Hróarr hurt Brynn,Cenric shot back.
Brynn!Snapper growled, hackles rising.Bad Hróarr!Bad!
Now both dyrehunds turned on Hróarr, barking their displeasure.
Hróarr stumbled, but the bigger man didn’t go down.His whole body braced, fists drawing up for a fight.
Cenric had already killed a man today.What was one more?
Ovrek’s warriors moved aside, giving them space to fight.They had missed the attack on their king, but a scuffle behind the thrall huts might satisfy their bloodlust.
Hróarr moved for Cenric, but Ovrek smacked a hand into his chest, pushing him back.
“Your cousin saved my life today.”
Hróarr shot a quick look to his king.
That statement was laden with implication.It meant Cenric was in the favor of Ovrek—at least for now—and it was a reminder to the onlookers that Cenric had been there when they had not.Never mind that Ovrek had been the one to dismiss them.
“Get the sorceress out,” Ovrek ordered.He glared down to where Dagrún and Egill still lay where they had fallen.“At least one of my men knows the honor due kings.”
Cenric stepped up to the edge of the pit.“Brynn?”
“Cenric.”His wife was on her feet, arms drawn close around her.She was filthy, covered in scratches, bruises, and the signs of having been in the forest all night long.
One of the warriors brought a rope and Cenric snatched it from him, lowering it down to Brynn.“Ovrek says you can come out.”
Brynn’s expression remained tight.Her face was red, though that might be from the cold as easily from crying.His wife grasped the end of the rope, and it took several tries, but she made it halfway up the steep side of the pit and then Cenric was able to catch her arm.
He worried that Dagrún and Egill might trouble her, but he needn’t have.The disgraced men had barely pushed themselves off the ground by the time Brynn scrambled free.
She crashed into his arms, clinging to his chest.She lowered her head, curling against him.
Cenric wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back.“I’ve got you.I’ve got you, love.”
Snapper woofed happily, tail wagging.He licked Brynn’s arm, then went back to prancing around them.He dropped to his haunches, ears up as he watched them.
Guin whined, fussing over Brynn.She cast one last snarl in Hróarr’s direction before settling against Brynn’s side.
“There are monsters in the forest.”Brynn’s voice was barely audible.
“What?”
“They have a burrow under the roots of the dead yew tree,” Brynn whispered, shaking in his arms.
“Did you fight something in the woods?”Cenric demanded, speaking in Valdari to Hróarr.
His cousin deigned a look at him, though his fists remained clenched.
“What was it?”Cenric pressed.
Hróarr shot a glance back to the forest.“I don’t know.”
“Brynn says there are monsters under a dead yew tree.”
At that, Ovrek’s attention turned to Hróarr.“Yew tree?”
Hróarr almost looked ashamed as he dipped his head.Conspicuously, he switched into Hyldish.“The Grandfather Yew, lord.”
