The pale hand slid up to the edge of her cowl and she pulled it back. "We have never met directly, though your lover may have spoken of me."
She revealed a pretty face marred only by a snub nose. Her hair was nearly white, and might have been beautiful in her youth though now its luster had exhausted.
"My name is Halla Hardasdottir."
He shrugged. "She did not speak much of you. Other things were more important. We had work to do and little time for it."
"Of course. I have had much work myself."
"Hard to believe, with those precious hands of yours."
Halla's eyes flashed, and it was as if she saw right through his bluster to the heart of his failure. "Hands are all anyone talks about these days. Did you know Ulfrik's son lost his hand before he was ransomed?"
"I'd heard something like that."
"Did you? You hear what goes on inside Ravndal since Astra died?"
He stiffened at the confirmation of her death. He had sent her on a suicidal task, but hardly expected her to die in the attempt. The thrill of a woman sacrificing her life for his whim was only a fleeting spark that failed to ignite anything better in him. Considering how everything had turned out, he regretted the decision. Such blind loyalty was irreplaceable, and he sorely needed followers now.
"Time is short," she said. "I assume you found the comb and the silver bit I had delivered to your meeting place?"
"I did, and guessed Astra's informer wanted to meet. I was curious how you were going to get here without being caught. Astra had a talent for it, but you plainly don't."
"The chaos of these last few days has allowed me to move at will, but that will soon end. My husband is still recovering from his captivity. I understand you set him free. That's what cost Gunnar his hand, and nearly cost my husband his life."
"So that's who you are? No wonder Astra knew so much. You're the wife of Ulfrik's brother." He put a hand on his head and laughed. "No wonder she wouldn't tell me where she got her news. I'd have come up with something better than snatching children if I thought I could get at Ulfrik's brother."
"He's Runa's brother," she said, eyes drawing to slits. "Now listen to me, Throst Shield-Biter." She twisted his name as if it were a joke, another mark against her. "I've come with an offer that you would do well to accept."
"Unless you're offering a ship across the sea, I'm not interested."
"Do you know how Astra died?"
"Bleeding."
"Yes, but by Runa's hand. Astra tried to kill her son, no doubt on your foolish orders. Well, they don't call her Runa the Bloody for no reason. She chopped her head off right in the hall, hacked her body till it was mince. I saw it myself, and I'll never forget it." Halla covered her face as if witnessing the horrible scene again. "It was a horrifying death."
"Death by the sword is hardly anything else."
"Don't you want revenge on the woman who did this to your lover?"
"I want revenge on all of the people shitting in that den of bastard dog-fuckers. Ulfrik killed my father, threw me out, humiliated me. Ruined my life."
"Yes," Halla's sympathetic urgency even frightened Throst. He recoiled from her as she leaned closer. "And his wife did the same to me. Now I've got to live out my days under her heel. Imagine all you've endured until now only for the span of years. All the while you've got to bow and scrape before Ulfrik. You've got to care for his children and smile in his presence, listen to his bragging and watch him revel in what he stole from your family. Everyone around you speaks of him as if he were a god. Oh, and he'll remind you every day that your father and mother were his enemies and their deaths were just. That's my life, Throst Shield-Biter, and I want to change it."
"Best of luck with that, then. I'm none too interested in your problems."
"We have a common interest." She stepped back, cooed the words as if to seduce him though all Throst felt was revulsion. "I want Runa dead and you want to hurt Ulfrik."
"I have hurt him. Now I just want to be away."
"Did you?" She cocked her head, one eye wider than the other. "Your name is already forgotten. Hakon is safe and doing well. All anyone worries about is Gunnar, and who dealt him that blow? It was not Throst Shield-Biter." Again she mocked the name. "You're just a bit of unfinished business, a rodent to stamp out once the bigger things are in order. Before the winter is done, all of your schemes would have left no mark on Ulfrik. You'll be forgotten, and as well you should. At best you were a nuisance. Was that your grand revenge? To annoy Ulfrik? Astra threw her life away just to spoil his wife's evening meal?"
"Your words are a bit sharp." Throst laughed off the shame, but every word was a hot brand on his soul. What in the name of all the gods had he achieved? What lesson had he taught Ulfrik? The white-haired bitch was right, and he hated her for it.
"Your plans held promise, but Fate was unkind to you." She placed a light hand on his shoulder, and feigned sympathy that could not fool a child. "Now is the time to leave a mark that will last forever. Take from him something that can never be replaced. Strike down his wife, that whoring, murderous bitch. Claim the true revenge that has eluded you. Make him grind his teeth at the thought of your name."
Throst swallowed. "An attractive idea, but I prefer a simpler target to his wife. That's why I went after the children in the first place."
"I'll make it easy for you, and offer payment. You can't be too rich, or a silver bit wouldn't have kept you waiting for me today."
He nodded. "True."
"Kill Runa. The time and the place are prepared. I'll get you access inside the walls."
"You're a powerful woman to arrange all that." Throst folded his arms and glanced past her toward Ravndal. "You're going to do this under their noses?"
"No one pays me any mind, but for Runa who has falsely blamed me for so many things that no one listens to her. My husband is like a brother to Ulfrik, and my husband tells me everything I want to know."
"Why not just piss off from this place if you've got gold to spend? Seems a fair bit easier than treachery."
Her head lowered and the crazed response Throst had expected emerged only as a thoughtful pause. She rubbed her face before answering. "She killed my mother, cut out her tongue. Took her a year to die from the wound, and all that time Runa whored around with Konal and scorned me. Wouldn't attend my mother's funeral, or even recognize her death. The day she left for Frankia was the greatest day of my life. But now Toki has vowed to serve Ulfrik again. He sees glory and riches here. I can't deny him, nor convince him to leave. But that doesn't mean I intend to live with that witch. The only good for coming south is the chance to avenge my parents, my mother in particular."
The wind filled the silence between them. Throst considered her reasons understandable if not practical. He wouldn't dissuade her, especially if she planned to bring chaos to Ulfrik's home. Besides, it wasn't his concern.
"What's the payment for taking your revenge?"
"So you'll do it?"
"Payment, enough for me and for my men. They'll have to help."
Halla's smile widened like a child discovering all the toys in the hall were hers. "Good gold for all of you. Rings and chains, a golden cross carried from the north. It will be enough for you all to barter a safe passage to anywhere you desire."
"Sounds like a pittance." It sounded like a hundred times more than he possessed, but he looked again at Halla's clean fingers and guessed more was available.
"This is your revenge, too. How much should I pay for something you'd do anyway?" She glared at him, but he did not flinch. She shook her head. "I've got three pounds of my own gold. Any more and I'd be stealing from my husband, which I can't do. Take that offer or not."