Blood Moon| The Last Kingdom| Sihtric Kjartansson

TWENTY

☾

"They are watching us," Saga muttered under her breath, swinging her axe again, chopping a block of wood in half.

"Let them watch," I picked at the skin on my hands, removing splinters from my palms. I sat on the fence as Saga took over the work from me. "We are nice to look at."

A few feet away, Uhtred and his men were fixing up the roof of a house that had been damaged in the winter, their eyes casting to us over and over again.

Henrick had left right before dawn, right after he had sacrificed a crow in the pit, and Olav had stayed in the pit, praying for us all.

"I would prefer," Saga huffed as she slammed her axe down, nearly splitting the stump we were using to balance wood, "if they minded their own business."

Uhtred had been very curious about Henrick's sudden departure. He had sent Sihtric and Osferth to us at dinner, trying to coax information out of us. It had failed, and now, we were regarded with suspicion.

"Perhaps they have a right to know," I shrugged, dropping my hands to the fence, "this is Uhtred's land, after all."

Saga snorted, picking up another piece of wood, "Perhaps not. Does land mean you are a God? Uhtred is just another man. We owe him nothing."

"He did not let Edward kill us," I countered, trying to decide as we spoke what my course of action would be.

"Edward," Saga brought her axe down again, "is a boy. Uhtred had to say no once, and Edward tucked his tail between his legs."

"Has Uhtred not been kind to us?"

Saga let the blade of her axe sink into the stump, letting it balance there while she wiped her forehead with her arm. "Sihtric has been kind. Osferth and Hild have been kind. Finan has been decent." She paused, dropping her arm, "Uhtred has been a Saxon."

"You do not trust him?" My heart jumped slightly, and I tightened my grip on the fence.

"No," Saga shrugged, grabbing her axe again and wrenching it out of the stump, "and you should not either. The baby king has a hold on him, as Alfred had a hold on him."

I slid down from the fence, turning my back to the men, "You speak of the punishment Edward wishes to give us?"

Saga nodded curtly, lining up more wood again.

I trusted Saga more than I trusted anyone in the whole world. She was too clever to be deceived, and if she thought Uhtred was under the boot of the new king, we were not safe here. "What do you wish to do?"

Saga watched as the split wood fell to two sides, her face set in a grim frown, "I wish to return to Daneland."

"Dunholm?" I asked, stooping to pick up wood and move it to the pile we had made.

"No," Saga shot back swiftly, "it's too dangerous. I was thinking we join a new Jarl or form our own camp."

"Where?" I wondered. If we returned to Northumbria, Daga would surely seek us out.

"Eoferwic," Saga grumbled, "Mercia. Anywhere we are amongst our own and do not have the fear of a boy king looming over us."

"Henrick will want us to fight for the fortress of Dunholm," I reminded her. Henrick was not one to give in once he settled on an idea.

"And when we have our own camp with horses and swords, we can fight," Saga huffed, abandoning her axe on the stump to face me. "But right now, we can barely afford to travel from one town to the next. War with Daga will have to wait."