Eleanor Ch. 10

Lying curled in the front of the low boat, Matilda watched the play of the disappearing stars against the sky.

"Do you truly believe they are all safe Eirik?" Matilda asked, nay, almost begged with desperation as she watched the still sea reflect the quickly lightening sky.

"They will be fine. You said Ragnar should not be long, he wont, he will be reliable as always. No doubt he is already there, and Sibbe has been thrown down a hole!"

The smile that roused from his wife's mouth was partially hidden beneath her hand as she continued to curse the gods for not a breath of wind for their sails. Gods how he had missed her. The years of trying to prevent the vast Gaul and Germanic armies from reaching the shores of Bergen had kept him from his delectable wife. Had left her alone without male protection for a number of years, when he had been forced to go back and forth to the outposts, with years of absence in between.

No more, he could not do this anymore, he did not want to spend another moment out of her arms, he did not want to think about what Sibbe was capable of. It was bad enough acting the spy with the northern Norse traitor that sought to kill his wife for payment from Sibbe; and all to rid her from her plan to live in comfort. The lazy evil woman had always been a thorn in their side, grumbling from a distance that her half sister lived in comfort while she was forced to wallow in poverty.

That wench had made herself poor. Inga's father had been a wealthy farmer, had given her everything he had, and more, and when he had died in a bout of infighting in the North, she had never shed a tear. She had wasted his fortune on frivolities for herself, glutton of a woman. Her daughter was just as bad.

Never happy about his wife's continued trust in hope that her half sister would not betray her, he never said anything to warn her either. Now, he wished he had. If he had, his beloved little Anika would not be alone with only her young guard trying to protect her from Sibbe. He knew this was what awaited them in Bergen. Asgrim had told him as much when he was pretending to be an ally of his. Sibbe wanted Matilda and Anika dead. And the deed would be done soon.

There was not a single thing that would convince him to tell Matilda that.

***********************************

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT AWAY????" Sibbe's angry bellow echoed through the empty kitchen of the Haur home. "There were four of you! Four of you against an eight year old child and a whelp of a boy!!!"

The crash of a copper pan against the stones followed her shrieks of outrage as she hurled objects at the two remaining hired guards, the one who had remained to protect them, and the rather disorientated guard who had stumbled back from the woods, a distinct look of horror on his face as he had described the scene in the woods he had awoken to, a trickle of blood escaping from his bruising head.

"Get out there and find them." Sibbe took a deep, labored breath from the exertion of her fury, "and kill them."

Both guards nodded and left, disappearing back into the woods once more.

Gasping for breath, Sibbe closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing, and the anger making her blood course through her veins in violence pulses.

"They have to die," she thought, "I haven't gone through this much only to fail now. This is the life I should have led, not her."

Sinking back into the creaking wooden chair, Sibbe grabbed another chicken leg from the platter, and began eating once more.

**********************************

Shivering out of her wet clothes, her skin flushed with embarrassment at the look in Lewis' eyes as he had wrapped her body up in the linen. There must be something wrong with her, he had blushed brighter than she, and covered her so quickly. Looking down at her bare body, Eleanor could not understand. He must have found her hideous. She had been mortified when the top of her shift gaped slightly, allowing a glimpse of the flesh beneath from his height all the way down to her belly; and she had wished for the water to swallow her up as her nipples shamelessly hardened as the shift plastered itself back to her body.

Definitely must be something wrong with her.

Feeling mortified and dejected, Eleanor rubbed herself down with the dry linen roughly; anything to get the feeling back in her limbs. Hearing a rap at the door, Eleanor jumped, pulling the large linen over her body, concealing herself before the door was opened.

"Eleanor, it is just me." Kate announced, peering round the door before entering. "Are you ok? You ran off like you were on fire!" Kate laughed, seeing the deep blush on her friend's cheeks.

"Ahh, you and Lewis are both sporting the same startled expression." Kate said, beginning to laugh more.

"Its not funny, it was terrible, he looked at me as if I were hideous." Eleanor slumped to the bed, embarrassment washing over her anew.

"Eleanor, trust me, from what the other men are slapping him on the back and calling him lucky for, is not for a hideous body. I swear Bruni's men know more Gaelic than they let on." Kate smiled, "Eleanor, your body is lovely, you are all in perfect proportion, and men are easily, Ummm, well distracted by that. The grimace you saw on my brother's face was not one of a man who found you hideous. It was one of a man who would have tumbled you to the floor if he was less honorable!"

"Kate!!!" Eleanor hid under the linens now, sure the blush now covered every inch of her body.

"What? I am telling you the truth, and Eleanor, it is nothing to be mortified over, it is very flattering when someone appraises your body in that manner. Something you will know more about at some point!" Kate sat beside her embarrassed friend, pulling the linen down from her head.

"At least they look at you. Me, they avert their eyes for!! I am as big as a sow, so I do not really blame them!!" Erupting into laughter, the pair sagged on the one bed, allowing the tension to ebb.

"You sure I am not hideous?" "Show me."

Standing slowly, Eleanor let the linens fall open, still holding the sides to snag them up in case the door opened.

"Beautiful." Kate smiled. "You have nothing to worry about. Now if only I can get a figure like yours back after I've had the baby!"

Pulling her linen back up, the pair dressed, despite the cold and harsh water, Eleanor was thankful to her friend for suggesting it. She felt glad to feel so clean. It was a nice feeling to know she would smell like the heather scented sugar soap when she was curled against Bruni's chest for warmth tonight.

For some reason, that really mattered to her.

"OUCH!!!"" Kate winced, holding her belly. "Oooh, that hurt."

*************************************

Examining the boat, Bruni found no sight of struggle on the sand and rocks. Turning his head up to the embankment, he looked for Ragnar, for any signal that there had been fighting.

"Anything?"

"No, it all looks normal. Like that all got up and went for a walk or something!" Ragnar shouted back, entirely bemused by the situation.

At worst, he had expected a struggle of some sorts when he had sent he empty tents, but to find nothing?

"Wait, Bruni? There is something here, through the trees into the field." Ragnar amended, following the now distinct path of broken foliage, and hard mud impacts. And blood. "And there is blood too."

Running up to the embankment, Bruni raced to Ragnar to see for himself, the signs were obvious before one even considered the blood. Here there had been a fight.

Standing in the short field, Bruni scanned the area for bodies, more blood, anything. Had anyone survived? Had their bodies been buried, disposed of? Nothing but an empty field stood before them, with heavy indentations in the mud from their stances, and the blood over the rushes. Moving back towards the tents, Bruni scavenged the camp, looking for any signs of his brother, and his boatmen. Their bowls were all stacked neatly next to the fire, their tents unharmed, each with their furs still lain in the bottom. They had not been scavenged. The fight was recent, the blood suggested as close as yesterday.

Could he really have missed his brother by a day?

The clash of swords behind him brought his attention back online, unsheathing his sword, Bruni ran back from the beach into the field, headlong into an attack from a Gaul, saving his man from the fall of the enemy sword, and slicing through the man in one easy stroke. Helping his man to his feet, they both had to turn quickly to parry the onslaught of Gauls.

"Ragnar, where the bloody hell did they come from???" Bruni demanded. But he was ignored, and he could see why. Even he had to admit, no one he had ever met, could best Ragnar with a weapon.

He was a graceful enemy, a god put here on earth to remind us of true power and agility. Of mastery of the sword. Each arch met its course, each enemy met its maker. The black mantle of his hair fanned out with each movement he made, each one so fast, Bruni was seeing a blur.

Focusing once more on the Gaul attackers, Bruni dispatched more of the bastards, allowing himself freedom with his sword, he always felt most free, most at peace in battle. It had been his life for so many years. Constantly defending Bergen from attack, constantly bringing his errant brother back; and usually needing to battle his way out of whatever country Nikolai had ended up being stuck or imprisoned in.

Until recently, battle was the only peace he had, all his worries about Bergen slipped away, until recently that had been all. Until Eleanor. Asleep in his arms last night, his body warming hers, he wanted more. He wanted her. She brought a peace over him that exceeded the one he felt at battle a thousand fold. With an anguished roar, Bruni remembered she would not be his. And found Nikolai's face on every Gaul he felled.

**************************

Running as fast as she could, Eleanor's lungs burnt with her exertion, she was wet again from diving from the boat; shivering uncontrollably even as she ran. Stumbling against the rocks on the beach, she barely felt the grazes upon her knees, she was too numb, the adrenaline pushing her to go faster. She needed to find Ragnar, Kate was in pain, tightness enveloping her rounded belly causing her to cry, the pain etched in her expression.

Eleanor had rushed from the chamber then, ignoring the cries of the men and of Kate's brothers and she launched herself from the boat. She had beaten the few that followed her to the shore easily before darting off in the direction she had seen Bruni, Ragnar and the men head. Breaking out onto the embankment, Eleanor glanced in shock at the empty camp, before breaking through the trees into the open field. Landing promptly on her backside in shock as ten men raised their swords to her intrusion. Etched on their faces was the ferocity of battle, the blood streaks of the fallen, and their own limited wounds. Lowering their weapons as quick as they had raised them still did nothing to quell the fright she had, even as Bruni, a face she loved to watch, stalked towards her. He looked furious.

Grasping her by her shoulders, Bruni yanked Eleanor up from the ground and damn near shook her. "I told you to stay on the boat. Why did you disobey me? If you had been here any sooner you could have been hurt" Eleanor saw the anger ebb away from his eyes at her startled expression, his grip on her arms turning lighter rather than punishing, his fingers tenderly stroking away the red marks from his hold.

"Kate is in pain." Eleanor stuttered, her teeth chattering relentlessly, and her jaw sore from clenching her teeth trying to stop it.

"I came to get Ragnar for her. I—I am sorry, I" Eleanor looked away, catching the panicked look in Ragnar's eyes, and realizing abruptly how stupid she had been, but in her panic for her friend, she had acted rashly.

"I am sorry Bruni." She whispered eventually.

Bringing her frozen form to his body, Bruni wrapped his arms around the shocked bundle. "It is ok, just please listen to me from now on ok?" He looked down to see her nod against his chest, burrowing deeper into his heat. "We need to get back to the boat, find somewhere safer to dock." Bruni ordered, and his men and Ragnar raced back to the boats leaving them in the clearing. Pausing to pick up his sword, Bruni kept Eleanor close to his body, before steering her around to head back to shore.

Before he could take one step, they were surrounded.