Part 26 (1/2)
So Tyra had watched and marveled at the tolerant manner in which Adam instructed his pupil... over and over, teaching the same lesson. The Viking short sword was not made for the thrust-and-parry action of the longer, lighter Saxon sword. And so Adam and Alrek practiced the hacking, slicing motions with their swords against a tall tree stump.
Most surprising of all was the expertise Adam displayed as he hefted his sword and wielded it in smooth, fluid motions. The healer had told her that he had been a soldier betimes over the years, but she must not have believed him.
”He is a handsome devil, is he not?” Tykir asked as he came up to stand beside her.
”That he is,” she admitted. Despite the coolness of the air, Adam and Alrek had stripped off their tunics and were exercising bare-chested. Adam's dark hair and Alrek's blond hair were both tied back into queues at their napes with leather ties. Alrek would no doubt be a handsome man when he was grown... if he lived that long. Adam was already as handsome as a G.o.d.
”Who is he?” Tyra asked. The man was clearly full of contradictions. He could be a soldier, or a healer. He could be as crude as the most ignorant cotter, or sensitive to the needs of others. He claimed to want no family, and yet he threatened to take her child if it were ever born of his seed.
”Do not judge Adam too harshly,” Tykir said. ”I'm not sure he knows, himself. He has lived a harsh life, and a privileged life. In the end, he is a survivor. But at a cost.”
”Have you known him long?”
”Since he was seven years old, and his sister Adela was four. A more foul-mouthed, enterprising, wild rascal you never met in all your life! My stepsister Rain and her husband Selik adopted the two orphans. Only the G.o.ds know what horrors the two experienced before that, living on the streets of Coppergate in Jorvik. I do know that the wildness never really left him. He tries to hide it under a veneer of civility, but on occasion it emerges. And always there is this invisible s.h.i.+eld he has erected around himself. He lets people in only so far, even family and friends. There are wounds inside him that have never been healed... and not just the death of his sister.”
”You sound like an advocate for the man.”
”I'm being long-winded, am I not? Alinor would say 'tis time to freeze my flapping tongue. But, really, my lady, Adam needs no advocate. If he wants something, he gets it himself.”
That is what I am afraid of.
”Still, you seem protective of him.”
”We all are. Me, Alinor, Eirik, Eadyth, Bolthor. His prolonged grief these past two years has alarmed us all.”
”That's why you came to Stoneheim, then? Worry over Adam, not my father.”
He nodded.
She should not be asking these questions of Tykir. He would think she had a personal interest in the rogue. After tonight, he would be out of her life completely. Well, not tonight, she immediately amended. First she had to deliver him to his home in Northumbria. Then she would be off to Miklagard, the ”Great City.” It was a rich, powerful, sophisticated city of gold and marble. She could scarce wait. Once there, she would have no cause to think of Adam again.
But first she had to get through tonight.
Chapter Fifteen.
Adam was in his bedchamber with Ras.h.i.+d, helping to pack their belongings for the return trip to Northumbria.
They probably wouldn't be leaving till two days hence, but all of the medical supplies that Ras.h.i.+d had packed in haste were now in disarray. Decisions had to be made about which ones to leave behind with Father Efrid and the midwife, and which were so rare he must needs keep them for himself.
”I still cannot believe that the king has recovered so rapidly. 'Tis a miracle. Praise be to Allah!”
”Ras.h.i.+d, please do not use the word miracle in my presence. It has come to leave a nasty taste in my mouth. And, frankly, methinks the king's recovery is not as rapid as he would have us think.”
”Really?”
”For days he has displayed the symptoms of a recovering man, not one who was unconscious.”
”Why would he pretend to be sicker than he was?”
Adam shrugged. ”He is a crafty fellow... always has been, I understand from Tykir. His motives are beyond my understanding. And, really, I do not care. We will be going home. That is the most important thing. I cannot wait till we are gone from this h.e.l.lhole of the North.”
”From one h.e.l.lhole of the North to another h.e.l.lhole of the North,” Ras.h.i.+d murmured, still chagrined over Adam's refusal to return to the Eastlands and the world of harems. Ras.h.i.+d squinted his eyes at Adam with confusion. ”Why did you insist that Tyra be the one to accompany us? Why not cut your ties with Thorvald completely?”
”Revenge. Pure and simple. She kidnapped me. In essence, I am kidnapping her by forcing her to make the return trip.”
”Be careful, my friend. Revenge has a way of coming back to bite a man in the a.r.s.e.”
Adam laughed. ”Is that another of your ancient proverbs?”
”Nay,” Ras.h.i.+d replied with a grin. ”That is a bit of Ras.h.i.+d humor. Speaking of humor, master, could you believe all the jests that were being made at dinner about the king's condition? And Thorvald was the worst of them all.”
”Vikings do have a great sense of humor. They especially like to laugh at themselves. But even I thought the hole-in-the-head jokes went too far. Especially the one about the king making a good candle holder... now that he has a hole in his head.”
”Or, 'How did thedrukkinn Norseman misplace his horn of ale?'”
Adam laughed and finished for him, ”It was sitting in the special horn-holder in his head.”
”I give you fair warning, master. I heard the king telling one of his soldiers that ever since the operation, his manpart seems to have regained new virility. Harder and bigger it is now, he claims.”
”Oh, my G.o.d!” Adam exclaimed. ”You know what that means, don't you? If word of this spreads, I will have Vikings by the dozens asking me to drill holes in their heads. Just so they can have better s.e.xplay.”
They both burst out laughing.
Just then the door flew open and Tyra stood there like an avenging angel... hands on hips and legs spread in the battle stance he loved. Unlike them, she was not laughing. She must have come recently from a bath, for the hair in her long braids was still damp. She wore only a short-sleeved, knee-length hide tunic with a thick leather belt. On her legs were cross-gartered half-boots. The only adornments that indicated her rank were the etched silver armlets on her upper arms.
Her hair and apparel were neat and perfectly in order, but the only word he could think of to describe her waswild . Yea, Tyra was wild tonight, and he didn't know why, but her being wild ignited a spark of wildness inside him, too.
The Stoneheim princess pointed an imperial finger at Ras.h.i.+d, whose mouth was agape with the same wonder that filled Adam, and ordered, ”You! Out!”
Ras.h.i.+d didn't hesitate. Without even a questioning glance in Adam's direction, he left the room, shutting the door soundly after him.
Tyra turned and locked the door.
That click of the lock rang in Adam's ears like the gong of a bell. It had some significant meaning, but for the life of him, he couldn't fathom what... not when his mind was consumed with the warrior woman standing before him.
Their eyes held in a smoldering gaze that neither would break, not even when she sank down onto a bench near the door and began to unlace her right boot. She toed it off and kicked it high in the air to land at his feet. With a gloating smirk of victory at her superior aim, she did the same with her other boot. Then she stood and proceeded to unbuckle her belt.
”Tyra, what are you about?”
”You hurled the gauntlet. Now I am taking up the challenge.”
”What gauntlet? What challenge? Do you refer to our pact?”
”Our pact is a moot point. I gave my word. It will be done.” She waved the hand holding her now