Chapter 60
Ulfrik heard a woman screaming as if she were dying. In the swell of people, it was a distant but shrill note over the roar of celebration. Still, he did not want to turn away from Toki's expert throw. The ax spun with grace and plunked into the wooden target a finger's breadth from the center mark. Cheers went up, and the foolish who had bet against Toki groaned. Runa leapt with excitement and even Snorri, himself a former ax-throwing champion, sucked his breath at the incredible throw.
He turned to congratulate Toki, but did not see him. The screaming grew more insistent and began to compete with the cheering.
"That was amazing," Runa said, grabbing Ulfrik's arm. "When did he learn to throw like that?"
"I don't know." Ulfrik's reply had fallen to a whisper. Runa continued to speak, but the words were muddled. He was pulling out of her grip, coming into a scene that made no sense.
He saw a body on the ground and a woman huddling over it. The woman was the source of screaming, but two children jumped about her and joined in the wailing. The prone body was soaked with blood.
"Toki?" he whispered, then charged through the gathering crowd. He pulled a man away and looked down on someone he barely recognized.
"My husband! Help him!" The woman, Halla, was cradling the body as if she were afraid to break it. Her girls clutched her skirts and screamed. Every inch of Halla's dress was drenched with blood, even the ends of her platinum hair were stained red.
Ulfrik rushed to her side, brusher her away as she screamed. Urgent voices filled the air, screams began to spread like fire, and shadow engulfed Ulfrik as he touched his hand to the hot blood flowing over the face of the man at his feet.
An arrow had entered Toki's neck beneath his right ear, shattered, and burst through his throat. Blood had pumped from the ragged wound in a stream that ebbed down his chest. More horrifying was the arrow shaft protruding from his skull just above the same ear. It had poked out beneath his left eye which had rolled back and filled with blood. The right eye stared up, lusterless and empty.
Ulfrik pressed his fingers to the base of Toki's neck, but he felt nothing. Halla was screeching, trying to rip Ulfrik off Toki and press his wounds closed. The blood on her hands was so thick she seemed to be wearing gloves of red satin. "It wasn't supposed to be you. Not you! No!"
Grabbing Toki's hand and placing it on the hilt of his sword, Ulfrik dared no words. A pain more powerful than anything he had ever felt welled up in him, and it would explode from his open mouth and damn him to a senseless wreck. He stared at the man who had been as a blood brother to him. How many battles had they fought together? How much had they dared and dreamed? Now two arrows jutted from his head, and a life of glory and adventure had ended with the throw of an ax and a fall into the dirt.
Runa began screaming, trying to reach her brother, as if he could be saved. Ulfrik continued to stare at him, a red lump of a man he had called his kin. Now Gunnar and Hakon joined the outcry and it seemed as if every person in the circle of the world were standing around Toki's corpse and wailing.
A strong hand grabbed him up, tearing him from his silent and horrible fixation. It was Einar.
"The shots had to have come from the north wall." He was pointing at it with his ax. "I've got men headed to it now, and more to search the houses. Do you think it was one of Clovis's?"
The question struck Ulfrik odd. He stared at Einar, not really knowing who he was of what he was saying. "Toki is dead. What does it matter?"
Einar's mouth fell open, then he clamped it shut and turned away, shouting orders and shoving men out of his path. Snorri stood in his wake, his face now more ancient and worn than ever. He stared blankly at Ulfrik, his thin hair lifting in the cold breeze.
Then women were shrieking from behind. He whirled and Halla was on top of Runa, her bloody hands throttling her.
"Fucking whore! It was supposed to be you. You were supposed to die. Why Toki? I'll kill you myself, you bitch!"
Ulfrik seized Halla's arm, but she was possessed by the strength of madness and remained latched to Runa's throat. She did not struggle, as if accepting death. Halla leaned down to bite her face, and only then did she react with a lame kick.
With a grunt he dragged her off, only for her to spring back with a mad howl. Runa crawled away holding her neck and gasping. Halla landed on her legs and clawed at Runa even as she kicked at her face. Ulfrik lifted her off and threw her aside, sending her careening into Konal.
"Hold her down," Ulfrik ordered and Konal grabbed her along with another man. Ulfrik knelt to Runa's side, Gunnar following. Coughing, she waved them both off as she struggled to her feet. Bloody hand prints smeared her clothes and face.
People were scrambling in confusion. Halla's girls sat in the dirt and cried. Hakon joined them in it while Aren silently observed Konal restraining Halla. Toki stared at the sky in a massive pool of blood.
Eyeballs throbbing, blood roaring in his ears, Ulfrik stalked up to Halla. "Runa was supposed to die? What have you done, woman?"
Her thrashing only slowed. She looked up at him with crazed eyes. "Fuck yourself."
His fist balled and he was ready to strike when he heard Einar calling. He turned back across the confusion, saw him standing on the wall and read the defeat in his posture. Another man was coiling a rope that had been hung from the wall while Einar lifted a lone arrow for Ulfrik to see, then he pointed out across the fields. The killer had escaped, or that was Ulfrik's assumption.
Halla sobbed behind him, and it all began to form in his mind: Astra's as-yet unrevealed informant and her murder under guard; the brown stains on Halla's cloak; even Aren's insistence that Halla was evil. Now this. He turned slowly, first looked at Aren who studied Halla with a hint of smug arrogance, then faced Halla who writhed in grief while Konal restrained her collapsed to the ground.
"Why did he have to die?" she asked through her tears.
Ulfrik stood before her, then turned away.
He still did not understand what had happened, but he was certain Toki had died for the convoluted treacheries of his wife.
And Ulfrik had lost half of his soul for it as well.
Chapter 61
Ulfrik faced Toki's burial mound, a pile of black earth still wet from the melted snow. Snorri leaned on his staff at his left, and Einar stood with folded hands at his right. They all kept a thoughtful silence. The mound still looked a like a scar in the earth, but he knew soon grass would crawl up the slopes and cover it. The fresh earth scent was sharp, carried on the first springtime breezes. He had not come to the mound all winter, and now before he traveled to Hrolf the Strider and Gunther One-Eye he felt it was time.
The loss still hurt.
"He will be waiting for us in Valhalla with all the other heroes," Snorri said, his voice a tired whisper.
Ulfrik nodded.
"We will sing songs about him until that happy day," Einar said, his voice loud in the morning quiet.
Ulfrik nodded.
Even now he could not speak Toki's name, much less praise his memory. Many nights he wanted to cry, to mourn the loss of a dear friend and brother, but instead he sat at the edge of his bed in confusion, eyes dry but heart as dead as stone. He had so many regrets, apologies, excuses, and rage left unexpressed, yet nothing could find its way out of him.
A magpie hopped along the top of the mound, pecking at the dirt for a while, then flitting off. Ulfrik mused life was like that, all pecking in the dirt in search of something and then gone without a trace.
They stood longer, Snorri shifting his weight and massaging his leg. He stole glances at Ulfrik, and finally prompted him. "You've got a stretch of road to travel, lad. Maybe we should be getting you ready for it."