The Fortress of Time Page 10

  Donna sat upright. Before Sigurd, she would have agreed. Now, she felt that her mother could not be more wrong.

  “Stop.” She remembered what Sigurd had told her. “Some people plant rotten seeds in us, and we let them. I love him. He’s driven, and commanding, and stubborn. But he is also the kindest, strongest man in the world.”

  And he is a Viking jarl, she wanted to add, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “He changed me, Mom. I don’t think that all men are bad. Or all alpha-males. It’s just that they, too, have their own pain. Everyone does.”

  Mother frowned. “Honey, you seem different.”

  She raised her chin. “And I am not afraid of them anymore.”

  She went back to work the very next day and plunged back into the case so that she’d forget him. She had hoped it would get easier with the time, but it only got harder. Her anguish over Sigurd intensified with each day. The only thing that kept her going was the need to help her clients.

  A week passed, and the pain of losing Sigurd grew like an ulcer. After a month, Donna barely recognized herself. Whenever she found herself alone or having a quiet second, the feeling of loss drenched her like a downpour.

  #

  While Donna worked hard on the case, Marta’s baby, Juan, arrived, and Helena’s girl, Eloisa, followed. And despite the hardships, the babies were bathed in love and did not need a thing thanks to a small community in one part of Bronx that reminded Donna of the spirit of Vörnen.

  With two new little people to protect, Donna tripled her efforts. She could not allow herself to lose. She had too much on the line. She had sacrificed too much to be here.

  The final hearing came three months after Donna returned to New York. Daniel met her in the courthouse waiting room with his usual smug smile. He looked her up and down. Before, it would have set her cheeks on fire. Now, it seemed funny.

  In the courtroom, he did everything to intimidate her, to push her emotional buttons. But Donna did not care. Something had changed in her. It was as if Sigurd were with her, giving her inner strength, igniting the Viking spirit in her. Her clients watched her with wide, hope-filled eyes.

  The manager of the Cinederellas Inc., Pedro Ferreira—the one who had fired the ladies—was called to the witness stand, and after some questioning, Donna knew she was close.

  “Why were my clients fired, Mr. Ferreira?”

  “Because they did not do their job well.”

  “And why was that?”

  “They became slow and lazy.”

  Triumph spread through Donna. “They became slow and lazy?”

  Mr. Ferreira paled. Daniel jumped up but only opened and closed his mouth.

  “All four of them?”

  He kept silent.

  Donna brought a few papers to Daniel and to the judge. “Your Honor, these are the records from my clients’ doctors. During their pregnancies, Ms. Hernández had high blood pressure. Ms. Garcia had a case of hyperemesis gravidarum—which means excessive vomiting. And Ms. Gonzalez and Ms. Ramos luckily had healthy pregnancies but still were more tired than before, which is a normal pregnancy symptom. So, I can see how their condition would make them slower when they cleaned houses. The dates of the medical records are all within weeks of the date they were fired.”

  “Permission to approach the bench, Your Honor?” Daniel said.

  The judge nodded, and Donna and Daniel both came to him.

  Daniel’s eyes were angry behind the facade of calmness. He’d lost, and all three knew that. “I’d like to invite the opposing council to discuss settlement.”

  A good settlement was exactly what Donna and her clients wanted. In the negotiation room, Daniel started with one hundred thousand dollars, but Donna got him up to half a million. She eyed him in triumph, her hand playing with the Sigurd’s Thor hammer pendant as if she could somehow touch Sigurd through it.

  She said, “Five hundred thousand, and let your client publicly apologize to them and implement a non-discrimination policy in the workplace. I want Mr. Ferreira to attend and then teach non-discrimination workshops at Cinderellas Inc.”

  Daniel rolled his eyes but stretched his hand out for a shake. “I’ll talk to my client.”

  When the deal was signed an hour later, triumph exploded in Donna like fireworks. She’d won! The ladies could now start new lives without worrying if they would be able to feed their children tomorrow. She touched Sigurd’s pendant again, and anguish filled her.

  What she wanted now, more than anything in the whole world, was to share this victory with the one person she could not. The man she loved more than anything in this world.

  Sigurd.

  Donna felt as if she was sinking. Would this be her life from now on? Every time she succeeded, or failed, or anything significant happened in her life, she’d want to share it with Sigurd. She’d fulfilled her obligation to her clients. Was there anything else holding her here?

  Mother.

  Donna loved her mom, but she could not sacrifice her happiness for her mother. She needed to live her life, and although she’d miss her mom, surely she’d understand.

  But Mom needed help with the firm. How could Donna just leave her to manage things alone?

  Donna glanced up as Daniel passed by her on his way to the door. Sigurd had changed. Perhaps she owed Daniel that opportunity, as well.

  “Daniel, I am leaving New York,” she called out, “and I want to offer you my partnership.”

  He turned and stared at her, his eyes wide. “What?”

  When they used to be close, Daniel had told her he’d love to build his own firm from the ground up. She needed to make him see that was what she was offering.

  After a long conversation, Donna got him thinking.

  Daniel said, “You are just a two-woman show, right? You and your mother?”

  “Right. But we have more cases than we can handle. New York will never run out of discrimination suits, and we are building a name for ourselves. But if a lawyer with hunger and ambition joined, combined with my mother’s experience, the firm would become legendary.” She tapped a finger on her lip. “If only there was such a person…”

  Daniel laughed. “I know what you are doing.”

  “Yeah. You do. But how do you think your father would feel if your firm beat the giants he had expected you to work for? Would he respect you even more?”

  Daniel lowered his gaze and said his next words in a pained whisper. “I never intended to offend you or any other woman. When you accused me of taking Marta’s seat, it was like a kick in my face. I never wanted to become this. This attitude towards women, it’s like— It’s as if it’s part of the job description.”

  Donna smiled. “So quit the job.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Donna’s heart squeezed in anticipation as she saw the end of the fjord approaching with colorful Scandinavian houses scattered on the hills.

  Vörnen.

  There was no wooden fortress, no longhouses, and no dragonships. But the same tall walls of the mountains, the pebbled beach, and the gray autumn undergrowth where Sigurd and she had made love stole her breath away.

  The boat docked and the tourists walked off. Donna waited until everyone else had descended. Then she savored the moment when her feet touched the ground where every pebble and grain of sand was soaked in Sigurd’s presence.

  It was just the day before yesterday that had Donna won the case, and the urge to find Sigurd had become more powerful than the need to breath. Donna worried if Sigurd had forgotten all about her, since who knew how much time had passed back in his time. Had he gotten married? Did he have any children by now? The thought made her skin clammy and made her chest clench till it ached.

  On the bright side, Daniel had quickly agreed to become a partner in the firm. Mother was having a hard time accepting the idea, even after his offer of a very impressive buy-in.

  Donna’s conscience was clean. Donna had told her that she’d likely never return and would
n’t be able to have contact with her for reasons beyond her control. But that she’d be very happy with the man she loved. The morning Donna had to leave, Mom had driven her to the airport but hadn’t wanted to go inside.

  She’d kept silent for a while, then looked at Donna with bloodshot eyes. “You are brave, Donna. You are doing something I wouldn’t have dared to do—not after Joseph.”

  Donna squeezed her hand. “Thank you, Mom. I love you.” She hugged her and walked out of the car with a sunken heart. Mom rolled the window down and said, “I’ll be brave, too. I’ll accept Daniel.”

  The air in Vörnen did not taste as sweet as she remembered, Donna thought as she rolled a tiny carry-on over the icy pavement. She wore the most practical clothes she could think of: jeans, a thick sweater, and the warmest and most durable boots she could find. Her carry-on contained medicine, underwear, warm clothes, a few hygienic items, and books. She’d miss books.

  Even though Donna would miss her mother, she felt at peace with her. She felt like she’d said her goodbye.

  Donna did not even book a lodging in Vörnen. With sweating palms and a pounding heart, she walked straight to the arch, almost not recognizing which way to go. Was she in the right place? It was as if this was not Vörnen at all. No chickens, no goats, no men with axes nor women in apron dresses. Instead, the rustle of passing cars against the asphalt, the smell of vanilla from a bakery, stern faces of people leaving a bank. This all seemed too normal, too real, as if Sigurd, the fortress, and his people had never even existed.

  She swallowed a hard knot. But they had, they must have. Her heavy boots thumped against the asphalt faster and faster, until she was running towards the west where she saw the forest behind the roofs of the houses. This must be where the arch had been.

  Donna’s pulse pounded in her temples as the last dark-red house of the village revealed two rock walls and a footworn pathway. No palisade.

  And no arch.

  Donna dropped the handle of her carry-on and ran towards the rocks, her feet heavy.

  No, no, no. This could not be.

  Her hands were glued to the rock wall, hungry to feel that sensation of being sucked in, but nothing happened. Magic did not fill the cold, rough surface. They were just rocks.

  Life must have left her for a moment. Her heart skipped a beat, her mind went blank, and despair poured over her like a bucket of ice water.

  She hit the rocks with both palms. “Take me back, damn you!” The sharp parts stabbed her skin, but the pain did not matter. She slid down the rock and just sat there. The sun began to descend and she blinked as its gentle light tickled her eyes through the bare branches of the trees.

  This was it. No more Sigurd. This time, for real.

  Donna stood up from the ground and could barely straighten her back. Her stomach hurt as if there was a ragged wound in the center of her body.

  Tears burned her eyes and she did not stop them. What would she do now? Was there any coming back from this? Was it even worth living this life, a life without Sigurd?

  Donna walked towards her carry-on where it lay by the path. She picked it up and rolled it down the path towards the village. She probably needed to find somewhere to stay for tonight, not that she cared if she slept under a bridge or in a bed.

  As she passed by a few houses, a glint of gold somewhere to the side caught her eye, and she glanced there. On top of a house with a low, thatched roof sat an old woman. She was knitting and waved her hand at Donna. Needles prickled Donna’s skin when she recognized the Norn.

  Donna hurried to the building, and the Norn began speaking a foreign language that sounded oddly familiar. Seeing that Donna did not understand her, the woman switched to English, “Oh, I forgot you don’t speak Old Norse in this century. I wanted to say I was surprised when you left Sigurd.”

  The golden spindle lay next to the woman, and Donna’s mouth became as dry as sandpaper.

  “Send me back.” Hope started to fill Donna, but she forbade it to. It was too early to hope. Her palms were covered in sweat.

  The Norn smiled at her like a good old universal grandma. “Your tapestry shone when you were back there, with Sigurd.”

  “Will you send me then?”

  “If I do, you won’t be able to come back. You won’t get any more chances.”

  Donna’s throat clenched. “I am ready.”

  The Norn jumped off the roof like a little girl. With a soft smile, she held out the golden spindle.

  “Don’t forget your luggage.” She winked at Donna.

  Donna grabbed the handle of her carry-on and took a deep breath. “Sigurd, I’m coming,” she thought and took the spindle. The Norn and the Scandinavian houses disappeared. Pain wracked Donna as she felt as if the blood was sucked out of her, and she began spinning like the golden spindle.

  #

  Sigurd was on his way back from hunting, a deer carcass thrown over his shoulders. There was not much to do in winter other than hunt, fish, drink and tell stories that made the gods, the Norns, and the giants come alive. Winter was full of songs that people sang together in the smoky air of longhouses, firepits that glowed in the darkness of the long nights, and the crunch of snow as you walked from house to house in search of a new story or a fresh pint of mead.

  The western gate darkened in twilight in front of him. Whenever he had to pass through it, he flinched, the ghost of Donna ever present. It tortured him. He avoided looking at it and chased away the hope of seeing her. Desperation clawed at his heart like a hungry lynx.

  Once, he had even gone to the arch intending to find the way to time travel to the future, to Donna.

  But nothing had happened.

  And nothing would. He’d just need to learn to live with the pain.

  He opened the gate to walk towards the village and saw a figure standing with her back to him. She was dressed in strange clothes, had long golden hair, and was the same height and build as his goddess. His heart froze, as if afraid to make the next beat.

  She turned in that moment, and time stood still.

  Donna.

  Their eyes locked. Sigurd took a step towards her but fell to his knees, the deer carcass dropping to the snow next to him. She glowed as if the stars from the sky had descended and filled her whole body with their light. Did his mind just show him what he had been imagining for so long?

  “Is that you?” A cloud of condensation from his mouth brought the words out in a gasp.

  Donna rushed to him, her cheeks pink from the frost, her hair falling in a golden cascade. She fell to her knees right in front of him and took his gloved hands in hers.

  “I came back.”

  He removed his suede gloves and grasped her hands again to check if he could really feel them, and they burned his skin with their coolness. She must have been outside for some time.

  Donna reached out to kiss him, but he leaned back. Before he could believe she really was here, he had to know. “Why?” he searched her face for signs of the answer he craved to hear.

  “Because I love you.” Donna’s eyes glimmered like the sea under the summer sun.

  If Thor had struck him with lightning, he would not be more affected. A ringing vibration went through his body as if he were a string on a lyre. Tears burned the corners of his eyes.

  “As do I—with everything that I am, my Goddess.”

  He kissed her, the taste of her so familiar and so sweet, the scent of her making the world spin as if he had just drunk mead the likes of which was only served by Odin in Valhöll.

  “I’ll break the arch tomorrow,” he growled into her mouth. “You are stuck with me forever.”

  “Promise?”

  “Swear to all gods.”

  EPILOGUE

  Vörnen, 872 AD

  Sigurd stood on the pier hugging Donna with one arm, Vigdis in front of him. Waves splashed against the hull of the ship that rocked next to the dock behind his sister. A steady breeze filled the sail—the longship was ready to set off
. It looked like Njord, god of the sea and the winds, favored Vigdis’s journey.

  His goddess looked radiant and healthy with her swollen belly. They were not yet married because Sigurd wanted to make a legendary feast out of their wedding and celebrate it at the harvest festival. He’d invited all neighboring jarls and kings to strengthen their relationships and start new trading alliances. He had learned too painfully the price of clinging to rivalry.

  The fortress stood whole and strong. The women had helped to finish it last year, after Donna had left. But ever since she’d gotten back in the winter, she’d managed to involve them more and more, and the village had begun to thrive like never before. The women weaved sails, hunted, and fished. Through winter, they crafted furniture, learned to make jewelry, and carved breathtaking patterns on wood. Some of those who’d constructed the fortress helped build new ships, and the frames of three longships grew daily by the fjord.

  The news of Vörnen’s strength and of Sigurd’s victory traveled fast, and new warriors came looking to serve a strong jarl. He’d go raiding in a couple of weeks to finally replenish the treasury and be able to sustain the loyalty of his warriors. Nothing would have been possible without Donna and without the women of his jarldom.

  The ship rocked gently next to the dock.

  “There should be enough silver to buy you a rich farm in Iceland,” Sigurd said.

  Vigdis nodded. Sacks with provisions and sea chests with food, clothes, tools, and enough silver for her new life stood there. Bjarni Bjarnison, the man who had brought the message of Fuldarr’s attack, waited for Vigdis on the boat together with a dozen warriors that Sigurd had given to his sister for protection and for rowing. Vigdis glanced back at the beach.

  “This is where it all began.” Pain flickered through her face. “Where he died.”

  Sigurd shook his head. “It began much earlier than that. But will it end now?”

  “Now that I have seen the consequences of what I did, I don’t want to be a jarl. All I ever wanted was to have some power over my own life and some influence in our house. Father never gave me the chance to do that, and the desire grew like a rot-wound. I thought I wanted to be part of the world of kings and jarls. But this”—she circled the beach with her hand—“I want none of it. A farm, a good husband”—she glanced back at Bjarni and blushed—”and a child.” She gave a warm smile to Donna. “That would be enough. I’ll have plenty of things to manage. Fuldarr’s jarldom is yours, brother. After his warriors saw you in the battle, they know they won’t find a stronger jarl. So you won’t have any resistance once you visit the lands.”