‘It pleases me to fuck you now and throw you in the water. You’re bad luck, lady. You draw wolves to you. A woman cannot kill a king, not one like Sigfrid. And yet I don’t think you’re lying. How far have you travelled with this little ape for company, unmolested, unrobbed, alive?’
‘From Paris.’
‘Then you must have had mighty protectors. That sorcerer killed five of my men.’
‘He would have killed more but he was wounded when he arrived.’
‘If you encounter the Raven you will lose many more,’ said Leshii.
‘Who?’
‘The Raven. He is a sorcerer of your people. Sigfrid had use for him before he died.’
‘I have heard of him,’ said Giuki. ‘He has a sister, does he not?’
‘He does. She is watching you now, very likely.’
‘How?’
Leshii swallowed.
‘It was she who sent the wolfman. She is in league with Helgi and has placed her protection on this lady. Whoever moves against her, the Raven will move against.’
‘Then we had better stop messing about and chuck her in the sea straight away,’ said Giuki.
‘They serve Odin,’ said Leshii, gesturing towards the Christ figure. ‘Tell me, is he a forgiving god? Do his enemies prosper?’
Giuki tapped his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
‘Whatever you do,’ said Leshii, ‘they will come. But there is one way to save yourselves.’
‘What is it?’
‘Give me your oath not to harm me or the lady.’
‘How about you tell me right now, or I cut out your tongue, nail it to my mast and see if it wags any truths in the wind?’
‘You know I’m speaking the truth. You know they are coming. Look at the thing in the courtyard. How many men did it take to kill it? Do you want Helgi to thank the Raven and his sister in gold for returning this girl? They will just scatter it to the wind and return to some filthy nest in the woods. Cut out my tongue and my ghost will watch as the Raven does the same to you.’
‘I’m not afraid to die,’ said Giuki.
‘But don’t you want to go back to your people with gold and glory? Would you return empty-handed rather than face down your enemies?’
Giuki stood tall. ‘You speak some sense,’ he said. ‘Tell me what we can do against this Raven.’
‘Do you swear not to harm us?’
‘I swear it,’ he said, touching the picture, ‘in front of Odin, who hung on the tree for lore.’
‘He will not travel by water if he can help it,’ said Leshii. ‘Set sail. It’s as simple as that.’
‘Good,’ said Giuki. ‘It will be dawn very shortly. We’ll leave then.’
There was a knock at the door of the chapel. It was Kylfa. He carried a candle, his face long in its light. ‘I lost another brother,’ he said. ‘Hrodingr just died from the wounds he suffered at the wolfman’s hand. I want to know what this boy is saying. He will not deny me my holmgang.’
Giuki’s mouth was halfway between a grin and a grimace. ‘Let your brothers lie in peace, Kylfa,’ he said.
‘No man has the right to deny me under the law.’
‘No,’ said Giuki. ‘But know this: no man killed him.’
‘That is a man of fifteen summers at least.’
‘No,’ said Giuki, ‘it is a woman.’
Kylfa’s eyes widened.
‘So,’ said Giuki, ‘you are welcome to your holmgang, but when she dies it will become apparent that she is no man. And it will be known your brother died at the hands of a woman. This is a princess, of a sort. She is bound for Helgi in Aldeigjuborg. Better to let her claim her marriage bed and take weregild from the king than seek humiliation for your family in combat.’
Kylfa seemed to tremble. ‘A woman could not have killed my brother. That is no woman.’
‘Kylfa, I’ve had my hand up her tunic and felt the proof,’ said Giuki, ‘and she is protected by great forces. A woman did not kill your brother. The gods, working through her, did. How else could a Frankish virgin kill a warrior like Brodir?’
‘We should rape her and kill her,’ he said.
‘Which would also reveal that Brodir died at the hands of a woman. As I said, weregild restores your honour and preserves your pride.’
Kylfa nodded. ‘It will have to be a good reward.’
‘It will be,’ said Giuki. ‘Do not mention to the others that we have a woman on the ship. There’s less chance of trouble that way.’
Kylfa grunted and walked out of the chapel.
Giuki turned to Aelis. ‘Well, lady, you have your passage.’
‘You will be rewarded for it,’ said Aelis.
It was a cold dawn with a good offshore breeze.
The longships were stacked with plunder — several horses, some reasonable chairs and weaving, and many large sacks of wool. Leshii sat on the wool at the stern and smiled to himself. The lady was beside him. The longship was narrow and didn’t have much room for cargo. The mule was browsing in the scrub at the top of the beach. He hated to lose the animal — not for any sentimental reason but because it had been his only possession other than Aelis, who was proving not at all easy to hold on to. He’d tried to bring the wolfman’s pelt, but the Vikings had declared it nithing — a word in their language that meant something close to ‘cursed’. Still, the ships would stop at Birka to trade and take on provisions. He knew merchants there and felt sure he could spirit the lady onto a ship and away before the Vikings knew she was gone. There were pilots who would start the crossing to the lands of the Rus at night, given the right moon. The promise of reward from Helgi would be enough to entice them.
Vikings were ready at the oars and in the water, pushing the boats off the beach. The boiled rabbit the lady had bought from the Norsemen was in Leshii’s stomach, a cloak she’d purchased about his shoulders, and he was set for home, two good drakkar alongside the ship he sat in. They’d make any pirate think twice. He pulled his cloak about him and fell into a daydream of drinking wine in the sun of Ladoga, the temple girls and the spiced meats of the market stalls.
There was shouting and clattering. The Norsemen on the beach had shoved the boat free and were climbing on board. It was then that Leshii saw the warriors making their way towards him — two of them, big ones.
‘Off,’ said Kylfa.
‘What?’ said Leshii.
‘Off. Now.’
Giuki was behind them, looking at Leshii with a smile on his face.
‘You promised not to hurt me,’ said Leshii. ‘On oath you promised.’
‘And I’ll keep my oath. The water here’s no more than a man’s height deep. You can swim, can’t you?’
‘Yes, but-’
‘That’s all I needed to hear!’ said Giuki. ‘Get this eastern louse off my ship.’
Leshii struggled but it was useless. The two men picked him up and hurled him over the side, just beyond the last oar, which he was lucky not to hit.
The water was shallow and did little to break his fall. He smacked into the sand and all the breath went from him.
‘Here, merchant!’ Aelis threw something onto the beach. It was his silk-cutting knife. ‘For your protection,’ she called.
The merchant picked up the blade and stood up, soaked. ‘You’ll never get to Helgi without me!’ he shouted after Giuki.
The Viking chief laughed. ‘I fought with Helgi at Miklagard. He’s like a brother and will welcome me well enough!’
Leshii fell forward onto his hands and knees and beat at the water. ‘This is not fair,’ he shouted. ‘I have
