Beyond the Sea Mist (14 page)

Magnus didn’t wait to hear more but seized an iron cauldron lying nearby and headed for the hold. In his haste to get down the ladder, he slipped on the wet rungs and fell, landing in knee-deep cold water. He got quickly to his feet and made his way to the cargo area where the women were. “Ailinn,” he called out. “Ailinn.”

“Blessed Jesu! It’s Magnus. You can’t let Croa see you.”

“Listen to me,” Magnus said. He moved deeper into the hold, ducking his head. “The men think you caused this storm by cursing Croa. There’s talk of throwing you overboard. I want you to crawl back in the cargo area as far you can. Find some place where no one can reach you. You’re much smaller than a man. If you hide somewhere inaccessible, they may not try too hard to get to you.”

“But the other women...I can’t leave them.”

“Don’t argue with me! Your life might depend on your doing as I say!”

“I can’t leave them!”

“I’ll make certain they’re safe. I promise. But you must go now. The other men are coming.” He reached out and grasped her hand. Her fingers were like ice. The next moment, he found himself pulling her into his arms. He cradled her next to his body and nuzzled his mouth against her hair. Despite everything she’d endured, she still smelled sweet and womanly. “Ailinn,” he murmured. “Ailinn.”

A sound behind him brought him to his senses. He released her. “Hurry. I don’t want them to find you.”

Ailinn watched Magnus leave her, feeling stunned. “Ullach,” she called out.

“I’m here,” the other woman murmured.

“Magnus says I must hide, that the men want to throw me overboard. I don’t want to leave you, but he promised to look after you.” Ailinn clenched her hands together, frantic with fear. What had she done? She’d only meant to frighten Croa by calling down her native gods. How could she have guessed they’d encounter a storm? Until Magnus had mentioned it, she hadn’t even recalled the curse.

“You must do as he says,” Ullach said weakly. “We’ll manage somehow.”

Ailinn squinted into the darkness of the hold, trying to decide where to hide. This side of the cargo area wasn’t that big. The other was larger. And they would be less likely to look for her there.

She flattened herself against the side of the ship’s hull and began to inch her way forward. When she reached the opening to the upper deck, she could make out Magnus and two other men. They were filling buckets and cauldrons with water and handing them to a man perched on the ladder, who then handed the containers to another man on the deck.

They were intent on their task and didn’t notice her. She crept forward, keeping as close to the side of the ship as possible, using her fingers to grip the overlapping planks making up the hull. The whole vessel still swayed and pitched, and when they struck a particularly big wave, Ailinn lost her grip and was thrown into the water. Getting up, she saw that Magnus and the other men had also lost their footing. This was her chance. Getting down on her hands and knees, she crawled past the men and behind the mast. She pressed herself against the base of the giant timber and caught her breath for moment, then wriggled her way into the crowded cargo area.

* * *

Bragi, working beside Magnus, put down the bucket he was using to bail and stretched his back and shoulders. “This isn’t working. Every bucket we haul out is replaced by two more in the time it takes for the others to dump it over the side.”

Although Magnus agreed with him, he continued to fill buckets and hand them to Oleif, who stood on the ladder to exchange them for empty ones from the men working on deck. Bluetooth was also down in the hold bailing, and Magnus feared that at any moment he might start in again about throwing Ailinn overboard. Magnus had caught a glimpse of her moving into the other side of the cargo area, but there was no way she’d be able to hide from a determined group of men.

After a time, Bragi stopped bailing.

“Are you giving up?” asked Magnus.

“We can’t get ahead of it,” Bragi responded. “The big problem is how low in the water the ship is riding. If we could get some of this cargo out of here, we might be able to lighten the vessel and avoid being swamped by the waves.”

Magnus’s worry intensified. If the men started pulling things out of the cargo area, they might come upon Ailinn and decide she was part of the cargo that should be jettisoned.

Oleif joined them in the hold. Bragi motioned to the stern-end cargo area and said, “Let’s get busy.”

“Nay!” Magnus exclaimed. “We have to be careful about what we throw overboard.” When the two men looked at him, he said, “If we do make it through this storm, we’ll need fresh water and food until we reach land. Especially since there’s a good chance this gale has blown us off course. I don’t know about the two of you, but I can’t tell a barrel of wine from a barrel of water.”

“Magnus’s right,” Oleif said. “We don’t want to toss everything. We need to leave the drinking water, barrels of saltfish and other supplies.” He gestured to Bragi. “Maybe you should get Hafgrim. He’s the one who supervised the loading of the ship. He’ll know what can be safely tossed.”

Bragi started up the ladder to fetch Hagrim. Magnus returned to bailing. All at at once there was a commotion on the deck above. Even above the roar of the waves and the wind, Magnus could make out Croa’s bellow. Two heartbeats passed and Croa was moving down the ladder. He dropped heavily into the hold and shouted, “Where is she? Where is that foul Irish witch?” Ducking into the cargo area, he grabbed the tall dark-haired woman. The woman screamed loudly in Irish, calling out for Ailinn.

Magnus watched in horror as Croa began dragging the woman toward the opening. Recalling his promise to Ailinn, he shouted, “Stop! Putting the women overboard won’t help. What we need to do is get rid of some of these heavy barrels rather than wasting time on the women.”

“Let her go!” a woman’s voice cried out. “I’m the one you want. Leave her be!”

Magnus insides clenched in horror as Ailinn appeared from the other side of the hold. “Nay!” he cried.

She shot him a desperate look, then faced Croa and said, “I’m the one you want, you stupid Norse pig! I’m the one who cursed you. And I’ll do it again if you don’t let Gormlaith go!”

Croa’s face curdled with anger and he dropped the woman he was carrying. As Ailinn tried to get to the woman to help her up, Croa seized Ailinn’s arm and began dragging her up the ladder. Magnus let out a roar and started after them. He’d barely gotten his foot on the first rung when he felt someone clutching at his arm.

“Think, you fool!” Asgar cried. “If you go after him without a weapon, you have no chance. No chance at all.”

“I have to try,” Magnus gritted out. “I have to...”

There was a cracking sound as the ladder gave away. Magnus found himself lying in the water with the wreckage of the ladder on top of him. He shoved off the splintered wood and got up sputtering. Looking up, he saw that Croa had managed to boost both himself and Ailinn onto the deck. Magnus grabbed one of the barrels to stand on and hoisted himself up, scrambling onto the deck.

He spotted Croa heading toward the prow of the vessel, still clutching Ailinn. Turning to the men gathered around, Magnus cried. “Help me. He’s going to throw the woman overboard.”

No one moved. All gazed at him with expressionless faces. Finally, one of them said, “It might appease the storm gods. And if nothing else, it’s less cargo for the ship to carry.”

Magnus was filled with blinding fury. He wanted to grab the man who’d spoken and throw
him
overboard. Somehow he had to force Croa to relinquish Ailinn before he dumped her in the sea.

He thought of his sword, safely stored away in his sea chest on the other side of the ship. There wasn’t time to get it. He reached down for his eating knife, then realized he’d dropped it in the struggle below. Panic overtook him.

All at once, someone grabbed his arm. He turned and saw Asgar. “Here,” Asgar said. “You’ll need this.” He held out an axe.

Magnus seized the weapon and hurried after Croa.

* * *

Helpless rage and frustration overwhelmed Ailinn as Croa dragged her to the far end of the prow. She’d tried her best to escape Croa, but she hadn’t been strong enough. Now, this monster was going to throw her into the sea. She would slip beneath the churning, white-capped waves and disappear forever.

As she observed the boiling, seething water all around the ship, she told herself it would be a less painful death than what her father and brothers had endured. It would also be much quicker than drowning in the cold darkness of the hold. She thought of Brina and the other women and said a quick prayer for them, hoping death came rapidly for them as well.

Then she saw Magnus advancing toward the prow with an axe in his hand and his face ablaze with determination. How fine he looked, all fierce blue eyes and massive, broad-shouldered strength. The sight of him gave her hope and her will to fight returned. She wouldn’t go meekly. If she were going to drown, she would drag this monstrous Norseman down with her!

She fought Croa’s iron-like grip on her wrist, twisting and turning to wrest herself free. He cursed, then struck her face. Her vision went black, then returned in a dazzle of stars. She fought through the pain and confusion and heard Magnus and Croa arguing.

“Come closer and I’ll throw her into the sea,” Croa shouted.

“Do that, and I’ll cleave your ugly face in two.” Magnus brandished the axe.

“One chance, that’s all you’ll have,” Croa taunted. “If you miss, I’ll kill you with my bare hands and rip your liver out with my teeth.”

The brutal threat of his words penetrated Ailinn’s hazy thoughts. She couldn’t let Croa win! Couldn’t let him destroy this proud young warrior who’d risked so much to aid her!

Maybe she could throw Croa off balance, although there was every likelihood they would both fall overboard. But at least that way Magnus would be safe. The ship shifted and lurched beneath them. Ailinn lunged to the side and felt Croa lose his footing. She braced herself for the fall.

“Ailinn!” Magnus cried out. Ailinn twisted around, struggling to see his face one last time. Something whizzed through the air and struck Croa. He gave a loud bellow and released her. Ailinn shoved with all her strength. Croa wobbled. The ship lurched downwards. Slowly, and with an odd kind of grace, Croa fell over the side.

For a heartbeat, Ailinn stood frozen. Then she felt Magnus’s arms around her, pulling her away from her precarious position on the narrow prow. She melted into him, weak with relief.

It felt wonderful to have his big, strong body next to her. Although she was weary beyond belief and her jaw throbbed with pain, she thought she’d never known such contentment. She closed her eyes and savored the feel of him.

Her idyll ended when he murmured, “We must get you to safety.”

Abruptly, she remembered her companions. “Gormlaith!” she cried. “I have to help Gormlaith!”

“I’ll see to her,” Magnus said. “But first we must get you somewhere safe.”

Ailinn wanted to protest, but then she realized how shaky and light-headed she felt. “You promise you’ll look after Gormlaith?” she asked Magnus. “And the other women?”

“Aye. I promise.”

There he went again, Magnus thought, vowing to do something that might not be possible. But he had managed to free Ailinn from Croa. A surge of wild exhilaration swept through him. Against enormous odds, he’d killed Croa and freed Ailinn. But how long would her freedom last? Would some other man on the ship try to claim control of her? Thorvald, perhaps?

But if the ship sank, it wouldn’t matter if Ailinn were no longer Croa’s captive. She would drown along with the rest of them.

With that sobering thought in mind, he helped Ailinn negotiate the crowded deck back toward the stern. As they reached the mid-section of the ship, he realized that most of the crew were watching them. He looked back at them and shouted, “See this woman? No one is to touch her! She’s under my protection! If any of you goes near her, I’ll kill you as I did Croa!”

“But she caused the storm,” a man named Lodur shouted back. “As long as she’s on ship, we’re all in danger.”

Magnus’s mind raced as he tried to think of an argument to spare Ailinn. Before he could speak, Asgar pointed to Ailinn and said, “If she’s a witch, then throwing her overboard seems very foolish. Before she drowns, there’s no telling what she might call upon her gods to do to us.”

All the men stared at Ailinn. She stared back, green eyes glittering. Observing her cold, furious expression, Magnus felt a little uneasy himself. In the back of his mind he wondered if maybe she didn’t have some special powers. There were certainly times when he felt as if she’d put a spell on him.

“We’re wasting time,” interjected Bragi, his broad face twisted into a scowl. “Instead of arguing about the woman, we should be getting rid of cargo so the ship doesn’t sink. If we don’t do something soon, we’re all going down.” He turned and headed toward the hold. Asgar and two other men followed him.

Magnus helped Ailinn past the mast to the tent on that side of the deck. When they reached the hide shelter, Magnus pulled aside the opening. Thorvald was inside. Magnus was startled. Did Croa’s nephew know what had happened to his uncle?

“Croa’s dead,” he told Thorvald. “I killed him.”