in Douglas’s heart. The apology was hollow. Two years had passed. Two years. In all that time, Erik hadn’t sent a raiding party to Norway to rescue him, nor had he made overtures to Gorm to offer anything in return for Douglas’s freedom. Erik might have felt guilty, and well he should, but that didn’t change the fact that he had let Douglas down, and Douglas wasn’t about to let him off that easily. Erik had been able to enjoy two years of life, while Douglas had been left in the wilderness. Being back here just reminded Douglas of all that had been taken from him, and his heart trembled with anger.