Free Fate's Needle by Jerry Autieri Page B

right?” Runa said in a rush. She felt her face flush hotter every moment she was under Aud’s rheumy-eyed gaze.
    “Of course, the best way to enter the hall is by throwing yourself through the window,” Aud noted, a smile bisecting the sagging folds of her face.
    Runa opened her mouth but could not speak. Her hands began to tremble.
    “You are a slave.” Aud gestured that she should sit by the fire. “And I’ve no mind for slaves, but you are different from the others. You’re quite a beauty; that’s why this one bought you.” Aud jabbed a thumb toward Orm’s corpse. “But you are also a Dane, and from a good family. I’ve seen it in your manners, child. You are too well bred to be a slave. Now, will you sit here a moment? I think no one will be coming along soon.”
    Runa smiled and sat, relishing the fire’s heat. Now that Aud had casually brushed aside the excuse she had offered, she knew her best hope was in making Aud an ally. She glanced at the old woman, who guarded her thoughts behind crinkled eyelids. For an instant, Runa felt her hands itch. Her brother would have told her to throttle the crone and escape. Now was the time. But Runa doubted herself—doubted she could be so ruthless.
    “So you know the truth,” Runa whispered. “I came back when I heard the commotion. I thought I could steal something of value, something to help buy my freedom.” She did not trust Aud enough to speak the truth.
    Aud merely nodded. “There is little here, child,” she said. “Lord Grim has taken everything of any value. The old jarl will be buried with very little of his wealth.”
    Runa shifted in her seat to face Aud directly. “Then will you let me go? I will take just some food, maybe a cloak. Will you allow me that much? If I ever get back to my family, I can repay you.”
    Again, Aud nodded. Then she struggled up from her chair.
    Runa’s heart pounded. It seemed Aud had assured her freedom. She had not yet retrieved Ulfrik’s belongings, but she would find another way.
    Aud hobbled a few steps, and then began to walk more steadily. Waddling to one of the tables at the side of the hall, she gathered two cups and filled them in silence as Runa sat.
    “It’s a cold night. You’ll need something to keep you. Here is some mead, and a bit of cheese. It’s not much, but better than what you’ll be eating in the future.” Aud held a wedge of cheese in one shriveled hand and a wooden cup of mead in the other.
    Runa had not eaten since the night before. The scent of cheese stoked her appetite. Only after she drained the mug and stuffed the cheese in her mouth, did embarrassment overcome her. Aud laughed, and Runa’s shame deepened.
    “Thank you, for your kindness.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I did not expect it.”
    Aud laughed again, only harder, her laughter rising to a wicked timbre, and her smile warping into a leer. Immediately, Runa knew she had been duped: either the cheese or mead had been poisoned.
    Now, she would throttle Aud. Her hands shot out, seeking the old woman’s scraggly neck. But she found that her fingers curled before her like a hag’s claw, her sight blurred, and Aud’s laughter became a ringing bell in her head. Somehow she found herself crashing face down toward the dirt floor.
    “You’ll send me a reward, will you?” Aud cackled. “You stupid, bitch! You’ll burn with your master, like the slave you are. Your beautiful face will be ruined, you whore!”
    So this is death , Runa thought, cold and black, and filled with the echoing laughter of a crazed hag. Then, even those sensations fled and she floated in a field of utter numbness.

Nine
    Grim’s head throbbed and his face burned where the ax had cut. A day had passed since Ulfrik had given him the wound. The cut was not deep, except where the blade had cleft his bottom teeth, but one tooth had been dislodged in the blow and another fell out later. Grim’s tongue groped the bloody space