"On my first night here she forced me to take a bath in icy cold water. She is not permitted to beat me, but will encourage Ulfric to do so at any opportunity. She constantly finds fault with me, nothing I do pleases her and I have ceased to try."
"She is a Viking, and you are a slave."
"It is more than that. She treats Hilla well, you saw that she does. And Harald. They are slaves too, Saxons, from England originally. Brynhild reserves her hatred for we Celts."
"Gunnar told me that her betrothed died in a raid on a Celtic village and that she has never recovered from the loss."
"Is it reasonable to hold all Celts responsible for the actions of a few? In any case, were those men not entitled to defend their homes? Their families?"
"Yes, of course. I know that. I was merely trying to understand. It is difficult for her..."
"And difficult, too, for those on the receiving end of her hatred," retorted Fiona bitterly.
They paused to lean on a low fence. In silence the pair of them gazed across the village at the two boys who were seated on the ground in front of the forge. Njal and Donald were engaged in a heated conversation but both were smiling. Mairead was glad. Her son had few enough friends and Njal would be his cousin, of sorts.
Fiona was her friend too, and like it or not, Brynhild was now her sister. Family was important, ultimately it was all they had. She knew this, and Gunnar had said as much too. This intractable situation with Brynhild threatened all of them. It could not continue.
14
"There is a messenger from Skarthveit. It is bad news." Gunnar entered their chamber as Mairead was finishing feeding Tyra. She placed the child in her cradle and turned to face him.
"What has happened? Is it your brother? Is he attacked?"
Gunnar shook his head. "Not Ulfric. Brynhild. She has disappeared."
"Disappeared? But how...? Where...?"
"I do not know. The man sent by my brother has no information save that she was last seen three nights previously, checking their livestock in readiness for the coming night. In the morning, she was gone. A search has been mounted."
"This is terrible. How could such a thing happen? We must go to Skarthveit at once."
He laid his hands on her shoulders. "I would prefer if you were to stay here. I am to leave within the hour and we will be riding hard to reach Skarthveit quickly. I have no idea what has happened, though I cannot help but suspect Bjarkesson. Abducting a woman of another Viking family, even in the midst of a blood feud, is an audacious and singularly stupid act but Iwould not put it past him. If I am right, there might be danger. I will not risk your safety."
"But—"
"Please, heed me on this. I will go to help in the search, and I must leave at once. If we are to find my sister we must move swiftly. I shall take men with me, though I will leave enough here to ensure Gunnarsholm is safe. You will remain here, and I will send news as soon as I am able."
Her head still reeling from this awful turn of events Mairead could but nod dumbly. Gunnar kissed her, then strode off to complete his preparations. Mairead scurried to assist, and within mere minutes it seemed to her, he and six of his men galloped from the settlement. Still stunned at the news, Mairead followed Aigneis back into the longhouse and sank onto a bench.
"Where can Brynhild be? What has happened? Poor woman ... we were not friends, but I would not have wished her ill."
Aigneis placed a mug of mead beside her. "Fretting will not help. We must wait for word from the Jarl. And hope."
Waiting and hoping proved fruitless.Gunnar returned after an absence of two weeks with nothing further to add. Brynhild had quite simply disappeared without a trace.
He and Ulfric had gone to the Byarkesson stronghold to demand her return, but Olaf appeared as bewildered as they. Gunnar was inclined to believe the other chieftain when he claimed to know nothing of Brynhild's whereabouts, but this left them with no clues at all. They had no idea where to direct the search, although Ormarr's skills had been employed widely. He discovered no tracks, either left by the missing woman or byany wild beast which might have taken her. Had she been seized by wolves or even a bear there would have been some sign left behind. Brigands, too, would have left clues in their wake and in any case would have surely demanded a ransom.
Ulfric, Gunnar and their combined forces had scoured the surrounding countryside, made enquiries in every town and settlement within a fifty-mile radius, searched barns, stables, even ships moored within the nearest ports. They found nothing, no sign at all. There had been no sightings of her, no talk of a woman answering Brynhild's description being seen, travelling on her own or in company. Brynhild had quite simply vanished.
Gunnar was at a loss. He sat on the end of their bed, his head in his hands. Mairead knelt on the floor before him and wondered how to offer comfort.
"We parted on angry words. I railed at her, for her prejudice, for her refusal to compromise, or to put our family before her own irrational enmity. What if I never have any opportunity to set matters to rights between us? What if we never see our sister again?"
"We must hope she is alive, and well. She may yet be restored to us."
"How? How can she be alive and well? If it was so, she would come home." He met her gaze, his expression anguished. "We would always fight, as children. She was the youngest, always quarrelsome, even then. But we loved each other. She would not leave us, ever. Something has happened to her. I know it, but I cannot help her and that is the worst part of all this. My sister needs me, and I am useless. Ulfric too. We have tried, we searched everywhere we could think of, asked everyone. We do not know where to go next."
"How... how is Ulfric?"
