‘It comes more frequently than I’d like. I hate the powerlessness I felt when Ingrid died. My eldest brother was right. I froze when I should have acted.’
Her heart knocked. ‘This Ingrid, she is the one whose murderer you chase.’
‘Yes.’
‘I am sorry for you. And for Ingrid.’
He cupped her face with his hand.
‘Do you think he is in Nrurim, this murderer of yours?’
His hand fell away. ‘Annis, my new sister-in-law, led me to believe it. Either he is hiding there, his treacherous heart waiting for another opportunity, or it is possible he may have wished to atone for his many sins, as you Christians would say.’
‘If he was responsible in any way for the assault on Urist’s group, then he hasn’t,’ Ceanna whispered. ‘My aunt may even be in danger. She could be harbouring a viper who will strike without warning.’
‘Perhaps. He may not even be there.’
‘Was he responsible for the deaths of all your family?’
‘Of my sister-in-law? Most certainly. He also may know the identity of the man who killed my father. My new sister-in-law did not think he had time to kill both my father and Ingrid. Someone would have claimed the honour of bringing down such a fearsome warrior and my half-brother Rurik said no one had done, not to King Feann who organised the attack to avenge his sister’s honour. And he would have showered them with gold if they had.’ Sandulf explained rapidly about the massacre at Maerr and its aftermath.
Ceanna listened with growing sympathy. ‘Why aren’t you with your brothers, trying to discover exactly what happened?’
‘I was sent away, sent east on a trading ship of my aunt’s new husband, but Brandt would have banished me in any case. He took his wife’s death badly and he blamed me because I should have protected her. I am alive and she is not, and I should have given my life for her. I heard it in his voice and so I went.’
‘But you are searching now, by yourself. Why?’
‘Without me, the assassin Lugh will never be held to account for his crimes against Ingrid. I alone saw his face with the shooting-star scar. I know what the man is capable of.’
Ceanna heard the barely suppressed anger in his voice and wondered who it was directed towards—the assassin or his brothers. Or himself?
‘Your father made many enemies.’
He sighed. ‘My father made no secret of his ambition and lust for power. He ruled through fear instead of through love and respect. Once I had wanted to be like him, but on my travels I learned there were many ways to be a leader of men, ways which build men up instead of tearing them down. Should I ever become a leader of men, I have vowed to be different from my father.’
‘How did you know where to look for this man?’
‘I left Maerr on board my Uncle Thorfinn’s ship, but about a week into the voyage, a man called Rangr sidled up to me and said he’d heard I was Sigurd’s youngest and he had a story to tell me, but to keep it quiet. The captain shouted it was my turn to row and so we couldn’t talk.’
Sandulf fell silent. Ceanna nudged him. ‘You can’t stop now, you are getting to the interesting part.’
‘After my shift, I went to meet this Rangr, but as I went near him I spied a partly concealed knife in his hand. One of the helmsmen shouted to have a care and told me to turn around, but I had seen the knife. Rangr lunged forward, intent on killing me and, together with the helmsman, I managed to tip him overboard.’
‘I presume he died. What happened to you? Were you punished?’
‘Afterwards, the captain told me Thorfinn’s personal guard had declared Rangr was prone to sudden intense rage and to keep an eye out for any trouble. Before that incident, he had had a go at another of the crew. It was good riddance, but I would have to do double shifts of rowing from then on as punishment for costing them a rower. I went to Rangr’s place on the rowing benches and discovered a gold pendant, very like the one my father had given my mother when I was born, concealed by one of the loose boards.’
‘You thought she had hired this man to look after you and you accidentally killed him?’
‘She could have done. My mother worried about me. But if he was supposed to be protecting me, who wanted me dead on that ship? And why did he change his mind and try to put a knife between my ribs? After Rangr’s death, they worked me hard enough to kill me. The whole incident made me jumpy, so I escaped as soon as we docked in Kaupang and gave my oath to another captain who was travelling east.’
‘You said your mother could have hired the man? Why do you doubt it?’
‘I discovered another pendant—a golden arrow like the one which my mother was given for Brandt’s birth—around the neck of a man in lodgings in Constantinople. I recognised him and his companion as two of the Saxons who had carried out the massacre at the longhouse, the ones who had slit the throat of Vigmarr, the father of the woman my middle brother Alarr was to marry. Vigmarr was one of the best warriors in the north. I gained the trust of one of them before I enacted my vengeance. Before he died, he showed me the pendant and said it was payment for that job. I had to wonder—what if both pendants were given by my mother as payment to get rid of my father?’
Ceanna stared into the darkness, trying to discern his features. ‘You think your mother had something to do with the
