Chapter 8: I Bring to You Your Bridal Gift

“I trust you bear me no ill-will for the death of your companions, Lady Yuan Fan,” he said, once we were seated.

“None,” I said, simply. “For you did not arrive until after my travelling companions were slain, and in any case, I was their prisoner, and the only death I lament is that of my mei-mei, my maid, for she was with me all my life.”

“It is in my mind that you might hold some feelings of anger to others here.”

“Perhaps not all,” I said, and I turned from him, and I knew this Horsa’s men, I remembered every one of their faces, and my sword was in my hand. “And I swore an oath this day, but it was not to hold to this Yuletide Peace of yours, and now my oath I will fulfill.”

I smiled, and my blade flicked, slicing through the throat of one of Horsa’s men as he staggered past us, so that the red blood sprayed out, and he sank to his knees, his eyes wide and then blank as he fell face down, and at that hour and in the darkness, lit only by the flickering braziers, this was not an uncommon sight for all were now drinking heavily, as was the custom of these men on Yuletide, and so Harald had told me, and he too was drinking now, as heavily as the others.

“Horsa’s men?” Harald asked, and he had not reached for his knife.

I nodded my head. “Every one of them who had a hand in the death of my maid, and the two Magyar girls, for they were kind to me and I will revenge them, and that is every one of Horsa’s men.”

Harald laughed. “You are a woman after my own heart, Princess, and I made an oath for I and my men to keep the Yuletide Peace. I did not make this oath for you, and as long as my men and Bloodaxe’s men are not harmed, I will stand aside from this, but aid you in this I will not, for that would break my oath, and I would be foresworn.”

“Thank you, Lord.” I smiled, and as one of Horsa’s men stumbled by, no doubt to leave the roughly built shelter roofed by wooden logs and the great sail lain over all for a piss, my sword took him through the heart, sliding in and out with delicate precision, and he dropped to the ground, with the limp finality of death.

“Two,” I said. “And but thirty three more to go.”

“This I would see,” Harald Grims-son said. “And I doubt you not, sword-maiden of Wei.”

“Three,” I said, for one bent to his comrade on the floor behind me and my sword took him through neck, so that the red blood sprayed out, his hands clutched at his neck and he sagged to the floor and he was dead with without a sound. “And it is good that you doubt me not, Harald Grims-son, for you are such a man as brings a smile to my lips when the times are indeed grim, for tied as I was before Horsa Önundarson and his men, and about to be sacrificed to this Bloodaxe, did I not laugh as you cut my bonds and handed me my sword with your own hands?”

Harald Grims-son laughed. “You did indeed, and indeed, your laughter brings me joy. It seems to me, Lady Fan, that our humor is of a similar nature, and brought together by fate we have been, for you are such a woman as appeals to me, exotic though your appearance is to these eyes of mine.”

“Four,” I said, and he joined his comrades on the floor.

Now I smiled. “Indeed, Harald Grims-son, and I have never seen a man such as you before, but exotic indeed as you are to these eyes of mine, I find you a man to whom I am greatly attracted, and it seems that I am not destined now to be wed to the Khan of the Western Rouran, or the Khan of the Xiongnu, or indeed to the Khan of those Magyars, and thus fate has led me to this meeting with you.”

I looked at him. “But I am a Princess of Northern Wei, and die by my own hand I would, rather than be other than wife to a man of honor and renown.”

“In my own land, Princess Yuan Fan,” he said, and his voice was slow and thoughtful. “In my own land I might be a King, for in my land a man may raise himself up, and it is our warriors who acclaim us as King, and decide that we are worth following.”

“And you tell me this, why?” I asked, and I was indeed curious now, for this was a man whom I indeed found strangely attractive, although he was such a man as my father would not have welcomed into our Palace, but my father was dead, and I was not there but here, and I was alone, and indeed, I found this bear of a man with his golden mane of hair and his great golden beard strangely attractive.

“Five,” I said, and a fifth joined the bodies on the floor behind me, and they were beginning to become an obstacle.

“Ragnar,” Harald Grims-son called. “These drunks who cannot hold their ale begin to become an obstacle. I would ask you and Thorvald to remove them to where they may lie out of the way whilst they sleep this off.”

Ragnar nodded silently, but his eyes widened, as did this Thorvald’s, for it took neither of them more than a glance to determine that this was a sleep that could not be slept off, and that there would be no awakening for these sleepers, or if there was, it would not be in this world.

“Outside, where they will not be seen,” Harald said, rather more quietly. “And there will be more, for the Lady Fan swore no oath to keep the Yuletide peace and it seems she holds a grudge against Horsa’s men, and to this I have no objection, for they are no kin to me or mine, and I swore no oath to protect them, only to uphold the Yuletide Peace for me and mine, and the Lady Fan is not mine.”

He smiled at me. “Yet.”

I smiled back. “Yet,” and Ragnar and Thorvald were already taking the topmost body out, and the old one-eyed man smiled as they passed him by, but Ragnar and Thorvald said nothing, and it was as if they saw him not.

“A King needs a wife,” Harald Grims-son said. “And a King’s wife should be a woman such as all may respect and fear, for she must rule in her husband’s place when he is absent, as a King of my people often is, and a Princess such as yourself, a sword-maiden from a foreign land, would make such a wife as a King of my folk must be proud of.”

I eyed him, and I considered my fate, alone on the steppe. Shaolin-trained as I was, and now once more reunited with my armor, my sword and my bow, still, I knew my chances for what they were should I journey alone across these grasslands. None, and besides, where would I go? Already I knew that Northern Wei had fallen, and there was nothing for me there, for my father and my brothers had fallen with the Emperor.

To the Magyars? Why would they welcome me? I was nothing to them. A lone girl with no dowry. Would I even find them, on the steppe, in winter, and Xianbei and of the Tuoba Clan and Shaolin-trained as I was, still, I was a girl of the city, not a girl born to the steppe. Out there, alone, on the grasslands in winter, I would die, and the wolves would eat my flesh, as they had eaten the flesh of Horsa Önundarson.

“Harald Grims-son,” I said, for Harald was not then known as Wolfs-Fang. “Is it perhaps that you seek a bride this night?”

“Six,” I added, and my blade took him quickly, sliding between his ribs, piercing his heart and he fell into the arms of Ragnar and Thorvald, who welcomed him as a comrade who had overdone his drinking of the Yuletide ale, and carried him away.

“Never had I thought to meet a woman such as you,” Harald Grims-son said in what seemed to me to be admiration, for I was eyeing Horsa’s men, and they sat at a table of their own, mixing not with Bloodaxe’s men or Harald’s men, and there were but twenty nine of them remaining, and three stood, loudly expressing the need to piss, and I smiled.

“I must needs leave this shelter for a moment, Harald Grims-son,” I said, standing. “But afterwards we will continue to talk.”

“The desire to breath fresh air takes me with you,” he said, standing and following me, but I did not look back, for as soon as the blanket covered the door behind me, I took the head of the first of Horsa’s men, and my blade sliced through cleanly, so that the only warning was the spray of blood in the darkness, and the whistle of air from his wind-pipe, and I took the second as he turned, my blade ripping open his throat, and the third I took with the o-kesa, the downward diagonal cut from the left shoulder to the right hip, for I wished to impress this Harald a little.

My blade cut through bone and body cleanly, and I had practiced this cut on cadavers, under the instruction of my sword master, but never on a living man, but it seemed there was little difference, except that his eyes widened, and the two halves of his body parted and slid away from each other in a limp mass of flesh, a rush of blood and body parts such as I was not overly familiar with.

“Nine,” I said, flicking the blood from my sword and turning.

“Never anger a woman, that’s what I always say.” Ragnar’s voice surprised me, for I knew Harald was behind me, but I had not heard Ragnar, and Thorvald stood with him, and behind them was the old one-eyed man, and he smiled and stepped back inside.

“Ten,” I said, my sword sliding between them and taking another man of Horsa Önundarson’s through the throat as he stepped outside, and as his blood sprayed out, I kicked him in the balls, and as he doubled over and sank to his knees, I took his head.

“This is such a Yule as I have not seen since the wedding of Gunhilde of Rättvik, and Arne of Vättern, which was a terrible wedding, with plenty of drinking and fighting, for when Halfdan of Söderköping turned up uninvited, the groom’s family took great offence, and when insult was offered to Halfdan, he pulled out his knife and the fighting started, for he cried out, “Good evening, are you not going to show me the beautiful tits of Gunhilde?”, and then the fight started at once, and there were so many corpses that the row of them reached from the high table down to the door of the Great Hall, and it seems to me that, without the wedding, this will be such a Yule.”

“There are but twenty five to go,” Harald Grims-son said, and I smiled, for he had been counting too. “And should the Princess Yuan Fan succeed in that which she seeks, it seems to me that there might be a wedding to end the night, if the Princess Yuan Fan accepts my offer.”

“Eleven,” I said, and another of Horsa’s men chewed at the red snow before my foot hammered into his head and crushed his skull, and surely they must notice that their shield-brothers were not returning. “And I have not yet heard an offer, Harald Grims-son.”

“I am somewhat remiss,” Harald Grims-son said. “My thoughts are perhaps wandering due to the ale and this southern wine, and I must ask your forgiveness. It is in my mind, Princess Yuan Fan of Northern Wei, that you would make a man such as myself a wife such as a man like myself would treasure for the span of his years, and as you have no kin to ask this of, I must needs ask you myself for your hand in honorable marriage.”

“I have thought on this myself, Harald Grims-son,” I said. “And I believe you would make a woman such as myself a pleasing husband, and as there is no father or indeed, no brothers, to speak for me, I must answer you myself, and I say this to you. I believe you would make an excellent husband who would treat me with respect, but perhaps I should answer you after I have fulfilled my own oath, for if I agreed now to wed you, Harald Grims-son, and I say now that this offer of yours is one I am amenable to, but should I accept now, it would not be proper for me to slay the men of Horsa who yet remain, for I would then be under your protection, and I would not have you break your oath for you and yours to uphold the Yuletide Peace.”

“Your lady is wise to your honor, Lord,” Ragnar Olafsson said from beside us, and beside him, Orm nodded in agreement.

“Such an answer is indeed what one would expect from such a Lady,” Ragnar continued, and his red-soaked hand stroked his beard, as one deep in thought. “The Lady is mindful of your honor indeed, and I speak for all your men, Lord, for I do not need to ask them on this. We would welcome your wedding to the Lady Fan once she has fulfilled her oath, but it is best that she not accept your offer until her word has been kept, and that is the honorable path for both of you.”

“Your advice on this I accept, Ragnar, for having drunk much ale and wine, and overjoyed as I am by the end of Horsa Önundarson, my thoughts on the Lady Fan are impetuous, for filled am I with longing for this marriage, and indeed you are right, both you, Ragnar, and you, Princess Yuan Fan, and so I will await the completion of your oath with patience.”

I smiled, for in looking on him as a prospective husband, my heart was filled now with joy, for strangely colored as he was, his appearance caused my heart to beat rapidly, and my color to heighten, and I felt that excitement that a woman feels at the sight of a man she wouldst happily and with joy give herself to in marriage, and it was not that I was grateful for my rescue from that ill fate that had befallen my Mei-mei.