The United States of Vinland: The Landing (The Markland Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the sea’s swell.
    Torrador
answered, “And what if it is not only one sheep, but two!”
    They
followed the tracks, meandering through the pastures along the shoreline,
before climbing a hillside, moving away from the runestone but back towards the
new camp about half a morning’s walk away.
    The
path put them amongst the hills behind the eastern coast of the island, a place
not as rugged as its northern shore, but more barren because whatever tried to
grow there – whether pasture, brush, stunted trees or hills – had to contend
with the constant winds of the sea and the fury of its squalls. This was a
landscape with little shelter, and as the two men followed the trail, they
realised it was also no place for sheep.
    But
they continued the chase, occasionally coming to a stop where the tracks would
cross a stream or pass over rock, leaving them to search for where the tracks
began again.
    On
their sea crossing, like so many others who had come before to settle new
lands, whether Iceland, Greenland or the Faroes, they brought not just
themselves, but seed, livestock, and the tools to build a new world. Fourteen
sheep and three cattle were on the ship. So far, similar to the way it been
with their lost fellow settlers, they had accounted for well less than half
their number. The sea had given up the bodies of three sheep, but still others
were out there, most likely dead, but perhaps alive, as these tracks suggested,
and that gave the men hope.
    Following
the trail as it cut along a gully, Samr grinned and yelled out to Torrador,
“You are not thinking of milk or cheese, or wool or mutton!”
    Torrador
laughed. “What else could I be thinking of?”
    “That
you are about to meet your new wife!”
    They
both laughed, but the comment also struck at something deep inside each of
them. Samr, for all his humour, had lost his wife in the landing squall, as had
Torrador, and while they said little about the loss, they both still ached from
it.
    What
hope did either of them have of finding a woman to marry in Markland?
    Such
a thing would not happen, not until they had a ship to take them to Greenland.
    Torrador
called back with a grin, “I would take the wolf as a wife, not some old sheep.
Then perhaps Gudrid would have some fiery company!” as they came to a bend in
the gully,
    Samr
laughed. “She already had one argument with your wolf-wife and she won,
remember?”
    “Indeed
she did.”
    Both
men then froze when they heard the bleat of a lone sheep.
    “She
is near!” Samr exclaimed as he launched forward.
    They
rounded a bend in the gully, where the land again spread wider across a
rock-studded pasture divided by a stream. On the far side of the flowing water
stood the sheep, its coat black and bedraggled. The miserable creature
unfortunately was not part of a herd, but it seemed uninjured and moved freely
when it stepped back up towards some large boulders looming behind it.
    The
two men slowed, Torrador holding out a hand to warn Samr, for he was the first
to see it; the wolf was also there.
    Samr
cursed, “By Thor, we have to get her!”
    But
as he spoke, the great wolf launched itself towards its shaggy prey, the beast’s
snarl filling the rock-strewn vale.
    “Come!”
Torrador called as they both charged.
    The
two ran straight for the lunging wolf, knowing they would not get there before
it reached the sheep, yet they had to try. They yelled as they charged,
thundering through the cool waters of the stream, barely distracting the wolf
in its attack and only confusing the terrified sheep. Instead of trying to
escape the wolf, the startled sheep turned to face the men, leaving itself
backed up against the rock face.
    Samr
rushed forward, barrelling straight for the wolf, planning to give it a mighty
kick in the ribs. As he moved, the beast flew towards the sheep, flashing long,
yellowed teeth in its mighty jaw.
    Torrador
reached down for a rock as he ran, aiming to come alongside Samr and smash in
the