“My lady.”
The soft voice caught her attention and she turned to see Glenna.
“If I may trouble you, my lady,” Glenna said.
“Is something wrong, Glenna?” Tavia asked, seeing the worry in the woman’s eyes.
“William, my husband, he insists he must do his share for us to keep sheltered here. If you could speak to him and assure him he needs only to rest and that when he heals, he can then repay your kindness to us.”
“Of course,” Tavia said and walked along with the woman to the cottage where she and her husband were staying.
William was sitting on a bench at the small table when Tavia entered. He was pale and looked as if he would spill over at any moment.
“You must go back to bed,” Glenna scolded, hurrying to place her hands on her husband’s slumped shoulders to keep him from falling off.
“Your wife is right, William. You need to rest and grow strong. That is your only worry at the moment. Now come and get in bed.” Tavia slipped her arm around William’s and helped him to his feet to Glenna’s relief.
Once Glenna had him tucked in bed, two blankets keeping his frail body warm, Tavia pulled a small stool close to the bed and lowered herself down on it. She rested her hand on William’s shoulder.
“You have nothing to worry about, William. You and your wife are welcome to shelter here as long as you wish. If by chance you come to like it here, we would be only too pleased for you to make your home with us,” Tavia said, thinking her husband would surely agree with her once he realized the couple had no other recourse left to them.
“You would do that, accept strangers into your clan?” William asked perplexed.
“You will not be strangers by then. You will be part of the clan, part of our family,” Tavia said and was surprised to see tears trickle from William’s eyes. She patted his shoulder. “Rest is your only worry. All else can be dealt with later.” She turned to Glenna and saw tears in her aged eyes as well. “You do not want for food and drink, do you?”
“Nay. Nay, my lady,” Glenna rushed to assure her. “Lord Bhric has been most generous.”
“Wonderful,” Tavia said with a pleasant smile. “All will be well. I will see it done.”
“We are grateful, my lady,” William said, and Glenna nodded in agreement.
Glenna thanked her again as Tavia took her leave and Fen rose from where he sat next to the door when she stepped outside.
Her stomach rumbled. “Food, Fen. We both need food.”
Together they walked to the keep all eyes following them.
* * *
“This is a sacrifice but not one of our blóts,” Sven said as he looked down at the wild boar whose stomach lay split open its innards spilled out on the ground. “The blood was not collected in bowls or spilled on stones like in our rituals, and the meat was left to rot. A Northman did not do this.”
Bhric glanced around the immediate area and spotted what he searched for. He went and snatched up a stick, then he returned to the boar and squatted down to take a closer look, poking at the innards with it.
“The only reason to sacrifice a wild boar is to strengthen one’s own fearlessness. At least that is the belief of us Northmen,” Sven said.
Bhric poked deeper into the boar, tilting his head as he did, hoping to find what he looked for. Once done he stood tossing the stick to the ground. He did not want to think of what it would mean, and he even thought to keep his finding to himself until he could make sense of it, but that would be unwise. It would be found out, then what?
“The heart is missing,” Bhric said.
Sven stooped down to get a look himself, then stood. “Didn’t Torin send a message about a heart being cut out of a man and a witch who sliced it in two?”
“He did,” Bhric admitted, “but it wasn’t the witch who cut the heart out of him.”
“Who is to say the heart wasn’t taken afterward?” Sven asked. “And what that might mean.”
“We must find out who did this,” Bhric said worried, if Sven questioned it what then would wagging tongues make of it? “Send a group of warriors to search for anyone in the area and bury the boar so that the sacrifice will not be in vain.”
Sven nodded, pleased. “A wise decision.”