Thyra Dane

A/N:

The wait for this chapter was a little longer than usual but I hope you`ll find the chapter worth the wait.

I want to thank Suki59 for being such a great beta and friend and if I could talk to Charlaine Harris I would thank her for creating such wonderful characters. Less than a month now until the next book. YAY!

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I wasn`t sure what brought me more pain – having been beaten thoroughly or listening to Eric going through the same treatment. Right now I was experiencing both.

Trying to keep my head cool, I ran my fingers over my skin to see if there was any damage I hadn`t accounted for yet. My fingers had suffered the worst from the beating and I couldn`t really use them.

Two of my fingers were broken. Luckily, they were both on my left hand and not my sword hand but they were still excruciatingly painful. My scalp was sore and I could imagine had bald spots from having been dragged by my hair. I`d been kicked in my ribs but I didn`t think anything was broken. I was bruised all over and my tunic had been torn in the front.

When they`d dragged me away from Eric I`d been certain I was going to be raped. A true warrior would never rape his victims – there was no honor in that. But these men had used nets to catch Eric and me and had therefore proven themselves honorless.

They`d started out tearing my tunic in the front and had groped my breasts while commenting loudly on their size and shape. I`d tried to kick them but had kept my mouth shut. I knew what they wanted – they wanted to hurt Eric with my cries. This was what cowards did. They hurt the wife or the kids to break a man`s spirit. I wasn`t sure Eric would be tormented by my screams of terror but I was not taking any chances.

But then the men had surprised me and had let me keep my pants on. It could have been because they`d realized I wasn`t going to cry or yell out my pain if they raped me or it could have been because the men had some honor after all.

They`d beaten me up but that was expected. It was painful but as long as I managed to get my broken fingers to heal without becoming crooked or stiff, there would be no lasting damage.

Not that I was sure I would survive the next day.

I mentally shook my head. There was no point in thinking about tomorrow. I was alive tonight and that was what mattered.

They`d chained me to a tree far enough away from the camp for me not to be able to hear what was said there. I couldn`t see the bonfire but the night wasn`t very dark, what with summer approaching, so I could see people walking to and from the camp.

To and from wherever they were hurting Eric.

If I couldn`t follow what was going on at the camp, I was close enough to hear the thuds and grunts whenever Eric was hit.

Every grunt was … painful.

I kept being reminded of Eric at the atonement he`d arranged. The pain he`d received there and how he`d born it. It had been awful watching him being hurt like that but somehow it was … worse now.

To tear my mind away from Eric`s pain – my ears back from that place deep in the forest where Eric was tormented – I ripped a piece of cloth from my tunic, pulled my broken fingers straight and tied the cloth around them.

I wanted to scream out my pain but I welcomed it too. For a moment or two I didn`t hear Eric. His grunts were gone and I wasn`t afraid they were going to kill him.

Because that was what had me swallow hard. What if they killed Eric?

I had imagined they would have killed us both immediately but they didn`t. They hadn`t killed me, at least. They`d beaten me up but I`d been beaten before.

What if they had some kind of plan for me? A plan that didn`t include Eric? And now they were killing him. Slowly.

I gave my fingers an extra pull just to make sure I`d set them straight. And to clear my thoughts.

If Eric were dead – if they`d killed Eric – I would deal with it.

At least that was what my brain told me. My level-headed and very sensible brain. Problem was, the rest of me didn`t agree. Parts of me wanted to go into a panic at the thought of Eric being killed.

My brain didn`t understand what was going on. Not at all. Hadn`t I rejected Eric several times? Hadn`t I decided he was too vain, he thought too highly of himself, he was too … ?

That was as far as my brain got because my ears heard a new sound. There was still grunting but no more thuds. Taunting words were said and the men saying them came closer and closer. So did the grunting sounds.

They were moving Eric. Were they bringing him to me? I cursed my ability to predict movements because it was so limited. I could only predict movements when I was fighting people and right now I wanted to be able to “hear” their plans for Eric.

I held my breath and listened with everything my ears could muster. I squinted through the forest to see if I could see anything. Every muscle in my body was on alert. What was going on?

They hadn`t killed Eric. His grunts told me he was alive. But how much had they hurt him? And where were they taking him?

Suddenly I saw them coming closer, three men carrying someone – no, not someone, Eric – between them. They weren`t as much carrying him as dragging him.

I`d been beaten up right here where I`d been tied up so I hadn`t had to walk after they`d hurt me. I was fairly sure I could, though, and therefore it pained me to see the state Eric was in.

Coming over to where I was, they threw Eric to the ground. I`d been chained to the tree and now they were doing the same to Eric. It surprised me that they were carrying this much iron chain around with them when rope was so much cheaper and easier to carry.

Of course, rope was easier to untie as well.

It all went too quickly. I just sat there, staring at Eric lying on the ground with his eyes closed. When Eric and I were both shackled to the tree, the men went in the direction of the camp, not even bothering with one last taunt.

Apparently we were nothing. Little bugs they`d caught in their palms. Bugs they would probably want to hurt more later. Tomorrow.

But this was tonight and I needed to see how Eric was doing. Was he even conscious?

I leaned down to listen to his breathing and was relieved to hear shallow intakes of air. He looked awful, though. Blood all over his face and his nose would never be the same after having met someone`s knuckles.

I ran my hands down his face, brushed his hair away and carefully touched his nose, trying to assess if it was broken. It was. After taking a deep breath I figured it was better to mend his broken nose while he was unconscious and wouldn`t feel the pain than waiting for him to come around.

I quickly yanked his nose back in place and was met by Eric`s very large blue eyes staring at me.

“Ouch, Sookie. Don`t you think Victor and his men have hurt me enough?” he hissed.

“I just wanted to fix your nose. I`m sure you don`t want to be known as Eric the Crooked Nose?”

Eric got up into a sitting position and carefully touched the facial extremity in question. He sat like that for awhile. Then he looked at me with a lopsided smile. “I`m sorry to say that your husband isn`t as handsome as he used to be.”

I laughed a little. “Lucky for you I don`t particularly like handsome men.”

That made him move closer to me. “Really?”

I rolled me eyes but I still had a smile on my lips. “Really.”

The forest floor was getting darker but I could still make out Eric`s facial expression and it made me warm all over.

Tomorrow we could be dead. Actually, tomorrow we probably would be dead but tonight it was Eric and me and our battered bodies.

I let my hand glide down his face again, carefully avoiding his nose and the eye that was quickly swelling. Eric did the same to me and we just looked at each other, some kind of mutual understanding flowing back and forth between us.

“We`re quite the sight,” I said after awhile.

“I would say that we are quite the couple,” he replied and for some reason that made me happy.

It was probably the knowledge that the Norns had cut the thread of our lives and that the last bit of it was being woven that made me more receptive to Eric`s charms. Or maybe it was the broken nose. I leaned forward and kissed it very carefully and heard him take a deep breath through it, either from fear that I would accidentally hurt him or because …

His shackled hands were on each side of my face and he tilted my head slightly to the side. Then he kissed me.

To just state that Eric kissed me would be an understatement because this wasn`t a kiss. It was two pairs of lips meeting, two tongues finding each other, but it was so much more. It was a wave of emotions – desires – and I wanted to give into each and every one of them.

Eric`s hand went from my cheek, down my neck to pulling my ruined tunic to the side, and his palm caressed the side of my breast very carefully. I winced slightly because of the bruises there but then some deeper emotions took over and I leaned into his touch which grew more insisting.

My own hands had found Eric`s shoulders, his neck and were now copying the movements of his hands by moving down his muscular chest. I knew I couldn`t pull his tunic over his head – his shackled hands would stop the undressing – but I desperately wanted to touch his naked torso. Kiss it. So I pulled up his tunic enough for me to lean down and lick his nipple. I kissed him and nibbled a little too while my fingers followed the trail of blond hair from his chest down his stomach.

“Oh, Sookie,” Eric whispered, his voice sounding hoarse.

I pulled away and looked at him but when I leaned in for a kiss Eric went for my breast instead and started kissing and sucking on first one of them and then the other.

How I happened to end up lying on my back on the ground, I wasn`t sure, but I had Eric on top of me, kissing every bruise on my chest and sucking on my nipples. He kissed his way up and licked my collarbone. Then he looked up at my face.

“I want you so much, Sookie,” he said.

“I want you too,” I whispered back and with that statement our more frenzied movements began.

Even though our shackles and the pain of our beatings hindered us, they also ignited our desire as we managed to pull off our pants and boots and Eric pulled my tunic to the side. Soon I was almost bare and Eric was as naked as he could be, his tunic pulled up to his waist.

I`d expected Eric to rush it, to sink himself deep into me the moment my pants were lying next to me. It was what I wanted too because it felt as if I couldn`t wait another breath for him to be inside me. But Eric had other plans, plans that suddenly seemed even better than the ones I`d had.

“Touch me,” he whispered and I knew he didn`t mean his torso or his butt because I`d been touching both of those plenty already.

Eric was on his side next to me, so close he was almost leaning over me, and I could feel him against my hip. I leaned down and found him standing straight – long and hard as he was. I closed my hand around him, enjoying the feeling of his pulsing in my palm, while Eric`s hand went down between my legs.

His long fingers glided up and down, circling what needed to be circled and dived inside where I wanted more of him – and soon. He moved his fingers in the rhythm my hand had on his cock and soon we were both making little noises of enjoyment.

I was getting close and I could tell Eric was too and just as the thought that I wanted Eric inside me – that I wanted him to truly fuck me – entered my brain, he quickly moved between my legs and pushed himself deeply into me.

My legs went up to land on his hips while he ground himself into me. I met his movements and had a small moment of regret that Eric and I hadn`t done this before because he was, by far, the best lover I`d ever had. And we`d only just begun.

My hands went to his head, my fingers touched his scalp, they ran through his hair, and I pulled him down for a kiss. When his hand touched my breast again it started a numb feeling on my skin that expanded and it felt as if my skin were touched by thousands of tiny explosions.

Soon the tiny explosions turned into one larger one and I groaned into Eric`s mouth when I came with a force I`d never felt before. Eric ground himself into me two times, three times, four times more and then his body went rigid and he collapsed over me.

Eric was heavy but he felt like he weighed nothing on top of me because I wanted him closer. I wanted to feel more of him. All of him. In spite of having recently been beaten.

I wanted us to lie like this forever, my brain empty of thoughts, my sex filled with his cock.

I was happy.

Which was strange considering I was shackled and would probably meet my death tomorrow.

“Oh, Sookie,” Eric whispered into my ear and in those two words he expressed my feelings – only I would probably have said “Oh, Eric,” instead.

He pulled back a little, but stayed inside me. And when he rolled to his side he dragged me with him, still deeply rooted inside me. Not as deeply as he had been, of course. Even Eric`s large member shrank after sex. But I enjoyed having him there and he apparently did too because he made sure he wasn`t leaving accidentally.

We lay there for a long time, looking into each other`s eyes, caressing each other lazily with our fingers, the soft clanking of our shackles turning into a nice melody and not the foreboding they were.

I gently leaned forward and give him a kiss. I figured we needed to talk about tomorrow but when I pulled back from the kiss, Eric was the first one to speak.

“I`m glad we`re now truly husband and wife,” he said.

“Why?” I asked, though, deep inside, I was glad too.

“Because, tomorrow, if we die, the Valkyries will know. They`ll let us live in the same house, share the same bed.”

I smiled, though it was our imminent death he was talking about. “I thought you were an optimist. We may not die tomorrow.”

“I am,” he said and kissed my nose. “And I can`t think of a better future than to go to Valhalla with you. And if we don`t die, we`ll just have to settle for a life together here.”

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A/N:
I hope you liked this chapter.

I just came home from a week on Iceland. If you`ve never been there – go! If you`ve been there, you know what I`m talking about. Iceland is probably the most extraordinary country in the world. The nature, the history, the people.… It`ll take your breath away!

As you probably know, the Viking age is part of my heritage but I`ve mainly read the Danish and Norwegian part of it. Going to Iceland gave me a chance to learn more of the Viking age seen from “The Saga Island” as they call themselves. It`s all part of the same history, of course, but some of the stories I read there were new to me and I will try to retell them here.

I know I have several readers from Iceland and I welcome any thoughts from you – shout out if I`ve gotten it all wrong!

Melkorka Myrkjartansdottir

I ran into the story of the Celt princess Melkorka Myrkjartansdottir in the small Saga Museum in Perlan in Reykjavik and I just have to retell it.

First some background: Iceland was mainly settled by Vikings fleeing the ever expanding kings in Norway and Denmark. At least that`s the truth when it came to the male population of Iceland. But genealogical research has revealed that 50% of the earliest women on Iceland were Celts – most of them from Ireland.

These women didn`t come to Iceland voluntary but were raided and sold to men looking for bed-slaves, mistresses and wives. The difference between these three groups may have been in name only.

One of these Celtic women was Melkorka. She was only fifteen when she was taken into slavery in Norway. Ten years later Höskuldur Dala-Kollsson went to Hordaland in Norway to buy timber. Apparently he forgot his plans when he saw Melkorka because he ended up buying her instead.

Melkorka was a mute but she was still more expensive than most slaves because she was so extraordinarily beautiful.

Höskuldur took her home to Iceland and in the winter she gave birth to his son Olafur Pa – a son Höskuldur loved very much.

When Olafur Pa was a couple of years old Höskuldur came over Melkorka talking to her son, telling him he was the grandson of an Irish king called Myrkjartan. Höskuldur was so amazed that Melkorka could speak and of her heritage that he immediately changed her status from slave to wife and gave her her own farmstead.

This was the whole story of Melkorka but my imagination started spinning on this. Imagine her life – living as the daughter of a king, becoming a slave at the age of fifteen, then being sold again at the age of 25, getting a family with a man she hasn`t chosen but who apparently treated her well and then being acknowledged as a princess and wife later on.

And the whole time pretending to be a mute. It would take a special kind of person to manage that. That story really took my breath away.

A/N:

EDIT: Apparently some of you got errors and I have no idea why – I couldn`t even access chapter 12 myself. I`ll try to re-upload and see if that will take care of the problems. Arrgh. (And thank you for letting me know, FiniteAnarchy!)

It seems all my A/Ns are complaints over FF and now I think I`ve used them all up. I just want to say that I`m sorry most of you didn`t get alerts and that I hope you found the last chapter after all (judging from the reviews you did – thank you!).

I want to thank Suki59 for helping me with the action scenes in this chapter and for generally whipping my poor English into shape.

I also want to thank Charlaine Harris for writing so many great books. She owns all the characters in this story, of course. I`m just sending them back to where they really belong – the Viking age.

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Chapter 12

I`d never noticed the smell of the deep pine forests or the sound of the waterfalls along the coastline but now I did. The smells and the sounds all screamed “HOME” and I knew that we would soon see the estuary of the fjord that led to my village.

Hoping to catch any kind of movement – boats, smoke, anything – I was sitting in the prow of the boat. Eric, Jason and Claude were watching behind us and to the sides to make sure we weren`t taken by surprise by anyone. It would have been and irony of Loki dimensions if Felipe`s men caught us in open sea and killed us before we managed to get home and defend our neighbors.

Finally, I could spot the beginning of the fjord. Unfortunately, I could see something else too.

“Fire,” I said loud enough for the other people on the boat to hear me but not loud enough to be heard on shore.

The smoke coming from the village at the beginning of the fjord – from Calvin`s village – was more than just from the casual fireplaces in the houses. Even more than if they`d made a huge celebrational bonfire. If Calvin had died while I`d been gone and they`d put him on his ship and set fire to it, there wouldn`t have been this much smoke.

So something was wrong. Very wrong.

We couldn`t see the village yet, hidden as it was behind a small hill. But we knew enough to lower the sails immediately and row the boat to the shore before it was visible from the village.

Very quietly, only talking in low voices – or not at all – we managed to pull the boat ashore and crawl our way up the hill to witness the damage. I was the first one to get a look and the sight that met me had me gasping loudly.

I`d seen several villages burned down, corpses in the roads and pigs running around screaming in fright but this was the first time I`d witnessed it in a village full of people I knew. People I liked.

Blinking a few times to remove the tears that welled up in my eyes, I quickly checked the area for enemies. I felt movement next to me and Eric`s hand fell on mine in the grass.

“Your friends?” he asked.

I nodded and stared at Calvin`s village. The damage had to have been done fairly recently. If we`d sailed faster. Been quicker. Had better wind.

I swallowed and took a deep breath.

That was when I noticed Jason. Eric and I were flat on our stomachs and Claude was crawling his way up to us but Jason was standing on his feet.

No, he was walking … running.

“Crystal!” he yelled in despair. Well, it sounded like a yell to me, trying to be as quiet as possible, but it might just have been a loud whisper.

Before any of us could stop him he was speeding his way down to the village – the village that had just been raided and which could still have warriors in hiding.

I got up too and ran after Jason and I heard Eric and Claude doing the same, Eric cursing while running.

I said a few choice words too but I did it on the inside. Why the Hekla was Jason being so incredibly stupid, running towards a village without knowing what was going to meet him? And why was he shouting for Crystal?

It wasn`t that it surprised me that Jason had been intimate with Calvin`s niece – she`d had sex with plenty of men (and Jason had had sex with plenty of women) – but how could she mean that much to him that he would risk his life for her? How could she mean anything to him? Did any of his conquests mean anything to him?

I thought I knew my brother and now I was running as fast as my short legs could carry me to save someone who acted like a stranger.

Jason had always been rash in battle but this was beyond even him. I tried to speed up, avoiding roots and rocks sticking up from the ground, and scanning the village to make sure we weren`t ambushed in a cowardly way. At some point I`d grabbed my sword and held it in my hand but I noticed to my surprise that Jason was running empty-handed. It was a deep rooted instinct to always carry a weapon in situations like this and for Jason to choose not to …. I wasn`t even sure he`d chosen not to carry a weapon. I wasn`t sure his head was functioning at all. Or his survival instinct.

Coming closer to the village also meant seeing the results of the raid close-up. I hardly looked at the first body we passed but the next one was so brutally slashed open from the throat to the waist, I couldn`t help staring while running by.

We passed the first houses and that was when Jason started shouting in a voice that didn`t sound like him. It was so filled with fear it made me expect the worst when I headed around the corner of the house Jason had disappeared behind.

“Crystal!” he shouted.

I wanted to tell him to shut up. We didn`t know if the raiders were still there. We didn`t know what had happened. But I couldn`t. Jason`s voice was so foreign, I couldn`t tell him to do anything.

“Crystal!” Jason shouted again. He shouted as though he wanted her to come out of hiding but I could quickly tell that no one was hiding in the village. No one was alive apart from a few animals that ran around.

A dog was licking blood from the street and my stomach turned when I noticed the blood came from a body thrown up on a roof.

The raiders had been thorough. Even if some of the people had survived an initial blow or cut, they`d made sure everyone was dead. Uninterrupted as the raid had been, the raiders had had time to slash everyone`s throat.

We were in the middle of the village – the place where they had their village celebrations and communal meals – when I noticed a huge bonfire. The stench was terrible and I saw the remains of corpses. Judging from how well-built the bonfire was – and how the villagers had just been left in the streets – I assumed the raiders had burned their own people.

It could only mean one thing – that they couldn`t bring them home to give them a proper burial.

I looked behind me and saw Eric. I nodded at the fire and I could see he was thinking the same thing.

“I`ll check the shore,” he said and off he ran.

A thousand thoughts crashed through my head. I`d gone on this trip to save my own village from these raiders. If they`d been too busy to bring home their dead then it could mean they were already on their way to attack my friends and neighbors.

“Crystal!” Jason shouted again and I looked away from the bonfire and back at my brother.

I saw him rushing into a house repeating Crystal`s name and suddenly his voice broke and an inhuman shriek came out instead. Claude and I ran as quickly as we could but when I entered the house Jason had disappeared into, my heart sank.

Jason was on the floor, his body thrown over a female body. Her dress was open and a huge wound had almost separated her head from her body. Her face bore a grotesque expression but I could tell that it was Crystal.

“Nooooooooo,” Jason moaned, his voice so tormented it made me want to throw down my sword and hug him.

But I couldn`t. We still didn`t know what had happened in the village. We didn`t know where the raiders were.

I was also bewildered. Why did Jason have this kind of reaction? What did Crystal mean to him? As far as I knew Jason hadn`t made any marital promises to her. And he had certainly screwed other women. Fidelity was not Jason`s thing.

I walked outside with Claude who looked as surprised as I did. Since we didn`t have time to discuss Jason`s sex life, we just gave each other a look.

Just when we were about to continue our search, Eric came running.

“Their boats are in the harbor,” he said.

“What?” I said. “You mean, they`re still here?”

“They must be. The boats have been destroyed. One was burning and two had holes in them. They`ve sunk a few just off shore.” Eric looked from me to Claude. “Do you think the people here did that?”

“But why would they?” I asked.

We were quiet for awhile, just looking at each other, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.

Then Claude spoke. “The last time I was here Calvin showed me how they were going to protect the fjord from raiders. They were going to shoot fire arrows and throw large rocks at enemy boats coming close to the shore.”

I stared at Claude. “He never told me,” I said.

“He never talked to you after …,” Claude started. “He wanted you to know, though. He told me so.”

“But they could never throw rocks far enough to make holes in the boat,” Eric said.

“You`re used to flatlands, Eric. We have mountains. Calvin`s people wouldn`t have to throw the rocks far – just roll them over the edge,” Claude explained. He pointed at the hills looming over the fjord. “There`s a cliff down there that`s high enough and which hangs over parts of the fjord. If they had stored large enough rocks, they could just give them a shove and they would rain down on the boats.”

“Which meant the raiders came to Calvin`s village instead of ours,” I concluded. “They couldn`t go further.”

Claude nodded. “It seems so.”

“But where are they now?” I asked and we all looked towards the forest and the mountains separating Calvin`s village from ours.

“There weren`t any longboats in the harbor,” Eric said. “Maybe Felipe`s men have taken Calvin`s longboats?”

Claude and I looked at each other and after awhile we both shook our heads.

“Calvin usually kept his longboat in our harbor where it`s more protected from the open sea. They only have the smaller boats here.”

Eric nodded. “There were smaller boats in the harbor.”

All three of us looked towards the forest again. We could hear the mighty river cutting through it but there were none of the sounds warriors would make. There weren`t any sounds a warrior would make.

There were the sounds from the sounds from the village. The animals squealing. The fires burning. Jason`s moaning and crying.

I thought of the defense of our village. Everything was directed towards the fjord – the place where enemies always came from. No one would expect warriors coming down from the mountains through the forest. Everyone would be taken by surprise.

And killed.

I took a deep breath and looked at Claude. “You stay here with Jason. Eric and I will go after them.”

“Jason should get up and fight with us,” Claude said.

I pulled Claude back into the house where Jason was draped over Crystal`s body, completely lost from the world. Eric followed us and I could see him shaking his head, clearly drawing the same conclusions I was.

“Then you make him fit to fight and come after us. Help him bury Crystal and help him mourn.” My voice was slightly raised.

“But he`s your brother,” Claude complained.

“And he`s your cousin. Look after Jason. Do what you can for him and join us when he`s well enough to fight. Eric and I are leaving now.”

And with that I turned on my heels and pulled Eric with me.

We`d walked through the whole village before I realized I was still holding his hand. He noticed I was staring at my smaller hand inside his large one and grinned.

“I don`t mind as long as you let go when I need to grab my sword.”

I let go as if I`d burned my hand but the feeling of him stayed on for awhile. His calloused hand felt good in mine. Too good.

“Let`s follow the river,” I said, my voice much steadier than I would have expected.

We walked in silence, listening to every sound – and for sounds missing. We looked for footprints and other signs of Felipe`s men having walked through here and to determine how long ago it had been. The birds were chirping too happily for Felipe`s men to be very close ahead and the resin in the branches they`d broken on their way had dried up.

Eric and I started moving faster, almost running, to catch up with the warriors ahead of us. We still paid attention to the signs of the forest and we walked as quietly as we could. But we both had a distinct feeling that we were running out of time.

I had, at least, and Eric didn`t seem to be slowing me down.

What was slowing us down was the fact that we tried to avoid using the path animals and humans had made throughout the years – the path Felipe`s soldiers were walking on. We kept listening for the river, knowing the path followed the river and not wanting to lose direction. But we stayed inside the forest. Deep inside.

We`d been walking for quite some time when I felt Eric`s hand on my shoulder. He pointed at the river and at first I thought he`d seen something there. He must have realized I`d misunderstood him because he shook his head.

He whispered, “We need to get something to drink and rest for a little while. We`ll catch up with them soon and we can`t afford to be exhausted when we`re going to fight them.”

I nodded. I didn`t want to stop but Eric was right. Too many warriors had lost battles because they`d forgotten to eat and drink.

I leaned over the bank of the river and formed a cup with my hands. I realized I was even thirstier than I`d thought and I gulped down the fresh and very cold water. This river came straight from the glaciers in the mountains and I was grateful to be cooled down by its water.

Eric stood guard and when I was finished drinking, I got up and watched over him while he crouched down and gulped down some water too.

I looked around for something edible, knowing the forest didn`t have much to offer since it was spring. Not unless I wanted to take the time to hunt, which I didn`t. Not for food, at least. I was hunting down Felipe`s men.

Luckily the forest floor was filled with ramsons and I started plucking the leaves. It wouldn`t fill Eric`s or my stomach but it would give us a little strength.

When Eric had finished drinking, I gave him a handful of ramsons and we started chewing while walking.

Day was turning into evening when Eric made a hand gesture that made me stop. He pointed to his nose and I sniffed.

A bonfire.

Felipe`s men had set up camp and they couldn`t be far away.

I smiled to Eric. We`d caught up with them before they`d reached my village. Now we only needed to kill them.

Eric gave me a silent grin. He was looking forward to the battle as well. We were only two and they were … I`d tried to add up their numbers while we`d walked through the forest. They`d come in three longboats which meant at least 60 men. I`d counted about 25 corpses on the bonfire in Calvin`s village.

That left … I counted again … at least 30 men.

Maybe more.

Hopefully less.

We needed to be smart about it since there was no way we could do the honorable thing and rush into their camp and kill them all in one blow. We also couldn`t ambush them with arrows since neither Eric nor I had brought our bows. And I was a lousy shot anyway.

So we needed to take them one at a time and we needed to do it quietly.

We snuck closer, trying to determine where their guards were. We lay low while pointing them out one by one in the light from the bonfire and the last remains of the sun. We pointed at each of them and divided them between us, giving each of us three to kill.

I was just about to go down on my knees to crawl my way up to the first guy when Eric stopped me, pulled me into his body and gave me a deep kiss.

“I`ll see you afterwards,” he whispered. “Here or in Valhalla.”

I couldn`t help kissing him back.

“I`ll see you afterwards,” I repeated. “Here.”

“Here,” Eric said with a nod and with that he was off.

The first guard was asleep and I silently let my knife glide over his neck, killing him in one quiet blow. The next one was awake but was an easy kill too, having his back turned in my direction. A quick stab to his heart and he was dead too. I moved towards the third one who spotted me just before I killed him – too late for him to notify anyone. His mouth formed a silent O as my sword slid into his stomach and made its way to his chest.

I made my way back to where Eric and I were meeting up but on the way I heard footsteps close to me. At first I thought I`d been discovered but then the footsteps stopped and I heard the distinct sound of a guy getting rid of some of what he`d just drunk.

A guy holding his dick is the easiest target in the world and I managed to kill him without a sound too. I managed to yank his head back and swipe my blade across his throat without a sound and the only though in my head was me, wondering whether his dick would still be out of his trousers when he entered Valhalla. It wasn`t until afterwards I realized that he would be missed soon.

I rushed back to our meeting place and was relieved to find Eric waiting for me. I whispered that we had to act quickly. We snuck up closer to the camp and just when we`d found a good position behind a large rock, we heard them shouting out to the guy I`d killed.

After awhile with no replies – it`s so very hard to talk when your throat has been slit – two of the men gathered their swords and got up to walk in the direction the man they were missing had taken.

Eric and I quickly snuck up on one each, grabbed them from behind, covering the mouths with our hands to prevent them from alarming the rest of the men, and slit their throats. One could almost have thought we`d rehearsed it because we looked like each other`s shadows – the killing twins.

We also looked pretty much alike – apart from our gender and size. Blond braids bathed in blood and both sporting a murderous grin. At least, I hoped my grin was as menacing as Eric`s. Wouldn`t do to walk around with a nice auntie-smile while killing people en masse.

Quickly we went back to our hiding place, hoping that more men would leave the camp in small groups. We couldn`t fight all of them at once, but we might just get away with killing one at a time.

We heard singing and drunken singing from the camp – something that told us not everyone had realized what had happened. But we also heard movement closer to us – this time by someone who didn`t shout out.

Eric and I looked at each other and left the hiding place, going in different directions. My blood was rushing in my veins and it felt as if I could hear everything, see everything. I knew a guy was just behind me but also that he hadn`t seen me. He was walking in my direction so I crouched down behind a bush and when he`d walked past me, I jumped up and knocked him down with the handle of my knife.

I steadied him when he landed and quickly slit his throat.

Suddenly, I heard a sound. Someone called out in alarm and everyone in the camp was up orders were barked out and it seemed people ran in all directions. Orders were barked out and people ran in all directions.

Shit.

I couldn`t see Eric but I quickly found a hiding place, hoping I would still be able to kill a few men one by one.

My first chance came with a guy who came very close, scanning the ground but not seeing my. I realized that all the men had been staring into the fire and therefore were night blind whereas I could take advantage of the little twilight left in the forest and could see fairly well.

Not caring whether or not I was making noise, I sheathed my knife and grabbed my sword instead. It was time for the big weapons.

The man close to me yelled out when he saw me but that was the last thing he did before his head left his neck.

I quickly ran through the forest to find myself a new place to stay far away from the man I`d killed. His cry had drawn a large crowd but one of the men was slower than the rest and I killed him the way I`d killed his mate.

I heard sounds from the other side of the camp and figured Eric was as lucky as I`d been. Or as talented.

I gave myself a quick praise for the number of men I`d killed. Unfortunately there`s an old saying that pride comes before fall and I heard a murmur close to me.

Using my mental battle skills I searched the surroundings and knew I had five men closing in on me in a circle. Luckily that circle had one huge hole and I quickly darted towards the gap between two of the five men.

I felt some of the other men rushing me from behind so I sped up. Just as I thought I`d made it I felt something around my legs. I fell – but not to the forest floor. I fell into something hard but yet flexible.

All five of the men – and a hundred more it seemed from the weight of them – jumped on top of me, holding my arms and legs. I couldn`t move and realized they`d used a net.

A net to catch a warrior!

“Cowards!” I shouted.

Then I had a hand over my mouth and though I tried to bite it but couldn`t manage. I was kicked and beaten and someone tried to pull me up while the rest of them were on top of me. I couldn`t breathe but there and then it didn`t seem important.

Who needed air when one was trying to get out of a net? A net! I just couldn`t fathom that anyone would use such a sissy weapon. Warriors used swords or axes or spears or even bows and arrows. But a net?

My internal outrage was interrupted when I was pulled up to stand on my feet. The hand left my mouth but I had nothing to say. It occurred to me that Eric was still free and I wasn`t going to make him worry about me.

Unfortunately someone else had the same thoughts – only reversed.

“We have your friend!” he shouted into the forest. “We`ll kill him if you don`t come out with your hands over your head.”

“Don`t do it, Eric!” I quickly yelled before the hand was back on my mouth and I had a fist to my stomach.

Unfortunately my yell made them realize one important thing. That I wasn`t a “he” at all. I was a “she.” They grinned when they discovered my gender and their shouts to Eric became more taunting.

“Your whore will warm my bed if you don`t come to save her!” one guy shouted.

“Her tits fit my hands perfectly. Her cunt will fit my dick even better!” another one yelled. I didn`t have anyone`s hands on my breasts but Eric couldn`t know that.

I prayed to all the gods that Eric would leave me alone. I would rather they killed me and he survived than their catching us both. Judging from what Calvin`s village looked like, we would both be dead if we were caught.

Unfortunately the gods weren`t listening. I felt Eric moving towards the group that was holding me and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to divert their attention by struggling and moving like an eel. My movements were rewarded by kicks and hits but I still managed to keep the guys watching me instead of the forest where Eric was.

Eric came closer and closer and I almost thought he could manage to free me as none of the men holding me captive had noticed he was crawling towards us.

That was when I felt men behind Eric – men Eric hadn`t noticed – and I pushed and turned my head to warn him but I was held too tightly, the hand on my mouth almost suffocating me.

A lot of movement in Eric`s direction made tears well up in my eyes. Even before someone yelled, “We`ve got him!” I knew Eric was caught.

They`d used a net on him as well, the craven bastards.

There was a lot of commotion, men searching the forest to see if we were more than two, and then we were pulled towards the camp.

In the middle of the camp, next to the bonfire, a man rose and looked at us with hate in his eyes. He was one of those men you wouldn`t notice if he hadn`t been the one giving the orders. He was short and compact and had curly, dark hair. Some might call him attractive if they looked closely but only his mother would say he was handsome.

Eric was pulled up next to me and I heard him gasp when he saw the man staring at us.

I, on the other hand, didn`t have a clue to who he was.

The man gave us a lopsided grin.

“Eric the Northman,” he said. “And I suppose this is your little wife?”

Eric nodded, trying to move closer to me. I wasn`t sure if he thought he could protect me or if he just wanted to be near me but the movement touched something inside me.

“But it seems she doesn`t know who I am,” the man said. “Maybe you should tell her?”

Eric turned to me and nodded. “Sookie,” he said. “This is Victor the ….” Eric paused. “Victor is Felipe`s foster son.”

Apparently Eric had told a great joke because Victor started laughing. And it was the kind of laughter that made my skin turn into little goose bumps all over.

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A/N

This chapter was twice the usual length and it may have to last for two weeks because next week I`ll be on Iceland (YAY!) and I`m not sure I`ll be bringing my laptop. But I`ll certainly look for inspiration for this story – Iceland is not called The Saga Island for nothing. This is my third trip to Iceland but the first one with my family. I`m looking so much forward to it 

Viking settling in new areas

According to the sagas Iceland was settled by Norwegian fugitives from Harald Fairhair (I mentioned him in the last chapter). But fleeing your home country was just one reason for settling in new areas.

Historians believed for a long time that the reason the Vikings settled in new areas – like Turkey, Ukraine, Belorus, Russia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Canada and several other countries outside the Nordic countries – was because the population grew and some had to move so they wouldn`t all die from hunger. Almost like the Scandinavians in the late 19th and early 20th century who moved to North-America to escape poverty back home.

But historians today dispute this theory since there was no hunger and there were plenty of fields to farm.

Here are other reasons why the Vikings settled abroad:

Trade

The Vikings were traders (and farmers) more than raiders and some probably liked the areas where they traded or they found it a good idea to stay close to the people they traded with.

Better boats

The longboats made it easier to travel to new parts of the world and therefor also easier to settle there.

A change of climate

In the Viking age the climate turned warmer and it was therefore easier for the Vikings to settle in cold areas like Greenland and Iceland.

The kings came into power

During the Viking age the kings in Scandinavia grabbed more and more power and the people who disagreed with the kings had to escape or they would find themselves a head shorter.

Christianity moving north

A large part of the refugees from Scandinavia were trying to get away from a more and more powerful church – a church that gave the Vikings a choice between converting or losing their lives.

And there`s always the possibility the Vikings settled abroad because it was nicer there – though we Scandinavians find that VERY hard to believe 

A/N:

I hope this chapter reaches you as it seems alerts on Fanfiction are down. I debated with myself whether or not to postpone posting but came to the conclusion that I wanted to keep up the Sunday/Monday routine. I hope that even the readers who are not alerted will find this chapter eventually.

I want to thank you for all the reviews and comments to the last chapter. I`m so pleased that you liked it – and that more and more readers are finding this story.

I also want to thank Suki59 for betaing this story even if I keep making the same mistakes chapter after chapter [insert blush].

All the characters in this story belong to Charlaine Harris. I just brought them home and dressed them up in helmets and chainmail.

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“Why don`t you trust me?” Eric asked when we were in bed. I was on my back and he was on his side, propped up on his elbow, looking at me. Eric`s face was in shadow, the light from the fire dancing on the edges of his hair, turning it golden. His blue eyes shone through the darkness and I did my best to avoid meeting them.

Eric`s eyes did things to me I didn`t want to recognize. Things I didn`t want to know.

For some reason Jason was alone in the third bed in Eric`s and Pamela`s house. Claude had crawled under Pamela`s blankets and I was lying next to Eric debating with myself as to how I would answer his third question, almost wishing it had been like the second one, the one where he`d asked if he could touch my breasts.

I turned my head slightly in his direction. “I trust you,” I said.

“No, you don`t.”

“If we end up in battle tomorrow I would be able to turn my back to you and I would have no fear,” I explained. “I can`t say that about many people.”

“So you trust my fighting skills,” he stated. “That doesn`t mean you trust me.”

“It`s not just your fighting skills. I trust your honor. Your …” I searched my head to come up with an explanation. “I know your own life would have to be seriously threatened for you to give up on protecting mine.”

Eric nodded as if he were pleased with what I`d said. “That`s true. I wouldn`t let you die unless I was close to being killed myself.”

“You`re a man of honor,” I said. “And a good fighter. So I trust you.” I couldn`t be sure Eric was a man of honor, of course, but the way he`d let the families of the men who`d drowned hit him was a good indication. Eric was not a coward and he seemed to hold his honor high. Both were things I respected in a man.”

“Thank you,” Eric said. “But the fact that you trust me in battle does not mean that you trust me.”

I let his words sink in, used to thinking in battle terms as I was. Mid-thought I felt Eric`s hand on my stomach and my focus on his words was broken. I pushed his hand away and noticed a faint smile on his lips. A smile that quickly disappeared.

“As you can see, you don`t trust me,” Eric said in a low voice.

“Because I don`t want to have sex with you?” I asked, surprised that this was what he meant by trust.

“Because you don`t want to be my wife,” he replied. “And because you don`t want to have sex with me.” The faint smile he`d had on his lips only moments ago turned into a real one.

I looked away. Eric`s smile was as magical as any runes and I was afraid what that smile would do to me if I kept looking at it. It might even make me smile back and I was not a woman of many smiles.

“I don`t trust many people that way,” I said, not really sure what else to say.

“I realize that. But you like me.” Eric said it as a statement but I heard the tiny question too.

“Everyone likes you, Eric.” I didn`t want to commit myself more than that.

I wasn`t looking at Eric`s face but I knew his smile just grew bigger.

“Why is it so important to you?” I asked. “Why do you want me to trust you?”

I could feel Eric`s shrug against my body. “I want you to be my wife. My real wife.”

“Why?” I asked before I could stop myself. I wasn`t comfortable discussing this.

Eric was quiet for a moment as if my question came as a surprise. Then his hand moved back to my stomach. “I like you,” he said.

I sighed. It sounded so easy. I liked him and he liked me. What more did one need? Only … I needed more. I just didn`t know what.

“Do you trust me?” I asked him.

“Of course I do,” he said but he didn`t sound convincing. Or maybe it was just me who didn`t want him to sound convincing.

“Why?” I looked at him again, bracing myself against his smile, but the combination of those white teeth and the heat of his hand through the linen of my shift, made my heart beat a little faster.

“You wouldn`t hurt me.” Eric sounded very sure.

That cleared my brain and I turned to my side facing him, copying the way Eric lay, leaning on my elbow as well. For some reason my index finger and my thumb thought it a good idea to trace one of the locks of his hair from the hairline at his neck, past his shoulder and to his chest.

Then he did the same to one of the locks of my hair and the two locks ended up laying there between us, so close in color and texture they might belong to the same person.

“How can you know that? Do you think I couldn`t hurt you if I wanted to?” I asked.

Eric went quiet for a moment and his smile was gone. “I think you could hurt me, Sookie. I think you could hurt me more the more we get to know each other.”

I nodded because that was how I felt about him.

“But I don`t think you would. I trust you.” Eric kissed me lightly on my lips, then he touched me between my eyebrows, straightening out my frown. He rolled back to lie on his stomach and closed his eyes.

“Why did you become a shieldmaiden?” he asked.

I wanted to point out to him that he`d used his three questions. Instead I turned his question back to him.

“Why did you become a warrior?”

“I`m good at it. I like it.” Eric shrugged and I looked at him lying there, long shadows cast from his nose and his forehead. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked at me. “Is that how you feel?” he asked. “Do you enjoy fighting?”

I thought about it. “I suppose I do.” Then I nodded. “No, I know I love fighting. And that I`m good at it. I never was any good at weaving or any of the other chores a woman ought to be good at. But I always loved my sword even back when it was made of wood.” I was quiet for a few moments. “Gran always supported me but I think my parents kept hoping I would become more …” I searched for the word but when it came to me it made me blush. “Marriageable.”

Eric grinned and turned towards me again. “I find you perfectly marriageable.” His hand touched my chin slightly, his thumb gliding up my cheek.

I pulled back a little, not wanting to stop my story midways. Not wanting to be distracted. “But when they saw how reckless Jason was and how … I wasn`t … my mother made me promise I would always protect my brother when we were in a battle together.”

Eric stared at me. “Did you become a shieldmaiden to protect your brother?” His voice was a little louder and I wanted to hush him. Jason couldn`t know how much it meant to me that I was there to keep him alive. It would ruin his reputation. His self-esteem.

“Of course, not,” I said, my voice a little angry. “I like being a shieldmaiden. I like kicking the pompous and self-adoring asses of big, bad warriors who think themselves invincible. I like knowing that I`m evening the scales.”

“What scales?” Eric asked.

I rolled back and stared into the ceiling. “I`m physically weaker than most of the men I kill,” I said. “It gives me some kind of satisfaction to know I can still beat them.”

Eric was quiet for a moment and I thought he`d fallen asleep but then I felt his lips on my cheek.

“I like you, Sookie,” he said. “I trust you too. But most of all, you impress me. Not many people do.”

I turned my head and stared at him for a few moments. We looked at each other through the darkness and when he smiled at me, I smiled back.

Eric had all kinds of surprises installed for me. And I had to admit to myself that I liked it.

I must have fallen asleep because the fire had almost died out when I woke up. I listened to the darkness and tried to recall what I`d heard, what had woken me up, when the sound came back.

It took me a little while to recognize it, but I`d shared a room with Jason and Claude long enough to know what it was when I heard it again.

Someone was having sex.

I turned away from the sound and closed my eyes again, not wanting to intrude by listening in on Jason and whomever he was having sex with. I didn`t know it was Jason but assumed it since Claude was in Pamela`s bed.

Eric`s arm was around my waist but I didn`t notice it before his hand started stroking my stomach.

“Pamela wants to have more children,” he whispered.

“Oh,” I whispered, not understanding him at first. “Oh!” I repeated, when realization hit me.

Eric`s breathing evened out again and soon I was asleep too. There may have been a little smile on my lips.

Eric got out of bed before I did the next morning and I watched him as he got dressed before getting out of bed myself. There was nothing wrong with Eric`s body. Unfortunately he knew it too as the knowing smile he gave me bore witness of. Eric didn`t mind my watching him half naked. He didn`t mind it at all.

Since we were getting ready for battle, I rolled my dress up, put it away and pulled on my tunic and pants on instead. I had no problems fighting in my dress and I`d often trained in it. But my chainmail fit my tunic better and I preferred looking like one of the men when I fought like one of them.

I was just about to braid my hair when Eric grabbed my comb and gently ran it through every strand of my hair from the scalp to the tips. Then divided it into three sections and started braiding.

No one but I had braided my hair since Gran died and I had to admit to myself that I liked the feeling. Which made me pull away as soon as he was done.

I was just about to get up and walk out when he handed me the comb and made a gesture at his own hair, which looked like an owl`s nest. I shrugged and motioned for him to sit down on the bed. I slowly worked my way through his hair, trying to disentangle it without hurting him too much. When I was done, I made a thick braid down his back and tied the leather band Eric handed me at the end of it.

I let my fingers run down it a few times and then I let it fall down his back.

Eric pulled me around to stand between his legs and he looked up at me, his arms circling my waist. I grabbed his shoulders for balance when he pulled me closer but then my mouth suddenly found the top of Eric`s head kissable.

His hair smelled like fur and sunshine and …

And I knew I needed to pull away or this would take a direction I couldn`t control. I also knew that any minor slip in my control would be irreversible. Eric somehow got under my skin and giving him even a small opening would just end in … well, I didn`t know what it would end in but I was sure it couldn`t be good.

I pushed at Eric`s shoulders and he let go of me.

“We need to get ready,” I said, my voice sounding strange.

“We do,” Eric agreed and got up.

I looked at him and how unaffected he seemed. Yes, he wanted me but for what? I couldn`t deny the sexual attraction between us but Eric also insisted on our being married which made the whole situation impossible.

I could never be married to a man like Eric.

I probably could never be married at all, really, but Eric was the kind of husband who would expect too much and give too little.

He was just too handsome. Too self-confident. Thought too highly of himself.

But he had been so darned nice too. Considerate. Interested in my thoughts. In me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and then I walked out. Eric was an amazing fighter and I was looking forward to fighting side by side with him.

Eric, Jason, Claude and I – we were a force to be reckoned with.

We`d taken a smaller – and slower – boat since the four of us were about twenty people too few to man a longboat. But the wind was favorable and we could expect to be home in a day or so if the gods were on our side.

Eric was a good sailor and Jason, Claude and I did our best to help out, eager as we all were to get home as quickly as possible.

Not being one to think thing too much over – I considered myself a doer more than a thinker – I still couldn`t help wondering about what would meet us. Would the village be burned down? How many would be dead? Had they managed to fight back?

I glanced at Eric sitting by the rudder, the wind pulling strands of hair from the braid I`d made. I was sitting next to him, staring at the land that was passing us by, hoping we would leave the flatlands behinds us soon and eager to see mountains.

“How did Queen Sophie-Anne know about the attack?” I asked him, not expecting an answer since Rasul the Secretive was the one who would have known, not Eric.

I glanced at him again and noticed a shrug.

“Queen Sophie-Anne has spies in Felipe`s camp,” he said.

“I figured as much but what I don`t understand is .…” I paused to gather my thoughts. I was a fighter and as a fighter I`d grabbed my sword and run to the battle scene. Now that I had time on my hands – and no immediate battle – I`d started thinking. “It`s at least a day`s journey from Felipe`s camp to Nordby. Maybe two in bad weather. And it`s the same distance from Felipe`s camp to my village. If the spy reported on an attack that had already taken place – an attack Felipe`s warriors had returned from – then ….” I counted in my head. “Then that attack must have taken place just after we left my village.”

The gravity of it hit me. Was my village attacked just after three of the strongest warriors had left? Could we have made a difference if we`d stayed?

The wind hit my eyes and made tears well up in them.

“Or…,” Eric said. “The spy reported of an attack about to take place. In that case we might be there just after Felipe`s men. A day after at the most.”

I turned around and searched his face but there was nothing that revealed that he knew more than I did.

“Do you think so?” I asked, holding my breath.

“I`m an optimist.” Eric had been looking straight ahead all through our conversation but suddenly his eyes were on me. “I like to hope for the best.” He looked away again. “Of course, I always prepare for the worst and so should you, Sookie.”

I nodded and couldn`t help wishing the boat would go faster. Maybe we could be there in time? Maybe we could make a difference in the battle?

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A/N:
I hope you got this chapter and that you liked it.

Hairstyles

In this chapter Eric and Sookie groom each other`s hair. Charlaine Harris has her Viking Eric have long hair and even if Alan Ball chose to cut it off in True Blood, Eric will always have long hair when I picture him.

In the Viking age the slaves – men and women – had short hair or their heads were shaven. I`ve also heard mentions of warriors shaving the back of their heads – thus creating a back-forward mullet (excuse me for giggling) – to make sure the enemy couldn`t grab their hair in battle.

But generally it`s assumed that free men and women in the Viking age had long hair and that men often had full beards as well. Some men chose to dye their beards red or bleach their beards (and hair, possibly) and I`ve also read about men braiding thin straws of gold into their hair, making women in the countries they “visited” swoon.

Unmarried women would leave their hair unbraided and married women would braid their hair in a knot and wear a scarf or some kind of headwear over it.

One of the most common finds from the Viking age is combs. It seems most Vikings wouldn`t leave home without it and that they used it every day.

Another thing for personal grooming one has found quite a lot of is ear spoons to clean the ears with. Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like – little spoons they would use in their ears to dig out … well, no need to go into details. Let`s just say that I hope all Q-tips of today are gone when the archeologists of the future start excavating around my house. I don`t want them to have the same reaction I had when I read about ear spoons.

Vikings were generally well groomed and washed themselves regularly. The only people who wouldn`t wash daily (or at least weekly) were people in mourning. Refusing to wash one`s hands, face and hair was a sign of deep grief as shown in Odin`s reaction to his son Balder`s tragic death.

Harald Fairhair

Hair was important to the Vikings and for some it had political meaning. The sagas claim that when Harald Hårfagre, or Harald Fairhair as his name has been translated into, decided he wanted to be king of all of Norway and not just the tiny part called Sogn, he declared that he would not cut his hair until he had in fact gathered all the little kingdoms into one large one. His hair was very long but he ended up becoming some kind of over-king and is recognized as the first king of Norway.

The name Fairhair was actually a name he got after his death but it`s the name he is known by today. The story about him letting his name grow is a story from the sagas and had probably little to do with reality. It`s still a story children are taught in schools today and I`m not sure they are told it isn`t true. Why ruin a good story, right?

5 million Norwegians

On a different and much more up-to-date note; as of today we are 5 million people living here in Norway. We would only have been 4.4 million people if we hadn`t had the recent immigration to the country. But we would have been 8 million people if not for all the Norwegians who immigrated to America back in the 19th century.

I`m not sure what that has to do with anything but I figured it was a fun fact.

A/N:

It seems most of you agreed on more sword fights. How about more naked Erics? Yes, I know – an entirely rhetorical question.

Thank you so much for all your comments and reviews. You should see the smile they put on my face.

I also want to thank Suki59 for not only betaing this baby but also keeping track of whatever I lose.

Eric, Sookie and all the other characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I only own their swords. In my dreams, at least.

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Chapter 10

Eric`s question startled me. I`d braced myself for questions like “why are you pushing me away?” or “why aren`t you admiring me like any normal girl?” but his asking me about Claude came as a complete shock.

First, because I`d succeeded in burying everything that had happened between Claude and me so deeply inside I`d almost forgotten what had happened. I`d put it behind me. Locked it up and misplaced the key.

Second, because I had no idea what Eric had noticed – why he would ask me that question. Claude and I behaved like any pair of cousins would. I liked Claude – loved him even. He was, after all, one of two family members I had left. And what had happened between us was years ago. Ages, really.

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to pretend I didn`t understand what he meant, which wasn`t too hard since I had no idea why Eric would ask that question. I knew, of course, what he could be referring to but how could he know about that?

“If I`m not mistaken, I was the one who won the right to ask questions. Not you. So what happened between you and Claude?”

I exhaled so loudly any horse would be proud of the sound I made.

Not sure how to answer Eric`s question, I searched my brain for buried memories. My feelings towards Claude, all the anger and despair, had been put in a thick mental coffin and buried. He was my cousin and we couldn`t afford my frustrations to grow – which was why I`d made an effort to forget the more unfortunate … things … long ago.

Claude and I got along just fine now. It was water on the shore – last year`s harvest.

I looked at Eric to see if his face gave away any clues as to why he`d asked me that particular question. How he`d known.

But looking at him was a bad idea. His smile. The bead of sweat trailing down his cheek. The long, blond hair just begging me to touch it.

I shook my head. I was hot and in desperate need of water so I started walking – not really sure where I was going. If I`d only wanted a drink, there`d been plenty of drinking water on the practice field but as I got closer to the river, I realized I needed a bath.

I needed to clear my head. Cool down.

I knew Eric was following me. I heard his footsteps and could see his shadow moving next to mine. But I wasn`t paying attention to him.

My mind was on Claude. And on how I was going to answer Eric`s question.

I could lie, of course. That would have been easy. But it would also have been dishonorable since Eric had won the right to three truthful answers from me. I had many flaws but I always kept my word.

When I came to the river I pulled off my clothes and jumped into the water, hoping the cool water would help me come up with an answer. And it did. After a long dive I broke surface and focused all my attention on Eric who was only now getting into the water with me.

We were alone. Fortunately. Unfortunately.

My resolve was broken for a few seconds, staring at Eric`s magnificent body, but then I pushed all thought of his strong arms and impressive thighs away and decided to give Eric a short reply. It would be truthful, but as short as I could possibly make it.

“Claude asked me to marry him when I was 16,” I said and dived under again.

I wasn`t sure what I expected when I came up for air. Eric`s being surprised, probably. Or maybe that Eric would laugh at me for having been infatuated with a man who so clearly preferred other men to his younger and very star struck cousin.

Except I hadn`t told Eric about that part. About my being in love with Claude. Or Claude working very hard at making me fall in love with him.

Instead he just nodded as if I`d told him something he`d figured out for himself.

“And you turned him down,” he commented.

I listened carefully to hear if this was a question. Would it count as one of the three he was allowed to ask me? But it wasn`t a question, unfortunately.

I still replied. “Not exactly. Well, not at first, anyway.”

Gran had been thrilled that her two grandchildren – the two everyone frowned upon as “not marriage material” – had found each other. We would give her great-grandchildren and she wouldn`t have to endure the shame of having unmarried family members.

“You`re not married to Claude now,” Eric stated.

Still not a question.

“No. Right before the wedding was supposed to take place Claude told me why he wanted me to be his wife.”

It wasn`t a long sentence, but it left me breathless. Raw.

Eric was now standing very close to me and I hadn`t even noticed he`d moved. He turned me around, facing the forest on the other side of the river, and started to touch my back. Massage my shoulders.

I exhaled.

“What he wanted out of the marriage was something I couldn`t give.”

At the time I`d thought I was in love with Claude. And why not? I was 16 and my big, brave cousin gave me all his attention. For several months he`d flirted with me, given me stolen kisses and heated promises and I`d been thrilled the day he`d asked me to be his wife. Proud, even.

But just before the wedding things had changed. Claude had wanted “a talk.” How I loathed having “a talk” – nothing good ever came out of such a thing.

The memory of Claude as he told me he was only going to share my bed often enough for us to procreate (his choice of word), that he liked me well enough but that I had the wrong kind of body for him to be truly attracted to me, that he would keep his male lovers throughout our marriage – that memory had been suppressed for too long and it hurt to be reminded of it.

Eric leaned down and kissed my shoulder while making some kind of comforting sound. I was about to step away from him when his fingers hit a muscle knot and instead of objecting to his kiss, I groaned out in pain. His knuckles ground deep into that sensitive spot and a pain shot like a bolt of lightning into my head.

But when his fingers lifted from the sore area they`d added pressure to, I felt relief. It was as if a tension had been taken away from me.

“You`re good,” I acknowledged.

“Your back is in a pitiful condition, Sookie. It`s a wonder you`re not suffering from severe back pains.”

Happy about the change of subject, I nodded. “I do wake up sometimes feeling like I`ve slept on a rock.”

Of course, when we were on raids I sometimes did sleep on rocks and my back never liked it very much.

“Let me see what I can do,” Eric said and soon his fingers found more sore spots and he had me crying out in pain – or grinding my teeth to avoid complete humiliation.

I was a shieldmaiden. Shieldmaidens didn`t scream just because someone touched their shoulders and backs.

Eric`s finger`s traveled down the small of my back and soon they found muscle knots in my butt that needed to be dealt with. If someone had suggested that morning that I would be cursing Eric for touching my butt, I would have believed them. But somehow, this was not the kind of butt touching I`d have envisioned.

After having brought deep pain – and a very welcome relief – to my shoulders, back and butt, Eric`s fingers went back to a lighter massage. I couldn`t help leaning into his touch, enjoying the way my muscled relaxed and were infused with new energy.

Eric the Northman truly had magical fingers.

Reminding myself of the topic Eric and I had just discussed, I made a serious effort to clear my mind of Eric`s hands touching me, his breath on my neck, his body so close to mine. His nakedbody so close to mine.

“You still have two questions left,” I said, trying to make my voice sound unmoved but not entirely sure I`d succeeded.

“I do,” Eric said and continued touching my back and then moved forward and let his hands glide over my stomach.

The river was freezing but even standing in the middle of it, hip deep in the water, I was not even close to being cold.

I also noticed that the temperature of the water had no cooling effect on Eric – judging from what was poking into my butt cheek.

“My second question, Sookie, is this: Can I touch your breasts?”

My brain screamed “NO!” but for some reason my mouth wasn`t listening. “Yes,” it said and before I could retract my answer, his large hands were on the body parts in question.

My mouth, clearly having a mind of its own, sighed deeply, and my body, not wanting to be any better, leaned into Eric.

He leaned down and kissed my neck again. Bit it a little and sucked just enough for me to get love bites I would have to hide with my hair.

My hands pulled him closer, grabbing his hips, his butt, feeling the muscles in his thighs. Somehow our bodies started moving in rhythm, his body grinding into mine, his hands groping my breasts, working their way down my stomach to …

I`d had sex before, of course. I`d even had sex while bathing before. But I had never felt anything like this – the all consuming desire I suddenly felt for Eric.

Yes, I`d acknowledged his fine body and his charm but I had seen his flaws too. I had carefully avoided him, knowing how disastrous it would be to open myself up to him – physically or emotionally. Eric had the power to turn me into a love sick puppy and that didn`t fit very well with being a shieldmaiden.

And yet, here I was, wanting him inside me. Wanting … more.

Eric must have sensed the tension in me – the way I`d stopped moving my hips and grabbing his thighs – because he kissed my ear and then he whispered, “I`m not Claude.”

That had me pulling away from Eric and turning around.

“You arrogant …” I couldn`t find a fitting curse. “My having second thoughts has nothing to do with Claude. Until you asked, Claude was a minor thing in my past. He broke my heart, but do you really think I`m so weak I would still be licking my wounds?”

I glared at Eric who looked insecure for a moment or two.

“You`re anything but weak, Sookie,” he finally said. “Why do you keep rejecting me if it`s not because of what happened with Claude?”

He looked as if he just couldn`t fathom how anyone could say no to him without a good and solid reason. It was a mystery to him – up there with why cows give us white milk when they eat green grass. Why winds from the east are always colder than winds from the west. And why women bleed every month.

Maybe the last one was my mystery more than Eric`s. And it wasn`t as much a mystery as an everyday annoyance.

What Eric was struggling to comprehend was how anyone – and I in particular – would reject him. To be honest, looking at him, I wondered myself. At least for a few moments until I had given myself that mental slap I needed.

“Is that your third question?” I asked.

Eric looked at me, but then he shook his head. “No, I`ll ask my third question later.”

I`d been so preoccupied with Eric and our discussion that I hadn`t noticed Quinn running towards us until he shouted Eric`s name.

“What is it, Quinn?” I asked since Eric didn`t seem to want to pay attention to him.

“It`s Mum,” he said. “She says you have to come home right now. It`s urgent,” he added in a voice that indicated that “urgent” was a word his mother had told him to use.

I got out of the water and started dressing, letting my wet braid drip down my clothes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eric getting out of the water too but I quickly looked away, not wanting to see that body I`d just had so close to mine, doing things to me that I should have stopped before they`d gotten that far.

When we`d both put on out clothes, we followed Quinn back towards Nordby and Eric`s house.

“Is something wrong with your mother?” Eric asked. “Is she sick?”

“No.” Quinn looked surprised.

“But what is it, then?” Eric was getting frustrated.

“Mum just said it was … urgent.” Quinn used that grown up word again and I didn`t like the sound of it. What would be urgent enough for Pam to send Quinn to get us?

Our pace quickened and soon Eric pulled Quinn up in his arms since his nephew was slowing us down, and carried him the rest of the way back to Eric`s home.

I was the first one to enter Eric`s house and was surprised to see Jason and Claude in what looked like shock. No, it was anger. They were both sitting on one of the benches and Pamela was on the bench on the other side of the table, with Frannie in her lap.

There was one more person in the room and after my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I recognized him. Rasul the Secretive was sitting next to Pamela.

Rasul got up when he saw Eric and me entering the house. He didn`t move towards us so we walked to the table and finally Jason and Claude also noticed us. I sat down next to Jason and Eric went to sit next to his sister, pulling Quinn into his lap.

I found myself staring at Claude and he cocked his eyebrow as if asking me why I was suddenly paying him attention after having neglected him for years. Or maybe he just felt like cocking his eyebrow when I was looking at him and I thought it had a deeper meaning because of my trip into the Land of Hidden Memories.

I redirected my attention to Rasul, silently asking him what he`d come for.

“Sookie,” he started. “I have some sad news for you.”

Jason interrupted. “He told us to wait until you were back. He hasn`t said a word to us.” Jason was angry. Or his pride was hurt. One never knew when it came to Jason.

Rasul continued as if Jason hadn`t spoken. “We have had information about your village,” he started.

“My … our village?” I repeated.

“It seems Felipe the Throne-robber was behind a most cowardly attack on your village. We don`t know whether your village managed to fight back or how many people Felipe`s men managed to kill, but Queen Sophie-Anne asked me to tell you that your loss will be avenged, however large.”

While I silently contemplated Felipe`s change of name from Felipe the Elegant to Felipe the Throne-robber, Jason got up, anger radiating from his body.

“She can be damned sure it will be avenged,” Jason cried out. “If I have to kill Felipe all by myself.”

Jason grabbed his sword as if Felipe were in the very room and Jason could cut his head off and everything would be back to the way it was supposed to be.

I noticed how Rasul studied Jason, apparently pleased with his reaction. Claude, on the other hand, had his eyes on me as if I were about to say something that would make a difference. Claude, being a couple of years older than I, should have been the head of our little family but I had somehow assumed the role.

“I can assure you that Queen Sophie-Anne is planning to strike back and put an end to Felipe the Throne-robber`s cowardly behavior. She will make sure to put you in the front of the raid so that Felipe`s blood will be on your swords.” Rasul was talking to Jason but he was looking at me.

“We thank your queen for the honor,” I said.

“Tell her that I, Jason the Brave, will personally kill her uncle. Slowly.”

Apparently it wasn`t just Felipe who`d had a change of names. Jason had been known as Jason the Promiscuous for as long as I could remember – a name that fit him very well.

But Jason was Brave. The kind of brave that came with not being able to perceive danger for what it was, but still brave. I smiled at him to encourage him. I liked having a brother called Jason the Brave and hoped more people than Jason would use that name.

“I`m sure Queen Sophie-Anne will be relieved to hear that,” Rasul said.

“When will the attack on Felipe take place?” I asked. I was ready to leave in the morning. I was torn, though, because I really wanted to go home to see the damage and help the wounded, but if we could strike against Felipe and get our bloody revenge, then I would gladly postpone a visit home until Felipe was in his grave.

Rasuls looked at his hands. “In the autumn at the latest,” he replied.

“In the autumn?” Claude, Jason and I shouted.

“Oh, at the very latest. Queen Sophie-Anne needs to prepare the attack well since it will be the final battle. She can not risk losing it and is currently negotiating with other tribes to join forces with her,” Rasul explained.

I noticed Eric nodding as if he agreed with Rasul and that nod made me want to dunk his head into the table. How well could anyone prepare for battle? You sharpened your sword, made sure your boat didn`t have any leaks and those were the preparations you needed before you went in killing as many as possible.

“Vengeance should be immediately and bloody,” I said, meeting Rasul`s eyes.

“I shall bring that into the queen`s considerations,” he replied.

After a little while more of Jason, Claude and me demanding instant bloodshed and Rasul trying to reason with us, he finally left.

When the door closed behind Queen Sophie-Anne`s man, I gave Eric the death stare.

“Thank you so much for supporting our need for vengeance,” I said, pouring all my sarcasm into my voice.

“The result would have been the same no matter what I`d said.” Eric got up, walked over to the bench I was sitting on and sat down next to me. He tried to put his arm around me but I scooted further down the bench, closer to Jason.

Me childish?

Maybe.

“You don`t know that!” I argued.

“I know that. I know the Queen much better than you do.” He slid down the bench so that he was sitting right next to me. “And if the Queen thinks I`m fine with waiting for her to plan her battles down to the smallest detail then she won`t pay much attention when I take one of my ships out for battle training.”

I looked at him and saw how close he was. I could feel his warm breath on my shoulder and shuddered. I was about to ask him what he meant when Claude interrupted.

“You`re going to help us avenge our village?” he asked, looking past me and Jason at Eric.

“I`m going to help you get back to your village to assess the damage. If any of Felipe`s men are still there, I`ll help you kill them.” Eric held up a hand to stop Jason from cheering. “But I can`t go after Felipe if he`s not in your village. I am not committing treason by ruining Sophie-Anne`s plans.”

“You would take us home?” I asked almost breathless. Now that the idea had been launched I felt a deep desire, a need, to see how Tara was doing. And Sam. And JB. And Amelia. And all the other people I knew and loved.

He grabbed my hand in my lap and I let him.

“We can leave in the morning if you`d like.”

Nothing could stop Jason from cheering now.

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I hope you liked the chapter.

A/N:

Death

I think I mentioned that warriors who were brave in battle would be picked up by Odin`s shieldmaidens – the Valkyries – and delivered to Valhalla where they would fight and drink and have a great time until Ragnarokk (the end of time) when they will be called upon to fight on Odin`s side.

But what about everyone else? What about all the people who died from falling down a cliff, childbirth, pneumonia, hunger and what not? What happened to them, according to Norse mythology?

They would go to Hel. Notice that it only has one “l”. This isn`t Hell as in a place where sinners go and are punished according to Christian belief. No, Hel, or Helheim as it`s also referred to, is the Kingdom of Death and the Queen governing that Kingdom (or Queendom, as it should be called) is called Hel as well.

Hel (the place) is dark, cold and moist and one could easily understand why warriors would prefer to go to Valhalla.

The life and death of a Viking was decided by the Norns. They were women who controlled the destiny of gods and men and they were present when Vikings were born and when they died. Each person got his or her own thread in a gigantic loom when he or she was born and when it was time for them to die, their thread was cut. The threads were called Life threads or Destiny threads.

There were many Norns and they all had different tasks. Some kept the Yggdrasil – the tree of life – alive and some caused trouble for the people they were looking out for.

Both Roman and Greek mythology have gods who are similar to the Norns.

By the way – I can recommend that you look up the short film “The Saga of Biorn” on YouTube. It`s hilarious.

Hell, Norway

On a fun note, here is what you can do if someone says “that`ll happen when Hell freezes over”: Go to any online weather station – for instance the Norwegian yr dot no – and find the village of Hell in Norway. Hell (in Norway) actually does freeze over four to five months a year.

Tourists who go there find the sign on the train station worth a photo or five. It says “Hell Gods Expedition.” It`s an old sign and “Gods” means “goods”.

You can find Hell, Norway – and a picture of that sign – on Wikipedia.

A/N:

Thank you so much for all the great responses to this story. I appreciate them very much!

I also want to thank Suki59 for being such a great beta and friend.

The characters in this story belong to Charlaine Harris who, in my book, has done only one thing wrong in the series. She hasn`t let Eric fight enough with his sword. He should be allowed at least one sword-fight a book. And Sookie should learn too.

To make up for it there are plenty of swords in this chapter.

EDIT: This was supposed to have been posted yesterday but technical problems with the site made it impossible. Sorry.

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A group of men and two women were on the practice ground already. It was a meadow a bit outside of Nordby and the trampled down grass bore witness to many a warrior training with his sword here. There were a few trees on the outskirts of the meadow – all of them with marks from people throwing axes or spears at them.

It was a warm day, bees buzzing and the air full of pollen from the birch trees. I enjoyed the sun`s rays on my face but turned my attention to the crowd already in the meadow. Eric`s hand was warm on the small of my back but I didn`t step away from it. For all I knew, he needed his hand there for balance, having been bedridden for days.

Everyone looked at us when we walked up there. I wasn`t what they were staring at – they`d seen me train a couple of times already. No, it was Eric that made them turn around.

Someone broke out of the group and I recognized Rasul, Queen Sophie-Anne`s man. He gave us a big smile and walked over to us.

“I`m glad to see you up and about, Eric,” he said and touched Eric lightly on his shoulder.

Eric winced but it didn`t seem as if Rasul noticed and Eric quickly regained his normal confident stance.

We all walked over to the rest of the group and Eric introduced me. I`d already met some of them but Bill of the Long Silences, Thalia the Old and Felicia the Fair were new introductions.

Bill of the Long Silences bowed deeply, something I`d never had anyone do to me before. I`d heard of foreigners kissing women`s hands so even if Bill of the Long Silences seemed local, I kept my hands behind my back just to be sure. I didn`t want anyone slobbering on my knuckles.

“We`ve heard about you,” Thalia the Old said. “But I never thought we would have the pleasure of meeting you.”

Her dark eyes penetrated me, speaking of wisdom and the kind of experience that comes with having seen and done things – not just from being old. Thalia the Old hadn`t fought in years but I knew all the stories about her bravery and strength. I also knew that her great sorrow was to not have died in battle. Or at least that was how the stories went. She was too accomplished a warrior to be killed on the battlefield and now she would never be invited to Valhalla.

I nodded. “It`s an honor to meet you.” I wanted to tell her that I thought she was a legend. That I dreamed of being as great as she was. That she`d made men respect shieldmaidens. But all I could do was nod again.

“Maybe you want to help out training Felicia here?” she asked and I nodded again.

I knew how to train people, treading the fine line between getting rid of their bad habits without breaking them down, and called Felicia out on the ground. We both grabbed the wooden swords.

I noticed Eric picking up an ax and throwing it at the trees when I checked Felicia`s grip on her sword.

We ran through a couple of basic moves so I could decide what level she was and then we started fighting. I dodged her hits and told her when she was too open for mine. Felicia was strong and had potential but not very much confidence.

“I`ve won all my battles,” I told her. “So has Thalia. You aren`t going to lose a battle because you`re a woman. You`re going to lose it because you think you`re weak.”

“I don`t,” she claimed.

“Then prove it,” I said and Felicia started hitting harder.

After a while of heavy fighting we were both sweaty and Felicia had a hard time breathing.

“You should run more,” I said. “And lift your sword over your head 200 times a day. Your heavy sword.”

I hadn`t noticed how not only Thalia but also Bill and Eric had found rocks to sit on while watching me as I gave Felicia her lessons. Eric smiled at me when I turned in his direction but it was Bill of the Long Silences who got up and walked towards me.

“Could I interest you in a sparring?” he asked and I nodded. I always welcomed working out with new people because it gave me a taste of the different ways men fought. It prepared me for battle.

“Sure,” I said and got ready. “Wood or steel?”

“I think we`re old enough for steel, don`t you think?” he asked, looking very serious.

I nodded and went to get my training sword. It was the one I`d beaten Eric with and I couldn`t help winking at him as I turned around, flashing it in the sun. He winked back and smiled which made me laugh a little.

I turned my attention to Bill who`d also picked up his sword and was ready for me. He stood still, assessing me, waiting for me to make my first move.

I`d always preferred men who relied on their strength when they fought me. Men who would jump forward, expecting an easy kill given my small size. But Bill of the Long Silences was one of the few warriors who would use his brain and not just his muscles.

He wasn`t small and he didn`t look weak so that wasn`t the reason why he wasn`t attacking me. I looked at him, trying to prepare for his moves and then I couldn`t help grinning. He was doing what I always did – letting the opponent lay himself open by attacking. But I wasn`t playing his game. So I just waited. I knew I had the patience to wait for him for as long as it took.

And finally he was tired of just standing there. Or maybe it was the people looking at us, taunting us, telling us we were cowards. Because suddenly he jumped forward with a loud scream (so much for the Long Silences), his sword lifted high over his head.

I avoided the blow of his sword and managed to hit him in the hip. Not a killing blow, even if our swords hadn`t been blunt. But he would bruise. He pirouetted quickly and I would have had his sword in my shoulder if I hadn`t seen it coming and avoided it. I stuck my sword in his stomach, making him double over, but he swung his sword again, this time against my legs. I jumped and while in the air, I knocked the sword out of his hand. He lost balance and was down on his knees.

Bill got up and nodded at me, making me the winner of the first fight. Then he picked up his sword and we were back in a new battle.

Bill fought well but since he planned all his moves well ahead of making them, he was also very predictable. At least for me. I knocked him over, avoided his blows and was declared the winner of each of the many battles we fought.

When we were done Bill of the Long Silences bowed again and I bowed back.

“I should like to continue training with you,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure,” I answered. His fighting skills were different enough for him to be more than just an ordinary practice. I actually learned something – I had to stretch myself to beat him.

Eric came over to me with some water and I drank it greedily. It was midday and the sun was hot.

“Thank you,” I said, trying to catch my breath again.

“You did very well. Bill is a good warrior.”

“Thank you,” I repeated, smiling with pride.

I`d beaten everyone I I`d been up against in battle and most everyone I`d been training with. It was only in my early days, before I`d mastered using my premonitions in battle, that I`d had to eat dirt on the training ground. But Eric`s words still warmed me.

“How is your back?” I asked.

“It`s better. I just need to practice with the sword. Maybe you would spar with me if you`re not too tired?” Eric`s blond hair was glowing in the sun and I enjoyed the way he looked at me. It wasn`t that wolfy look that told me he wanted to get between my legs. No, there was admiration in his eyes. Respect, maybe.

“Sure,” I said. “Do you want me to go easy on you?”

That killed his smile and I wasn`t sure why.

“I`m not letting you beat me again, Sookie.” His voice was cool as winter snow.

I laughed because I couldn`t help myself. “I was wondering if you needed me to go easy on you because of your back – not because I beat you in ….”

“I don`t need any special care. I`m twice your size and I can handle a bit of pain in my back.” Eric straightened up in the same menacing posture he`d had when I met him first on the battlefield.

I shook my head. “The only thing bigger than you is your ego. You`ve been bedridden for days – and with good reason. If you don`t want me to take that into account when we fight, fine. But don`t be a prick about it.”

Eric`s nostrils flared a few times but then he relaxed and his smile was back.

“I won`t be a prick,” he said, his voice indicating something I couldn`t make out. “You think you can beat me again, Sookie?”

“Not only can I beat you but I`ll have you down in the dirt before you know it,” I taunted. Warriors like Eric always fought worse when they were angry.

Unfortunately Eric`s smile never faltered. “Do you care to bet on that?” he asked.

I shrugged, pretending I didn`t care though I would rather not have him name some silly prize he wanted to fight for. “If you want. I`m going to beat you anyway.”

Eric let his hand run through his hair, his eyes on me and his lips pursed. He closed his eyes for a few moments and then he smiled.

“We fight five battles. Whoever wins the most battles wins. A killing blow names the winner,” he said.

“And the winner wins …?” I asked.

“The winner can name his prize when he`s won,” he answered with a grin.

“When she`s won, you mean,” I said, mimicking his stupid grin.

“You`re not going to beat me this time, Sookie.” Eric was full of confidence. Full of bullshit, actually, but in his case it was the same.

“Grab your sword, big boy,” I said. “And let`s see what you can manage. I may let you beat me once so you don`t have to end up crying on my shoulder but I`ll have you on the ground at least four times.”

“Big boy?” he asked and his laughter didn`t stop until my sword hit his so hard he almost dropped it.

And with that the fight was on.

Eric was as quick as I remembered him and it didn`t seem as if his healing wounds held him back at all. He jumped and he struck and he almost knocked me over more than once. I thanked all the gods for the gift they`d given me or Eric would have had me on my back in no time. He really was an amazing warrior and one could tell he loved to fight. I did too, but not as much as he did.

I dodged most of his blows and the ones that landed on me were not close to being deadly. They were a surprise, though. Usually I kept myself clear of all blows, all swords and axes and spears. That was my gift.

But with Eric it seemed I knew just a tiny moment too late what he was going to do. Not too late to avoid being knocked over, but enough for him to give me bruises.

I hurt him worse than he hurt me, luckily. If we hadn`t fought with blunt swords, Eric would have been bleeding from his legs, hips and his arm. I couldn`t seem to be able to hit him higher, his being so terribly tall.

We circled each other, our swords smashing together – something I would do anything to avoid in the future since my sword hand hurt like all the torments of the Jötunns after my hard blow – trying to knock each other down.

Finally I managed to get him off balance when he jumped me in a two-step I saw coming. I hit his knees hard – it had worked before, it could work again – and kicked him in his hip. He went down sideways and the surprised look on his face was worth a barrel of gold.

Not wanting to miss my victory, I jumped on top of him, landing with a foot on each side of him, and situated the tip of my sword at his chest. Not hard, but just to mark that he would have been killed if these had been real swords and this were a real fight.

I heard clapping and saw Thalia, Felicia, Bill and the rest of them giving me nods and other kinds of approval and turned to take a bow but then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Eric back on his feet so I turned towards him and the fight was back on.

He was even harder to predict now. It was as if I only knew in the last moment what he was going to do. I still managed to deal him some hard blows and after a very rough match, I had him on the ground again, my sword pressed against his chest.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and had a drink of water but when I felt a motion behind me I had to throw the cup away and jump to the side, Eric`s sword barely missing me.

I was tired now but one got tired in a battle too so it was great practice. I focused on the tall blond and his moves, having even greater problems predicting what he was going to do. He took sidesteps I didn`t see before he was in the air – lifted his sword when I was sure he was going to move it downwards.

Frustrated over not being able to trust the abilities that had saved me so often, I jumped higher, hit harder and tried my best to knock Eric over again.

Imagine my surprise when his sword hit my chest in what would have been a death blow if we`d not fought with blunt swords.

“And you`re dead,” Eric the Northman said in a level voice.

“I told you I would let you win one of the five.” I tried to keep my voice light, convincing, but inside I was in turmoil. Eric the Northman had beaten me? He`d landed a blow that I hadn`t seen coming? How had that happened?

I took a deep breath, trying to settle my nerves.

“Indeed you did.” Eric smiled and I knew he didn`t believe I`d thrown the fight.

I was going to show him. Two more games. I only needed to win one of them to win it all.

The next fight went even worse. I searched my brain for clues as to what Eric was going to do but every time I found one, he did something else entirely. Soon I was bruised all over my arms and legs and the final blow – his sword at my back just where my heart was pounding – was less of a surprise than all the rest of them. I just saw it too late to be able to do anything about it.

I wiped my brow again and caught Felicia the Fair`s eyes. She was looking at me as if I were betraying her. As if I were supposed to prove something to her. Instead I was confirming her worst fears.

I shook my head – this last game was mine. Eric the Northman was not going to beat me now. He was not going to prove to Felicia that he was a better fighter than I was just because he was bigger.

With a loud scream I threw myself at him and my first blow was hard and should have knocked him to the ground. My second one was even harder. I hit him in the thigh, something that would have brought him to his knees if the sword had been a real one.

As it was, my blow only made him grunt in pain and he hit my sword arm before I could jump out of his reach. Then his mind projected to me that he was going to jump to the right and I turned to meet the attack – only to find that he was jumping to the left and before I knew what was happening, I was on my back on the ground, Eric the Northman on all fours, straddling my body.

Slowly he raised his sword and laid it softly on my neck.

Then he bent down, his mouth on my neck. “You`re dead,” he whispered and licked a trail of sweat that was rolling down my throat.

I wanted to slap him but I accepted defeat. Anything else would be without honor.

“How did you do it?” I asked in a low voice.

“How did I, big muscular man, beat you, small woman?” he taunted.

“You know I fight well. I haven`t been beaten by anyone since I was 15.”

Eric was still straddling me, still kissing my neck.

I quickly glanced around to see if people were still watching us but apparently they`d found better things to do and the crowd was gone.

“It`s true, Sookie. You are an amazing warrior. But I found your weakness and I used it against you.”

“My weakness?” I asked.

“I know how you do it. I know you can predict your opponents` moves.” Eric said it in a very low voice so that no one could hear him – not that anyone was around. “I`ve watched you, you know. And I`m worried. Just like I rely too much on my height and strength, you rely too much on this. You need to diversify. To learn how to predict moves by looking at your opponent. I`ll teach you.”

“Oh, great. Just the ego boost you need – to teach me how to fight.”

Eric laughed. “Oh, you`ll beat me again, I`m sure.”

Without my noticing it, Eric`s body had fallen down on mine – heavy and hot.

“I suppose you`ll want your prize now,” I said, knowing just what he wanted from me.

Which was why his answer came as a surprise.

“Yes. I want you to answer me three questions. One for each battle I won.”

“You want answers?” I asked. “I thought ….”

“If you want to have sex with me, I`ll be happy to oblige, Sookie, but I figured that would be your prize, not mine.”

I rolled my eyes but Eric was too busy kissing by collarbone to notice.

“Let me up and I`ll answer your questions,” I grunted.

I`d thought Eric would stay on top of me but he rolled back on his feet and got up. Then he gave me a hand and helped me up too.

After having brushed off some of the dirt from my clothes, I looked at Eric.

“What is your first question?” I asked.

Eric smiled at me. “Oh, my first question is easy enough: What happened between you and Claude?”

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A/N:

I hope you liked this chapter. Sword fights are always good, right? Or is that just me? *cough*

Runes

Northman Maille asked if runes were pictorial or letters like ours. They were letters. Runes as letters were used from around year 200 to several hundred years after the last Viking went to his grave. With Christianity we got the Latin letters too and they were used for most official documents while runes were used for shorter messages and more personal writings.

Not many runes have survived from the Viking age up until today. What we have are mainly the runes carved in stones and as you can imagine they didn`t have long messages. Most of the tunes carved into branches etc have disappeared ages ago.

Runes weren`t just letters. Not to the Vikings, at least. Runes were several things. In the sagas you will find whispered words and magical signs called runes but also the letters we know as runes today.

There are several rune alphabets and the number of letters in the rune alphabet goes from 16 to 26.

Odin and Frigg

I figured I would give you a little story about the gods as well. Today Odin is much more well-known than his wife Frigg but to the Vikings these two married people were equals and they often fought over domination – over who controlled human fates better.

From time to time Odin and Frigg would make bets with each other by playing with human lives to see who would win. In one of the stories Odin and Frigg are farmers and find the two sons of King Raudung stranded on the beach.

Odin adopts Geirrød and Frigg takes Agnar as her son. They take care of the two children all winter and when spring comes they put them on a boat to take them home. Just when they are about to set sails Odin whispers something to Geirrød that no one else hears.

When Geirrød and Agnar land in their home country, Geirrød jumps from the boat first and pushes it to sea again before Agnar manages to jump ashore. Geirrød then walks to his father`s house where he is greeted and made king since his father had died during the winter. Agnar lands in a grotto where he marries a jætte.

Odin taunts Frigg by saying, “Look at my son. He is king now. Your son lives in a grotto with ajætte.”

Frigg decides to trick Odin and tells him Geirrød is cheap and doesn`t treat his guests well – one of the worst sins back then. Odin refuses to believe this and visits Geirrød in disguise but Frigg has already sent her maid Fulla to warn Geirrød about the terrible sorcerer who has come to the country to put a spell on Geirrød.

When Geirrød sees Odin he doesn`t recognize him but thinks he is the sorcerer Fulla warned him about so he ties him up between two bonfires and refuses him food and drink. Odin is very thirsty and hungry and his cape is on fire.

What Odin doesn`t know is that Geirrød has a son named Agnar and according to the sagas, his brother`s soul is in his son`s body. Agnar, the son of Geirrød, recognizes Odin and immediately brings him food and drink and puts the cape-fire out.

Odin thanks him by saying some of his words of wisdom and Geirrød recognizes him too. He runs to help Odin but stumbles on the sword he was cleaning and lands upon it and kills himself in the fall.

Agnar is made king and is king for a longer time than Geirrød and Frigg wins the bet because her foster-son honored the guest and he was king longer than Odin`s foster-son.

This story may be a bit boring to most people today but I think it says a lot about how the Vikings viewed their gods. The Viking gods would gladly have people die just to win a bet against their spouses. And, though Odin and Frigg loved each other and respected each other, they also kept making bets they took very seriously. I kind of see these two gods have major pillow fights with each other – only using the fates of men and women as their pillows.