Star of Daylight (Book Two of the Viking Series)

CHAPTER TWO - Vander

A/N: THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO ESCARLATAROSA FOR MAKING ME THE BEAUTIFUL COVER FOR STAR OF DAYLIGHT. THOUGH SHE DID NOT KNOW IT, HER ART WAS PERFECT FOR THE STORY. THANK YOU ESCARLATAROSA AND THANK YOU, READERS, FOR GIVING KATA/DAY STAR/STAR OF DAYLIGHT (LOL) A CHANCE :D

At first, I was glad she was gone, but it ate at me that I did not know what happened to Fa. As much as I hated Kata, I loved my father even more. As time went by, though, I began to miss tormenting her. It irked me that she was still alive out there somewhere. Last month, one of my loyal runners had gone to see Uncle Leif, and who should be there, but Lars and Johan.

That was how I received word of my father’s death; three years after the actual occurrence. My immediate response was anger, and I tore the house apart looking for those maps. I know Fa had them somewhere. They were a mark of his journey with Leif, and he knew that was a very special time in his life.

The thought of my father with a woman other than my mother incensed me. Ma had died when I was nine, and father left me with a couple who were supposed to take care of me, but instead, they tormented me and treated me as a slave. They beat me regularly, careful not to leave marks where they could be seen and the news get back to Fa. I do not think he ever knew, because I certainly never told him.

I could not understand why he left me there. I thought he hated me. Valeria and Kirtred were monsters of a different breed, and they made me see the truth of life. As long as I remained defiant, the beatings came regularly. If I did something cruel to someone else, though, they rewarded me. I found myself wanting to make them proud of me. They had seen me as a weakling, but as I grew in size and strength, I made sure to change their opinion of me.

Fa came back when I was twelve summers, and he brought that mewling little brat with him. All she did was cry at first. The only good thing about Fa’s return was that Valeria and Kirtred moved out. Valeria still came to cook and clean, but the beatings stopped, and I felt safer. I had already begun sword training, and as the years went by, I began to rival Fa in my stature and skill. There was only one thing that ruined my happiness, and it was Kata.

That girl took all of Fa’s pride and attention. She was sweet tempered and gentle; and her beauty grew with her. Fa looked upon her with adoration, and I was left in the background. At first, I only wanted to take her down a peg or two, but soon, I began to enjoy tormenting her. It pleased me to see her cry out in pain. I just wanted to make her suffer, but I had to find her first.

Uncle Leif knew about my anger toward her, and would have never given me a map to find her, so it was imperative that I find Fa’s. I was not even allowed to share in his death celebration, and I saw red when I heard second-hand how he died and about the service they had given him at the settlement. My spies had gleaned a great deal by talking with the people in Uncle Leif’s village. I knew Kata’s savage mother was alive, and that Kata had gone to live with her. Cael, my trusty little Gaelic spy, had told me about Kata’s illness in the settlement and the things she had done there.

Erick and Geta had been at Leif’s in Greenland too, and Cael made friends with them of a sort. It was useful that he came from a rich family in Ireland. He knew how to be a proper gentleman, and easily hid the streak of cruelty I so admired in him. He was an oddity among the Norse, being dark haired with piercing green eyes that seemed to see into your very soul. Cael was so different in every way, but he certainly knew how to use it to his own advantage, and Erick had been an easy mark caring about Kata the way he did. He told me how he had wanted to gut him when Erick had spewed out all the love and care he had for her. Cael was lethal with a knife. It would have been interesting and enjoyable to watch, in my opinion.

Cael had told them of his non-existent “friendship” with Kata and that had been all that was needed for Erick and his simple wife to open up to him.  He was able to weasel the location of the settlement out of Erick, but Fa’s maps had to contain at least one of the village’s of the people he married into.