Page 32

" T here is a messenger from Skarthveit. It is bad news." Gunnar entered their chamber as Mairead was finishing feeding Tyra. She placed the child in her cradle and turned to face him.

"What has happened? Is it your brother? Is he attacked?"

Gunnar shook his head. "Not Ulfric. Brynhild. She has disappeared."

"Disappeared? But how...? Where...?"

"I do not know. The man sent by my brother has no information save that she was last seen three nights previously, checking their livestock in readiness for the coming night. In the morning, she was gone. A search has been mounted."

"This is terrible. How could such a thing happen? We must go to Skarthveit at once."

He laid his hands on her shoulders. "I would prefer if you were to stay here.

I am to leave within the hour and we will be riding hard to reach Skarthveit quickly.

I have no idea what has happened, though I cannot help but suspect Bjarkesson.

Abducting a woman of another Viking family, even in the midst of a blood feud, is an audacious and singularly stupid act but I would not put it past him.

If I am right, there might be danger. I will not risk your safety. "

"But—"

"Please, heed me on this. I will go to help in the search, and I must leave at once. If we are to find my sister we must move swiftly. I shall take men with me, though I will leave enough here to ensure Gunnarsholm is safe. You will remain here, and I will send news as soon as I am able."

Her head still reeling from this awful turn of events Mairead could but nod dumbly.

Gunnar kissed her, then strode off to complete his preparations.

Mairead scurried to assist, and within mere minutes it seemed to her, he and six of his men galloped from the settlement.

Still stunned at the news, Mairead followed Aigneis back into the longhouse and sank onto a bench.

"Where can Brynhild be? What has happened? Poor woman ... we were not friends, but I would not have wished her ill."

Aigneis placed a mug of mead beside her. "Fretting will not help. We must wait for word from the Jarl. And hope."

Waiting and hoping proved fruitless. Gunnar returned after an absence of two weeks with nothing further to add. Brynhild had quite simply disappeared without a trace.

He and Ulfric had gone to the Byarkesson stronghold to demand her return, but Olaf appeared as bewildered as they.

Gunnar was inclined to believe the other chieftain when he claimed to know nothing of Brynhild's whereabouts, but this left them with no clues at all.

They had no idea where to direct the search, although Ormarr's skills had been employed widely.

He discovered no tracks, either left by the missing woman or by any wild beast which might have taken her.

Had she been seized by wolves or even a bear there would have been some sign left behind.

Brigands, too, would have left clues in their wake and in any case would have surely demanded a ransom.

Ulfric, Gunnar and their combined forces had scoured the surrounding countryside, made enquiries in every town and settlement within a fifty-mile radius, searched barns, stables, even ships moored within the nearest ports.

They found nothing, no sign at all. There had been no sightings of her, no talk of a woman answering Brynhild's description being seen, travelling on her own or in company. Brynhild had quite simply vanished.

Gunnar was at a loss. He sat on the end of their bed, his head in his hands. Mairead knelt on the floor before him and wondered how to offer comfort.

"We parted on angry words. I railed at her, for her prejudice, for her refusal to compromise, or to put our family before her own irrational enmity. What if I never have any opportunity to set matters to rights between us? What if we never see our sister again?"

"We must hope she is alive, and well. She may yet be restored to us."

"How? How can she be alive and well? If it was so, she would come home.

" He met her gaze, his expression anguished.

"We would always fight, as children. She was the youngest, always quarrelsome, even then.

But we loved each other. She would not leave us, ever.

Something has happened to her. I know it, but I cannot help her and that is the worst part of all this.

My sister needs me, and I am useless. Ulfric too.

We have tried, we searched everywhere we could think of, asked everyone. We do not know where to go next."

"How... how is Ulfric?"

"Calmer than I, for once, but I can tell he is worried also."

"Of course. He must be. And Njal?"

"He is crying for his aunt. The poor lad lost his mother not so long ago, and now Brynhild. Ulfric's bed-slave is helping to care for him."

"Fiona? Is she...?"

"Relieved that her adversary is gone?" He shook his head.

"She would have cause to wish harm on Brynhild, and had Ulfric not been with her the entire night I would have suspected her of being involved.

But Fiona had no opportunity, and seems genuinely upset by the entire business.

Ulfric insists she is innocent, and I know of no reason to disagree other than the ill feeling which existed between them – and was mostly on Brynhild's part in truth.

I am glad the boy has someone to care for him. And Ulfric."

"Njal could come here, perhaps he might enjoy spending some time with Donald."

Gunnar nodded. "I will suggest it, the next time I see my brother."

"So, what happens now? About Brynhild?"

Gunnar shook his head. "I wish I knew, sweetheart. I wish I knew."

"Will you take a bath with me, wife?"

"A bath? You mean in our chamber?"

Gunnar watched as Mairead laid aside the basket she had been using to collect sprigs of wild garlic ready to crush, no doubt for use in an infusion to aid digestion.

He had been right to bring the Saxon wench into their household in order to lighten his new wife’s work about the longhouse.

Mairead now found much more time to devote to developing her range of herbal remedies and medicines.

The settlement was glad of her skills and she was often sought out by those with ailments to treat.

He was pleased to see his wife happy and so obviously content.

She had found her niche and settled into it effortlessly.

And now, he must shatter her peace, it seemed. He cursed inwardly but knew he could not shirk the coming unpleasantness.

Seven-month-old Tyra sat on a rug at Mairead's feet.

The baby had only just started to sit up and was fascinated with the expanded view of her surroundings this new skill offered.

He could not help grinning when the little one held out her arms and chuntered incoherently at him.

He stooped to pluck her from the ground.

"No, in the hot spring. We shall have it to ourselves." He managed a tight smile for his wife, despite the blackness of his mood.

"How so?” Mairead settled her basket on the ground, ready to accompany him. "Where is everyone today?" She glanced about her, scanning the wild meadow for the nearest servant. "I shall summon Edyth to care for Tyra, unless it is your intention that we should take her with us?"

Edyth, the wench he had acquired in Hafrsfjord, had settled in well.

Gunnar had known she would. The girl was quick-witted and good with the children.

She was also blossoming into a real beauty now that the haunted look of terror had dissipated from her features, a fact not lost on any of the males in his settlement.

Which brought him back to his present predicament. ..

"I would prefer to have you to myself, Mairead. There is a matter I need to discuss with you. Edyth is ... indisposed at present and Aigneis is busy so we will leave Tyra with Weylin."

"Indisposed? Why was I not told? I should see to her. Perhaps I?—"

"Aigneis is with her." Gunnar glanced up as Weylin appeared, striding across the grassy hillside toward them. The man offered him an almost imperceptible nod as he drew near.

"What is happening? Something is wrong, I know it." Mairead looked from Gunnar to Weylin, her expression wary now.

"I will explain. Come." Gunnar handed the squirming baby to his servant. "See that we are not disturbed."

"Aye, Jarl," promised Weylin. He eyed his new charge with dismay. "Please... do not be long."

Gunnar bestowed an exasperated glower on the man and took Mairead by the hand. He towed her from the meadow before she could utter her next barrage of questions.

Although it was only a little after mid-day and the weather was unusually clement, the settlement lay eerily quiet as he strode though the outskirts of the village.

Mairead could not fail to notice. He led her around the perimeter of his settlement in the direction of the wooded outcrop where their closest hot spring was located.

It was a pleasant enough spot, secluded and a great favourite among his people.

The proximity of the spring was one of the factors which had led him to select this precise place to build his home, and he was glad of it now.

Difficult business was always best transacted in convivial surroundings.

They heard the water before they saw it.

The hot spring at Gunnarsholm was located at the foot of a waterfall, creating an odd mix of freezing water cascading from above ground to meet the balmy current from beneath the earth.

It was invigorating, inspiring, a truly unique sensation and one he always loved.

Gunnar released Mairead's hand and started to disrobe.

In seconds he was naked and striding into the effervescent pool.

He sank his shoulders under the water and leaned his head back to allow the frigid waters from the torrent above to pour over his hair.

He slicked the dripping locks back and watched her from under lowered brows.