LITMIR.BIZ

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inside Haakon twisted. She expected death. He was not so far gone that he would kill a woman in cold blood.

      ‘That is why you are under my protection. No harm will come to you.’ Haakon inclined his head. ‘Bjorn was valuable to my people. You must understand this. No one thought he could be killed, least of all by a woman.’

      ‘He was going to kill you, this…this berserker of yours, after my maid caused you to trip and fall. I did what I would have done for anyone.’ Her voice rose slightly. She scrambled to bring together a few jewels and held them out. ‘Let me go. Leave me here. Take these and go.’

      Haakon stared at the slender woman in disbelief. He pushed the jewels away.

      Did she realise the penalties? Did she not understand what was happening out there?

      When he and his men had finished, no building would remain standing. They had not come seeking this fight, but they refused to turn away from a challenge. The next time, the people of this island might not be so eager to resist the legitimate demands of the Viken. No more would they tolerate those who lied, cheated and attempted to abuse their goodwill. The felag had come to trade, but had found a war.

      Her body shook and the area around her mouth was pale. She reminded him of a highly strung horse. He wanted to tame her, to make her understand, so she would be able to live.

      ‘Where are your warriors?’

      ‘My warriors?’

      ‘Yes, the men who would look after you. Such a prize as yourself would not be left unguarded.’

      ‘All the men here are engaged in fighting you and your kind.’

      He gestured towards the small window. ‘Out there, it is a scene from the end of the world. You do not wish to be there.’

      ‘You are not giving me the option?’ Her green eyes blazed defiantly. ‘It was not me or my people who started this fight. I will go now.’

      She started to move past him, but Haakon reached out his hand and held her firmly, preventing her from moving. He could see her heart beating at the base of her throat.

      ‘If I let you go, you will lose your life. There are others like my friend out there…on both sides.’

      Annis angrily tore her arm away. ‘I shall take my chances.’

      ‘Trust me.’

      ‘The Abbot was cut down, destroyed with one blow of this man’s axe, and you stood by.’ She choked back the words ‘my uncle’. It would not do for him to discover who she was. ‘I saw you. You were in charge of your warriors. He bid you welcome. You and you alone have brought death and destruction here.’

      ‘Where were you?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘I failed to notice any woman in the welcoming party. Perhaps your Latin is not as good as you would like to believe. We came in peace and were attacked. As I told the Abbot, we only wanted the gold due to us, the gold promised. It was a monk who attacked first.’

      ‘I watched from the window. The Abbot was…was a good man.’

      ‘His death was regrettable. As you have killed the man who struck him, perhaps you will consider it avenged.’ Haakon ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up on end. ‘We came wanting the coin owed for our fur and amber, and offering our services for protection. Good men fell today for no reason.’

      ‘Yes, they did.’ Annis’s throat closed. She refused to cry in front of Haakon, this barbarian who had saved her. Later she’d mourn her uncle and the rest of those who had fallen. Now she had to plan a way of escaping him and alerting the lords of the nearby estates to the danger of these raiders.

      The smell of smoke increased and the floorboards became warm underneath her feet. She heard the slight crackle of fire.

      ‘We must move and get away from this place. My men have orders to set fire to all the buildings.’

      ‘I would rather die than move.’ Annis placed her hands on her knees and wondered how she could walk a few steps.

      ‘You will die, if you do not do as you are told.’ A faint, sardonic smile crossed his lips. ‘And you lie.’

      ‘How so?’ She tilted her head. How dare this barbarian Jaarl provoke her with his insolent speech!

      ‘You have already shown you have a great desire to live. You will come with me and I will get you to a place of safety.’

      Annis swallowed hard. She had made one gigantic mistake today. She should have left Haakon to face his own man. But he was correct. She had to go. Her only hope was that she could somehow escape when they were outside. She would have to watch for her chance and be prepared to run and hide. She swallowed hard, hating him. ‘I will do as you say…for now.’

      ‘You will do as I say if you want to live to an old age.’ His voice hardened. ‘We go.’

      Annis started to gather up her belongings. Her hand hovered over her mirror, now scratched.

      ‘What are you doing?’

      ‘Getting my things.’

      ‘You will not need them.’ Haakon bent and retrieved her dagger and cleaned it before he held out it to her. ‘But you will need this.’

      She regarded it with suspicion. Exactly what was he intending? He knew she had killed with it before. She could use it to escape. Before he could change his mind, she grasped the dagger and tucked it into her belt.

      His hand closed around her wrist. ‘Do I carry you or do you walk?’

      ‘I walk.’

      He went first down the stairs, his sword in front of them, stopping to check at corners. When they emerged, the sky was black, the air oozed smoke. The scene in front of them was what hell must look like. Annis regarded the piles of looted bounty that stood at various points with revulsion. Tapestries from her uncle’s solarium, broken jewel-encrusted crosses and chests of gold. A pile of vellum and codex books burnt in the centre courtyard. A lump of tears formed in her throat and she used the back of her hand to wipe across her eyes. All that learning and knowledge gone. She wanted to rush in and pull the burning bibles from the fire, but Haakon’s hand held her wrist firmly. There was no escape.

      More than anything, the scene brought her predicament home to her. This was not some night fancy from which she’d awake to see the smiling face of her nurse. Everything on Lindisfarne had been wilfully and wantonly destroyed. The world had changed. Irrevocably.

      Annis started when Haakon did not lead her towards the boats or the others. Instead, he headed towards a small knoll a little way away from the scenes of the destruction.

      Here the air was clearer, although the sun shone red through the haze of smoke. A few rocks provided a bit of rough shelter and the cries and crashing were a distant blur of noise. Overhead a seagull circled, oblivious to chaos and confusion below.

      Haakon’s fingers loosened on Annis’s wrist, freeing her. She stood rubbing her wrist, not quite understanding why he had brought her here. He walked around the rocks in silence, then made a satisfied noise in the back of his throat.

      ‘You will be safe here. Wait until my men and I have left and then go across the causeway. Quickly. Never look back. Return to your home.’

      ‘Why are you doing this?’

      ‘A life for a life.’ He put his hand under her chin. ‘Here we say goodbye, Valkyrie.’

      Annis blinked back the sudden hot tears. He was freeing her. She had thought she was a captive and he had set her free. She knew she should move away from him. His fingers were no more than the gentlest of touches on her chin.

      ‘Goodbye, Haakon Haroldson, Jaarl of Viken,’ she whispered with her lips a mere breath away from his.

      ‘You can do better than that.’

      Without

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