Beyond a Darkened Shore(81)
“So her father was murdered, and all she got was a failed marriage instead of vengeance?” I asked, finding myself bizarrely sympathetic to this giantess who hated the sounds of the sea.
“Just whose side are you on?” Leif asked, draping his arm around my shoulders companionably, but still I couldn’t shake the thoughts of the giant whose mind I’d controlled. More and more, it seemed the j?tnar weren’t the mindless evil I’d believed them to be, and I hated the sympathetic turn my own thoughts were taking. Did enduring a serious offense and wrongdoing justify an evil act in turn? I didn’t want to think of them as anything but completely evil; I didn’t want to recognize the parallels between their stories and those of humans. It was a wholly pointless endeavor, however, since they had to be stopped—no matter what their original quarrel.
“Either way, she became the goddess of winter,” Agnarr said, “for which she should be grateful.”
“Then . . . some of the j?tnar are also your gods?” I asked, truly confused now. Were we to fight the gods themselves?
“Some are,” Leif answered, “and some are not.” He said this as though it should immediately illuminate everything in my mind, but before I could puzzle it out further, a voice drew our attention.
“Dark clouds spotted,” one of Leif’s men said grimly.
Indeed, the wind picked up, rippling the sail and slapping the rope against the mast. I stood, my eyes on the horizon. Something about this particular storm made the blood in my veins turn cold.
I sense a storm is coming that will test us all, the seer had said.
Leif turned to Arin and the rest of his men. “Make ready for the storm.”
After lowering the sail, the men around us, including many from my undead army, took their places at the oars and prepared to row. Once the storm’s strong winds caught the sail, we could be knocked completely off course.
Lightning lit the sky, a powerful crack of thunder followed, and I heard the horses on the other ship scream.
The black waters churned, as dark as the angry sky above us.
“We have angered Thor,” Agnarr said. The braids of his beard were almost the color of the sky. “He beats upon his anvil, showering the sky with sparks.”
“No god is angry with us,” Sigrid said. “We have been steered into the storm by the sea itself.”
“Njord?” Agnarr asked.
“No, this has the feel of something much more malevolent.” Her milky eyes stared at the dark sky before turning back to me. “You didn’t do your job well enough, Queen of Dubhlinn. You left behind someone loyal to Sigtrygg and the j?tnar.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, already impatient with her cryptic answers. “What does that have to do with the storm?”
For once, she took pity on me and clarified. “A spy. Someone sent word to Fenris that the two of you set sail for Skien.”
Instantly I thought of the Celtic seer. Had his fear of me been an act? He was the only one who stood out in my mind, though it could have been anyone. “The j?tnar have such power?”
“They control as much magic as the gods when it comes to the elements, and the sea is no exception.” Her milky gaze shifted to Leif. “They will be steering you toward something worse than a storm. Be on your guard.”
An interrupted shout from the bow of the ship was our only warning as the prow slammed into a massive wave. Leif grabbed hold of me with one arm, the other clutching the mast. The rest of the Northmen braced themselves, holding on to the sides of the ship. Water collected rapidly in the hull, soaking our boots.
When next I looked at the remaining ships, they had all fallen back, with ours in the lead. Undead men upon each deck joined the rowers, adding their superior endurance. Following Leif’s lead, the oars split into black water, forcing the ships forward despite the strong winds. Still the waves crashed over us, soaking our clothes and hair as the falling rain did the same. The assault upon my senses was truly like nothing I had ever endured, and I longed for shelter.
I scanned the water as we made agonizingly slow progress forward, afraid of what I would see. The black sky seemed much too close, the waves mountainous. Lightning arced across the sky, and the biggest wave yet swelled before us. The ships rode it to the top, but as soon as we had crested, we plummeted back to the unforgiving water below.
In the next instant, I was airborne. I heard Leif scream my name as the wind and rain blinded me. I plunged into the freezing-cold waters, a wave burying me before I even had a chance to get my bearings. I struggled to the surface, gasping for breath only to have my mouth filled with rain and seawater. Sputtering and barely treading water, I watched as the ships continued on . . . and disappeared behind the massive waves.
The horror that I was now very much alone in a dark and stormy sea descended upon me, nearly sinking me with its weight. Again and again the waves hit me, and I had to kick furiously just to keep my head above water. I forced myself forward in the direction the ships had gone, my way only occasionally lit by bolts of lightning.
I cannot die here, I thought, though it seemed all of nature had turned against me.
That was when I felt something large brush against my leg.
I wanted to scream but could not; the rain and seawater would fill my mouth as soon as I opened it. Again, the unknown creature bumped against me, and this time, my boot scraped along it, giving me an indication of its size. This was no shark. The thing was bigger than the ship, and I knew at once this was a sea serpent.