crater, I climbed up to satisfy my curiosity. I had no idea your sister and her companions were taking the waters. I offer my apologies.’
He used his limited English, trusting that his contrite smile and gestures would make his meaning clear.
Helgi spotted Vallon’s tracks climbing to the rim. ‘You’ve been spying on my sister.’
‘I caught a glimpse of her by accident, but the water protected her modesty and I retreated immediately. No offence was committed either by eye or by thought.’
Helgi stared at the spot where Vallon had lain as if it would show evidence of his lust. ‘Liar.’
His head turned as Caitlin and her companions ran towards them holding up their skirts. Caitlin saw Vallon and her mouth dropped. From shock to fury took only a moment. Hotspots blazed on her cheeks and she spat a stream of invective. Helgi said something that fanned her anger. She concluded her outburst by pulling a knife from her girdle and jabbing it at Vallon.
‘Did you convey my apologies?’ he asked.
Helgi rode forward and kicked him in the face. At least, that was his intention. Vallon swayed back and grabbed Helgi’s ankle and pulled him off-balance so that his sword swung wide. Vallon sprang away and drew his own sword as the other Icelanders spurred in on him.
Helgi vaulted off his horse and threw out an arm. ‘He’s mine.’
Vallon backed away. ‘It was an accident. I was lost. How could I have known that your sister was bathing?’
Caitlin launched into another harangue. Her wet hair hung in viperous coils. Venus transformed into a shrieking harpy.
Vallon addressed her for the first time. ‘Why don’t you shut up?’
For a moment she did. Vallon made one last attempt to negotiate. ‘If my apology isn’t sufficient, tell me how I can make amends.’
Helgi didn’t understand and didn’t want to understand. He jabbed with his sword. ‘Fight!’
‘Don’t be a fool.’
‘Fight! Or do you only play with wooden swords?’
Vallon squinted towards Caitlin. ‘If you love your brother, I suggest you find another way to settle this squabble.’
She went into another ear-fraying rant. Vallon lost his temper.
‘You stuck-up bitch! What makes you think I’d ride for two days across a wilderness on the off-chance that I’d snatch a glimpse of a woman with an arse as big as her pony’s?’
‘Fight!’ Helgi shouted. His men took up the refrain, banging their shields. ‘Fight! Fight!’
Vallon knew that he could kill Helgi with one hand tied behind his back. Whether he could kill all his followers was uncertain, but it didn’t matter. He was an outlander in a country where men pursued feuds for generations and went to their deaths knowing that relatives would fight their cause beyond the grave. Somehow he had to appease Caitlin and repair Helgi’s slighted honour.
‘Listen-’
Helgi screamed and charged. Vallon parried with ease. Helgi’s blade clashed against his sword and snapped off clean below the hilt. He goggled at the stub with such dismay that Vallon had to put all his mind to keeping a straight face. Bog iron worked by a smith more used to shoeing horses than forging weapons. He lowered his own weapon.
‘You’ve made your point. My apology still stands. Now let it rest.’
Helgi stared at Caitlin and held up the remnant of his sword. She hiked her skirts to her knees and screamed at him. He glanced at Vallon and when he saw that his opponent wasn’t about to kill him, he scampered towards one of his entourage and grabbed his sword.
Vallon pointed his own blade at Caitlin. ‘So be it. Your brother’s blood will be on your head.’
This time Helgi didn’t charge in but skipped and feinted. Vallon tracked him, assessing his strengths and weaknesses. As a swordsman he was sorely wanting. For all his youth and agility, he wielded the weapon like it was a flail and signalled each stroke before he delivered it. Vallon played along, trading blow for blow, waiting for Helgi to tire and grow demoralised. When stalemate was reached, he’d deliver a few unnerving near misses and then offer to call it quits.
The problem was Caitlin. Every time her brother made another pointless lunge or wild sweep, she incited him to fiercer efforts. The fight would go all the way, Vallon realised, so why prolong it? He watched Helgi’s eyes, the way his right knee bent, saw the haymaker coming, twisted away from it and then ran in and kicked Helgi’s legs from under him. Before his companions had risen out of their saddles, Vallon had the point of his sword at his throat. He glanced at the Icelanders.
‘Stay where you are.’ He leaned down and plucked the sword from Helgi’s grasp, tossed it away.
Helgi’s eyes bulged. ‘I’m not afraid to die.’
Vallon kicked him in the face and turned cold eyes towards Caitlin. Fists bunched to her mouth, she looked like a child who’d woken a monster. Vallon made his tone formal and pitched his voice as if addressing a much larger audience. ‘I didn’t seek this fight. By the terms laid down by your brother, I have to kill him. Only you can save him. Your brother issued his challenge on your behalf. Accept my apology and he’ll have no more cause to take my life. Nor I his. We’ll all stand even, and no word of what has passed will escape my lips.’
Caitlin’s stare switched from one point to another.
Vallon swore under his breath. He drew back his sword with an exaggerated gesture. ‘Accept my apology or your brother dies.’
One of Helgi’s retainers said something. Caitlin brushed a hand across her breasts and panted. Surely the bitch wasn’t going to sacrifice her brother to her wounded dignity.
Vallon had an inspiration. ‘Princess.’
She stared at him.
He dropped to one knee and placed a hand over his heart. His face contorted with the effort of fabrication. ‘My dear princess, I know how highly your reputation is esteemed and I apologise for the embarrassment I’ve caused.’
Helgi lay with one leg drawn up, his eyes swivelled towards his sister. Blood leaked from his nose. She had his life in her hands and he didn’t want to die.
Vallon prodded Helgi’s neck. ‘Either she accepts my apology or you die. Last chance.’
Helgi spoke with his Adam’s apple trembling against the sword. Caitlin looked at Vallon as if he were an evil wizard who’d defeated her brother by magic. She pointed at him, then at herself, and fluttered her hands in a far-off gesture.
‘You’re worried that I’ll brag of having seen you naked. I swear I won’t. Now, do you accept my apology? Yes or no?’
Her breast heaved. ‘
Vallon saw relief flood into Helgi’s eyes. He stood, made a curt bow, stepped back and sheathed his sword. In a silence brittle to breaking point, he walked towards his horse. Helgi’s men blocked his way, ready with their swords.
‘Kill him!’
Helgi had scuttled to his feet and was running to retrieve his own weapon. His men lunged forward. Vallon sprinted after Helgi, spitting with rage.
‘Don’t!’
The Icelanders stopped, weapons arrested at their highest point. Vallon heard Caitlin slither down the crater.
‘Lower your swords. Let him go.’
‘And have him boast how he bested me. Stand back.’
Caitlin seized Helgi’s sword arm. ‘No! I forbid it!’
He swung her aside. Vallon advanced on him. ‘A coward and knave as well as a clumsy oaf. Do you really think that I couldn’t kill you before your sheep-shagging friends reached me?’
Caitlin ran at him and pushed him away. ‘Enough.’
Vallon had been roused to a pitch of violence that only blood could quell. He shoved past Caitlin, eyes fixed on Helgi. ‘You want more? I’ll give you more. You and your louts.’ Helgi trotted backwards. Vallon’s gaze swung back to
