Page 54 of Beholden
I noted their familiar faces, all of them from the mine pits, including Vilmar’s manservant. Their presence here meant they’d gained their freedom along with Vilmar. How had they all done it?
And now they were in grave danger by coming ashore while Grendel was still raging.
Perhaps if Grendel killed me first, his thirst for blood and death would be sated, and he’d leave the men alone. Despair wrestled deep within. The reality was, even after he slit my throat, he could still turn around and wipe out the men before they had time to raise a weapon in defense.
Coming to the end of the first verse, I hastily continued with the second, praying my voice would drown out the footsteps of the men closing in around Grendel. At the very least, I prayed he would keep his attention upon me. So far, he hadn’t veered away. He pushed forward, his feet carrying him until he reached the edge of the stone table.
Then he stopped and peered up at me. And I shifted my gaze from the bear head to his face, to his eyes. Through dirty strands of hair, dark eyes regarded me. They were wild and bloodshot, full of fury... and bewilderment.
Had he not heard singing in so long that he’d forgotten what it was? Or perhaps no one had offered him kindness, so he didn’t recognize it. Was it possible he’d been treated as beast for all these years and had lost hope of ever being anything else?
I continued to sing, coming to the end of the second stanza and moving into the third. As I did, I kept hold of his gaze and lifted the song higher. He watched my face intently, his breathing ragged, foam still gathering at his lips.
Slowly I lowered myself until I was kneeling, my face level with his.
He grunted but didn’t move. Instead, some of the fury in his eyes seemed to fade.
Taking courage from the fact that he hadn’t yet sliced me open, I cautiously extended my hand.
Vilmar and the others were only two dozen paces away. They fanned out in a circle, clearly intending to trap Grendel. Several of them carried between them a net made of chain mail, while the others held at the ready an assortment of weapons.
Your knife,Vilmar mouthed while making a slicing motion at his neck.
I knew very well what Vilmar was instructing me to do. He wanted me to use Grendel’s moment of weakness to my advantage, to plunge my knife into the artery exactly the way he’d shown me dozens of times during my training.
But my knife was still sheathed beneath my gown, and right now I’d extended to Grendel kindness, perhaps in a way no one ever had. He glanced down at my hand, then up at my eyes. His confusion was heartbreaking.
I reached out my hand farther, and he grunted an almost worried sound. I tried to offer him a smile of assurance and friendship. Then as his gaze returned to my face, I did the unthinkable. I cupped his cheek.
He stiffened and trembled. For a second I worried I’d gone too far. But as I battled a moment of fear, I forced myself to remain in place. I would rather die wielding kindness than my knife.
Vilmar and the men closed in, which meant I had little time left. I pressed Grendel’s dirty, grizzled cheek and hoped I’d conveyed to him that I saw past the monster to the man he could yet become.
At a soft clinking of the net, Grendel spun away from me. In that instant, Vilmar and the other men sprang upon him, tossing the chain-mail net over him and wrestling him to the ground. He roared with new fury and fought back with the force of a dozen bears.
“Don’t kill him!” I shouted, trying to make myself heard over the yelling and Grendel’s commotion.
No one paid me heed. They were too intent upon subduing Grendel and keeping him from fighting his way free of the net.
I stood, closed my eyes, and once again sang, this time the lullaby Vilmar had shared while we worked to save ourselves when we were trapped in the mine. I didn’t recall all the words, but the tune was one that was familiar in any language, one I hoped Grendel would know.
As my melody rose in volume, Grendel ceased his flailing, letting himself fall to his knees on the ground, the bear head knocked off his head. He craned to see me, and this time, through the chain-mail net, I glimpsed his eyes. Though still bloodshot and wild, the confusion was gone and in its place was sadness. I didn’t have time to read the sadness and discover what it meant. For in the next instant, one of the men brought a bludgeon down upon Grendel’s head, causing him to slump to the ground unconscious.
Vilmar issued sharp instructions, and the men hurriedly worked to bind Grendel’s feet and hands with chains before they wrapped him once more in the chain-mail net. Vilmar shouted further commands to the closest of the queen’s guards—something about securing a cage.
Only then, did I become aware of the cheering from the audience above. I glanced up, and many were hugging and openly weeping, so great was their relief.
One stood apart from the others. Having risen from her throne, Queen Margery held herself rigidly, her fingers gripping her goblet so tightly that it shook. Though the darkness of the midnight hour provided some cover, the cold anger in her expression was clear enough. We’d put an end to her cruel custom, and now, without the fairest maiden’s heart, she would have no way to continue her alchemy.
As her attention shifted from the placid Grendel to the princely Vilmar and then to me, our gazes connected.
I rose, straightened my shoulders, and lifted my chin, unwilling to cower before her any longer. I’d accomplished what I set out to do, but in a way I never anticipated. Wasn’t that the way of kindness? That it brought results in the manner least expected? I could only pray that, in heaven above, my father was looking down upon me proudly.
The queen stared fiercely even as she called out to one of the knights standing guard near her throne. He stepped forward, bowed, and leaned in for her instructions. As he straightened, he followed her gaze to me and then to Vilmar. He hesitated only a moment before he nodded and strode away.
She wouldn’t dare arrest us tonight, would she? Not with all these people looking on and lauding us for capturing Grendel? What explanation could she possibly give everyone for taking us captive?
I wanted to toss aside my fears, but I already knew what the queen was capable of doing when threatened. And I suspected we wouldn’t be safe until we were far away from her clutches.
