The Lords of the Wind by C. J. Adrien

Author:C. J. Adrien [Adrien, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: norse heroes, viking fiction, viking, viking saga, norse, medieval, norsemen, vikings, viking history, viking epic
ISBN: 9781078386166
Google: lf53xwEACAAJ
Amazon: 1078386161
Publisher: Runestone Books
Published: 2019-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

11

Bears and Honey

Thoughts of Oddlaug and what she had revealed to me weighed heavily on my mind, and I wondered uneasily about her sudden disappearance. Though I now had wealth, I felt dismayed that we had not made much progress in finding a Northman ship to take us to Ireland. Váli seemed not to mind any of it. He was satisfied that he had left Nantes and had another Dane to converse with in his native tongue.

On the long walk across the island, he spoke at length about all manner of subjects, and I enjoyed it for it helped to pass the time. He knew a great deal about the gods, so I asked about them and their great deeds. I had not heard these stories since my time in Hagar’s hall. At the village, it seemed the tavern keeper had not moved since we had seen him last. He grumbled as we approached, and he leaned toward the side, snorted, and spat on the ground.

“We could use a place to sleep,” I said to him.

“You’re still here… damned fools,” he uttered jeeringly.

I took a slow look around the village, and it appeared even emptier than the last time we had walked through. Váli stared sourly at the man. He had little patience for men with no sense of commerce. I pressed the tavern keeper and said, “Please, we need food and a place to sleep.”

“Do you have coin?” the man asked.

I had only gold coins, and I did not want to spend them. “No, but we can work,” I proposed.

“Does it look like I have any work for you?” He paused and took a look around the village. With a great sigh, he said, “It doesn’t matter, come in. We’ll all be dead soon, anyway.”

He stood painfully and waddled to the tavern entrance. We followed him in to find an empty chamber with a low ceiling and several long tables along the walls. He urged us to sit as he made his way into a back room to fetch some food and drink. When he returned, he brought three carafes of wine and a basket of stale, dark bread. He sat with us at the table and handed each of us our own carafe. We stared at them blankly, waiting for him to bring some goblets, but when he took a large gulp from his carafe, we understood that we were meant to drink without them.

“You never found the Northmen, did you?” he said with wine dripping down his mustache.

“You knew about them?” I asked.

“Of course I knew about them!” He leaned in to speak more softly and said, “The next supply ship will arrive in a few days. Since you haven’t found what you were looking for, you should return to the mainland before they return.”

“They?” I asked.

“The Northmen! Are you dimwitted?” he shouted with trepidation in his voice. “The Franks’ new fortifications pushed back two ships earlier this summer, but they’ll be back… and with many more ships, I am sure.

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