“Don’t be disgusting.”

She looked at the men and women around her. They were watching the scene avidly. They knew this was about who was going to rule them after Wilf. She had planted in their minds the suspicion that Wigelm had killed Wilf. For now she could do no more.

Wigelm said: “The slave killed Wilf.” He walked around Ragna and out through the door.

Garulf and Stiggy released Ragna.

She looked again at Agnes and Cat and the children, and realized there was no one left in her home. Her treasury, containing Wilf’s will, was unguarded. She hurried out, leaving Cat and Agnes to follow her.

She crossed the compound quickly and entered her house. She went to the corner where the treasury was kept. The blanket that normally covered it had been cast aside, and the chest had gone.

She had lost everything.

CHAPTER 32

July 1002

agna arrived at Sheriff Den’s compound an hour before dawn. The men, and a few women, were already gathering for the hue and cry, milling around in the dark, talking excitedly. The horses sensed the mood and stamped and snorted impatiently. Den finished saddling his black stallion then invited Ragna into his house so that they could talk in private.

Ragna’s panic was over and she had postponed her grief. She now knew what she had to do. She realized she was under attack by utterly ruthless people, but she was not defeated, and she was going to fight back.

And Den would be her principal ally—if she handled him right.

She said to him: “The slave Carwen knows exactly what happened in Wilf’s house tonight.”

“You don’t think it’s obvious,” he commented without surprise.

Good, she thought; he hasn’t prejudged the matter. “On the contrary, I think the obvious explanation is the wrong explanation.”

“Tell me why.”

“Firstly, Carwen did not seem to be unhappy. She was well fed, no one beat her, and she was sleeping with the most attractive man in town. What could she have been running from?”

“She may simply have been homesick.”

“True, though she showed no sign of it. But secondly, if she wanted to escape she could have gone at any time—she was never closely guarded. She could have left without killing Wilf or anyone else. Wilf slept heavily, especially after drink. She could have slipped away.”

“And if the guards happened to be awake?”

“She just would have said she was going to Gytha’s house, which is where she slept when Wilf didn’t want her. And then her absence might not have been noticed for a day or more.”

“All right.”

“But thirdly, and most importantly, I don’t believe that little girl could have killed either Wilf or Bern, let alone both. You saw the wounds. They were done with a strong arm by someone who had the confidence and the power to overcome two big men, both of whom were accustomed to violence. Carwen is fourteen.”