Return of the Ravens (Ulfrik Ormsson's Saga Book 6) by Jerry Autieri Page B

frozen iron, but he tucked his head down and immediately began walking in the opposite direction. His heart thudded and blood roared in his ears. Yet a simple word from Snorri arrested him.
    "Lad?"
    The voice had been clawed with age and pain, but it was Snorri's and it struck to Ulfrik's heart as sure as any arrow. His foot came down, but his other refused to move. Don't do this, he told himself. You've got to get away.
    "It can't be true." Aren's voice had changed, now a young man's, but it was no less arresting. It was the voice of his son.
    Aren grabbed his shoulder and tugged him around. "Who are you?"
    Ulfrik did not resist, but let himself be spun around to face Aren. His raptor gaze searched him from head to foot as Snorri stumbled the short distance toward them.
    "I know that face," Snorri said as he hobbled up to Ulfrik. "Why are you hiding it?"
    "Take off this hood," Aren said, then pushed it back from Ulfrik's head. He peered at him with keen interest and nodded. "Speak."
    "Are you so convinced of what you see?" Ulfrik asked them, his eyes not wavering from Aren's. In reply, Snorri collapsed forward and both he and Aren had to catch him before he fell.
    "Lad, you are alive or I am dead. Which is it? I know who owns that voice, and I knew his father as well. Tell an old man he has not lost himself to ancient memories."
    Tears stood in Snorri's eyes, and Ulfrik blinked back his own. "I did not mean for us to meet again, at least not like this. But as fate has reunited us, then I will hide no more. I am Ulfrik."
    Snorri stared at him with shimmering eyes, mouth open but wordless. Aren steadied Snorri, then gave Ulfrik a skeptical look. "I do not want to believe it's you, but I've not forgotten your voice nor your bearing. Are you really my father?"
    "I was your father once. I raised you from birth as my own. There is a scar on your left foot from when a servant girl dropped a knife on it. You were only a child then, but I'm sure you remember the pain. You cried for days after and refused to walk."
    Aren hesitated then embraced Ulfrik, pinning his arms to his sides. The emotion behind that embrace surprised him, as Aren had always been a cool child, so unlike the hot blood of either his mother or true father, Konal.
    "I knew that head Einar returned with was not yours." Snorri now gripped Ulfrik's arms and his squeeze was feeble. "But he insisted you died, said Throst took him to find your body at the foot of the tower. What happened to you? Why has your hair turned so gray for one still young?"
    Ulfrik laughed. "Would that I felt young, old friend. I survived the fall that Einar witnessed, but he was not shown my body until the next day. During that time, strange people found me and exchanged my body with a murdered slave's. They carried me off to Iceland, and it has taken me all these years to fight my way back home."
    Both Snorri and Aren stared at him in awe and confusion. Aren's brow wrinkled and he cocked his head to the side. "There is much that makes no sense in that tale."
    "Explaining it would make even less sense," Ulfrik said. "They were madmen and the tortures I endured under them aged me beyond my years."
    "Whatever happened, I am glad to have you back," Snorri said. "No matter what my heart told me, the truth was you've been dead these long years. Now I want to know all that I missed of your life."
    Ulfrik shook his head. "There is no time, my old friend. I am not here to stay, but only to glimpse my family a final time before I leave."
    Both Aren and Snorri stood back, blinking. Aren put his hand on his chest. "A final time? You can't leave. We need you. Mother needs you."
    "She has Konal now, and my return would only complicate matters. It is best I remain dead to everyone, and let life here continue without the worry or shame of my presence. Look upon me, and you see all I possess. I can offer you nothing but more suffering. Let Runa and Konal live their days in peace."
    "Konal is a beast," Aren said.