Despite Ruby’s happiness over her pregnancy, she worried about Dar, who was growing increasingly morose. Several days later, Ruby went looking for him to force an explanation. He wasn’t in the chamber where he worked on manor business. She was about to leave and look in the stables when she noticed a small, linen-wrapped package lying on a piece of parchment.
Ruby had seen Thork clutching such a parcel the day he left her in Normandy. Ruby’s ears began to buzz and her pulse raced wildly as she walked woodenly toward it, sensing somehow that all her questions were about to be answered. Slowly she unwrapped the layers.
Gagging, Ruby stared at the small finger, its skin dried up and beginning to deteriorate. She rocked from side to side in shock, a keening wail beginning low in her throat.
Why would anyone save such a morbid thing? Could it be Thork’s finger that his brother Eric had cut off years ago? No, that would be bare bone by now. This was more recent.
Ruby’s keening grew louder and the ringing in her ears reached deafening proportions as she continued to rock back and forth. She reached shakily for the stiff parchment and read the horrifying words:
Grandfather,
Ivar still holds Eirik. He will not release him, even for the ransom demanded, even in exchange for me. Damn his evil soul! He wants Sigtrygg’s head. We go to battle tomorrow. Pray for us.
Thork
Ruby screamed over and over and over, then fell unconscious to the floor. She awakened hours later in her bed, surrounded by Dar, Aud and Ella.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked Dar accusingly.
“Thork did not want you to know. He said you would blame yourself.”
“It is my fault. He warned me over and over about the danger to his family, but I wouldn’t let things stand. I insisted he leave Tykir with you, and Eirik at Athelstan’s court. It’s all my fault.”
“Then we are just as much to blame for wanting Tykir here with us,” Aud asserted. “Nay, ’twas the right decision. Thork could not live his entire life looking over his shoulder. These are dangerous times. All Vikings live with the possibility of death every day. We cannot stop living because we fear dying.”
“Haven’t you had any news from Thork since that note?” Ruby questioned fearfully.
Dar shifted his eyes, and Aud exclaimed, “Dar! Have you heard something and not told me?”
He shrugged forlornly. “I did not want to worry you. Two days past, ’twas word in Jorvik of a fierce battle that took place weeks ago.” He inhaled sharply before continuing, ” ‘Tis said that Ivar won and many Jomsvikings died, along with hundreds of other fighting men. Fifty Jomsvikings were captured and are to be executed.”
Oh my God oh my God oh my God! Ruby clamped a hand over her mouth in horror, not wanting to hear more, yet needing to know the truth.
“I know naught of Thork or Eirik. Nor Selik and Olaf,” Dar choked out.
“Sweet Jesus!” Aud wailed and fell into Dar arms.
Ruby watched in shocked silence, tears streaming down her face, with both hands over her stomach as if to protect her baby from the shock of these latest events.
Chapter Twenty-One
The battle had been a bloody nightmare and a resounding defeat for the Jomsvikings, thanks to Ivar’s devious tactics. He’d lured them into a vulnerable position with promises to exchange Eirik for a king’s fortune in gold. Thork had been prepared to pay it.
Thork slumped his head in weary remembrance of the carnage. So many men dead! So many friends gone on to Valhalla, or the Christian heaven. In truth, he did not know if he believed in the existence of either after what he had witnessed the past few weeks.
Worst of all, Olaf was dead, slain by Ivar’s own sword. Damn his evil soul! Thork would gladly have exchanged his own life for his good friend’s. He would probably die anyway. The hole in his chest, just below the heart, festered and continued to bleed. And Ivar, the vicious bastard, refused treatment for any of his prisoners, especially the Jomsvikings.