Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

grandfather."
    "Harald lives though, Lord Olaf will surely seek proof of his death."
    "Gunnar's men will vouch for his story," the skald said with a shrug. "Only you can gainsay him, or Harald himself."
    "No," Harald said definitively. "I won't go back. Gunnar must know his plot did not succeed as Ketil has not joined them. If I were to go over he would still argue to take my place as heir, that I was unfit to succeed you. Lord Olaf knows my history, if Gunnar makes the accusations that I have become ergjask he won't dismiss them. He will have no choice but to declare my place in the succession of the title invalid."
    "You have no choice Siguard, you have to go to Skara. Astrid and I will come with you to Lord Olaf, you have to stop Gunnar before it's too late."
    "I'm not sure I can do it," Siguard admitted. "After all he's still my son."
    "Yes, but so is Harald," the skald spoke quietly but firmly. "You have a duty, to Lord Olaf, to your people and to your family. The laws must be upheld."
    Alex looked between the three men as Siguard again started to pace back and forth across the room.
    "Very well," Siguard said eventually, coming to a halt. "We will go to Skara, my men will accompany us. Harald, you will be in charge here." Harald nodded and Siguard turned to Alex "You saved my son's life."
    "Yes." Alex replied, meeting the older man's eye. "After all, he saved mine." Siguard simply nodded.
    ****
    It was late afternoon before Siguard, Astrid and Magnus were ready to leave, mounted on horseback. Harald and Alex watched from the gateway as they trotted away from the farmstead, leaving a trail of dust in their path.
    "They'll pick up Siguard's old boat at the trading post at Obar Dheathain," Harald explained as they both stared at the now empty countryside around them. "It's a long crossing but they'll be in Skara by nightfall in two days time."
    "Gunnar won't have taken the boat?"
    "No, he has his own ship. He has a long ship, made for raiding. He and his men will have taken that."
    "They'll get there first then?"
    "They always would have, they have almost a day's head start on my father and his party."
    Slowly they made their way across the farmstead, around them the day to day work continued. The men tended the cattle and horses in their byres, the women unseen as they dealt with their daily tasks of cooking and weaving inside the houses. Over the top of the voices of the men at their work and the animals they tended, sounded the regular beat of a hammer against metal in the farm's smithy.
    As they walked Harald kept up an ongoing commentary about the various parts of the settlement and the work being done, but Alex was barely listening. Not only was the persistent throbbing of his shoulder distracting him, but he was also creating a list of things he wanted to ask Harald about. At the top of which was the kiss that they'd shared earlier.
    "We're going to check on the sheep grazing out by the loch," Harald advised one of his own men who had been tasked with overseeing the work on the farmstead.
    "Do you require assistance?" the man asked.
    "No," Harald replied as he removed the long blue cloak and then his heavy metal arm rings. "I am sure we'll be fine. Can you arrange for those to be taken to my rooms please?"
    "Of course," the man nodded and began to move away.
    "Come with me?" He asked turning to Alex, who couldn't help but smile with appreciation that he was being asked as though he actually had a choice to give any answer but yes.
    Slowly the two men made their way in comfortable silence out through the gap in the stone wall that marked the boundary of the farmstead. Moving into the shade of the tall pine trees that grew all the way down the gentle slope leading towards the loch Alex found himself more than once looking over at Harald, who appeared to be deep in thought. The tree line ended as the ground levelled out. The still waters of the loch were surrounded by a wide strip of lush grassland, upon which a small flock of heavily coated sheep grazed in the afternoon sunshine.
    In silence, and barely looking at the sheep they were meant to be checking, the two men walked along beside the water's edge. Harald suddenly came to a halt where a small stream fed into the loch, the grass giving way to water smoothed stones. For a while both men stood looking out over the water.
    "Harald, may I ask you something?" Alex ventured finally unable to bear the silence between them any longer.
    "Of course."
    "I was