Norse Valor (3 page)

“Big ass son of a bitch, huh?”

Svana nodded, her eyes never leaving Vakr. Though Vakr gave
his word he wouldn’t harm her brother, she saw his fingers curl into fists
until Svana disengaged David’s arms from around her. In the darkness, Vakr was
big; in the morning sun, he was massive. He was quite the sight. His shoulder-length
dark-blond hair rode the current breeze. He was bare-chested with bulging
muscles. His long strong legs were encased in light brown leather that hugged
his hips. Darker leather boots came just to his knees. A dagger hung at his
waist in a leather sheath. A sword was strapped to his back. Impressive was
such a small word to describe him, or his magnificence. Vakr looked like a
Viking God, or so Svana imagined.

“Who carries a sword that large? I mean really,” David
scoffed. “Is he overcompensating for something?”

It was on the tip of Svana’s tongue to say no, he wasn’t
overcompensating; his dick was huge and well-matched for his body size. She
refrained, knowing it would upset her brother. She hadn’t lied to David, because
Vakr hadn’t touched her…well at least he hadn’t raped her. She had been so
terrified of him and his insanity, Vakr had become distressed with her pathetic
pleading. Svana wasn’t prone to tears, normally, but last night she couldn’t
help it. Images of raping, murdering Vikings had invaded her thoughts. And if
he thought he was a Viking, what would he do with her first?

Instead of causing her harm, Vakr had pulled her to his
chest and stroked her face. His nose nuzzled her cool cheek. He mumbled soft
words in his native tongue meant to soothe her. In her own language, he
promised her he was a man of his word and would not hurt her. He had rocked her
like a child until she felt herself calm down. She had been calmed by his
oh-so-tender embrace. His tone was pleasant, deep and calming. His body had
been so warm, and the night air so cold.

Svana wasn’t certain when she had fallen asleep. When she
had awoken in the night something hard was jabbing into her belly. There was no
light in their confined space. For a moment she had thought herself to be on
the yacht. Her hand had slipped lower, closed around the object and pushed.
Vakr had moaned in his sleep. Svana had frozen and immediately remembered where
she was and who she was with. Mortified, she realized Vakr had stripped off his
pants and she was fondling his cock. Svana had snatched her hand away and tried
to scoot farther from him, but fell off the fur-covered pallet with a startled
yelp when her behind had connected with the hard wood. Vakr had jumped over
after her. Svana had lain helpless in his arms when he settled her back onto
the bed. Gentle hands and calm words once more had coaxed her into slumber.

“Vakr put his sword on this morning. All of his men have
weapons, but not all wear their swords. They all have knives though,” she
whispered back to David.

“I’m aware of that,” he replied, his tone gruff. “I tried to
get to you last night. I was so worried about you.”

Svana looked deeply into his eyes. “Did they hurt you?”

“No.”

“But they scared you, didn’t they?”

David wouldn’t return her look. Instead he fingered the fine
material of her beautiful golden long gown.

Svana had been stunned with its authentic beauty. Vakr had
taste. She wondered who the gown was intended for. Perhaps Vakr had a wife back
home, or a lover. She was surprised when she had felt an odd sense of jealousy
encompass her. There was no reason to feel jealous about Vakr. The man was hot
and very sweet, but she still felt he was a French fry short of a
Happy Meal
.

“Can he pull rabbits out of a hat, too?” David asked.

“Vakr had Ari bring me this.” Svana had felt an odd sense of
relief finding out it was Ari’s. “It’s on loan to me. It’s for Ari’s wife. I
think the man has a crush on me, and Vakr seems none too happy with the idea. I
was also given food and what Vakr called ale. Who has booze for breakfast? Talk
about yuck.”

“At least they fed you,” David grouched.

“Didn’t you get anything?”

David shifted back and forth onto his heels. He looked
guilty.

“You sent it back!”

“The bread was stale, the stuff they call ale was half water.
It was gross, Svana,” he whined. “Like someone pissed in it.”

Svana shook her head at him. “David, please try and control
your temper. I don’t know what’s going on but every one of these men thinks he
is a Viking…”

“Mass insanity,” he cut her off with a high-pitched squeal
in his tone. “Every one of them has lost their marbles. And Vakr said I have to
row. Me, row? The man really is insane. What’s down there, whips and chains?”

Svana was disturbed by the tone of David’s voice. She took a
good look at his haggard expression. His clothes, ratty threadbare cloth, were
askew and rumpled. He looked terrified. A small bruise was on his chin and his
wrists were chafed. Svana felt her face blaze; she was furious.

Did someone hurt my
brother?

She grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him to Vakr.
Svana’s eyes narrowed onto the huge man and her battle stance was unshakable.
She was going to get to the bottom of this so help them…

“What did your men do to my brother?” she demanded.

“He was not harmed,” Vakr replied grimly. “It was why Ari
took you below last eve instead of me. I spoke to my men about your brother and
that he was not to be injured.”

Svana stomped her food onto the hard wooden deck. “What did
they do?” she ground out.

“They merely tied him up and threatened to throw him
overboard. Ari cut him loose. He’s fine,” Vakr said.

“You promised to keep us safe!” Svana howled with rage.

Vakr ran his hand through his hair. “He will not be coddled.”

“Coddled!”
she
screamed. “Tied up and threatened with death is not coddling; it’s attempted
murder. One against thirty, what brave men you have in your command. Do you or
do you not have control over your cutthroat heathens?”

“They were playing with him, Svana.”

“Find them a new toy,” she ground out through gritted teeth.
“Or perhaps they would like to play with me.” Svana lifted her hands and curled
her long fingernails into claws. She scraped them across her palms. The
scratching sound left nothing to the imagination. She wanted Vakr to know she
would shred every one of them to bits…itty bitty bits.

Vakr looked at David who was hanging slightly back and
wringing his hands. Vakr narrowed his eyes onto him. “Are you certain you are
twins?”

“I wasn’t threatened last night. You’re not being fair,”
Svana insisted.

“My men have been informed to leave him alone,” Vakr said then
let out a heavy sigh.

“But will they listen to you?” she asked. Her arms crossed
over her chest and she looked at him disdainfully.

Svana suddenly found herself wrapped in massive arms. Vakr
looked furious. She yelped in surprise when he yanked her to his chest. For a
second Svana thought Vakr meant to strike her. So too apparently, did David. A
blood-curdling scream came from behind her and as her hair rose on end, she
groaned inwardly. David launched himself at Vakr. Svana felt herself torn from
Vakr’s embrace. She went spinning to the deck. David’s fists were pummeling
Vakr.

“David, no!” she yelled.

Both men were locked in battle. David screamed again. Vakr
rent the air with a battle cry that made Svana’s breath catch. Svana didn’t
know what to do. From the corner of her eye she saw men pile onto the deck. Her
heart was pounding in her chest. Vakr smashed his fist into David’s nose. David
stumbled and returned the punch. Svana knew her brother would die for her.
Oh
God,
he could die.
David was no match for Vakr.

“Stop, please. Vakr, no,” she begged. “You promised to
protect us.”

Vakr shoved David from him. Two large open hands slammed
onto David’s chest. David went sprawling backwards to the deck butt first. He
jumped up and placed himself between Vakr and Svana. David’s breath was coming
in great heaves, and his eyes were wild. Blood dripped from his nose. Vakr
glared at him, unharmed. The man hadn’t even broken a sweat. Both men looked
furious.

“You leave my little sister alone,” David snarled.

“Little sister?” Vakr inquired, eyes wide.

“Look at you,” David snapped. “You’re built like a brick
shithouse. She’s like a damned doll next to you. Bloody right, she’s little.”

Vakr looked enlightened. “I was not going to harm her. It
would seem you’re not as puny as I first thought. You do have fight in you.
That is good. You’ll need it.”

Vakr shouted some words to Ari who came forward with two
other men. They dragged David below kicking and howling. Svana tried to go with
him but Vakr caught her around the waist, stilling her flight.

“He’s hurt,” Svana cried out. She struggled against Vakr to
no avail.

“He will be fine. In truth, he’s lucky he is alive. If any
other man had attacked me onboard he would be dead already and heaved over the
side for the sharks,” Vakr said and spun her in his arms to look down at her.
“He felt you were in danger, his blood kin. I understand that. I may not be so
understanding of a recurrence.”

Svana heard the threat. “He can’t help it. David loves me.
He would put himself in danger for no other, including himself.”

“I will keep that in mind when I teach him to fight his way
out of wet holey wool.” Vakr grinned then seemed to think of something. “I will
also teach him a new battle cry. By the Gods, he sounded like a dying banshee. Or
an old woman bit by a snake.”

Svana felt heat flame her cheeks. “He can’t help that
either,” she muttered.

Vakr’s finger under her chin tilted her face up, forcing her
to meet his gaze. “I will not hurt you. You will just have to trust me. Do not
ever question my men’s loyalty again. Mutiny is a dangerous word aboard a
vessel. Your words came too close. My men would die for me and I them.”

Svana gazed up into troubled blue eyes. “I hurt your honor,”
Svana said wisely.

Vakr nodded. “Nothing is more important than honor.”

“I’m sorry, Vakr. I was angry. My brother is important to
me. I love him, too. I was worried about him, I still am.”

“Do not fear, Svana. I am a man of my word.”

“What will happen to David below deck?”

“He is being taught to row.”

“Taught to row?” she said taken aback.

“Yes row.”

“David can row a boat, Vakr. Any moron can row a boat,” she
said dryly.

“Really?” Vakr looked amused.

Vakr took Svana by the hand and led her to the side of the
vessel. Her gaze traveled to either end of the craft. With a dragon head on
both ends it was impossible to differentiate between the bow and the stern.
Both she and Vakr looked down over the side. Svana was surprised to see many
oars in the water. A small square opening allowed each paddle access to the
water. Svana could see the possibilities. At any different time they could
about-face and the stern could become the bow or vice versa. What an amazing
strategic maneuver. It would enable them to avoid collision, or if they were
really Vikings, they could avoid an attack… What was she thinking? Svana gave
herself a sound shake.

Each long paddle lifted in unison. She imagined the power
behind their strokes. It was impressive to say the least. The sheer strength to
slide a boat this large through the ocean was phenomenal. Vakr then led her to
the other side of his vessel. Again oars rose and fell like moving poetry…all
except one.

One oar lifted too high then crashed into a wave. The force
of the wave sent it back into another oar. The wood crashed. The oar was then
sent flying into the oar in front of it. Svana could hear a lot of yelling from
this side. David’s name was mentioned often. The wayward oar dropped straight
down and now she could hear David yelling. Svana put her hand to her mouth.

“Do your men understand him?” she asked worriedly.

“A few took the time to learn the language. We were not in a
place called England long—we were most unwelcome in the tiny village we stopped
at. They too had never heard of us. They named us heathens and infidels. It
amused us to stay for a short time. They were cut off from their lord and when
faced with warriors they became somewhat more accommodating. We left them
unharmed for the most part. They were threatened into silence of our existence.
I’m certain they complied with our terms.

“Some of your words are odd, different from what we learned
and you talk with an accent. Let us hope Baldr and Ing don’t realize David just
claimed their mothers were…what was that? Cross dressers? Do your people wear
crosses on your dresses?”

Svana couldn’t help herself, she giggled. “David has always
had a temper.”

“Let us hope his temper remains well-matched with his right
cross.”

Svana smirked when Vakr rubbed at his jaw.
Puny, my ass.

* * *
*

Svana sat with David ondeck near the bow. The other men were
also ondeck eating dinner. Svana chewed on her jerky. And chewed…and chewed.
The facial expression David made when he took a bite of the dried meat made it
look like he was eating bat crap. Though he was wise enough to stay silent, his
jaw moved up and down in an exaggerated motion. He looked like a disgruntled
camel. David was glaring at two men who returned the glare.

“Making friends I see. Are you playing nice?” Svana asked
him.

“I’m envisioning running them over with my car.”

“It won’t be long. Vakr said we should see land by morning.
We can call Daddy then.”

“And hire really mean hitmen…with SUVs.”

Svana chuckled. Vakr approached them. He knelt before her.

David’s eyes never left his adversaries.

“I have been saving this,” Vakr said. In his palm was a
round light hunk of something.