Ulfrik met Runa's small smile and Gunnar's placid, almost disinterested gaze. Hakon's tuft of golden hair showed beneath the wool blanket swaddling him. Spirits lifted, he drew his breath and jumped to the docks. Several people rushed forward to greet him, patting his shoulders and welcoming him home. Ulfrik made a show of what little wealth he had carried back from the raid, throwing a sack of the silver plates over his shoulder. He had padded it with rocks to make it appear bigger to the casual eye. People needed to see success.
Wading through the press of welcoming arms, he arrived before Runa and Gunnar. She cooed to Hakon, rousing him from his sleep. Weeks away from home had refreshed his sight of her, and Runa's clear face bought a smile to his own.
"Welcome home," she said, a smile struggling to escape. She nudged Gunnar, who looked more like his mother each day. "Go on and welcome your father home."
Ulfrik dropped his sack of treasures and opened his arms for his son. Gunnar walked carefully, as if a hundred eyes followed him, then ran the last few paces and embraced Ulfrik. "Welcome home, Father."
"You've been good, lad. Protected your mother and brother while I was away?" He pulled back and ruffled Gunnar's hair, who nodded dutifully. "So let me see your mother, and ensure she is well."
Ulfrik slid to Runa's side, kissing her. "How I've missed you. It took longer than I thought."
"And you are well? No new wounds?" She leaned back, examining his face and brushing a few scabs and bruises suffered in the raid. Hakon shifted on her shoulder, raising his head a moment before sleeping again.
"Hakon sleeps for his father's return?" Ulfrik laughed as he peered into the swaddled bundle. His second son was barely a year old, ever hungry and sleepy. As much as Gunnar resembled his mother, Hakon's young face was Ulfrik's.
"He was awake all morning. You were late in returning." Runa shunted Hakon higher on her shoulder, then flashed the playful smile he had long missed.
"And we will be up late reuniting, that's a promise."
"Did you bring back great treasure, Father?" Gunnar interrupted them, standing on his toes to check on his younger brother.
"Of course," Ulfrik said, his voice so full with false confidence that Runa frowned at him. "Look at the docks. Men are unloading their treasures now."
Clusters of hugging families milled and clumped before the two ships. The captured ship bobbed next to Raven's Talon, where crewmen stowed the sail while others threw the few sacks of treasure onto the beach. Toki supervised the work as he had no one to greet him, his wife, Halla, still in the north with her mother. As Ulfrik and Runa watched, Toki tugged the slave Humbert to his feet and directed him onto the dock.
"Who's that?" Runa asked, her voice tightening.
"A slave we found, probably a Frankish priest or skald, definitely not a worker or warrior." Ulfrik did not look at Runa, but studied Humbert's clumsy fall over the rails to the dock. Landing in front of a crewman securing the ship, Humbert received a derisive kick before he could regain his feet. Ulfrik winced.
"What you do when you're a-viking is your concern," she said, forcing evenness into her tone. "But I've told you not to take slaves into our home."
"He was already a slave when we found him."
"Don't twist words, Ulfrik. You know my meaning."
"I do, but, well, we probably shouldn't discuss this out here with everyone around."
"No one is listening to us; they're all wrapped up with family. What you want to tell me is that you didn't find the king's ransom you hoped for."
Ulfrik's vision skipped from the warm scene of reuniting families, landing on the far horizon. It tugged at his heart, beckoning him to sail to it and discover greatness and honor, a new land with opportunity. Yet he felt Runa's eyes on him, drawing his thoughts back to the far-flung island of grass he called home.
"No, we did not find what we were promised."
Their eyes remained locked above the head of their son. His head tilted in challenge, daring her to berate him for the danger and expense of the raid. Whatever showed in his eyes caused hers to falter. Instead she sighed and stroked Gunnar's head. "But you found something at least, and captured a ship. Most important is you have returned unharmed."
"Unharmed but no better off." Ulfrik nodded at Humbert as Toki led him over. "If I can find out where he's from, I'll ransom him back, and if I can't …"
Runa gave a curt nod, but the flash of her dark eyes told Ulfrik the matter had not been settled. She understood slavery and its place in the world. Some men were born to it and could know nothing more. But she had long ago made it clear to Ulfrik she disapproved of his reducing freemen to slavery, as had been inflicted on her. Ulfrik had hoped since Humbert was an old man and a foreigner he would elicit less empathy from her.
Toki arrived with Humbert in tow. For a moment he forgot the slave and knelt to embrace Gunnar, who ran to him with a shout of excitement. Laughing with Gunnar clinging to his side, he held his arm out for Runa to slip beneath for a welcoming hug. He ruffled Hakon's hair, eliciting an irritated protest which Toki laughed off. Ulfrik studied Humbert's reaction. He clutched his cloak tight as his narrow head scanned the scene, undisguised disgust and disdain wrinkled his face. Ulfrik chuckled at the irony of the woman who he regarded with such repulsion would rather set him free than sell him.
"So we're back, and with an extra empty stomach." Toki pointed with his chin at Humbert. "Where does he go? Lock him up?"
"He'll serve us in the hall. He can grab a corner of it for himself. Just make sure he doesn't handle any knives when my family is there. Do you understand me, Humbert?"
His dark eyes snapped to Ulfrik's with a hint of annoyance, but then he smiled. "Master Alfuk sends Humbert to the hall, no?"
"Ulfrik," he repeated his name clearly, even as Gunnar snickered. "If you get one word right, make it my name. Toki will show you to your new home. Later we talk about a ransom for you."
Humbert's brows stitched together as if confused, but Ulfrik wanted him out of the way. "You'll understand soon enough. Take him, Toki."
With Humbert gone, Runa placed her hand on Ulfrik's shoulder. "He's a Christian priest, no doubt. Same arrogance of the Irish monks or my dear common-law sister."
"Whatever he is, he's probably the best I got out of this whole raid. The silver will be divided out, but I keep the ship and him. He'd better be worth something."
He watched the priest stagger after Toki, his red wool cloak dragging wearily behind him. Runa sniffed.
"His eyes are unkind," she said. "He'll not be worth the trouble he will bring us."
Seated with Ulfrik at the high table, Snorri scratched his stomach beneath his shirt one more time. Ulfrik watched his old friend pick and rake, frown, then scratch again. Ulfrik laughed, looked around at Einar seated to his left and several other men dotted throughout the low light of the hall. A guttering hearth fire threw deep shadows into the creases of Ulfrik's smile.
"You'll rip a hole in your gut if you keep at it," he said, drawing chuckles from the gathered men. Snorri looked up bemused.
"It's nothing; just no one to clean my clothes since Gerdie passed last winter. These filthy clothes itch me all day."
He patted off his stomach and adjusted his shirt while Ulfrik's smile faded. The last three winters had been brutal, killing the old and weak. Mention of Gerdie's death clouded the mood, but Snorri displayed none of his usual tact. Age had roughened his polish.
"Yeah, she was a fine woman, and I miss her every day. It's Fate, after all. I'm not complaining, but wish we had more years together. My bed's so cold now. Tough winters."
Ulfrik drew his mug across the table and drained the last of the summer mead into his mouth. Finishing the summer brew had been the purpose of the gathering. Snorri's comments left the hall darker and quieter, each man reflecting on their losses.