The fire’s glow would be a signal to our men still waiting in the swale where the puddles were thick ice. Eadric, an older man and utterly reliable, was probably the best of my scouts. He twisted some dry floor rushes around a piece of wood, stooped to light it, and then carried the makeshift torch into the darkness, followed by two of his men. “Kettil, Berg! Search the hall,” I ordered. There was a high platform in the hall, and beneath it a separate chamber. “Look in there,” I told Berg, pointing to the chamber’s door, then sheathed Serpent-Breath and walked back to the woman. “Your name,” I asked in Danish, a language most of the Norse understood.

“My name is not for Saxon scum,” she said.

I looked at the two disarmed men. “Your servants?” She did not answer, but did not need to. She was plainly in command of this household, and the two men looked as frightened of her as they were of me. “I’ll blind both,” I said, “one eyeball at a time, till you tell me your name.”

She wanted to defy me, but relented when I drew a knife from my belt and one of the servants whimpered. “Fritha,” she said reluctantly.

“Widow? Wife? What?”

“I am married to Hallbjorn,” she said proudly, “and he will come soon, come with all his men.”

“I’m terrified,” I answered. Eadric’s men were carrying firewood from the hall into the yard. There was some small danger of alerting the nearer steadings if we lit a great fire in the open air, but it was a risk I was willing to take. Even if someone saw the flames I doubted they would investigate on this dark, freezing night, and I needed to bring my men and horses out of the cold and into warmth and shelter.

Berg, grinning happily, pushed two maidservants into the hall. “No one else here, lord,” he said, “and there’s just one door at the back.”

“Barred?”

“Yes, lord.”

“Keep it barred,” I said, then pointed at the maids. “You two. Find food and ale, bring it. All of it!” One of the girls glanced at Fritha as if seeking her permission and I just growled, took one pace toward her, and she ran.

Fritha had noticed the hammer amulet that hung over my mail. She saw the same symbol around Berg’s neck, then glanced at Finan, who wore a cross. She was confused, and I saw that she was about to speak when there was a sudden shout from outside the hall, a yelp, then a moment of silence before men laughed. Fritha clutched her hands together.

Eadric came in from the yard where the fire was now burning. “More women and children in the small hall, lord,” he said, “two slaves in the barn, pair of dogs, a flock of mangy sheep, and just one horse.”

“Bring all the people in here,” I ordered him. “And what was that noise we just heard?”