Raven: Blood Eye (46 page)

'Listen to him, Hereric,' Hunwald said. 'If you're wrong . . .' he paused, letting the thought sink in, 'it will be the last mistake you ever make.' He turned to the others. 'Look, we're safe enough cutting the Norseman's throat. No harm can come of that. But no one touches Cynethryth. Christ, lads! She's the ealdorman's daughter!' The others grunted and nodded, then turned to watch the distant longship once more, as though hoping for some last sign from their lord.

I noticed a fire pit beyond the shelters, a circle of sootblackened rocks, and it confirmed what I had thought. These men had been left behind to guard
Serpent
. I guessed that Ealdred lacked the seamen to take both ships across the sea and he had chosen
Fjord-Elk
, perhaps because it was the less fire-damaged of the two longships, and now he was gone. I cursed those bitches the Norns. If not for these Englishmen, I would have somehow put together a crew and taken
Serpent
after Ealdred and caught him upon the grey sea. There he would have died, and I would have thrown his body to the fish. But I could do none of this now, because Hunwald and three grim-faced men were striding towards us and their swords were in their hands.

'Lady Cynethryth, we have our orders. The Norseman cannot live,' Hunwald said, kneeling to cut Cynethryth free so that the others could deal with me.

'It's not your fault, Hunwald,' Cynethryth said, standing and rubbing her red wrists. 'Though it is no wonder my father left you behind. He needs men with him who can think for themselves. Not worms who fear their own shadows.'

Hunwald ignored the insult though it was obvious it stung his pride. 'Go back to your father's hall, girl,' he said disrespectfully, 'and be grateful that I will send one of my men to escort you. Go now. Or, if you prefer,' he said, turning to me, 'you may stay to watch us open this dog's belly.' He grinned with a malice that did not suit his face. I struggled against the rope binding my wrists, ice-cold fear squeezing my heart because I was about to die a dishonourable death, unarmed and unnoticed by Óðin's dark maidens. I was more afraid than I had ever been, and I tried to hide my fear by shouting insults at those who gathered to kill me.

'You are sons of Welsh whores! You're pig snot! Dogs and bastards!' Just as I was about to die Cynethryth screamed and threw her arms round Hunwald's neck and he did not throw her off because he felt the blade of her eating-knife at his windpipe.

'Get away from him!' she screamed at the Wessexmen. 'I'll rip Hunwald's throat out! Stay back!' The others stopped dead.

'Careful, Cynethryth!' I said. There was blood at Hunwald's throat. 'Don't kill him before I get free.'

'Get away!' she screamed again and this time the others backed off, holding their hands up. 'Hunwald, throw your knife to Raven.'

'You mad bitch,' Hunwald squeaked under his breath. 'You're a dead whore now.'

'Give him your knife! I won't say it again!' she shouted. Hunwald drew his long knife and threw it to the shingle. I shuffled over and cut through the ropes, then exchanged places with Cynethryth and held the knife at Hunwald's throat, my other arm round his chest. I could feel him trembling through his leather armour.

'Take his sword, Cynethryth,' I said, which she did, forcing it into my empty scabbard because it did not fit well. Then she fetched two spears and my own sword from a rock by the shelters and stood beside me, gripping the weapons with white knuckles.

'You going to stand there till judgement day, Norseman?' Hereric sneered. He was pockmarked and ugly and I hoped I would be able to kill him. 'Because I'd like to see that, I would. You'll get tired, and then we'll spill your guts across the beach for the gulls. Yours too, bitch,' he said to Cynethryth.

'Not before we've fucked the life from you,' another warrior shouted with a childish grin. He was the youngest, by the look of him, and his eyes sought the other men's approval. But they ignored him.

'Throw down your blades,' I said, forcing Hunwald's chin up with the knife.

'Don't do it, lads,' Hunwald muttered through clenched teeth, trying to regain his courage, for the others had seen the terror in his face.

'You want me to cut your throat, Englishman?' I hissed.

'You won't do that,' Hereric answered for him, shaking his bald head. 'You know what they'll do to the bitch. Or do you think you can take all twelve of us?'

Some of the men laughed. Others threatened me. All itched to hack me to death.

So we waited, the Wessexmen not attacking for fear I would kill Hunwald, but knowing that it was a simple matter of time before they got what they wanted. Some of them would get more than they wanted, I promised myself. Some would die.

The sun had burned the sky red and orange and gilded the rolling waves out at sea when the Wessexmen began to grow restless. My arm burned from holding the knife at Hunwald's throat, but I did not know what else to do, and now I could see in some of the men's faces that they were building up to come for me even though it would mean Hunwald's death. I had heard Bjarni say that boredom can kill a man and I smiled grimly at the memory, because boredom was about to kill Hunwald.

Cynethryth had stuck my sword in the sand so that she could grab it easily and she still clutched the spears, watching, still sharp.
My peregrine,
I thought. Not once did she seek their favour or pity. She had planted her banner and proved as steadfast as any warrior I have ever known. But it was getting dark, the western sun throwing our shadows like thin, misshapen giants across the salt marsh. Like all hunters the Wessexmen saw in the approaching night their ally. Soon then they would come at us from all sides and in my heart I knew I would be lucky to kill a single one other than Hunwald. But Hunwald would die. Whatever the Norns had woven, they could not unpick that thread.

A horse whinnied. I looked across at the Wessexmen's mounts which were tethered to stakes driven into the sand at the top of the beach where they could feed on sea lavender and viper's bugloss. But the beasts were not eating now. They flared their nostrils and dragged their forelegs across the shingle, rattling the stones. Another whinny, the noise shrill against the low breath of the surf. The Wessexmen looked around nervously.

'Go and see what's spooking them,' Hereric said to the man beside him who nodded and walked off towards the horses. 'Wybert, go with him.'

Hunwald suddenly jerked forward but I yanked my arm even tighter round his neck and he gasped.

'Don't test me again, Hunwald,' I hissed. The muscle in my arm was trembling and cramping but Hunwald must have known he had missed his last chance to break free.

'Where in Saint Aidan's beard did they get to?' Hereric said suddenly, watching me with baleful eyes. I had forgotten about the two men who had gone to the horses some time before. Darkness had fallen across the salt marsh and only the shingle by the sea was touched by the stars' light. The horses were quiet now.

A warrior gestured back towards the horses, seeking Hereric's permission, and when the ugly man nodded a knot of Wessexmen gathered their shields and ran up the beach. The others remained facing us, waiting for either Hunwald or Hereric to tell them what to do.

'Jarl Sigurd?' Cynethryth said. But I did not answer her because I was concentrating on keeping the blade at Hunwald's throat and my arm across his chest.

'They're not here, Hereric!' a man called from the top of the marsh.

'What are you saying, man?' Hereric shouted, the edge of fear in his voice.

A stone clacked near the Wessexmen and when they turned to the sound a spear thudded into Hereric's back. He screamed, fell to his knees and then collapsed on to his belly, still screaming. The English crouched low because they were not holding shields. They called out in alarm to each other and to Hereric too who lay on the stones yelling in agony. They were fools because in their panic they had not thought to make the shieldwall. They squatted anxiously on the shingle, their weapons quivering in their hands. Then another man cried out in the darkness. Frightened faces looked to Hunwald, but they would get no advice from him because I was squeezing his windpipe so that he could barely breathe.

'Come on, Hrothgar,' one of the crouching men snarled and he and the other stood and stepped towards me and I knew they meant to finish it. Then Hrothgar spun and fell clutching his face, pulling at the bone hilt of the knife that jutted from his cheek. He gurgled and bawled and the other man bent, stepping back into the shadows.

'Who's doing this, Raven?' Cynethryth muttered. She gripped her spear and stepped towards the screaming Wessexman.

'Leave him,' I said because the man's wailing along with Hereric's was terrifying these English and as long as their heads were filled with fear they would not be filled with sense. They should have been afraid, for death was stalking them in the salt marsh and that death was silent and cruel.

But the men who had gone to the horses were marching back down the beach towards us now and their shields were overlapping. The three crouching on the shingle saw the small shieldwall and slowly stood, looking to each other for courage.

'We've got to move, Cynethryth,' I said, stepping backwards, pulling Hunwald with me. She nodded. Then I saw a shadow fly across a Wessexman and he went down without a sound.

'Floki,' I whispered and I could not help but smile even as the English shieldwall strode towards us.

'Ready to kneel before your god, Hunwald?' I spat. Then I ripped the knife through his neck and threw his corpse to the shingle and stood before Cynethryth, sword raised. 'A spear, Cynethryth,' I called and she threw me one. I hurled it at a man but he turned and the spear flew wide.

Then Black Floki appeared beside me, shieldless and blood-spattered. His feet were bare which must have been how he had moved silent as the breeze amongst the English, cutting them down.

'Sigurd?' he asked, staring fiercely at the approaching Wessexmen.

'There was a fight. I don't know,' I said. He looked at me, his cheeks and jaw sharp lines beneath his black beard. 'Thank you, Floki,' I said. He tilted his head. 'You could have stayed a spirit and guarded Sigurd's silver.'

'And watch these bastards cut down one of the Fellowship?' he asked, his teeth flashing in the reflected starlight.

I grimaced and took Cynethryth's hand. 'Any ideas, brother?'

He spat towards the Wessexmen who were emboldened now that they could see their attacker. 'Ask the girl if she can swim,' he said.

I turned and looked at the sea and Cynethryth must have understood for she squeezed my hand. 'I am ready,' she said. The Wessexmen were twenty paces away.

'Now!' I yelled and we turned and ran into the breaking surf, pushing out until the cold water was up to our chests and still further until my feet began to flail for the sandy bed. Any deeper and our mail would drag us under and we would drown. I tried to say as much to Floki but salt water poured into my mouth and I choked.

A spear splashed nearby and Floki yanked my hair and pointed to a low tooth of rock that broke through the water.

'Cynethryth, can you make that?' I asked, not knowing if I could get there myself. She nodded, her hair slick against her skull and the whites of her eyes gleaming.

'Let's hope Rán is asleep,' I gurgled. Cynethryth was helping me more than I was helping her, but the tiny island was getting closer. Slowly.

We hauled ourselves up through slippery kelp on to the rock and lay there exhausted as the surf beat and sucked at the island. I saw blood mixing with water on Cynethryth's legs and arms where barnacles had ripped her skin, then I looked back to the shore, a white jagged line of breaking surf. The beach itself was cloaked in darkness.

'At least they can't see us,' I said, taking Cynethryth's hand again. The Wessexmen's shouts carried to us across the water but got no louder, which meant they were staying put.

'If those swine row out here with bows we'll have to think of something else,' Floki said. He had left his helmet on the beach and now he was casually loosening his braids and squeezing water from his black hair whilst Cynethryth and I shivered in the dark.