Czytaj książkę: «In Bed With The Viking Warrior»

Chapter One

Smoke filled his nose, burning his lungs as he breathed it in, almost suffocating him until he blew it out in a long wheeze that left him dizzy and nauseated. But his body was so starved for air that he breathed in again almost immediately. A cough tore through his chest, wrenching him sideways, though he could barely move because his arms were caught under an unidentified weight. Slowly he opened his eyes, the heaviness of an extremely long sleep making even that simple task difficult and causing his head to feel muddled and full of cobwebs.

An orange blaze filled his vision and he closed his eyes against the sharp pain that stabbed through his temple. Belatedly, he became aware of the heat warming his body, almost blistering in its intensity because he was far too close to the fire. Turning his head away, he forced his eyes open again only to stare into a pair of grotesque eyes, their lids open wide, the irises clouded over, unseeing. Dead eyes. He’d seen dead eyes before. A tangled memory of dead bodies came to him. He moved his head away as far as his body would allow to see the rest of the face. The head’s mouth was open in a silent scream.

He opened his own mouth to call to someone, but nothing came out save a hoarse cry of anguish. He jerked back but was caught by that same unidentifiable weight as before. Only now he knew. Now, as he looked around him, as he took in the sheer magnitude of the eyes staring at him, he knew what that weight was.

He was in a death pile. Slain warriors had been stripped of their clothing, their identity, and piled high to be burned. It would save the hassle of burying the bodies and keep the vultures at bay.

He had no memory of how he’d come to be here. No memory of a battle and he didn’t recognise the men. The only thing he knew with any real certainty was that he wasn’t dead, but he would be if he didn’t get away. Wrenching hard on his arm, he managed to pull it free from the man lying on it. The force of the movement made him roll to the side, landing in a heap on the dirt next to the bodies. He lay there for a moment, fingers pressed to the ground as he tried to get his bearings.

Taking stock of his body, he made sure that all of his limbs were in good working order. Aside from some scratches, everything seemed to work. He was nude, but he’d have to deal with that later. It hurt to breathe, though. Now that he was opposite the fire, he could take his first breath of fresh air. It still burned going in. Pushing himself up to his knees, he groaned as a wave of pain moved through his head. His hand went to his forehead and found a crusty gash there. The blood had matted in his hair.

He pulled his hand away and the world went dim before it tilted and started to spin. He had to press a hand back to the ground to stop himself from toppling over. Now that he was aware of the injury, a constant pounding had begun in his skull and wouldn’t let up. A wave of nausea moved through him and he groaned as he fell forward, retching into the dirt. Nothing but bile came up.

He ran a hand over his chest and it felt grainy, as if his skin was covered in a fine powder. Bringing his fingers to his nose, he smelled cold ashes. How long had he been asleep? What battle had got him here? Trying to remember only made his head feel clouded and dark, so he stopped trying to remember. Ignoring the lurch in his belly, he forced his head up to look around the clearing just to make sure no one was there. Right now he needed to get to safety. Whoever was in charge of these bodies probably wouldn’t be happy to see him alive when they returned.

A path led away from the fire through the trees. He’d go the opposite way, through the forest, and put as much distance as he could between himself and this certain death. But he couldn’t stop himself from taking one last look at the dead. If he’d battled with them, one of them should at least look familiar, but he didn’t recognise any of the faces he could see. They were strangers. Walking around the pile of men—there were at least a score of them, maybe more—prodding as he went, he hoped one of them would still be alive, but their flesh had already hardened.

Dead flesh. Dead eyes. There was nothing but death here.

Glancing around the clearing again, he saw nothing he could take with him. Their clothing had all been taken, burned probably or scavenged by the victors. There were no weapons. The large fire caught his gaze again, the bright light making his eyes water.

Turning, he made his way through the woods, stumbling from tree to tree as he fought to keep himself upright. His legs were weak and he was having trouble keeping his balance, probably from the head wound. He needed to find somewhere safe to rest for a couple of days. And he needed water to cure his parched throat.

The night was cloudy, obscuring the stars from him. Not that it mattered. He didn’t know where to go, where he’d come from, his own name. Trying to call up memories left him with a dark void. Frustration threatened to make his head pound harder, but he pushed the thoughts away. Right now he needed to find safety to recover. The rest would come once he’d had a chance to heal. It had to.

Up ahead the sound of water rushing over rock made his heart pick up speed in his chest and his legs gained new strength as he followed the sound. The back of his throat tingled at the very thought of water as his legs powered him forward to reach it. Pushing away from the final large oak that bordered the stream, he slid down the muddy embankment and landed in the stream, the smooth pebbles at the bottom biting into the soles of his feet. He lunged face forward into the stream, drinking in the cool water as if he hadn’t had a drink in years.

Even though it was cold, it burned going down and he tasted smoke. Before he could stop it or fight against it, his stomach heaved, expelling the water and leaving him in a knot of agony, his hands pressed to his head as the world swam around him. Falling back against the bank of the stream, he lay still, the water freezing as it knifed through his flesh, but he was afraid that the cold was the only thing keeping him conscious, so he wouldn’t chance leaving it just yet. When he opened his eyes, blackness hung around the periphery of his vision, but he refused to give in to it and forced himself to sit up. This time when he drank, he cupped it in his hands and took small sips, just enough to ease the ache.

‘Halt!’

The word came out of nowhere, splintering his mind with a thousand shards of pain. It was followed by others spoken in a harsh, tangled string that he couldn’t even begin to unravel. A single man ran towards him, emerging from the forest at the exact spot near the ancient oak that he himself had. He must have followed him from the death pile. It was too dark to see clearly, but he was dressed in a dark-coloured tunic, with a sword held in both hands across the front of his torso.

He had no choice but to fight the man, but with no weapon, armour or even clothing, he was at a distinct disadvantage. Rising to his feet, he gritted his teeth, determined to keep himself steady as he backed into the stream to lure the man down the embankment. There was no way he could fight an opponent with a sword barehanded on solid ground and win, especially not while injured. The freezing water came up to mid-thigh, where he stopped, daring the man to come forward.

The man stopped at the edge of the water, sword raised high, but still too far away to pose an immediate threat should he choose to attempt a strike. He spoke again, this time slower and with venom. It took a moment for his mind to catch up to the words, especially because the man spoke them in a way that sounded wrong. With an accent. ‘You die tonight, Magnus. You won’t cheat death again.’

Magnus. His own name? The word was meaningless to him, not causing so much as a flicker of recognition. The gash had addled him...that was certain.

‘Who are you?’ he asked, his own voice rough and unrecognisable. It bothered him how he’d had to turn the words over and over in his mind before speaking them to make sure they’d come out correctly.

The man laughed, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the moon. ‘You’ve gone daft. It’s all right, Magnus. I’ve come to put you down.’

He moved further back into the stream, making his opponent move forward. The man grimaced when the freezing water soaked through his trousers and lunged to try to swipe at him with his sword, saving himself the trouble of walking further into the water. He lunged to the side, but although the move saved him from the sword, it made him dizzy and the world made a horrifying lurch. He grabbed on to the only thing of substance he could find. The man’s wrist.

He yanked, pulling his opponent off his feet and into the water with him. The man still kept his grip on the sword, though, and quickly found purchase on the stream bed in his booted feet, but he swiped out with his leg, catching the man at the bend of his knee. The force toppled them both over, but he quickly gained the upper hand, his grip strong on the man’s wrist to keep the sword from becoming a threat, while pressing his knee into the man’s stomach.

Freeing a hand, the man swiped out with a fist, catching him in his temple just below the gash and opening it up again. Fresh, warm blood poured down into his eye and clouded his vision. The man spoke, but the sound was drowned out by the ringing in his ears. He refused to give in to his weakness, though. This was it. Either he won this fight or his life was over. And he refused to be dragged back to that pile of death.

Letting go of the man, he transferred his grip to the man’s tunic to hold him, then brought his fist back for a well-aimed strike to his nose. The crack of bone and a cry of pain greeted him and on instinct the man dropped his sword. He took the advantage and fell forward, pushing the man underwater. It wasn’t a noble victory, as he’d much rather finish a fight with his fist or a weapon, but already the rush of strength he’d had at the beginning of the fight was beginning to wane. The man fell under his weight, taking in a mouthful of water as he went under. His opponent thrashed and he simply had to hold on until he went limp a few moments later.

His arms were shaking as he dragged the man to shore. If nothing else, he’d solved the problem of his clothing. Taking a moment to clean the stinging blood from his eye, he quickly stripped the man of his tunic and leggings. There was an emblem sewn near the top, a crest of some kind, and he thought he should know what it meant, but he didn’t. Shaking his head, he tamped down his frustration as he retrieved the sword from the bottom of the stream and then donned the clothing. They were snug on him. The tunic pulled too tight across his shoulders and the trousers were a bit short for his liking, but the boots fit well, even soaked through as they were.

Once he was done, he took hold of the man and dragged him back to the stream. Taking a grip on the man’s upper arm, he pulled him floating behind him as he walked downstream. There were bound to be more enemies around from the battle and he needed to at least attempt to hide the body, in case anyone came looking for the man, they wouldn’t be sure of his direction. It would give him a better chance to escape, and if he could stay in the stream as he fled without succumbing to the cold, then they’d never track him.

* * *

He walked for over an hour before his shivering forced him to consider leaving the water. At least the cold had stopped his bleeding. Taking the body to a natural alcove created by two dead trees near shore, he pushed it inside and gave it one last glance. The man’s head was shaved. He touched a hand to his own beard and shoulder-length hair. He should probably cut it. Whoever this man was, whatever his station, he would have to appear to be like him, particularly if he was wearing his clothing. The man’s knife was stashed in his boot. He’d have to take care of that later. Right now he had to get as far away as he could.

He left the stream a little while later when he came to a section of wide, flat rocks that he hoped would hide his footprints from any trackers come morning. Taking one last drink of water, he stepped out on to the shore and made his way into the woods. The night air was freezing now that he was soaked. More reason to keep walking. If he stopped now, as wet as he was, he’d catch his death by morning. The world continued to come in and out of focus for him as he walked, sometimes stumbling into trees and over foliage, sometimes falling to the ground and momentarily losing consciousness only to rouse himself and force his legs to carry him onward.

* * *

Finally, near dawn, his body revolted and he fell to the ground in a heap. When he tried to rise, the ground came crashing up to meet him again and his head cracked against the earth, sending pain splintering through his entire body. He had to rest before he made his injuries worse. Raising his head enough to find a large spruce with limbs low towards the ground, he crawled to it and took cover in the needles. He couldn’t even take the sword from the scabbard across his shoulder as darkness crept over him.

* * *

It seemed he had just closed his eyes when he awoke with a start. His heart threatened to pound out of his chest, but he stayed very still, aware that one wrong move could mean death. Fluttering drew his attention to a bush just past the reaches of the pine’s branches, where two brown finches rolled together briefly in a brawl before one flew off, chased by the other. The sun was high in the sky.

He sighed in relief and lowered his forehead to the ground. He was still in the same position in which he’d collapsed. Dew covered his already soaking wet clothing and his warm breath came out in a puff of vapour as it mixed with the cool air. The first hard freeze was just weeks away, at most. That didn’t leave him very much time to figure out who he was and where he belonged.

Magnus.

The unfamiliar name twisted and turned itself over in his mind, but it wouldn’t stick. If it was his name, wouldn’t he recognise it? Just thinking about it made his head ache even more. Pushing himself to a sitting position, he had to wait for the world to right itself before he could open his eyes. His hand automatically went to the gash on his forehead and he grimaced at how tender and swollen it was. Another knot graced the back of his head, thanks to his fall. There was nothing he could do for the wounds now, though, not when there was every chance he was being chased by his captors.

His fingers moved to the tangled mess of hair. It was caked with blood and fell past his shoulders. If he came upon anyone, he couldn’t risk looking like a wild marauder covered with blood, so he’d have to cut it. All of the men in the death pile had longer hair and beards. Pulling the knife from the strap on his borrowed boots, he set about sawing through the length of his hair. It fell away in dark blond strands turned red with blood. When that was done, he scraped away his beard, though he wasn’t able to make it a close shave with the crude knife.

On shaking legs, he made his way back to the stream and took a long drink before dousing his head with the cold water until much of the remaining blood had been washed away. He couldn’t risk getting himself too clean and reopening the wounds. He needed all of his strength to get away.

Drawing in a shaking breath, he rose to his feet and entered the icy depths of the stream. If they found his tracks leading to the tree, perhaps they’d continue onward in that direction in their search for him.

* * *

He continued in the stream throughout the rest of the day, only getting out when he couldn’t bear its cold any longer. When night fell, he found another tree and collapsed in exhaustion. He needed food, but that would be a task for tomorrow.