The Iron Princess (21 page)

“Why can I not—” Katia started to ask.

“No,” her far and her husband both growled in unison across the long table.

“But—” she thought to try again.

“You are here to listen as a courtesy, Kat. Don’t make your father regret it.” Lothair squeezed her knee under the table. “Remember when you bragged to me about how superior your father’s men were to Saxony swordsmen? Let them have a chance to make your case.” He kissed her temple and she flopped back in her chair, scowling at both her father and her husband. They were now on the same side, working together to control her, and she was getting more than just a little sick of it.

“I beg your pardon, my jarl.” Gilla, the new housekeeper, nervously approached the head table. The family had been taking a light midday meal together when Katia had tried to bring up the subject of Korski and what aid plans were to take place when the ice flows melted, clearing the channels to the sea.

“What can I help you with, Gilla?” Magnus said.

“Friherrinna Lida is being asked for at the gate, my jarl. A woman, by the name of Veronchka—”

Katia jumped to her feet and sprinted out of the keep, without waiting for anyone to join her. Veronchka was Urho’s half sister; at long last, news from her brother.

Out of breath, Katia arrived at the gate a few moments later. “Silho, please open the gate.”

“Mistress Katia, I—” Silho began.

“Do it now, Silho! She is my sister.” Katia knew it could not be good that Veronchka had come alone. The guard bowed and backed away, giving the signal for the large chains to be pulled, freeing the thick iron bars and unlocking the steel-plated door. It took several minutes, and by the time the door opened enough for a person to squeeze through, Lothair and her father had joined her.

“Veronchka!” Katia threw her arms around the young woman’s neck. Veronchka was not truthfully a sister by blood. Urho had five half sisters by way of his mother. It was another strange characteristic that Katia had in common with Urho—whereas Katia was the oldest in her family and saddled with five younger brothers, Urho was the eldest of his mother’s children and had five younger sisters.

“Come inside, you look frozen straight through.” Katia wrapped her arm around the Veronchka’s soggy cloak and started to rush her quickly back to the hall. Veronchka’s lips were nearly blue. The news from Urho would have to wait.

“Katia,” Veronchka said hoarsely. “Praise God you’re alive. We were told you were missing—”

“’Twas a misunderstanding. You are safe now, Veronchka.” Katia searched for Gilla and signaled her to come as they entered the main hall. “Have a bath sent up to one of the guest chambers, and some hot stew,” she instructed the housekeeper.

She grabbed up her chalice of wine from the table and placed it in Veronchka’s quivering hand. “Drink, the wine will warm you and help you to calm.” Katia bit her tongue, holding back her desire to hear any news of Urho.

Magnus and Lothair hovered nearby, eager yet understanding the need for the girl to settle before information could be demanded.

“Veronchka, how is it possible you arrived here?” Katia refilled her cup of wine.

“I escaped three nights ago, in a storm. Urho had dug a hole under the boards of our cell, and he pushed me and my sister Alma under.” Tears began to stream down her dirty face. “He told us to run for our lives, to take the small boats that were hidden up the coast.” She started to cry harder. “We made it slowly up the fjord, but then I do not know what happened, the boat tipped and . . . and she drowned.” She clasped her hand over her mouth. “Alma . . .”

Katia could hear not another word. Alma could not have been more than seventeen. She held Veronchka closer and the woman rocked back and forth, weeping in her arms.

“Urho and your mother will be so grateful that you were brave and made your way free.
Shh
, Veronchka, it will be well. My far and his men will rescue your sisters and mother, I promise.” She rubbed the girl’s back and wiped her own tears with her sleeve.

“There is more I must tell you, that the jarl must hear. There is little time,” Veronchka sobbed.

***

Veronchka pulled back from Urho’s pampered sister and looked down at her hands. The Jarl of Tronscar was an intimidating man, and if she was going to successfully lie to him, she would need to take care not to look directly at him. “Urho is to be executed. The Slavic commander says he will leave no prisoners, only willing slaves will be spared.” She let her tears flow, knowing they would aid her overall cause.

“Far! We must go now!” Katia pulled away from her and rushed toward Jarl Magnus, who was standing at the hearth. “Lothair! Please, if Veronchka’s small boat could make it across, so can we. Oh, Far, we must leave tonight, while there is still time.”

Katia pulled at the arm of tall warrior standing next to the jarl. He must be someone she was attached to romantically. Veronchka never thought Katia the type of woman to seek the attentions of a man.

“The people of Korski are near dead from starvation.” She added a few whimpers at the end for good measure.

“It is a miracle that you have survived.” Katia returned to her side and helped her stand. “Gilla will see you above stairs. I will speak but another moment with my father and husband and then I will be sure to come attend you.”

“You are wed?” she asked.

“Aye, this is Lothair,” Katia said, smiling with glib satisfaction. “I promise we will not stop until we have reunited you with your family.” A maid led Veronchka to the stairs and she looked back to see Katia arguing, standing with her arms crossed before the jarl and her husband.

Stupid girl has no idea what’s in store for her
, Veronchka thought. When Prince Andrei had first suggested this assignment, she felt a small amount of hesitation. Katia had been generous with her family over the years, but only out of surplus. She had never invited Veronchka to Tronscar over the summers as she had Urho, whereupon Veronchka could have been placed in the path of wealthy merchants and noblemen—but no. Katia had little interest in female companionship, preferring to make a fool out of herself with the men in sport. Katia gave nothing more than her hand-me-down gowns to Veronchka and her sisters. The selfish, spoiled fools deserved whatever they got now.

As for Veronchka, she was no pampered princess. She would not be weak and feeble like her mother, accepting whatever scraps the men that used her threw to her. No, she was shrewder and much more beautiful than her mother had ever been.

As Prince Andrei had told her, proven loyalty would carve out her destiny as the rightful woman to stand at the side of the next Holy Roman Emperor: Andrei the God-Loving.

***

Katia’s heart hammered. She snapped the lower part of her skirt out of the way as she paced in front of the hearth. Lothair and her father were discussing the information Veronchka had risked her life to deliver.

Poor, sweet Alma had given her life. What torture they had been going through these many months as she lounged in a warm, comfortable bed with her husband.

Katia felt sick with guilt. She scrambled down the corridor, and emptied out her stomach into a bucket.

“Katia!” Lothair rushed to her side.

“I’m fine.” She stormed back to the hearth, where her father was watching her with concern.

“Are you ill?” her father growled protectively.

“No, Far, just twisted into knots with guilt. We must get to Urho in time. His mother, his sisters, when I think what they have been going through while I have been—”

Magnus raised his finger and pointed it angrily at her. “Katia, you will not go to Korski, do you understand me? I know that look in your eye. You have nothing to be guilty over. This is the fault of Andrei the Cur for invading Finland. Your brother would not have your head severed in his place.”

“Far, he is my brother! You would burn down a thousand kingdoms for Uncle Hök. I cannot sit on my backside sewing cushions while my brother is slaughtered by the man I enraged.”

Lothair spun her around by the shoulder. “This is not about you, Katia! This is about a madman bent on power. Get this through that thick head of yours: you are not going to Korski!”

Katia could see there was nothing she could do right now. She stomped across the hall and raced up the stairs to Veronchka.

She pushed into the guest chamber that was only a few doors down the corridor from her own. Veronchka was reclining in a steaming bath with a cup of malt wine in her hand. She looked almost restored.

“Is there anything else I may get you for your comfort, Veronchka?” Katia said quietly, moving closer to the side of the tub.

Veronchka smiled weakly. “Oh, Katia, no. My thanks. Your maid has ordered a small meal, but I know not how I will ever be able to eat again.”

“Aye.” She started to wash Veronchka’s hair with soft lavender soap. “Please, if you are able, tell me of our brother, of your sisters and your mother?”

“The little ones we have no word of for almost four months. Urho smuggled them aboard a fishing vessel days after the Slavic forces descended upon us. Mother was adamant that Urho stay and defend his land. She said that the people would never respect him as their chief if he ran and hid. Alma refused to leave Mother and I refused to leave Alma. What fools we all were.”

Veronchka dried herself before the fire and Katia saw what appeared to be nasty bruising around her breast. She would not force her friend to confide a private pain, yet she had to acknowledge the evidence that was right before her very eyes.

“Veronchka, shall I send for the healer?” Katia asked. It was clear the young woman had been badly misused.

“No, I care not for what I have suffered. I must tell you of our poor brother. They found out that he was a boat builder, so for many months he was fed well and not beaten too severely as long as he would work in the boat sheds, but it was discovered last week that he was deliberately building sinkable vessels. He was doing something strange with the overlapping or the rivets. They whipped him.” Veronchka shuddered. “I begged the commanders for mercy and that is when they turned on me. They say they will cut his hands off first and then his head before the entire village. The price anyone will pay for betraying the Slavs.”

Bile rose again from Katia’s stomach. She swallowed down the burning pain. She could not sit here in Tronscar doing nothing while her brother was tortured and slain.

“I must go back. I must try and save them, Katia.” Veronchka said.

“But that is not what Urho would want.” Katia took her hand. “He set you free so that you could live. He would not want you to risk your life.”

“But what about my mother? I do not care what happens to me now. Alma is gone and I have nothing more to live for. I have a plan. I will sneak into Korski under the cover of darkness.

“I will slip a blade under the door where they are keeping my brother, and I will pick the lock when the guard is not looking. All I need is but a few moments and I know I could save him.”

“It is too dangerous, Veronchka.”

“I was able to sneak out undetected, I know I can sneak back in. If you would but lend me a boat to return. I could have the lock opened and my mother and brother safe and back in the boat in minutes. Even if the jarl sends his ships, the scouts will announce them coming and the prisoners will be executed. A small vessel, carrying just one or two persons, could sneak in undetected. Katia, will you help me?” she pled quietly.

Katia was torn. If it became too dangerous, they could always turn back. It was not like they were going thousands of miles away—with a fast boat and the right winds, they could fly across the gulf. It did stand to reason that two small people who had extensive knowledge of the grounds of Korski and its keep could sneak in undetected . . .

She should ask Lothair to come. He would understand that she needed to rescue her brother.

No—he would never let her go. He was too protective. If anything, he would lock her in her room.

No, if she was going to do this, she needed to act now.

“I will help you, Veronchka, but we need to be very quiet about this. We cannot tell anyone.”

“Bless you, Katia.” Veronchka threw her arms around Katia’s neck.

Concealed by the dim predawn light, Katia and Veronchka used all their combined strength to drag the small boat through the spring snow. Urho had gifted her the speedy little sailboat just last year. It had an easily maneuverable sail and an oddly shaped rudder and keel, providing a shocking amount of speed and control.

Stealing out of Tronscar had not been difficult in the least. Katia had had years of practice. Lothair had slept like the dead after they had made love. She knew that he would be furious with her in the morning. It would take months for him to forgive her, but Katia comforted herself by deciding she would spend the rest of her life making it up to him.

With the wind shifting in their favor, Katia sailed across the gulf with little effort, arriving at a marsh north of Korski at twilight. They hid the boat among the reeds and waited for the heavy fog of night to conceal their approach into Korski by foot. As they drew near to Korski, Veronchka grew noticeably more nervous.

“Katia,” Veronchka whispered only a few steps from an outbuilding. “Thank you for coming.”

Katia rubbed Veronchka’s shoulder. “You are my sister, Veronchka, of course I had to come.”

Veronchka gave a strange sort of wince, shrugging off the touch—it was just a small thing, not a major change in her expression, but a dark look that Katia had not expected. No doubt the young woman must be terrified to be returning to the place where she had suffered so greatly.

The warming temperature and the rapidly melting snow created a thick fog along the tree line that circled Urho’s once proud fortress. They crouched low and crept silently toward the stronghold.

“They are in there,” Veronchka said. Without warning, she bolted across the open field to a group of small, timber-framed storage huts.

There was a large iron lock on the door, and Katia watched as Veronchka took it in her hand and opened it with surprising ease. Veronchka stepped inside and Katia hunched down and darted across the field. She peeked her head into the hut and, sensing no threat, quickly rushed in. Her eyes took a moment to adjust and search the small dark space.

It was empty.

“We are too late.” Katia gasped in anguish.

Veronchka stood stiffly, her face blank. “Actually, we’re just in time.” Sounds of heavy feet rushing through soft snow came toward them. “I am sorry, Katia.” She looked past Katia, and Prince Andrei stepped into the hut, an all too familiar victorious grin on his face.

Katia did not even blink. She did not gasp or cry out. She had learned nothing.

Lothair had warned her over and over again to learn from her mistakes, but she hadn’t. She thought she knew better than her father and had charged into Bogolyubovo and nearly gotten Tosha killed. Now she had sailed in a straight line into Andrei’s traps.

“My golden one, oh, how I have missed you.” Smiling broadly, Andrei strolled into the hut. A large man carrying a torch followed; it was Vladimir, the goon who had attempted to attack her all those months ago in the hall at Bogolyubovo. “When we learned that we had chanced upon the village of your bastard brother, imagine my joy. Yet another blessed sign, is it not? God delivers rewards to his faithful servants.”

Katia retreated into the corner, her back banging against the thin plank wall. Andrei advanced, raising a gloved hand to capture her chin. She jerked her head away.

“Vladimir, do me the service of exorcising the demons out of this one. I care not for her spirited grappling tonight.”

Vladimir stalked forward across the hard-packed dirt floor. He raised his closed fist and punched her in the face. She went straight to the ground. She could taste dirt on her lips but she felt no pain. The hammering panic of her heart and the ringing in her ears overwhelmed everything.

“I said exorcise the demon out, not kill her!” Andrei barked. “How many times do I have to remind you? Not the face with the pretty ones, not until I give you leave to do so. I prefer her nose in place. And I don’t want to get a lot of blood on me when I purify her wicked soul. Just the belly. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sire.”

Time became immeasurable, a blur of blows to her stomach, back, and thighs. When she could, she gulped for air.

Her head was left untouched, but eventually, she lost consciousness.