Viking Rune Smith 4 by Michael-Scott Earle

Author:Michael-Scott Earle [Earle, Michael-Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael-Scott Earle
Published: 2023-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The Selkie woman smiled like she’d known I was coming all along, which of course she definitely would have since she could hear and smell better than most animals. Her arms slipped around my waist, and as she looked up at me with her dark blue eyes, I thought if I drowned in them, I would die a very happy man. I leaned down to kiss the auburn-haired woman, but as soon as our lips met, I heard Eir’s voice just up ahead.

“I knew he would be on this street,” Eir said triumphantly as she strode up the muddy lane toward us. “I was about to tear down every last house, intact or otherwise, to find you.”

“Did you just get back?” I squeezed Nora before I let her go and then greeted the Nordic goddess with a kiss. “Where is Igrid?”

“Up to her elbows in the chieftain’s reserves,” Eir said. “The clansmen really didn’t want to let her in there without you even though she is a warlord, but she said you would be absolutely starving by this point, and if you didn’t get some food and ale soon, there was no telling what you might do.”

“I think Igrid might be the one who’s absolutely starving,” I chuckled.

“She’s right, though,” Nora said. “You haven’t had a fully prepared meal in days, just whatever we’ve been eating in our travels. You need plenty of good food if you’re going to perform as a leader of your people.”

“And perform his husbandly duties.” Eir nodded as she gave my other lover a smile.

“That too,” Nora chuckled.

“The reserves would have been untouched by the mudslide,” Tayati said. “The chieftain’s reserves were beneath the floor of his hut, but his hut is the only one in the stronghold that’s made of stone instead of wood. So chances are, it wasn’t swept away or too damaged by the mud.”

“What about the rest of your food storage?” I asked. “Is everything else you had stored for the winter lost?”

“I’m sure it’s not,” Tayati replied. “But I know who to ask, and they can help me check on the status of everything.”

“The mudslide was a necessary evil, I’m afraid,” I said. “But you’re Clan Briggs now, and that means I’m sure as shit not gonna let any of you starve. We’ll get your supplies sorted out.”

“You are our chieftain,” the one-eyed man said with a nod. “I know you would not have conquered every clan in the Red Forest if you were not more than capable of leading us.”

“Not every clan,” I reminded him. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Did you all have a good flight?” Thyrri asked Nora and Eir.

“Oh yes, much the same as last time,” Nora said, and after a quick glance at Zelenka, the Selkie didn’t say anything else.

“You can keep your secrets for now,” Zelenka sighed and brushed her long white-and-red hair over her shoulders. “You and your necromancer wives.”

Zelenka promptly strolled past the rest of us and headed toward the stronghold gates again, and I rolled my eyes at her words but could tell from her tone that she was only teasing now.

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