Chapter 2

2

A lasdair stared at Mege, not believing their midwife had gone missing when they desperately needed her. “Who can deliver a baby? Anyone?”

They hadn’t had any luck in finding someone trained as a healer and had been taking care of their own the best they could. At least they healed twice as fast as humans.

Mege shook her head while wringing her hands.

“Tell the lass to shift and have her babies as wolf pups,” Alasdair finally said. “If you canna deliver them, the houndsman can take care of them.”

Mege’s eyes grew huge. “Oh, my laird, he canna deliver the babies. He trains and takes care of the hounds for the hunts.”

“He willna be delivering babies, but wolf pups,” Alasdair corrected her. “He delivers the wolfhound’s pups when the dame needs help. Go . Speak with Absalom.”

“But—”

Alasdair said to Rory, “Speak with Absalom and tell him he’s needed in the women’s chambers.”

Rory nodded. “Aye.” Then he hurried off.

“Go see to the lass and tell her to shift,” Alasdair ordered Mege.

“Aye.” She rushed back to the castle.

Hans smiled.

“What? ‘Tis no different to deliver a wolf pup than a wolfhound.”

Hans just shook his head.

If no one had thought about the circumstances much, Alasdair still would not have believed it was too different. “Come. Let’s help the others prepare.”

Hours later, everyone was taking a break from preparations and eating a meal when Rory howled from the direction of the cliffs where he’d been on watch, having relieved another man who had relieved Bessetta.

She had returned to the castle, learned about the weaver having her babies, and hurried off to see if she could help with the bairns since they hadn’t appeared yet.

Once Rory howled, Alasdair told Hans, “You’re in charge here.”

Then Alasdair and ten of his men mounted their horses and rode off to the cliffs. When they arrived, they dismounted, moved low to the ground, and peeked over the edge to see the ocean.

Rory shifted, lying down with them in the tall grass. “They sailed to the north and will land some distance hence. The water is too rough for them to land near our shore. Their longships would break up on the rocks.”

They could attempt to ambush the raiders in the forest, as they were more familiar with the terrain than the Vikings. However, they would have greater protection behind the walls of their castle. He was reluctant to divide their forces, as splitting them up would leave the rest of his people more vulnerable.

“We return to the keep.” Alasdair and his men slipped back to their horses and mounted them.

“Do you want me to stay out here, and when I see them appear, howl a warning?” Rory asked.

“Nay. Come with us. We’ll need every man we can gather to fight against them.”

“Aye.” Rory shifted into his wolf and raced back to the keep.

Alasdair and the rest of their men raced him home on horseback.

When they arrived, they shut and locked the portcullis. Alasdair hoped they would be successful in fighting off the Vikings this time.

He asked Hans, “Is everyone from the village and farms accounted for?”

“Everyone except Rheba, our midwife. She was taking care of someone’s new bairns, and the mother, father, and babies are here, but no one has seen Rheba since. Do you want me to take a party out to search for her?”

“Take six men, run as wolves.”

“Will do.”

Bessetta ran out of the keep and smiled at Alasdair. “We have three new members of the pack.”

Frowning, Alasdair nodded. Deep down, he was concerned about the coming battle and what had happened to Rheba. If the Vikings breached their walls, they would not live to see another day.

As soon as Funi returned home, victorious from pillaging another village and bringing more slaves into the clan, Isobel hurried to pack food, water, tools, clothes, weapons, and furs and moved them to the cave. They’d taken anything they could use to survive on the journey for when they arrived in Scotia—just in case they had to flee.

At the meal that evening, the chieftain celebrated their success in the longhouse. Isobel saw her uncle unsheathe his dagger, and chills raced up her spine. She didn’t even want to see the outcome at the celebration when the mead and beer flowed freely, and everyone ate to their heart’s content.

She glanced around to see if Funi’s son, Vigge, was there. Across the lodge, he held a tankard up to her in greeting. His blue eyes glittered with interest, but she knew that would change when her uncle made his move against his da.

A fire burned in a pit in the longhouse, making the place smoky and providing some cover for Isobel and her cousins as they made their way toward the exit.

Everyone but her uncle, Inge, and her cousins were eating and drinking. She knew the way her uncle was inching his way through all the revelry what he was about to do.

As soon he drew close enough to the chieftain, he would kill him. And the men who supported her uncle would eliminate the chieftain’s staunch supporters.

Suddenly, the chieftain mocked her uncle loudly, “You couldna have fought and won against a mere child if you had come with us on the last raid. I hear you plot against me when I’m no’ around.”

He knew. The chieftain already knew. Did Vigge also? Inge and her cousins would all die if they didn’t flee now.

Her uncle went after the chieftain and yanked his ax off his belt, now armed with both the dagger and ax.

Inge pulled her younger cousins out of the longhouse as fast as she could so they didn’t witness the fight. However, she had to know how it turned out. But if her uncle died right then, so would she and her cousins. They didn’t have any choice.

Once her uncle failed to take over the clan to become the new chieftain and lost his life, she and her cousins would be considered traitors as well, though they hadn’t taken up arms against him.

As soon as she was outside, she realized Bodolf hadn’t followed them out. With her heart in her throat, Inge guided the twins to a bunch of wooden barrels and made them hide behind them. “Stay here. Stay quiet.”

Their eyes were wide, but both vigorously nodded.

She started back into the longhouse when Bodolf ran into her.

“Where are Lizzy and Drummond?” Bodolf appeared panicked, breathing hard, and grabbed her arm to steady her.

Fear raced through her body that they would get caught. She pointed to the barrels several feet away. “Hiding there. What happened?”

“You were right. Da tried to attack the chieftain, but before he could touch him, the men who were supposed to be backing him cut Da down.” He sounded bitter.

She didn’t blame him. “They told the chieftain earlier what your da had been plotting then.”

Bodolf wiped away tears. “Aye.”

They hurried to the barrels and motioned for Bodolf’s siblings to accompany them. Libby and Drummond were both crying.

“Nay, dinna cry,” Inge said. “We must hurry.”

Bodolf grabbed his sister’s and brother’s hands and sprinted for the cave.

Even though his da had never shown an ounce of love toward his children, she knew they cared about him, and she felt bad about how this had all turned out. For now, she had to concentrate on getting them safely away.

“Elene!” she suddenly said.

“I’ll go back for her,” Bodolf said.

“Nay. I’ll get her. She might no’ go with you. Leave your brother and sister in the cave and get the ship.” Isobel had befriended Elene because she was a wolf like them, though it had taken Elene weeks to trust Isobel. She genuinely wanted to be Elene’s friend.

Taking a deep breath, Isobel studied the longhouse and listened to all the shouting inside. Funi or his men could easily kill her if she returned. But she had to free Elene.

She slipped in, keeping tight to the outer wall where beds were lined up. Elene was tied to a bench in the longhouse where the men were beating Isobel’s uncle’s dead body. Inge averted her eyes, hoping no one would notice her as she drew close to Elene, then, with a dagger in hand, quickly cut the ropes around Elene’s wrist. Elene’s eyes were huge.

Wordlessly, Inge dragged Elene by the arm out of the longhouse without a backward glance. If anyone saw them escape, they would kill them all.

They rushed through the forest to the beach and the cave.

“What…what are we doing?” Elene finally asked once they were far enough from the longhouse.

“Escaping from here. And taking you home.”

“Home? To Scotia?”

“ Ja. ”

Elene moved even faster than Inge did then. When they reached the cave, they found the water level rising. Inge hadn’t considered the tide would be in when they had to make their escape. Mainly because she didn’t know when the takeover would take place.

Her younger cousins were sitting on a rocky shelf above the waterline with their belongings.

“Where is Bodolf?” Then she remembered she had sent him to get the longship.

“He went to get a longship for us,” Drummond said.

“ Ja . Good.”

“How will you get to us? The tide is coming in.” Drummond sounded frantic.

“We will come in and get you as soon as the ship arrives.” This she truly hadn’t planned for.

“I can swim and get the children,” Elene said.

“Nay. They can swim, but they’re afraid to leave the cave.”

Forever, it seemed they waited for word from Bodolf. She was sure they would hear the clansmen coming for them before long. She could envision them shouting their names, armed, all riled up, and in a killing mood.

Then Bodolf whistled for her, and she looked out to sea. “He has come.” She was elated but still anxious, her heart beating like crazy.

He beached the ship and then saw their dilemma. The children were in the cave, and the water was too deep to reach them.

“We can take the ship into the cave,” Bodolf said.

“If we wreck it on the rocks, our clansmen will catch up to us, and we’ll die,” Inge said.

“ Ja . But we canna leave without my brother and sister.”

“I know.” Inge took a deep breath and let it out. “Come, Bodolf, we have one chance at this.”

She had sailed on ships since she was eight summers. She was now nineteen. She could do this. Not that she had ever done something like this through a narrow passage with the waves coming in, but they didn’t have a choice.

She and Bodolf climbed aboard the vessel and rowed into the mouth of the cave. They heard the gunwales scrape against rocks, and she worried they would put a hole in it either coming or going. At least the water was deep, and the keel was shallow enough that they didn’t run aground.

When they were still too many feet away, they realized they couldn’t row the ship any further for the rocks jutting out in the cave.

“I’ll get them.” Bodolf climbed into the water while she steadied the ship.

He swam to where his siblings were and then took his sister first. “Dinna flail your arms around or kick me. I will swim you to the ship.”

“I can swim,” Libby said.

All of them could at an early age. Swimming competitions, more like dunking and drowning competitions, were a favorite pastime among the Vikings. The warriors often wore their armor while they swam to prove their strength.

“But you were no’ getting in the water.” Bodolf sounded annoyed with her.

The distance was short, but it would still take a toll on the body, as cold as the water was. When Bodolf reached the ship, Isobel quickly pulled Libby into the vessel. She realized then that Bodolf had brought blankets and a bag and secured it on the bottom of the ship.

She hurried to wrap Libby up in one of the blankets.

Then Bodolf returned to get his brother. Once he swam back to the ship, his lips were blue, and his face ice white.

“Here, let me take your brother, and you climb in too. I’ll get our supplies.” Inge helped pull Drummond into the ship.

“The water is very cold, like ice,” Bodolf warned.

“I know. Which is why I’m going to get our goods.” Needing to get this done as soon as possible, she climbed into the cold water, and her teeth instantly chattered. Cold, cold, cold.

She hurried to swim to the shelf, grabbed the oilcloth bags with their supplies inside, and swam back to the ship. Bodolf took them from her and then helped her into the vessel.

His younger brother, Drummond, was born at sea during one of their mother and father’s expeditions. A water giant—his mother had named him—or a sea monster—because he’d been such a big baby and hard to deliver. He loved the sea most of all.

After they had sailed to shore, Libby had been born. It had been a wild adventure for all of them.

Drummond was wrapped in a blanket on the longship now, and all of them were shivering.

“We must row out, watching not to hit any of the rocks, and pick up Elene.” Inge’s teeth chattered.

Then they carefully rowed out of the cave’s entrance. Hearing the grinding of the ship’s hull on the rocks made her cringe. She prayed that they hadn’t dug holes anywhere into the vessel.

They finally exited the cave and beached the ship. Elene hurried to climb in.

“Bodolf, change your clothes.” Inge started to row them out.

Then they heard a man yelling. “Inge! Where are you?”

Vigge!

“I told you he would come after you.” Bodolf shook his head.

Elene immediately seized an oar and began rowing. They didn’t dare put up the sail yet, though it was dark out. The full moon was beginning to wane, but clouds covered most of it. Their clansmen wouldn’t be able to see them.

Not like Isobel and her companions could see with their wolf’s sight. Still, they didn’t want to risk hoisting it.

At least Vigge couldn’t smell their scents like a wolf could, and he couldn’t see them in the dark.

Bodolf changed out of his wet clothes and created a sleeping area covered with woolen cloth for warmth and to keep the water out in the ship's center. Then he helped his siblings to dress without tipping over the ship.

Once they were wearing dry clothes, they curled up under the sleeping area together while Bodolf took a rowing seat and began to help them row.

“We must take turns staying awake, rowing, and sleeping. You and I can navigate our way to Scota,” Inge said to Bodolf, “but Elene canna navigate home. So one of the two of us always has to be awake.” Then Inge changed into dry clothes. “From now on, Bodolf, you are Conall. Dinna forget. And I am no longer Inge but Isobel.

“Do you want to lie down now?” Conall studied the stars, though clouds were covering many of them.

“Nay. I’m too wound up to sleep. Can you rest for a while, Conall?” She almost called him Bodolf. It would be an easy mistake to make, but they had to get used to their new names. “And keep your brother and sister warm? Elene and I will row. When you wake, she can sleep, and you and I will continue. Then once she has rested, it will be my turn to sleep.”

“I dinna think I can sleep yet.”

After witnessing his da’s death and the worry that the clansmen would soon come after them, Isobel figured he was too worked up like she was. She glanced at Elene.

“I’ll sleep, and you wake me when you need me. They keep me up all night, doing their bidding,” Elene said.

“ Ja , sleep, Elene.” Isobel hadn’t considered Elene’s trauma of living the life of a slave among them, which made her feel bad.

Elene moved carefully under the makeshift tent and snuggled with the little ones. That helped to keep them warm.

“What did Bidol say about you buying his ship?” Isobel asked Conall, the wind sweeping some of her hair loose from her braids, the sea air chilly at night.

“He was dead.”

“What?” Isobel couldn’t believe it.

“It appeared Bidol had fallen asleep and never woke up. He was cold when I felt his hand. He wasna breathing. I’ve seen enough bodies to know he had been dead for a couple of days or longer. He had no injuries on his body.”

“I havena seen him for a few days. Did…” She hated asking and didn’t know if they could even use the money should they reach Scota, but she had to know. “Did you leave the money for the ship?”

“Nay. Bidol was dead. And whoever found him would take the money and say someone stole his ship—us, most likely.”

“Though we wouldna be able to use the coin in Scotia.” She glanced at Drummond and Libby wrapped in furs. “That’s why you brought his extra furs.”

“ Ja . He had no need of them. I thought we might. He also had more smoked fish that I brought with me.”

“You were right.” She was glad her cousin had thought of that.

“About da, was he truly dead?”

“ Ja .” He did not die in a warrior’s way on the battlefield, just like Bidol hadn’t. Neither man would go to Valhalla.

Gazing at the dark, stormy skies, Isobel knew they were about to face rough weather. She turned her attention back to the shore but saw no signs of people scrambling to find them or ships being launched.

They heard Vigge calling out for her, but she didn’t see him on the beach or near the cave.

Her worry only grew as their longship hit wave after wave, water crashing over the bow, threatening to sink them.