Walpurgis Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

two men on foot suddenly took her and lifted her onto the back of Henrik’s mount without giving her any warning or time to prepare. They ignored her shriek of surprise.
    Her companion turned his horse. Fianna gasped and put an arm around his waist to steady herself but was able to relax a bit when the horse settled into an easy walk. She didn’t move her arm, though. Her hand rested against his flat stomach, and there was something both soothing and exciting about the contact. Although his shoulders were broad and substantial, his waist was much leaner. Beneath the leather jerkin, she felt the play of hard muscle there. She didn’t look back, but she felt the glares of her late captors following her as they left the area.
    The party of five horsemen drew considerable attention riding through the small village. People stepped aside, stopped, stared and pointed, muttering among themselves. Neither Henrik nor any of his party paid notice to it. Instead he led the group to her cottage.
    Marla heard the clatter and came outside to peer at the arrivals. Her expression changed from alarm to puzzlement when she saw Fianna being assisted from the horse by one of the Norsemen. “What is happening?” she asked as Fianna approached. The woman’s gaze swung back and forth between the grimfaced horsemen and her young friend.
    “Come inside with me.” Fianna took the older woman’s arm. “I need to pack a bag. They need a healer.”
    “Ah. And did they ask you?”
    “Nay, but I haven’t been coerced, either. Indeed they rescued me in a sense.” She told Marla about the men who’d nearly raped her.
    The woman sighed. “I’ve spoken to Tom Miller about his son before, but he will not curb him. Those boys will not give up easily and will cause you more grief. Girl, you must find someone who can protect you or settle on one of them. That is the jarl’s son you shared horse with, no? The one who companioned you on the equinox night.”
    “Aye, but harbor not any romantic notions concerning him.”
    “He has no wife here, I’m told.”
    “He’s a Norseman.”
    “And a strong man. Well-favored, also. You could do worse.”
    “I could not do it at all. Why should he have any interest in me but for a pleasant night’s dalliance?”
    “For the same reason those other young men do, Fianna . I know you have no vanity yourself, but your looks will draw men. Perhaps even that young Viking, do you exert yourself but a bit. You cannot go on as you’ve been doing. It might be better for you to find some other place to settle if you will not have one of the men here.”
    “Nay, I know,” Fianna admitted as she pulled off the ruined dress and slid a fresh one over her head. “They might well have killed me after using me this afternoon. I don’t want to leave here, Marla. Where would I go? What would you do without me to help you? I am needed here.” She tied the ribbons on the dress and set her girdle with the leather sheath back over it. Then she gathered a cloth bag and began to choose what she might need.
    “I’ll survive, dear,” Marla said , handing her pouches of herbs to put into slots in the cloth bag Fianna was loading. “And so will most in this village, if you do leave.”
    A growing rumble of voices and tromp of feet swelled into a commotion outside. Fianna wondered if the Norsemen were having an argument with people from the town. That wasn’t it, though, as she learned moments later when three of the town elders, followed by assorted others, crowded into the main room of Marla’s home.
    Alfred, the most prosperous and influential merchant in town, stepped to the front of the group and stared at her. Fianna spied Keovan lurking behind several of the older men.
    Alfred watched her for a moment longer. “The situation grows intolerable,” he informed her. “Long have you been a disruptive influence with your arrogant refusal to choose any man in town to partner you. Too much like your mother, you are. You