“What has happened? What have I done now?”
The girls looked at each other sheepishly but wouldn’t answer. The only thing Ruby could think of was that Linette was causing trouble.
Well, so be it, Ruby thought. It was her against the Vikings, it seemed. All of them! Actually, it fit in with her new plan to form no attachments with these people.
They went down to the crowded hall together, then parted. Ruby went to the end of the table, well below the salt, hoping to be as inconspicuous as possible, while the girls joined their parents closer to the dais where Dar, Aud, Thork and Linette sat with several hesirs and their wives whom Ruby hadn’t met.
Ruby knew immediately that some new trouble had landed at her door. Everyone turned from her coldly.
Ruby ate in peace, ignored by the lowly hesir at her side. She hadn’t eaten since her meager breakfast and was famished. But a clock ticked in her head the whole time. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would be informed of her latest crime.
Ella, her Rhoda-like acquaintance, gave her the first clue, whispering in Ruby’s ear, “The prisoner confessed,” as she filled cups of ale along the table. Ruby looked up sharply, then realized that Ella didn’t want to be seen speaking to her. Ella fussed, stacking some empty wooden bowls in front of her, then murmured hastily, “They came from Ivar. Some traitor in our midst informed Ivar of the traveling route.” With those words, Ella left, carrying a load of empty trenchers to the kitchen.
Ruby glanced quickly to Thork, wounded once again, even though she’d vowed not to care about him or his people. How could he think she would hurt Dar? When Thork stared down at her in stony censure, Ruby’s heart dropped. He thought just that.
* * *
Thork had watched Ruby enter the great hall before the meal, shaken by the day’s information and renewed in his determination to keep his distance from the mysterious wench.
All clues pointed to her as the informant, but he could not believe she would deliberately harm his father or the boys she likened to her own sons. Mayhap the plan had gone beyond her control. Mayhap Ivar’s men had been directed to kidnap Thork but had been unable to do so. Then they had chosen Dar instead, without Ruby knowing of the change of plans. But that would mean that Ruby plotted his own downfall. Thork’s spirits plummeted. Could Ruby care so little for him? Truly, he upbraided himself, why was he surprised by the ever-constant duplicity of women?
Dar and Olaf wanted her tortured for information, goaded on by Linette’s claim that Ruby had entered his chamber that morn, intent on murdering him. She told a convincing story.
Then Thork and Dar had gone up to Ruby’s chamber to confront her with their suspicions and found her rolling back and forth on the pallet in a troubled sleep. The words that had spewed from her mouth in sleep condemned her even more, “Dead! They killed those poor men! Oh, my God! The cruel barbarians! So much blood! So unnecessary! Forgive them, God. Please… please… make them stop!” In truth, the wench had condemned herself.
Thork and Dar had let her sleep, exiting the room silently to discuss this new information in private.
I mislike this whole affair,” Dar had said. “All clues point to the wench, and yet I am not convinced.”
“Nor I.”
“It seems so reasonable, and yet I still doubt she is a spy.”
A part of Thork wanted to believe Ruby innocent. Had she flummoxed them all? His head pounded with all the conflicting information it had been fed that day.
During the evening meal, Thork’s eyes shifted to Ruby often, taking in her fine attire, highlighted by his own jewelry. He smiled wryly. The bold wench waded neck-deep in the most serious danger, and she brazenly flaunted his borrowed ornaments, like a bloody queen. Sitting at the bottom of the table, she waxed more regal than the proudest royalty.
“Will you torture her?” Linette whined, hanging on his arm. “Will you, Thork? Will you?”