Vengeance Hammer (Viking Vengeance) by Jianne Carlo Page A

little girl plucked at Xára’s sleeve. “I cast a spell for Mama at the crest of dawn on a fairy hill.”
    Xára set two fingers to Evie’s lips and mouthed, Nay .
    Evie folded her arms and jutted her mouth to a full pout. “I am a good seidr . Not an evil one like Magnhildur. Why can I not use my magik to help Mama? She hurts so, sister.”
    Her sister had the ability to cast spells and curses, but not the knowledge of the ancient rituals required to make them successful. Evie had only recently come into her powers and had no mentor save auld Bessie. What Bessie remembered and what she fancied in her advanced age, however, oft became intertwined, and both Ulna and Xára frowned on Evie’s obsession with the woman.
    Gathering Evie close, Xára kissed her temple, and drew back to shake her head.
    Furious tears leaked from Evie’s eyes, she wriggled out of Xára’s arms, and stamped a foot. “The highlander, Earl Tighe, said Lady Jennie would breathe her last before dawn. I will not let Mama die. I am the daughter of the sun god, Ard Greimme, half-sister to the warrioresses Aife and Scathach — ”
    “Hush, wee bairn.” Ulna clasped Evie to her bounteous bosom. “I will forgive ye this once for speaking the forbidden. Ye are overwrought. And yer sister right in front of ye is who yer mam chose to care for ye. All will be well.”
    Xára met Ulna’s watery blue eyes above the little girl’s head. Evie had both hands fisted and was snuffling into Ulna’s chest.
    Deciding not to leave Evie’s safety to chance or the Viking’s protection, she wrote. I command you both to the cave. Stay until I come for you.
    Xára expected Evie’s truculence, but though the girl scowled she translated the order.
    “Why must I go? I can stay and help you,” Evie protested.
    Xára fixed a do-as-I-say glare on her sister.
    “What will you do?” Evie asked.
    She scrawled, ’Tis your duty to obey without question.
    “Ye go milady and do what ye must. I’ll take the wee one to the cave and we’ll wait there for ye.” Ulna lifted Evie’s face and thumbed dry the tears streaked on her cheeks. The berry smudges spread like a faint blue spidery web across the girl’s face. “Come with me little warrioress. We have a ways to go.”
    The herbarium was the center of a network of tunnels. The room had an arched doorway connecting it to the hallway leading to the kitchens. A smaller, narrow door concealed by a hollow armoire led to a dark corridor from which there were several means of escape into the bailey. The large drying table along the wall built against the cliff hid another secret exit fit only for crawling on hands and knees. The walls adjacent to the drying table led to the south and north towers respectively. Caves and secret passageways riddled not only the cliffs on which Castle Lathairn stood, but the whole length of the coastline clear down to the settlement of Myrtle Harbor.
    Xára waited until Ulna and Evie exited via the armoire.
    First, she wanted to determine the position of the ships the Viking had spied the day before. Xára quickly pressed the bricks that unlatched the third passageway. She climbed the narrow, curved steps, leading to the roof of the north tower.
    The narrow ring surrounding the pointed gable was inaccessible except by this hidden path. While she could step through the doorway without any issue, a normal size warrior would have to turn sideways to do so.
    A series of arrow slits ran the length of the outer wall.
    The fierce wind blowing off the north seas whistled their wintry dominance. Xára hugged her arms. The whirlwind breezes crisscrossed the narrow space, tore tears from her eyes, and whipped her loose locks in blinding fury against her cheeks.
    She caught a fistful of hair and peered to the horizon. A storm brewed. Smoky thunderclouds raced across the sky. Navy, swelling waves crashed the rocky bay below. A ship’s prow came into sight 2tween the two boulders guarding the narrow