Lord of Raven's Peak - Catherine Coulter [51]
“Grunlige slowly unwrapped the bandages from his hands. Parma could but stare. No longer were Grunlige’s hands shriveled like claws, fingernails twisted and blackened. No, his hands were whole and clean and strong, and the sword handle fit well into his palm.
“‘Your witch wife, she brought you back,’ Parma gasped, so frightened now, he felt his bladder loosen and knew great shame for his fear.
“ ‘Nay, ’twas Odin All-Father,’ Grunlige said matter-of-factly. ‘He deemed me worthy, deemed my people worthy, and thus restored me. You are a fool, Parma, do you not recognize where you are?’
“Parma gazed about him, but he recognized nothing. Then he saw Selina walking toward them, her white robe flowing, her shoulders proud, her walk confident.
“ ‘You have gone nowhere, Parma. You are still here where you attacked my wife. Odin but played with you, teased you, and you were a fool. Now, what have you to say for yourself?’
“Parma thought furiously, and knew he had but one chance to keep his life. He said, ‘If you are truly a hero, if Odin All-Father truly deemed you brave and worthy, why then go perform a deed that would prove your greatness. Do not crush my neck with your foot. That would be nothing, it would be more the act of a coward. Aye, go, Grunlige, and prove yourself. Go in a vessel into the seas east of Iceland. Once again, shred the ice floes, once again, aye, and see if you are truly the gallant hero you believe yourself to be.’
“Selina cried out, ‘Listen not to him, Grunlige! His tongue is wily and he wants only to mock you, to make you lose your sense of what is right! Don’t heed him!’
“But Grunlige had lifted his foot from Parma’s neck. He stepped away from Parma, who didn’t move at all, who resembled a statue, so still did he lie. Grunlige gazed upward at the heavens. He threw back his mighty head and shouted, ‘Odin! Hear me, oh mighty lord of the heavens and of all warriors! I will go again to prove myself and when I return you must grant me what it is I deserve!’
“Suddenly, a great white flash of lightning streaked through the sky, turning the air itself to vapor. Again and again there was that sheer white filling the air, filling their lungs. It was followed by crash after crash of thunder that shook the ground itself. Selina fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. Parma felt fear, but now he also felt hope. He stared at Grunlige.
“Grunlige was smiling. ‘I hear you, Odin. I go to prove myself yet again to you.’
“Before he strode away, he grasped Parma by the throat and hauled him upright. He shook him until Parma believed his neck would break apart from his body. Grunlige said, ‘If you touch my wife again or any of my belongings or any of my people, I will peel the flesh from your body. I will then fling you onto an ice floe and there your seeping blood will freeze and you will know more agony than a man can bear.’
“He strode to his wife, drew her to her feet and embraced her. Then he was gone, his shoulders straight and strong, his stride quick and sure.”
Laren stopped then, and smiled, first down at her clasped hands, then at each of her audience in turn.
“I will not accept this dithering,” Erik shouted at her. “Finish the damned tale! Finish it!”
She just shook her head.
It was Sturla, Erik’s huge warrior, who said now, “Nay, my lord, leave her be. I like this suspense, it teases my wits and makes me wonder what will happen next. Aye, perhaps tomorrow night she will continue the tale. Mayhap she will even finish it for us.”
Erik subsided. He sat in his lord’s chair, fingering the magnificently carved chair posts that had come through the family for two hundred