Revenge of the Betrayer by Gibbons Peter

Author:Gibbons, Peter [Gibbons, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, War
Amazon: B0CJQGK971
Goodreads: 199216322
Published: 2023-11-30T08:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

“I don’t want that woman putting a bloody spell on me,” grumbled Einar as he paced back and forth before his cabin. He wrung his hands and stopped, sniffing the foul air coming from his door. He shook his head and carried on five paces, then turned and walked back the other way.

“Stop being so difficult,” Hildr tutted, and she hopped in front of Einar to stop him in his tracks. She placed her hands on either side of his face and looked him in the eyes. “We have nothing to eat. Winter is here, there is frost on the water every morning, and soon snow will cover these hills. It will be here for months. We have no home and live in the forest like animals. We need an answer.”

“We need an army.”

“But we don’t have one. Your people are going to starve. Rollo burned all we had and killed Trygve and many of our warriors. If you won't go to Ugattr for fear that he will cast you out, the galdr-woman will help make sure that he won’t.”

“So, not only do I have to subject myself to this infernal woman’s seiðr, but I also have to go begging to Jarl Ugattr?”

“Galdr is runes and songs, the old ways of healing and magic from the days of our ancestors. Seiðr is wicked magic, dark and malevolent. There is a difference, Einar, and you know it.”

“I’d rather charge into Vanylven with my men and try to kill the long-shanked bastard.” Einar’s words were empty, and he spoke of the impossible. His thought cage rattled and swam with the problems he and his people faced. He could not sleep, and Trygve’s death had hit Einar hard. Deep down, Einar knew he just had to overcome his warrior’s pride and do what must be done.

“We have discussed this many times, my love. You are our leader, and you must do the hard things. You must act so that our people can live and so that we can have our revenge on Rollo.”

Einar sighed. He stared into Hildr’s blue eyes, and he nodded. Everything she said was true, and Einar could not listen to another child crying because they were hungry. So, he took a deep breath and ducked inside his cabin. Smoke was thick in the dark room. There was a foulness to it, like powdery decay, and Einar’s eyes watered as it swarmed his senses. Hundr had submitted himself to the old woman’s power when Sigrid struggled to birth the twins, and it had worked then, so Einar knelt in the darkness and readied himself.

“Ah, Lord Einar,” came a cracked, dry voice like old leaves in a summer forest. “Drink if you seek wisdom.”

A wrinkled face appeared from the smoke, leaning towards Einar and leering at him with a toothless mouth. Spittle ran from the corner of her lips as she cackled, and her spindly gnarled hand appeared, knuckles huge, offering him a horn of foul-smelling liquid.

“Are you sure you can

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