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Author's Chapter Notes:
Wow the reviews I received really made my day, many many thanks.
One extra note, this fic is dated around 900 AD, anything you may have read to the contrary is a product of me doing two lots of research at the same time, sorry
The men left William, Tara and Harmony alone for the rest of the day. They sheltered in the lee of the prow, trying to keep out of the way of everyone and everything. Sails, wind, spray, everything seemed out to get them. Tara kept snuggled into his side; William tried to keep them as warm as he could with his thin cloak. Tara was grateful for his kindness, but not Harmony: she was trying to catch the eye of every other man aboard. She was flirting, with Vikings; flirting, the idiot.

Tara couldn’t believe it, the only way they had to stay alive was to cause as little trouble as possible but Harmony was flirting, batting her eyes at every man who looked her way. The looks of contempt told William what the men thought of her behaviour. He’d seen similar looks on his brothers’ faces, normally to the detriment of the woman concerned.

Tara spent her time looking at the sea, watching the changing colours, from grey to green to the deepest blue, the clear sky reflected in the waves, and the sun glinting off the water as though it were covered in gems. It fascinated her, she could taste the salt in the air as the spray became part of the air she was breathing. The birds were flying before them screaming at one another, diving in and out of the water, fighting over the fish they had caught. There seemed to be other, large fish following the boat, playing in and out of the spray they made where they cut through the ocean. The ship seemed to glide effortlessly through the blue, dancing over the waves, becoming a part of the very water they crossed.


She felt a presence by her side and looked round, into the brown eyes of Connor: he was smiling at her.

‘You looked cold, I brought you this.’ He handed her a sheepskin: it was huge, bigger than any she’d seen before, and thicker than the ones she’d had on her own sleeping area.

‘You can sit on it, it will warm you more from under,’ he explained almost shyly. ‘We all use them, and this is my spare. I thought it might be big enough for you and William.’ He purposely didn’t use Harmony’s name.

‘Thank you.’ Tara smiled, taking the sheepskin from him; she put it down on the wood of the hull, stroking its dark thick fleece, it seemed very different from any other fleece she’d ever seen. She pulled it close into the side of the boat and sat back down.

Connor turned to look at the water, ignoring Harmony completely although she was screeching for a fleece of her own.

‘Tell your friend to shut up,’ Connnor’s voice had gone hard, granite hard, he obviously had little time for the annoying blond. ‘If she annoys us much more she won’t make it to shore: we’ll leave her for Ran to deal with,’ he told William.

William hushed at Harmony again, who was still complaining at the favouritism shown Tara.

‘I should get the skin, she’s got more lard on her than I have, I feel the cold more.’ Harmony started running a hand up and down Connor’s arm, totally ignoring the look he gave her. Tara turned away, the hurt showing in her soulful eyes.

William reached up to Harmony. ‘Lady Harmony, I don’t think he likes you touching him.’

She shrugged off William’s hand. ‘Don’t you touch me,’ she hissed at him, ‘you’ll spoil everything!’

Connor shrugged off the offending hand and threw it away from him, hurting Harmony’s shoulder. He then grabbed Harmony’s chin forcefully.

‘Keep acting like a cheap whore and I’ll treat you like one,’ he spat at her. ‘Your kind is only good for one thing and I’m not in the mood, but if you are that desperate I’m sure I can find half a dozen others who are. You want that, hmm?’ His hand roughly shoved her away from him.

Connor turned back to Tara. ‘Lady, would you check my arm again for me?’ He asked gently as if nothing had gone before.

Tara nodded and carefully undid the bandage. The wound was looking better already, the redness seemed to be easing and the wound looked clean.

‘It s-s-s-eems better,’ she said, carefully rebandaging the arm, embarrassed that her stammer had come back to haunt her. It was the bane of her life and always came when she was most nervous.

Connor smiled again at her and thanked her quietly. There seemed, to Tara at least, two different Connors: one was gentle and kind and the other terrified her. Connor looked straight at William and started speaking in Latin. ‘You sure the women can’t understand me?’

‘Tara speaks a little, but if you speak quickly she’s not able to follow us.’ Connor nodded again.

‘Tell the screecher that I’m not joking, if she continues to tempt my men one of them will take her up on her offer, and as she’s not the sort you keep, at least three will have to enjoy themselves with her to prevent her claiming one as father to the child; do you understand me?’

William looked at the warrior in front of them, he was trying to help but William had little experience of women, he didn’t really understand what Connor was saying.

‘I’m not sure,’ was his reply.

‘If she keeps flirting and tempting them, they will have her, willing or no, and they will share her, willing or no, so if she doesn’t stop flirting with everyone on board she will be screaming tonight, is that blunt enough for you?’

William’s face went white. Yes-s-s,’ he stuttered, terrified. How was he going to tell Harmony?

It took a while for William to choose his language. Harmony was shocked, she had honestly thought she was making headway with their captors, but she finally understood the threat.

It was heading for night again when they spotted shore. It was a wooded cove with a clear beach and the ship seemed to be headed straight for it. Tara was terrified they were going to crash: the boatmaster had lined them up directly with the sandy beach and was heading towards it at speed.

The ship made its way right up the beach and onto the sand, all the men falling gracefully to leeboardside (left), the steerboard made safe from the impact by the weight of all the men leaning on the leeboards.

William watched as five or so of the men jumped down and headed further up the beach, roping off the dragonboat. Another, Xander, was heaving an iron pot over the side of the boat. It was the work of a short hour for a fire to be burning on shore, and the sail to have been turned around, lengthways down the ship forming a tented structure.

Connor turned to William as he passed weapons and mail down to the men on the beach.

‘We are stopping here for the night, there is no-one for miles. We know this part of the coast well and you would get nowhere. Your word that you won’t run or I hobble the three of you.’

‘You have my word’ William said and turned to the two women. ‘He says we either give him our word not to run or he hobbles us and keeps us tied up.’

Tara and Harmony looked scared.

‘We won’t run, we promise don’t we Harmony?’

‘I suppose so,’ came the sullen reply, she was still angry at her earlier treatment.

Connor leapt down lightly onto the sand and carried the weaponry towards the fire.
Xander called them down onto the beach. William went to the edge: it was quite a jump down. Tara took a deep breath and steadied herself against his arm. She sat on the top strake of the ship and swung her legs over, ready to jump, when she found herself in the strong arms of Connor, lifting her carefully down and setting her on her feet. He then reached up an arm for William. Harmony was complaining again. William turned and tried to help her down as well, but it wasn’t good enough. One of the men wandered over and reached up for her. Harmony gratefully accepted his help, but screamed when he grabbed at her breast and bottom, groping her on her way to the sand.

Connor released Tara from his arms and growled something in his own language. The other man laughed, but let Harmony go.

The three of them went towards the fire. There was a ring of huge logs and they found Xander had prepared a good thick bean and sausage stew. William was handed a good bowlful, along with a loaf of rough bread that had been warmed by the fire.

‘Share between you and there is honey for the bread when you’re ready,’ Xander told them in broken Saxon.

William nodded his thanks and took the bowl over to where Tara and Harmony were sitting. The stew tasted different from the food they got at home, but it was good and filling. They quickly finished off their share and a jug of clean spring water was offered them.

Xander pointed to the pot. ‘There’s more,’ he said, ‘if you’re still hungry.’

None of the three prisoners were used to second helpings, and here, in the fading light, far north of their usual home, they were fed better than when they sat at their fathers' tables.

The night was peaceful, but the morning was overcast and miserable. The shipmaster, Olaf, took the decision to stay on shore for the day. He and Connor needed time to go through their haul from Lindisfarne and see what they had managed to find. The bags were sorted out in the tent aboard the ship, the thick woollen sails keeping the wet and weather off the people sheltering underneath.

Tara tried to keep out of Harmony’s way. It was surprising that after only a few days at sea, she was being treated better by the men around her than by the woman she was supposed to have so much in common with.

Silver and gold was laid out on the chests, clearly in view of everyone. Connor emptied three big sacks of all the silver and the little gold they had stolen.

William was horrified at the amount that had been taken. There was a King’s Ransom set out before them. The offerings and donations to the monastery. There was even a Bible amongst the haul.

‘That could go on the fire!’ One of the men said. ‘Vellum’s not worth much.’ He went to throw the sheets onto the fire when William stopped him. Connor was surprised that William had made a move against them, he hadn’t seemed the type.

‘It’s worth a lot of money,’ William said quietly.

‘Money?’

‘Yes, I made those and the nobility pay a great deal for them, it would be worth trading.’

‘Thank you: we will keep it and see if we can make money on it.’

The man who had aimed it into the fire grunted and put the Book to one side.

William stroked the book and tried to picture himself back in the scriptorium. He couldn’t. He was shaken from his reverie by the sound of Tara gasping as the last few bits were set out. William tried to stop her as her hand went forward to a tiny gold cross on a fine chain sitting in the middle of the pile of silver and gems. Tara’s eyes were filled with tears: even Harmony stopped talking for a short time as she watched in amazement as Tara reached for that tiny cross and picked it up. One of the crew went to say something but Connor held up his hand to silence him. Tara realised what she’d done and fled to the prow of the ship.

Connor looked at William. ‘What happened?’

‘I really don’t know, I’ve never seen her react like that.’

Connor followed her up to the prow. ‘Tell me.’ It was not a request.

‘That c-cross was my m-mother’s. My father had prom-mised it to me as part of m-my dowry; like all other prom-mises to me it seems he broke t-that one as well.’

There were tears in her eyes as she told him, ‘he promised me so much, there was a man I l-liked, but my father ob-bjected to him, then arranged his m-marriage to my sister. I always tried to be a d-dutiful d-daughter, but he was never happy with me, after my m-mother died he wanted me to fulfil all her duties.’ She looked straight at Connor as she said that. ‘Luckily my m-mother’s father confessor s-suggested that I go to Lindisfarne until my w-wedding w-was arranged.’

Connor looked at Tara, for some reason this gentle healer had touched his heart. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. He turned and made his way back down the ship. He picked up the cross and went back to Tara. He placed the cross into her palm.

‘I will keep your father’s promise: your mother’s cross is yours.’ He kissed her curled fingers and walked away without looking back.





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