Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey

they will be back here. If not this year or the next, then soon after. You think they can ignore this rich, fertile land? These little Saxons will not keep them out.”
    “They managed to defeat you,” she reminded him.
    “Odin’s luck was on their side.”
    “They were not all little, Thorolf. The one I killed was as big as you are.”
    “Aye, I saw him when they brought the carts to carry all the wounded here. But you did not kill him, Kristen At least, he is not dead yet.”
    She groaned, his words filling her with regret. “You mean I could not even avenge my brother?”
    His hand went to her cheek in support, then quick fell away lest one of the guards should see. “He will diesoon, I am sure. He was bleeding heavily from his belly when they carried him into that large building over there.”
    Kristen cringed at the reminder of the scene of carnage she had witnessed in the forest, even though she had added to it. But her part in it was justified. How could she ever face her family if she had not tried to kill her brother’s slayer?
    She turned to look where Thorolf nodded, not wanting to think of the blood she herself had let. It was a very large building of two floors, built mostly of wood, with large and small windows to let in the daylight, but no doubt they let in the cold of winter, too. There were many other smaller buildings around the place, and a wooden fence that surrounded the area, thick but not very high.
    “Aye, you can see how easy it would be to take this place,” Thorolf commented.
    “But they are preparing well for the Danes. Look there.” She pointed to a huge pile of large blocks of stone on the far side of the enclosed yard. “It looks as if they plan to build a more sturdy wall.”
    “Aye, we saw more stone outside the wooden fence,” he agreed, then laughed contemptuously. “The Danes will be here before they can finish it.”
    Kristen shrugged, for that was nothing to them. They would escape from this place long before then, she had no doubt.
    Glancing back at the large building, she frowned a little. “That hall is big enough that it must belong to an important lord. Do you think the tall one might be their lord?”
    “Nay. From the little I could understood of what they said, the lord of this place is not here. But I think he was sent for. I really should have given you more attentionwhen you were trying to teach me old Alfreda’s tongue.”
    “Aye, you should have, for you are the only one who can speak for us if I am to be a mute.”
    He grinned. “Will it be too hard on you, to keep your mouth shut when they are near?”
    She made a sound very much like a snort to show what she thought of his teasing. “I will manage somehow.”

Chapter Eight
    O ne brave man had walked in among the Vikings to plant a torch in a hole in the post they surrounded. Six guards stood near with swords in hand in case the Saxon was set upon. Kristen hid a grin as the man passed near her. She had heard them arguing about who would carry the torch, for none of them wanted to get this close to the prisoners, even chained as they all were and lying and sitting about in relaxed positions. With so many wounded, they offered no threat, at least not at the moment. But the Saxons weren’t taking any chances.
    The torch was not for the prisoners, but for the three men who remained to guard them, so they could better see the prisoners now that night had fallen. No food had been brought for them, nor bandages to tend the wounded. This boded ill. They needed food for strength if they were to escape. No food could mean many things, including that they were not to live long.
    That possibility was confirmed a while later when the guards began talking among themselves. The Saxon who had walked among them, obviously feeling bold now that he had done so and had come to no harm for it, spoke the loudest, his voice carrying to them all.
    “Why does he keep looking at you while he brags?” Kristen asked