Viking Beast: Viking Warriors Series
Page 1
Viking Beast
Viking Warriors Series
Emmanuelle de Maupassant
This short story is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents are either used fictitiously or are the product of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
This publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted with prior permission in writing from the author, or in accordance with the terms of licenses issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
The right of Emmanuelle de Maupassant to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2019
Notes from the Author
Welcome to my ‘Viking Warriors’ steamy romance series.
I hope you enjoy ‘Viking Beast’, and its prequels ‘Viking Thunder’ and ‘Viking Wolf’.
Svolvaen and Skálavík are fictitious, as are my characters. While the superstitions and rituals related in this series are based on true Norse beliefs, I’ve taken liberties in shaping them. You’ll recognize the Norse myths, though with many omissions and told with my own emphasis.
Daily life and habits in Svolvaen are based on my research, some of which is drawn from the ‘Hurstwic’ online site. I’ve described the longhouse much as we believe it would have appeared, with deep benches along each interior wall (used for sitting and sleeping). Central firepits provided warmth and a means of cooking, with smoke drawn through a hole in the roof.
While it’s commonly believed that most longhouses were ‘windowless’, the sagas of Brennu-Njáls and Grettis both mention openings akin to windows (without glass but using skins which could be drawn back). I used this device most prominently in Viking Wolf, as it served my plot.
You might notice that I’ve chosen to use British spelling for this story, but US punctuation… and there’s a short glossary at the end of the volume, to explain the handful of Norse words I’ve included.
Happy Reading
Em
Contents
Cast
1. Eldberg
2. Eldberg
3. Elswyth
4. Elswyth
5. Elswyth
6. Elswyth
7. Eldberg
8. Elswyth
9. Elswyth
10. Elswyth
11. Eldberg
12. Elswyth
13. Eldberg
14. Sweyn
15. Elswyth
16. Eirik
17. Elswyth
18. Elswyth
19. Elswyth
20. Elswyth
21. Elswyth
22. Elswyth
Epilogue
Glossary
The Viking Warriors Series
More Viking Deliciousness
Further Works
About the Author
Cast
Brought from Northumbria, by Eirik
Elswyth
❖
Svolvaen residents
Eirik (‘eternal ruler’) – brother to Gunnolf
Helka – sister to Eirik and Gunnolf
Guðrún and Sylvi – Gunnolf’s thralls (slaves who undertake household duties)
Astrid – a village woman who befriends Elswyth
Ylva - Astrid’s daughter
Torhilde – Astrid’s neighbour
Bodil – a former lover of Eirik
Anders – the blacksmith
Halbert – the blacksmith’s son
Olaf – friend to Eirik
❖
Svolvaen residents (deceased)
Hallgerd – the previous jarl (uncle to Eirik, Helka and Gunnolf)
Wyborn (‘war bear’) - father to Eirik, Helka and Gunnolf Wybornsson
Agnetha - sister to Hallgerd, married Wyborn
Gunnolf (‘fighting wolf’) – Eirik’s older brother
Asta - Gunnolf’s wife
Vigrid – Helka’s first husband
Faline - Elswyth’s stepdaughter
❖
Bjorgyn residents
Jarl Ósvífur
Leif Ósvífursson – oldest son of Jarl Ósvífur
Freydís Ósvífursdóttir – sister to Leif
❖
Skálavík residents
Jarl Eldberg (the Beast)
Sigrid - old Jarl Beornwold’s sister
Sweyn, Thoryn, Fiske, Hakon, Ivar, Rangvald (Eldberg’s sworn-men)
Ragerta and Thirka - Eldberg’s house thralls
❖
Skálavík residents (deceased)
Bretta - Eldberg’s wife
Beornwold (Bretta’s father - the former jarl)
1
Eldberg
May, 960AD
He woke to the crackle of flames. Sparking and spitting, the thatch was alight, glowing dull through a veil of acrid smoke.
The end of the bed was afire. He sat up to kick at the furs, to draw breath to shout, but his throat closed against the foul ash.
“Bretta!” He choked out her name, shaking her, but she made no answer. Reaching beneath, he lifted her into his arms and, forced to inhale, was wracked by coughing.
By the gods! They had to get out.
With eyes smarting, he found the floor.
The blaze was moving quickly, the flames licking through the timbers.
Eldberg buried his face in Bretta’s shoulder. She was limp, her head flung back.
Find the door.
He managed several steps, ignoring scorching embers upon his bare feet, scorning the fierce heat. Nothing mattered but to escape. He was almost there when something struck his head.
Bretta rolled from his arms as he fell. He called her name, or thought he did.
Bretta! My wife. My love. Mother of our child yet to be born.
And then, though the room was bright with flames, there was only darkness.
2
Eldberg
May, 960AD
Eldberg lay three days and nights, his body not yet ready to wake. When he did, it was to searing pain.
The memory of that night returned with the force of all Thor’s thunder, striking fear in Eldberg’s heart. Already he knew his fate, but would not accept it, not until the truth had been spoken aloud.
Sweyn, the commander of his battle-guard, stood to one side, his face severe, flanked by Fiske, Rangvald, Hakon, Ivar, but none would meet his gaze—not even Thoryn, the most steadfast of his sworn men.
Only Sigrid—Bretta’s aunt—summoned the courage, though her fingers trembled. “The great hall’s roof lies smouldering.” Her voice rose not above a whisper. “Ivar and Thoryn battled through the flames to drag you out.” Sigrid drew a deep breath. “Thrice, Thoryn returned for Bretta, but the smoke was too thick, the heat too ferocious.”
She bit her lip. “Rangvald and Fiske held him back from trying again. My Bretta! She is…”
Eldberg’s chest constricted.
“She’s gone, my jarl.”
A shudder passed through him—a sudden, terrible despair. He lay still, willing command of his desire to howl in anguish. His wife! The woman he’d wed at her father’s behest—a contracted marriage to tie his loyalty to Skálavík. The wife for whom he’d never expected to feel love. The wife who had adored him—inexplicably, and without reservation.
And the child.
His hands bunched the cloth upon which he lay.
His child. Six months in the womb.
Eldberg swallowed back sour bile and set his jaw. With renewed intensity, he scanned the faces before him. Motioning Sigrid away, he
looked to Thoryn.
The man’s misery was etched deep, his lips parched and white. Thoryn was brave and loyal; he would have given his life to save Bretta.
Eldberg turned to Sweyn. Of all his men, he was most like himself—ambitious and unforgiving, able to act without remorse or mercy.
Stolen as a child by marauding berserkers, Eldberg had been enslaved until his fifteenth year, when his height and strength and his relentless will had earned him a true place among them. He’d known only their ways—where brutality and savagery were rewarded.
As Beornwold’s mercenary, paid to join his raiding trips to the West, Eldberg had fought alongside Sweyn these fifteen years, and had seen his jealousy—for Eldberg was soon favoured above all others. The old jarl had chosen him to marry Bretta, to sire Beornwold’s line, and to take his mantle.
Sweyn obeyed through no sense of brotherhood, but because it brought him command over others—in his jarl’s name.
Keep your enemies close, Beornwold had told him long ago.
Eldberg frowned. He’d heeded those words well; allowing Sweyn authority, satisfying the need that drove the other man, making use of it. Had Sweyn become greedy? Had he wished his jarl’s death and that of his heir—yet to be born?
The Norns had unpicked only one strand of that thread upon their loom.
A mist of fury descended, a veil of red that brought his head momentarily from the pillow. He itched for the hilt of his sword, driving his nails into his palms. Through his left side, swathed in salve and linens, came a jolt of pain.
The conviction assailed him—Sweyn had planned everything. Had sought to kill him and take his place. Had murdered Bretta!
“How did the fire start?” Eldberg kept his voice level, addressing Sweyn alone. Despite his fury, he would seek evidence carefully.
“That I have learnt, my Jarl, and have the culprit shackled.” He gestured, sending Ivar and Fiske from the room. “We captured him on the very night of his crime. A spy from Svolvaen, sent to murder you.”
Summoning his strength, Eldberg raised himself a little. “Lift me, Sweyn.”
As bid, his commander took him beneath the arms, hauling him to a seated position. The stab of pain was greater than Eldberg had anticipated, but he endeavoured not to let it show. He’d endured many wounds. This was no different.
Sigrid darted forward to place pillows behind his back, her face pinched. He nodded curtly, acknowledging her care. She, at least, he could trust. Sigrid had raised Bretta as her own and respected the love between her niece and jarl.
The man dragged into the room, hunched over, was a head shorter than those around him. Fiske and Ivar supported him on either side, for he was unable to stand. His head and limbs hung limp, his wrists and ankles bent at unnatural angles. Both eyes were swollen closed within his bloodied face. His jaw hung slack—broken.
“The man has been beaten near to death.” Eldberg fixed Sweyn with an icy stare.
“I interrogated him. It was necessary.”
Eldberg narrowed his gaze. “And now he can no longer speak.”
“I discovered all you need to know, my jarl. Hallgerd’s successor, Gunnolf of Svolvaen, sent him. From a fishing boat he swam into the northern cove and climbed the cliffs hand over hand. Waiting until darkness, he entered the woodlands, watching several days before he acted.”
“Undetected? All that time?”
Sweyn shrugged. “He is more weasel than warrior, adept at hiding.”
“And why? What of the treaty? Nigh thirty summers have passed. Why should this Gunnolf act so foolishly? Svolvaen is no match for our strength.”
“You answer your own question, Jarl.” Sweyn dipped his head. “In fear of what we once were, and what we have the power to be, Gunnolf sent his man to collect what information might be useful.” He glanced up again. “And to wound us most mortally, by causing your death.”
Eldberg shifted, wincing. “Pull back his head. I would see him.”
Sweyn grasped the man’s hair at the crown.
In the heat of battle, Eldberg thought nothing of severing a man’s limb or head, but the state of the prisoner made him grimace. Being unable to close his mouth, bloodied drool hung from his chin. His cheek and nose were likely broken, the flesh bruised and raw.
Eldberg liked to look a man in the eyes—to judge by what he saw within, but the swollen flesh prevented him from doing so. He returned his gaze to Sweyn, whose own granite-grey eyes remained impassive.
“How was it done?”
Sweyn gave answer without hesitation. “He learnt of your chamber’s position within the longhouse. He carried a bow and was able to fire flaming arrows to where they would have most effect. By the time our watchmen saw the flames, your chamber was already imperiled.”
Eldberg was assailed, most suddenly, with the memory of Beornwold’s funeral. Sweyn had soaked a strip of linen in fish oil and wrapped it about the arrow, dipping the head into the fire cauldron before setting aim for the pyre upon the old jarl’s longship. Sweyn was not only adept with sword and axe but one of their most masterful archers.
Eldberg stared meaningfully at Sweyn. “The cur was well-prepared. Were he able to answer me, I would ask him much.” If his sworn-man related the truth, the assassin before them had been cunning and courageous, and favoured by the gods—for the guards under Sweyn’s command swept the perimeter of Skálavík daily.
The town’s trade in metals and weapons, made from the ore dug from the mountains, had made Skálavík wealthy. There was hardly need for raiding to bring bounty to their coffers. Many from across the region came to them. Their warriors engaged now in protecting the town’s commerce, ensuring its security.
“What now, my jarl?” Sweyn wet his lips. “A few blows of my axe and we may toss him by parts to the pigs.”
A gurgle rose from the prisoner’s throat, and his feet scrabbled momentarily before he hung limp again.
“’Tis fitting,” Eldberg declared. “If a man is willing to inflict pain, he must expect like for like.” He held his commander’s gaze, but Sweyn did not flinch.
Signaling his wish to lie down again drew Rangvald and Hakon forward. Eldberg blanched as they aided him but did not voice his discomfort. The burns would take time to heal, but they were nothing compared to the wounds that tore his heart. The grief would become part of him. He would focus on that pain—would feel it and remember.
And a day of reckoning would come.
He closed his eyes, leaning back. “Hold the wretch’s head in the fire pit, and keep it there until I no longer hear his screams.”
* * *
Eldberg
At last he slept. In his dream, he clasped her close. Her skin was soft and her hands caressing, though her fingers were chilled.
Don’t leave. I need you. Stay with me. Bretta!
But his arms could not hold her.
Waking, he was soaked in sweat, alone, and his chest so tight he could hardly breathe. She was gone forever—his only love. His wife, and the child she carried—his son or daughter.
He wanted to howl to Odin and Thor, to swear vengeance by all the gods for what had been taken from him. Casting back his head, he gave a mournful cry. Let others hear and quake to know his anguish. He would find no rest until he’d devoured his enemies. Let them know the beast he was and fear him—a man disfigured not just in body but in soul: The Beast of Skálavík.
3
Elswyth
July 30th, 960AD
The fjord was filled with shimmering light and the squawk of gannet chicks. Eirik pulled deep on the oars, the warmth of gold-veined summer on his back.
His shoulders flexed as he rowed—entirely naked, bronzed, lean-muscled. The waves lapped softly.
Letting the boat glide, he lifted the oars from their cups, safely stowing them. He made a show of placing his hands behind his head and resting his gaze where I’d hitched up my gown of green linen to enjoy the sun on my skin.
“You’re slow to catch u
p, wife.”
“Not wife, yet.” I suppressed a smile. “I’m free to do as I please until the vows are spoken.”
“You wish to disobey me?” Eirik’s eyes flickered with mischief. “If it’s punishment you desire, raise your skirts and I’ll gladly redden your backside.”
“And what of you, husband?” I pulled my dress higher and opened my legs, offering him the view he sought. “Will I need to punish you? Or will you forsake your wickedness once we’re wed?”
In a single movement, he knelt before me. “I have eyes only for you, wife.” He winked, making clear where he directed his admiration.
Wrapping his long hair around my fingers, I tugged back his head. “Helka’s been teaching me how to use the bow. Give me cause, and you’ll need to guard your own behind.”
He pretended to ponder, and I jerked harder, laughing, but eased my hold as his hands came to rest just above my knees. His palms were calloused from wielding not just sword and axe but hoe and spade, from farming in the fields, but they were warm, and his touch gentle.