Chapter Seventy-six

Enid felt it then, something like a blazing heat, something that flared up and scorched her insides until everything was charred and crisp. She stood up, her finger digging into Erik's chest, her face scrunching up in a terrible scowl.

"Don't threaten Frigga just to get us to stay," she spoke through gritted teeth.

"It's not a threat," Erik answered, his eyes sharp and cold. "It's the truth. She's-," he started, but whatever he was going to say Enid didn't hear it.

She watched him falling back, a sickening crunch of flesh meeting bone cracking between them, his eyes closing from the impact, but Ivar didn't give him a chance to recover. He stood over Erik, grabbing him by the shirt, his fist smashing into Erik's face again and again. For a moment Enid thought he would kill him, for a moment she almost stopped him, but then Erik aimed a blow at Ivar's side, knocking the air from his lungs and then kicking him away from him. Erik stood, his lip split at the corner, blood spilling down his chin as he spat on the sand.

"It's not a threat, Deathless."

Ivar didn't listen, he lunged for him again, both men locked in each other's arms, punching, kicking and hitting anything they could get at. Soon they had fallen, they were twisting and turning in the sand, flipping each other over, both of them bruised and bleeding, and Frigga started crying, screaming and squirming in Enid's arms so desperately Enid had to put her down.

"No! Bap! Far! No!" she cried, her face red, big tears streaming down her cheeks as she fought harder and harder to break out of Enid's grasp, and then Enid felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.

She looked up, seeing Freya as she watched the men fight, and then Freya looked at her, shaking her head and prying Enid's fingers from Frigga to set her loose. The little girl scurried, crawling between the men and pushing on Ivar's chest.

"Bap, far. Good. Mor, far. Bap!"

Ivar's fist froze, his face still a tight, fierce scowl, his eyes fixed on Erik's. "Move, Frigga," he warned, his voice deep and low.

"Bap," Frigga cried, clutching onto Erik's shirt and still trying to push Ivar away, and then Erik sighed, turning his head away to spit a thick splat of blood onto the sand and raised his palms.

That scowl on Ivar's face grew deeper then, his eyes almost closing as they narrowed into thin slits, but he gave one last push at Erik's chest, grunting with the effort before he let Erik's shirt go and sat beside him.

"He's right," Freya said. "He's the only one who can help Frigga sleep. I can't speak for Tyr, but I'm happy to stay. I'm not afraid of some farmers and merchants."

Erik sat up, Frigga climbing into his lap and drying her tears as she watched the others, but Enid was still blazing, her skin still crawling like it had grown a life of its own, shaking and twitching out of her control.

"It wasn't a threat," Erik said again, his eyes resting on her and then he sighed and looked at Ivar. "If you're set on leaving, I won't stop you. It will be a mistake, but you can go and you can leave Frigga with me. I'll look after her."

"We're not leaving her," Tyr said. "We're sticking together, all of us," he said, turning to Enid. "I don't care where we go and I can see that you help Frigga," he nodded. "But I won't have Enid treated like this either."

"That's up to Enid," Erik said, and Enid stared at him, wanting so desperately to leap for him herself, wanting to tear and rip at his skin just like Ivar had.

"You're free, Enid."

It took her a moment, a moment to look at Ivar, a moment for her to drop that scowl from her face and to feel her cheeks go slack, and then she turned to him, her mind still so slow and sluggish, her hands uncurling at her sides.

Ivar wiped the blood from his cheek, nodding at her and grunting before he said it again. "You're free. Decide if you want to stay here or not, but if you stay, you keep your axe with you and you fight whenever you have to."

A weight lifted from her shoulders, one that almost made her back pop with relief, one that had her chest heaving and her eyes stinging, but then Erik sighed, rubbing his chin with his hand and looking up at her.

"Can you wait?" he asked. "We could use someone to hide with the servants at the Jul feast. It'll be a good way to gather information without drawing attention to ourselves. It'll be the same at my wedding if you can hold out until then."

"Really, Erik?" Enid snapped. "Are you really asking me to do this?"

Erik sighed again, his eyes soft but somehow shining. "Not easily," he answered. "I want you to be free too, but-,"

"You're going too far, Erik." Ivar warned.

"I'm not," Erik said, his voice sharp and cold. "I'm asking as your future Jarl. I'll protect you as much as I can and if she's in any real danger, then you can free her again. I'm not asking you to get hurt, Enid, I'm asking you to help."

Enid almost told him that she was done helping him, but then she saw Frigga sitting there, leaning against his chest and staring up at Enid, almost like she was listening.

They had all agreed to stay, to make sacrifices to help this child. Had Enid really done all that she could do…? And if she refused and something happened to Erik, then Frigga would lose the only comfort she had. She sighed then, turning to Ivar and asking, "What do you think?"

"It's your life, Enid," he said. "I can't tell you what to do with it."