Viking Ecstasy (37 page)

❧

The rocky terrain caused Tanaka to lose her footing several times, a problem exacerbated by clouds that blotted out the moonlight at the most critical moments.

"How far do you think we have gone?" she asked Hanif, the young Egyptian man who had volunteered to travel with her.

"Far enough so that Tabor will not find us," he replied, answering the question that Tanaka had wanted to ask but hadn't.

Tanaka paused for a moment, looking back. The terrain — rocky, hilly, and thickly wooded — differed from that of her own land, and this difference heightened her loneliness. She felt displaced. She had gone far enough from the encampment so that should Tabor discover her absence before Jafar revealed it to him, he would not be able to catch her. But she was still a long way from the port village of Karak, where Ingmar the Savage was said to be anchored. What would happen if she couldn't find Ingmar? What if he didn't believe her when she told him that Tabor wanted a second try at a negotiated truce?

She pushed such doubts and fears forcibly away. She would find Ingmar; he would listen and believe her, and the moon's eclipse of the sun would happen exactly as her tarot had predicted.

"Let's keep going," Tanaka said quietly. "I want to get there as quickly as possible."

And I want to stop worrying with every breath I inhale.

Quietly, Tanaka leading the way, the two travelers continued in the darkness, walking to meet a man Tanaka loathed with every fiber in her body.

A
s the men ate their morning meal, the low buzz of conversation relayed the news that Tanaka had left in the night. News beyond that was sketchy. There were several stories making the rounds, but the main tale had it that Tanaka couldn't accept the fighting another moment and was determined to walk back to Egypt. This story was accepted by some of the men, but hotly denied by others who said the high priestess would never abandon the men or her husband. Besides, you couldn't walk back to Egypt. Tabor understood that the men had to talk this out of their system, had to let their imaginations roam —at least for a little while.

Only when all had finished eating did Tabor move to stand in the midst of the men, surrounded by ninety-nine curious, wary warriors.

"Men, listen carefully," Tabor began, speaking loudly so that all could hear. "Tanaka has gone to Ingmar." There was an immediate murmur of disbelief among the men. Tabor raised his hands for silence. "She has not become a traitor. The opposite is true."

Slowly and carefully so that there would be no misunderstanding, Tabor told the men of Tanaka's "vision" and how she believed that if they were in Ingmar's camp when the moon ate the sun, they would be able to attack and defeat the Northmen despite the difference in their numbers.

"I can't make you go," Tabor said. "If the sun does not turn to night when Tanaka says it will, we will be in the belly of Ingmar the Savage. Have no doubts. ... if he thinks he can kill us, he will. The man shows no mercy. You've seen what happens when Ingmar and his men raid . . ."

Tabor paused, letting the men contemplate the gravity of his words. Stark images of razed villages and the hollow-eyed numbness of the few survivors preyed on the minds of the men.

"I'll be going to Karak, where Ingmar has made camp. There is no dishonor to any of you who do not wish to come."

Sven was smiling, shaking his head in private humor as he slipped his quiver full of arrows over his shoulder. "Of all the women in the world, you had to fall in love with one who has visions!" he said, then laughed aloud.

It had never even occurred to Sven that he might not follow Tabor.

Tabor was surprised, though he later felt that he should not have been, when every single man volunteered to go with him to Karak. Twice more he explained the dangers to the Egyptian men, as well as to his own Vikings, just to make certain they understood the dangers of what they were about to undertake.

Not one soldier wavered in his commitment.

❧

"This is a trick," Ingmar said, scowling.

"She has only one man with her," Hugh said. He had expected his older brother to be more pleased with the news that Tanaka was in Karak —and with him for being the messenger of that news. "I put extra guards at each station, thinking —like you —it was a trap. But it's no trap, no trick."

"Where is she now?"

"In my house."

Ingmar was impatient to see Tanaka again, but he did not feel it would look good if he went to her. "Bring her to me," he growled, throwing himself in the heavy pine wood chair. "Just her. Leave the man under guard elsewhere. And make sure she doesn't carry a hidden dagger, a needle, or a vial of poison. She's a clever woman, and she must have good reason for coming here."

Hugh left the inn. This was his chance to return to his powerful older brother's good graces. It had been a long, cold winter, for Ingmar had blamed Hugh for Tabor's escape. Now, miraculously, it appeared as though his chance for redemption had literally walked into his grasp.

The village of Karak had several hundred permanent residents, though it could swell with large numbers of Vikings temporarily staying in the many hostels and inns for which the village was famous. Heads turned as Hugh ran down the hard-packed main road, moving past ox-drawn wagons, linen-sellers, and the money-lender's shop. Hugh didn't care if it were undignified for him to run. Everyone under Ingmar's command knew of Hugh's humiliation and demotion after Tabor's successful escape; but if he was successful now, everyone would hear how he had regained his status as Ingmar's closest and most trusted advisor.

The guard was still at the front door of the small hut where Hugh lived, though, against Hugh's orders, he had made himself comfortable on the ground.

Soon enough, the men will heed my commands just as carefully as they obey my brother's.
Hugh thought angrily, striding past the guard.

She was squatting on her heels on the mattress Hugh used for a bed. The swarthy man with her, Hanif, was sitting on the dirt floor. For an instant, Hugh was taken aback by Tanaka's beauty and the thought of forcing her to comply with his lusty wishes before taking her to see Ingmar filtered through his brain. If Hanif had not been there, he would have.

"Will he see us?" Tanaka asked, breaking into Hugh's violent, lustful reverie.

Her tone was imperious as she rose to her feet, and it annoyed Hugh, but he said nothing. She had made it absolutely clear that she had something very important to say, but she would say it only to Ingmar, implying that she didn't really like having to deal with inferior types like Hugh.

"Just you. Your friend stays here," Hugh replied, wishing passionately that he had the time to force Tanaka to respect him.

"Why?"

"Because I say!" Hugh snapped. He hated having to explain anything to her, his prisoner, and it was especially annoying that her companion held murder in his eyes. "We leave now."

With her shoulders square and a strong, dignified aura surrounding her, Tanaka walked with Hugh through the streets of Karak. All who looked at the beautiful stranger with the dark skin and the waist-length wavy black hair saw a woman perfectly poised, comfortable with herself and her surroundings. But that poise was a facade. Inside, her stomach quivered with fear, her heart beat erratically, and her mouth felt dry as a desert wind.

As Tanaka walked, she looked at the homes and buildings lining the narrow road and was disheartened to see the squalor that the residents of Karak took for granted. The homes were small, one-room structures with thatched roofs, painfully similar to the pockets of poverty and despair that peppered areas near the piers in her homeland. She wondered whether there was any wealth and prosperity in Karak or if it was a land of desolation, a place fit for the likes of Ingmar the Savage.

Then she looked into the eyes of an old-before-her-time woman with stringy brown hair holding a child to her breast. There were two more children, very young, clinging to the girl's dress, their faces dirty, blank, wooden in their sadness. Tanaka saw resentment, disillusion and malice in the eyes of the young mother. Clearly she recognized that Tanaka was in trouble and, since she herself led a miserable existence, she felt all other women —especially attractive ones —had no right to happiness.

As they neared the inn, Tanaka sensed immediately that Ingmar was inside. The inn was, by Karak standards, a lavish establishment, clean and well-kept, but the four men who lounged outside were unwashed, hard men who were out of place in clean, orderly surroundings.

Fresh waves of black, oily fear washed over Tanaka. The surroundings were different, but the atmosphere was identical to what she had experienced with Ingmar. Tanaka could practically smell his presence in the air, and the memories that awareness triggered sent a primal tremor through her spine.

When Tanaka hesitated at the door, Hugh put a hand on her shoulder and shoved hard. As Tanaka stumbled through the doorway, Hugh chuckled gleefully. Tanaka, and all women like her, had always been beyond Hugh's reach; but now that he had her within his grasp, he would make the most of it.

"There's no need for that," Tanaka hissed through clenched teeth, spinning to face her tormentor. "Keep your hands off me!"

Hugh enjoyed Tanaka's anger. When he remembered how Ingmar had been afraid that she was an assassin, his smile broadened.

"Put your hands out," he said, placing his fingers on the haft of the dagger at his hip. The threat was unmistakable. "I must be certain you are unarmed."

As soon as Tanaka extended her hands, Hugh reached for her breasts. If his face hadn't been twisted by such a pathetic leer, perhaps Tanaka would have been more frightened. As it was, she was merely disgusted by his brutish attempt to fondle her. She slapped his hands before he could touch her and took a step back.

"I came here of my own free will to speak with your brother, not to endure your clumsy hands."

Hugh pulled his dagger, his eyes red with hatred. Only the sound of Ingmar's deep voiced checked his violent impulses.

"I don't think we need to worry about her," Ingmar drawled, leaning against the doorjamb behind Hugh. "Let her pass. . . . and don't put your hands on her again. You can have her in due time, little brother, but you must wait until I am finished."

Their attitude turned Tanaka's stomach, but she kept silent behind a blank expression. She followed Ingmar into a large room. A small fire burned, and food bubbled in a heavy kettle, filling the room with its aroma. Ingmar tossed his heavy frame into the thick wooden chair that he favored and leered at Tanaka, making it insultingly clear that she should remain standing.

"I'm surprised to see you again. I'm even more surprised that you've come to me this time," Ingmar said, as his gaze traveled openly up and down Tanaka. He vividly recalled the days of her captivity.

"As opposed to being kidnapped, you mean?" Tanaka arched a disrespectful eyebrow.

Ingmar was shocked at how well she now spoke the language. It surprised him, too, that even after nearly a year, she still did not have that glazed, defeated look that was so common among captives — and so pitiful. He wondered why.

"Kahlid had an accident," Tanaka continued, bluffing, pretending she felt no fear at all. "He went against Tabor. It was a . . . fatal mistake."

It wasn't until she saw Ingmar's reaction to her news that Tanaka was absolutely certain that Kahlid and Ingmar had conspired to kidnap her. She had possessed all the facts before, but she hadn't wanted to believe a priest from her own temple could possibly practice such dark deceit.

For several long, silent moments the two looked at each other. Then, sensing there was nothing left to hide, Ingmar smiled. "Kahlid is dead? Killed by Tabor? That doesn't surprise me. Kahlid was ambitious, but he inspired no loyalty from his men. I knew they would turn on him eventually."

"His men didn't betray him. Tabor figured out that Kahlid was responsible for the bad things that had happened to me, and. ... he took matters into his own hands."

"And that is why you are here? To warn me that Tabor wants to kill me?" His short, coughing laugh held no humor. "If that is all that you have come to tell me, then we don't need to wait any longer to resume where we left off when I gave you to Tabor."

Tanaka raised her hand. The gesture indicated that she did not want Ingmar to rise from his chair. He would have ignored the silent command from anyone else. But with Tanaka —whether it was the hard, determined look in her eyes or the confident pose she struck, Ingmar could not say —he was frozen in place for a moment. He was distinctly aware that the beautiful Egyptian woman possessed a unique, unnerving power.

"If you listen to what I have to say, maybe you won't end your life with Tabor's arrow piercing your throat, like Kahlid did."

"I have no reason to fear Tabor," Ingmar boasted, but it was such a bald lie that he knew Tanaka did not believe it. He did not believe it himself. "I chased him from these waters once; I will do it again."

"Are you going to talk or listen?" Tanaka asked, her gaze dark and penetrating, boring into Ingmar.

"The last time you were with me you weren't so loose with your tongue," Ingmar replied testily, clearly not pleased with the Egyptian's confrontational attitude.

"That was last season," Tanaka replied flatly, dismissively. "This season, I'm a free woman, and the man who worked with you to see that I got kidnapped is rotting dishonorably in a beggar's grave." Tanaka forced her lips into a hard, thin, contemptuous smile steeled more by bluff than courage. "Times change. Not even you can alter fate."

Ingmar leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankle, letting his eyes roam over Tanaka. Her behavior, so cold and confident, shocked him. To be sure, she had never been demure, never cowed or broken by circumstances, but before she at least hadn't been openly abusive or challenging, as she was now. Had it been anyone other than Tanaka, Ingmar would have meted out immediate punishment for such temerity, but something in her bearing and poise whispered a warning in his ear.

She would not be behaving so brashly if she were not protected, Ingmar reasoned. He smiled then, to himself, feeling superior, believing he had seen through the first phase of Tanaka's deception.

"Why not tell me why you're here?" Ingmar said at last.

This time it was Tanaka's turn to be a little surprised. She hadn't thought she could hold Ingmar at bay and make him listen to her proposal so easily.

"May I sit?"

As a chair was brought round, Ingmar allowed himself a single, genuine smile. Tanaka's asking to be seated was an act of civility that surprised and pleased the ruthless Viking leader.

"Tomorrow, Tabor and all his men will be sailing into Karak," Tanaka began. She watched as Ingmar struggled to control his reaction to the news. Try as he might, he couldn't hide the trepidation that came with knowing Tabor was on his way. "He's not coming here to attack you. He's coming here to speak with you."

Ingmar laughed, hatefully but with relief. "Speak to me? He'd rather use his breath to spit in my eye!"

"Even if that were true, you could hardly blame him."

"Then you admit that he is planning to ambush me?"

"Not at all." Tanaka looked away, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. Such lying and deception did not come easily to her, no matter how great and worthy the cause. "Actually, Tabor is almost happy that you turned against him, because you at last taught him that if he wants to surround himself with certain luxuries, then he must surround himself with certain people. People like you, Ingmar. You are a man of strength as well as vision. Tabor has regained his physical strength, and he now has two ships in his fleet. His men are second to none. Surely, you must know that yourself by now, since Tabor has engaged your men several times in the past weeks."

A muscle ticked in Ingmar's jaw. Yes, he was only too well versed on the fighting skill of the men who sailed with Tabor. Every time the fighting started, Ingmar's men started dying; and, to the best of Ingmar's knowledge, not a single man in Tabor's command had suffered a fatal wound.

"He realizes that if he joins forces with you, together you will be so powerful that no one will dare challenge your strength."

"No one dares challenge me now."

"Except for Tabor," Tanaka corrected, with the slightest arching of a slender, mocking eyebrow.

"He pretends. He toys. He does not challenge."

"For now. But how long will it be before another leader with fifty or a hundred Vikings 'pretends to toy' with you? And then another? . . . don't carry resentment for Tabor in your heart."

She gave Ingmar her most guileless look, not nearly as sure of the logic of her argument now as she had been while mentally rehearsing the story during her trek to Karak.

"Tomorrow, Tabor is going to sail here to speak to you. He knows that if he does this, you'll have him and all his men surrounded. But Tabor also knows that you are an intelligent man —intelligent enough to have tricked and almost killed him nearly a year ago. Looking Tabor in the eye and calling him friend is better than looking for him over your shoulder and calling him enemy."

Ingmar nodded his head slowly, looking at the beautiful woman seated across from him but thinking of a man called Tabor, Son of Thor. Soon, if what Tanaka said were true, then he would have Tabor at his mercy. This time, Ingmar would not fail to kill Tabor. His forces were many, and they were gathered around him.

He sipped from a goblet of wine, then scowled. The wine in Karak was very bad, and the beer was even worse. Perhaps it would be possible to find wine and beer in another village in time for the victory celebration over Tabor and his men.

"You can go to Tabor and tell him to come," Ingmar said, almost giddy with happiness now that victory seemed inevitable.

Tanaka stood a bit more quickly than she had intended. "Hell be here. He knew you'd talk to him."

Before Ingmar had the chance to ask anything more, Tanaka slipped out of the room, astonished that Ingmar was letting her go free.

In the outer room, Hugh waited and, when he saw Tanaka, leaped to his feet, thinking she was trying to escape. Then Ingmar bellowed, calling for his brother. Hugh watched as Tanaka left the inn, her expression unreadable.