Lord of Raven's Peak - Catherine Coulter [61]
Laren looked away from him to the Thoragassons, and suddenly she saw them with new eyes. Now she saw them as a source of more silver pieces. She saw them as saviors. If they but knew it surely they would find it funny.
When Erik called for quiet and told her to begin, she rose, smiled at everyone, and began once again at the beginning. In order not to bore the Malverne people, she embellished the tale, giving more details, small new twists. Then she paused, and said in a lower voice, infusing new drama, new mystery into her words, “Selina remained on her knees staring after her husband. As for Parma, as soon as Grunlige had disappeared over a rise, he rose and laughed, so proud of himself and his cleverness that he did a little dance. He took a step toward Selina, then stopped. ‘Nay,’ he said, ‘I will only take you when Grunlige is dead and I have seen his body and spat upon it. I will cut off your witch’s head so all your evil will die with you.’ He laughed again and left her there, her body racked with her sobs.
“Grunlige felt filled with power and strength. Odin had saved him once and when he again proved his valor, Odin would reward him again, give him more power than before, and then he would slay all his enemies. He strode back to his farmstead and called his men together. They marveled at their lord who had come back to them whole and strong. But when he told them that they were voyaging to Iceland to trap furs for trade at Hedeby, they looked furtively at each other, fear scoring their faces. It was still winter; it would be dangerous, just as dangerous as it had been the first time.
“But Grunlige was their master and they put their faith in him and in none other. Had he not come back to them, whole and strong? Aye, he was near to Odin, all knew it, and all trusted him completely. They left Norway and voyaged into the North Sea, past the Shetland Islands and the Faeroes, then straight toward the settlement of Thingvellir in Iceland.”
Merrik stared at her. How did she know all these things? All these places?
“All went well, almost miraculously well. Their voyage took only two weeks, the wind pushing them quickly westward, more quickly than any would have imagined possible. It was as if an unseen force were shoving them toward their destination. The men’s fear dissipated, for surely the gods had blessed this trip, and when they arrived at Thingvellir, they trapped more furs than they ever had before. The hold of the longboat was filled to overflowing. All were joyous. All would have died for Grunlige.
“They left Iceland and all cheered Grunlige. As before, the wind blew up at their backs and shoved them swiftly eastward. Suddenly, without warning, a terrible storm blew up. The weather was so cold even the warmest furs scarcely sufficed. Just as suddenly, not one day west of the Faeroes, a huge ice field moved down from the north and directly into their path. They were trapped behind it. They couldn’t move forward. The men cried out that they must return to Iceland and they must row quickly for ice floes were breaking off the huge ice field and beginning to surround the longboat. They would soon be snared in the middle and they would die from the cold, far from home, forsaken by the gods. Grunlige said nothing. He smiled and then he laughed and spread his arms,