Page 11 of Ulf's Destiny
“Let me guess. One of your sons again? Steinar? The only one missing from this impressive delegation?”
Ulf smiled at the now familiar jest. Over the years, the man had had to help his father and his two uncles in turn. It was no wonder he had assumed his help would be needed again.
“No. It’s my grandson, Ulf, this time.”
“The grandson. Of course.” Elstan laughed. “Well. I suppose it was only a question of time. Tell Rothgar to hurry if he wantsto get into trouble, as I might not be reeve for much longer. The election is next month.”
Wolf shook his head. “I’m sure he has no intention of getting into trouble. And Ulf has done nothing wrong. What happened to him is…rather unusual.”
The reeve gestured to the chairs by the fire, seriousness returning. “Tell me everything.”
“Yesterday morning, I was attacked by a woman intent on killing me,” Ulf started.
The reeve was not a man easily shaken, but this, understandably, caused him to raise a brow. “Evidently, she failed. Thank the Lord. Or Odin, or…whoever is in charge of these matters, according to you.”
Ulf could not help another smile. He knew the man was trying to familiarize himself with the Norse deities since his daughter, Gytha, had married Haakon and settled in the village.
“In this case, my lucky escape has more to do with the kind of woman chosen to kill me. She had nothing against me and never really meant me any harm. She only felt she had to kill me in order to save her best friend from death. Which is where we hope you will be able to help.”
“I’m sure I will. Who had sent the girl?”
“I trust you remember the slave trader who was killed during the search for little Osberga in the summer?” This was not really a question. He would not have forgotten, as it was precisely this investigation that had allowed Gytha and Haakon to fall in love.
“Of course, I do.”
“Well, his daughter, Mildred, has sworn revenge on my grandfather, whom she blames for the death of the men in her family.”
“So now she wants to kill the men in his family and watch him suffer?”
“Exactly.”
Now that he thought of it, she might well intend to kill them off one by one. There was no accounting for mad people’s whims. For obvious reasons, Ulf had not told anyone about his musings, but he’d wondered why Mildred had not asked Ylva to simply kill his grandmother. A woman would have been an easier target, and she was the person his grandfather loved most in the world. He shuddered at the thought of losing a woman who meant so much to so many.
Then he forced himself to focus back on the discussion at hand and explained how they had agreed together that faking Steinar’s death was the best solution.
“We think the woman might have posted a man to spy on your house, to make sure someone from the village came to inform you of my father’s murder by a Saxon and demand retribution. This, more than anything, will convince Mildred that Ylva did indeed kill my father. It is important that she is satisfied that her revenge has been served, as without this assurance, she will never release Ylva or Judith.”
“So… You really think the trader’s daughter will keep her word and allow the two women to walk free?” his grandfather asked.
Ulf shook his head. He had not told Ylva as much, but he doubted this would happen. It didn’t sound like the sort of thing the vile woman would do. More than likely, she would keep Ylva captive so that she could use her again in her scheme. Even worse, he wouldn’t be surprised if she had already killed Judith.
“No, I don’t think so. That’s why I followed Ylva last night, when she went to find Mildred,” he explained. “So I know where to go today to ensure everything is as it should be.”
When they had parted ways, he had told her he would go to the cooper before heading back to the village. In reality, he had tossed a coin to a group of children so that they looked after the two horses while he followed her to a rundown house in themiddle of town. He could have gone inside there and then, but he had wanted to give Mildred a chance to honor her promise to free the women and give Ylva the satisfaction of knowing she had succeeded in saving her friend. But today he would not be as generous.
By now, the Saxon’s spy, if she had one, would have reported seeing Wolf and his sons visit the reeve and he didn’t want the two women to suffer a moment longer than necessary.
Elstan nodded his approval. “That was clever. I would have done the same. The woman cannot be trusted. To tell you the truth, I wanted to investigate her after the death of her father and brother, because Haakon told me she had abused many of the young boys her father sold. But she disappeared and I could never punish her for the deeds.”
“She abused young boys?” Ulf was stunned. Would there be no end to the woman’s depravity?
“Alas, she did.”
He had not heard this from Haakon but it was clear from the way he clenched his jaw that his grandfather was aware of it as well, which explained why he had gone back to the house after killing the men. He’d meant to make her pay.
Ulf’s hatred for the woman who would have forced Ylva to become a murderer flared anew.
“She will pay for that,” he vowed. “Come, there is no time to lose.”
