Magnus rode through the gates of Sodermanland palace after the morning hunt. He was late for a war council meeting with a group of southern jarls.

Aleksi charged toward him, calling out. "My jarl! I must speak to you." The warrior's shoulders were squared, his eyes sharply focused, primed for a fight. "The fisherman has asked to speak with you-the man Otso. He claims it's urgent."

"What about?" Magnus handed the reins of his warhorse to the stable master. He never left Tronscar without his magnificent mount. He was always gratified when his destrier outperformed the dignitaries that accompanied him.

Aleksi stepped close to Magnus's side and said tactfully, "He muttered something about not trusting warriors from Tronscar."

"You must understand that the man did not have a good experience with Norrlanders, Aleksi. Tell him I will come find him at the alehouse after the meeting concludes and buy him a brew."

"I remember the man, my jarl. He is . . ." Aleksi hesitated, his manner increasingly abnormal for the uncompromising man. "Something with him is not right. Should you trust him? Could he be a spy as once suspected?"

Magnus shook his head, about to explain how that was not possible. "What exactly did he say?"

"I only spoke to him for a moment. He said he'd completed the trade shipment Tero assigned him last week. Then he mumbled something about elkhounds sent to Lylasku."

"Where is he?"

"By the small boats."

Magnus yanked the reins out of the stable master's hands and swung his leg over his horse and charged for the dock. But before he could find Otso, Otso found him.

The Finn stomped down the dock toward Magnus, his arms pumping up and down out in front of him.

"I see your men put on Valto's ship," Otso shouted in Magnus's face. "You keep your steel, Jarl Magnus. I go back fishing. I not work for man I not trust."

Magnus grabbed the man's collar and raised him up. "Tell me what you are here to say." He tossed the man to the ground, his horse snorting and stomping, eager to have his turn in the fight.

Snarling, pointing his finger, Otso said, "Your men load Katia, Lida, and dog on ship. You say to me that girl not sent back, you lie, but I not know why-"

"When?" Words, sounds, the sun in the sky faded to black. A pulsing pressure built behind his eyes.

"I see Valto take hold of Lida. She give you sons, now she is nothing to you?" Otso spat in the dirt.

Magnus was no longer listening to the enraged Finnish man. His mind had unraveled. "Aleksi!" he shouted. Aleksi ran toward him with a dozen of his men trailing behind. Magnus pointed to them. "Assemble the fleet. Have the horses loaded. We sail for Lylasku. Tronscar is under attack. Go now!" He thrust out his arm. "I will have words with my king." Magnus plowed through the throngs of people toward the palace. "You." He grabbed Otso by the back of the neck. "I may need your words."

Magnus dragged the trusted spy behind him. He slammed the palm of his hand against the cedar doors, pushing them open, and entered the chamber filled with the delegations from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Saxony.

"Aye, you are overdue, cousin, we have been waiting to hear-" the king began, standing as he spoke.

"I come to collect Tero and inform you that I leave for Finland this hour." He turned and pointed at the jarl of Turku. "I will destroy Lylasku in a few days' time. We depart, Tero."

"Magnus, what is the meaning of this?" his cousin called out.

"Lyyski has declared war on Norrland." He did not bother to look back.

With Tero by his side, he made a straight line for the port. "You will take twenty men and return to Tronscar. You will send me a report on what has transpired. Assess and send two hundred men across the gulf if you have no immediate threats. I will take fifty ships and one thousand men to Lylasku." They reached the small karve boats to row out to the larger cargo ships that were moored offshore.

"Knutson!" Count Charles tripped over his feet trying to catch up.

Magnus gestured to the man to begin rowing.

"Is your wife well?" the count yelled.

"I will not discuss my family with you-"

"She is my blood, Knutson. I have a right. She is my niece!" Count Charles blurted out. "I will explain. May my ships follow? May I travel with you?"

Magnus gestured for him to get in the small boat.

The sea breeze snapped at Klara's nose and ears, stripping away the warmth from the autumn sun. She adjusted the high collar of her snow fox fur cloak. Standing on top of a large red rock, she gazed down at the small wharf, monitoring the arrival of the ships from Tronscar.

Janetta stood next to her, wearing a matching cloak. "That did not take him very long."

"It was too fast. She's up to something." Klara focused her eyes on Lida, who walked up the green lawns with her nose high up in the air, her little brat at her side.

"Doesn't matter," Janetta said. "She can't order us around in our hall. She sits below us now." Klara sighed. Her daughter, like her sons, had no concept of strategy.

"There have only ever been three people in my life that I have feared," Klara said. "My father, a knife-happy cook I served under once, and that Finnish bitch. Never underestimate your enemies, Janetta." Klara smiled to her daughter. "After you take your place as mistress of this house, you can crow. Valto hasn't wed you yet."

"He will. He promised, just as soon as he returned."

"Beauty fades with each passing season. What never fades is power and gold. Keep your focus on what is truly important."

Her daughter waved to her potbellied paramour. He waved in return, and her daughter began to pick up the hem to her cloak to rush to meet him.

Klara grabbed her arm. "Let him come to you," she said quietly.

"Valto," her daughter called out. When he reached them, Janetta cast her arms out, flinging herself at Valto. "My prince, I thought I might die from loneliness."

"Beautiful day, Klara." Valto greeted her with a half nod.

"I see your chattel has arrived, but not all of your cargo. Where are the infants?" Klara asked.

Her daughter rubbed herself up against the man, distracting him from giving Klara his report.

"Axel thought it right they stay in Tronscar. Said to tell you he would take care of his dominion," Valto said while ogling Janetta's chest.

"She just left them, no argument?" Klara asked.

"She put up some fuss. But she was never one for arguing."

"I finished my gown, my prince," Janetta interrupted. "And the priest has returned from Korstrom. We can wed tonight." Her daughter had no concept of timing.

"I will speak to my mother and see what she has arranged," Valto answered.

"Your mother?" Janetta recoiled.

"Aye. How is my father faring?" Valto addressed Klara. "Did the herbs you gave him help?"

"They brought him great relief for his stomach pain. If it is God's will, he will recover," Klara lied. The amount of stupidity in this fortress astonished her. 'Twas a wonder they had not been overthrown sooner. The poison she gave the chief would take at least a few more days to work. His foul wife kept diluting the potency of the tonic by overwatering him.

"We shall wed as soon as Father is able to attend." Valto kissed her daughter's hand.

"That might not be for months," her daughter pouted.

"Patience, my beauty. Patience," Valto said. He turned to leave. "Mother insisted I bring Lida straight to Father." He smirked and strolled toward the red stone fortress.

"This is so unfair. That snotty brat and her mother will have a place of honor equal to ours. I wish we could just kill her already and get on with it."

"Patience, girl. If we move too quickly, before shoring up support, we will risk it all."

"Dag will take care of it."

"Your idiot brother is uncontrollable. Unleash him at the wrong time and we'll lose our advantage. Think ahead." Klara ground her teeth, frustrated with her daughter. "We need Valto and his men, for now. Which means we need Helika too. Once they have both served their purpose, then you can do what you like."

"I hate that old crow. She had me scrub her scaly old skin in the sauna yesterday. I lost my appetite for the entire day."

"You won't have to deal with her for much longer. The bishop's men will be arriving in a few days. Casper is ready with the Slavic ship-they're camped in the south inlet. After the brat has been kidnapped and the abduction blamed on the Slavic pirates spotted off the coast, full-fledged war will break out, and you know what happens in wars?"

Janetta smiled. "Jarls can die in wars, just as easily as any man. Doesn't matter if the blade that slays him comes from his enemy or his trusted squire. After a battle, all dead warriors look the same."

"And Axel will have Tronscar, and you, my girl, will have this miserable city to make into something grand," Klara said.

Lida followed as Helika lead them out of the chief's chamber. The older woman was limping, her shoulders hunched. She seemed to have shrunk over the years. Or perhaps it was that Lida held her head up higher.

From the balcony rail, Lida overlooked the debauched hall. Valto's men were past the point of merry revelry and had entered into the fighting, vomiting, and passing out portion of the evening. Her hand grew sweatier as she clutched the dagger concealed in the secret pocket of her gown. She wrapped her other arm around her daughter and pulled her in closer.

"Did that satisfy you?" Helika spoke with the same amount of bitter hatred she had always held for Lida.

She was referring what had taken place just moments before. The chief had clung to Katia's hand, pleading forgiveness before he faced his son in the afterlife. Her brave, sweet girl had stroked the dying man's hand and said that there was naught to forgive, that her mother had not raised her to begrudge anyone. The chief wept bitterly, pleading for forgiveness nonetheless, which Katia had freely given before the chief had drifted into unconsciousness. From his gray skin, sour smell, and labored breathing, Lida expected his suffering would soon be over. His death was perhaps only days away.

"Why did you truly come here?" Helika hissed. "To gloat, to rub his face in his shame before his miserable death?"

Lida drew Magnus's spirit into her heart and spoke with his power and conviction. "Nay." She would not cower, nor flinch. "I want nothing more than to leave this island forever. Your son brought us here with a signed decree from the bishop. I will gladly depart if you will have Katia released-"

"What decree?" Helika demanded.

"The bishop's decree, demanding the return of the chief's granddaughter. Valto went so far as to state that I stole her from the chief. When Jarl Magnus hears of this, you know what he will do, don't you? It will be war with Norrland, Helika. Are you so blind with your contempt for me that you believe Lylasku can defend itself against the jarl's fleet?"

The old woman's eyes grew wide, clearly overwhelmed with the new information. "You lie. You were always a liar." With growing dread, Lida realized Helika was no longer in command nor control of her son.

Lida tucked Katia under her arm and moved quickly to their assigned chamber at the end of a long dark corridor. "Come, my love." She tugged her daughter inside and shut the door behind them.

"Mama?" Katia said in a low voice. "I miss my real family. My father's family is strange, and they all smell sour and in need of a bath."

Lida's hands shook as she slid the thin wood bar across the door. "I miss our real family as well," she said. A kick from an average-sized man would knock the door in. She needed to find a new place to hide tomorrow. Perhaps she could find a friend among Otso's brothers.

Lida clutched an arm across her full breasts. Were her sons hungry? Were they cold? What if she never saw them again and they grew into men thinking their mother had abandoned them? They would scorn her for sending them away, scorn all of womankind for it, just as her husband had done. Would they ever understand the impossible choice she'd had to make in letting them go? Would that matter to them?

"Jarl Magnus will come get us soon, Mama. We needn't worry." Katia patted her hand. Lida circled her arms around her daughter and pressed her into her chest.

"Of course he will, my love. Of course he will," she said.

Chapter 28.

The violent temper of the Gulf of Bothnia rivaled Magnus's own. The frothing green sea bit violently at their ships' hulls. There was a certain satisfaction that came with knowing the old gods were equally enraged. Night and day, Magnus pushed his fleet to row and sail with a collective bloodthirsty determination. He had moored half of his fleet in the safe harbor of Upland in order to conserve manpower. With clear skies, they navigated by the stars and sailed through the night. By Otso's calculations, this would be the eighth night his wife and daughter had been held, unprotected, in Lyyski's hands.

His fingernails dug deeper into the handle of the tiller.

"May I speak with you, Jarl Magnus?" The Danish ambassador approached the helm.

Magnus had no interest in another man's ideas of how he treated his men or sailed his ship. He still wasn't clear as to why Count Charles had insisted on coming, nor why his four ships followed close behind.

"I have no time for your words, Dane. We land in Lylasku before midday."

"We've made excellent time." The Count nodded and glared out over the surging sea. He displayed no signs of concern for the crashing waves or the relentless pelting of sea spray on his face.

"If you should require more men or ships, I will send for my additional ships in Turku, or for a fleet of pirates in the south that owe me a few favors. Will it come to that, you think? I do not have much knowledge of this Lyyski chief. Is he very powerful?"

"At one time, Lyssku had some strength, but that was lost many years ago," Magnus said. "They are primarily fishermen. They have no defenses. It will take but a foot on their shore and they will be crushed beneath us."

"That confident? Beware that you do not miss a step. Pride usually comes before a fall," the count said.

Magnus squinted his eyes. Where had he heard that before . . . Katia? "How have you been misled into believing my wife is your niece? As I explained to you months ago, she is the daughter of a lowborn farmer in Turku. He does not even hold land along the shoreline."

"He does now."

"Speak what you have to say. I have no time for your games."

"I gifted my brother-in-law the land connecting his farm to the port. He is a proud man and would not accept gold. Twas the least I could do for all he had done for my family. Ingerid, Lida's mother, she is my sister. She is the twin to my sister Caecilia, who by chance is married to your second cousin Errik in Denmark."

"Why are you discovering this now?" Magnus asked.