Part 30 (1/2)
”So you are saying that you two might have made a good healing team?”
”Mayhap.”
”And what did she say when you suggested this to her?” Alinor stared at him for several long moments.
Then she grunted with disgust. ”Let me guess. You never shared that idea with her.”
Both of them sat in silence then, staring off toward the harbor where a longs.h.i.+p was being prepared for travel.
”Let us cut to the marrow here, you thickheaded fool,” Alinor finally said. ”What... do... you... want?”
He did not even hesitate to answer. ”Tyra.”
”Well, then,” Alinor said, throwing her hands up in the air, ”you have your answer.”
He smiled for the first time in a day and a half and yelled for Ras.h.i.+d, who was walking toward him from the courtyard.
”Yea, master? You called,” Ras.h.i.+d replied dolefully.
”It appears we are going back to the Eastlands, after all.”
”To Arabia?” Ras.h.i.+d asked hopefully.
”Nay, to Byzantium.”
Chapter Seventeen.
Adam was living his worst nightmare.
It started the following morning, one full day since he'd ended his drunken binge and decided he wanted Tyra enough to go after her... even to the ends of the earth.
” 'Twould seem the longs.h.i.+p on which you planned to travel is going to prove unsuitable,” Rafh commented dryly as they stood on the wharf just past dawn, waiting for the crew to a.s.semble.
”Huh?” Adam responded.
”The royal bedstead and those six stallions would never fit on the longs.h.i.+p you planned to use. Oh, I see aknorr is being brought forth. Yea, one of those deeper, larger trading vessels will serve your purposes better.”
”Huh?” Adam said again, then turned to follow the direction of Rafn's gaze. ”Oh... my... G.o.d!”
A large, ornately carved bedstead was being carried by four burly Vikings down the incline from the Stoneheim castle to the harbor. Following in its wake were many servants carrying a thick straw mattress and many chests, even a thronelike chair. Still others led six nervous stallions.
There came also King Thorvald, relying on a long staff for a cane. He was dressed to the gills in regal attire-a red tunic embroidered with gold thread in a writhing dragon pattern, over blackbraies and high leather boots. A deadly broadsword with a spectacular silver hilt was strapped to his side. Over all was a ma.s.sive ankle-length cloak of rich black sable pelts. He looked like a Norse G.o.d... a Norse G.o.d about to take a long journey.
Rafn was grinning at Adam's shock. Now that Rafn's future was sealed-his wedding to Vana being a foregone conclusion-he did a large amount of grinning. But Adam did not appreciate the grinning now, at his expense.
”I have directed my men to prepare aknorr ,” the king told Adam, panting slightly from his exertions. Truly, the man should be resting in his sickbed, not traipsing about, dragging his household furniture with him.
”Wh-what?” Adam stammered, then quickly a.s.serted, ”Nay, nay, nay, you are not coming with me.”
Thorvald arched his imperial eyebrows, even as he waved the servants to begin loading his bed and his stallions onto the large vessel. A canopy with leather side-flap curtains had already been erected in the center of the boat, presumably for the bed and other royal trappings.
”Be reasonable,” Adam urged the king. ”You have undergone a serious medical procedure. You are supposed to be recuperating. You have a hole in your head, for G.o.d's sake!”
”And your point would be?” Hie king was already looking weary as he leaned on his staff and watched the provisioning of theknorr .
”My point is that you need to be in your sickbed.”
”I have brought my sickbed with me. Besides, is it not best that I stay close by my personal physician?”
”I am not your personal physician. Father Efrid is.”
The king swished a hand through the air dismissively. ”A man cannot have two physicians?”
Adam made a low growling sound of frustration. ”Why can't you trust me to find Tyra and bring her back? After all, it is not as if she is in any real...” His words trailed off as a thought came unbidden to him. Hesitantly, he asked, ”She is not in any real danger, is she?”
”Of course she is in danger. The Byzantine court, like any court, is a cess pit of intrigues. A knife in the back can be more deadly than a battle wound.”
”Oh, this is just wonderful! I really need more things to worry about.” He glowered at the king, who did not even have the grace to look guilty. ”What makes you think you would be better able than I to rescue her from such a situation? I have served in various Eastern courts. And just because I am a healer does not mean I cannot fight when the need arises. I can handle a weapon if need be.”
”Mayhap you can, mayhap you cannot. But with your charm and my clout, we will be doubly sure of rescuing her.”
Rescue. Theking is being overprotective. Tyra is a warrior. She is perfectly capable of escaping danger. But what if...?Adam's shoulders sank with surrender.
Then the next crisis came barreling down the hill toward him with a shrill, wailing cry, ”Naaaaaayyyyy!”
It was Kristin. No sooner did his mind register who it was than the little girl hurled herself through the air at him. He had no choice but to open his arms and catch her. Immediately, she latched her arms around his neck and held on tight, sobbing loudly.
” 'Twould seem young girls develop attachments to you. First Tyra, now this one. You must have charm oozing from you,” the king remarked.
”It is not just young girls,” Rafn pointed out. ”Young people in general think he is the best thing since honey custard was invented... by Ingrith, no doubt.” He motioned his head toward the newest arrivals.
It was Alrek, huffing and puffing as he tried to simultaneously run and carry the baby, Besji, his sheathed sword slapping at his leg with each stride. His whole side would be bruised by nightfall. Close behind Alrek was the little boy, Tunni. Besji and Tunni, frightened by all the commotion, were crying, their sobs creating a counterpoint to the continuing wails of Kristin, who was spouting a river of tears down Adam's neck.
Adam had no idea what to do.
”I am going with you,” Alrek declared.
”You are not,” Adam said. And he meant it.
”Me, too,” Kristin blubbered, echoed by, ”Me, too. Me, too,” from Tunni and Besji. He hadn't even been aware that Besji could talk, though he supposed at two years she should be able to.
Aaarrgh! What am I to do?
”I am sorry to disappoint you, my lord, but I cannot obey your orders this time,” Alrek said. ”You told me I must think before I act... start behaving as a man. Well, that is what I am doing. I have thought, and now I am acting. I am going with you to Byz... Byz... that place where Lady Tyra went.”
”How many times do I have to tell you that I am not a lord? And, really, Alrek, this is impossible. You cannot bring all these children with you.”