“Sentimental?”
Lord Sutherland appeared about to explode, but released his breath and frowned.
“If there is any sentiment attached to this knife, it comes from my family.”
“Your family?” Nils asked.
“Why yours?”
“Because this knife once belonged to our family.
It was stolen from the Sutherlands during the upheaval of the Civil War nearly 150 years ago.”
He frowned at
Randolph
.
“Do not look so shocked.
You know as I do that it was a member of the Denner family who stole it.”
Randolph
stared at the floor like a naughty child.
“Yes, but because—”
“The reasons why it was stolen and the reasons why the Sutherlands did not demand it back at the conclusion of the war mean nothing now,” Lord Sutherland said in his sternest tone, the one that all his children had learned to heed.
Apparently
Randolph
recognized it as well.
He hung his head farther and nodded.
“That is true.
King Charles I is long dead.”
“As were those who rose against him.
The past should be buried along with those who lived it.”
Linnea grasped Nils’s arm as he flinched.
She wanted to reassure him that Papa was not speaking of him, but how could she comfort him without revealing the truth?
“And,” her father continued, “we should be thinking of the future.
It seems right to me that in the future this knife should be where it belongs.
There are ancient Sutherland family legends that speak of this blade being stolen from our family once before.
Centuries ago.
When the Vikings were prowling these shores, but apparently it was found again after the Conquest.”
He looked at Nils.
“I would like to speak to you and Dr. Foster about that,
Barrington
.
You may be able to help me sort out the facts from the legend about the Viking chieftain who came here to attack, but fell in love with an Englishwoman and stayed.”
“Yes...yes, I would be happy to,” Nils replied.
Lord Sutherland put the knife beneath his coat.
“I came to tell you that we are about to take our leave.
Minnie is not feeling well.”
A smile nearly exploded across his face.
“I should let her share the happy news, but it seems she is going to have a baby.
She needs to be resting quietly.”
“We will be right there, Papa,” Linnea said.
While
Randolph
trotted after her father like an eager puppy aiming to please, Linnea faced Nils.
“Now you know why,” she said, “Minnie could not travel with us to
London
.”
“
This
is the secret you were keeping?”
“It might not have been a vow as grand as a blood-oath, but it mattered to me.
I did what I vowed to do.”
He stroked her cheek.
“As I did what I vowed I would do.
I saw the knife that my brother stole in jealousy returned to my chieftain.”
“What?”
“I told you that my chieftain was sometimes called
Suthrland
.”
“I do not remember that.”
“You may not remember because it was when you were trying to save my life, and I was making yours miserable.”
“And succeeding very well.”
His smile broadened.
“My chieftain’s name was Suthrland, but it might have become Sutherland as the years unfolded.
The names are almost the same, so, in playing a part in bringing the
sax
back into your father’s possession, I have returned the knife to the man who has the closest claim to my chieftain in this time.”
“I do not understand.
Papa said the knife was already returned to my family so many years ago.”
“True, but then it was stolen again.”
“By Randolph’s ancestor.”
“By a Denner.”
He rubbed his chin, then grinned when he realized he was copying Dr. Foster’s pensive pose.
“Denner may very well be a name that came from the word ‘Dane,’ which was what the
Norrfoolk
often were called by the English during the reign of Ethelred.
If his family line comes from a wayward Viking who remained here to escape the fury of his countrymen...”
“You think one of
Randolph
’s ancestors was your brother?” she asked, guessing the course of his thoughts.
He shrugged.
“It is possible.
Or even Kortsson’s son’s son, down through the centuries.
I doubt if we will ever know for certain, but it would make sense that I was brought to this time rather than when the
Normans
came to claim the English throne.
Then the knife was recovered, but it was destined to be taken again.
Maybe by my brother’s seed.
It was not until this time that the knife could be found by me and returned to my chieftain, once and for all, to serve my oath.”
“So now you can go back to your own year.”
Her eyes grew heavy with tears, and she did not wipe them away as they fell onto her cheeks.
“Once I hoped your time here would be brief, Nils, but I wish you could stay.”
“Linnea, I—”
With a curse, he pushed her behind him as a flash of light filled the small room.
The light glittered off the glass case and threatened to blind them as Nils had been at
Sutherland
Park
.
When Linnea tried to move, he kept himself between her and the glow that was ebbing to reveal a woman she had never seen before.
“‘Tis Freya,” he whispered.
“The light is coming from the splendid necklace about her neck.
It is the Brisingamen, the necklace that she bedded four dwarfs to possess.”
“Your quest is complete.”
Freya held out her hand.
“Your reward awaits you in
Valhalla
, Nils Bjornsson.”
“No!” cried Linnea, for the goddess was speaking in English.
To taunt her?
Linnea did not care what Freya’s reasons were.
Not when Freya was offering to take Nils away to a place where Linnea would never see him again.
“His reward for his fealty should not be death.”
Freya’s lip curled in derision.
“Be silent!
You are not of the
Norrfoolk
.
You may have some of their blood, but your thoughts are those of an Englishwoman.
You do not understand the honor done to him in offering him this seat at the right hand of Odin.”
Hearing Nils’s sharp intake of breath, Linnea bit her lip.
She loved him.
She had told him that she loved him, that she was willing to sacrifice herself to allow him to return to his time.
How could she stand between him and this glory that he had aspired to from the moment he took his warrior’s oath?
“Why do you say nothing, Nils Bjornsson?” asked Freya, her voice once more a satisfied purr.
“
She
does not understand the honor awaiting you, but you do.”
“Yes, I do.”
Linnea glanced at him again, tearing her eyes away from Freya’s unbelievable beauty.
His voice was as unemotional as if he were speaking of the weather.
Less, for he had exulted in the play of the wind around them, always aware of how a breeze could send his ship across the waves.
“So come with me, Nils Bjornsson.”
Again Freya offered her hand.
“I asked you to send me your handmaiden to help me complete my quest, Freya.”
He bowed deeply.
“I thank you for heeding my plea.
You have brought Linnea into my life, and I thank you for that as well.”
“You thank the wrong one,” said a warm voice.
Linnea stared as another form took shape beside Freya.
This woman was tall and had thick blond hair.
She wore a simple gown that was decorated with the complex pattern of embroidery that belonged to the
Norrfoolk
.
At her waist were a set of iron keys hooked to a simple chain, but she wore a necklace even more glorious than the one Freya had.
In amazement, Linnea realized she had seen this woman before...every time she climbed the stairs leading up from the front foyer of
Sutherland
Park
.
“You are the woman in the oldest portrait hanging in my father’s house!”
The woman smiled. “Then I had another name, but, Nils Bjornsson, you know me as Frigga.”
“We are honored that you are here.”
Nils dropped to his knees, bowing his head.
He had seen the painting, but he had not connected it with anyone in
Asgard
.
The carvings he had seen of Frigga had not resembled this woman.
“Frigga?”
Linnea gripped his shoulder, not sure if her abruptly weak knees could hold her.
“You are Frigga, Odin’s wife?
But you look just like the woman in my family’s gallery.”
Frigga stretched out her hand.
When Linnea hesitated, the goddess said in her melodious voice, “Do not fear, child.
You have long been drawn to learning more about me and the times before now.”
“Yes.”
She placed her fingers on the goddess’s and knelt.
Frigga put her hand on Linnea’s head, and a gentle warmth radiated through her.
“You are not Freya’s handmaiden, daughter of Suthrland, for you bear within you the blood of one who served me well when the Nine Worlds were born.
On that day, my handmaiden chose to surrender her immortality for the love of a mortal.
The sons and daughters she gave him have proven to be fruitful.”
She smiled.
“I have watched over my handmaiden’s children, and I am not pleased to have others interfere with one of them.”
Freya grumbled something, flouncing her robes.
Vexation flitted through her eyes.
“So it is as Loki warned me.”
She pointed to Nils who was coming to his feet.
“You have many powerful
Midgard
, Nils Bjornsson.
I should have realized that when you were snatched from the
Valkyrja
to come to this time.
When next I deal with this world, I shall ascertain what the will of the residents of
Asgard
is first.”