Brisingamen by Diana L. Paxson

Author:Diana L. Paxson [Paxson, Diana L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-425-07298-3
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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11

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Heide they called her, whithersoe’er she came,

The well-foreseeing Vala: wolves she tamed,

Magic arts she knew, magic arts practiced…

—VOLUSPA

Walter was gone by the time Karen hauled herself out of bed the next morning, but he had left a note ordering her to take the day off. She was not about to argue, for her head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton wool, and her muscles ached as if she herself had been assaulted, instead of her home. Fortunately the landlord found someone to fix the door that afternoon, and by the end of the day her living room, though somewhat barer than it had been, no longer looked as if someone had been rehearsing Ragnarok there.

On Saturday morning, she was standing in line at the Co-op to pay for her groceries when someone spoke her name.

Karen turned and saw a strongly built young man with wiry reddish hair and beard who was looking at her uncertainly. For a moment she was certain she had misheard, and her face was stiffening into a conversation-discouraging mask, when she saw the silver hammer hanging from its thong around his neck, and realized who he was.

“Karen?” he said again. “I wasn’t sure it was you. It’s all right—I mean, I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk to me —but I’m glad to see you again.”

She found the courage to meet his eyes. “Hello, Terry— don’t apologize! I should be relieved you are willing to talk to me… After all, you weren’t the one who—” She tried again, “Well, it wasn’t me, either, really—not that I wouldn’t be interested… oh dear, there isn’t any way to make this come out right!” She knew she was blushing. Her inner sight shimmered with images of the field in the hills where Terry’s religious group had held its ceremony, and of Terry’s face, filled with awe and passion as he came to her.

“Don’t you think I understand?” he said. “Although I have to admit that about half the time since then I’ve tried to convince myself it was all my imagination… but you are real, so I didn’t dream it all!”

“No. It wasn’t a dream,” she said soberly, wishing fervently that she could believe otherwise. But her apartment still bore the scars of the robbery, and Trjegul was still on the critical list at the vet’s.

The woman ahead of her was checked through. For a few minutes Karen found herself busy transferring groceries from cart to counter and then paying for them. As the last bag was filled Terry touched her arm.

“Can you wait a minute? Let me buy you a cup of coffee.” He motioned toward the lunch counter. “I need to talk to you.”

Karen waited for him. She was not quite sure why, unless she felt she owed him some explanation. Or perhaps she was simply putting off going home.

“If it wasn’t a dream, what did happen?” Terry asked her when their coffee had arrived. “Were you trying to invoke

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