Api drained his flagon and slammed it into the table. He, Klintr, and Oddi were alone in the hall, drinking away their frustrations. Klintr and Oddi were his only friends, the only people he could trust. The rest of these fools had the wool pulled over their eyes, just like that idiot Alrek.
Getting up, Api stomped over to the barrel and drew himself another flagon of beer. They had been in the hall for hours, and he was getting quite drunk. The warm haze of alcohol flickered through him, stoking the fires of his resentment.
“It’s that blasted fool Alrek,” he declared as he returned to his seat. “If he wasn’t making damn fool decisions, we’d have gotten rid of that woman. Now she’s making our food! Who knows what kind of foul magic she’ll work upon us. She said herself, she does not practice seidr, or even witchcraft. With her foreign magic, she’ll have every man in this town under her thrall before long.”
Klintr and Oddi rumbled their agreement. I should be leader of these men, Api thought bitterly, downing half his flagon in one go. It should be me making these decisions, building this town. With that woman in my bed.
“She can’t be human,” he continued, waving his beer as he ranted. “She’s some vile utangard thing, some monster from the outside, disguising itself in woman’s flesh to tear us apart from within, and that fool welcomes her into our midst.”
“You saw that light,” Oddi said. “It’s some trick to capture our minds. She just came walking in here and bewitched our leader. There can be no good in this magic.”
“You’ll not get rid of her without getting rid of Alrek,” Klintr said. “She has him thoroughly entranced, and he’s taken her to his bed. I could hear them rutting in there on my way here.”
Something about that statement struck Api deeply.
Get rid of Alrek.
That was it. The solution to all his problems. If he were to kill Alrek, and Banki for good measure, he would be able to take charge of both the settlement and the woman. He’d play with her a while, have some fun with that pretty face, then get rid of her.
“Then we will,” he growled. “We’ll get rid of Alrek and fix this sorry mess once and for all.”
✦
“Alrek! Open your door, Alrek!”
Alrek snapped awake in an instant. Were they under attack? Natalie woke with a start as he leapt out of bed and pulled on a tunic. Seizing his sword, he rushed to the door.
Api stood outside, along with Klintr. They were both armed. The rest of the camp was silent, with no sign of danger. Nobody else even seemed to be awake. Alrek sighed, relaxing his grip on his weapon.
“Api, what is this?” he demanded, glaring at him. Api must have been begging for punishment, waking him up in the middle of the night after that arrogant display at dinner.
“I’ve come to put a few things to rights,” Api said. His voice slurred, and Alrek realized he was drunk.
“Go to bed, Api,” he growled. “You’ve had too much beer.”
He turned, and was about to return to Natalie and his own bed when Api’s spear stabbed into the dirt next to him. Natalie gasped, pulling the blanket up around herself as though it were a shield. Alrek turned around slowly, his irritation transforming into hot, fiery rage. If Api had had his wits about him, he would have fled from Alrek’s glare alone.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Alrek’s voice was low and dangerous.
“Like I said, I’m putting things to rights.” Api pulled his spear back, holding it ready to plunge into Alrek’s gut. “I’m here to take the position that should have been mine.”
“The position your own stupidity stopped you from gaining?” Alrek growled. “The same stupidity that is about to get your head cut from your shoulders.”
“You’re the only one who’s going to die, Alrek. You and maybe that woman, if I feel like it. You’ll be in Helheim before the night is through.”
Alrek snorted. “You’re drunk. You couldn’t defeat me sober. What makes you think I’ll lay down my sword and let you run me through?”
There was a noise in the house, the crunch of wood being broken, and a short shriek from Natalie. Alrek turned, fear stabbing into his heart. A third man—it looked like Oddi—had chopped the wall open with an axe to get at Natalie. He charged across the room with an angry shout, but Oddi had already dragged her through the hole and disappeared.
“Going somewhere?” Api sneered from the doorway, holding his spear at the ready. “She’s mine now, too. The woman and this settlement. With you out of the way, I can have anything I want.”
Alrek snarled. “Release her and you might get a chance to live.”
“Now, now,” Api tutted. “I wouldn’t be making demands if I were you. You wouldn’t want something to happen to Natalie, would you?”
Glowering, Alrek lowered his sword. He had no intention of dying, but he wasn’t going to risk riling Api further. Not while he had Natalie.
***
Oddi flung Natalie over his shoulder, running away from the house. She was too frightened to even care that she was naked, her stomach clenching so tight she was afraid she might vomit. And Alrek was still in the house, with those men with spears—who knew what was happening to him.
She took a deep breath, trying to force herself to calm down. Panicking wasn’t going to make this any better. Natalie had snatched at the bed when Oddi grabbed her, dragging away a woolen blanket and her laser pointer. There was one thing she could do, even if it turned her stomach.
Clutching the laser pointer in her fist, she twisted up and jammed the metal tube into his eye. Something squelched unpleasantly. Oddi dropped her, clutching at his eyes with a shriek. Natalie landed with a painful thump, but she ignored it and scrambled away. The dogs were tied nearby—she ran to them and dropped down in their midst, her heart pounding in her throat.
Ugh. She could still see Oddi flailing across the way. Her laser pointer was now dirty with things she didn’t want to think about. She hastily wiped it off on a curious dog and struggled not to vomit.
Shouting in the distance made her aware that the rest of the men were waking up. Api was still shouting louder than the rest of them. People were slowly gathering around the house. Trembling, Natalie tried to think. She’d gotten lucky with that laser pointer, but she couldn’t just sit there, hiding behind the dogs.
That was it. The laser pointer. Frantically, Natalie rose on her knees and began to untie the dogs.
***
Alrek stood at spearpoint in front of his house, still holding his sword lowered at his side, while Api walked back and forth in front of him. It seemed like he wanted to gloat. Good. Alrek thought, glaring at him. Gives me more time to deal with him. More time to figure out what he’s done with Natalie.
“This is why you don’t let a woman put her charms around you,” Api said. He was shouting as loudly as he could, trying to attract the attention of the waking men. “All we had to do was snatch her up and we’ve got your balls in a vice.”
Banki appeared behind them, axe in hand. Api wasn’t concerned.
“You won’t do anything,” he said, sneering up at the much larger man. “One movement from you and Oddi snaps that woman’s neck.”
Banki looked over Api’s shoulder, and Alrek shook his head slightly, his face unreadable. Api’s words set his heart pounding harder than it ever had in his life, but damned if Api was going to see that. Growling, Banki stepped back, and Api crowed in delight.
“See that? Even Banki backs down,” he said, strutting before his growing audience. If his ego got any larger, Alrek thought he would be crushed by it.
“Because you took a woman hostage,” he said. A ripple of muttering went through the crowd. “A real warrior doesn’t need to cripple his enemies in order to win. Natalie is the only reason I haven’t slit your throat.”
“And a real leader doesn’t let a woman walk into his home and take control of him in one day. The fact that you won’t kill me is proof enough, she’s bewitched you.” Api turned back to the crowd, holding up his arms. “What kind of leader refuses to take action for fear of one woman coming to harm?”
The men shifted uneasily. Alrek could see the indecision in them—Api had Alrek in a tight place, unable to act. But then Api was behaving with an incredible lack of integrity. Nobody wanted to follow either a weak man or a scheming one.
Suddenly, the sound of frantic barking filled the air, and all the dogs came running through the settlement, chased by Natalie. Alrek barely had time to register his joy at seeing her unharmed before the dogs chased a red dot right into the crowd, bowling into them. Natalie stopped twenty feet away, clutching a blanket around herself, and pointed at Api. The red dot flickered onto his chest, and every single dog leapt on him, frantically scrabbling to catch the light. Api went down with a shout.
Natalie pointed at Klintr next, and at her command, the dogs jumped on him, pulling him to the ground. Api cursed loudly, starting to get up, but Alrek’s sword plunged down through his back. He gurgled, spat blood into the ground, and went still. Alrek put a foot on his back and pulled out the sword. He wouldn’t be causing any more trouble.
The dogs continued to bark, but every human fell silent. Klintr stayed on the ground, dogs walking all over him. Alrek gestured to Banki, who leaned down and picked the man up by the shirt and yanked his arms behind him. While Geirr fetched a rope, Alrek walked over to Natalie.
“Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice, looking her over. She was trembling and naked but for a wool blanket, but she nodded her head.
“I am all right,” she said. Alrek sighed with relief and pulled her into a brief but tight hug. With her in his arms, his heart finally started to stop pounding, and Natalie squeezed back, clinging to his chest. He was reassuringly solid in a world where strange men broke down walls and tried to kidnap her.
“Where is Oddi?” Alrek kept one arm protectively around her even as he looked around. Natalie took a shuddering breath.
“I put one of his eyes out,” she said, still sickened by it. Alrek looked down at her in surprise.
“Good job.”
Natalie shook her head, trying to burrow farther into his arm. Banki approached, his expression grim.
“Klintr is bound,” he said. “Where is the other one?”
“Somewhere nearby,” Alrek said. “Natalie put his eye out.”
Banki snorted. “Impressive. I wouldn’t have expected that.” To Natalie’s amazement, he looked at her with a glimmer of respect. She had to shake her head again. Vikings.
Alrek turned, pulling Natalie back toward the house. “Come on. You should at least get dressed.”
The rest of the men still stood around the door, and stayed respectfully silent as they approached. They glanced up at Natalie fearfully, like she was about to attack them instead of clinging naked onto a man’s arm.
“She has a way with animals,” Geirr murmured. “Those dogs obeyed her command like she raised them from pups.”
Natalie opened her mouth to protest, but Alrek clapped a hand over it.
“Yes. She does. Anyone else who plans to break into my house in the middle of the night and kidnap her had better say so now, so I can kill all of you at once. We wouldn’t want to have to set the dogs on you later.”
There was much shuffling and mumbling as everyone made it very clear that they were extremely happy to have Natalie around. Delighted, in fact. Nobody had any intentions of bothering her, whatsoever. Natalie glared up at Alrek, making a what the hell is wrong with you? face.
The men began to disperse, and Alrek pulled Natalie into the house. He closed the door behind him, though there wasn’t much point when there was a gaping hole in the wall. Natalie hastily pulled on the red under tunic and started trying to cover the hole with a blanket.
“More building work,” Alrek sighed. “Just what we needed.”
“The place needs a real floor, anyway,” Natalie said. “I don’t know how you keep anything clean.”
Alrek snorted and sat down on the bed. “All right. A real floor and real hearth where you can cook food for yourself. And a bigger bed, while we’re at it.”
Natalie sat down next to him. “You still sound like I’m going to be here for a while.”
“Do you intend to leave?” he asked. Natalie looked up at his serious dark eyes and suddenly discovered that she didn’t. She actually wanted to stay here, in this place with this man.
Parting her lips, she quietly said, “No.”
Alrek smiled, and leaned down to kiss her.