scolded, wrinkling her small nose. “My parents had already sold off my older sister, the eleventh child. It happened right after my mother finished telling her that they could hardly afford to feed themselves. My time was coming. So I took matters into my own hands and shouted after my ma. I still remember what I said. ‘One day I’ll own a ship like that! She’ll have lovely oars! So I’ll go with those pirates and stand in the stern. I’ll steer their damned ship and put into ports or slide into shore. I’ll take plunder and maybe kill a man or two!’ That’s what I said to her before I marched down to the beach alone and confronted that man there.” This time she pointed to Godfrey.
“And did you steer Raven’s Cross ?” I asked, bending to one knee to study the feisty, filthy girl. One of her front teeth was missing. The other was half grown.
“No! So it is your responsibility to see that I am given the proper authority on our strandhogg. I mean to become rich and kill a few men.”
I chuckled into her face. She tugged my beard, hard, so that I yelped.
Godfrey and Gudruna stepped next to me. The king asked, “I’ve heard that’s the kind of response you normally get when you propose to a woman.” Leif and Magnus were on the dock behind me laughing along with the king. Leif had not been shy in telling all of Man about my money woes as well as my on-again, mostly off-again romance with Freydis.
“But the king thanks you for sharing your periwinkle with the crew that day, Aoife” said Gudruna. King and queen giggled and moved off with Loki and Horse Ketil in tow to chat with Leif about the last minute preparations.
I couldn’t believe that the king would accept Horse Ketil as one of his soldiers . If Godfrey allowed a man who was clearly opposed to his reign or could benefit from the king’s fall to raid with him, then we were in a sorry spot indeed. Loki’s voice echoed in my head, “Politics of the Irish Sea.” I suppose we were desperate for every man we could get.
Aoife jerked my beard again so that I faced her. I poked her in the belly with a rigid finger. It was her turn to yelp. “You should find a way to run back to your parents,” I said while she was doubled over. She spat out a curse or two in her native tongue.
The little, hard girl shrugged when she gathered her composure, again standing as tall and proud as her tiny frame could muster. “Dead. Killed by King Godfrey. The aged pair could only tempt fate long enough until the reaper came through the fields and harvested up their over-ripe carcasses.” I marveled at how the cold girl held her parents in such disdain while I, hardly knowing mine, held them in the highest esteem. She went on, “The raiders took a few of my brothers as slaves and sold them at the Monday slave auction in Dyflin. Godfrey kept me for sport – he said I made him laugh – until that Leif of yours paid two English pennies for me. But now that I’m yours, I mean business. I’m not waiting on Providence any longer.”
I rose to my full height and snatched the girl by her ear and pulled her after me toward the boats. “Come, my little Valkyrie.”
“What’s a Valkyrie?” she asked, swatting at my hand.
“I’d thought you ’d know since you seem so precocious. They’re the women who lead men up to Odin’s hall once they die. I think you’ll lead me to my death so that a real Valkyrie can take over once I fall.” My hand began to sting where she kept up her incessant slapping. I let go of her and allowed her to follow on her own.
I gave Leif a stern glance as I shoved between him and Godfrey, but Leif’s mind had moved to the mission. “The man shouldn’t come,” I heard my friend saying to the king.
“I wish it were that simple,” answered the Godfrey. They pointed over to where Horse Ketil had plopped his rump on a hudfat and nursed his cup.
“And did you steer Raven’s Cross ?” I asked, bending to one knee to study the feisty, filthy girl. One of her front teeth was missing. The other was half grown.
“No! So it is your responsibility to see that I am given the proper authority on our strandhogg. I mean to become rich and kill a few men.”
I chuckled into her face. She tugged my beard, hard, so that I yelped.
Godfrey and Gudruna stepped next to me. The king asked, “I’ve heard that’s the kind of response you normally get when you propose to a woman.” Leif and Magnus were on the dock behind me laughing along with the king. Leif had not been shy in telling all of Man about my money woes as well as my on-again, mostly off-again romance with Freydis.
“But the king thanks you for sharing your periwinkle with the crew that day, Aoife” said Gudruna. King and queen giggled and moved off with Loki and Horse Ketil in tow to chat with Leif about the last minute preparations.
I couldn’t believe that the king would accept Horse Ketil as one of his soldiers . If Godfrey allowed a man who was clearly opposed to his reign or could benefit from the king’s fall to raid with him, then we were in a sorry spot indeed. Loki’s voice echoed in my head, “Politics of the Irish Sea.” I suppose we were desperate for every man we could get.
Aoife jerked my beard again so that I faced her. I poked her in the belly with a rigid finger. It was her turn to yelp. “You should find a way to run back to your parents,” I said while she was doubled over. She spat out a curse or two in her native tongue.
The little, hard girl shrugged when she gathered her composure, again standing as tall and proud as her tiny frame could muster. “Dead. Killed by King Godfrey. The aged pair could only tempt fate long enough until the reaper came through the fields and harvested up their over-ripe carcasses.” I marveled at how the cold girl held her parents in such disdain while I, hardly knowing mine, held them in the highest esteem. She went on, “The raiders took a few of my brothers as slaves and sold them at the Monday slave auction in Dyflin. Godfrey kept me for sport – he said I made him laugh – until that Leif of yours paid two English pennies for me. But now that I’m yours, I mean business. I’m not waiting on Providence any longer.”
I rose to my full height and snatched the girl by her ear and pulled her after me toward the boats. “Come, my little Valkyrie.”
“What’s a Valkyrie?” she asked, swatting at my hand.
“I’d thought you ’d know since you seem so precocious. They’re the women who lead men up to Odin’s hall once they die. I think you’ll lead me to my death so that a real Valkyrie can take over once I fall.” My hand began to sting where she kept up her incessant slapping. I let go of her and allowed her to follow on her own.
I gave Leif a stern glance as I shoved between him and Godfrey, but Leif’s mind had moved to the mission. “The man shouldn’t come,” I heard my friend saying to the king.
“I wish it were that simple,” answered the Godfrey. They pointed over to where Horse Ketil had plopped his rump on a hudfat and nursed his cup.
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