Free Lord of Hawkfell Island by Catherine Coulter

wouldn’t dare.”
    â€œHa!” Aslak said, louder this time, shaking his head at them. “Don’t you see? The women are punishing all of you for taking Entti to your beds.”
    Sculla said, “None of the men who are wedded seek her bed, or if they do they are cautious about it, they don’t boast of it to their wives. Aye, they creep about very carefully. Gurd is very sly about it.”
    â€œI wonder,” Rorik said.
    â€œYou are all fools,” Aslak said. “I know it is the truth. It’s as obvious as the snout on that boar.”
    â€œWomen,” said Ottar, “are occasionally shrewd in their cunning. They shrink from nothing. I think Aslak might be in the right of it. We should—that is, Lord Rorik should simply order that Entti doesn’t touch another piece of food. It is for the women to obey, especially to obey you, Rorik. You will simply tell them what to do and what not to do and who is not to do it. You will tell them they are to remember how to cook properly or you will punish them.”
    Rorik looked at him as if Ottar were mad.
    Raki flexed his mighty fists. Rorik knew he could slay six of the enemy with ease and bellow with joy all the while. But with Erna and his two sons, he was a man of gentle parts. He’d been thoughtfully silent until now. He said, “The crops grow well. Not all of us are needed here for protection or for hunting or farming. We could sail up the Seine, and go araiding on all those rich little towns. Ah, aye, ’twould be good sport and our pockets would grow heavy with gold and silver. Or we could go to Hedeby to trade some of Gurd’s swords for wine from the Rhineland. Aye, we could trade some soapstone bowls for leather and ornaments. There is no reason to stay here and starve. Even bedding Entti isn’t worth that, though all of you say she passes the time most pleasantly. What say you, Rorik?”
    Rorik sighed. “I will speak to the women again. Then we will see.”
    The men looked at each other without much hope.

7
    O LD ALNA SAID to Asta, who was Gurd the blacksmith’s wife, “Lord Rorik keeps the woman chained to his bed. He tells me to stay away from her. What think you?”
    Asta, always laughing, wasn’t laughing now. She shook her head. “It is all strange. Lord Rorik isn’t brutal, particularly to women. Is she really so vicious, so cold and cruel? I know she is the sister of Lord Rorik’s avowed enemy, but still, why would he treat her so meanly? She did nothing to harm him, at least I don’t think she did. But the stories the men have told could curdle the goat’s milk.”
    â€œLittle Utta thinks she’s very nice and she’s been feeding her all day—her cooking, not Entti’s—the same as we’ve been eating. Do we do the right thing, Asta? With the good food, the girl will regain her strength in no time at all.”
    â€œAye, and when she does, Alna, what then? It makes no difference. Let her eat, let her belly sing with happiness. The child is an excellent cook, and the men wouldn’t ever suspect her of duplicity, even Ottar, her father. Aye, let them suffer and let the prisoner grow fat. Do you know that two of the wedded men have taken Entti since their return not twenty-four hoursago? I suspect Gurd, but he is sly, and when he returns to me, he complains of loose bowels and belly pains. Ha! The wives are furious. I’m furious. No, Alna, let them eat Entti’s cooking until they come to reason.”
    â€œIt is a good plan, this one of Amma’s,” Old Alna said. “She is smart and determined to teach the men a lesson. She is always saying that Sculla is constant and that the others should be as well. She says that they can starve unless they come to reason.
    â€œIt takes a long time for a man to starve,” Old Alna continued. “Mayhap starvation takes longer than it takes to bring him to