At last he emerged out of the trees, his heart stalling at the sight of the cauldron lying on its side by the riverbank.
‘Joarr.’ He ground out the name, the sight of two sets of footprints in the mud telling him everything he needed to know. In one spot in particular they were all muddled together and overlapping, as if there had been some kind of struggle.
He dropped his pack and ran back to the clearing.
Chapter Nineteen
There were raised voices around her. Sissa became aware of them gradually as she rose back to consciousness. By the feel of it she was lying, tied up, on some kind of bed, but she didn’t move, listening to the argument going on around her. Tempted as she was to open her eyes and watch, too, she suspected the voices would stop the moment she did. Not that it overly mattered since she recognised them anyway. They belonged to Knut, Joarr, Alva and Hilda, all of them in varying degrees of anger or distress.
‘You shouldn’t have done this!’ Knut sounded angriest of all.
‘She had the pendants.’ Joarr’s response was terse. ‘That means she’s seen him and she probably knows where he is.’
‘You thought he was dead a day ago. Maybe she only found his body.’
‘He’s alive, I know it. Why would she have come here and accused Hilda unless he’d sent her? Trust Danr to find the only woman in an entire forest!’
‘I don’t know why she came, but you still shouldn’t have attacked her.’
‘Knut’s right.’ It was Hilda’s voice this time. ‘You said you were going to look for Danr, not her.’
‘I found her first. She was alone and it was too good an opportunity to lose, but I didn’t attack her. I was only going to gag her mouth and tie her hands, but she wouldn’t stop struggling. She knocked us both over. That’s how she hit her head.’
Sissa winced. At least that explained the sore feeling on the back of her skull. Obviously Joarr had brought her back to the village, but how long had she been unconscious? How long had it been since her argument with Danr? Would he have guessed what had happened by now? And if he had, would he come after her?
She almost moaned aloud at the thought. Of course he would come. He’d been about to come here with a branch of peace anyway, only now she had a horrible feeling that he wouldn’t be feeling quite so peaceful...
‘This isn’t my fight.’ Knut’s tone was grave. ‘I want no part of it.’
‘You don’t have to be part of it. He’ll come. Danr’s many things, but he’s no coward.’
‘And then what?’
‘Then we fight properly. To the death this time.’
‘No!’ Hilda’s voice rose higher in protest.
‘Yes. You said he was convinced that you had some part in the massacre and that your sons thought so, too. That means he came here for revenge. I won’t let him hurt you.’
‘If I could just go and speak to my sons face to face...’
‘Sandulf knew he was coming.’
‘But if you kill him...’ her voice cracked ‘...they’ll never believe that I’m innocent. They’ll never forgive me either. There has to be another way.’
‘There isn’t.’
‘My lord?’ A new voice spoke up. ‘There’s a warrior outside the gates. He looks Norse.’
‘Good.’ Joarr sounded pleased. ‘He’s here even sooner than I expected.’
Sissa tensed, waiting a few moments until the sound of hurried footsteps had receded before opening her eyes and wriggling up into a sitting position. She couldn’t just stay there. She had to free herself so she could stop Joarr and Danr from killing each other. Her hands and feet were bound, but perhaps if she... She blinked, suddenly aware that she wasn’t alone in the chamber. Hilda was sitting on a stool beside the bed, clearly as surprised to see her awake as she was to be seen.
‘You’re awake!’ After a moment’s hesitation, Hilda shot out of her seat and made for the door.
‘Wait!’ Sissa called out impulsively. Given time she might have thought of some other way to communicate without revealing her secret, but she didn’t have time...
‘You can speak?’ Hilda stopped and swivelled around, doubly surprised now. ‘They said that you couldn’t.’