Blood Eye(112)

'I must speak with Ealdred,' she said. 'Take me to him.'





Hunwald looked at me, taking in my arms and my bloodeye. 'You are the heathen,' he said, drawing his sword. The other men bristled, then kicked their mounts to surround me.





'You will not touch him!' Cynethryth yelled as they dismounted and drew their swords or levelled their spears at me.





'Stay back, Lady Cynethryth. We have orders to kill any Norsemen we find in Wessex,' the warrior said flatly. He was a young man with a sand-coloured beard, but he was powerfully built.





'Don't be a fool, Hunwald,' Cynethryth snapped. 'This man has helped me. He saved me from those bastard Norsemen.' Hunwald was taken aback by her tone, though a couple of the others were smirking. 'Now, take me to my father before it's too late.'





Hunwald shook his head. 'He must be disarmed,' he said, planting his feet ready for my attack. Cynethryth turned to me and nodded and I reluctantly handed my sword and long knife over to one of the warriors. Then, having no other choice, we mounted, each behind a Wessexman, and rode down to the beach.





My heart sank as I saw Fjord-Elk under sail heading out of the bay, her benches manned by Englishmen and her dragon-headed prow gone, replaced by a wooden cross which rose on the waves to greet the southern sky. We rode down a worn path to the shingle beach where the breaking foam bubbled before sinking among the stones, and there we dismounted. There was no sign of Black Floki and for a moment I wondered if he had made a bargain with Ealdred and was even now at Fjord- Elk's bow, looking out to sea, his journey chest brimming with silver.





Hunwald raised his hands to his mouth and called out to the vessel. Serpent, Sigurd's favourite ship, sat forlornly at anchor, watching her sister ship sail away while she remained fettered and bound to the land of her enemies. Hunwald called again and from that distance I recognized Ealdorman Ealdred when he came to the stern and stood there gripping the top strake and looking back to the beach. Beside him was the hulking figure of Mauger. If Ealdred caught Hunwald's words in the wind, or recognized his daughter, he made no sign of it as he stood swaying with the ship's rise and dip.





'It's no use,' Hunwald said, shaking his head. 'They cannot hear us and we cannot hear them.'





'We don't need to hear them,' one of the other warriors said. 'Look at Mauger.'





Ealdred had turned his back and was now lost amongst the shapes of other men, but Mauger still stood at the slender, curving stern. At first it was hard to be sure what sign he was making over and over again, but then it became clear. One arm was raised, the hand pointing at us. In his other hand he gripped something. A knife. He was drawing the blade across his throat.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE




'WE'LL KILL THE NORSE SCUM, BUT NOT THE GIRL. THAT'S THE END of it,' Hunwald said, raising a hand to quiet another warrior. The Wessexmen stood amongst several ox-hide shelters on the grassy salt marsh beyond the high tide line, and they were arguing about what Mauger had been telling them to do. Cynethryth and I sat back to back on the weed-strewn shingle, our hands and legs bound, and I cursed myself for handing over my sword. The Wessexmen had overpowered me without breaking a sweat, though one was nursing a split lip.





'I agree with Cearl,' another warrior said. 'Mauger meant both of them.' He mimicked Mauger's throat-slitting gesture. 'That's why Ealdred turned his back, see? He wants done with it. The Lord rain a pot of piss on me if I'm wrong.'





'If you're so sure, Hereric, then you put your sword in Cynethryth,' another man said, waving his arm wildly. 'I'm not having my balls cut off and rammed down my throat for murdering the ealdorman's daughter.'





'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.