Page 23 of Come the Morning

Daylight was coming, and too quickly, Waryk thought.

She might be in greater danger, for the river would fill, and the Vikings she longed to reach might be ever closer, moving about by day …

He would have to reach her quickly. He would keep her escape secret if he could, but if he could not …

She would have to meet the king’s wrath. There was no other way.

Or else she might well make good her bid for freedom, and they’d both be in danger of charges of treason.

Of being hanged, or beheaded.

Or even drawn and quartered.

Vikings could be very dangerous, he had never deceived himself on that issue. Vikings, in all sizes, and all shapes. Even a Viking’s beautiful daughter.

Perhaps, he thought, a strange foreboding sending a tremor of heat along his spine, especially a Viking’s beautiful and wayward daughter …

CHAPTER5

“Sire,” he said, entering the king’s great hall, bowing briefly upon a single knee before rising. “I can report—”

“Nay, you don’t need to report a word of your deeds, for many great words have preceded your arrival.”

“I’m sure that Angus exaggerated my deeds.”

“Messengers reached me before Angus came to give a report. You’re dripping, by the way, Laird Lion.”

“I stopped by the river.”

“Aye, you’ve had a fondness for water all your life.”

“And the stars. Your pardon, perhaps I should have come straight here, but—”

“The leisure time was yours, well deserved. But tell me, did you fall in the water?”

“I went for a swim.”

“How curious, it was a rather chill night. Were you chasing water nymphs or the like?”

Waryk grinned. “I’m afraid I ventured too near the water and, thereby, wound up wet.”

“Umm,” the king murmured, aware there was more to the story, but not persisting at the moment. “Whatever your recent adventures, you have returned home triumphant. Yougave chase to the rascals, left men in attendance to build new fortifications, and have done us all proud. Perhaps most important is the fact that you have ably and loyally supported me, and no shift in the political wind has ever steered you from that course.”

Waryk lifted a hand in gracious acknowledgment of the king’s words. “Well, you see, sire, I learned my loyalty as a boy,” he said lightly, but then added on a serious note, “This new action has disturbed me, David. It was much like that which we fought westward a few months before, and farther to the north and east on the border a few months before that. It’s as if there is some unseen, unknown enemy creating dissension where there should be none.”

“Angus told me that you battled a group of ruffians, none of them ably trained.”

“Aye, that’s what’s so strange. We fought freemen with little language or education, and perhaps serfs from some of the new Norman domains. Men pushed to battle, more afraid to live than to die. To a man, they escaped into the woods, or died. We’ve tried to take men alive, but they fight us as if we are demons, and I can’t make sense of anything they ramble as yet. It has been the same again and again.”

“There has always been minor insurrection. And now, with Henry dead, men are easily swayed to fight for his daughter Mathilda against his nephew Stephen, or to fight for Stephen against Mathilda, and to cause trouble simply for whatever power might be seized in the midst of it.”

“Men must fight for some belief. Warriors would declare for Mathilda, or for Stephen. As far as Scotland goes, my lord, there are few Lowland Scots who do not recognize you as their king and overlord. I believe there is an enemy we have yet to unearth, someone more powerful than those poor fools we are forced toslay, and I am puzzled and angry that such an enemy doesn’t show his face.”

“Vikings?” the king inquired dourly.

“Vikings are men who believe that their gods honor them for fighting with boldness and courage. I’ve yet to meet a Viking who chose to hide in battle.”

“In the end, Waryk, it’s our strength that keeps us victorious, whatever enemy we fight. Don’t dwell on questions when you haven’t the resources for the answers.”