Page 58 of The Viking’s Captive

They were sound excuses: stress, a wanton gown, an ale-head, excessive chastity … perfectly logical explanations for illogical behavior.

Neither she nor Adam believed any one of them.

Something smelled fishy in Denmark … uh, Norway …

“You shoulda tupped ‘er when you had a chance.”

Alrek made that outrageous suggestion as the two of them were walking toward the king’s bedchamber, having just finished their morning meal.

“Alrek!” Adam said in his most chastising tone. “What a thing to say! Especially for a boy your age!”

“I keep tellin’ you, I am not a boy. I am a man … almos’.”

“What a thing for an almost-man to say, then!”

“ ‘Tis naught more’n everyone else was sayin’ in the hall las’ night when you and the Lady Tyra returned from the stables, red-faced and all in disarray. Whoo-ee! Looked like you were rollin’ in the hay … leastways, thass what more’n one soldier said. But yer uncle Tykir, he said, ‘Nay, the boy might have got some straw in his braies, but I can tell that he has not had his hay raked yet.’ Thass when the Lady Alinor bopped him on the head with a ham bone. And Bolthor sez you definitely lost yer knack. What is a knack anyway? Do you want I should help you find it?”

Adam was getting an immense headache … one of those that made his head feel as if it were splitting. “Do you not have somewhere to go this morning, Alrek? Surely you have something better to do than tag along with me to a sick chamber.”

“Nay, I do not. My day is free,” Alrek said cheerily. “But, actually, there is a reason why I am goin’ to the king’s chamber. I wuz hopin’ he would wake up and … and …”

It wasn’t like Alrek to hesitate to speak his mind. His hesitation pricked Adam’s curiosity. “What is it, Alrek?”

“ ‘Tis time fer me to get me yearly coin from the king. Besji and Kristin and Tunni all needs new clothes. And I would really like to buy me a sword.”

A sword? What next?

“And mayhap a spear if I have enough left over.”

The boy is going to kill himself.“Well, the king has not awakened yet, and even if he did, I am not sure this is a good time to bring up the subject. He will have more important issues to deal with. Can you not approach the king’s steward, or the Lady Tyra?”

Alrek shook his head. “My arrangement wuz a personal one … with the king.”

Adam reached into the pouch at his belt and handed Alrek a coin. “Here. Take this.”

Alrek jumped away from him. “Nay, I will not be ta-kin’ charity from no one. I kin wait.” With that, he turned on his heel and ran away.

Well, is that not just wonderful? Now I’ve offended a ten-year-old boy … rather a ten-year-old almost-man.He smiled at his own mental correction.

“What are you smiling about?” Tykir asked when he entered the king’s bedchamber. “Seems to me you have naught to be happy about today … not after last night. Ha, ha, ha!”

“You know, Tykir, you have a big mouth. I heard what you said in the hall last night.”

“Me? Me?” Tykir was laughing raucously. He danced away when Adam went to punch him in the arm.

“Shhhh!” Father Efrid said. “Have some decorum before the ailing king.”

Adam and Tykir ducked their heads, while Rashid, Rafn, and Bolthor grinned at their discomfort.

“Has he awakened again?” Adam asked Rashid.

“He is in and out of consciousness, but never for very long. Leastways, not whilst I’ve been here,” his assistant said, already laying out Adam’s tools and medicants on a clean, linen-draped table.

Everyone stepped back so he could examine the patient. Someone must have been in to bathe the king, because he smelled of Drifa’s pine-scented soap, and he wore clean apparel, though it was only a loose, unbelted tunic. Even his mostly gray beard had been trimmed.

“His skin color is improving,” Adam remarked, more to himself than the others in the chamber. “And Ingrith told me that she managed to get a whole bowl of beef marrow broth down his throat today. If only he would regain consciousness for longer periods of time.”

“He spoke to me a tiny bit yesterday,” Rafn informed him. “He wanted to know what happened. Mostly, I did the talking, but he seemed to be aware of his surroundings. Is it really so unusual for a man to ‘sleep’ so much after such an operation?”