Viking Passion (20 page)

“I am sailing to Bornholm, in the middle of
the Baltic Sea,” Rodfos announced grandly, “and then on to
Aldeigjuborg on Lake Ladoga. I leave the day after tomorrow at
dawn. Be here tomorrow night and sleep aboard. When I am ready to
sail, I go whether you are here or not. I wait for no
latecomers.”

“I won’t be late,” Erik promised. “I will
travel with you to Aldeigjuborg.”

“Bring your own food. There will be casks of
ale and water on board.”

“If you don’t need my help any more, I will
leave you,” Holgar said as they parted from Rodfos. “I should be
about my business.”

Erik drew Lenora to the water’s edge. They
sat down on the upturned hull of a small fishing boat. Lenora
looked around her with interest at the ships drawn up on shore or
moored to the strong wooden posts set in the water. Sturdy wooden
warehouses lined the harbor. The inhabitants of Hedeby, secure in
the strength of the Danevirke that guarded them, and in the
additional safety of their own town walls, went about the business
of trade that was the town’s only reason for existence. Ships were
loaded and unloaded, goods bartered for other goods, silver weighed
and exchanged for merchandise.

The waters of Hadeby Noor sparkled deep blue
and silver. Gulls wheeled and dipped above, their cries a raucous
punctuation to the human voices below. The sun shone brightly, but
it was chilly, with a sharp breeze from the water. Soon the days
would be longer than the nights, and here and there a bit of green
had appeared, but winter had still not entirely loosened its grip
on the land.

Lenora glanced at Erik. His eyes were fixed
on the eastern horizon, his profile sharply chiseled against the
blue sky.

“You are gone from me before you have left,”
she said softly.

“Not really gone, just planning.”

“I hate Snorri,” she burst out. “This is all
his fault. If it weren’t for him, we would all be comfortable at
Thorkellshavn.”

Erik did not answer her.

“I know you have reason to dislike Snorri,”
Lenora said, “but why does he hate you so much?”

Reluctantly, Erik withdrew his attention from
the distant sky and looked at her.

“I think he believed I was his rival for
Thorkell’s affection. Our father was kind to me when I came home
injured, and Snorri was jealous. He thinks I am weak because my leg
is lame. He has hated me since then. He is unable to understand
that Thorkell could love us both.”

“I thought he had always hated you.”

“We were never friends, that is true, but we
did not fight so much before I went to Grikkland. We were both away
a good part of each year and seldom saw each other. Snorri went
a-viking to England or Frankland, and I traveled here to Hedeby to
trade, or on to Gardariki, where the Rus live. I always preferred
to trade peacefully, but Snorri likes to take his goods by pillage
and fighting. He enjoys bloodshed.”

“And you do not?”

“I like a good fight.” Erik grinned. “There
is a feeling that comes over me when I stand sword in hand before
an enemy and know I will defeat him. I cease to be Erik and become
someone else, a berserker, until the battle is over. Then I look
around me and scarcely remember what I have done.”

“Yet you let Snorri call you a coward and did
not fight him.”

“Sometimes it is wiser not to spill blood.
There are other ways of getting what I want. I learned that from
the Greeks. That night it was more important to get Freydis safely
away from Thorkellshavn than to defend my name. And you.” His hand
stroked her hair, feeling the crisp, shiny curls, blown by the sea
wind. “I wanted you away from Snorri too. I did not want him to
have you. I can pay him back later for his insults to me. You know
better than anyone, Lenora, that I do not want to kill Snorri, but
I think, if we meet again, he will force me to it. He is an evil
man, a true son of Ragnhilde.” Erik sighed.

Lenora moved closer, feeling his warmth,
smelling the good masculine scent of him.

“But you wanted to leave me in
Thorkellshavn,” she said.

“I could never have left you behind for
Snorri to harm. I was worried that you were not well enough to
travel, and I did enjoy arguing with you about it,” he teased, his
mood lightening. “Arguing is something else I learned from the
Greeks.”

She smiled, too content at that moment to be
angry with him. As he had said, there were other ways than fighting
to get what she wanted. Just now she wanted all the information she
could learn about Miklagard. There was not much time left before he
would be gone for good.

“Tell me about your last voyage to
Grikkland.”

“We gathered a huge fleet of ships,” Erik
said, his voice heavy with memories. “Askold and Dir were our
leaders. They are the rulers of Kiev. We were going to attack
Miklagard.”

“Attack the greatest city in the world?
Why?”

“Gold. You cannot imagine all the gold there
is in Miklagard. And jewels and silks, spices and slave girls. We
were going to take them for our own. We were all going to be rich
forever.” He laughed softly, remembering. “I was so young then.
Only seventeen and full of dreams. I thought I would bring chests
of gold back to Denmark to repay Thorkell for his goodness to
me.”

“What happened?”

“We sailed across the Euxine Sea to Miklagard
and laid siege to it. There was a terrible storm. Most of our ships
were sunk. Many men died.”

“Is that when you were injured?”

“The ship’s mast split and fell on me. The
man next to me was killed. My shoulder and leg were broken and I
got this.” He touched the scar that ran from his left eyebrow to
his hairline.

“I was lucky not to lose my eye, but that was
the end of my luck. The ship began to list badly and I fell
overboard. I remember trying to swim, but my left arm and leg
wouldn’t work. I don’t know how I got to shore. There is a long
time, many days, that I cannot remember. One day I woke up in a
house outside Miklagard. The people caring for me were Greeks, and
I spoke no Greek.

“Do you know, Lenora, the rulers of Miklagard
will not allow the Rus traders to live within the city walls? They
fear our swords. They only let small groups of Northmen enter, no
more than twenty-five at a time, and the men are forced to leave
their weapons outside the gates. And every autumn all the Rus must
go home again, back to Kiev.” He laughed. “The emperor of the
greatest and most powerful city in the world lives in fear of a few
Northmen.”

“Who can blame him, if you send fleets and
armies against his city?”

“Eirena told me there were special religious
ceremonies to thank their god for sending the storm to wipe out our
fleet.”

“Who is Eirena?”

“Eirena Panopoulos. She is the woman who
cared for me when I was injured. Her brother Basil is a merchant.
Because I was so badly injured I was unable to travel. Basil got
special permission for me to remain in Grikkland. I lived with
Basil for three years. It was from him I learned both Greek and
Latin.

“I will go back to Miklagard,” Erik told her.
“I will take silver coins and goods to trade with Basil. Perhaps I
can go into business with him. I could travel far to the east to
trade. I have always wanted to see what lies beyond Miklagard.”

Erik’s eyes were focused on sights half a
world away, but Lenora did not notice. She cared nothing for the
intricacies of international trade. Her interests lay
elsewhere.

“Is this Eirena very beautiful?” she
asked.

Erik considered her question for a while.
“I’m not sure,” he said at last. “She was different from any woman
I had ever met before, but later I realized she was not so
different from other Greek women. She is small and dark, with big
brown eyes, and she is learned. But beautiful? I don’t know.”

“Did you lay with her?”

“Certainly not. The Greeks are Christians.
Their women remain virgins until they marry. Their male relatives
can become extremely violent on that subject.”

“Did she want you?” Lenora asked.

“How should I know that?”

“I think you would know if a woman wanted
you. Perhaps you don’t want to tell me?”

“Stop asking so many questions.”

But Lenora would not be discouraged from
pouring out the unexpected jealousy suddenly welling up in her.
First there had been Erna, now some Greek woman. She felt as though
she had been stabbed through the heart.

“I hate this Eirena,” she cried. “I know she
wanted you. You’ll go back to Miklagard and be with her. I hate
her.”

“You hate too many people, Lenora. Snorri,
Gunhilde, Bjarni, Hrolf...how many others? Hatred is a bitter
thing. It will destroy you, not those you hate. You should forget
the past and take what pleasure you can from life now.”

I would
, Lenora thought,
if you
were not leaving me and taking with you all the pleasure my life
might hold. Oh, Erik, what will I do without you
?
Why do I
feel as though my heart is breaking in two
?

When Erik and Lenora returned to Holgar’s
house they found Halfdan waiting for them. He handed Erik a sack of
coins.

“Olrik caught up with me on the road,”
Halfdan said. “I sent him on to Limfjord with the rest of your
hoard. He will tell my father what has happened and that we will be
in Limfjord soon.”

“Good.”

“Why didn’t you all simply ride north with
Olrik?”

“Because I am going to Miklagard.”

“Then I am going with you.”

“No, you are to take the women to your father
for safety. Did Olrik tell you Snorri plans to marry Freydis to
Kare?”

“Snorri has no right to force her.”

“Snorri does what he pleases. He cares
nothing for the law. But once Freydis is with your father and
protected by his guards Snorri cannot harm her.”

“Erik, if Snorri finds you, he will try to
kill you.”

“My fight with Snorri is long overdue,
postponed for the sake of our father. Now it must be, and I can no
longer avoid it. But,” Erik added, “when we do fight, I plan to
take Snorri and at least a few of his men to Valhalla with me.”

Hearing the two of them laugh cheerfully at
this, Lenora shuddered. She helped Alara to cook and serve the
evening meal, but she could eat little.

On this, her last night with Erik, Lenora was
possessed by conflicting emotions so strong they nearly paralyzed
her. She still hated the Norse for all Snorri and his men had done
to her family, and she resented Erik, Halfdan, and Freydis because
they had done nothing to save Edwina. And yet all three of them had
been kind to her. Halfdan had become almost like a brother to her.
Freydis had cared for her when she was sick. And Erik, whose touch
could send her spirit soaring into the sky, whose kiss was a sweet
drug, whose body had been so intimately a part of her own, Erik who
had been unfaithful to her with Erna, and who was planning to
rejoin his Greek Eirena with not a thought for the pain it would
cause Lenora – what did she really feel for him? Her confusion
intensified at the end of the meal when Erik rose and took her
hand.

“Lenora,” he said with a glance at those
present at Holgar’s table, “before he died, Thorkell charged me
with payment of his debt to you. He wanted me to tell you that you
had done your work well and that although you are a slave, he
counted you among his friends.”

Into her hand Erik pressed a small leather
purse. It was filled with silver coins.

“I never earned this much,” Lenora whispered,
her throat tight.

“It is what Thorkell told me to give
you.”

“I am honored, not only by the extra silver,
but even more because Thorkell called me friend.”

“Now,” Erik went on, “I call all of you here
to witness what I say. Lenora has been my slave. I hereby set her
free.”

Lenora gaped at him, not believing what she
had just heard.

“Tomorrow,” Erik said to her, “you and the
others will leave Hedeby and travel to Limfjord. From there Halfdan
will arrange your passage home to East Anglia.”

“What are you saying?” She still did not
fully comprehend what Erik had just done.

“You are a free woman, Lenora. You can go
home now.”

“I have no home. Snorri destroyed my
home.”

“You must have relatives somewhere. You have
told me your father was an important man. You will find your
rightful place again.”

Before Lenora could say anything more,
Halfdan swept her into his bear-hug of an embrace. Holgar scurried
about the room, filling his guests’ cups with mead. Ingvar and
Asmund raised their cups and toasted Lenora’s freedom. Tola kissed
her, weeping. Alara hovered in the background, not understanding
what was happening but her expression clearly showing how glad she
was to see her new-found friend the center of rejoicing. Even cool
Freydis took Lenora’s hand and said she was pleased.

Only Lenora stood unsmiling, trembling,
watching Erik, wondering what she would do now that her last bond
with him was severed. After tomorrow she would never see him
again.

Halfdan pressed a cup of mead into her hand.
She forced herself to smile as the party drank a toast to Erik’s
good luck on his dangerous voyage to Miklagard.

“You should look happier, Lenora. You have
what you wanted.” Tola was helping to clear away the remains of
their meal.

“I am happy,” Lenora lied. “It’s just so
unexpected. I don’t know what to do next.”

“That Erik. He’s full of surprises.”

“Yes.” Lenora glanced at the men, sitting
about on the bed platforms, making plans for the morning. Erik was
in deep conversation with Freydis. Lenora followed Alara and Tola
into the kitchen.

“Better hide that,” Tola advised, indicating
the bag of coins Lenora still held. “Someone might steal it.”