Lord of Raven's Peak - Catherine Coulter [72]
He smiled at her, a smile of superiority at her woman’s ignorance, her lack of understanding of the way of men and of honor. He said slowly, “I would ransom the fellow from this powerful and wealthy family of his, and then I would keep him and chain him up. Olaf is right, it is just that I am not only right as well, I am also richer.”
There was much laughter, Thoragasson not taking offense, guffawing loudly, praising Erik’s wit.
Laren waited silently, standing motionless, outwardly serene and calm, then she turned to Merrik. “My lord Merrik, what would you have Rolf do?”
He said very slowly, his eyes never leaving her face, “Were I this Rolf, I would keep my word. It wouldn’t matter if the man was a slave or a king. I would take the man back to his kin. I would restore him.”
“You’re a fool, brother!” Erik shouted. “You not only lose a valuable possession, you do not even make the possession pay for his freedom!”
“Aye,” Thoragasson said loudly. “Honor comes not into it, Merrik. Your word given to naught but a slave means nothing, just as I said. Had Rolf given his word to one of his brothers, then it would have been different. But to this damned slave? Never! Let him be a captured king, it doesn’t matter.”
Laren waited until all the men and women grew silent once more, until one by one, they looked at her again.
“Tell us, girl,” Thoragasson said. “What did Rolf do?”
“He went to speak to his brothers. Ragnor told him to treat the slave just as you said, Olaf Thoragasson. Ingor told him to do just as Erik said.”
She paused and Thoragasson roared, “What did Rolf do?”
She looked at each man in turn, then said very quietly, “He could not decide. He trusted both his brothers yet he wasn’t certain which was right or if either one of them was right. He muttered and tried to reason it out, but he couldn’t. Time passed and his rage at his own weakness, his own failure to decide what to do, drove him nearly mad. Finally, in a moment of enraged madness, he took down his mighty sword, said good-bye to the slave, and ran his sword through the slave’s heart.”
There was a loud yell from Thoragasson, moans from the women, laughter from Erik, and nothing from Merrik, nothing at all. He didn’t move, his expression didn’t change. He did nothing, merely looked at her impassively.
Finally, when everyone quieted, Merrik said, “That isn’t the end of the Viking though, is it? What happened next?”
“Rolf came to himself once again. He regretted deeply what he’d done. Guilt ate at him endlessly, never giving him respite, and he couldn’t sleep nor could he eat, nor could he think about going araiding again. He withdrew from his brothers, blaming them for his loss of judgment. Soon he blamed them entirely for the death of his slave.
“The brothers were furious with his treatment of them. They bedeviled Rolf, telling him he was more a fool than the slave had been to trust in his word. Aye, they mocked him: he had lied to the slave, whereas they’d done nothing save offer their opinion, and he, Rolf, had asked for it, after all. But to kill such a valuable slave! It was madness and Rolf had done it, thus he was mad. They wouldn’t leave him alone. On and on it went until, finally, Rolf could no longer bear himself for he saw at last that they were in the right of it.
“He’d betrayed the slave, then he’d smote him. He knew there was but one way to make amends. He threw off all his weapons and walked by himself deep into the forest. He knew that sooner or later a wild beast would attack him and kill him. He wanted death; he actively sought death to release him from the man he’d become.”
Laren stopped because she didn’t know what happened next. Her head pounded and she was thirsty. She became suddenly aware of the raw pain between her thighs. She looked toward Merrik, for he was the cause of that pain. He was looking back at her, his expression unreadable to her.
Aye, she felt the rawness between her thighs, but she knew it was the pain of his indifference to her during the entire day and evening that hurt her more. She lowered