I glanced around. ‘Where’s Eithne?’
She rose from the rock on which she was sitting. For the first time since that day we had met at Alrehetha, the Irish girl was about to prove her worth. This was the reason I’d brought her with me, rather than let her go with Eudo and Wace.
‘I need you to speak to them,’ I told her. ‘They’ll understand you.’
It was a reasonable assumption that they understood Danish, too, if they served in Haakon’s household, so I could have asked Magnus instead, but I thought the girls would be more reassured if Eithne were the one addressing them, not just because she was a countrywoman of theirs but because she was of a similar age.
‘What exactly do you want me to say?’ she asked.
‘First give them our names and tell them why we’re here,’ I said. ‘Tell them there’s going to be a battle, that we mean to destroy Jarnborg and Haakon too, but that for all of those things to happen we need their help. The rest I leave to you to explain however you can.’
More than anything we needed a way to gain entry through the gates, but beyond that we also needed a guide, or guides, who knew the fortress and could show us where to go once we were inside. Although they didn’t yet know it, the four of them provided our answers to both problems.
I waited, watching them closely, while Eithne related everything to them. At the mention of Jarnborg they all jumped up in alarm. Tears spilt down the cheeks of the youngest. She was probably no more than eleven or twelve summers old, with a thin, pointed face, hair as bright as gold and eyes the colour of sapphires. One of the others got down on her knees before Eithne, clutching at the sleeves of her cloak, while the two elder ones, who with their round, freckled faces and dark, tangled hair were so alike that they were probably at least cousins if not sisters, beseeched her with words I couldn’t understand.
‘Quiet,’ I said, marching forward, hoping that even though they might not understand what I was saying, the force of my voice would be sufficient to still them. I wasn’t disappointed. At my approach they quickly fell silent.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked Eithne, although I could readily guess.
‘They don’t want to return to Jarnborg, lord.’
I didn’t blame them, but we didn’t exactly have a lot of choice. Since they were our prisoners, neither did they.
‘If they want their freedom, they’ll help us,’ I said, and hoped that would prove incentive enough for them. ‘And not just their own freedom, either, but that of every slave in Haakon’s household. Tell them that.’
It was a lofty promise to make, and even as the words left my lips I wasn’t sure it was one I could keep. Still, I needed to win them over somehow, and things would go much more easily if we had their willing support and didn’t need to coerce them.
Again I waited while Eithne, her hands raised in a calming gesture, passed on my promise, and for the answer to come back. For a few moments the slave-girls exchanged nervous glances, whispering to one another and shaking their heads. They had no reason to trust us, no reason at all. Why should they believe anything we told them?
Eventually one of the two elder ones with the freckled faces came forward, her chin held high as she addressed us, though of course we had no idea what she was saying.
I glanced at Eithne, seeking her translation. ‘They’ll do this,’ she told me after a moment. ‘Any foe of Haakon’s is a friend of theirs, Derbforgaill says, and if they can be a part of his destruction, they will.’
‘Derbforgaill?’ I asked, to which Eithne nodded. I still struggled to get my tongue around these Irish names. ‘Give her our thanks, and tell her that we’re indebted to her. To all of them.’
Eithne did so, and thus it was settled. After that we wasted no time. The mist was already thinner than it had been, or so it seemed anyway. Perhaps it was only my imagination, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Nihtegesa and Wyvern would be sailing soon, and we needed to be inside the stronghold’s gates before Haakon’s sentries sighted them entering the bay. Before the alarm was raised and Jarnborg rose in arms.