The Bear Slayer: A fast-paced Viking Saga filled with action and adventure (Ormstunga Saga Book 4) by Cook Donovan

Author:Cook, Donovan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2025-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Ulf did not join the men as they feasted under the moon and stars after the attack. He did not dance around the flames of the fire by the riverside, nor did he play any musical instruments or sang songs. Instead, he sat by himself and stared at the dancing light from the burning town, wondering if that was what it would look like when Surtr burnt Asgard. His aunt had told him the story when he was a boy and it had always been one of his favourites, as was the story of Ragnarök. As a boy, Ulf wanted to fight alongside the ice giants and Loki against the gods, because Ulf had hated the gods. He almost smiled at the thought as he dragged a whetstone along the edge of his axe. The blade didn’t need to be sharpened, but Ulf needed something to take his mind away from what had happened earlier on.

When the attack was over, the captives, mostly women and children, were herded back to the ships, along with carts filled with whatever plunder they could find. There wasn’t much gold or silver, not even in the church, which had been emptied long before they had arrived. But there were plenty of barrels of ale and wine, and that had been enough to put smiles on the face of the Danes and Norsemen. Not that many of the men needed a reason to smile. Even Thorir, his face still bloody from his fight with Ulf, was laughing with Jarl Knut’s men.

Ulf turned away from the feast when the women they had taken from the town were being passed around and it had annoyed him even more when he saw Thorir take a woman for himself.

‘You should take a woman. Enjoy yourself.’ Jarl Hakon joined Ulf by the tree he was sitting under and handed him a jug of wine. Ulf took a sip and grimaced. He had drunk Frankish wine before, but preferred ale. The wine was too sour for him and he hated the way his mouth felt like it had grown fur afterwards. ‘They’re not as pretty as our Norse women, but it’s dark, so you won’t even notice.’

Ulf shook his head as he drank more wine, but only so that he wouldn’t say something to offend Jarl Hakon. It had been a long time since he had been with a woman, but he refused to take a woman against her will. Not after what had happened to his aunt and Eldrid.

‘That bóndi of yours is turning out to be a fine warrior, even for a Dane,’ Jarl Hakon said when Ulf didn’t respond. ‘He fought well today.’

Ulf looked at the fire as one man jumped through it, much to the cheers of the others, and then at Jarl Hakon. He wondered why the jarl was here, talking to him instead of feasting with his men. But then, Ulf knew he shouldn’t complain. Jarl Hakon had stood by his side and had defended him when Ragnar had accused Ulf of killing his men.

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