Women screamed and Halla began to cry. Runa stared at the man she had killed. She had killed before, but that had been long ago and the man had tried to rape her. Seeing this young man leaking black blood into the dirt at her feet made her stomach lurch. Shaking her head, she stepped over the body with her bloodied sword leading her toward the others.
"Stand down and you will get a clean death. Fight and I will make death last for days."
Konal's men crammed forward, and the men on the stage of the high table glanced at each other. Certain they planned to surrender, she lowered her blade.
"For Skardholmur!" The four men leapt off the stage, slashing at anyone opposing them. One man plowed into Runa, sprawling her out.
Both Ulfrik and Konal had knocked her flat so often, instinct drove her recovery. However, she had never practiced in a mail shirt.
The weight of the mail on her chest pinned her flat. The man above her roared and raised his sword. She kicked into his legs, tripping him.
A spear thrust overhead and impaled the attacker's shoulder. Runa used the moment to scrabble to her feet. In that time, the three others were dead and her opponent tumbled to the ground as the spear lanced in through his neck.
The hall vibrated with screeching women, most of who had crumpled into weeping piles around Halla. She stood with both hands clutching a wooden cross over her chest. Her face was drained of color and her mouth hung slack. Runa hated her sister-in-law for all the trouble she had brought to her family. Smelling the blood and fear, again Runa could blame Halla for more misfortune. For a moment, she envisioned ending her curse, but shook the thought from her mind.
"Five fighting men," she stated flatly. "Who named Skardholmur as they died? We are at war with Skard and Thorod, are we not, Halla?"
"Christ protects me," she said, thrusting the cross in front of her.
Runa removed her helmet, and sneered at her. Throwing the helmet onto the floor, she whirled to view the hall. Dark faces crowded it, making Ingrid's platinum hair stand out like the moon at midnight. "Bring Ingrid forward. I will give my judgment now."
She did not know the proper way to handle a wayward bondsman. As far as she knew, it was within her right to kill Ingrid. No matter what she decided, she needed to appear above worry, fear, or care. She needed to be a powerful and confident leader, so that the men she planned to lead in battle would believe in her. She shoved Halla aside with her bloody hand, leaving a dark red stain on her shoulder, and pulled the bench of the high table forward. Runa stepped onto it, standing high above all others.
"Ingrid, you swore an oath to my husband and now I find you in league with our enemies."
Ingrid hung between two men. Both Konal and Kell emerged from the crowd, standing beneath Runa to lend their presence to the judgment. Behind them, men began dragging the slain enemies from the hall, but not before picking over the corpses for valuables.
"Your husband is dead!" Ingrid raised her head, her face pasty white and contorted with hate. Blue veins stood out on her head and her thinning hair clung to her sweaty cheeks. "I owe nothing to you. I look to the safety of my own people."
"And that safety is harboring my enemies and sending them south to rape and murder."
Ingrid let her head drop, but Runa knew she had revealed the truth. Her hands trembling, she struggled to keep her voice even.
"Over winter, men who looked just like the five we found here invaded my hall. I killed them, as you might have guessed. Before the last one died, he told me how you took them into your hall, how you spoke to them about the easy prey to the south and all the gold awaiting them. He said you promised them anything they could take, as long as you were left alone. You were kin, after all."
"Stop!" Ingrid shouted. Raising her head, her lips quivered and tears streaked from her eyes. Her puffy eyes locked with Runa's, searching them for mercy. "I did as I must, to protect my people."
"You don't deny anything I've said?" Ingrid bowed her head, crying more powerfully. "You thought to protect your people by sending enemies into my hall, to rape me and kill my son? They held my son with a knife to his throat. Shall I show you what that was like?"
Even in her mail shirt, her motions were too fast for anyone to stop. She leapt from the bench and latched onto Halla. With all the strength of her training and anger, Runa yanked her before Ingrid. She clasped one arm about her waist, and with her other hand drew her sax to Halla's neck.
"This is what you sent to me. Do you like it?" Runa jabbed the tip into Halla's chin, drawing blood and a piercing scream. Ingrid refused to watch, so one of the men twisted her head to face Runa.
"Do you like this? Is this how I should protect my family?"
"She had nothing to do with this. Please, leave her alone."
"Neither did my son," Runa said, then shoved Halla to the ground. "Enough. You are worse than an oath-breaker. You are a traitor and an enemy. Do you not wonder who these men are?"
Ingrid stirred, half raising her head to peek at the men around her.
"They are my army. They will sail with me to destroy Skard and Thorod. I promised them blood and plunder from all my enemies. You have sided with them, Ingrid."
"All the men were gone! For years I stood with you, and for years we had less and less. What was I supposed to do? I did not know you had an army."
"Had you known, your loyalty would not have been swayed?" Runa nodded to a man, indicating he should pick Halla from the floor. "My husband has doubted you for years, and I've doubted you from the start. No excuses will save you now."
Ingrid and Halla both stared at her, unblinking eyes locked to hers. Runa let them wonder at their fate, before she gave her decision.
"You should die for your crimes, but I am sure if my husband were here he'd find mercy in his heart. He would forgive you." She stepped down from the stage, and placed her hand on Ingrid's head. "But I am not my husband."
Driving Ingrid's head down, she brought up her knee. Bone crunched and blood sprayed as Ingrid's nose flattened under the blow. Halla screamed and fought to free herself. Still pinned between the two men, Runa grabbed Ingrid by the hair.
"Here's my judgment for you. You will speak no more lies and break no more oaths. I will have your tongue cut out."
"No," she protested through the blood and snot leaking over her mouth. "You can't do that."
"I have men who will do it for me." She whirled to Halla, who shuddered with a mixture of fear and anger. "And you are so innocent? You are the wife of my brother, and yet you allowed your mother to send men to rape me and kill my son? I should throw you from a cliff."
Halla began to shake her head, and the defiant gesture inflamed Runa. Seizing her chin to stop the shaking, she pulled Halla's face closer. "You are the real curse, not Toki. If I truly thought my husband and brother dead, then your life would end today. So thank them for it when you see them again. You will remain my hostage, since even without a tongue your black-hearted mother might still contrive a way to threaten me."
Facing Konal and Kell, both regarded her with passionless faces. She expected something from Konal, either revulsion or approval, but found only bland patience. She waved her hand dismissively.
"Make sure Ingrid survives the removal of her tongue. Halla returns with us. Everything in this hall, from the servants to the thatch on the roof is for you and your men to take."
She exited as the men began to laugh and tear apart the hall for whatever they could find. She heard Halla screaming, but nothing from Ingrid. Outside, the air felt fresh and cool. The blood on her hand had caked and started to flake. More men waited outside. Looking past them to the ships in the distance, she thought of Gunnar waiting for her to return. She began to stride confidently toward the shore.