“Why would I ever help someone who’s kidnapped me?”
“You will do more than help me. You will be my personal healer,” he said as if I was the most privileged woman in the history of ever.
“I will never heal you,” I sneered at him.
“You will. Everyone has a breaking point, Princess Allete,” he warned me. “We will simply have to find yours.”
“Allete!” Dayna’s voice rang out, close behind us.
“In fact, I think we just found it,” he said as he grabbed the shoulder of one of his warriors. “Take that one,” he said, pointing to my sister.
“NO! Dayna, stay back! Run!” I yelled as loud as I could. We clambered out of the palace and across the courtyard under a moonlit sky, my feet kicking all the while. I couldn’t believe how fast the man could move all the while maintaining a grip on my waist with one arm. We were nearing one of the smaller side gates that led to outside the castle walls. Not only was he fast, but his feet were surprisingly silent despite his added load.
I heard a commotion behind us, and I lifted my head. I saw Dayna being carried over the shoulder of another large Norseman. She was flailing like a dying fish and screaming every obscenity known to man. And I was proud of her. Give him hell, little sister, I thought as I debated whether to save what energy I had left. Despite Magnus’ strength, surely he couldn’t run forever. Perhaps, when we finally stopped, an opportunity for Dayna and me to escape would present itself.
Magnus held me tightly and I could scarcely breathe. My ribs felt as if they would break under the strength of his arm. We cleared the castle walls and headed into the trees. Magnus didn’t slow; he just kept running, never breaking stride. Did the man ever tire?
I wondered if anyone was giving chase. There had been so much confusion that I didn’t even know if anyone realized what had happened to us. If they hadn’t, it might be awhile before my father even knew to send a search party after us.
The man carrying Dayna had caught up to us. She was still cursing, though she’d quit flailing.
“Just let my sister go,” I finally said to Magnus. “I’ll do as you ask. Just let her go.”
“Sorry, but I am not inclined to believe a woman who I am in the process of abducting. Your sister is coming with us.
“You do realize that Torben is going to kick your flea-bitten arse, right?” Dayna yelled. I rolled my eyes. She had a death wish.
“Torben is dead, or if he isn’t he will be soon,” Magnus said without a single drop of doubt.
He was wrong. I would know if Torben was dead. I would feel it. Wouldn’t I? Our bond was so new. I had no idea of its intricacies. Oh gods, what if he was dead, and I had no way of knowing? Why on earth did I have to think those thoughts in that moment? Pull yourself together, Allete, I snapped inwardly. There was a time and place for panic, and this was neither.
“Torben isn’t dead you moron,” Dayna laughed. “It will take a better man than you to kill someone like Torben.”
“The archer did the job just fine, and my man will finish it.”
My heart hit my toes. He was talking about Brant. He had to be talking about Brant. Finish him, he’d said, and Brant had nodded as if in answer. Magnus had told Brant to kill Torben. I tried to absorb the information, but it just wasn’t sinking in. I couldn’t reconcile the Brant I knew doing anything to betray Torben.
When I heard the deep thud of footsteps, my eyes snapped open. I hadn’t even realized I’d closed them. I looked down and saw that Magnus was crossing a planked walkway. When I looked up, my eyes widened at the massive ship upon which we were boarding.
Magnus shifted me and threw me over his shoulder. “Oomph,” I groaned as my stomach was squashed.
“You might want to hold still,” he warned and then began climbing. By the time he made it to the top of the ladder that was strapped to the large ship, he was finally sounding winded.
He set me down, and I was lightheaded, momentarily seeing stars as the blood rushed back down from my head. My eyes refused to focus. “Dayna,” I said her name as I cry of self-defense and found her standing next to me.
“Yep, I am here. Just trying not to vomit.”
I swayed on my feet and began to realize how weak I was. “Why,” I started, but then realized I had been healing Torben when Magnus snatched me. That was why I was weak, from the healing. When my eyesight finally sorted itself, I couldn’t see much. Only a few lanterns dim lanterns were lit at various intervals along the ship. But I did not miss for a second that the ship was getting farther from the shore. We were already moving.
“Are you okay?” Dayna asked.
I nodded.
“Turn around,” a man said as he walked up to us with rope in his hands.
“Where would we go?” I asked.
“Can’t jump if you can’t swim,” he said as if he was talking about the weather.
We both did as he commanded. Once our hands were tied, he moved us to a bench. “The jarl said for you two to sit there and not to move.”
Dayna started to say something, but I stomped on her foot and she snapped her mouth closed.
“If we give them reason to think we are going to run, they’ll put us in a more secure location. For the time being, appear complacent,” I explained.
“Torben and Brant will come for us,” she said with a nod.
I cringed. I didn’t want to tell her that Brant might be the reason I never saw the man I loved again, mostly because I did not want to believe it myself.
I turned at the sound of Magnus’s voice. “Come and see what I’ve found, old crone.” He was standing in front of someone I couldn’t see. “I want you to teach her everything you know.”
He finally stepped aside, and Hilda was staring right at me. “Oh, I will definitely teach her everything,” she responded. “Do not worry, Jarl. She will be the best, even better than me.”
I held a look of surprise and unrecognition on my face, as if I’d never met the woman. But my conversation with Torben’s mother came rushing back to me, including everything she’d said about using my magic for harm. I understood immediately. She would teach me, all right. She would teach me how to kill Magnus using the magic that he thought would be healing him.
“Did you see Torben while you were at the castle?” She addressed him, but never took her eyes off me.
“Briefly,” Magnus answered. “He was engaged in battle. The castle guard was much stronger than we anticipated. I cannot guarantee that he will make it back.”
Hilda’s lips twitched slightly. “Don’t count your best warrior out just yet, Jarl. You know, as well as any, that he has a way of surviving impossible situations.”
“Some think death is the worst fate that can befall a man. They think that the absence of life is the ultimate loss. They cannot fathom the possibility of something far worse. When the person who holds the other half of your soul is taken from you, death is mere child’s play in comparison.”
* * *
~Torben.