"The people of Nye Grenner are charming," Kell announced as he joined Runa and his brother. He clutched three mugs of beer, froth splashing over his hands as he offered them to Konal and Runa.
"The women of Nye Grenner are lonely and frightened." Runa sipped the bitter beer, a fresh and malty tang she had long missed. "They're glad to see friendly men in their hall."
"What's to be frightened of with Runa the Bloody leading them?" Konal said, raising his mug to toast her. He had given her the name after the attack. She disliked it but realized having a fearful reputation had its uses. "To the might of your sword arm, which I'm proud to have trained."
Flipping a lock of hair from her face, she frowned at the statement. "We fear once the mighty Konal and his more humble and better mannered brother leave, our enemies will have revenge for the five we killed."
"But we're not leaving!" Konal rollicked with laughter, though Kell smiled and looked at the floor.
"So it seems. But there is the matter of the one you seek, yes? You will search for him, then return to Ireland?"
Kell choked on his beer, coughing wildly enough to raise a few weary heads from the tables below. His face flushed red when he recovered. "You know about him?"
"I told her a wee bit of the story, Brother. Do not concern yourself."
Runa smiled as Kell settled back on the bench. She withheld a wee bit of the story as well, and it was a warm, satisfying secret that she could use for bargaining. "All I know is you seek a slave, and from this exchange I assume you have not found him still."
Kell shook his head. "The trail has vanished into the sea. No man will find him, but we must search. There is no reason to return to Father with news of failure."
"No reason to ever return," Konal grumbled.
"What about your wife and children?" Runa enjoyed the scowl that overcame him. Kell interjected, steering talk away from him and his brother.
"You fear an attack? What kind of enemy do you expect?"
"Two kinds," Runa said, pausing to drink. "Traitors and fools. The first kind are easily handled. Ingrid holds the north of the island for me, but she is a relative of my enemies. I've heard nothing from her since my husband left. My enemies learned about our condition from someone."
"So you want to discipline your bondsmen?" Konal glanced at his brother, then looked at Runa.
"And after I do that, I want to carry the battle to the lands of my enemies. Nye Grenner has seen enough blood in its years. I'll tolerate no more enemy feet upon its fields. Let the fools of the north die in their halls, with their women and children watching. That has been Nye Grenner's lot, but no more."
A lump clogged her throat and her voice trembled as she shared her plans. Pausing to marshal her rising emotion, she filled the silence with another sip from her mug.
"My husband promised to return before summer, but he must be delayed." She stared at Konal, who over recent weeks had hinted that Ulfrik might be dead. "I cannot wait for his return to take action. He will be too late."
Konal and Kell stared at each other. A strange impression of silent communication passed between them. Runa studied their expressions, hoping to read agreement. Both turned to her in tandem, though only Konal spoke. His voice was more studied, as if he were bargaining with a trader.
"You hope my brother and I will lead our men against your enemies?"
"That is correct in but one detail. I will lead the men."
Kell's eyes widened and cheeks puffed as if to laugh, but Konal's flat reaction instead led him to drain his breath with a long sigh. Runa met Konal's eyes, seeing his anger flash but also suspecting he approved. His pride, she knew, would interfere.
"Impossible. You can wear pants and carry a sword, but it does not make you a man."
"I rule this community in the absence of my husband, the jarl. I speak for them, care for them, and I fight for them."
"Men will not follow a woman to battle. It's unnatural."
"Glory is glory, whether a woman stands before or behind them. Isn't that what your men crave, glory in battle?"
"Riches is more like it, and that can't be had here."
"Then you misunderstand me, Konal. I don't want to kill a few of their levy. I want to water the earth with the blood of every person who has persecuted us all these years. I want your men to carry away slaves and property, the gold buried in halls, the ships at rest by their docks."
The blood-thirsty request stunned the brothers into silence. Runa could devise no other way to phrase her desires, for what she described would be the same plans her enemies made for her. She had to act first and with finality, no matter how horrible.
"So you are promising all spoils to my men," Konal looked at Kell as he spoke. "And you want to lead them in battle, though you've never before led men."
"There are a thousand fools living among these islands, and every one of them must know Runa the Bloody from Nye Grenner will destroy her enemies and not chance attacking me in the future. You can organize your men, but I will inspire them and stand before them."
"You will be killed." Konal brushed imaginary dirt from his pants. "You're too small and not strong enough to push through a shield wall."
"Then we don't fight in shield wall." Her patience ended, she slammed her mug onto the table and stood. Gunnar appeared beneath the table, and others gazed up at her sudden action. "You owe me your life, Konal. To repay your debt, lend me your men to end the threat against my people. All the spoils will be theirs and all the vengeance will be mine. Don't concern yourself with my life. Fate decides what to do with it."
The already quiet hall stilled to complete silence. Runa did not flinch from Konal's hard gaze, and the two remained locked. It was a different type of duel than one fought with swords, the type Runa was accustomed to winning. She gave a twitch of a smile when Konal glanced away and stood.
"You will have my men and my word to serve you. But once it is done, all debts are paid. I risk my life to repay you, after all."
Happiness and fear eddied through her, and she blinked slowly to keep the emotion out of her eyes. "Do this and you owe me no more. I will need no more."
Konal smiled, then sat, slapping Kell's knee. "She's a tough woman, eh, Brother? Can you see her in mail and helmet at the front of our men?"
Looking over Runa, he tugged at his beard. "In fact, I can."
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
April 5, 886 CE
Paris looked no different to Ulfrik as his ship approached it from the other side. It remained the same squat, foul-smelling, smoking mass jammed into the middle of the river. It was like a fist that had punched the Danish army in the crotch, hobbling and weakening it into ineffectiveness. The ship glided across the water with the dozens of other vessels returning to the despair. Trees once bare of leaves now waved boughs of fresh green at the Danes as they sped past. White and gold flowers bloomed and birds hunted at the water's edge. The cold and wet winter had yielded to spring.
Seeing Paris again renewed all the conflicts he had set aside. The people of Nye Grenner had no walls to protect them, no bridges to bar ships from approaching. The days would be growing longer and the weather more predictable, and Thorod and Skard would soon discover an undefended hall. He had to act now or his family would suffer.
Across the water, Toki stood at the tiller of Raven's Talon. Beside him raced five more ships Ulfrik had accrued since joining Hrolf. As lords and oath-holders died, men swore new oaths to new jarls. Hrolf had attracted more than any other, and he doled out these followers to both Ulfrik and Gunther One-Eye to command and organize. He now had more fighting men than ever before. The raiding they had conducted in Frankia's interior had tested the new men, and demonstrated Ulfrik's leadership. The resistance had been light, but with enough skirmishes for the new war band to learn how to function together. Despite carrying away little tangible wealth, he had welcomed the chance to shape his force and do something other than huddle in a trench or in the ruins of an abbey.