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crimes. He would be furious to discover
his lady sister was now the slave of a Viking. He would pay to
reclaim her, and all would never dare cross Ivar the Boneless
again.
    ****
    The dark-haired young lord was surrounded by
a half dozen retainers when he reached the burning fields, unable
to believe what was seen. Collin sat astride his mount in obvious
shock. His violet eyes filled with anguish. A low cry of torment
escaped his lips as he viewed the destruction of his home with a
guttural growl of fury. He spurred his mount ahead of his men.
    Even the hounds his father prized so highly
were slaughtered by the Vikings. As he and his remaining retainers
rode through his lands and surveyed the wanton destruction, Collin
was besieged with the immediate needs of those left alive.
    His people were starving, living off whatever
they could. Collin was relieved to learn his mother survived the
siege. Lady Edwina took refuge with her remaining servants at a
nearby abbey. Allisande was taken hostage by Joran Ivarsson; he was
told, and stiffened in shock and anger to know he could do nothing
for her.
    His father was buried the day before he
arrived back at the keep. Collin didn’t know what to feel as he
watched the process of the rest of the burials as he passed. A
feeling of numb grief and anger prevailed.
    According to the old man who retold the
Viking leader’s message, his father betrayed Ivar the Boneless.
Collin listened without expression, a sickening feeling in his gut.
He thanked the man and gave him extra provisions before he left
him.
    The damning charges levied at Harold made
Collin flinch inwardly, unable to refute the truth. Collin was grim
as he heard it, his face implacable. He could deny none of it,
knowing his father was guilty.
    He cursed his greedy sire. His younger
sister, Allisande, would suffer for their father’s crimes. The
Viking demanded a ransom of one hundred pounds of silver for her.
Thinking of his little sister in the hands of the Berserker, Joran
the Stonehearted; made him feel nauseated.
    Collin kicked his mount to a faster pace as
he passed through the charred courtyard of Lockwraithe, cursing his
father’s stupidity. His conspiring with the Viking’s wasn’t news to
him. It was a constant bone of contention between him and his sire
the last year. He warned his father betraying the Vikings would
bring Ivar’s wrath down upon their heads. Harold saw only the
fortune in gold he would split with Baron Luxtley and Lord
Ulsted.
    It pained him greatly to know his father was
a traitor. He could hardly condemn the Vikings for their actions
when he learned of his father’s betrayal of them. He knew it just a
matter of time before this happened. Harold believed the Vikings
too stupid to realize he was the one who betrayed them.
    When Graelem, Harold’s most trusted man,
disappeared one night; Collin feared he’d been taken by the
Vikings. When Graelem’s body was found hanging in the trees near
the shore; it was a warning Harold chose to ignore.
    Collin decided getting his sister settled
away from Lockwraithe and to safety was in order. The king approved
a match between Allisande and one of his favorite nobles, the Earl
of Ulsted, Robert Fitzhugh. While he despised the king’s choice,
his sister would be far away from Lockwraithe when the Vikings
came, or so he thought.
    Fitzhugh would refuse the match once it was
known Allisande was a Viking captive. He didn’t have the wealth to
secure her release. Joran Ivarsson was asking an exorbitant ransom
for Allisande. He looked about him in despair. Everything was gone.
The wealth of Lockwraithe was pillaged.
    Fitzhugh and the king would commiserate with
his current problems, but none would give one ounce of silver from
their own coffers to help him. Collin was thankful his father’s
conspiring hadn’t been known at the time of his death, or he’d be
stripped of what little he retained and his lands forfeited to the
crown.
    Collin hung his head as he