Finn didn’t hesitate. “He’s meeting with a barbarian.”
“Wonderful!” Sorrell said with a clap of her hands. “Finally, he may discover the truth or uncover something that can shed some light on the attack and who wants us dead.”
“You defend him at every turn,” Finn snapped, irritated.
“As should you, since you raised him to be an honorable man,” —she raised a finger to silence him when he went to speak— “whether he’s your son or not doesn’t matter in this argument. That you raised him to be a decent man is what matters.”
“However did your father deal with such a blunt and stubborn daughter?”
“Carefully,” Sorrell said with a laugh.
Ruddock sat on a downed tree speaking with Asger. He was a brute of a man, thick in weight and sizeable in height. He had good features to spite the scar that ran across his cheek. Gray dominated his blond hair, and his eyes were a softer blue compared to Ruddock’s bold color, but the man was anything but soft. He was one of the fiercest and most respected warriors throughout the barbarian tribes.
“I never got to thank you for your help the other day,” Ruddock said.
“No need. I owe you,” Asger said.
“No more, the debt is settled.”
“No,” Asger said with a quick shake of his head. “You saved my wife and sons from death.”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“Not all would feel that way and until I know you and your wife are safe my debt to you is not settled. Don’t bother to argue. My wife told me not to come home until you and yours are safe.”
“I think I may have a wife similar to your Vera.”
“Then you are a fortunate man,” Asger said.
“On that we agree, now tell me something you have refused to reveal to me. Who sold me to you?”
“From what I was told it was your father, but I spoke only with a messenger never directly with your father. It was made clear that it was never to be discussed with anyone other than the messenger. I realized why when I heard that your father had announced you joined with us.”
“Yet you said nothing,” Ruddock accused.
“What did it matter to me?” Asger asked with a shrug. “I paid a good sum for you and I got a good slave who turned out to be a courageous warrior and proved himself invaluable. Whatever went on between your father and you had nothing to do with me.”
“I know you didn’t attack that Northwick troop that left all but two dead. Do you know who did?”
“A rogue troop and don’t bother to seek revenge. You already did and with great success.”
“The Sandvik slaughter?”
Asger nodded, “Though it would seem they were more renegades than rogues, having received a good sum for that attack and the one on the Northwick troop, and many others.”
“What about the attack on my wife at the abbey? What do you know about that?”
“I knew nothing about it. I left quickly that night to make sure no barbarian troop lay in wait ready to attack. I found nothing. Though, I’d say the warrior had to have been following you if he knew you were at the abbey. Unless someone forewarned him”
“I was wed barely a day.”
“Perhaps your wife wasn’t the one intended and it was your marriage to her that marked her for death.”
Ruddock returned to what Asger first said. “Who was the messenger who delivered my father’s orders to you?”
“The warrior who lost this tongue.”
“Running this keep is quite a task and you do it remarkably well, Erskine,” Sorrell said.
“Thanks to Lady Alida. She devised the plan that works so well. I simply follow what she had designed,” Erskine said.
“Did you know Lady Alida well?”
“Unfortunately, no. She was quite ill when I arrived here.”
“What brought you to Northwick Castle?” Sorrell asked, amazed by the size of the preserving room. She was certain it had to be the size of her bedchamber back home.
A woman stood in front of a large wooden box filled with salt. She was rolling a sizeable chunk of meat in it. Another servant was stringing mushrooms and onions to hang along with the already salted and smoked carcasses on a pole that ran along three sides of the room. Other servants were busy pickling vegetables.
“Erland,” Erskine said with a smile. “He had sent a missive to the counsel of Chieftain Thomas of the Clan Tuschet to see if he knew of anyone capable of running a large keep. The steward there sent me here with a recommendation and, thankfully, here I stayed.”
“Were you surprised at the size when you arrived? I certainly was,” Sorrell admitted.
“I expected large, but not this large,” Erskine said, “though thanks to Lady Alida’s thoroughness, my responsibilities proved much easier than I had first thought.”
“Lady Alida seemed to be well-loved by the clan.”