Sandra Hill - [Vikings I 04] Read Online Free PDF

mean the troll’s tail?” she asked cheekily.
    He laughed. “Too bad you are not a more toothsome morsel. I might have enjoyed tasting your charms on the long journey back to Trondelag.”
    His dancing eyes assessed her form in its clean gunna of fine forest-green wool, with a matching headrail. Her wild hair was tucked neatly under a white wimple, but she knew she held no appeal for him. It was the freckles, of course. They repelled most men, superstitious fools that they were. And if not superstitious, then overly concerned with the traditional standards of beauty, like milk-white skin. “Dost think I care if you find me lovely as a goddess or homely as a hedgehog? Three husbands have I buried. The next man, wedded spouse or not, who tries to sample my wares will do so over his dead body.”
    The Viking’s mouth dropped open with surprise. Then he slapped his free hand on his knee with appreciation. “Thor’s blood! Your tongue does outrun your good sense. Don’t you know I could pull that talksome appendage from your mouth, slice it off with a mere flick of my sword and roast it for dinner?”
    Now, that is an image I do not need planted in my head. She decided to try a different tact. “Dost thou honestly believe in witchcraft?”
    “Yea. Nay.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Mayhap.”
    She cocked her head, trying to understand how a seemingly intelligent man—well, leastways, not a drooling lackbrain—could give credence to dark magic.
    “You must needs understand that the Norse lands are harsh and wild, especially the far north of Norway where I live. ’Tis vastly different from Britain, even up here in Northumbria,” he explained. “There are times during the summer when there is continuous daylight, and times during the winter when there is continuous darkness. In a land where darkness is a fact of life for long periods of time, ’tis easy to appreciate how my people have a superstitious bent. Out of the deep forest, down from the mountains, up from rivers and fjords they believe that the magical creatures come: the hulders, the nisser, the fosse-grimmer , the nøkker. Witches are naught, compared to this. Oh, I forgot. There are also the elves, the dwarfs and the trolls.” He waggled his eyebrows playfully at the last word. “These are not all bad beasties, though. Some of them are quite playful, spurred by our god of mischief, Loki.
    “Further, I wouldst tell you a tale of King Harald Fairhair. An intense loathing for wizards and magic did my grandsire have, despite the fact that one of his sons, Ragnvald Rettlebone of Hadeland, practiced such. In the end, he ordered his other son, Eric Bloodaxe, to kill his own son. Eric did not only that, but killed eighty other wizards as well, for good measure.
    “So, yea, I believe in the black arts.”
    “Humph!” It was all nonsense, as far as Alinor was concerned. But then a sudden thought occurred to her. Thisfierce warrior could fight off her brothers with a swat of his hand, if he so chose. What if she went to the Norse lands with him, for a short time, just till her brothers gave up on their latest matrimonial efforts? Wouldn’t that be a way of solving both their problems—the Viking would fulfill his promise to deliver a “witch” to remove the curse, and she would escape a fourth wedding?
    “Unhand me, Viking,” she said then, looking down to her arm, still pinioned to the chair by his long-fingered grasp. “I would hear more of your mission. Exactly how long would it be afore you could return me to Northumbria?”
    “My duty ends once I present you to King Anlaf.”
    She tilted her head in puzzlement.
    “After the curse is removed, I’m fairly certain Anlaf would send you home with an armed escort, but by then the winter ice would have set in, I predict. So, I would guess you could be home by Easter.”
    Fairly certain? Then his other words snagged her attention. “Easter? Easter? That’s six months from now. I can’t be gone