Read Online Ragnar the Murderer by Lily Byrne - Free Book Online Page A

take you home. I wish you could stay but…” He wanted her to stay in his bed but did not want the other Huskarlr upsetting or taking advantage of her.
    They didn’t feel the cold night air, holding hands along the track to Aelfwyn’s home. They felt no need to speak, but longing accompanied them, shadowing them like a spirit.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Saehild spent her days at Hallfridby, in the company of the other wives. She watched her husband training once, but Steinar soon sent on her way because she was too much of a distraction for all the men, not just Bjarni.
    She found work to be done at this village too, even though she had left her own family to manage without her. But at least it was in a different environment. The Danish women were mostly friendly and she brought some of her own Anglisc friends with her.
    During the breaks in training, the Anglisc girls flirted with the Huskarlr and any other Danes nearby. A seemingly endless number of Danish men just happened to visit the Huskarl training area. Such an endless  number that Steinar became annoyed.
    “ Any of you men who want to join training, get your swords and start practising!” he shouted, in a voice well used to commanding. A stocky man, he had a huge scar down one side of his face and across his eye.
    “ Is he married?” asked Saehild’s friend, Leofrun, with the wide, dreaming eyes.
    “ Why? Do you fancy him?” she replied, giggling.
    “ Why not? He looks harassed, I could calm him down with some loving,” giggled Leofrun in return. She fluttered her eyelashes at Steinar, who glared at her.
    “ You two!” he shouted at Ragnar, who was innocently mending his sword hilt, and Kjartan, who was chatting up the Anglisc. “You look like you want to fight each other. Get in position!”
    So they did. Ragnar, annoyed at his situation with Aelfwyn, and at the knowledge of Kjartan and the Jarl’s wife, launched into the fight with enthusiasm.
    Kjartan, equally, frustrated about his situation with Yngvild and annoyed that Ragnar knew about it, set about defending just as readily.
    “ Don’t they look handsome with their hair tied back like that?” said Saehild to Leofrun, then realised it was someone else.
    The area for combat had originally been grassy but so many heavy boots had worn it down over time it had become dusty, dry ground now. There were logs round the sides of it for onlookers to encourage or taunt the fighters.
    The other Huskarlr cheered and yelled, but Saehild soon became bored and went into the training area to look for Bjarni. Seeing so many men in the same uniform confused her but after a while, she spotted him.
    “ There you are.” She ran and kissed him.
    “ Not now,” he said, embarrassed.
    “ But I’m your wife!”
    “ Steinar won’t like it.”
    “ He can’t see us behind all these men.” She kissed him again and they fell behind the pile of logs used for strength training.
    “ Kill him!” shouted the men watching the fight between Kjartan and Ragnar, half serious, half laughing.
    Ragnar got Kjartan at a disadvantage, his sword against his throat.
    “ Why did you tell your woman my secret?” hissed Kjartan.
    “ What?” Ragnar was thrown off guard.
    Kjartan leapt up, fighting back against him.
    The crowd gasped as this time, Kjartan pressed his sword to Ragnar’s throat.
    “ Your tiny woman will find her head parted from her neck if she tells.”
    “ What? I’ll never let you hurt her!” Ragnar pushed him away and the fight continued, until, out of breath and muddy, the two combatants paused.
    “ I declare this a draw!” shouted a Huskarl. “Where’s Steinar?”
    No one could see him anywhere, so the contest concluded without him.
    “ What’s next?” “Isn’t it axe practise?” muttered the men, and shuffled around picking up axes and short logs for hacking.
    Steinar appeared from behind a hut.
    “ You missed the fight, where did you go?” asked someone.
    “ Official business,” he barked.