King of the North: A Viking saga of battle and glory (Fire Born Book 4) by Angus Donald

Author:Angus Donald [Donald, Angus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2023-09-27T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

As she was packing up her belongings in the hut that had once been Inge’s abode, and thinking about her coming journey, she was surprised to hear a knock at the ill-fitting door and when she opened it, even more surprised to see young Joralf standing there, twisting his hands around each other, an anguished expression on his handsome face.

‘Where is she?’ he said.

Tor gave him a long hard look. The young warrior seemed genuinely distressed.

‘You speak of Inge?’

‘Yes, Inge; of course, Inge. Where is she? I must talk to her.’

‘Not here.’

‘I can see that.’ The hut was one small room, all of which was visible from the doorway. ‘Where is she?’

‘Why do you wish to speak with her? The last thing you said to her wounded her very deeply. I shall not permit you to hurt her again.’

‘Tell me where she is!’ Joralf’s tone had changed; he grabbed a bunch of Tor’s tunic cloth in the front and raised his left hand, open palm, as if he meant to slap her.

Tor seized his right hand with hers, twisted his against the wrist joint and immediately brought the younger, stronger man to his knees, hissing in pain. Tor carried on twisting, forcing the swordsman’s body lower and lower towards the earth to save his arm from breaking. Eventually, Joralf’s face was flat on the ground, and Tor put one boot on his neck, and pressed his half-shaved head into the soft wet earth.

‘Shall I snap your wrist now, you spoilt little baby?’ she said.

Joralf gave a groan of pain. ‘Let me go, you bitch!’

Tor loosed her seax from its sheath at her belly with her left hand, and showed it to Joralf. He was immobilised but his eyes widened at the sight of the foot-long steel blade.

‘It’s not a Harva,’ she said. ‘But it will castrate you neatly enough, I think.’

‘Gods curse you – kill me, if you will. I don’t want to live without her anyway.’

Tor gave his arm a last little tweak, which elicited a scream from her victim. Then she released him and stepped back. But she kept the seax blade low in her hand.

Joralf slowly got to his feet, rubbing his twisted arm and glaring at her.

‘Do you love her?’ asked Tor.

Joralf nodded. ‘With all my heart.’

‘You made her cry. Talking of all the other girls you had been with.’

‘I was stupid. I wanted to impress her. To make her jealous…’ The young warrior was weeping now. Tears running down his cheeks. ‘I didn’t… I did not realise that I loved her till she had gone. A week ago or more. I must see her. I have to tell her I made a mistake. Where is Inge… please… tell me. You must tell me.’

‘If you hurt her again, I will cut your balls off – you need to understand this. It is not an idle threat. Hurt her, you lose your balls; hurt her badly, I take your life, too.’

Joralf nodded. He wiped the back of his hand across his teary, snotty face.

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