Page 42 of Summer of the Viking

‘Here you go.’ The farmer swung the door open. ‘For a steward, you are not very talkative. I was going to suggest sharing a tankard of ale, but I presume you are in too much of a hurry.’

Valdar raised a brow. ‘My lady would take a dim view of such behaviour.’

The farmer’s face flushed. ‘No harm meant.’

‘No offence taken.’

The surprisingly small barn was empty except for the fresh hay piled up against the wall. Valdar walked outside and checked that his eyes had not deceived him. From the outside it appeared as if it should be much larger.

The farmer watched with a slight insolent grin.

‘Do you only use this during the wintertime?’ Valdar asked, keeping his face carefully neutral. He thought he could hear the faint baa of a sheep, but he couldn’t be certain.

‘The cows are out on the pasture in the summer. Sheep as well. It is how we do things around here.’

‘And the straw? Any particular reason why it is piled against the back wall?’

‘Best place for it.’ The farmer rubbed his hands together. ‘Now, if you have seen what you need to...’

Valdar walked over to the straw and a vague memory surfaced. His father used to tell a story about a man who had a series of trapdoors and secret hiding spaces in his storerooms. It made no sense to have the straw there. He tilted his head, listening, trying to catch the sound of baaing sheep again. Nothing but his instinct told him that there was more to this than the farmer wanted to share. ‘What else is the barn used for?’

‘Nothing in the summer. In the winter, I keep the animals in here. My lady knows all about the arrangement. I am one of her better farmers—or I was until she had to relinquish these lands to pay her debts. Lord Edwin approves as well.’

‘I see. Then you won’t mind me moving the straw. I want to be able to give a good accounting of myself to Owain and my lady.’ Without waiting for an answer, Valdar walked over and began to move it away.

The farmer began complaining about how Lady Alwynn never questioned him and what a liar and braggart Owain was. Lazy and unreliable. Because he wasn’t from around here, Valdar might not be aware of his neighbour’s reputation. On and on.

The vague irritation Valdar had grew. He might not know Alwynn very well, but instinctively he knew she would not stand for a man using his fists on his wife. He concentrated his anger on moving the straw quickly.

In a few heartbeats, Valdar could see the outline of a door hidden behind the straw. He stopped. The sound of shuffling feet and baaing could be clearly heard. ‘And you say there is nothing behind here.’

The farmer’s eyes widened. ‘I could have sworn...’

‘There are sheep behind that door.’ Valdar drew his sword. ‘Would you mind explaining who they belong to?’

‘Wife!’ He added a few other choice phrases, each filthier than the last. ‘Where did these sheep come from? What have you been hiding from me?’

Valdar clung on to his temper by the slenderest of threads. It was not worth removing the man’s head from his shoulders, a treatment he was sure the man richly deserved. He also couldn’t touch a man who wasn’t his lady’s tenant.

The woman appeared in the doorway and sank to a low curtsy.

‘I was asked to put the sheep there by my husband. I guess I did it wrong.’ The woman visibly flinched at the farmer’s tone. ‘I... That is...we know nothing about it. We never do anything to harm my lady. It is all our sheep. I wanted to hide them from the Northmen.’

‘The Northmen?’

‘They are demons in human form who steal sheep and take them back to their homeland.’ She glanced at her husband for confirmation. ‘Everyone knows that. Now that Lord Edwin and his steward have gone to protect the king...’

‘The Northmen travel across seas in boats. What need do they have of your sheep? Where would they put them on the boats?’ The words burst from Valdar before he had time to consider.

‘How would I know what they want them for!’ she exclaimed. ‘All’s I know is that they take ’em.’

Valdar’s jaw ached from holding back his temper. If he continued on, he would make enemies, not friends. Northmen stealing sheep? What a lie! And Alwynn needed to be here to see the woman and assess her injuries. She also might be able to get to the bottom of the mystery in a way he couldn’t. This man and his wife had been her tenants until recently. She would know the whole story.

Valdar refused to consider that he’d missed Alwynn.

‘Very well, we go to the hall and fetch my lady and see what she thinks of the sheep.’

The farmer puffed out his chest and flexed his knuckles. ‘What are you accusing me of? Those are my sheep. I ain’t going anywhere. You can’t make me.’

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