Page 17 of My Fair Viking

Alrek tilted his head and considered her words. "Nay," he concluded. "It was a miracle. Jest like Lord Adam is a miracle fer me, too."

"Lord Adam? Your personal miracle? Did he tell you that?"

"Not precisely," he admitted, "but I jest know his prayers will shoot up in the sky to his One-God who is gonna find me and me brother and sisters a family. A miracle, to my mind."

Alrek's logic boggled the mind and did not bear questioning, lest he translate her inquiries into license to fantasize even more. Tyra started to walk away toward the target, where she hoped to find at least some of the arrows that had gone astray.

"By the by, are you gonna be in Lord Adam's harem?"

Tyra halted in her tracks and peered back over her shoulder. "Are you referring to Adam the Healer? He has a harem?"

"Well, he does not have one yet, but he is putting one together. Leastways, that is what Rashid said. Rashid thinks you would make a glorious first addition."

"Alrek! Do not dare repeat that tale anywhere! Dost hear me?"

He nodded reluctantly.

"I am not now, nor will I ever be, interested in being a member of any man's harem. Is that clear?"

He nodded again. "I did not mean offense."

"I know you didn't, but you can be sure I will give Lord Adam an earful on this topic. A harem! Indeed!"

A short time later, she was bent over picking up the remainder of the arrows when she heard a whistling whirr—a sound she recognized too well. It was too late to move away. Almost at the same moment as she heard the sound, she felt a sharp pain in her right buttock.

She stood quickly and spun on her heel. Peering over her shoulder, she saw her worst fears realized. There was an arrow protruding from her behind. Then she raised her narrowed eyes to pierce the culprit on the other side of the field.

Alrek at least had the grace to turn gray and mutter, "Uh-oh!"

As she began stomping toward the inept rascal, she shouted, "Now would be the time to pray for a miracle, Alrek. Pray that I fall over dead afore I get my hands around your scrawny neck."

Alrek, smart boy that he was at heart, ran for his life.

"I thought you would have come up with an escape plan by now," Rashid complained to Adam.

They were sitting next to each other, tied to adjoining tent poles. Their legs were free, but their hands were bound behind their backs. There were several burly Vikings sitting before the nearby campfire, tending a deer that was being roasted for dinner. Every couple of minutes the guardsmen looked their way, just to make sure they hadn't mysteriously disappeared. "What? You think I'm a magician, too?"

"Nay, master, but I see the way the warrior princess looks at you. Methought you would have charmed her into releasing us by now."

"The only way I see her looking at me is with disgust. In fact, she said I stink."

"You do. I mean, you did," Rashid commented bluntly, "until we bathed this evening."

"And I have no idea where you got the notion that I have the ability to charm anything, let alone a thickheaded Viking woman who can't decide whether she wants to be a man or a woman."

"I got the notion from watching you take one woman after another into your bed over the years. Isobel. Sari. Katlyn. The Princess Neferi. Ester. Magdalene. I could go on and on. That was afore we came to Britain, though. Now your male parts must have dried up from lack of use."

"My male parts are just fine, thank you very much."

"Then why have you not seduced the warrior woman? Alrek says she has shown more interest in you than any man before."

"That's because she wants me to heal her father so she can be disowned and go off somewhere and be free to lop off heads and other gruesome things, without the burden of a husband. No doubt my head will be the first one to be lopped once my healing talents are no longer needed."

"Huh?" Rashid said to this long-winded discourse.

"Never mind. Speaking of Alrek, look over there."

Alrek was running through the clearing where the tents were pitched, dodging tent poles and campfires, his skinny legs pumping madly as he panted like a warhorse. Adam looked at Rashid, and Rashid looked at him; then they both shrugged, indicating their confusion over why Alrek was on the run.