Rune King

"What do you want? I'm not going to sleep with you," she added, perhaps foolishly. He could have hurt her quite seriously, if he had wanted to, and both of them knew it, but she didn't want any confusion between the two of them either.

"I want Gunnar killed."

Deirdre was somehow unsurprised to hear that. The men appeared to be rivals. But to hear him make the request right after Gunnar had made a deal with her… it couldn't have been a coincidence, could it?

"What do you want from me?"

"You are a witch. Kill him with magic. During the next raid."

"I'm not a sorceress," she said, all thought of trying to use simple words gone. "There's no way to do that."

He spit. "Then why keep you?"

"Why keep me, indeed? Let me go."

"No," he said, his voice hard. "You will stay. I want Gunnar killed."

"I don't know how. I stabbed him, the first night. He laughed."

The man threw his head back and laughed hard, slipping from the crouch to sitting back, barely able to keep himself under control. "A woman with fire. I can see what he likes about you."

"If I could kill him, then I would have done it already," she repeated. "I don't know how to help you."

"I am Valdemar, and when Gunnar is dead I will take control of this band. When you find a solution, one that ensures Gunnar's death, then you are free to go."

Somehow, the declaration sounded less like an introduction than a boast. "How can I be sure that I can trust you?"

"How can you be sure that I won't kill you now? Or take you to my tent, and teach you how much a woman is allowed to question my trustworthiness?"

"You wouldn't."

He thought about that for a moment. "There's your answer, then. You seem very sure of the one, why not sure of the other?"

"I want your word."

"I give it. When Gunnar dies, you may go."

She held her hand out, the way that Gunnar had to her, and he took it. When he took her back, though, things seemed all that much stranger. She wouldn't be able to use her herbs until she had an enclosed space, as private as possible.

All of the men in the wagon with her, they would probably lose their minds if she started doing any 'witching.' She could do it tonight, she hoped, when Gunnar called for her again, but it was hardly a guarantee.

What, then? She closed her eyes. She had to wait, that was what. There was nothing else for it, whether she liked it or not.

Two men, in the same day, had come to her and asked her, in essence, to kill the leader of this band of barbarians.

That left two very important questions for her. What would happen if she failed? If she could never find the answer, what would happen to her?

She had seen the way that Gunnar looked at her, but she had seen the way that Valdemar had looked at her, as well. Could the Powerful man keep her safe from him? Would he, if he thought that she was of no use to him?

She couldn't rely on that. She had to find an answer, because not doing it was not an option. She would just as soon die, because that future was too uncertain.

The other question, the one that bothered her more, was what would happen if she succeeded.

She could take Gunnar's invincibility from him, perhaps. If she was lucky, she could have an idea, but that left the risk that he died a slow death.

If that happened, then even if he fulfilled his end of the bargain, she could still be in

danger. How well could a man defend her, keep his promises, if he was on his deathbed? If he took a minor injury, then would that be counted?