Page 86 of The Outlaw Viking

“Nay, it could not be so,” the woman said, looking to Ubbi who threw out his hands in a “don’t ask me” attitude.

“She sez God sent her to save Selik.”

The Rhoda person’s jaw dropped. “A guardian angel?” she asked Ubbi in a marveling voice.

Good Lord! Rhoda and Ubbi were two of a kind. Rain could imagine Ubbi devouring Rhoda’s National Enquirers in the future and sharing her insatiable appetite for gossip.

“Yea, and I even found a feather in her bed furs one day,” Ubbi disclosed with self-importance.

“Would you two stop talking about me as if I’m not here? I am not an angel. I am a human being, just like you two baboons.”

“Babe-oons?” they asked simultaneously, and Rain snorted with disgust, refusing to expound.

Ubbi explained the dangerous situation at Gyda’s house. Ella agreed readily to have Rain stay with her until the danger passed.

“Please, please come back as soon as possible and tell me what’s happening,” Rain urged Ubbi as he departed. “I’m so worried about Selik. His hatred of the Saxons may cause him to be careless.”

“Do not fear, m’lady. This paltry troop of Saxon whelps pose no real danger to the master. Now, Steven of Gravely, that is another barrel of mead. He follows the devil’s own rules of deceit. In the end, Gravely and his loathsome trickery will, no doubt, cause my lord’s downfall.”

Shivering with apprehension, Rain recalled Gyda’s words of warning as Ubbi scurried off. Gyda had said that Selik intended to go into the heart of Saxon territory to Gravely’s estate, hoping to finally kill his hated enemy. Now that she heard firsthand from Ubbi how imminent Selik’s danger was from Steven, Rain began to seriously consider Gyda’s outrageous plan to kidnap Selik until the despicable lord once again went into hiding.

“Rhoda—I mean, Ella, I want to tell you about this plan Gyda has for saving Selik—”

“Plan? Nay, nay, nay!” Ella exclaimed, putting her hands over her ears. “Jist like yer mother, ye are, tryin’ to enlist me in her ‘master plan’ to snare yer father.”

“She did?” Rain asked with a smile. Really, she was beginning to see her mother as even more outrageous than she’d ever dreamed.

But Ella ignored her question, rambling on, “Do not be tellin’ me of yer barmy plots. Next ye will be tryin’ to involve me, I jist know it.”

“Well, actually, I do need your advice.”

Ella groaned with a resigned sigh and sank down onto a bench against the wall as Rain launched into Gyda’s preposterous plan. When she finished, Ella exclaimed, “Blessed Lord, the whole lot of ye have lost yer wits. Unless I disremember, Selik weighs as much as a small horse. How were ye plannin’ on overcomin’ such a big lout?”

“Herbs.”

“And how would ye restrain him?”

“Tied to a bed.”

Ella shot her a look of disbelief. “Fer how long?”

Rain flushed and shifted uncomfortably under Ella’s too perceptive questioning. “I’m not sure. About two weeks or so, I suppose.” Her last words came out in a bare whisper, but Gyda heard her.

“Barmy! I told ye afore, the whole bunch of ye ought to be locked up in a house of halfwits.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but what else can we do? I’ve tried talking to him, but it does no good. He’s so stubborn and determined to go after Steven. Even Ubbi believes that if he goes onto the Gravely estate now, he’ll be captured and probably—and probably killed.” Rain’s voice broke, and her eyes filled with tears as she plopped down next to Ella on the bench.

“Love the lackwit, do ye?”

Rain nodded her head with a sob, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

“Well, let me think on it a bit. Where were ye plannin’ on keepin’ the lad, even if ye were able to kidnap him—not that I think ’tis possible?”

Rain slanted her eyes sheepishly toward Ella, who seemed almost like family to her, even though they had just met. “Is there any chance we could hide him here? The soldiers will be watching Gyda’s house.”

Ella jumped to her feet indignantly. “I jist knew it. I jist knew it. Ye are pullin’ me right into the bloody middle of yer barmy schemes. Fer ten years I have worked me arse off tryin’ to establish a biz’ness, and all fer naught if ye have yer way. Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord! I knew things was goin’ too well.”

When Ella’s tirade wound down a bit, Rain asked, “Can you help me?”