"He's not here?"
"He was with you last, but I see you ended up with someone else. So where's your brother?"
Gunnar's face flushed and he lowered his head. His answer was barely audible over the crowd, and Runa asked him to repeat it. "I said he went to play with another boy. I thought he'd have the sense to come home by dark."
Runa folded her arms. "You mean you shoved him off to someone else so you could have time with your girl. We'll talk about that, but your brother comes first. Who did he play with?"
"Atli Hrappson, I think it was."
"The orphan whose father died last spring? He's a bad seed, that boy. Why would you let Hakon go with him?"
Gunnar did not answer and Runa blushed once she intuited the answer. Her anger flashed hot, but Hakon was gone and probably up to no good. She stood and scanned the hall, but a small boy amid so many would be impossible to find. She drew Snorri's attention and in turn all the other men stopped to regard her. "What's wrong?" Ulfrik asked.
Not wanting to create a disturbance, she stepped out from the bench and went to Ulfrik's side. "Hakon has not returned, and he was with that troublemaker Atli."
The four men glanced at each other, and Ulfrik put his arm around Runa's waist. "Atli is not a troublemaker; he tends the riding horses and raises chickens with his sister. Good work for a boy his age and no other kin to guide him."
"All the same, Hakon is not back and it's dark. We should look for him."
Ulfrik's arm dropped and he gave a sigh that Runa knew was a prelude to protest. She headed it off. "If you will not look for him, then I will."
"All right," Ulfrik said. "I'll go find the boy. What has gotten into these kids?"
"No, if you go looking it will cause a stir." Einar put his hand on Ulfrik's shoulder as he interrupted. "I'll round up a few men to find him. Stay and enjoy your meal."
"I'll go with you," Snorri said, limping up from his bench. "It's not like the boy to do this."
Runa sat beside Ulfrik where Einar had vacated, and he patted her back before returning to his meal. Konal stared at her, and she gave him a wan smile before turning aside. Her concerns had silenced the men's jovial conversation, but she knew they were genuine. She worried for Hakon's vision of Odin. While her son took it as a favorable omen, she knew Odin All-Father to be a capricious and untrustworthy god whose blessing was hard to gain and easy to lose.
"He's probably still stinging from the shame he caused Gunnar," Ulfrik offered, his mouth full. "Snorri'll bring the young master home."
Runa smiled at the pet name, but shook her head at Ulfrik's explanation. It made no sense for Hakon to hide days after the event, especially when he had not done so before. Folding her hands in her lap, she peered over the heads of the dinner guests and through the milky smoke curling above them and watched the door for Hakon.
In time, Einar and Snorri returned. She read their faces and even at this distance she knew they had not found Hakon and were worried. Her hand grabbed Ulfrik's knee beneath the table, digging in her fingers both to grab his attention and control her fear. The two pushed their way to the table, and now all the men of the high table watched their approach. Runa noted Halla's gaze and the faintest of smiles upon her lips. That pale bitch, she thought, takes pleasure in this and yet eats from my table. Toki, why have you remained with her so long?
"It's true," Einar said as he drew between Ulfrik and Runa. "Hakon is nowhere to be found."
Snorri staggered up later, his limp delaying him. "Lad, there's not a star in the night sky. Can't see nothing without a good number of torches."
"Why do you need to see him?" Runa asked, her voice trembling. "He should answer your calls, right? You don't think he's hiding from us?"
"Maybe he's had an accident and can't answer," Ulfrik said, gently placing his hand atop hers gripping his knee. The warm and rough touch was a mild comfort, but she needed anything offered.
"We can't sit here." Runa pulled her hand free and stood. "We've got to keep looking for him."
"That we will," Ulfrik said softly. Then he stood and drew the dagger at his hip, flipping the blade around so the pommel protruded from his fist. He rapped the table and shouted until the hall silenced and all eyes turned to him. He regarded them as if surveying his warriors before a battle, then sheathed the dagger as he addressed them in his commanding voice.
"My son, Hakon, is missing. No doubt he's up to boy's mischief, but it is unusual he be gone so late. Has anyone seen him today?"
A few answered, providing no more information than Gunnar had already given. Runa stared at her oldest son, whose face had turned ashen as he listened. Her breath grew hot and she wanted to slap Gunnar's face for letting his brother slip away.
"All right, everyone will search until he is found. He may be hiding, or he may be hurt." Ulfrik began pointing to hirdmen. "Form groups and check every corner. You men take brands from the hearth and light the paths. The first one to find him, return here and sound one note on the alarm horn."
Excited patter engulfed the hall, and Runa heard a few men wager on where Hakon was likely to be found. When one named the bottom of the well as a likely spot, an ember dropped into her gut. She grabbed Ulfrik's arm, "I will search with you."
The two left with the crowd into the night, and it was as dark as Snorri had promised. Gunnar accompanied them, and showed the last spot he had seen his brother. Aren toddled along, holding a string tied to Runa's belt. After a while, she felt that string pull tight and whirled on Aren. "What do you want? We are looking for your brother."
"Atli likes horses," he said, his child's voice unnaturally calm. "Let's see Atli and his horses."
She and Ulfrik had been trudging off where Gunnar had pointed them, but the logic of Aren's words highlighted her stupidity. She felt her own face grow hot with embarrassment. Ulfrik, having overheard, dropped his head and slowly turned to face Runa.
"Corrected by a child," he said, a bemused smile on his face. "We should grab Atli and have done with this. They're probably asleep in the stables. Let's go."
Runa scooped up Aren in her relief, kissing him on his cold, smooth cheek. She followed Ulfrik who stomped off shaking his head and cursing himself. "We're always too ready to believe the worst. The boys probably just tired themselves out and here I'm going to look like a fool for my worry. Gods, I'm supposed to get wiser as I age."
Ulfrik's angry monologue did not bother Runa, now that she knew Hakon would be fine. Gunnar even cheered and raced ahead to the stables. Once there, they only found Atli's sister, who could not speak and had only the wits of a young girl. Instantly Runa's fears rekindled, and in the next moment, standing outside the stables in the chill, animal-rank air, Gunnar's scream shattered her nerves.
"Gods, Atli's dead!"
The small, lifeless body was shoved into the corner behind a nearby building. The head was turned nearly to the back, and the skin looked black under the wavering torchlight Gunnar held over it. Were it not for Atli's wide, blank eyes she would not be able to tell it was a face staring up at her.
Ulfrik dragged the body out, frisking it for other wounds. As he did, Runa covered Aren's eyes and averted her own. She squeezed her son, suppressing an urge to scream or cry. Something horrible had happened, and Hakon was in danger.
"Hakon killed him?" Gunnar asked, leaning over his father's shoulder.
"No, the bruise on Atli's neck is from a hand too large to be Hakon's. Look at it."
Runa did not follow, but closed her eyes and bit her lip. Aren struggled to be let down and free her hand from his face. Then he stilled as three sharp notes of a horn sounded in the distance.
"The western gate," Ulfrik said as if he had spoken words of dark magic.