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Eleanor Ch. 02

By: Andromeda7



London

1883

* * *

Dawn was breaking over London, but there was a smog, and a fog so no one could see anything. It was pitch dark in the street and so it was in Dora's new home except for a tiny night lamp hanging from the ceiling. She hadn't slept well due to the itch in her breasts and her bed had been no help at all as no matter what she did she just couldn't get comfortable. She had given up in the small hours of the morning and had moved to the platform with the two holes in it. She noticed Eleanor already on the other one with her dimly lit pendulous breasts hanging free below it. She was either asleep or dozing so Dora didn't disturb her as she got up onto the platform and moved around till her breasts were hanging free beneath it.

She wish she had her rubber vest back on with its support and the feeling of comfort it gave her when she squeezed the two bulbs but that had been taken from her before sleep last night by the Doctor. She crossed her arms under her chin and adjusted her body slightly to make her breasts more comfortable. She looked across at Eleanor or more correctly at her breasts because she had a vague memory that the bulk of them were yellow last evening and today they were pink and there seemed to be a light sheen of moisture on them. The tip of the breast around the nipple was red much as it had been yesterday.

She tried to think of what happened yesterday but couldn't. One thing that she did remember was being hungry and thirsty all day and using her feed trough until she had emptied it. She remembered the frame but things were foggy and she had a hard time remembering anything that happened on the frame. Now that she really thought about it there wasn't much she remembered about anything till now. She heard someone coming and hoped they bought something to eat.

* * *

The Doctor had slept well but wanted an early start to her day. She was surprised to find the two girls on the platforms and not in bed. She noticed Dora awake and beckoned her from the room. When they were in the milking room she asked how she was and found that the girl was hungry.

"Then what about we get you up in your frame dear and we will see about getting you something to eat, she said

The girl seemed quite willing and was soon bent ninety degrees at her waist with her wrist and neck ready for the restraint to be bought down.

"Can I wear the rubber vest today Doctor?"

"You can certainly wear it today, now how did you sleep please?"

She slowly went through her list of questions while giving the girls hanging breasts an examination. She noted the sharp line between the skin of the girls chest and where the breast started its journey away from the ribs. It was good that it was sharp as the ointment was rather powerful and suitable only for breasts. She ran her hands lightly over the left one and felt the heat. The girl said it itched and she felt discomfort. She allowed her fingers to give a bit more pressure as they moved over the breast but could feel no distortions or anything other than perfectly smooth skin. It was a beautiful, dare she say perfect breast and it would remain so. She chided herself to remember that she didn't own them they were on loan for a scientific cause. She heard a noise and turning on her stool she saw the French housekeeper Marie enter. They smiled a greeting and she nodded at a small desk. Marie would take some notes. She moved her hands down to the aureole and nipple and checked them over; Dora replying to a question that they were not sore. Memory loss seemed a problem though and this would be corrected today when she made the morning formula which contained a cocktail of drugs. With the questions finished she bought the feed and water teats in close to the girls mouth and saw her latch on to the feed teat. She had been worried that the mash in the feeding teat might not prove palatable but it seemed the hungry girl relished it.

"Good morning again Marie," she said to the housekeeper "I'm sorry I was a bit short with you but my mind was on my work. How are you today and have you seen my maid?"

" Your maid is indisposed this morning I'm afraid Doctor," replied the woman in her soft French accent.

" Very well then, I'm sure you will tell me latter for now we are busy. Would you get Eleanor up and on the frame please," she said with a frown.

Alice, her maid, was a favor she was doing for someone and if she was to be a problem; well she thought, she was good with problems. Eleanor came in followed by Marie and she got up onto the frame and was secured. The Doctor went through the questions and examination while Marie took the notes. Soon Eleanor was munching on her morning mash and they were both ready for their ointment. Leaving Marie to transcribed the notes into the record book she went across the chamber to a locked door that lead to the laboratory.

Entering she locked herself in for no one was allowed in here with its drugs, chemicals and other forbidden substances. First she turned to get the afternoon mash ready. The mash was mainly oats with a syrup mixed in to give it a better taste and some water. Her brother had made many discovery's up the Congo River the best being the one she was adding now. Sometimes a new born was reluctant to suckle but with a bit of crushed yarba berry juice rubbed on to the nipple one ended up with the opposite problem. They didn't want to stop. She didn't change what seemed to be a successful recipe but there would be a definite change to the formula.

The formula was strictly measured because it contained some very powerful drugs. The first was another African one. Some mothers had multiple births and there body's didn't seem to be able to keep up with milk production. While European medicine was still searching for an answer it seemed the people on the upper Congo had found it centuries ago. It was found in the river and was a simple river weed called "foroi". The remedy was simplicity its self; chew the river weed. This had been developed by her brother in to a concentrated form and this was added to the formula.

Her brothers notes had suggested that there might be some resistance to the frame and the time spent in it so had invented an hallucinogenic combined with a muscle relaxant.

It was this that she was preparing now. Yesterday there had been to much hallucinogenic so she dropped the dose somewhat. She didn't want to damage any brains. She took two clean rubber bags from her stock and carefully filled them with the preparation. It was time to give the girls there first formulas of the day. There was a last thought though; should she put a few drops of laxative in the mix?

* * *

Eleanor was restless after having feed herself and taken some water. Her breasts were itchy and she couldn't scratch them. The mademoiselle had put the ointment on them and although the itch was passing they were now heating up. She wished to rub them or scratch them but could do neither. 

The Doctor noticed this. It would not happen again.

* * *

Marie had watched the Doctor fill the rubber bags with the formula and fit Eleanor up and she could see that the girl was suffering some distress, but then so was Dora. She would have gone to the other girl but she couldn't be in two places at once. She felt the Doctor noticed.

* * *

Eleanor felt the harness being strapped around her skull and with her tongue adjusted the teat in her mouth. She gave a small suck on the teat and found a not unpleasant taste and then proceeded to draw down the formula and to start to swallow it.

In about ten minutes she was nicely relaxed and having happy thoughts about bunny rabbits in a field of flowers. She could hear people talking but it seemed to much trouble to listen. Ah, nice; there were hands on her breasts again and they started to feel better. She felt some one stroking her head which felt good too. Her mind moved back to the bunny rabbits, the flowers and the field; she seemed to be floating on the wind she thought.

* * *

Margret had slipped off to the surgery and was preparing the operating table for the first of the girls. It was pretty much the same as the platforms that they had been using to lie on earlier this morning except this one had some straps. 

Straps?

Why straps she had always wondered?

***

Eleanor Ch. 03



The sun began to peek above the thatched roofs of Loch Carnach as Eleanor moved quickly through the village looking for Kate's thatch. Situated close to the other reach of forest, Kate's small tigh looked much like her own, outcasted, out of the community. The only difference was that Kate's brothers had 2 other small tighs meters from her's, their own little community. As she crossed the small expanse of empty grass, she saw her, carting her wooded bucket to get water for her brothers.

"Kate!!!"

"Good God, Eleanor!!" Kate whirled round and caught her friend in her embrace. "What on earth are you doing this far? Is everything ok?"

Eleanor released her friend when she realised she could not reach around her friend as well as she used to. Looking down, she saw the reason why.

"Kate! This is brilliant! When? Who???"

"Calm yourself and come in Eleanor, I will tell you, just not here."

Following Kate into the small warm tigh, they sat by the window close to the fire.

"What's wrong Kate? What happened? You weren't ..?" casting a worried look to her small friend,

"No no. It was consensual."

"Did he marry you?"

"No, he offered, but I told him no." Hushing Eleanor, Kate continued. "Listen, lets not mention this, my brothers know who it is, they are not happy. They will kill him. So. Let's just be happy about the baby, ok?" Kate's pleading eyes were enough to silence her on the subject of the father.

"When are you due?"

"Late winter, hopefully. Lewis said that Ma was three weeks late with me, so...Anyway Eleanor. As much as I love seeing you, you need to tell me why your here, you are stressed and you look like you have ran from Lean."

Eleanor told her all that had happened from midnight, desperately trying to remember how many boats had appeared.

"Is it obvious that I ran from Lean?" Eleanor blushed.

"Well, that water I'm brewing, that's for you" Kate replied, causing both to erupt in fits of laughter.

"C'mon girl, get out of your clothes, I will give you some of mine, and we will get you cleaned up before my brother's wake!"

"Agreed" Eleanor paused, turning to her friend as she walked outside, "Kate?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you." 

"No problem Eleanor. No problem at all. Enjoy your bath."

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

They were back. Kate's heart quickened, if Eleanor's description of the boats was correct, it was the Auden's boats. That meant he was here. Her brothers were going to kill him. More to the point, she was going to kill him. Pausing at the edge of the woods, Kate sighed as reality set in, she could not blame him, and this was her doing as much as his. Looking back over her shoulder at her brother's homes, she made sure there was no sign of life. Reassured, she disappeared into the woods. 

Pulling her shawl closer against the morning chill, Kate crept carefully through the overgrown forest, wondering how poor Eleanor had managed to run through it. Even in her condition, Kate was as fit as her brothers, could still work at their crops, even as her brothers chased after her telling her off for lifting a finger. Poor Eleanor must be cut from head to toe on all the brambles. Moving past some large oaks, Kate saw a snagged piece of black fabric. Lifting it to her nose, she could smell him on it, beautiful, earthy, infused male spice in one torn cloth. It was all she could do to stop inhaling him.

"Ragnar. I know your there. I know you can hear me." She spoke softly to the quiet wood. Moving past the oaks, putting the torn cloth in her apron pocket, she was on the ground before she could scream in shock. A heavy weight by her side, strong legs over hers, and a beautiful mouth melting away her anger.

By Freya, he had forgotten how beautiful she was, how divine she tasted. Swirling his tongue in her mouth, Ragnar got lost in her taste, moving his hand over a body he had acquainted himself with seven months ago on his last visit. He had asked Kate to be his, to marry him, this she had agreed to. His other request, made after he had bedded her, she had refused completely. His Kate was not moving away from Scotland to Norway with him. He had been requested home before he could convince her to come with him. He would have carried her over his shoulder if it had not been for her two rather huge brothers standing behind her. Now, however, he would take her back...after all, he had an entire army at his disposal.

"Ragnar, Stop. Listen I..."

"Shhh. Kiss me woman. I've missed you"

One hand in her beautiful mahogany hair holding her head for his mouth to worship, Ragnar kneaded her full breasts with the other, marveling at their fullness in his palm.

"OHhh" Kate jumped, hand moving to her side.

Ragnar moved from her side, concerned he had squashed her onto a branch, until he saw the delicate swell of her belly hidden by her apron, and damn near fainted.

"Kate?" Ragnar's eyes met hers, unsure of himself, his anger raged for leaving her, and a violent protective rush swept over him all at once, rendering him speechless at a time when he actually needed his rarely used voice.

"Please Ragnar," Kate said, hating the look in his black eyes, "do not blame yourself for leaving. You were called home by your queen, you had to go."

"I should have dragged you with me Kate. You agreed to marry me woman, and you said no. I will not take no for an answer now!" Ragnar fell to his back as his angry Kate pushed and rolled him. With her sitting astride him, Ragnar cursed himself for hardening beneath her when he was trying to have a serious conversation with her.

"Kate, stop attempting to silence me...Oh god woman" Ragnar's eyes rolled and he saw stars as she ground her hips against him.

"Ragnar. Shhh. I wanted to marry you, but I did not want my brother's to kill you," She leant down over him, her heavy breasts pressing against his chest and whispered in his ear, "plus Viking, you were pretty fantastic in the forest, I wanted to keep you around"

The growl in his throat was warning the little hellion was warming him to a veritable death by fire, one that she swallowed with a gentle kiss, as she completely ignored him, and rose from his need fuelled body.

"Woman, I'm dragging your behind back on our boats, married or not." Raising his finger to her lips to silence her. "I will speak to your brothers."

"I wont go to Norway Ragnar, my brothers are wanting to settle here eventually" staring behind her, towards the sun reflecting upon the waking village, Kate sighed. "They are all I have now."

"You had me, you have me. What if I stay?" Shit, even the thought did not sit well with him, he hated this land. Too much disorder, discord, and greed fuelled stupidity.

Seeing the indecision on his face, Kate knew he would never be happy staying in Scotland. Had been one of her main reasons, apart from the thought of leaving Seamus and Lewis, for refusing to marry him. She had only regretted her decision as her belly had begun to swell, and she could no longer conceal her condition from her over protective brothers. 

"You know you could not stay here. You hate it."

Pulling her back to him, Ragnar leant her against the tall oak, her height perfect for him, no neck ache having to look at her beautiful face, just a perfect fit, personality and all. Stubborn in equal quantities, proud with every ounce, each in love with the other, yet resistant for their own reasons. 

"I would stay, wherever you were. As long, as we can visit my home." Ragnar stared into her deep blue eyes, as he brushed her curls from her eyes. "Now, I haven't had the pleasure of your touch for seven LONG months, are you to deny me?"

Kate did not have to answer, as her hand delved deep into his midnight hair, and his hands lifted her to rest back against the oak, baring her flesh to the cool air. 

"No, Ragnar, I would not deny you."

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

Relaxing in Kate's fur covered chair, Eleanor marveled at how her brothers took care of their little sister. Enjoying the heat of the fire after her bath in the wooden stub in the recess of the window. Dressed in Kate's clean shift and tunic, Eleanor had not felt this content in a long time. Kate had reminded her that it was only what a friend would do for another friend, and she was to stay for as long as she needed too. Relieved was not a strong enough word for how Eleanor felt. Pulling her legs beneath her, Eleanor felt sleep wash over her, and she could not help but go with the tide.

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

Walking back out of the forest, Kate hoped to get Ragnar into her cottage before either Lewis of Seamus rose for the day. Easier, she thought, if they had attempted this prior to their coupling, no doubt the noise from the forest had been heard by every person in Loch Carnach. And when she had come, quite possibly beyond.

Taking a deep breath, Kate's grip tightened on his hand as she led him though the waking village, the early risen women whispering behind their hands about her condition, and then some, about the stranger she was pulling through the streets. "Devil" was one of the whispers that followed them as they broke into the grass and crossed over to Kate and her brother's homes. 

"Kate, calm down"

"I, I Cant, Id rather like to keep the father of my child alive."

"Sneaking me in is not the way to go about it."

"I need you to meet her too you know!"

"Yes, I know, it's her Kate, I know it, and she even looks like Bjorn's mother." Their pace slowed as they moved across the grass.

"Well she was pretty terrified of you all Ragnar, that's why she ran. She knew that bastard would use her as a bargain." Kate paused. "What will happen if the contract is broken?"

"Hopefully nothing. He needs someone Kate; he has been alone too long." Ragnar brought Kate to a halt as Lewis grabbed his sword and moved towards them. As Kate realised the approaching brother, she moved in front of Ragnar.

"Lewis, put down the sword."

"SEAMUS, get your backside out here now!" Lewis roared behind him, advancing more with his sword ready for battle.

"LEWIS PUT DOWN THE SWORD!!" Kate moving towards her brother. "He is here to marry me."

If both male's mouths could drop any further, she swore they would become unhinged. Lewis from the shock of her defending the Viking, and that she would consider marrying him, and Ragnar from the shock that she had finally agreed. 

Pulling her arm to swing her around to him, Ragnar took possession of her mouth, sealing her commitment. Raising his sword to her brother's throat as he came at Ragnar's back, not breaking his kiss, nor even opening is eyes to his attacker. Ragnar could feel it all on the breeze.

Releasing his Kate, Ragnar turned to face his future family, having seen Seamus fighting with his plaid and boots as he fell out of his cottage door. 

"She has agreed. She will be my wife" Ragnar announced to them seriously, all the while his insides were doing a merry dance and wishing they were once more alone.

"I could not care less if she were demanding it Viking, you have already ruined her," Lewis raged, pausing as a rock hit him on the forehead stopping his speech.

"RUINED?? MY BACKSIDE LEWIS!! How dare you!!?? Need I remind you Da had not married Ma till she was pregnant with Seamus a good two years after you were born!! You gonnae leave RUINED at her name too?"

Kate was spitting fire, ready to battle her interfering brothers. It had taken all her courage to agree to marry Ragnar, she knew now he had every right to drag her off to Norway, she could only hope he would honor his word to her that where she was, he would be. She was more annoyed at the fact her brothers were ruining her happiness at her lover's return.

"You touch him, THE PAIR OF YOU LOOK AT ME PLEASE?? You lay one hand on him, and I will be on that boat to Norway quicker than you two can call my name."

Ragnar thought it was almost worth starting a fight, just so he could hold her to her word.

"Now get yourselves back inside, and Seamus? Get dressed, the lasses drool over you clothed, no point makin them faint." Kate was exhausted, and felt like lying down after all that male anger floating between them.

"But Kate, he is a Viking!" Lewis countered.

"And?? So was our Da!! You forget that!! And don't give me all that, Denmark and Norway Vikings are different rubbish Seamus, they are still Vikings!!"

Taking Ragnar by the hand once more, Kate dragged him passed her irritating siblings, and into the cottage.

Seeing the backside of a scurrying Eleanor attempting to climb from the rear window of the tigh.

Rolling his eyes at Kate, Ragnar took hold of Eleanor's slim hips, and hauled her back into the warm cottage, and dropped the squirming female into the fur covered chair by the fire.

"Why??" Was all Eleanor could summon within her to ask, as she looked between her friend and the Viking. 



Eleanor Ch. 04



Eleanor walked arm in arm with Kate, steering her around the painful brambles, keeping pace far back behind the dark figure of Ragnar. Shock didn't cover how Eleanor felt, Ragnar knew of her mother, was told stories of her father and mother's love by his mamma, Bjorn's younger sister, how her father Bjorn battled the Scot's best warriors for the right to marry her mother. And how he had died in an ambush, battling off the Scots men who were incensed at his marriage to their Laird's Daughter. Criostiona MacDonald. That was her mother's name. Daughter to one of the most feared Clan Leader of Skye. And her father had vied for her hand, and died for her safety. 

Ragnar had talked for hours to her, telling her all his Mamma had told him, her mother had been so full of light and laughter, and Eleanor mourned the loss of that woman. The woman that would have been the perfect mother, instead of the silent stranger left behind. 

"How long have you known all this Kate?" 

There was no reproach in her friend's question, and Kate was thankful for that, she could not stand the thought of Eleanor being angry.

"Since I met Ragnar about 8 months ago. When we would walk in the woods he would tell me the story of his Uncle Bjorn. I found it enchanting. Until he told me of the necklace Bjorn gave your mother when they married. I only then knew you were their child. I remembered you showing me the necklace when we were children." Kate spoke, trying to hide her laughter at her future husband, clearly growing annoyed with the meandering women falling so far behind. 

Following her friend's adoring gaze, Eleanor smiled.

"You love him don't you?" Eleanor asked, slightly envious of Kate's luck.

Looking down at her belly, Kate smiled, "Of course girl, I would not have allowed him near me otherwise!!" She laughed, mock indignation in her voice. 

"So what about this contract?" Eleanor asked quietly.

She was still puzzling over that part of the conversation that morning, Ragnar seemed although he were about to elaborate, and then caught himself. Eleanor didn't know what to make of it; she wanted to know more of this contract that had been made on her. She was assuming it was to do with MacLean bargaining her, as she had imagined he would. Yes, she thought, throw the blonde girl to the wolves to save your own skin. When Kate had told her the Laird's fate, and the events preceding it, Eleanor had decided the second after her shock had subsided, that the Laird had gotten what he had deserved.

"I don't know of a contract Eleanor." Kate lied, god she hated herself for lying. But she could not stand the thought of more fighting between the Auden and Haur. After all, her love was a Haur, and he would never stand against his Bruni Auden, never. The contract was meant to bring neutrality between the two families, secure heirs for the adjoining lands. She could not tell Eleanor that she had been promised to Bruni's elder brother Nikolas, the man was nearing forty and an extensive traveler. Kate and her brothers had traveled a great deal in her 24 years, mainly traveling with their Da after her mother had died of a fever when she was 8 and they had left Loch Carnach. Oh how she had missed her friend in those years. They had been to his native Denmark, traveled across the lush lands of the Gauls, spent many years traveling the English and Cymri lands, working with gypsies in their traveling fairs. 

When the bloody English began killing the gypsies for being strange, and blaming them for wrong doings in their towns, Seamus and Lewis had taken a 16 year old Kate and fled north. Spending years looking for a safe haven and Loch Carnach was always the safest they had found without running out of Scotland to look for, so had resettled in their childhood home, and built two more surrounding it. They had met Nikolas on many occasions, in many locations, always being thrown from some tavern for being Norse, or welcomed into a gypsies' tent for the same reason. Not they type for playing husband. Not the best choice for Eleanor. Glad of her own luck, Kate was happy with her good fortune placing her in the path of Ragnar, and would be damned if her friend was to suffer less of a man.

"Come on you two, or I will be carrying you both over my shoulders!" Ragnar threatened. 

He smiled at the two friends, so close, so alike. Both tall, graceful, and completely independent minded. He was overjoyed at finding his Uncle Bjorn's daughter, his cousin, Twenty Two years had passed wondering. His mother would be overjoyed, had always fretted as to what had happened to the poor child. They had never known whether the child was boy or girl, been born safely, or whether Criostiona had reached safety after Bjorn's sacrifice. They had mourned three lives for twenty two years. He didn't know how to tell her of the contract. He knew Kate was mad about it when he had told her all those months ago, told him it was terrible to expect a young girl to marry a man who would not be there for years, who whored his way across the sea! By Odin, his Kate had an itinery of language that would put a hardened warrior to shame sometimes.

Crossing into the clearing, Bruni looked up at him and he nodded his head to his tired leader. As Kate and Eleanor walked without force into the camp, Ragnar swore he saw his friend's shoulders relax. 

Finally, things were looking up. The Haur daughter was here, his brother Nikolas's bride, they could finally get off this rock. Sitting back against the makeshift map table he took a drink of the cool water and studied her, walking arm in arm with Ragnar's love. Bruni focused harder on the two, By Freya, Kate was pregnant. Choking on his water, Bruni felt a hard hand tap his back.

"I know. I nearly stopped breathing when I realised." Ragnar laughed, rubbing his friend's back coaxing the water back to where it should be.

"I hope this means you will be taking her back with you this time?" Bruni croaked.

"I will, she doesn't know it, but I will" Ragnar said, his plan forming even as he spoke those words.

"I bloody hope so; Anika was distraught when you didn't bring her back before. She was told by one of the wives that you had found a woman."

Thinking about his little sister, Ragnar smiled, rubbing his chest.

"Yes I know, she was so angry with me for not bringing her back with me, she hit me so hard I thought she had broken a rib." Ragnar smoothed his palm over where his little sister had punched him, for an eight year old, she had tremendous strength. 

"Kate is taking her to the tent next to mine, so I can hear if she tries to leave." Ragnar paused, "She doesn't know of the contract, I started to tell her then stopped, realising my mistake. I'm sorry Bruni, but I am hoping she thinks I was just meaning the bargain MacLean made."

"Do not fash yourself Ragnar, we will tell her when the time is right, preferably when she is on our terrain." Bruni said quietly. He felt like a bastard for doing this to her, lying to anyone was not in his nature, but to protect the contract, he had to. Bruni supposed he was just to be glad that the Haur's child was a female. If it had been a male, he would have been forced to bring the twenty two year old boy back to be married to his younger sister. He may have been tempted to push the boy overboard rather than let that happen, yet here, the roles reversed; he was still condemning a young woman, to a lonely existence, with a man that would not be around long enough to love her. 

"Go to your woman Ragnar, make her comfortable." Bruni said, turning from his friend and back to the maps. He had received word that he had to collect his errant roaming brother from the North point of the Gaul lands. One of his boats had ran aground; he had sent the other to deliver his message to their mother. Idiot had now been stranded there for nearly four weeks. Would take them another week to reach him at full speed. And Bruni did not know how his brother would react to news that the contract had to be fulfilled.

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

Sitting in the opening of the tent, Eleanor and Kate were wrapped in the one blanket against the chill of the evening. These warriors had seen to their every need, blankets, wine, and the food they had been brought was delicious. Succulent chicken and pork roasted over the roaring fire in the centre of the camp, the scent filling her with warmth. Sated from her meal, she and Kate relaxed against the tree her tent was tied to, as Kate tried to remember as many of the Norse she had met eight months before.

A great deal of the number came over and introduced themselves, including the three wives that had come with their husbands. They had all been friendly, polite with her; she didn't have the heart to tell them as Kate translated, that she could generally understand them. Her old Priest's teachings made sense to her now; her mother's confession must have been a damn sight more in depth than the old man made out. She knew now, she was traveling back to Norway with them, Ragnar was to introduce her to their family, she was quite excited about that, finally having some semblance of family.

The dark eyes that looked through the flames at her were entrancing and intense. Each time the tall male thought she was not looking, she could feel his gaze bore into her, and averted when she met it head on. Whispering to Kate, averting her eyes so it was not obvious to the giant of a man that he was the topic of her conversation.

"Who is he Kate? The one standing next to Ragnar?" 

Looking up from the necklace Ragnar had presented her with earlier in their tent, Kate looked to Ragnar's companion.

"That is their leader Eleanor, Bruni Auden, he was Oleif's older brother." Kate whispered back, smiling gently at her friend's blushing gaze of the Norse Leader, and at Bruni's intent stare at her friend. 

Lying back against the blankets, Kate fingered the delicate loops of the chain, to the silver dragon identical to Eleanor's and blushed herself, remembering Ragnar caressing her bare skin with the cool smooth metal before placing it over her head. His voice had been husky and so much deeper than normal as he had made love to her gently on their sides, as he told her she was his. Kate had always hated hearing of women as belongings to men, but as he had growled those words in her ear, he gently stroked away any refusal to hear them, till all she could hear was their own ragged breaths in their tent.

"I think I had better take her inside" Ragnar's Gaelic cutting through Eleanor's thoughts as she played with the frayed edges of her shawl. Seeing her friend sound asleep, Eleanor nodded, smiling at Kate's resting form, and Ragnar's obvious adoration for her. As he scooped her up and disappeared into their tent next to hers, Eleanor looked across the flames in front of her, and smiled as those eyes avoided hers once more. Disappearing into her small tent, she wrapped her blankets, warmed from the flames around her tired body, and fell to sleep easily, for the second time since she left Lean.

Bruni studied his maps, committing his course to memory before they sailed late tomorrow morning. The flames from the fire were dying out, his men mostly long since gone to their pallets; there was nothing but the light crackle of the remaining burning wood, and the owls in the forest around them. Bruni turned around, peering once more across the dying fire into her tent, the small gap in the linens granting him the beautiful view of her peaceful face. Rolling his maps, he stalked to his tent, if he took himself out of her sight, he would gain some peace perhaps. Lying back against his furs, Bruni tried to focus on the task at hand, get his brother, get back to Bergen, and fulfill the contract. Closing his eyes, flashes of the past day rushed him, staring at the burning Laird, his screams filling his mind. Turning over onto his side, Bruni fingered the braid Ragnar had given him of Eleanor's hair, for his brother Nikolas. Bringing the soft lock to his face, he inhaled her scent, beautiful, just like her. Holding the braid close, Bruni relaxed as he pictured her sweet smile at him as she retired to her tent, and savored it. She would most likely hate him when she found out about the contract. No young girl wanted to face a life of solitude, unlikely to bare children since her husband would never be there. No life at all. Fleeing that though, Bruni pulled the blanket across his tired body, and thought of Eleanor. Truly there was no woman as beautiful. 



Eleanor Ch. 05



"Shhhhh will you Cal! You want the bastards to hear us?" Domhnall whispered. "You're sure you saw her come here?"

"Yes, I saw here arrive with the gypsy whore" Cal replied.

"Remember Cal, Eleanor's mine, you kill anyone who tries to come after us, stay in the woods." Domhnall spoke, the venom barely concealed. 

Eleanor was going to pay for not being in the village last night; his Da might have been saved if the barbarians had been given the bitch. Well, he was going to have his fun with her this night, and leave her as a nice surprise for the invaders in the morning, a blow to the bastards, losing one of their own. And he would be the one to deliver it.

"MacLean? Now?" Cal nudged his cousin.

"Aye, now. You go round to the edge near the trees, I will take her past the river, that will be far enough should she wake." Domhnall ordered as he quietly left the cover of trees, and crossed to the tent she had retired to. 

This would have all been done hours ago if that giant had gone to his tent when his other men had retired Domhnall thought bitterly, his anger had been strong at the beginning of the night, now his anger and exhaustion was pushing him to the brink of wanting to risk slaughtering them one by one as he passed their tents. But he had no intention of dying. Only the Viking bitch was.

Entering her tent, Domhnall looked down at the sleeping girl, rage entering him once more, as he grabbed her hair and knocked her head forcibly against the chilled ground, stifling her waking gasp, her world black once more. Throwing her over his shoulder, Domnhall entered the woods, passing Cal.

"You stay here. I will come back for you." He ordered, jogging deeper through the brambles until he reached the river. 

Wading through the wash, he threw Eleanor to the ground on the other side, the rush of the water loud enough to disguise his course of action. Kicking a great deal of water over her, she woke with a start, her scream caught by his hand as he shoved a dirty rag into her mouth and forced her bleeding head back against the mud hard once more. 

"You are going to pay for my father's death ya little bitch" Domnhall raged, as he ripped her tunic down the front, pinning her hands above her with one as his bit the top of her breast hard, drawing blood. 

Her muffled scream was very loud, even with the rag in her mouth. Slapping her to shock her into silence worked as she caught her breath from the pain of her split lip. *********************** Ragnar woke as a quiet scream broke his light slumber, detangling himself from Kate's arms, he left his tent into the night, as Bruni did.

"You heard it too?" Bruni whispered.

"Yes" Ragnar replied, looking into Eleanor's tent, seeing the blood where her head had been resting. "She has not been gone long Bruni, a few minutes maybe, the blankets are still warm."

He tried to reassure his friend, who was now vibrating with anger from the sight of blood on Ragnar's fingers, as they ran into the woods.

Hearing the muffled cries, Cal cursed his cousin; he wasn't far enough away to take her. Turning his head towards Eleanor's scream, Cal felt the blade press against his throat before he could draw breath to cry out.

"How many of you are there?" Ragnar spoke, menace pronounced in each of his words to this man against the tree.

Bruni ran on, his sword drawn, his legs moving fast, covering the ground as fast as possible. The sound of her cries of pain spurring him on. Then the sight of the bastard lifting her shift caused the anger to over ride all. 

His terrifying shout raged through the hours before dawn, birds scattering from their resting places, as he ran through the rapids to the Scot. His hand over his erection halted, as he heard the loud war cry of the Norse man. 

Domnhall cursed his bastard cousin for no warning, smashed the whore's head against the mud once more hoping the Viking would stop and tend her, and ran into the woods. He heard the splash of the water halt as the giant reached the shore, and the muted cry from the whore he hoped was a plea.

"Get him." she cried. Two simple words, spoken in his language, Bruni smiled gently and rushed past her, after the Scots bastard. It did not take him long to catch him. The bastard's sword drawn in defense, as Bruni stalked towards him, he muttered something in that language of his that meagerly sounded like a warning. 

Smiling sardonically, Bruni moved ever closer, his sword held strong in his hand, no shake to his stance, no fear in his eyes. Not like this pathetic mass before him, sword looked although as light breeze could disarm him, fear in his eyes, especially as Bruni spoke.

"Ww-what?" Domnhall asked, not understanding the Norse language. "He said," Ragnar spoke, appearing from the right wiping the blood from his sword. "That you are going to jump like the coward you are." 

Extending his sword like Bruni, Ragnar stalked the MacLean towards the edge of the cliff, the sheer drop onto the rocks below a terrifying end. "Is that her blood on your mouth Scot?" Ragnar asked, smiling as the man began rubbing furiously at the blood he had drawn from her breast with his teeth as he backed up against the very edge, feeling the spray of the salty water prickling his neck, beckoning him. 

Raising his sword against the invading men, he ran for the blonde male, swinging his sword high to reach the giant's neck, coming to an abrupt halt as the searing pain in his manhood toppled him to the ground. Clutching himself as the warm blood seeped through his fingers, through the fabric of his plaid, he had clear view of his unmanning, lying next to him on the ground. 

Whimpering from the pain, he hardly felt the strong hands on both his shoulders bringing him to rest on shaking and weak legs as the blonde giant spoke to the black haired devil. The last thing he felt, was the rush of the cool air around him, the sight of his conquerors, watching his decent into hell.

Running back towards Eleanor, Bruni slowed as he saw her knelt by the rushing water, her sobs barely concealed by the noise of the falls. He stilled Ragnar's approach as he walked gently towards her, watching her hiss in pain as she lifted some of her torn shift to wash the wound on her breast. 

Startling her as his hand gently held hers; Eleanor fell back into the mud, clutching at the torn tunic with her free hand. 

"Shhhh, child, let me tend to you." Bruni whispered, knowing that as she nodded, she knew his language. 

Taking the rag from her scratched hand, Bruni rinsed it in the rapids, pulling her tunic back enough to see her wound, but keep her modesty and make her comfortable to his touch. He roared with anger in his head as she flinched in pain, the bleeding stopping on her torn flesh, but the skin turning violent shade of purple and black around the bite.

"Did he hurt you" Bruni paused, composing himself, "anywhere else?" Bracing himself for the worse. That he may not have been early.

A small shake of her head was all Eleanor could manage, the intensity of this giant being so close to her, crouched in the mud beside her, tending her skin with the tender touch she would not have expected of a man his size, Eleanor could not find her voice. Her head swam with pain from being knocked against the ground, and she grappled for his strong hands before she fell back into the mud, her world descending into black once more.

Catching her, Bruni lifted her into his arms, and waded through the river to a waiting Ragnar.

"Kate woke and found me gone, the other wives are coming, they will wash her here, and we can come back and get her." Ragnar placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "We will be just behind the trees; no one will get to her Bruni."

Laying her down on the soft grass, Bruni rose quickly as the small group of women, swarmed the bank, with linens for the girl. Moving behind the trees with Ragnar, Bruni leaned against one of the tall pines littering the cliff side as the women cleaned Eleanor. 

"The sooner we are away from this bloody land, the better Ragnar. This place his worse than our hell I fear."

"I agree, of all the places you and I have been, Scotland is Niflheim." Ragnar agreed, laughing as he heard Kate's itinery of curses roll from her delicious lips while she tended his Cousin's head. "She is ready Ragnar." Kate spoke softly to her lover. "Lets go Bruni, get her back to camp, we should leave first thing in the morning instead of later." Ragnar said as he stood, brushing the grass from his trousers. As Bruni lifted the unconscious Eleanor, he stalked back to camp, passing the bloodied remains of the MacLean's co-conspirator. Breaking into camp, he stalked past her tent, and took her to his own.

"Ragnar, he has gone past her tent, Bru.." Kate was silenced by Ragnar's kiss.

"She is safer there my hellion. Now," Ragnar paused as he pushed his pregnant woman into the tent, "get back to sleep, we leave in the morning."

"Ragnar!!!!!" Kate shouted, completely ignored by her lover as he walked to check the boats. He had promised her she could stay with her brothers!! The lying little toad! Her anger fired, she stormed from the tent, down to the shore. Her shock silencing her enough to make her hide behind the trees, Kate could not believe the sight before her. Ragnar, her brothers, loading their belongings into the bow of the Auden dragon boat. Her brothers were going with them. She had no choice but to go now. She had no protection. Clever Bastard, she scowled as she stalked back to the camp. 



Eleanor Ch. 06



All Characters engaging in sexual activity are over 18.

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

Waking with a start, Eleanor bolted upright from the furs, unable to distinguish her surroundings from her dream. Feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder, she bolted for the tent opening only to feel his arms tighten around her, pulling her back to him. Panicking in the dim morning light, Eleanor swung round, catching her attacker in the eye. Instantly regretting her action when she saw the poor giant lain on his back cradling his eye with tears falling down his face. Christ, she hadn't made the man cry?! 

Feeling instantly contrite, Eleanor reached for him. 

"Bruni, I'm sorry, let me see." Eleanor moved closer, worried she may have caused him serious damage; the giant's shoulders were shaking so much.

When the brute let free his laughter, Eleanor fought the urge to punch him in the other eye, as his deep throaty laugh filled the tent, tears streaming with his merriment. Pushing him away from her, Eleanor folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"Remind me never to annoy you woman." Bruni chuckled, as his sight came back to him. A sight indeed she was, tousled from her sleep after the wives had tidied her after her ordeal, the flush of her anger staining her cheeks, taking away the stark contrast of her bruises from the MacLean. And the push of her breasts beneath her tunic from her folded arms. By Freya, she was beautiful.

Pulling the blankets over his waist, he hoped she had not seen the reaction her poise provoked. He could not think of her thus, it was dangerous territory, Ragnar's father would demand the contract be fulfilled. Ragnar's Da was a stubborn man.

"We had best be getting ready, we leave soon." Bruni said, desperate to tear his eyes from her soft gaze. 

This was dangerous territory indeed.

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

Bergen

"Anika! Get away from that window, you will catch cold!" Matilda called, to the ever disobedient eight year old.

"Yes Mamma." Anika trilled, yet still unable to pull herself away from the window. "When is Ragnar coming home Mamma?"

"Soon child, soon, now get down." Matilda begged, her little daughter had a terrible habit of climbing the tapestries and settling into the wide window ledge to view the port.

"Do you think he will bring Kate back this time?" Anika asked, silently praying that her Brother would drag the female back, she had wanted a sister for so long, and it almost hurt. Her Mamma was not always around, like today, she would be leaving for the Dane's north lands to visit family, leaving the Auden Keep in the hands of Matilda's sister Sibbe. Nearly fifty, the stern woman was mean in Anika's opinion. Mean, and smelly. Anika knew not to beg for her Mamma to stay, yet she could only refuse to go with her in case she missed Ragnar.

Anika could smell Sibbe before the hag entered the room, and Matilda could barely stifle her laugh at Anika's comical expression. 

"Matilda, I thought you would have left by now." Sibbe sneered; she had been waiting nearly a year for the chance to govern here once more. It was luxury, waited on, rich food, and a full purse. As Matilda moved from the head chair at the dais, Sibbe squeezed her massive frame into her svelte sister's space no sooner than she had vacated it. Anika wondered whether her poor Mamma would have survived that event if she had by chance forgotten something and been a second later.

"Varin, please get Anika out of the window." Matilda whispered to her head guard.

"Anika...ready....steady.........JUMP!" Varin spoke.

Anika leapt into the guards arms, laughing all the way down into the tickling guard's arms. The furious shout of Sibbe make short work of their revelry.

"I swear Matilda, you have ruined that child! She wont make a good wife." Sibbe paused long enough to bite a large chunk from the chicken leg before continuing, mouth full. "She has too much of a mind, she is not disciplined enough."

Taking a long draw on the wine, Sibbe glared at her sister with envy and anger, as the slim woman picked Anika from Varin's arms and tickled her some more.

"Sibbe, I do not expect to come home to a morose child this time. If I do, I will feed you to the dogs." Matilda spoke in old Norse, knowing Sibbe would understand, but all Anika would hear was the gentle tinkle of her usual voice. 

"Well how dare you...!"

"Oh do be quiet Sibbe. You enjoy spending my coin more than your stupidity, so be quiet. I will be back in two weeks." Matilda dropped a kiss to Anika's head. "Watch over Anika Varin." She whispered. 

Leaving the keep, Matilda sighed as she walked with her maid to the waiting boat. Sibbe was not the person to leave in charge of the keep, turning back to look, too intent on making her staff her slaves. 

"By Loki, Vera best be very ill when I reach her." Matilda told the boat as she stepped aboard.

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

"Anika, you will be staying in the North room, Inga will be staying in your room while I'm here." Sibbe snorted.

"But Aunt Sibbe, I can only see the port from my room, I cant see it from the nor.." 

Anika's face crumpled with tears as the red mark from Sibbe's strike rose on her pale face. Running into her room, Anika pulled her box all the way down to the North room, refusing to leave anything of value to her in her room with Sibbe's awful daughter Inga. 

She was ugly too, Anika thought, her black eyes clouding with anger at the pain on her cheek. Overweight, dowdy, unwashed skin and hair, and she was only seventeen!! Anika hated the thought of the rude creature sleeping in her mother's bed, let alone its spawn sleeping in her own. Pulling her box to the window, Anika let the tapestry fall across the window, with her behind it. Folding a small pillow from the tick, she tucked it under her head, and squeezed right into the corner, she could just see the point of Bergen, she could see the boats for a fraction before they made port. Anger spiraled in her once more as she heard Sibbe's voice outside her door.

"She is not to get dinner, she is being punished. Is that clear Varin?" Sibbe demanded.

"Yes Ma'm."

Determination steeled her, as she kept her eye on the horizon, begging with every hour that passed, that Ragnar or her mother would come home soon. 

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

Lifting Eleanor over the edge of the boat, Ragnar took her from Bruni and set her on her feet next to Kate. Setting his arm over the edge, he hauled Bruni over the side, and pushed off with the heavy oars. The wind was set at the right angle to get them to the East of Scotland, Ragnar could only hope their luck would stick with them, and set them on a quick path to Nikolas, and then home.

"Eleanor, Kate, come below, I will show you the boat." Bruni offered the limping Eleanor his hand, and waited what seemed an eternity before she took it, her eyes still glaring lightly at his laughter at her earlier. His eye still throbbing from her forceful punch. He would wager it was less than he deserved, Eleanor would have most likely flogged him if she had known he had cradled her against him all night. 

Ducking beneath the feather white sails, and past the score of men on their head boat, Eleanor followed her giant beneath the deck, the area spacious; there was a private room at the bow, built seamlessly into the wood of the boat, and the multitude of hammocks hangin above the holding pens. Barrels of water, food supplies, and the thought occurred to Eleanor, these men were more prepared than any village, they had supplies, they took care of their men, and their women. They were not the barbarians the Scots made out. They were the better of the two. 

Leading her to the room, Bruni moved the sliding door with a firm shove, and showed her inside. Two separate beds, on either side of the bow spine, a thick fabric hung between the two, providing as much privacy as one could expect. Panic assailed her, Kate would surely wish to share her bed with Ragnar, she did not wish to invade the lover's privacy, nor did she think she should invade Bruni's by sharing, or taking his bed. 

"I can sleep on deck Bruni, a few blankets and I will be fine." Eleanor said quietly, a deep blush tainting her cheeks, as she backed into the store straight into her friend.

"Eleanor and I will share a bed..." Kate elbowed a protesting Ragnar, who obviously had other ideas, "...and Bruni and Ragnar can share." She offered a smile to Eleanor, putting her friend at ease.

"Come on Eleanor, lets go up on deck, its a beautiful day." Kate said, pulling her friend away from the male-ness in the cramped space.

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

Staring at the rolling sea, Kate and Eleanor smiled, both surprisingly relieved to be free from the unforgiving Scots. Kate was overjoyed at finally being with Ragnar, had even cursed her stupidity for not agreeing to it before, and was also glad that her brothers where close too. Eleanor was just glad to be finding a family, she had her friend, and she had a family and home to discover in Bergen. All she needed to do was endure the boat journey. And stop her errant heart from skipping a beat when her giant passed her with a smile.

Bruni Auden, you will be the death of me. Eleanor thought, watching his taut muscles flex as he rained in the loose sail.

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

"We are nearly there Bruni, perhaps one more night. Nikolas said it was the north point of the Gaul lands?" Thorod asked, directing the other men with the oars since the wind had died a little in the afternoon.

"Yes Thorod, I have a pretty good idea where he is, he tends to get stranded there a lot, its a port with a rather narrow lane out. And of course Nikolas is usually drunk when he leaves there; this is the third time I've done this journey in five years."  

At twenty eight, Bruni was growing tired of his older brother's antics. The extensively traveled Nikolas had too much free spirit in him, of both the philosophical and liquid variety, and Bruni was sure his wandering brother would fall from the end of the earth one day. Born to his father Broddi, and his first wife Bertha, Nikolas was thirty nine, and a full blown child. Bruni's mother Astrid was thoroughly furious with him, as Queen, she had the right to banish him, but her love for his father, Astrid could not hurt his dead father's memory, and so had set new levels of having patience of a saint. 

That patience had worn thin these past two months with Oleif's death, the lost expression on his mother's face when the news had arrived, had nearly crippled him. She had endured so much, just pregnant as her Broddi died, she had been for fifteen years alone, defending her country from the Gauls, the Germans, striving to see the contract sealed between Auden lands and Haur, together they would be formidable, and could put an end to the invasions of the barbarians from the south. 

"Prepare the ship for the night, make sure half the rowers sleep now, so they are ready to row through the night. We aim to pick up Nikolas in the morning. Ragnar is getting worried about Kate, she is growing more uncomfortable, she most likely only has three weeks left at most, we need to make headway back to Bergen as soon as my brother and his men are collected."

"Yes Bruni." Thorod agreed, and set about his orders.

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

"Ragnar, will you stop pacing and sit down, you are going to make me sick." Kate moaned, her patience wearing thin at the man running a path in the floor of the boat.

"I'm just concerned about you, your getting close, and here is not the best place for you." he stopped his pacing and looked at his poor female, propped up against the bow of the boat with blankets all around her, protecting her from the chill of the winter water, and the sides of the boat if a storm were to hit.

"We could stop when we get Nikolas, and make our way back after the baby is born." Kate offered, knowing in her soul it was what neither of them wanted, both would rather have the child on board than on foreign soil.

His peeved glare confirmed her thoughts, and annoyed her all at once.

"Don't you be glaring at me Ragnar; you're not the one carrying at full term!!!" Kate was irritable, she knew it, but she could not be nice to him right now. They were soon to pick up Nikolas, and no one had told Eleanor that the traveling Norse was her soon to be husband.

"You have to tell her soon Ragnar, its not fair." Kate winced, as the baby began kicking her furiously, not liking the raised voices.

"We will." Ragnar promised. "Just not yet." 

Not yet.

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

Varin crept into the North room, praying the snoring Sibbe downstairs would not awaken. Gently shaking little Anika, he stifled her gasp with his hand.

"Little Loki, it is me." He smiled, taking the food parcel out of his pocket, sitting next to her on the huge bed, he unwrapped his gift for her, catching her in a hug when she realised it was chocolate the Monks had given her mother as a gift.

"Oh Varin, thank you!" Anika gasped, excitement rippling through her.

"Shhhhhh little one, we do not want the handmaiden of Hel to awaken and deprive us of breakfast." Varin chuckled.

"Varin, how long before they come home? I can no longer stand the thought of that piglet in my bed, snoring into the quilt Mamma made for me. Surely it cannot be long before Ragnar or Mamma reach? I know Father will be weeks before he gets home, but the others?"

"I do not know little Loki, I will just keep plying the wench with wine, and she will hopefully sleep right through the week!" 

Tucking the little hellion into the warm blankets, Varin scooped any crumbs from Anika's bed in case Sibbe found them, and put the folded cloth back into his pocket. His heart felt torn, leaving her like this, in fear of Sibbe. He had always felt like her protector, she was like a little sister to him, having only grown up with brothers, and now he felt as though he were failing her.

"Sleep tight Anika, they wont be long." He whispered as he closed the door. Walking past his Loki's normal room, Varin stuck out his tongue at the sleeping piglet inside, and went back to his chambers in the gatehouse. Praying himself that someone came home soon, before he killed the slobbering Sibbe for every tear she had made Anika shed.



Eleanor Ch. 07



"Kate?" Ragnar murmured, into the quiet of the evening.

"Mmmm?" Kate replied, snuggling deeper into the warmth of Ragnar's chest, relishing the feel of his hard body so close to hers. She would never grow sick of cuddling this man.

"Can you turn over for a bit? The baby is kicking me relentlessly." Ragnar said apologetically, he didn't want to disturb her, but he was due up in an hour for taking command of the night rowers, and needed some sleep. And currently his child was kicking through his lover's belly and into his ribs.

"Uhhhgg!" 

Kate hefted herself over onto her side, snuggling her bottom against his hips, smiling as she heard his groan at the action. Ha, she thought, serves you right for making me move. 

Cuddling closer to him, Kate knew she was playing with fire, she should let her grumpy man sleep, but this was too much fun. Gently moving against his hips, Kate felt him grow hard beneath his trousers, and her delicate shift, his involuntary twitches arousing her as well as him as he slowly began to meet her movements. 

Kate's breath shallow, eyes closed as she savored the feel of his arms cradling her back to his chest, his rough fingers teasingly brushing over her nipples, her breasts heavy and tender, each pass of his hand felt like exquisite torture. 

Ragnar thought he had died and drifted to heaven. He had not been able to lay with Kate since the morning of their sailing since her body had taken a while to get used to the roll of the sea, and was dealing with the uncomfortable state of her pregnancy, but as she ground against him once more, his conscience taunted him. He could not take her just now; he could risk starting her labor, something they could not contend with right now. It was not the safe environment he had wanted for his future wife to be in such a condition. Backing his lower half away from her tormenting hips, Ragnar swallowed Kate's quiet mewls of protest with his gentle kiss.

"We cannot risk it." He whispered against her neck as he sat her up removing her shift, and lay her beautiful naked form back against the matress. Kissing his determined path over her flushed skin, Ragnar worshipped every inch that he loved, his lips brushing her breasts, careful not to cause her pain. He smoothed his hands over her swollen belly, marveling that a child could indeed fit in such a dainty bump. 

Spreading her legs before him, he continued his quest to at least sate his temptress' needs, brushing fleeting licks of his tongue against her, driven near to madness by the taste of his Kate, liquid heat flowing down his throat as he drank deep, rubbing the swollen pearl that brought her hips off the bed. Grasping her hands as she bucked against him, Ragnar quickened his pace, his tongue driving her mad, driving her closer as she struggled to quiet her cries of pleasure. 

Grinding his painful erection against the edge of the bed, Ragnar was dying, needed to escape to release himself, with a final lick through her centre, he suckled hard, and had to hold her steady as she found her release. Pulling the blankets over her heated body, Ragnar wiped the sweat from his brow, and licked his lips for the reminants of her delicious taste. Attempting to stand, Ragnar looked to the door wondering if he could make it.

"Ragnar, come here." Kate purred. As Ragnar edged closer to his sated lover, she reached for the tie to his trousers. 

"Kate, no. It is fine." Ragnar grimaced as his erection disagreed with him and jumped against the fabric as she bared it to her gaze. Its swollen head purple with desperation, a pearlescent drop forming from its top, it jumped as her cool hand tried to wrap itself around it.

"Kate..." Ragnar began, as she begged him to silence. Her hand gently pumping over him, Ragnar's breath quickened, he was not going to last much longer if she kept going. He had just gathered enough energy to leave, as her hot mouth closed around him, and he was lost to her.

Bracing his hands against the wall above her, Ragnar's hips rushed forward as he began to come, shuddering as he spilled into her welcoming mouth. His senses coming back online, he pulled away quickly, dropping to the matress to check if he had hurt her.

"Kate, I'm sor..." Silenced by her beaming smile and her gentle kiss, Ragnar marveled at his temptress, as he kissed her good night, and left to take over for Bruni.

"We have to do that again." Kate laughed into the empty room.

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

"Bruni, I can take over." Ragnar said, approaching his friend.

"Shhh" 

"What is it?" Ragnar asked, bemused.

"She is singing." Bruni said. He had been checking his maps when he had heard the quiet tinkle of her voice. 

Lying on her back on the raised platform at the aft of the long boat, Eleanor was gazing at the clearest sky she had ever seen, singing a song she and Kate had learned as children from the old man of the Kirk, it was about the beautiful Goddess Freya, granting love to the worthy. She knew not why she chose to sing it now, but as she watched the sparks of falling stars, and the swirls of colours in the midnight sky, Eleanor felt it right to sing to celebrate something so beautiful. 

Mindful of her volume, Eleanor sang in a whisper, unwilling to be the cause of waking such hard working men, unknowing that all on deck were straining to hear the gentle lilt of her voice.

"You had best get her below deck, or we will never make it to the north point by morning." Ragnar whispered, as quiet as his words were, his ten oarsmen still glared death at him for the imminent loss of her voice.

"You are right, the night is chilling. See you in the morning Ragnar." Bruni spoke, moving up the platform to the prone Eleanor. 

The sight of the giant appearing in her view of the faultless sky, Eleanor jumped slightly, and realised just how cold she was, when her shivering muscles protested the movement.

"Eleanor, we had best get you below." Bruni spoke softly, offering her his hand. 

"Yes, I think I should have gone down a while ago, it is so cold!" Eleanor clamped her jaw shut, a desperate attempt to cease her chattering teeth. 

Taking Bruni's hand, Eleanor was surprised how effortlessly he lifted her from the platform, not a sound of effort escaping him; an event Eleanor was completely unused to being so tall in comparison to the Scot's girls. Jumping down from platform, the thump of his boots hitting the deck sounding thunderous in the still night; Bruni reached for her, his large hands securing gently around her waist as he lifted her slowly from the platform, her arms laced around his neck as his body fought his brain to put her down. 

Feeling her soft body beneath his fingers stirred his blood to boiling point, he heart beating rapidly against his chest, as her lips came close to his, her sweet breath tickling his cheek and her storm green eyes wide with uncertainly. Closing his eyes as he exhaled, Bruni's head fell forward slightly, brushing her trembling lips gently, before he placed her on the deck. 

Their bodies still leaning against one another, gazing unhurriedly into each other's eyes, Bruni was about to lean forward to her soft lips once more when the call came up.

"Gaul Lands straight Ahead sir!"

Containing his curse to rage inside his head, Bruni reluctantly turned from Eleanor's warm, soft body, and turned to Thorod's call, both infuriated and slightly relieved for the distraction from temptation to break the contract, consequences be damned. Reaching Thorod, Bruni looked towards the horizon, seeing the rise of the Northern Hills.

"We will be there in about three hours Ragnar, if the tides stay with us." Bruni said, relieved that they would soon be able to turn about and head home. Saddened because he was too soon going to see betrayal in her beautiful eyes. 

Turning from his men, he wrapped her shawl tighter about her shoulders, and escorted her below deck. Maneuvering between the sleeping men in their hammocks, Bruni opened the sliding door to the private beds, slightly bemused by the way Ragnar's pregnant female Kate managed to take up the entirety of the bed. 

"We shouldn't really disturb her." Eleanor said quietly.

"I shall sleep in the hammocks." Bruni said, a little too bluntly he realised as she flinched slightly. Walking out of the door, he closed it over and jumped into the spare hammock leaving her standing where he left her.

Shivering at his abruptness, Eleanor jumped under the blankets and curled them around her, in desperation to gain some heat in her trembling form. Closing her eyes, Eleanor tried to ward the cold away with a sleep that would not come to her. She had not been able to sleep this past week on the boat, at first she had thought it to be the constant kicking of Kate's unborn child against her in the night, yet here she was alone. 

She thought of Bruni, thought of him lying top and tail with Ragnar on the bed on the other side of the hanging fabric. She had woken early one morning, and been meaning to go up on deck for privacy, but had been halted in her tracks by the sight of the sleeping giant. One arm flung up behind his head, his rough fingers curled and uncurled in his sleep, his face relaxed as his even breathing caused his muscled chest to rise and fall in a mesmerizing dance before her eyes. 

Her own breathing had grown shallow, as her gaze had followed the ridges of muscle over his stomach, to the resting place of the blanket low on his hips. Eleanor had left quietly, blushing as she crept past the sleeping men, as she needed the cool air to fan the flames that licked at her skin. She wanted that sleeping giant protecting her, as Kate's Ragnar did. Wanted those arms to snake around her waist as they had tonight. 

She had been entranced by those moments after he had lifted her from the platform, his warm hard body pressed so intimately against her own, his strong arms holding her close, and the brush of his surprisingly tender lips against her's was still sending shivers through her body. The pain of her shivering and the chill in her bones became more than she could bear, and Eleanor crept from her bed and opened the door quietly.

Walking silently up to his giant form, hanging precariously in the hammock, Eleanor placed her frozen hand on his arm.

"Bruni?" Eleanor coaxed. 

Bruni kept his eyes shut, not wanting her to lose her nerve for her reason for approaching him, and waited for her to ask her question.

"Bruni, please sleep beside me." Eleanor whispered quietly, her voice barely audible to those around her, yet it was whispered close to his sleeping ear.

By Odin, Bruni inwardly groaned as her warm shaky breath tickled his ear, hardening him slightly as he remembered brushing against those lips.

"Bruni, please?" Eleanor pleaded, as the giant's eyes opened, and he nodded. 

Stepping carefully from the hammock, Bruni ushered Eleanor ahead of him, closing the sliding door behind him. Pulling two more furs from the box in the corner, Bruni draped Kate in one, and wrapped the shivering beauty in front of him in the other. Running his hands up and down her bare arms, Bruni tried to think neutral thoughts as her skin warmed beneath his fingers, he little sighs driving him crazy. Lying down by the wall of the boat to take most of the chill, Bruni pulled the frozen female in beside him, pulling the fur back up around her shoulders and interlocking his legs and feet with her own to warm her. 

Wrapping her in his arms; he pulled the final blanket over them, smiling as she settled against his chest as he felt the heat returning to her body.

Snuggling against him, Eleanor had never felt so safe, turning her chilled nose to the V in his tunic, Eleanor inhaled. 

Oh heavens he smells divine!

A woman could get lost in the scent of a real man, the spice of his skin a soothing aroma, as Eleanor could no longer keep her tired eyes open, and drifted off to sleep.

Stroking her pale blonde hair, Bruni sighed to himself, knowing now he was in terrible trouble. He wanted her desperately, wanted to be the one she was married to, the one who got to take her to his bed, see her body swell like Kate's with their child. Grow old beside. 

Yet he would instead have to watch her married to his brother, watch her loneliness in a keep by herself for months, even years as Nikolas went away on more of his excursions. A life where her body may never be worshipped. The thought of her wasting away in Nikolas' home chipped away at his resolve to obey the contract. 

Time was running out. In the morning light, they would be docking on dangerous lands, gathering Nikolas' and his wayward men, and returning to Bergen hopefully in time for Kate to deliver on dry land. So much to do, in such a limited timescale. 

Bruni realised he had two choices. He could follow the contract, tell both Eleanor and Nikolas about it, and that it was time for it to be fulfilled and take them home to Bergen, facing three weeks of hatred in eyes he only wished to see pleasure reflected. 

Or keep three weeks of tormenting himself, sleeping by her side, desperate for her kiss, only to reach port, and the hatred to follow once more.

Kissing her beautiful head, Bruni's heart actually hurt. He had to keep the contract.

Had to keep his honor.

But Eleanor would hate him.



Eleanor Ch. 08



Thank you to all the readers who have left such encouraging feedback! I welcome any feedback; so even if you mark me low, please let me know why. Ta very much, and hope you like this next chapter.

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As the sun rose over the tree covered bay, Ragnar descended into the bowels of the long boat to awaken Bruni. Seeing the hammock empty of his friend's slumbering form, Ragnar entered the private chamber quietly, checking on Kate first. His lush female was completely stretched out over the mattress, covered in one of Bruni's furs for warmth. Reaching down to her, Ragnar stroked her flushed cheek, smoothing her wavy hair away from her eyes as she woke to him.

"Kate, it is time to get dressed, we are in the bay." Ragnar spoke quietly as she stirred. "I need you to keep Eleanor on the boat, neither of you are to leave unless we come and get you, alright?"

"Of course Ragnar..." Kate spoke, still groggy from sleep, "...we will stay here until you return." 

"Take this." 

Kate looked at him as if he had been struck in the head. 

"Ragnar, do you think we will be in that much danger? You are leaving some men with us are you not?" Kate was shocked, Ragnar had always expressed an extreme hatred that the world was in such disarray that women needed to arm themselves. As far as her lover was concerned, the male should protect his female, end of story. 

"Please Kate, it is just in case. And yes, your brothers will remain on board along with six others to keep the boat out of the bay." Ragnar spoke, taking Kate's hand and lifting her up to stand before him. Pulling the clean tunic over her, his hand strayed to her swollen belly, feeling the wriggling of the infant inside. 

"That would drive me mad." he smiled at her, feeling incredibly sorry that he as putting her through this, and incredibly excited that she was to bring their child into the world in a few short weeks. 

Please let it be in weeks Freya, not before Bergen! Ragnar prayed. 

Placing the short sword in her hand, Ragnar turned to go behind the curtain, stopping short as he caught sight of Bruni on his back cradling a sound asleep Eleanor to his chest. 

With his free hand, Bruni motioned Ragnar to quiet, so as not to wake her. Bruni did not want her to face this morning feeling awkward that she had awoken in his arms. Careful to untangle himself from their entwined limbs, Bruni stepped away from the bed, wrapping her back up in the furs once more. Leaving the chamber and onto the deck, Bruni sighed at the sight in front of him. Through the light mist of the morning, they were feet from shore, the shallow bottoms on the dragon boats allowing him within short wading distance from bank. Reaching up to a passing pink blossom tree, Bruni cut a small handful away, bringing the delicate flowers to his nose and inhaling their sweet scent, still covered in their morning dew, they were fresh, their scent intoxicating. And they were for her. Turning on his heels, Bruni ignored the quizzical looks of his waking crew of their serious leader carrying flowers, as he descended once more into the chamber. Sliding the door open, Bruni hid the flowers behind his back lest she already be awake. This was something he was not ready to do if she was awake, he felt embarrassed enough that he wanted to leave her something pretty to wake up to, rather than leave her awkward. How mortified she would be if she knew he had not slept during the two hours she had been curled upon him, that he had breathed in the heather scent of her hair, and the sweet hollow of her throat had earned kisses from him as she arched gently to each pass of his lips. He and he alone would know, and as she married his brother, Bruni would cherish those memories.

Seeing her still sleeping form bundled amongst his furs and blankets, Bruni moved forward to the side of the cot; placing the sweet blossom in her gently curled hand. Kissing her forehead, he took a deep breath, and pulled on his helmet from the floor beside her.

Donning the nightmare, he became the vicious nature that struck terror into those who were not part of the pact for peace. The black leather shone; the skull an eerie white in contrast. Once more he was The Auden, he would bring back his brother, and he would return to his home. Finally. 

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

Bergen.

"Do you think she will have arrived yet mother?" Inga asked, the dribble of fat from the chicken leg she was chewing, escaping down her over generous chin.

"She should be arriving soon child. Vera died some weeks back, although your Aunt does not know that. The house is empty, Asgrim and Galti are waiting there for her. They will finish her off, and with no males around, it means I take over as Lady of Haur." 

Sibbe smiled, her gap filled grin brown, her clothes covered in various food products. She could not wear any of her half sister's wardrobe of tunics, none would fit her leg let alone her body, and according to Inga's eavesdropping on Varin and Anika, her sister had hidden most of the treasured items somewhere, and told no one. Well, Sibbe thought, I will find them, this is my castle now. After she got word back from Asgrim and Galti that the deed was done, Sibbe would move in, and changes would be made. Starting with Anika and her guard Varin. Shame they were not in the far north, Sibbe thought as she took another gouge out of her chicken thigh, she could drop them in a pit.

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

Dane Coast, near Hjorring.

Asgrim looked down at the terrified woman as he held the axe high ready to bring it down upon her neck, standing still, his arms straining with the effort of keeping the axe high and not dropping it, his voice broke as he spoke to his companion.

"Galti you treacherous bastard, you..." Asgrim stopped as the feel of cool metal ran through his body from his back, appearing at his belly. The tension in his arms failing, the heavy axe began to fall, the scream of the female muffled by her gag, and silenced by the clatter of the metal against the stone as Asgrim's companion shouldered the arms holding the axe, deflecting it from her prone body.

As Asgrim fell to the floor, his head landed in line with her eyes from her position on the ground. His blue irises shining wide with the death he knew was coming, with fear of the wrath of Odin he was to endure for his deeds. As the blood flowed from his mouth onto the stone floor of the path, she closed her eyes in fear of his companion.

"Matilda." 

His voice was as rough as his appearance, brutal to the core, but he would never allow anyone to harm her. No one. He had not seen her in nearly two years, his dealings with the Danes taking longer than he had expected, the fight against the Germans and Gaul was a long and bitter one. Anything to keep the bastards from Norway's shores, was the mantra he recited. Away from her. Holding his hand out to the quivering woman, he whispered to her.

"Wife." He paused, as her intense blue eyes drifted to meet his black ones. "Take my hand." 

Tears pooled in those beautiful eyes, as he pulled her up to his arms, taking the material from her mouth. Lifting the speechless beauty into his arms, Eirik settled down on the rocks to the side of old Vera's home, tucking the loosened wisps of her long hair behind her ears.

"Eirik" Matilda muttered softly into his neck, "I have missed you." 

Wrapping his arms around her, Eirik told his precious wife of the contract on her life, and the wench behind it. Her shocked gasp was a boom in the wooded bay as she realised she had left her little Anika with a murderous wretch.

"We have to go back Eirik, we have to leave right now; I have left Anika with Sibbe! Oh by Odin if she has harmed her, I will kill her myself." The tears flowed down her pale face as Eirik stifled his own anger.

"We will leave this afternoon; it will take three days to get there, as long as the bad weather stays to the south. Varin will keep her safe, that boy always has." Eirik tired to calm his shocked wife.

Eirik thought back on the boy, who must be nearing sixteen by now. His father had been head guard at the Haur keep in Bergen until they had all been called to the boundaries to stop the invasion of the Gaul, and then the Germans. Poor Varin's Da had been killed in the first month; his four brothers now laid to rest in southern Denmark too. Matilda had made him head of her guard in Bergen the second the news had reached them. Built like any warrior of the Norse, the young Varin had always looked primed for battle, always ready to defend, whether it had been the bees that Anika was so terrified of, or the small scouting parties that invaded Bergen from time to time, that boy had defended the Keep, defended Anika and his wife Matilda. 

"I have no doubt he would protect our girl to his death Matilda." Eirik breathed in trying to steady his nerves. 

The thought of harm coming to the boy was unthinkable. He was already thought of as a son of the Haur. Setting Matilda on the path, Eirik gathered her scattered belongings, pulling a linen sheet over the unfortunate dead guard that Eirik had not been able to stop Asgrim from killing.

"Let us head to the boat now, we have enough food for the journey." Eirik watched with awe as his fragile looking wife steeled herself, and held a mask of sheer determination. This is the woman he loved, such a tender woman, yet willing to fight, willing to stand up to anyone trying to make a fool of her. Taking her hand, they jogged back to the boat, and between the two of them, pushed off back into the waters. Pulling the sails, Eirik made sure they were tight, as he steered them clear of the small islands jutting from the surface.

They would make it back. If he never slept, they would get back to their daughter, and prey that Ragnar got there before them. 

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

Wading through the cold water Ragnar kept his eyes on the tree covered bay, waiting for any sign that their arrival was being watched. Something was not right, he could feel it in the silent morning, yet there were no surprise attacks awaiting them in the woods, nor were there any boats in the sheltered bay. 

"Bruni, do you think that we have landed too far north?" Ragnar asked confused at the emptiness of the Gaul woods that should be teaming with Nikolas' men. 

"No, this is usually where my Brother docks." Bruni paused, heaving himself up onto the bank. Straightening, Bruni scanned the area. "There Ragnar, that is where he usually goes." 

Ragnar followed his friend's line of sight to the small collection of houses just ahead of them in the clearing. 

"There is the Inn there that Nikolas goes to when he is here. I'm guessing that is where we will have to go to find him."

Moving further along the raised bank, Bruni's men followed them along the inlet from the bay. 

"Ragnar? Bruni?!" Iarund called. "Here is the boat." 

Sitting high on the rocks, broken in the bow, lay Nikolas' boat. On the banks surrounding it lay his men's ten tents, yet all were empty. And all had left in a rush.

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

Watching the men wading to shore from the Bruni's boat, Eleanor sat, dangling her legs over the side, inhaling the sweet scent of the blossom. Eleanor smiled at the token Bruni had left with her, such a strange thing for a man to do, least of all a towering male like him. 

"Eleanor, if you smile any more, I will think you were up to things that you should not have been!" Kate poked her friend in the ribs, laughing at the creeping blush that stained her cheeks. 

"We did not do anything..." Eleanor stammered. "...we just slept. It was cold." 

"I know, I am only teasing you" Kate soothed her friend, not knowing whether to be overjoyed to see her friend interested in a man, or angered for the fact that there was a contract on her to marry another. And she still knew nothing of it. Bruni was inviting danger upon himself to be growing attached to her, and yet Kate wanted this for her friend. Nikolas was completely wrong for her, in all ways, yet Bruni was perfect. Strong, determined, and stubborn, just like Eleanor. 

Yes, she thought, Perfect. 

"Eleanor, how about we bathe quickly in the water before the men get back?" Kate asked, so grateful when her friend nodded, as she was desperate to bathe, needing to feel some relief from the heavy pressure her pregnant belly was putting on her body. 

"Seamus, Lewis, we are just going to freshen up before Ragnar and the others get back, so don't come over this side of the boat. 

"Oh no Kate, Ragnar told us that we were not to let either of you to leave this boat!!!" Lewis said, squaring off to his much shorter sister, and still managing to look wary of her stature. 

"We are not really leaving the boat, we are just going to be by the side of the boat, and you will let us do this!!" With a sharp jab to the ribs, Kate had Eleanor in awe, as her large older brother stepped away from his baby sister rubbing the sore spot on his chest, his mouth opening in protest and closing just as quickly as he thought better of it. Eleanor almost laughed at the scene.

"Right, ok, well just be quick." Seamus said, not wanting a jab in his own ribs. Seamus was by far the peacekeeper in this family Eleanor noted, at 28 he was built well, a stunning display of masculine beauty from his incredibly straight hair, to his strong legs. Eleanor thought what a perfect husband he would be to his wife, ever amiable. Unlike Lewis and Kate; who had managed to inherit all of their father's temper, and none of their mother's peaceful countenance. 

The side of the head Auden boat was protecting them from the view of the other twenty boats of their company, as they sank thankfully into the cool water. Making quick work of their hair, the chill was shocking as Eleanor resurfaced.

"This is heaven!" Kate sighed, sweeping her locks back from her forehead as she took the rags and sugared soap from the small basket hung over the side of their boat. 

"It's freezing more like!!" Eleanor shivered, trying to decide between being thankful for the opportunity to bathe, and being miserable that she was back to being an icicle once more. Taking the lathered rag from Kate, Eleanor was quick at washing her skin, each movement of her arms causing goose bumps to form in the absence of protection from the biting water. Her friend was a different entity all to herself however, poor Kate had been with a high temperature these last few weeks of her pregnancy, and was now relishing the chill of the lapping waves rather than perishing from it.

Rinsing the last of the soap away from her body, Eleanor needed to get out of the water; she could barely feel her toes anymore, the cold having long ago made them invisible to her. 

"Lewis, can you lift me out?" She asked, praying he had some linen to wrap her in. Eleanor was acutely aware of her shift sticking dangerously close to her body, as well as the cold air's actions on her breasts causing her nipples to stand out almost painfully. Taking hold of the hand offered to her, Eleanor was lifted effortlessly from the water and wrapped in dry linen by a blushing Lewis. A Lewis who had managed to get a very good look at her form as she had been lifted from the water, one who had also felt a lot of her through her soaked shift. Stifling her own embarrassment and mortification, Eleanor did not wait for Kate, instead darted down to the private chamber to dry and dress before her blush reddened any more.



Eleanor Ch. 09



This chapter is a little gory...but I hope you still enjoy it. I promise nxt chapter is more of the romance!

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"Shhhhh Varin, she will hear us." Anika nudged her guard gently as they hid in the tapestry covered window.

Jostling to stay on the ledge, and keep their feet from the ground beneath the tapestry, Varin held Anika on his lap, arms holding her steady against the window, while struggling to keep his large legs from falling. At the click of the door, Varin held his finger to his lips to motion silence to Anika, and held his own breath at the thought of capture. 

For three days, Inga had been coming to Anika's room, looking for her to beat upon, to demand she tell the wretch where her mother Matilda had hidden her most valued objects. The first day, Anika had taken the beating, and revealed nothing. Varin would never forget his little Loki curled in a tight ball in the cupboard sobbing, bruises marring her pale skin, chunks of her midnight black hair ripped from her scalp. And blood pouring from a cut above her eye. 

And yet his little fighter had known mercy. Begged that he not avenge her, begged him to hold her, soothe her. All the while his eyes were rabid. The murderous glint saved for their retribution. And by the Gods, he would deliver it. 

Holding tighter to his treasure, Varin listened intently at the intruder, hoping it was friend rather than foe, there was not much he could do without a weapon. 

"Where is the little wretch Inga?" Sibbe's growl echoed around the room. "You were meant to be watching her!"

"She keeps disappearing with that bastard guard of hers. He keeps her hidden."

"Well then, we will have to get rid of him first."

Stifling Anika's intake of breath with his hand, Varin preyed they had not heard it. He had seen the members of her house arrive this morning. Six men, all well built, with tough armor, they were definitely hired guards. 

Most likely to be paid from the money here. Varin had thought. And right now, he did not want to have to fight them, while looking after Anika.

Keep her hidden. Keep her safe.

Kissing the top of her head, Varin felt his blood boil at the thought of harm coming to her.

"Inga. Find the little bitch, or I will hand you over as payment to the guards." Sibbe snarled. "Understood??" 

The sound of the door banging open against the wooden frame made even him jump, as he listened to the resounding boom her Sibbe's footsteps on the wooden floors.

"I will find you, you little bitch." Inga spat into the empty room. Before slamming the door and following her mother.

The silence stretched between them, as they waited before drawing breath. The fear that they were standing right outside the door rang strong through both of them as Varin gently released his hold on Anika, and poked his head around the tapestry.

"It's alright now Anika," he whispered, "We will get out of here. I know where we can go." 

Picking up a small satchel, Varin packed what was left of Anika's belongings. Not very much was to be seen. Inga had burnt most of what Anika had held dear two days ago after their fight. Everything from her trunk was gone. Her drawings, her books, and her beautiful dresses. But it was an item that had her sobbing as he had found her in the cupboard, not the pain from the blows she had suffered, or her ruined beautiful hair. Inga had burnt her teddy. 

A teddy made by hand, brown leather skin, with sewn patches, and hand stitched eyes and nose, it was not the most beautiful looking bear Varin had seen in his childhood. It was old, and haggard from being dragged everywhere by a child who loved it.

It was made by Ragnar's hand.

All he could put into her little bag was a brush, an old tunic, and the hand stitched cover from Anika's bed, before he wrapped his little Loki in a cloak and went back to the window. His last prayer was that he would see the tips of the Auden or Haur boats coming past the point in the North signaling either Matilda or Ragnar's return. At the sight of nothing but rolling bay and sea, Varin steadied himself for getting Anika out of the Haur castle. And away from the women that were intent on harming her. 

What Varin had dared not tell Anika was that he knew why boats coming over the point may well not occur. 

As he had crept in and out of Anika's real room, he had listened intently to the conversation going on in there as he removed Anika's belongings to the hidden room. He knew of Sibbe's plans for Matilda. How she planned to take over in the castle. How she was going to kill Anika and himself. Her daughter Inga talks in great detail while asleep. Varin laughed, he had thought he would have to get mean with his fists if he did not find out what was going on in the Haur lands since Matilda's departure, but all it took was ransacking Anika's possessions and getting them to safety...and a little eavesdropping. 

Inga's midnight discussions were made truthful to his ears, when he had heard her and Sibbe discussing her plan over a vast feast. That was the last straw. Poor Anika lay beaten from that day; starved from the second evil Sibbe had arrived, with Varin resorting to stealing food just to keep his friend alive, and to nourish his own screaming belly. 

If Ragnar did not arrive soon; Varin did not think he could control himself from the bloodshed his mind was already engaging in.

"Varin, where will we go?" Anika choked on a quiet sob, desperate to protect her pride in front of her friend. "They are not coming back, are they?" Her throat constricted beneath the soft fabric of her cloak at the thought she had been dismissing since Sibbe had revealed herself to be more than the monster she usually was.

Varin felt his heart skip a beat; he needed Anika to stay positive, he did not think he could cope with her anguish, every tear already tore at him savagely, demanding blood payment for each delicate drop shed from a child he thought of like a sister to him. Kneeing down, Varin wrapped her tightly to him.

"Anika, they will be on their way. Then we will make her sorry she ever came here. Together." 

He hoped he would never lie to his little Loki.

He hoped that was not lie number one.

Hearing voices of Sibbe's foreign guards, panic washed anew over Varin. These bastards were Gaul.

"Anika, we must leave. Whatever happens, do not speak. Do not let go of my hand." He whispered, looking straight into her now dark expressionless eyes. "Anika? Do you understand?"

"You told me not to speak." Anika smiled.

"Loki. Indeed you are his child." Varin smiled despite himself, despite the danger now not far from their door. Ensuring the tapestry was covering the window fully, he stepped from the open window out into the pitch black, landing silently, with a short roll to protect Anika from any impact. Taking a final look over his shoulder, Varin prayed this went well, hoped he had thought of everything to protect them. While the keep had been asleep, he had been stowing more and more in the hidden room between Anika and Matilda's rooms. 

He knew the possibility Sibbe would tell anyone who could threaten her that he had taken Anika, but he knew that Ragnar and Matilda would both look in that room first. Well, he laughed at his own thoughts; Sibbe would be sorely disappointed that her plan to deceive them would not work. He left a note containing all the information Ragnar or Matilda would require to hang the evil wench, along with a promise to bring Anika back.

He was not fool enough to include their location. 

Eirik and Ragnar had taught him well.

Anika knew he could not carry her for long, she felt his body in tension, coiled to break into a dead run into the woodland at any moment. Burying her head against his shoulder, Anika refused to see the ash that marred the centre of their lawn. The burnt material of all that was left of her teddy. She could not even bring herself to cry anymore, the hatred she felt for them burnt at her soul like an itch she could not scratch. As they broke into the woods, Anika took one last look at her home before closing her eyes.

Ragnar, why have you abandoned me?

Feeling the slight weight sag gently on his shoulder, he cradled her in his arms. Varin had to move faster, he had heard the shouts of the Gauls from the Haur keep, knew they would be closing in fast. Quickening his pace, Varin felt the muscles burn, his legs aching with the rugged landscape he was clearing so fast, the branches ripping at his calves as he broke into a clearing. 

And drew his sword.

Feeling her feet hit the ground, Anika jolted fully awake, if the jostle from Varin's run had alerted her to the danger surrounding them in the woods, him dropping her had instilled it fervently. And if it had not, then the sight of four devils appearing from the darkness between moonlit trees, would have.

"Stay away from us you bastards." Varin shouted, his broad sword extended, as the four foreigners moved silently towards them, their curved blades glinting in the early rising moon. Varin backed towards Anika, desperate to usher her towards the shore, anywhere away from the hired guards.

"Yeah, stay away from us you bastards!!!!!" Anika shouted, as the man closest to her fell to the ground, unconscious from her well aimed rock. Stunned did not do Varin's expression any justice, as he gaped at the little creature throwing such heavy rocks. And he smiled broadly as the first of the men darted towards them. 

Bellowing with rage, the dark skinned guard ran at Varin, his lethal blade seeming contorted in the light, the razor edge swinging through the air as he advanced towards him, and returned a battle cry his father would have been proud of as he countered the almost clumsy swing of the blade, slicing through the unprotected belly of the guard, spraying him with the fallen guard's blood.

Anika threw the last of her rocks, she had made sure she had picked the most jagged she could find, but as the remaining two guards had approached her, she had given up being picky and threw anything she could get her hands on. Varin slaughtered the guard furthest away with a strong slice to his belly, and was moving towards the guards who were stalking her. 

Anika gasped as the guard Varin aimed for caught sight of the attack and twisted away from the embrace of Varin's broadsword and hit her friend back with a brutal punch to his jaw.

"VARIN!!" Anika screamed as she darted towards him, only to be knocked to her back, the breath knocked from her lungs, and a sharp stinging in the back of her head as it connected with the rock strewn ground, and the crush in her chest as the hired guard bore down on her, his strangling hold tight around her neck.

"Anika!!" Varin screamed. "Get the hell from her you bastard!" He pulled away from tackling the guard who had punched him, rushing to her. Grabbing the guards head, Varin pulled his sword through the man's neck and dragged the dying body off of Anika before turning back to the tackled guard. 

Advancing on the lone Gaul, Varin wanted him to pay, for all little Loki had seen in the clearing, for the markings on her throat. He wanted them all to pay for all the death he and Anika had endured these past two years, he wanted retribution for his father, for his brothers. But most of all, he wanted retribution for Anika, who's life should have been one of a child's, filled with laughter and play. Yet all her eight years had been marked by death. Wars against the invading Gauls; the invading Germanics; infighting of the Northern Norse men. All he had ever wanted to do was protect her. Yet tonight he had not been able to get her to the sea from the keep. 

Raising his sword ready to fight this last lone Gaul, Varin was almost shocked by the sardonic look the man was casting. Moving swiftly towards the Gaul, Varin swung his sword, but the man ducked; avoiding the solid blow with ease; and blatant mockery as he neither parried nor backed away. 

As Varin swung again, his arms tense from the sheer weight of the broadsword, sweat coating his skin both from exertion and nausea from Anika being in danger, Varin swore he could hear his death coming, the swish of the Gaul's blade moved so slowly, he almost believed that he could move away with an entire week to spare, had he not been rooted to the spot. The glint of the curved, ragged edge of the foreigner's blade flashed the reflection of the moon, as he shut his eyes and begged Freya for forgiveness for being unable to protect one of her angels.

The moonlight and predawn light was burning his gaze, yet the splash of cool water was reviving his senses, the rainfall heavy in the still air. We are alive, Ragnar, he thought, Ragnar must be home. Turning over from his belly, he swallowed a dry heave of his belly at the sight before him. Bathed in the moonlight, the angel before him was clouded by red. Her hair whipped around her, black as the night, as the rain washed down her face. 

Moving towards the creature, standing as still as any statue, Varin swallowed another dry heave as he neared the fierce looking angel. All mercy gone from her retribution, displaying the want of her anger and bloodshed for those who would seek to harm her, Varin was near terrified to approach the tiny blood soaked figure standing in the clearing. Her bloodied rock held in her hands, as she stood above her defeated Gaul. As the first of the lightening flashed in the sky above them, Varin knew he would forever more have that image before him branded in his memory.

Of his little Loki, an eight year old as akin to death as any man from their world, let the bloodied rock fall from her hands to the corpse with the rumble of the deafening thunder, and walk towards him.

She would never be the same again. And he hated himself for subjecting her to such horror.

Taking the outstretched hand she offered, Varin dared a glance to her eyes, his shame barely hidden beneath the surface as he beseeched her soul for forgiveness. 

"Please tell me you brought me a clean tunic Varin." Anika began, growing concerned with Varin's worry. "I appear to have stepped in a Gaul."

The look of disbelieve swept across his handsome features, as Anika smiled up at him. The truth was that she was appalled with her lack of caring that she had killed the man. Anika had always afforded herself with the self-assertation that she would never have to kill a person, not that she would not be in the situation, more that she had believed she could talk a fat man out of a sweet pastry. 

Yet tonight, as the Gaul had been swinging that blade towards Varin, she had snapped. Launching herself at his feet, she had accidentally knocked him into Varin, sending her friend crashing to the ground, and taking the Gaul down similarly. Unfortunately, the bastard had not followed the impact into oblivion and had attempted to reach his sword. All the while, his smile had tainted his face. Anika had never once encountered anyone who seemed to lack a single ounce of humanity somewhere. Even Sibbe has greed, a negative of humanity, but still a feature. 

This hired killer had nothing. Did not grunt when in pain, did not fall easily, he was truly evil. As she had stood above the killer, the boulder in her arms, Anika had worried it would not be enough to kill him, even as she had dropped her weapon over his smirking face and heard it crack, she had kept going, and going, bringing the boulder back up and hurling it down again and again, bitter tears flowing freely as she spoke curses she had not even known she knew of. When she had seen its chest no longer rise, Anika had waited, poised for its attack. Refusing to look at the damage she had wrought, looking instead at the moonlight at play with the crystals of the boulder. When Varin had awoken, she could have cried anew. She could not stand the worry in his eyes, her friend; her guardian. This was not his fault.

"Varin, it is not your fault, you are my trusted protector, my friend." She said, as she followed his path.

"I nearly got you killed Anika, I am hardly the best protector."

"Nah. See, not even a flesh wound, yet those four are dead," Anika paused as she motioned behind her with her free hand. "I believe we did quite well!"

Smiling at little Loki, Varin moved towards the cliff edge, and lifted Anika into his arms once more.

"We are going down there Varin?" Anika shuffled, burying her head back into Varin's shoulder in fear of the height of the cliff.

"We are, hold onto me tightly Anika." Varin began his decent down the rock face when he felt the little arms around his neck tightening. A hundred more feet and they would be safe. This place was Ragnar's plan for when anything went wrong, a canopy of rock disguised it from above, and a plateau raised it from the sea, giving the cave protection. Foliage and brush grew in abundance, and they would be safe. She would be safe. 

And from here, they would see the boats.



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.



Eleanor Ch. 11



Curled on her side on the damp cold floor, Eleanor shivered in the light of the moon shining through the barred opening high on the tower. How many hours had it been? Ten? Fifteen? It seemed like time was grinding by so slowly. The moon had only moved the smallest amount, a span of four or five hours at the most, yet forever had passed in those moments. From her curled position on the floor, Eleanor watched the thin strip of light beneath the heavy door frame as movement after movement caused shadow in the glow. 

Guarded, locked, surrounded by water and rock of the building, she saw no way out. The men that had captured them had separated her and Bruni, they were not within earshot of each other; Eleanor had tested that, shouting his name into the gloom of her cell. 

Not usually scared of the dark, she began to resent the lack of light, the feeling that anything could be lurking in the ominous shadows that cloaked the uneven surface of the walls, the constant drip of moisture falling from the jutting stones into the pool below. 

Watching a rat scurry from her line of sight, she knew someone was coming, and forced herself to remain still. She wanted nothing more than to hurl herself at her guards, beat them with her fists, even if she caused them no harm at all. She wanted to do it, needed to; she wanted to scream angry words, she wanted to make them bleed. But rationally, what was the point? She had heard the guards, their morbid excitement over the orders. 

To be hung at dawn.

What a way to die. Only hours ago she had been on the Auden's boats, only hours ago she and Kate had been bathing in the cool water. Seemed a lifetime now since she had ran to beg Ragnar to return to Kate. It was time for her life to end soon. 

The shadows always moved past the door, Eleanor thought, they never stop there, Oh God, they never stop there.

They are here.

******

Sitting high above the water and cold stone floor, she watches the shivering girl straighten out of her protective ball, and crouch on her knees, the long layers of her tunic covering her defensive position. 

She plans to defend herself. She thought. Interesting, very interesting.

Tucking the wisps of loose hair behind her ear, she watched the fire burn in this child, so much anger in such a creature. Far too much like herself. Leaning back against the wall, she remembered her capture. So many months ago, or was it a year now? No, she was still 28 so it was still only months since she had been found in the outskirts of the village; her family, her friends, trying desperately to escape the Gaul. As part of a large group of travelling entertainers, she traversed the East and now the West amusing and shocking the various villages with their magic, her own famed fortune telling, and the masterful acrobatics. 

Yet when they had reached this far North, the absolute glee and wonder at their entertainments, had become twisted, now the villagers gave furtive glances at the moving carts and foreign people; the whispers and suspicion of the magic wielding people. One night, something had snapped, the tension had become too much, and the villagers had descended on their travelling troupe, her family. Shivering with the memory of that night, silent tears threatened. Memories of the burning carts, some still with the families sleeping inside, the brutal murders of people she had grown up with, harmless people. Rape, butchery, burnings. Most of her beloved friends and family had been left massacred. 

Her own child had been chased down by their King himself on horseback, something Stephan had taken great delight in telling her of as he saw her cradling her dead son's body. The handful that had remained alive, had been rounded up, dragged to the cells and chambers within the tower building, and tortured.

Clearing her eyes of her tears, she clutched her growling belly, urging the noise to silence. She needed to get out of here, before she starved, or before they realised she was still here. Stephan had thought her drowned at the bottom of the pool beneath the castle, the depth of the natural clear water unknown, the walls of the natural stone around it closing it off from escape. She should know. Many hours she had spent diving deeper and deeper, combing every possible inch for a route of escape. And finding none.

Seeing the crouching girl's body stiffen, she looked over the ledge. The shadows on the floor halting with scuffing feet, and the loud grate of the deadbolt sliding free of the lock, before the heavy wooden door opened flooding pale candle light over the crouched girl. The chains in their hands are bad, very bad.

Oh sweet Christ, they are taking her for questioning.

The heavy clank of the links connecting with the stone floor even had her flinching, memories she bade rest desperately clawing to the surface. Yet the girl on the floor did not move, she did not shiver, she did not flinch, nor did she raise her eyes to her captives as their angry French drawl spilled into the room. Motionless. Ready to pounce. Sucking in a breath, and refusing to blink, she decided she would commit this to memory for as long as she lived.

******

Pounding against the wooden door, Bruni bellowed into the darkness of the stone cell, only a small break in the cell wall allowed him any light into the compression of the black of the room. A faint streak of moonlight lit the wall to his left as he banged relentlessly against the door. Sinking to the ground, he held his head in his hands. He had failed her, the look of fear on her face as the Gaul men had attacked him on masse, pinning him to the ground, the look of violence on the faces of the two guards that advances upon Eleanor, his muscles had strained against his restraints as they were dragging him away, anything to get away from them, anything to get to Eleanor, to free her from these men with no morals, indiscriminate killers, every single one of them. The only calming thought that pulsed through him was that they had not taken her to the ground the second they had him restrained, they had bound her arms and dragged her through the same entrance to the tower as he, pulled along two opposite corridors once inside, screaming and tearing against their captors, anything to not be separated. 

They dragged him for what seemed miles, before depositing him in this dank room, and no one had come back since. The silence, the guilt and the anger tore at him, his fist clenching and unclenching with each push of adrenaline around his body. He had to get her out of here. They were to be hung at dawn.

He had to tell her he loved her. ******

Eleanor steadied her breathing, watching the two guards move into her cell from beneath lowered lids. Do not draw attention to yourself, make yourself small. They will think you are insignificant, they will suspect you of nothing. Yet as the advancing guard touched her, the clank of the links hitting the floor in front of her knees, her time was up. Grabbing the sheathed dagger from the man's boot, Eleanor leapt to her full height, pressing the sharp blade against his throat while the other looked on, rather amused instead of alarmed.

"And what do you think to be doing child?" The smug guard asked in perfect Norse. 

"I plan to escape ignorant pig" Eleanor stifled a smile as she responded in perfect French. And received the look of shock she had wanted, and been denied. 

"I demand you free me, and my husband," Eleanor shocked herself with the lie, and wondered where the hell that had come from, "or I will cut his throat."

"I refuse." The guard looked smug once more. "Kill him."

As Eleanor dragged the blade deep across the man's throat, she swore she watched the blood drain from the other guard's face quicker than it poured from his friend, before she advanced on him. Letting the dead body slump to a pool of its own blood on the floor of her cell, Eleanor steadied her breathing once more. Anger just did not cover it. Fury, deep, proud, and verily throbbing throughout her entire being was urging her on, it was fuelling every step she made towards the now unsure remaining guard as backed away, and began franticly searching himself for a weapon.

Smiling at her fortune, Eleanor advanced, aiming straight for the stricken looking man's heart, her movements quick; held force behind them as she brought the dagger forward. 

Eleanor felt the breath catch in her throat as her attack was abruptly halted by the point of a long sword through the entrance of the door.

******

She watched in awe as the girl killed the guard with ease, watched with pride when she lined her attack for the second, and froze in terrified fascination as the point of a gleaming and carved sword came into her view, pointed directly at the brave woman. That was his sword.

******

Both Eleanor and the frightened guard exhaled very slowly, their gazes flickered away from one another and towards the heavily armed menace in the candle light. 

The man was huge, Eleanor thought, all elation from her small victory evading her heart at the sight of this towering brute before her. Bathed in leather and metal armour, the giant stood more than a head taller than Bruni, his black hair spilling from his head down his back, the blackest eyes she had ever seen glowered down at her, glowered over her shoulder at the dead guard, and at the dagger in her hand. Eleanor thought she would perish into flames just from his intense stare, the anger, dear Lord no, the sheer malevolence burned her to her soul. 

Eleanor didn't see him move, she did not perceive it, it just happened. Plunging his sword through the remaining guard, it embedded in the heavy door behind him. Not moving, couldn't move, Eleanor's eyes wandered down the length of the sword, the gleaming silver in the candle light near the hilt, the gushing red at the end. Returning her gaze silently to the barbarian, Eleanor wished she had not, his intense anger filled eyes bore down on her, bristling her own anger, stoking flames of her desire to live through this somehow. 

"Where you going somewhere?" 

Eleanor nearly died of shock. His voice showed restraint his expression did not. So calm, so serene, the brute may as well have been asking her of the weather. She had never been scared more. 

*****

She watched as the girl repositioned her stolen dagger downwards for her best attack for his height, completely enthralled with appreciation of the female who was much like herself. A fighter until the end. There was no feminine shock, screams, gasps as she had slit the man's throat, or as the Gaul Leader slaughtered the failed guard. Just her eyes boring straight back into his, with just as much intensity and vicious intent as he was returning to her. She watched as the girl readied the weapon for her new threat, watched as she positioned it for an upward thrust. 

She knew these moves well, knew these positions, being as small as she was, she was always in need of defending herself from villagers while travelling, it was almost a weekly event in her life. With a quiet snort, she figured she had been safer in here than on the outside!! Imprisoned for one week, with the guards biding their time before killing her, they used her to screw. Used for their own gratification. But then Stephan had come back to the tower, the guards panicked knowing he would see her battered, raped body. Something Stephan would not tolerate. Throwing her into the freezing water, the bastards had waited for her last bubbles of air to escape. 

And told him she had killed herself. Drowned. 

She would get this girl out of here. At least she knew Stephan would not be despicable, knew he would not rape the girl. But if she stayed, by his honour, she would hang in the morning. After all, she was one of them. *****

Eleanor forced herself to still, bringing her entire being into focus, even as the giant lifted his sword to her, his strong hand steady as the point became level with her chest. Closing her eyes, Eleanor lunged forward as his sword lunged at her.

******

"BRUNI" The quietened shout sounded high above him. Squinting his eyes in the overwhelming darkness to the small strip of light high in the wall, Bruni saw the face of one of his boatmen.

"Eown, how the..." Bruni stammered, unable to comprehend how his shortest boatman was now at the window a vast fifteen feet above him. "Eleanor is here somewhere too Eown, I do not know where, she was taken down an opposite corridor."

"We think she is in the tower itself Bruni, apparently that is where they take the women captives. Do not worry yourself, we will find her. Nikolai is here."

"Bruni, its Nikolai, Brother, I am sorry all this has happened." Nikolai wobbled at the wall from the force of his brother's roar.

"YOU BASTARD, None of this would have happened if you had not been in that bloody tavern!!! YOU, by Odin, when I get out of here I am going to END YOU!" Bruni was pacing now, not caring that his voice was carrying as a distinct boom off the echoing walls, "you spend your life drinking, and sleeping with women Nikolai, meanwhile we are joining in the war, attempting to stop the invaders!! You know Nikolai, the ones that kill our people!!" Hammering his fist against the wall, Bruni sank down to the floor once more, glaring at the face of his older brother in the window.

"Nikolai, you were meant to stay away from the Gaul lands." Bruni continued, much quieter now, his anger ebbing abruptly as he remembered the contract. "You need to get me out of here, and you need to do it now. The contract needs to be fulfilled. We need to get ..."

"Bruni, what are you talking about, what con...shit, tell me Mother has not entered into another of those blasted contracts with the Haur!! What the hell possessed her?? She knows how we felt about it. I thought that was how she felt about it too!!" Nikolai boomed this time, his own anger shaking against the cold stone.

"No, it is the old contract. Bjorn had a daughter with Criostiona, and then she hid her in Lean. She has the necklace, she looks just like Bjorn's mother, and her name is even Eleanor." Bruni spat the words out as if they were venom, wishing he could take them back, wishing he could never tell anyone that she was the Haur child. Wishing he could keep her for himself. But he never could. She would have no family, Ragnar would not be able to acknowledge her as his Cousin, but she would have had him, if she desired him. Hell he would have thrown himself at her feet. Damn his honour.

"I can't believe this Bruni, why are you telling me this now?"

"Because she is the woman in the tower."

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

When Eleanor opened her eyes, she was still staring into hell. Her back against the wooden door, the devil's eyes still boring into her soul. Searing pain roused from her shoulder caused her to flinch in pain, only to find she was stuck to the door. The Bastard!! Eleanor screamed in her mind. He skewered me!! Twisting her own hand; resulted in a similar flinch from the bastard himself, and a further searing pain from her shoulder.

"Stop that!" Eleanor finally squeaked through her determined silence as she watched red rivulets seep through the thin material of her tunic.

"You. Stop. First." Each word punctuated through gritted teeth, anger flashing in the deep black swirls of his eyes.

Glancing down to her hand, her dagger deeply imbedded in the giant's side, Eleanor gripped tighter on the handle and pulled hard, with barely a movement from the piece of granite in front of her.

"It is not normally that I meet someone who can not only best one of my guards, advance on the other, and wound me," he smirked, the action almost making the monster look human, "and with nawt but a stolen dagger." 

With a sharp yank, the giant pulled the sword from her shoulder, Eleanor gasped and pitched forward right into his arms, her breath knocked from her as she hit the solid armoured mass of his chest, his hands tight around her ribs as he caught her against him.

"Get used to it." She managed, before looking up at him, amusement warring with his anger as he caught her words.

Backing her into the entrance of the cell, he pushed her from his arms so hard; she stumbled and fell over the dead body, landing in the pooling blood.

"I know you bastards are invading, your kind is always scouting here, spying on us, invading us."

Slamming the door shut, darkness enveloped the large room once more, the echo of the closure reverberating over the water's surface, making the moonlight ripple.

"...and you're not getting out of here. Tomorrow, you and the other will hang. You two will stand as a warning. We will not tolerate your kind here."

Hearing his storming footsteps move from the door, Eleanor allowed herself to breath. The deep, ragged breaths that rushed into her lungs were however, far from comforting, the smell of the guard's blood making her gag. Rising quickly, Eleanor moved to the cool, clear water, rinsing her hands free of the red stain, checking her tunic for such too, and thankfully only finding a trace. 

Oh god, my dagger!!

Running back to the door, Eleanor peers through the small barred box at the top of the door, balanced on the stones of the building, in perfect alignment with the barred window in the door, was her stolen dagger. Taunting her. He was taunting her.

"Bastard"

Rage filling her once more, Eleanor moved back to the cool water to wash away the tension she felt on her face and neck, sighing as the cool drops made a twisting path under her tunic, reminding her of a morning that seemed so many miles away now, when she had ran from Bruni and Ragnar, remembering the heavenly feel of cool soothing water against flushed skin. 

Dropping her arm, she scooped water up to her shoulder, rinsing the wound. Not jagged, not too deep, clean cut, she hopefully would not require being stitched again. Taking a deep breath, Eleanor took stock of the room she was contained in, the high ragged walls, the one door, the barred window high above her, allowing the moonlight in to play with the glint of water across the walls, and a deep pool of water. Gazing down at her ragged reflection, Eleanor smoothed her wayward hair from her face, and found two extra eyes staring back at her. Losing her balance, she fell headfirst into the cold water.

Coughing and spluttering her way back to the surface, Eleanor stayed away from the edge, and the newcomer, eyeing the small shadowed creature with suspicion.

"I am Kailara. And we are getting the hell out of here."



Eleanor Ch. 12



Pacing did little to ease his anger. Dammit, when would those bastards stop landing on his shores? Stephan broke his angered path and stormed to the window to view his ground, knowing there were at least twenty boats in the bay, his scout had seen them delivering quick word of the Norsemen arrival. 

His fists balled at the thought of more of them. He would do as he had planned; the two would hang in the morning, and be left as warning to any entering the bay of the consequences of those barbarians entering his lands. Sinking to his mattress, Stephan felt his anger draining him, leaving an exhausted shell behind the armor. 

She did this to him, Alara; a healer traveling with the Eastern entertainers. Memories of her assailed him, of her sun kissed skin glowing in the fire light as he kissed every glorious inch of it in this same bed. 

"You are a fool to think I would stay with just you Stephan. You bought me the night I shared in your bed! How could you think it was anything more than a fuck?"

Her harsh words rattled in his head, echoed in his emotions, he had been foolish, believed himself in love with the treacherous viper. He had foolishly believed her in love with him, until he found her in the embrace of another, heard her screams grow louder with every thrust the male was giving her. 

Thinking to save her from rape, Stephan had run through the castle grounds, sword readied to behead the bastard to defile Alara. Only to be stopped by the site of her riding the man as he kissed the tanned skin that he had revered and loved. 

The whore had been screwing the Norseman Nikolai, a man he had barred from his shores before for his limitless carousing, many of his villagers growing furious with errant wives disappearing off with the enormous Viking. 

And now he made free with his woman. Wielding his sword in his torment and anger, Stephan had rushed the couple, seeing them break apart in haste, the giant's sword readying only just in time before Stephan's moved down to strike. He had fought for his honor then, determined with every forceful swing to decapitate the behemoth, and failing as it countered everything he put his strength into, without breaking so much as a light sweat. 

Alara had jumped his back then, screaming those words in his ear, searing them into his memory along with the saturation of her hatred, the venom in her sweet voice. 

It happened so quickly, Stephan still could not recall every detail, one moment he felt her light weight on his back, the next she was falling from his sword, the bright red welling stain over her belly bright in the moonlight as she gasped her last breaths, the hate in her eyes evident as he wept on his knees beside her as all life left her limp in his arms. 

The bastard had left them then, left to cry over a whore in the clearing of the woods, left him to bury the woman he loved, but who had hated him in return.

Stephan stood once more, refusing to stay on that bed a moment longer, the memories still too fresh in his mind. Sitting by the fire, he poured a cup of wine and downed the sweet liquid, quickly refilling his cup once more.

He had worked methodically after that, creating fear of strangers in the village, saying that it was the Norseman who had killed Alara; that the travelers were in cohort with the invaders. It had not taken long before the eastern travelers were fleeing, and he knew the Norse had sent a messenger boat and half their crew off the coast within a week of Alara's death. He and his men had begun rounding up the travelers, killing the ones who fought, torturing those they captured. 

His lie had gone too far by then, the soldiers wanted answers the travelers could not give. Where are the Norsemen now? Have they sent for more? Their cries still surrounded him, their blood still covered him, each night they went out, his jealously and anger took over as they rounded up and fought the travelers.

The scene that ended him was what tortured him at night now. It was no longer Alara's death; or her writhing on Nikolai's lap. It was the tiny woman cradling her dead son, with her heart breaking through the silence of the night in the aftermath of his rage. 

He had seen it happening, but not through his own eyes, almost as if he were a spectator to the event, steering his enormous horse to run the child down and only returning to his body after he turned the steed around, and saw the tiny and broken boy in the arms of his distraught mother. 

His guards had come then, dragging the woman from her child, and to the castle dungeons. He did not know how many hours he sat on the muddied ground looking at the beautiful boy, wishing he could put the rosy color back into his cheeks, the breath back into his body, and the joy back into the tiny woman's heart. 

He had buried the tiny body in a field of poppies, draping the small necklace over the cross the put into the ground where the angel lay.  He had gone looking for Nikolai then, intending to exact his revenge for all upon him, but never finding the elusive bastard. Returning several weeks ago to find the woman had killed herself in the deep pool that ran beneath his castle, his heart gave up, he was no longer a man, with conscience, he was kin to the devil, and the devil would have its peace from these marauders.

His resolution firm, he watched the sun rise.  Stephan went to bring the girl to the gallows. 

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

"Ragnar, we located him." Eown spoke, quietly through the door in the boat before returning above deck. Ragnar sat holding a stunned Kate to him.

"She just ran Ragnar, I felt a sharp pain across my belly, and she panicked and ran to get you, I am sorry, I did not mean to scare her." Kate felt foolish, she too had though she was about to birth the babe until she realized the child was just moving, the pain then vanished, but by then, so had Eleanor. 

"Do you think they are alright? Its dawn now, Eown said that Stephan's plan was to hang them at dawn." Tears could no longer be contained behind her tightly closed eyes, and she openly wept for her friend.

"Shhhhh, Kate, do not worry, we will get them. Eown has already left with the others to get Bruni from his cell since they have located his. Bruni has an idea where Eleanor is being kept. They will be safe. The company will move further north, for protection, and then we will be out of here soon." 

Ragnar stroked Kate's tears from her face, concerned for his love so heavily rounded with their child, and the strain her worry would put on her.

"Go Ragnar; please bring her back safely to me." Kate begged the thought of losing her dear friend painful, the sob catching in her throat as she kissed him and watched him leave. Lying back against the warm furs, Kate let the tears flow, sobbing into the covers, before drifting into an exhausting sleep.

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

Unlacing her shift beneath her split tunic, Eleanor was feeling nervous. She had never had to use her body to get what she wanted, but in this situation, she doubted anything else would work. Glancing over at the tiny framed Kailara, Eleanor felt tears well once more for the young woman's plight, the tale of her son had tears flowing in sympathy during the night for her, the things the guard did to her, had them both forming this plan. 

Ensuring the fabric was exposing her breasts enough, she stepped forward to the door when she heard the slow scruff of the new guard's boots against the floor as he made his rounds, this one hadn't met her yet, and the other two were rather dead.

"You fancy entertaining me this night sir?" Eleanor stifled a giggle at the unusual words that flowed from her mouth, as she stepped forward into the light cast through the bars on the door, allowing her captivated guard an indecent view of her supple body.

"Oui." The guard fumbled with the keys, licking his lips as he could not tear his eyes away from the vision in front of him, eventually looking down with annoyance to find his bearing with the key, he turned with haste and began to open the door.

"OOOOMPH" the guard hissed as pain exploded in his nose, holding his nose with his hand as the door flew back at him again hitting him in the head this time before he noisily fell to the floor. 

Eleanor deftly retied the laces and then took the guard's meager weapons from him, two long bladed daggers and a sword. Stepping back into the cell to hand Kailara the daggers, Eleanor ensured the guard stayed unconscious with one swipe of the heavy weapon, taking the remaining taunting dagger from the wall.

"We will not head for the entrance they bring us in by, there is a door down here, they open it to let fresh air in when it smells too much of death." Kailara whispered as Eleanor looked around the dark corridor.

"They will have heard the guard clattering to the floor Kailara, we must move quickly." Eleanor paused, hearing the heavy fall of footsteps, the ominous sound coming right for them. "Kailara, remain hidden, please." Eleanor pleaded as she tried to shut the door before the owner of the determined stride reached them.

The tanned hand wrenched the door from her fingers, sending her reeling backwards in fear from the black furious eyes of the man illuminated softly in the candlelight. He moved before she could react, pinning her to the damp floor as he ripped at her tunic, her hands clawing at his face, she could feel his hard weight pinning her, adjusting himself between her legs. The fear evident in her made him laugh.

"I am going to enjoy taking one of their whores before she dies!" His words growled at her ear caused renewed fight in her as she hit him and clawed at his eyes, lips, and cheeks, anywhere she could, before he reared up and backhanded her. Her head bounced against the cold tile with the force of his strike, as he raised her skirt, and she lost consciousness.

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

"Eown, Tarinn, you station yourself by the brace of the door there, take out anyone that is on their side. Ranald, you follow me, we will release Bruni first, and he can lead us to Eleanor." Ragnar ordered his men quietly, the guards were beginning to stir, and Ragnar did not want any added problems. 

It was bad enough there were only four here to bring back their leader, Nikolai having been sent back to the boats for fear that Bruni may actually attempt to kill him when Ragnar released him. 

Taking a deep breath, Ragnar sent a silent prayer to Freya, to keep his love and child safe, and if possible, him, and entered the dungeons.

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

Stephan grunted above the unconscious figure, his fingers fumbling with the laces at her throat, and the ties at his breeches simultaneously. How long had he waited to get his own back on those bastards? He never condoned rape, abhorred it, and had savagely killed his own guards for the act he was engaging in with the Viking's whore. 

Yes, he would take great pleasure taking her; he would throw it in the blonde Viking's face before they hanged. It was obvious the feelings that ran between the two. How better to break and humiliate him. He would say he had her screaming for more. Releasing himself, he grabbed the female's breast roughly, marking it, before moving over her.

"I would not do that if I were you."

Stephan froze at the accented eastern voice behind him. The memories flooding him once more as that voice had cursed him to hell as its owner was dragged from the road, the sadness overwhelming, he went limp in his own hand and slowly turned from the body of the Viking's female, fear of the apparition behind him growing as he saw the first rays of dawn shimmering the reflections of the water across her skin.

"You cannot be. You drowned." He whispered, unable to do much more than stare at the object of his nightmares.

"Nay devil, I was raped and tortured by your men, and drowned by their cowardess." Kailara spoke, with venom punctuating her words, her hatred causing chill in the room despite the warming rays. "And you? I have waited long for you."

Lunging forward, Stephan attempted to tackle the tiny female to the ground, disarm her of the large sword she had picked up, the weapon barely shorter than she, but narrowly missed the loss of his hand as she wielded the weapon with ease. Reaching for her again, was his mistake, Kailara swept the sword low as she crouched, slicing his belly deep, as he went over her head with his own.

Kailara watched as the mighty giant fell, sank to the ground against the wall. The blood began to bubble from his mouth, and he touched it as if he himself could barely believe it was there, that she had out maneuvered him. Reaching down for a stirring Eleanor, Kailara pulled her to her feet, and steadied her as she saw Stephan sitting in his own swiftly pooling blood, and pulled her out the door.

"I am forever sorry for his death" Stephan croaked as the women passed him, needing the truth out before he died, no matter whether she accepted it or not, he needed her to know. "He lies in the field close to where you were taken from. Filled with poppies. The necklace..." his breathing caught, his eyes desperately focused on her back as she stood rigid in the cell doorway. "...is on the cross." 

Stephan closed his eyes as he heard his guards racing toward them. And for once, he prayed for the enemy to win.

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

Taking down the last of the guards, Ragnar turned at the heated shouts from the North tower as Ranald unlocked the cell door and dressed Bruni with his confiscated weapons.

"What the hell was that?" Bruni asked, looking to a very puzzled Ragnar for clarification. "You sent the other men to the North tower without us?"

"Nay, they are waiting at the door..." Ragnar paused, the significance of the battle now waged in the North Tower, not lost on the three men causing a desperate run down the tight corridors.

Ragnar halted at the front door, ducking as a sword came for his neck, and halted with a skill only Eown processed. 

"Come, we need you." Ragnar ordered as the two boatmen joined in the dash to the tower.

They did not encounter what they expected. All along the corridor deriving from one cell to further north, were a slew of bodies, cut down, and leaving a river of red on the stone floor beneath the stunned men's feet. "Bruni, here." Ragnar paused, after opening the cell door, revealing a dying Stephan.

Bruni stalked to the fallen man, grasping him about his neck and hauled him to his feet and stared him dead in the eye.

"Where is she?" Bruni demanded, infuriated by the lack of terror in the man's eyes, the overwhelming serenity that surrounded him.

The man muttered something foreign, and Bruni turned to Ragnar for a translation. "He said they defeated him, and left." 

"Lets get the hell out of here; I want her back where she is safe." Bruni spoke quietly to Ragnar as he dropped the man like a doll back to the floor.

"He loves her doesn't he?" The rasp of his voice bringing the men to a stop, his soft laugh infuriating Bruni, as Ragnar held him back from the man.

"Why do you ask?" Ragnar demanded.

"Because tis obvious she loves him."

Relaying this to Bruni, made Ragnar's joy soar, even as he knew it would make his friend's task more difficult. Bruni had decided that his honor had to come first, that Eleanor would have to become Nikolai's wife, and he would never act on the feelings he had developed for her. 

Knowing she felt the same way, could change that, Ragnar thought, as he passed on the information as the man's last breath left him, and something lit up behind Bruni's eyes.

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



Eleanor Ch. 13



Sibbe watched as the two remaining hired guards returned from the woods, their footsteps slow and their faces wore a grim mask. She knew they had failed in their task of capturing Anika and Varin. She scrutinized every movement as they passed glances to one another before stopping at the steps as their two satchels landed at their feet with a resounding crack against the stone work.

"There is your food for the day and night. You are being paid a vast fortune for your work and I expect to get what I want for the trouble of paying you!" Sibbe paused, the hired guards bending to retrieve their packs before the yard dogs ran off with them. "Get back into the woods, search everywhere; it is only a child and a whelp of a boy!! Mayhap I should be paying them as hired guards, they have killed more than one of you, yet you seem unable to locate the bastards!" She spat, keeping her voice low so the waking villagers could not hear her. To them, she was just their Mistress' helpful, overweight stepsister. They knew nothing, and she would keep it that way. With a dismissive wave, she sent the two remaining guards back off in their search and re entered her new home.

"Have they been found yet Mama?" Inga asked, already deeply engrossed in her morning cider and oatmeal, while lathering a mountain of bread with honey even while she still chewed.

"No. They cannot have just vanished into thin air though. How did they do it Inga? She is barely eight, and he is a boy of fifteen, although he is a strong lad, I will grant him that. He would have made a good match for you Inga, if he had stayed out of all this."

"NO Mama," Inga spat, crumbs of crusty bread escaping from her mouth in her outrage, "...do not go marrying me off with mere guards! I am a lady of this house now, I demand a good marriage!"

Standing from the dais, a portion of lamb in her closed fist falling to the floor in her anger, Sibbe glared at her daughter.

"Inga, I doubt I could sell you to a vagrant!! You should be thankful for a mere guard!" Sibbe shouted before storming to Matilda's chambers. 

Entering the plush room, Sibbe felt no guilt; Matilda had experienced this luxury all her years, had a brave husband, and had lived in comfort. The tapestry that covered the walls was beautiful work, and the giant bed that Erick had made for her when they married, made the room decadent and warm. How she hated everything her sister had now, that had fallen from Sibbe's grasp, married off to a man she cared nothing for, the gentle fool died then and left her to support herself. She knew she had frittered away the fortune, she knew it, but how else was she going to keep up with her step sister? She was the older one; she should have had all this.

"And now I do."

Falling backwards onto the bed, she heard the wood protest her weight, but did not care. This was all hers now. By now Matilda would be lying dead at Vera's doorstep, she would find the hidden room eventually, the one that held her sister's fortune, hidden coins and prized possessions, and she would live out her days in the comfort she was meant to.  She just needed her guards to rid her of Anika and Varin. Then she could breathe.

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

"We cannot get round the point Matilda," Erick began, straining with the small sail as the hefty breeze took their small boat dangerously close to the rocks. "We will have to dock here till it dies down, and then hopefully be on our way again before nightfall."

"Erick, we cannot waste an entire day here!! Each day we lose is another day Anika and Varin are in danger from her!!" Matilda stood, attempting to tower over her sitting husband, her hands on her hips and her stance steadfast and determined, the only betrayal of her turmoil being the single tear that escaped from her glistening dark eyes. "Please," she pleaded, "we must try."

"Matilda, we cannot." Her tears flowed freely as he dragged her down against his chest with his free arm, controlling the sail with the other. "We are no good to them in pieces along with our boat. Do not be fearful, Varin would give his last breath for our girl, as well you know it. He has looked upon her as a blessed little sister since the day she was born, and has protected her as such since then. Cannot have been easy being the youngest of such a family of males, no wonder he wished for a sister to protect." 

Erick smiled, picturing the many times young Varin had protected Anika from all manner of disasters. She was a calamity of a child, forever falling and climbing, often resulting in a rescue although she was ever oblivious as to why she was being saved. The memories ran through Matilda's weary mind too, bringing a small smile to her lips.

"She is in safe hands." Matilda finally agreed, gazing forlornly at the point as they moved into the cove, blocking it from her view. Matilda felt the boat rock as Erick jumped into the knee high tide, the splash sounding so loud in the early morning, even as the breeze echoed in her ears. Docking the boat, Matilda grabbed at Erick's arm before he could move away.

"Don't go, please. Just stay with me a bit longer." Her voice barely a whisper, Erick climbed back in beside her, settling his broad back against the wooden seat as he pulled his tired wife against him, cradling her in his arms as he rested his head against hers, breathing in that scent of cinnamon soap she used on her hair, its dark waves a startling contrast to her pale skin.

"I have missed you." Matilda breathed against her husband's chest, and had to bite her lip to stop her from weeping. "It's been so long, two years Erick since anyone has seen you. I didn't know if you were dead or alive, or if you were ever coming home. Then Anika got the letter from Cal that you may be back in a few weeks, and –and I..." She was crying now, her sobs tore through her, even as Erick's hands smoothed over her back, soothing her ragged breaths.

"I have been unable to come back before now Matilda. The threat to home was immense. It was only recently that our men were no longer needed and we were being sent back to Bergen through Denmark. Matilda, it was then I heard of the plot to kill you. I would have never have made it home in time. I befriended the man, who did not question me when I told him I was interested in the job, and we planned to kill you. It was on the day that you docked that he told me the identity of the schemer, and the reasons behind it. I am sorry I was away from you for so long, not laughing with you, or kissing you." Erick kissed away his wife's tears, bringing the blanket over her against the morning's chill as he cradled her close. 

He would not let her step sister win. Sibbe did not deserve anything he and Matilda had worked so hard to ensure for their entire village. They would need help, Erick decided, their army were still traveling home, too far away. Auden.

Erick's eyes snapped open at that thought. The Auden had plenty of men, they had also been fighting in the Gaul lands with him, but some remained to protect Astrid and even as far as the Haur lands too, from the northern in-fighting. They would go and speak with Astrid, ask her for her men's help, before they went home to confront Sibbe. Knowing her she would have hired help. And not the honorable kind.

"Matilda. We should go to Astrid," Erick paused as Matilda sat up hope gleaming in her eyes, "we can leave now, I have coins for horses, and go straight there and..." "...and come back with Astrid's army!" Matilda finished for him, jumping to embrace him closer. "We can leave now?" Matilda prompted, the feeling of sheer giddiness dancing through her, making Erick smile at the sight of his wife's improved mood. "We can leave now."

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

Varin carefully stepped down from the shelter of the plateau onto the small shore to wash, the sun was a couple of hours from its midpoint, the cliffs warming considerably despite the wintry wind, as he brought the water up to wash dried sweat and blood from his body. He had spent a fretful day and night at the entrance to the small cave, watching and waiting for discovery; after he heard the Gaul guard's footsteps pass over the top of the cliff face repeatedly in the day since they escaped. His eyes had met poor Anika's the first time he heard them, the sadness he caught in the dim glow of the cave, not frightened, merely resigned. And that broke his heart. She was a child; she should never have to witness such horrors. He had allowed her to see blood shed, he had fallen and failed her, left her to their attacker's devices. He repeated his prayer of thanks to both Odin and Freya that the little Loki had the sheer determination of her brother Ragnar. For that was the only thing that saved her.

"Varin, can I come out now?" Anika called quietly from the entrance of the cave. Pulling his clean tunic over his head, Varin sent another prayer to the heavens in thanks for Ragnar's preparation skills. There were clothes here for his mother, sister and male clothing too, just in case they should ever be needed, he had created a save haven.

"Yes Anika, come down." Varin replied, holding his hands out to help her down without making too much noise on the rocks. "I brought clothes for you, wash and get changed, I will see to food." Varin climbed up the boulders onto the plateau to collect dried foods Ragnar had left for emergencies. It had been a while since they had both eaten normally, they had survived these past weeks on scraps he could steal and share with Anika late at night. Last night, although famished, neither had the stomach for food, so today was a treat for the eyes. 

Cooked and dried fish, flat breads, even cider were in the tightly sealed wooden box. As Varin laid some of the food out, he fought is tiredness, he had watched over Anika while she slept, did not want anyone to find them, he did not want to fail her again. Even as his lids grew heavy, he had caught brief moments of sleep and then forced himself back to the land of the living. He knew though, he would be no use if he did not give into his exhaustion at some point.

"Varin, you left me a dress." Anika called up quietly, as Varin went to the edge of the plateau to respond.

"Aye, you are a girl!" he laughed.

"Varin, can I have boy's garments please? The cave is not warm, and it would be more comfortable. Plus I do not want it to hinder an escape. The guard grabbed my dress, I wish to avoid that." 

"It will not happen again, I promise. But I will get you something, we may need to cut them, I do not think your brother provided for his little sister to wear boy's clothes." Varin shivered as he walked back into the cave, and not from the cold. She was not thinking like a little girl, she was thinking rationally. It took a moment to convince himself that she had always been very forthright. Convince himself he had not turned her older than she should be. He sighed, and went about looking for smaller male garments.  She always was rational, nothing has changed. I hope. 

"Anika, these are the smallest, put them on and we will cut the legs to your height." Varin said, as he passed down the brown trousers and tunic. He passed down her own wool stockings to her, knowing the knitted socks the men wore would dwarf her. "Come up when you are changed, there is fish and flat bread."

Turning around, Varin nearly fell from the plateau before a hand grabbed for him to steady him.

"Esme, what are you doing here?" 

"Shh Varin, I've come to give you food, I can't stay long." Esme spoke, hushed, and looked around her as though she was hunted.

"How did you know we would be here? Did they see you?" Varin asked, panicked.

"Nay, they didn't see me, but they are asking questions of the villagers, as to where you might have gone, do we know of anyone who is harboring you. I knew you would be here, Ragnar told me of this place, and asked me to look after who ever was forced here." Esme said, showing Varin the basket of warm bread, honey and fresh fish she had hidden. "Who are you talking to? Anika asked as she pulled herself up to the plateau. "Esme!!! Oh it's so good to see you!!"

"Good morning Anika, I brought you both some food. Take it inside Anika and eat," Esme paused, allowing the girl to take the basket from her and run into the cave. "I need to leave before anyone realizes I am gone. No one else but me knows of this place, so something may be said innocently." Esme continued, pulling Varin away from the cave entrance. "Varin, please keep her safe, she is such a kind child."

"I will; you had better get back Esme and thank you." Varin said, turning from the girl before she pulled him back to her and kissed him gently on his cheek. Before he could move away in shock, Esme straightened herself, and moved to walk back round the steep cliff.

"Take care of yourself too Varin." She smiled, before she disappeared from sight.

Varin stood completely shocked, the faint tingle still lingered on his cheek, and he truly did not know what to say. He had never thought of women, been too busy training to fight, protecting Anika and the Lady Matilda. He knew he was different from his brothers, nigh all of them had tupped the first chambermaid they could find once they had an idea how to do it, and before they had gone off to war, and died, they had teased him mercilessly about his lack of interest. He wondered whether he should be feeling anything now, other than profoundly dumbstruck. 

When Varin pulled himself back to reality, he had decided he was not sure this kissing thing was anything worth fussing over; he was just shocked that the girl had done it. Smiling after her, Varin shook his head at the situation, before turning back to the cave for food that his stomach was protesting intensely for, finding Anika digging in with fervor to the warm bread and honey, with a smile of pure glee on her face. This was the Anika he knew.

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

"Come, we must move quickly." Kailara's hand held Eleanor's so tight she watched it grow paler as they ran from the walls and into the woods, the morning chill being driven hard from the ground with the sun's appearance, a fine mist rising from the soil. 

"Kailara, wait, please." Eleanor implored, dragging her heels as the tall walls disappeared from view. "Please, I need to go back, I need to find Bruni!"

Eleanor halted in her tracks, pulling the short woman to an abrupt stop and immediately felt like she had brought the wrath of Loki down upon her shoulders when the tiny female leveled a cold expression at the hesitation.

"Kailara plea..." Eleanor's words dried in her mouth when she heard a broad sword unsheathing, the act was quiet, deliberate, as though the attacker wished to ambush. Raising a finger to her lips as Kailara drew breath to question her, Eleanor silenced her and brought her own hand across her ripped tunic to the dagger she had there. 

She wanted the Gaul to attack; she wanted him to think he had the upper hand. She wanted to kill him, and she felt sick at the thought. Hearing the rustle of the leaves behind her, Eleanor heard the whoosh of the blade rather than saw it through the mist, before she ducked under the attack, embedding the short dagger through the man's heart.

Watching the shock and pain create a glaze over the man's brown eyes as he slowly sank to the ground at her knees; his blood covered her hands as he took his last unsteady breath, Eleanor could not help but retch, her stomach churning in its painful emptiness, she fell to her knees and sobbed.  "Wait here." Kailara spoke, softly before heading through the tall grass and into the mist. "I will not be long." 

Eleanor nodded, and felt her chest constrict. She needed him, she needed Bruni, she wanted him to appear from the mists and cradle her against his chest like he had in the boat. Needed him to tell her it would be fine, that it would be over, and that they would all be safe. Needed him to kiss her. Eleanor gulped slightly at her memory of his lips softly brushing over her own, the fleeting movement so gentle she could not put entire faith in the thought that it was a kiss. She felt her resolve come to her, quick and readying and her tears stopped, her breathing calmed at that thought. 

Being able to live in safety; somewhere that she could live without the stigma of being a child borne from a mute mother, somewhere to live without the threat of violence.  To live somewhere where she could be with Bruni, to be his? Eleanor ran a trembling hand over her damp brow and pondered that. She cared about him, her heart was hammering within her chest, her body trying to calm itself enough to head back and ensure his safety, but did she love him? Eleanor felt her heart thump in response, as if the organ could answer the question and was impatient within her chest to impart its knowledge. How would Bruni feel about her, would he care in that way for her at all?

Eleanor stood up, pulling the sides of her ripped tunic closed, the nip of the cold air biting at her skin when she heard light footfalls coming back through the grass. Raising the dagger and the sword, Eleanor felt the protest of her shoulder at the weight of the weapon, but had no time to switch arms now as a silhouette exited from the grass, a small figure, its short hair as dark and as beautiful as the rest of her; even as her eyes held the ghosts of tears and around her neck lay the embroidered and bound leather of Alexander's necklace, faded and stained by the months of rain and sun. Eleanor could not take her eyes from it as it rested around Kailara's small throat, fighting tears of her own.

"Come, we go now and find your Viking."

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

Nikolai stood firm at the bow, directing the rowers quietly through the morning tide, rounding the bay to a little further north; it would confuse the Gauls but Bruni would know exactly where they would be. He was raging inside; the contract was to be fulfilled. He had never wanted the contract to be fulfilled, they had lived in peace with the Haur for over twenty years now, albeit because there was a contract between the two sides of Norway. Leaning back against the head of the boat, Nikolai felt like sulking. As if he were nothing more than a child, he felt like indulging in that trait; he did not want a wife. 

All women were good for tupping, he agreed with that whole heartedly, but he had never wanted a wife. Never wanted to be responsible for another person in that manner; was the main reason he never finished within a woman, he had no intention of being responsible for something so helpless.

Taking a swing of the warm cider Nikolai cursed. He cursed their father for entering the contract; he cursed Eirik for signing the damn thing. And he cursed Bruni for finding the wench. Throwing the cup out into the still waters, Nikolai contemplated escaping from the boat now, forever in exile from his homeland. Granted he was rarely home, it had been at least 6 months since he had last seen his next-mother Astrid, probably longer before that too. Would he be home with a wife? Would his life change? 

Eyeing the clear skies, Nikolai sent a prayer skyward to Loki, a god he had always felt an affinity for, and begged for rescue. The last thing he wanted, hell, the things he had been avoiding all his life, would be here soon. And, as Bruni had said, the contract was to be fulfilled.

"I bet she is a hag." He whispered in secret to the sea.

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

His heart was pounding so hard, he thought it was preparing to exit his body. Bruni stalked from the door in the wall out into the open, desperately scanning for any sign of her. There were so many foot prints in the frigid soil, he could not discern if any were her size, the place looked empty of life, as though everything in sight had realized the futility of fighting them and ran for the hills.




Eleanor Ch. 13



"Where could she have gone Ragnar?" Bruni asked quietly, leaning closer to his friend as they moved silently through the grass, scanning the ground for any evidence of escape, fighting, anything. 

"There are bodies here Ragnar, two Gauls." Bruni whispered bending slightly to be sure they were dead. 

Bruni felt the desperation well in his chest. He needed to find her, ensure she was safe. His mind was in a marathon with itself as he thought over what the Gaul had said in his dying breath. 

Eleanor loves me?

He could barely bring himself to believe it. He was overjoyed, he loved her, he wanted her, he wanted her for his wife. To be able to touch, and hold, and kiss her for the rest of his life; to sleep beside her, make love to her, and watch her bring their children into this world. He wanted that, he wanted all of it. 

But it was a future he would never be allowed.

Desperation turned to sorrow as a pain grew in his chest, a stinging ache that no rub could dissuade, as he realized that she would never be his. 

A snapping to their left had them turning sharply, swords drawn and crouched slightly in the grass so as to gaze through the thinner tops, see the enemy and not be seen. Signaling to Ragnar to move forward, Bruni kept his footfalls light, barely making a sound as they moved towards the edge of the grass, closer, and closer to the targets. 

He could see them now, two figures hunched close to the ground, the sway of the golden grass keeping them from his view until he was but a hairs breadth from them. It was then he felt the pain in his chest intensify, as relief washed over him. 

Stepping from the grass, Bruni halted as two swords came towards him with deadly intent, barely able to brush past Eleanor's even as the foreign woman's cut a small gash through his arm; but he didn't care, he barely felt it as he collapsed to his knees and pulled Eleanor tight against his chest, burying his stubble covered face against the hollow of her neck and breathing deep as her hands pulled him closer.

"We were coming to get you." He felt her whisper against his cheek as he felt her lips brush against him.

"We need to get out of here Bruni." Ragnar said quietly, managing to startle the small foreign woman who had been oblivious to his approach. "Come, let us go quickly."

Ragnar reached a hand out to the stranger and spoke in French to her. "I am Ragnar, this is Bruni, and you already know Eleanor?"

"Kailara." She accepted his hand and strength to left her to her feet, as they moved back into the grasses and away from the derelict walls, the silence now a stark contrast to the screams of an hour passed. 

"We move North, I instructed Nikolai to take our boats further to the next bay, where we can hopefully get away from here safely." Bruni said, keeping his arm around Eleanor's waist as they crept through the grass.

"How long will it take?" Ragnar asked after translating for Kailara. "It is alright, I understand him. We traveled substantially through the Norse lands; your people are more receptive to those of us practicing the eastern ways."

Bruni smiled lightly at her before answering Ragnar. "We should hopefully be back on the boats well before nightfall. But we must really push on once we get away from here, we need to cover a lot of ground."

They walked in silence for quite a time, concentrating on covering the ground that ran from the grass through the woods, and not stumbling. The slight winter chill that still blew past them was a welcome relief to their exertion as they approached the steeper hills that sheltered the next bay.

"Ragnar, how is Kate, did she have the babe?" Eleanor finally asked, feeling guilty for not inquiring about her friend before now.

"Actually no, it settled down just after you left." Ragnar smiled at Eleanor's horrified look, "Please Eleanor, do not fret, I am glad you came and got me, if it had been the real thing she would have wanted me there."

"I caused this." Eleanor stopped dead, Bruni stopping with her as she tried not to cry, pulling her forward to keep her walking as she spoke. "If I had not rushed off, we would be on the boats; we would not have been captured."

"Eleanor, you did the right thing."

Eleanor yelped as she lost her footing on the rocky path, slipping from Bruni's grasp and falling to her hands and knees on the path, the ripped tunic coming open without her hand to hold it together.

Hearing Bruni gasp over Eleanor's prone body, Kailara tugged on Ragnar's arm, motioning him to move further up the path from them, to give them some privacy.

"Eleanor, what happened, who did this to you?" Bruni asked quietly, his voice shaking slightly with the barely controlled rage at the sight of the bruises over her breast. Bruises that were shaped like a large hand. "What did they do Eleanor?" 

His fingers lifted her chin to look at him, his heart breaking at the two small tears that escaped her. Sinking to the floor, he pulled her to sit in his lap as he pulled back the sides of the tunic. 

"Did they hurt you Eleanor?"

Catching his meaning, Eleanor shook her head, cuddling into his chest, her hands curling into the edges of the linen shirt he wore. "He tried..." was all she could say, the words sticking in her throat when she heard the growl emanating from deep inside Bruni's chest.

Pulling her close, Bruni could not keep from her, he needed this, and he needed her. Damn the consequences.

Tilting her bruised face up to him, Bruni lowered his lips to hers, the faintest brush of lip against lip at first, a little closer as she moved her bottom lip against his. Careful of the slit split from where she had obviously received a blow, Bruni brushed harder this time, his tongue coming out and gently licking over her dry lip, releasing a beautiful moan from her mouth, and her back to arch in his arms.

He needed more. Fuck, he needed her. Standing with her still in his arms, Bruni stalked off the path, and into the grass, laying her down amidst the lush greenery, watching the angel before him lie beneath him, receptive, and beautiful with her hair spread behind her like a fan of spun gold, her eyes shone vivid green as he lay beside her.

As she bit her lip, Bruni leant in to sooth it, running his tongue across the blush, before her own came out and tentatively stroked his own. This is what he wanted, he had craved to kiss her since their lips had brushed so scarcely on the boat, the night she was singing to the stars, by Freya he wanted to do more to her, wanted to claim her, be the only man who touched her like this; brand himself onto her senses, and her to his. 

Keeping a tight reign on his desires, Bruni satisfied himself with just kissing her, taking the pleasure of the moment of having those arms around his neck, her lips against his own, her body pressed so intimately against him. He needed her, he wanted her.

He loved her.

He would fight for her. 

Eleanor felt her breath leave her when Bruni leant against her body, his warmth, his touch, stealing away her senses until she could scarce remember anything before that moment; anything before Bruni. 

She wanted more of him, she wanted to be back in the shallow cot on his boat, wanted the ebb and flow of the sea lulling them as she rested against his chest, soothing them while they kissed like this; moving her hands down the hard muscles of his back, Eleanor arched up to him, the need to be closer to him was clawing through her skin, making her ache for him. 

Eleanor shifted her hands beneath his tunic, her fingers smoothed across the ridges of muscle of his stomach, tickled by the light hair that covered him, shocked by the radiating heat of his skin, and the hard shaft of his manhood nudging against her belly through his tan leather trousers.

"By Freya, Eleanor." Bruni gasped against her now kiss-swollen lips as her fingers brushed his straining erection before he stood from her. "I have to get you back to the boat."

Bruni almost laughed as her expression changed from drowsy lust to slightly crestfallen, and pulled her upright to meet him in a kiss that molded his body to hers as his tongue plunged into her, tangling with her own. Leaning to whisper at her ear, Bruni smoothed his hand through the rip of her tunic and down to the soft folds between her legs, wet with desire.

"I do not wish to take you on enemy territory in the grass. I want you in a bed, surrounded by furs..." Bruni moved his finger to settle between her folds as he paused, "where I can pleasure you properly." 

Running his finger up and over her clit, Bruni held her mouth close against his shoulder as he played tight circles over the small bud, muffling her gasps as he played harder, faster, dipping his finger back into her wetness to pull the silky fluid back over her clit. Kissing her neck, he rubbed her hard, smiling as she splintered apart, her screams like the sweetest music to him as she shuddered in his embrace.

Removing his fingers from her heat, Bruni brought them to his mouth, savoring her sweet taste on his tongue as she recovered from her orgasm. Pulling the edges of her tunic closed, he fastened them with a pin, before lifting his sleepy woman into his arms, and striding back up the path. They needed to get to the boat sooner rather than later. Though not from the threat of the enemy. His erection was raging painfully against the material of his trousers, demanding sating, demanding to be encased in Eleanor's tight depths.

Yes, he needed to get to the boat. Now. 



Eleanor Ch. 14



"Ragnar, we were wondering how long it would take you!" Nikolai jumped from the rocks smiling before shaking Ragnar's hand. Lowering his voice, Nikolai tried to keep his anger and apprehension from showing. "Where is my brother?"

"He is coming soon Nikolai."

"And he brings the female?"

Ragnar glanced quickly at Nikolai, an expression of shock crossing his face before his usual calm returned to him. "What do you know of her?"

"I know that Bruni told me the contract had to be fulfilled." Nikolai felt the anger in him spread, he did not want to be here, he did not want to deal with her, or Bruni, or the infuriating contract. Hell, he wanted to run, and if he had any sense, or if his legs would actually obey his mind at this moment, he would be smart enough to escape while Bruni and the wench were still out of sight.

"Excuse me Nikolai." Ragnar bit out before heading swiftly for the boat.

Nikolai watched as Ragnar practically stalked away from him, the rage coming from him was as perplexing as it was strong. 

Why would Ragnar get angry about that? It had nothing to do with him, that he knew of anyway. Nikolai's confusion clawed at him; irritated him.

Until he saw a fair angel curled in the embrace of his little brother.

Hair of sunshine gold fanned around her, framing pale skin, her lithe figure held so close in Bruni's arms, pulled tight against his chest as they broke through the trees and onto the beach. Nikolai's temper flared, her hand was clutching his brother's shirt, his face was leant down near hers, and kissing her swollen lips intermittently, the smiles from one to another reflected some matter of emotion.

She was beautiful.

Realization dawned sharply on Nikolai; Ragnar's anger over Bruni telling him that this woman was part of the contract. Ragnar wanted her to remain Bruni's, wanted the knowledge of the contract to remain a secret. The consequences of the contract being found out, having been betrayed were dire. Bruni was too young to remember the contract being made, too young to know the consequences. Nikolai did not have that excuse. He was there the day the contract was made.

He felt sick. He did not know what to do; he did not know who to tell of what turned his stomach. If anyone else knew she was the one, if the bastard found out; all the peace that had prevailed these past twenty years or so would be lost. This was the reason he had escaped, roamed Europe, Britain, even the hotter climates of the south; he never wanted Finnvid's ploy to come to pass. His Grandfather had wanted this, had made sure they aligned with the Haur's, watching, waiting...for a child from Bjorn. Finnvid wanted a daughter to be born; and as long as it was Bjorn's, it would be a royal.

Nikolai shuddered, sitting down on the cold rocks out of the way of the men loading supplies to the boats, out of the way of Bruni wading through the shallow water, and climbing the ladder before passing Eleanor over the side. Nikolai needed to tell him, needed to stop him from growing too attached, needed to protect them both, he told his body this, told himself to move, but could not, his limbs would no longer listen, they would not obey, at least not in the direction he needed to go. Jumping to his feet, Nikolai headed into the woods, not far, just enough to be alone, alone in his anger, his rage.

Finnvid was an evil man, no matter he was their grandfather; he was evil, crooked and spiteful. Nikolai had been living with him since his mother's death, unable to accept his sorrow, and then unable to accept Astrid as his next mother when his father found love once more. And the twisted man attempted to mould him, convince him to his side...Nikolai could still remember the clause Finnvid added to the parchment...

If the Haur child, borne from Bjorn, prince son of Cristoph Haur, Prince of Anarja of the South; be a male child he shall wed the first unwed female from the great warrior family of Auden, first daughter of Broddi, great son of Finnvid Auden. If the Haur child be borne a female child, she shall be bride to the eldest son of Broddi, great son of Finnvid Auden.  So upon the Honor of our families, this contract shall be upheld.

Except Finnvid held a motive behind the contract; a grandchild being molded to his will, a grandson being readied for the possibility of a princess. A male he could control on the long vacated throne.

Nikolai let his rage fly at the oak in front of him, seeing Finnvid's face on every strike, hating him with every punch. He had thought himself finally free, thought that with the tragic death of Bjorn that the contract could be forgotten. His grandfather bound to the peace he had "bargained" for. 

But now...now he would be forced to see through with the contract; because only Nikolai knew the truth behind the infighting, the truth of Finnvid's involvement. Only Nikolai knew the truth behind the contract. And he knew he could not let Bruni fall for Eleanor.

She was the price of the contract for peace.

***

Kailara curled her legs beneath her as she found a spot at the bow of Bruni's boat; her arms leant over the side as she peered back at the shoreline. She was finally about to leave these hellish lands, escape from her memories, and reluctantly leave her precious boy. Fingering the leather at her throat she remembered him, her little boy, her Alexander. 

All those days they spent traveling across the great expanse of land, talking of all the different animals he saw, talking of the fairies that lived in the different lands. She remembered the day she finished making this for him, similar to the one his father wore, bound and twisted leather, soft and supple with the endless manipulating she had put into it while they traveled, embroidering their sacred words of love and protection, of life into it before placing it around his neck as he slept. Alexander looked just like his father, rosy skin, dusk hair and eyes, and the most peaceful countenance. He was a child of angels. And now he resided with them. 

Kailara swallowed her memories, unwilling to free her tears in front of strangers. Pulling the blanket Ragnar had given her closer around her as dusk settled over this evil land, Kailara rested her head against the smooth wood as a man emerged from the woods...the black mood of him radiated outwards, a shield against those who would approach him, making those who would welcome him look upon him with caution as he stalked through the shallow water to the boat, jumping up onto deck with little more than a slight shove against the wood.

Kailara watched from her nook behind a rowing bench as he stormed around the empty deck, his hand forcing its way in frustration through his thick ash blonde hair, his entire frame taut as he cursed violently, the veins on his huge arms and neck standing out so much Kailara wondered whether they would rupture. 

She watched in silence as he paced next to the platform, on several occasions walking with forceful purpose towards the small opening to the shallow deck below, one of only two of Bruni's ten ships to be designed thus; designed to hold The Auden themselves. He continued to falter, stepping back from the gap as though reconsidering, before resuming his copious cursing. She listened as the older man sent prayers and curses skyward, setting his head within his hands before sinking to the deck with his back against the rowing bench.

"Good evening." She whispered to the irate man.

Nikolai lifted his head at the melodic tone, the eastern accent; and looked into the darkest eyes he had ever seen.

***

Bruni was practically storming down the middle of the boat, his eyes fixed on the solid door in front and the need to get to it, through it, to the privacy the other side offered him. Eleanor was still tucked up against him, her body relaxed, her hands still holding him to her tightly as she kissed the small area of his collarbone she had exposed. Her tentative touches were driving him wild; his skin was hotter than the old forge, he was rock hard and aching; he almost did not think he could manage to restrain himself enough to go slow with her untried body as her tongue snaked out and licked the skin over his pulse.

Bruni shoved the heavy door back so hard it nearly fell from its moorings before he stepped through, stopped, and cursed.

On the other side of the linen drape, lay a deeply slumbering Kate; Ragnar lay next to her, stoking his sleeping woman. Bruni didn't know whether to cry or shout his infuriation, his erection pressed relentlessly against the laced trousers he wore, straining to be inside the lush woman in his arms. As though realizing his hesitation, Eleanor pulled away from her caresses of his skin seeing Kate and Ragnar, as he sat upon the cot with her still against him.

"Just hold me for now Bruni." She whispered. "For now, please."

Eleanor smiled at the deep grumble that came from his chest, and kissed the spot it came from.

"Eleanor, keep that up and I will be taking you here and now, whether our friends in the room or not." Bruni whispered to her, his voice so much deeper, huskier than he had ever heard it as he chastised her gentle ministrations. If only she knew just what they were doing to him. Leaning back in the cot, Bruni took up the cold wall of the boat, lying on his side as he pulled Eleanor up close to him.

"But I do not wish to take you without privacy between us; I want you all to myself."

Bruni stumbled with his words as he looked down at her lying in his sheets, her long hair tucked beneath her head so as to not lie on it, her rose pink lips still slightly swollen from his kisses. She was all he had ever wanted. And everything he should not have. The Goddess must hate him to have cursed him so; but he could not go further without knowing, he could not let his last piece of guard drop and break his honor to be with her if she did not feel anything like how he felt about her. He had to ask her. Taking a deep breath, he looked into her eyes.

"Do you care for me Eleanor?"

***

Erick shifted on the horse, trying to get comfortable as they rode through the quiet evening. Matilda had long since fallen into well needed slumber leaning back against him, and Erick found himself more often than not gazing over his wife's features than the road. She was a beautiful creature. She had renounced her title, given up her lands; all to be his. He was blessed by Freya herself for such a gift, a beautiful princess as his wife; when he had been nothing more than a boat maker. He was glad when she kept her family name, it kept her safe, made sure she still had respect from townspeople, and other villages; her brother Bjorn had demanded that she not be made outcast for choosing a man she loved. He had respected that man so much.

Erick groaned when she shifted in his arms once more, rubbing against him, he needed to get some distance from her before he tumbled her to the floor and took her like a mad man. She deserved more than that, more than him. Erick was angry with himself; he should never have left her so unprotected, nor his precious Anika.

He would put this right for them all, another three days and they would be within the safety of Astrid's court, within the week they would be home.

And he would see Sibbe hang for her deceit.

Slowing down the mare he had purchased for them, Erick nuzzled at his wife's exposed throat, the heat of the skin there was incredible, her fragrance pulsated under her skin warmed by the heat of her blood and he wanted more, wished they were home in the bed he had made for their wedding night, the bed where they had created their children; where they had made love until the new day had dawned before bathing together in the sea coves. Two years he had been away from her, away from his home, Gods how he had missed her; missed her fragrance, the sound of her laughter, the sound of her pleasure. 

Brushing his fingers over her heated skin, Erick moved her long dark hair over her shoulder before returning to kiss the curve of her neck, licking and nipping, anything to have a taste of her once more. When she stirred in his arms, and turned her midnight black eyes to his, Erick was done for. He needed his wife.

"Matilda I...-I..." He stuttered; he felt as though he had no right to ask her, no right to ask for anything.

Matilda could not answer him with words. So she showed him with a kiss. Turning her head so she was arched in his arms, she kissed him, her mouth fierce and strong against his own as she shivered from this contact with him she had missed, and so craved these long two years; kisses she had wished she could wake up to, memories of their love making only barely seeing to her needs and longing for her absent husband, but never sating her. Matilda swung her leg over the tall mare's slender neck, before dropping to the ground as Erick followed her quickly, grabbing the blankets he had purchased for them along with the mare.

"Come to me Erick."

***

Nikolai was stunned; he could not tear his eyes from the small woman on the deck opposite him. Her slight form shivering in the chilly air as the men finally began to move the boats from shore, working in small teams of six in the still waters. 

"Good evening." He offered back to her, still stuck in her gaze; held prisoner in eyes that reflected such sorrow, such pain he could not nor never comprehend. "I am Nikolai, Bruni's brother."

"Kailara."

She could not speak. This man was staring so intently at her it was unnerving, especially given his outburst of frustration on the deck while he thought no one was watching, it made her quiver slightly that the male with all that tension was now focused on her. Pulling herself tighter against the wood, Kailara studied Nikolai in return; not overly handsome, he was tall and broad, his blonde hair kept at shoulder length unlike his brother's long trail. He held many scars over his arms, at his throat, and on his face. This was a man not unused to fighting. Although whether they were noble wounds, or from him seeking pleasure in dangerous places, she could not determine without first knowing the man.

"You came aboard with Ragnar."

It seemed more of a statement than a question, yet Kailara felt compelled to answer him.

"I did. I was imprisoned with Eleanor."

Kailara shivered again when she thought she saw the large male's extraordinary blue eyes darken fiercely; his face twist slightly in a grimace before he could catch himself and regain control. She saw him rise and come to her, the shadow he cast upon her with his back to the candles loomed, and she felt like a small child in his presence before he stopped in front of her.

Nikolai removed a blanket from under the rower bench and sank down beside Kailara, pushing her forward slightly to get the rough wool around her back and his own before pulling the rest of it across their fronts. He felt her stiffen as soon as he touched her, her entire stature went rigid as his fingers grazed her shoulder to move her back, and he went stiff with rage when her loose fitting tunic came away from her shoulder, and he saw cane marks and lashes over the bared flesh of a malnourished limb. Pulling her back sharply against him when one of the men came up from the platform, Nikolai protected her from the view of the man before he walked the aisle to take his place with the rowers.

"Did Stephen do this to you?" Nikolai asked quietly, he did not want the men to hear their conversation.

"No. His men did." Kailara turned her head at the barely there growl that she wasn't sure if she had heard him emit. "I really don't want to talk about any of it Nikolai."

"Very well," he agreed, he didn't think he could stomach listening to her tale just yet, from the marks on her body, he could tell it was not something he could listen to without wanting to kill something.

"Its cold out Nikolai, here's some cider." One of the men said quietly, stepping from the platform behind them and leaving the clay bottle and two cups.

"Thank you Eown." He replied, pouring two glasses that steamed slightly in the frigid air. "Here, warm yourself."

Kailara smiled, taking the warm liquid and downing it, asking for another.

"I have been through Denmark, and to Sweden, but never your country." She paused, enjoying the feeling of warmth spreading through her from the bitter sweet drink. "Tell me of Norway Nikolai."

***

Eleanor felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked into eyes that held caution as a barrier between her and his emotion; a stoic expression lay upon his usually relaxed features as he waited for an answer to his whispered question. She could feel his large hands make fists, his knees begin to shake lightly beneath her body as she continued to look at him, her mouth curled into a small and private smile as she moved one hand from around his neck and smoothed her palm over his cheek, enjoying the rough texture of him, his slight beard from the long weeks from his home. Eleanor watched him as he closed his eyes to her touch, his breath expelling on her chilled skin through the ripped tunic when she traced her fingertips over his lips.

"I do not care for you Bruni." Eleanor paused, as his eyes opened to look down at her. "I love you."

*** 



Eleanor Ch. 15



Thank you to everyone who has given me helpful suggestions, I know the last chapter was a bit short, this one is a little too; but I hope you will still like it.

Thanks again,

Sacrificedangel.

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

Bruni lost the breath from his lungs at her whispered words, his heart taking a plummet to his stomach, before rising back with hope once more when she said she loved him; his heart ached, it beat so feverishly he thought he was going to fall dead to his cot. 

In his lap sat the most enchanting creature he had ever met, even bloodied and torn, her cool hands ran over his heated and dirt covered skin, soothing him; he desired nothing more than to have her back with him on Auden lands, in his chambers relaxing with him in the wooden tub. Surrounded by warmth instead of this biting cold, bathed clean of the blood and sweat that coated them both, he could picture her now resting back against him in the water, her naked body pressing intimately against his own. 

He wanted to bathe her and sooth her sore muscles, he wanted to press kisses to every inch of her bruised flesh, he wanted to gut the Gaul who had tried to rape her. 

Bruni closed his eyes as her gentle palm caressed his stubble covered cheek, groaning slightly as he imagined her in his bed, surrounded by the softness of his sheets as opposed to the rough wool they lay upon now, he wanted her lain back against fur so soft it rivaled the smoothness of her skin; he wanted to be on top of her, under her, inside her with a ferocity that scared him, shook him to the core.

He knew now that if he took her, even if he pledged himself to her as his heart was screaming at him to do; he would never be able to let her go.

She caressed and stroked him, not with passion, but with care; care that he seemed to look so ill. His skin was fire beneath her fingers as a light sheen of sweat blossomed on his skin. Eleanor began to get worried when he was finding it hard to breathe, his broad chest rising and falling as though it were weighted heavily. Eleanor panicked, tears she refused to shed brimmed in her eyes as she realized it must have been her words of her love for him that put him out of sorts.

"Bruni, I..." She swallowed, finding her voice hoarse and her throat dry. "...I do not expect the same feelings back, I mean, if they are not there. I will not blame you; I will forget what happened on the way here if you wish."

Eleanor slowly disentangled herself from Bruni's tight grip, attempting to rise, and escape before her tears made a fool of her. His grip was strong, his body unyielding as she tried to escape, her body becoming more frantic when she knew that her tears were close; she needed to escape, needed air to calm her, anything to be away from the source of her pain at that moment.

"Bruni, please, let me go."

"I cannot."

His lips were swift and brutal as they made the connection with hers, he could not hold back, her sweet words were slowly infusing within him, stirring him; making him plead to Freya that the Goddess help him and his love to somewhere secret so he could be with her as he was aching to do now. 

He cradled her against him, one arm holding her at her back as she sat across his lap, his other hand tracing idle circles over her thigh on the outside of her torn dress. His mind raced with all the stimulation, her soft hands grazing him, her sweet taste enveloping his senses, her lithe body pressed so intimately against his own with only mere layers of fabric separating him from the heaven of her hot body. 

Gods how he wanted her; he was debating within himself, Loki toying with him, suggesting to throw her to his cot and make her his there and then, and the Goddess herself begging him to take care with her subject, take his time and be gentle. His conscience begged him to be true to her.

Swallowing the lump of panic that raced through him, Bruni savored the bruising kiss as though it would be his last, imprinting her taste, her beauty to his memory; her willing form tucked against him would forever remain with him. He had no doubt he would never be allowed this liberty with her again.

Be Honest.

"Eleanor. I have something to tell you."

***

They were chasing them, fast, furious, relentless over the vast forests of the Haur lands. The darker colored Gauls and other foreign men, with their curved swords, and vicious daggers, covered the ground wise emmense ease, like the wind covering miles in seconds. 

The thunderous sound of their hunt was deafening as he carried his precious bundle through the night, desperate to escape them; the foreign curses of their enemy were so close, he was sure he felt breath on his neck as he searched deep for the energy to run faster; the need for safety was paramount.

Varin felt the burn in his legs, the sweat that coated his body as he ran, the score of the bushes and trees as he ran through them, unheeding of the blood that bloomed on his skin; he ran for the cliffs, ran for the safety Ragnar had created, he could see them now, the swift descent to nowhere...if he just got their quick enough, he could descend enough to make them think he had jumped rather than be caught.

If...he...could...just...get...there...quick...enough.

Few more steps, few more to safety.

As Varin reached the edge he stopped abruptly, only slightly aware of the burning pain in his stomach. Acutely aware of his little Loki staring at him with wide and accusing pain filled eyes that brimmed with tears when he looked down at the red pool that spread from her, that spread from him. The Gaul placed his heavy boot in the small of Varin's back, and pulled his curved blade free of the bodies...sending them crashing to the sea below.

"ANIKA!!!!"

Varin screamed as he woke himself from his nightmare. Drenched in sweat, beads blinded him as he swiped at them, frantically trying to clear his vision. He needed to make sure she was alright; needed to assure himself he had not lost her. 

Feeling around the floor for the blanket she had slept on, Varin felt the pit of his stomach try and escape him further as he found nothing amidst her blankets, no Anika, no warmth to indicate she had not long left it. 

Grabbing the linen of the shirt he discarded during the night, Varin hurriedly wiped his eyes; the sting in them remained as he grabbed his sword and ran from the cave; tears threatening to spill over his mind's frantic assumptions.

"Anika!!" Varin called, as loudly as he dared; he did not want to draw attention to the caves if those hired guards were up there. His mind slowly clearing from the fog of sleep and the panic of his nightmare, as he figured they would not have left him alive surely if they had taken her.

"Anika, where are you!!??" He called a little louder this time, the adrenaline beginning to pump once more as his hope of her just being outside began to dwindle.

Varin opened his mouth to holler her name to the heavens, and halted, hearing voices talking quietly not far from him. Readying his sword, he followed the sound in the bright moonlight, out of the mouth of the cave and along the narrow ledge that separated the risen cave from the next inlet. Peering around the corner, Varin felt his heart soar, relief flooded his system and he felt dizzy from the sudden lack of energy in his body.

"Varin, come here!!! Esme is teaching me to catch little fish!" Anika's childlike glee was infectious as she stood smiling and waved him to come to her. "We were going to cook them and bring them to you for evening meal!"

"Thank you Anika, and Esme." Varin spoke softly as he approached them, suddenly feeling like a fool for his overreaction. 

"Anika, I need you to tell me if you go somewhere, it is not very safe right now." 

Varin kept his voice steady, calm and unthreatening, the last thing he wanted was to see her child-like light go out again, he wanted her happy and smiling. Taking her into his arms, he gave her a hug, kissing the top of her head before taking a piece of sinew himself to help catch some fish. His hand shook as he tried to get used to the feeling of calm wash over him once more, flushing out the fear and the cold sweep of panic. 

Was this how his older brother's had felt about him? Whenever he had managed to disappear into the fields, and his brothers had found him, their expressions had been taut with worry even through the stern façade and the smack on his hand they gave him for his wandering. 

He was so much younger than his brothers were. He had always felt protected by them, and now he wished they were still alive, to come and help him; to protect him so he could feel safe, and the horrible churning of his stomach could dissipate. 

Varin found himself wishing he could have that child like innocence back, the ability to find good, and playful imaginings all around him; and he wanted to cry with anger over the loss of his childhood. 

He had felt honored when Erick had regarded him in such high esteem and trust to place him as head guard to watch over Matilda and Anika. He had been only twelve then nearly thirteen, built big and strong even by that early age; other guardians of lands and self serving men had tried to attack them then, thinking a mere whelp of a boy was the only guard between them and the ethereal Matilda.

They had not expected him to be so large.

Just over two years had passed since Erick had left him as their protector; the endless infighting had left its marks, its scars on both his body and his soul. His mind felt like he had aged a thousand years passed fifteen. He needed to rest, he needed escape and peace. When this was over, and Ragnar was back; Varin would leave. Anika needed her brother, her family, and people capable of keeping that angelic smile on her face.

Varin was not fit to protect her.

*** Kate and Ragnar lay in absolute silence, what had been sweet words of affection between the pair had now halted, and with Bruni's last statement, Kate and Ragnar's breath hitched. Their eyes widened when they realized what he was about to do, and could do nothing but lie there as still as the dead as he told Eleanor about the contract.

***

"THERE IS A WHAT ON ME??"

"Eleanor...please...listen to me."

"You are telling me that there is a contract of marriage upon my head?" Eleanor sprang from Bruni's arms as his words sank in. "To your brother? By the Gods Bruni!! To your brother!!"

She was pacing now, angry tears threatening to spill as she replayed Bruni's confession. She was trapped again, she was not going home to a family she never knew; she was going to a foreign land to be a wife to a man she had never met. 

The same damned prison, albeit made with different bars, Eleanor thought, shaking with her rage.

"What would you have done Bruni, if Kate and Ragnar had not been in the room?" Eleanor stopped her pacing, focusing the livid green of her gaze on the man she had declared her love for not but a few minutes ago. 

"Would you have taken me? Would you have continued to kiss me, and stroke me until you had taken what innocence I have from me?"

She was shouting now, she knew her friend and her lover could no longer be asleep and would be hearing every word she let free; but she did not care, she could not care. She felt betrayed.

"What then Bruni?" She stammered, choking back the sobs that sought to steal her voice as she sank to the floor in the tiny room at his feet. "Would you have handed me over to your brother? Would you have sat back and watched not knowing whether your seed had planted itself inside me, or whether it was your brother's?"

Bruni's rage was mounting, not at Eleanor, but at the thought of Nikolai's hands on her pale skin; his expression turned dark, feral as he thought on her words; if he had taken her and given her to Nikolai, would he be able to see her swell with child and not wonder whether what rested there was his niece or nephew, or his own child? He did not want Nikolai's hands on her, did not want to think of the things his brother would be entitled to do to her body. He wanted her; he wanted her body, her love; and only him.

Growling in his anger, Bruni grabbed Eleanor's arms and hauled her beneath him on his cot, pressing one leg between hers and holding her hands high above her head, before his mouth descended on hers; rough and ravishing as she surged beneath him. 

He raged against her soft form as she resisted him at first before softening under him, her hips beginning to undulate against the hard muscle of his leg as his tongue toyed maddeningly with her own. Breaking away from her mouth, Bruni sucked a long breath into his burning lungs.

"Eleanor, I could no more hand you over to him than I could harm you." Bruni whispered to her, releasing her hands and cradling her head as he planted soft kisses against her swollen lips. "I love you, I want you for my wife; but I could not lie to you, I could not go further without you knowing the truth."

He kissed her gently this time, lightly smoothing his lips across hers in a gentle caress that had her head tilting upwards for more.

"I will not be a liar to you Eleanor." Bruni murmured, unable to stop himself from moving his mouth across the gentle curve of her neck, kissing and licking the creamy flesh there. She tasted beautiful beneath the scent of fear and blood of her escape; he knew he could easily spend weeks just abed kissing each inch of her skin.

"But what of this contract Bruni?" Eleanor's voice sounded hoarse, so many tears and hurt reflected with each strained word that hit his ears.

"Damn the contract." Bruni moaned against the hollow of her throat, his hands beginning to move from her face, tracing the graceful curves of her shoulders over her ruined tunic, parting the ripped sides to bare the delicate swell of her breasts, the rose colour of her nipples stood in stark contrast to her pale skin and the bruises from her captor's hand. 

"I cannot let you go to Nikolai."

***

Kate sighed as Ragnar pulled the door silently behind them as they escaped into the recess beneath the platform. Pulling blankets out from the chest, Ragnar made a comfortable bed for Kate, before sitting with his back against the hard wood and pulling her against him.

"Eleanor deserves someone like Bruni." Kate smiled slightly. "She has been through so much."

"Kate, there is more to this than that; remember that there was a contract signed, so there is still disagreements to come. The Haur child, as my grand mother used to say, was meant to be a peace-weaver, through the bearing of children, the warring families would be joined through blood. I had hoped we would be back in Bergen by now, where all of this could be settled."

And that damn contract burned. Ragnar added silently.

"If she marries Bruni, then they are still fulfilling the contract Ragnar. They are just doing it through a different son." Kate said, slightly worried over Ragnar's unconvinced expression.

"Let us hope that it all it takes."

***

Bruni pulled Eleanor up as he went to his knees on the cot, bringing her hard against his chest while his mouth sought comfort from her own; trying to calm his hands from the urge to rip her remaining clothing from her body like some kind of animal. 

He felt her hands move beneath the laces at the top of his linen shirt, her warm hands trembling ever so slightly as they smoothed over his skin in a fluttering caress that had him fighting not to surge against her to demand more.

She was so hot, the skin at her throat felt like fire on his tongue as he teased the flesh there, drawing her into his mouth with a long, hard pull, leaving a mark of his kiss on her soft white skin. One hand moved around to her back, supporting her as he leant her back over it, and hardening instantly at the view of her body. 

Her back arched, her breasts offered up to him as a blessing from Freya herself, he could not resist dipping his head to the dusky pink flesh. He drew it into his mouth as he tongued around it, suckling gently on her before blowing cool air lightly across her wet flesh; marveling at how it tightened under his touch. She was exquisite.

Bruni pulled a soft pelt from the chest before he lowered Eleanor back down to the blankets, if he could not have her in his bed, he was damned if he would take her against the scratchy wool.

"Do you accept me Eleanor?" His voice was quiet, unsure if she would refuse him or not as she lay mused upon the black and brown of the fur, her vivid green eyes half lidded as she looked over him.

"Yes Bruni, I do."

Bruni smiled, quietly letting out the breath he did not know that he had held while waiting for her answer. His hands went to the tie at her waist, pulling on the rough rope until it opened from its knot, before taking the two edges of her ruined tunic, and ripping it the rest of the way, opening her to his eyes like unwrapping a present. 

Bruni's breath caught as he slowly moved the tunic apart, exposing inch after inch of creamy flesh, the beautiful handfuls of her breasts, the gentle slope of her ribs down to her belly, over the smooth stomach that told of a number of days where she had not eaten as much as she should, or not eaten at all. 

He smoothed his hand down her side slowly, her hot skin burnt his hand as though his limb were ice; he followed the smooth line of her side, down over her slight hips, smoothing his hand then over the creamy skin of her stomach; tracing patterns around her navel, even as his eyes drew lower still to the blonde curls that hid her sex from him. 

Lowering his body to hers, Bruni moved her thighs apart to accommodate him, as he kept one hand on her soft leg stroking the entire length of the perfect limb as he began to rain slow kisses over her chest. Moving his hand from her leg to beneath her, Bruni lifted her light body enough to pull the ruined tunic from beneath her, moving up from her chest to pull it from her completely.

"Eleanor, raise your arms."

Bruni's voice was so deep, husky, that Eleanor could not help but comply when he looked at her with fire behind his blue eyes, his body as flushed with heat as her own. 

Eleanor breathed deeply as his rough hands moved over her body with achingly slow leisure to grip the tunic at her back, lifting it gently from her body completely; she felt exposed to him, self conscious in the light glow of the candle as he looked down over her naked form while he still knelt there fully clothed. Bringing her arms back down, Eleanor crossed them over her breasts, hesitating as to how to cover herself more from his intense and silent gaze.

He was looking at a goddess lying naked on his cot, pale legs attempting to draw together at her thighs to conceal the pink flesh of her sex, slender arms crossing her chest as a sunset blush crept across every inch of her creamy skin. 

Lifting his arms to the fabric of his linen shirt, Bruni pulled the material over his head to his front, before drawing it from his arms slowly; unwilling to frighten her with the dangerous arousal that was pulsating through his veins over how much he wanted her...how much he desired her. 

How much he was restraining himself not to rip his own clothes from his straining body and bury himself between her thighs.

Letting the fabric fall to the floor, Bruni took Eleanor's hands, still trembling slightly against her flesh as she still lay there self consciously, and pulled her up to her knees in his arms, kissing her mouth when she gasped. 

By Freya he could not get enough of her taste, enjoying every tentative movement her tongue made against his own, he reveled in the little moans that escaped her as he nipped her lips and then soothed them. He could not resist pulling her tighter against him, her beautiful breasts crushed up against the muscle of his chest, her hands resting on his shoulders lost their fright as he kissed her deeper, and he felt them tangle in his hair, bringing his head closer to her own.




Eleanor Ch. 15



Eleanor was lost to the feel of him, every touch, every kiss was adding to the inferno of sensation burning deep within her, she arched into every caress, wanting more, needing more as his fingers moved between them at her belly, then lower; Eleanor gasped, nerves flooding her as she felt his fingers brush through her curls, curving between her parted thighs beneath them, she felt them stroke her, teasing, moving further over her sex between her legs, playing over the silky fluid that flooded her. 

The sensations were beautiful, a relaxing caress, that left her aching for more, aching for the assault of pleasure he had given her in the grass before they had made it back to the boat.

His fingers moved away from her core, and Eleanor groaned against Bruni's lips as the sensations ceased, and Bruni stood from her. His fingers worked at the laces that held the leather of his trousers together, pulling almost violently at the sinew, pushing the material from his legs in one swift movement, before he stepped back to the cot. 

"Do not be afraid of me Eleanor." Bruni asked quietly when her quiet gasp caught his attention as he knelt back in front of her. Her wide eyes did not know where to look as he took her face in his hands and kissed her once more.

Bruni followed Eleanor to her back, never loosing contact with her mouth, bestowing kisses on her swollen lips as he fought hard to control himself. Bringing one hand between their bodies, Bruni felt her silky wetness, felt her lightly arch up to meet the finger that was running teasing paths along the slit of her sex, coating itself before moving up to caress the hardening bud that could make her scream so beautifully.

Eleanor could not think, her body was assaulted with too many sensations of pleasure as Bruni kissed her mouth, and his finger played between her thighs; she jumped when he caressed her and she felt sparks ignite in her body, the tremor making her arch painfully and gasp when he completed a small circle and came back to touch that same spot again. 

This time the touch was hard, his finger focused directly over that spot like it had in the grass, rubbing back and forth with such hard and delicious friction that Eleanor thought she would faint from the pleasure and the pain of the stimulation. 

She felt her hips move towards his torment, pressing herself more firmly against the toying digit as the tightening feeling in her body grew fierce, her hips bucked, needing more than he was giving her, as she felt herself just within the reach of the heaven he had given her before, but she was now unable to fall from that last ledge. 

Groaning out her anguish, her body desperate for the completion Bruni could give her, Eleanor broke her mouth away from his, barely able to speak but for a strangled whisper against his chin and neck as she found it impossible not to kiss and lick his skin.

"Bruni...please..."

It was all Bruni needed to hear as her hands wandered over his skin; his cock throbbed against her hip, straining and purple with his fierce arousal. Settling between her legs, Bruni held her head in his hands, kissing her swollen lips before pulling away from her kisses.

"This will hurt a little Eleanor." Bruni said, hating the fact that he was about to hurt her, even slightly as he looked into eyes that held nothing but trust in him. No fear lay in those green pools of her eyes, only the violent swirl of desire for him, and a beautiful silken wetness against the head of him as he rested lightly against her folds and moved his hips forward. 

Leaning on one elbow, Bruni smoothed his hand down to her leg, and lifted it over his hip as he fought to go slow and not surge into her scorching heat like he wanted to.

She was beautiful lying beneath him, her golden hair lay in waves around them, her skin flushed with her arms behind his, running smooth hands over his back as he moved another inch into her tight heat; the slight pain of his movement lay in a tense frown on her face as he slid back out a little and moved forward once more. 

Burying his head in the hollow of her neck, Bruni knew he would have to tear her fast; he was only a little more than an inch inside her, and his determination to stay his completion was dwindling as her virgin sex drew tighter against his invasion. Kissing her neck, Bruni remained still until he felt her loosen her grip on him, before holding her close and whispering into her neck.

"I am sorry Eleanor."

Surging forwards, Bruni felt the tear of her purity as he swallowed her gasp of pain with his kiss, staying completely still in her tight sheath while her body protested against the pain of his presence. 

Looking down on her, Bruni saw the few tears that had escaped from the sting of his entry, catching them on his finger as he kissed her trembling lips once more before emitting a groan of his own as Eleanor's hips lifted from the cot towards him, impaling herself further up to the hilt of his straining cock.

"Bruni...take me."

Bruni felt his cock obey as it twitched inside her, as desperate for the coupling as he was as he drew back from her slowly, careful of her now tender passage, before moving forwards just as gently. 

Bruni was driving himself mad, his cock twitched, and grew harder, and he felt his balls tighten painfully as he wanted to let go, wanted so badly to climax that it hurt throughout his entire body with the effort of restraining himself. He kept his rhythm slow, steady, gentle as he moved forward into the tight and welcoming heat that was Eleanor, watching her as her eyes closed and her breathing became erratic, her arms drew him closer to her body when she began to rock harder against his thrusts, hitting back at him with ferocious hunger as her lithe body grew slick with passion.

Eleanor thought she would die, the coiling was getting tighter, the sensations in her body were delicious and terrifying all at the same time as she felt every inch of Bruni thrust within her, his powerful body dwarfing her in the cot as she used the end of the cot to give her leverage to meet his wicked thrusts, sending violent tremors of pleasure through her from the tips of her toes, right to her hair, she was buzzing, and in desperate agony as she strived for the climax of pleasure Bruni had brought her too earlier. 

With each thrust he made, he was edging her closer, each kiss to her throat, every caress of her hand over her breasts and nipples brought her closer, it felt as though his entire being was pulsating against her, cranking her higher. 

She felt Bruni lift her other leg up and around his waist as his pace quickened, his hips driving into her own, his manhood bottoming out within her as his breath expelled in harsh bursts against her skin; his body as slick with perspiration as her own as she felt him more in this position, touching her deep, in places she could feel intense pleasure radiating out from each stroke. 

She pulled him closer, arched up harder, and harder until she felt herself fall from that ledge, white hot searing pleasure moving as pinpricks across each inch of her skin. She felt herself tighten painfully around him as she screamed his name, felt his thrusts speed and the growl from his chest get louder as he pinned her hands to the bed and rammed into her, over and over.

Gods she was tight, encasing him in scorching silk as he thrust even deeper, even harder inside her welcoming body; he felt her grow close again, her body frantic in its search for completion until he drove harder into her and felt every part of her splinter apart. 

Bruni fought to last until he could watch her take every ounce of pleasure from him, but as she tightened painfully around him, the soft velvet crush of her depths called to him, scorched him as he felt his climax boil within him. 

Pinning her to the cot, he rose up and pounded her willing body, grinding against her as her sex milked at him, bringing him closer, and driving him into madness. With one final thrust, Bruni felt the rush of his climax race up his spine; burying himself deep inside her he erupted, his cock twitching as he ejaculated jet after jet of his seed into her warmth.

Bruni couldn't move. Held immobile in the cradle of Eleanor's thighs, he was replete, sated. Loved. She lay beneath him, holding him close to her as his body shuddered in the aftermath of their lovemaking; her long legs still wrapped around his hips.

Kissing her, Bruni could not find words for the beauty beneath him. Eleanor found them for him.

"Thank you my love." She whispered against his temple. "Thank you."