Redeeming Her Viking Warrior

‘The weather is the reason I need to go.’ He remembered the perilous ridge over the mountain and shuddered. ‘She might be trapped somewhere or hurt.’

‘She knows how to take care of herself.’

‘I know, but I can’t just stay here and wait.’

‘Then I’d better go with you.’ Brandt looked grimly at his mother. ‘We’ll talk later. Right now we need horses and supplies.’

‘I’ll see to it.’ Joarr nodded.

‘Hurry!’ Danr was already running up the beach. ‘We need to leave now!’

* * *

Sissa lifted her head, examining the pile of rotten timber lying over her body in case she’d missed some obvious way out, then dropped it again despairingly. It was no use. Her arms and legs were trapped and there was no way for her to wriggle out. The shelf she’d been reaching for had given way beneath her fingertips, pulling down what was left of the wall and roof along with it. She supposed she ought to be grateful that the beams had missed her head and that she was pinned to the ground, rather than crushed. None of her limbs felt as though they were injured, but heave as she might, there was no way for her to dislodge the wood covering her all the way from her neck down to her toes.

She sighed. She hadn’t even intended to come here, only once she’d got back to the clearing, she’d calmed down enough to realise that she’d overreacted. There was no proof that Danr had lied. Any discussion he might have had about a new village with Hilda had likely been just that, a discussion. It wasn’t as if he would have been able to force her to live there anyway. It was probably just an idea and maybe—the thought had gradually occurred to her as she’d walked—maybe it wasn’t such a bad one. Maybe it really was time for her to start living with people again. In which case there was something she’d wanted to do first.

That was the reason she’d come here, on her own and without telling anyone, which with hindsight had definitely been a mistake. It was ironic. She’d come back to the site of her first home to say goodbye to the past and found herself trapped beneath it instead. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the slightest bit funny.

‘I know. I shouldn’t have come.’ She turned her head to look at Tove, lying beside her, and then Halvar, a few feet away. ‘But I’m glad you’re both here.’

In truth, she was more than glad. Hunger and a painfully dry throat were bad enough, but the last night of utter blackness would have been well-nigh unbearable without their company.

‘I should have told Hilda where I was going,’ she went on regretfully, ‘but I thought she’d try to stop me. It was foolish, but I meant to go back. You believe me, don’t you?’

She sighed and looked up at the sky where yet more grey clouds were massing, threatening rain and worse. The temperature was already plummeting, making her shiver despite her fur cloak. Every time she breathed in she felt as though her lungs were filling with ice. It wouldn’t be long before she was either drenched or buried in snow. Just like the way she’d found Danr, she realised, her heart clenching at the thought. Where was he now? Still in Eireann probably, or maybe on his journey back, too far away to rescue her. When he returned to Skíð, they’d tell him that she’d gone, without a clue as to why or where. He’d search for her, but what if he thought she’d lied and tricked him again? And who could blame him? All he’d know was that she’d broken her promise and left.

* * *

‘You need to slow down!’ Brandt bellowed behind him.

‘I can’t!’ Danr didn’t look around, icy blasts of air whipping across his face as he leaned over his mount’s neck, thundering through yet another valley.

‘Yes, you can, or in this terrain your horse will stumble and then we’ll have to make our way on foot.’ Brandt charged up beside him and grabbed hold of his horse’s bridle. ‘I know how you feel, Brother, but you need to calm down. Getting yourself injured won’t help her.’

Danr gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to spur his horse on anyway. ‘It’s not that easy. I just...’

‘I know.’

He twisted his head at the sound of pain in his brother’s voice. For the first time, he realised how hard this must be for Brandt, racing to find a woman, just as he’d raced to save Ingrid...

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you come.’

‘You couldn’t have stopped me. Where are we going anyway?’

‘To her old village. It was almost completely destroyed by outlaws five years ago, but she still goes there sometimes. It’s the only place I can think of.’

‘How much further?’

‘Too far. We’re going to get wet.’

‘I can live with wet.’ Brandt gestured behind them, to where lightning was already streaking the horizon. ‘That’s what I’m worried about. We’ll need to find shelter soon.’

‘No.’ Danr clenched his jaw grimly. ‘I’m not stopping. I’ll ride through a storm if I have to.’

‘I believe you, Brother.’ Brandt held on to his gaze for a long moment and then nodded. ‘Let’s go, then.’

Chapter Twenty-Four