Free Lord of Raven's Peak by Catherine Coulter Page A

again. He showed them all the silver raven carved in rich walnut that stood high on the prow. No other longboat, he told them several times, had this same figurehead. He hoped this would gain him a reputation and cause other tribes to stay away from him. On a trading voyage the last thing he wanted was to lose any men.
    He’d now made three voyages to Kiev. There had been only one attack, and that one halfhearted, a brief testing of his strength. He’d lost only one man and killed twenty of the enemy. Another message to hostile tribes.
    All prayed to Thor for dry weather and, more times than not, the god had listened to their pleas and given them heat and sun. He heard Roran asking Eller why he couldn’t smell out rain. It was a near litany, for all could remember a portage when Thor hadn’t heeded their prayers. It had rained so hard that it had taken them nearly eight days to drag the longboat through the slogging deep mud.
    â€œI remember this,” she said, looking around her. “That is, I remember the doing of this but it was a different route.”
    He tucked away that bit of information. “Do you now?”
    She looked at him quickly, then away.
    â€œSo you came by way of Lake Ladoga and Novgorod.”
    She shook her head. “It isn’t important. Perhaps that was it, or perhaps it was just a dream that came to me from another’s mind. I will see to Taby.”
    â€œStay close. These next four days will be dangerous.”
    He looked at her a moment, wondering if she hadindeed been brought by way of the river Neva to Lake Ladoga and then to Lake Ilmen. That would mean that she’d been brought by way of the Baltic. But many more traders and merchants voyaged through the Baltic to take that route, all of them carrying slaves captured from every land imaginable. It was a route that took much longer, but it was less dangerous than this route. Merrik remembered his brother Rorik laughing at him, saying, “You would journey by way of the moon if one were to assure you that it would be more deadly. Your taste for danger will bring you low.” As much as he’d told his brother he didn’t seek out danger, particularly when he had valuable furs and goods to trade, he wasn’t believed. His brother remembered how easily heated his passions could become and how quickly his temper would erupt when he’d been younger. But growing into his manhood for five years had made him different.
    He and his men steadied the longboat just off balance, not wanting to put all the weight on its keel for the portage. He looked around, then looked at Eller, who sniffed and shook his head. Oddly enough, now he was worried as he had never been before. Always before he felt anticipation, excitement, a vague longing that there would be a tribe to attack them, an enemy to test himself upon, particularly when they were on their way back from their trading ventures. He much preferred protecting silver than he did slaves or goods or furs.
    But now he was worried and he knew why. It was Laren and Taby. He had to keep them safe. He didn’t like it one bit. He enjoyed fighting, had never sought to avoid it, but since he’d gotten her away from Thrasco’s house in Kiev, he’d done nothing but choose the safest route. Except now. But he didn’t want to take the extra weeks just to avoid possible trouble.
    He looked over at her. She still wasn’t standingstraight because of the pulling pain in her back, but her chin was up. She stood like a princess—a very thin, a very ragged princess—staring as the men worked the longboat up onto the rough trail made by so many longboats before them. Taby moved away from Cleve to stand beside her. He saw the child smile up at her. It was just a simple smile yet it pulled at him. He looked quickly away before he saw her expression.
    They pulled the longboat over the pitted path throughout the morning, stopping only briefly to