Wanted by the Viking (6 page)

Thirteen

              Kendra brushed her hand across her sweaty brow. The child laying on the soaking wet pallet. She'd already changed it twice but the child had sweated clean through it again.

              The room was overly warm but it was better than the chill she'd found when she came into the small two room hut. The main room had the only hearth so she'd had the child's simple bed carried closer to the fire. Now she was holding a cloth soaked in boiled willow bark water to the child's lips.

              Little Freya was hovering on the brink of life and death. Kendra was determined to pull her back. The child's mother Gerta was huddled nearby, trying to stay out of the way.

              "The sickness has taken so many. It returns each winter and steals our young from us."

              Kendra nodded. It was the same with her people. But it was easy to stop if you kept the healthy away from the sick. The very young and the elderly especially needed protection. An otherwise healthy adult would withstand the illness easily. As such, she had sent the child's grandmother to stay with neighbors, despite the old woman's complaints.

              For two days they bathed the child with cool cloths and dribbled the healing tea down Freya's throat. For two days the women barely slept or ate. But on the third day, the fever broke.

              Grayson had stayed away to tend to little Rowena. But he was outside waiting for her now, looking fierce but for the tiny bundle nestled against broad his chest.

              Kendra pulled the sobbing, relieved mother’s arms from around her neck. The woman had been expecting the worst. Now her gratitude was overwhelming to say the least.

              "I must go Gerta. Rest. I will come back tomorrow to check on her, I promise."

              She stumbled outside and fell into Grayson's arms.

**********

              Grayson lifted Kendra into his arms. She looked exhausted and she smelled of smoke and sweat. He'd never been happier to see anyone is his life.

             
Sweet Odin, she was beautiful!

              He kissed her tangled hair tenderly and sat her on the horses back. Then he mounted behind her and pulled her close.

              "You smell like the battlefield sweeting."

              She snorted softly. He thought she was chuckling at him until he heard a second snuffling sound. And a third.

              The woman was sleeping.

              There went his plan to ravage her as soon as they got back to the hut. He wasn't even going to wait for her to bathe.

              He nearly rolled his eyes. Oh well, such was the life of a healer's mate. It wasn't such a difficult price to pay, considering the reward.

              He was smiling as he climbed the hill toward their hut. He would have to wait a few hours, but she was his now. There was all the time in the world to enjoy all the pleasures her body afforded him.

              "Wake up sweeting, we are here."

              She smiled at him sleepily as he set her down on her feet and saw to the horse. He'd barely turned the corner when he heard the screeching coming from the far side of the hut.

              "There she is!"

              "Witch!"

              A loud thud greeted his ears, causing him to break into a run. What he saw turned his blood to ice. A hoard of townspeople were walking up the hill toward Kendra, led by Bergdis. The hatchet faced woman was bristling with malice. Almost all the women from the town were behind her along with more than a few of the men.

              One of them had just thrown a rock.

              A trickle of blood was flowing from Kendra's shoulder where she'd been cut.

              Bergdis had actually dared to attack his woman.

              A roar erupted from his belly. Thankfully the bairn was strapped to his chest or he would have torn them all limb from limb. As it was, it took three men to hold him back from throttling the foul woman.

              "Burn her!"

              Grayson watched in horror as the women surrounded Kendra, poking and prodding her with sticks. They would tear her to pieces in a moment if he didn't do something.

              Thankfully his woman did something first.

Fourteen

              Kendra stared out at the sea of angry faces. They would kill her. She knew it.

              Grayson would be unable to stop it. But it would destroy him all the same. At least he had Rowena to care for, to remember his woman by.

              She closed her eyes and attempted to make peace with it. All living beings faced this moment eventually. It was too soon and too foolish a reason but that could not be helped.

Then her hand fluttered to her belly. A life was growing there, she was almost certain of it. Her eyes snapped open.

              She would not give in so easily!

              "Silence!"

              She drew herself up to her full height, using her strong stomach muscles to raise her voice above the angry crowd.

              "In my lands, I am known for doing good. But I am not above doing evil! Anyone who harms me or my unborn child will be forever doomed! Misfortune and sickness will follow you and your children for all of your days! Your children's children will pay the price for your misdeeds!"

              A silence had fallen over the crowd. Even the gulls who flew inland from the sea were quiet. Even the wind had stilled.

              "She admits it! She admits to being a witch!"

              "I will curse you in a heartbeat! A curse so strong that not even I, wearer of the red cloak from across the sea, can lift it!"

              The women all gasped and fell back. All but Bergdis.

              "But she confessed! We can burn her!"

              The women were shaking their heads.

              "Not I Bergdis!"

              "Aye! I have no wish to be cursed!"

              "Let her alone. We all need healing on some days!"

              Bergdis was looking around in shock, so quickly had the tide turned on her. Kendra nearly laughed but she was too exhausted to do anything but maintain the wicked expression on her face.

              Amma and Gerta appeared then, out of breath from running. Kendra's heart swelled as the women pushed through the crowd to stand on either side of her.

              "She saved my child! She used hard work and knowledge, not witchery! We need her in this town."

              She smiled at Kendra encouragingly.

              "She's entirely too fair to be real! ‘Tis magic she uses to steal our men from us!"

              Amma laughed outright.

              "I've seen her undressed, touched her, measured her. She's fairer than you Bergdis to be sure. 'Tis not her fault that you were born so ugly!"

              Bergdis was turning an unfortunate shade of red as the crowd started to turn on her.

              "But she's not one of us!"

              Grayson shook off the men who held him, coming to stand beside Kendra.

              "Aye she is! I plan to wed her!"

              She glanced at him sideways, raising an eyebrow.

              "You do?"

              "Yes woman. You belong to me. You might as well admit it."

              She smiled at him then.

              "Alright Grayson, you win."

              He leaned down to kiss her as the crowd started to disperse.

              "And you win too. Smart little witch, aren't you?"              She nodded and watched as one of the women lifted a rock and threw it at Bergdis. Then another and another.

              "Trouble maker!"

              Amma chuckled as the women chased Bergdis toward the town.

              Kendra slumped against Grayson then. He scooped her up and carried her inside, waving goodbye to their friends.

              "Was it true what you said about your unborn child?"

              She nodded sleepily.

              "I'm almost certain."

              The bairn started to cry as Grayson lowered Kendra to the bed.

              "I must tend to the babe-"

              "No woman. You rest. Your husband to be commands it."

              Kendra wanted to argue but she could not seem to keep her eyelids open.

              She slid into slumber with a soft smile on her lips.

              Husband to be.

              She liked the sound of that.

Three Years Later

              Grayson ran along the shoreline, just shy of the water’s edge. On each shoulder a young child squealed in mock terror.

              "Are you ready to go in?"

              "No! Daddy no!"

              Rowena was speaking already. It was unusual for one so young as she. He grinned. Jared wasn't far behind his big sister at two years. He would be speaking soon enough.

              Besides, Rowena took after her adopted mother.

              Kendra certainly had a way with words.

              He grinned. The woman could talk her way out of a sack! She'd proven that again and again. And he thanked Odin for it!

              He turned to check on her and their third child, just born. Another girl, this one with her mother's fair hair. They had named her Elswyth, after Kendra's Grandmother.

              True, it wasn't a Nordic name. But the people here had come to accept, and even treasure Kendra. All but Bergdis of course. But no one cared what she thought anymore. She'd become a wild woman, living off raw fish and scraps in the hills. No one had paid her any mind since the day outside their hut.

              Kendra looked up at him then and smiled. All his thoughts disappeared, the sunshine, the sea, all gone. Everything was replaced by the overwhelming love he had for her in his heart.

              "Woman! I have need of you!"

              Even from this distance he could see when she rolled her eyes at him.

              "I think you can wait until we get back to the hut husband."

              He grinned at her.

              "Maybe so. But not a moment longer!"

Joanna Davis has always been the sort to get lost in a good book. She is an avid traveler and adores wandering through the old cities of Europe imagining herself in another time. Other than writing, her favorite pastimes include gardening and restoring her 100 year old home to it's former glory.

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