Mark of the Valkyrie

by A R Hall

  Mark of the Valkyrie: Mountain Mermaids (Sapphire Lake)

  A.R. Hall

  Moon Bound Press, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by A.R. Hall

  Published by Moon Bound Press, LLC

  Editing and Proofreading by Britaini Armitage and White Light Editing

  Cover Design by Agent X Graphics

  This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblances to persons living or dead, places, or events are entirely coincidence.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Warning: This book is intended for a mature audience. It contains adult themes, course language, sexual situations, nudity, and other content not intended for children.

  Created with Vellum

  For you, the reader

  Thank you for taking a chance on my story

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Cursed Warriors: Mountain Mermaids

  by

  Moxie North

  P. Jameson

  * * *

  A prequel to the Mountain Mermaids series, this short story begins with love then ends with betrayal and revenge. It offers a glimpse into the origin of the mermaids of Sapphire Lake. Long before Columbus traveled to the New World, humans lived in a time of old gods and wondrous magic. Life was harder, but the rewards for struggle and sacrifice were far greater.

  * * *

  Flames licked at the wood; the orange and yellow sparks danced and reached for the sky and the lone woman couldn’t help to compare it to the burn of green and blue that had sealed the fate of dozens of people, including herself.

  Tamsin had once loved who she was. She had been bound to the earth for as long as she could

  remember. It had never bothered her that time had no meaning for her. Her days were spent with the animals and spirits that lived around her.

  Her land flourished in a perfect circle of life and no one had ever intruded on that peace. That was until the strangers came. At first, it was just one. She had watched him from a distance, and when he left, she thought her land was safe. But she was wrong. More came; they set up camps and started using the resources around them. She observed the strangers as they went about their daily tasks, and watched as they prayed to gods she didn’t know. Their customs were strange, but came from a place she understood. They respected the land so she didn’t begrudge

  them the food that they took to eat or the animals they chose to sacrifice.

  Not having anything to compare them to, Tamsin believe that they were decent creatures. Some of them were quite appealing to look at, but out of all the men and women that came, there was one that caught her eye more than the others. He was big, bigger than many. He laughed and wrestled with the others while his long hair swung down his back in a braid. She liked watching him. It became something that occupied much of her time.

  Many came to him with questions or concerns like one would do to a leader, although he wasn’t one. There was one above him, a father that constantly put him ahead to lead the group. Tamsin could see the older man’s judgement, his eyes constantly on his son, quick to bark at him if he thought he wasn’t acting as a leader should.

  She shouldn’t have cared; he was a grown man, able to defend himself. But she didn’t like how his father treated him. She scolded herself for these feelings, knowing that she should ignore them... but the more she watched, the more she felt. She began to think about things that only mortals did. Desires. Wants. Things she couldn’t explain. Something that burned but didn’t hurt.

  The strangers called this man Bjorn, and day after day she watched until she could not bear being away from him any longer. She approached him while he sat at the edge of the lake. He had been swimming, his body still wet and glistening as he lay in the sun. To Tamsin’s eyes, he was a stunning sight to behold and more breathtaking than the crystals that lay at the bottom of the lake.

  He had chosen one of her favorite lakes to swim in. It was a stretch of perfect blue water and under the surface were the stones she loved to collect because of the color and fire within them. The lake itself was a treasure she was willing to share with him since he’d proven himself a respectable creature, but she wanted more... she wished to speak with him.

  When she appeared, using a spell to make her body visible to his eye, he tried to hide his startled confusion. At first, she appeared naked, but then recalled that the human creatures often wore garments of different sorts. She clothed herself in what she thought were clothes that looked like his, but there was no disguising the magical glow that always encircled her.

  Bjorn stood and stumbled back into the shallows. Tamsin recognized his expression as one of panic, and she worried that she had frightened him.

  “Please, I won’t hurt you,” she said, her voice new and untested. Even to her own ears it didn’t sound like the way they spoke. The magic in her voice carried her words from her mouth with a lyrical Quality.

  “Where did ye come from?”

  “I live here, I have always lived here,” she replied Truthfully.

  “We haven’t seen anyone but us.”

  “I’ve been watching you. Your people. All of you.”

  He became instantly alert, looking past her into the woods as though seeking others like her. “Watching us why?”

  She saw that he was getting angry, and she sought to soothe him. “I find you interesting. You all are. But I watch you the most,” she said, tilting her head.

  That made him start. “Me?”

  “Yes, you are strong, stronger than most. I like watching you move.”

  The man frowned then a slow smile spread across his handsome face. “You like it when I move?”

  Tamsin looked away to the edge of the water. “Why are you here?”

  “We came to raid, looking for treasure.”

  “Treasure?”

  “Anything of value, gold, silver, jewels, slaves.”

  “Why?”

  He looked surprised. “How else do you gain wealth?”

  “Wealth? I do not understand this word.”

  “You have more than someone else. Things worth more, it gives you status, makes you better than others.”

  “Why would anyone want to be more than someone else?”

  “I don’t think I can explain this to you. Where do you live?” he asked turning around. “We haven’t found any sign of other people. No villages; no huts.”

  “Here,” she said, gesturing to the air around them. “I have no need of a… hut.”

  Tamsin sat on the soft grass at the edge of the lake and waited for the big man to join her. She asked him more questions about his people, though many of his answers were confusing. It didn’t matter; his voice was interesting to her. It was deep and made the human form she took feel things. Strange things that took her by surprise. A twist in her chest. When the sun started to set, she told him she would visit him again.

  Bjorn returned to his people, convinced that he had spoken to a witch. Later, around the large fire they would build each night, he wove a st
ory for his clan of a woman that glowed with magic and lived in the sky. He told them of her beauty and how she spoke with a voice not of this world.

  Tamsin watched the people’s reaction to the story with interest. These were a people who believed in myths and magic, surely they would believe him and ask him questions about her. Perhaps, she would reveal herself to them... But there were those that didn’t believe his story, they laughed and mocked him. This made Bjorn angry and he pleaded with them to believe him. Tamsin remained hidden, but she could see Bjorn’s father, the leader of the clan, growing more and more disappointed with his son.

  She didn’t come to him the next day; she was worried she had made his people angry with him. That wasn’t what she wanted. Though she didn’t know what exactly it was she wanted from him. She wasn’t able to put it into words.

  But Bjorn knew that what he had experienced was real. He left his people and paced the shoreline where they had met and called out to her. Something in her chest seized like a weight against it. It hurt her to see him suffering. But was it better for him, a test to see if he really believed in her.

  As Tamsin allowed more days to pass, she watched Bjorn become despondent and then more aggressive towards others. It was clear that her visit had affected him.

  After many days she visited him again.

  “They think I’m crazy!” he roared when she appeared, the anger within him taking her by surprise.

  “Why do you care?”

  “Because they have to respect me. It’s important. You need to tell them, show them who you are so they never question me again.”

  Tamsin didn’t understand this need. She wasn’t interested in the rest of the creatures, only him.

  “What if they try to hurt me?” Tamsin had seen that the men were strong. The women too. If she showed herself, there was no telling how they would react. Perhaps their fear would get the best of them.

  “How could they hurt you?”

  “Creatures fear what they do not understand. All animals are wary of things that are new. You treat others not like yourself as less. Your people are like you.”

  “So, show them who you are. Show them you are real.”

  Tamsin still wasn’t sure why she needed to involve herself with the others. “Will this please you?” Tamsin realized as she said the words that she did want to please him.

  “It would make my people trust me again. Yes, it would please me very much.”

  She nodded slowly. “Then I will do it. For you.”

  Tamsin waited until Bjorn gathered his clan around the fire again. They laughed at Bjorn and she could see the anger rise within him once again. Coming up behind him, her form hidden, she rested a hand on his shoulder, hoping to ease him.

  He jerked under her touch and spun around. “She’s here.”

  “Sure she is, Bjorn, you’ve had too much ale!”

  Loud guffaws echoed in the dark woods, mocking him, and Tamsin began to grow angry. She let her body shift from the plane she had been watching them from, materializing in front of them. She adorned her body in a gown made of pure light and let herself float a few feet above the ground, putting her magic on full display for the disbelieving people.

  Sounds of shock and horror filled the night as the warriors grabbed for their weapons, preparing to attack.

  “A spirit!” one called out.

  “The gods are angry with us!” said another.

  Bjorn stepped in front of Tamsin, holding his arms out wide. “No, you are mistaken. She is a gift from the gods!”

  “Your gods do not interfere with me,” Tamsin declared, her ethereal voice floating over the crowd.

  “She mocks our gods!”

  “I know nothing of your gods. This is my land,” she said.

  “Your land? Who are you to claim this land?”

  Tamsin looked to the man who spoke. It was the older man that she believed was Bjorn’s father.

  “I do not have to claim the land. I am the land.” Her confusion at their surprise was not something she could explain. “I have always been here, I will always be here. It is me and I am it.”

  “Father, she lives here,” Bjorn interjected, “She knows the land and says there has been no one like us here before.”

  “We are the first?”

  “Yes, we will find no settlements or treasure here.”

  “Then we must return home. This place holds nothing for us... unless you plan to become a farmer.” His father laughed at that. As if growing crops in the earth was beneath them.

  “Father, why not leave some people here? This land is fertile, we could take this place for ourselves.”

  The large man stepped forward. “We didn’t come to settle, we came to raid. There is nothing to raid here. We hunt and gather to get back home. This… woman is a bad omen, we need to leave.”

  Tamsin looked at the big man and her dislike of him rose into her throat like a poison. He was going to take the handsome Bjorn from her and she wasn’t ready for him to leave. Not yet, when she was only just beginning to know him.

  “What did you hope to get from these raids?” she asked, floating closer to the man and taking delight as he stepped back in fear of her.

  “Gold, silver, jewels.”

  “Jewels?”

  “Precious stones, they are worth money and can be traded for goods.”

  “I have pretty stones. I like to play with them.”

  That seemed to pique the interest of the group and Tamsin promised to show Bjorn the next day what she meant.

  When Tamsin met him by the lake the next day, she showed him the stones she liked to play with. He seemed very excited to see the sparkling stones she held in her palm. Tamsin wanted to please him and told him where they could find them at the bottom of the lake. There were caverns in the deep, and she could go down whenever she wanted to collect them.

  Day after day, the strongest swimmers would dive to the bottom of the lake and come up with the stones. One day one of them did not return. The clan mourned their loss but the death did not slow their urgency to collect the jewels. It was entertaining to watch them dive down and back up, again and again. But more importantly, she was able to spend her days with Bjorn and the mysterious feelings of wonder he had awakened inside her.

  Tamsin found that with each day that passed she fell a little more in love with Bjorn. In her innocence, she thought what she saw staring back at her was an echo of the same feelings she had. He paid attention to her, flattered her, and tried to please her the way she tried to please him.

  And then something new sprouted between them. Something that built and changed how she felt, turning into physical need. Bjorn had started touching her. Touching her hair, running a finger over the back of her hand. Softly breathing against her skin. These sensations were new to her, but each experience confused and endeared her to the man until he was all she could think about.

  Then one night she stayed with him next to the fire that he had built along the lakeside. He told her things she never expected hear. He told her she was beautiful, that her body and scent called to him. Tamsin made her body corporeal before him, making sure he could touch and taste as he grew bolder. He pulled sounds from her lips that she didn’t know existed, and a pleasure she never could have known possible as their bodies joined.

  Matters of the flesh had never interested her, but now she understood why humans lived the way they did. They sought out what they wanted and took it. Raided, as the clanspeople would say. And that night, Bjorn raided her heart with all its strange and new feelings. He took it for all it was worth, made it his own, pilfering everything of value as she gave herself up to him. For Tamsin, nothing had ever felt so glorious.

  The summer was at its peak and the people started talking about returning to their homeland. The clan had brought up so many stones that they couldn’t put them all on their ship that waited for them by the sea. Tamsin overheard their discussion about where to bury their cache of gems and she felt somet
hing inside her grow cold. A new sensation, black and painful formed inside her.

  “You are leaving?”

  Until this, all the new feelings she’d experienced felt… good. Now, it seemed she would split in two from the pressure.

  “Of course, but we will return soon,” Bjorn Promised.

  “But when?”

  “When the snow melts. We don’t risk the sea in the winter.” He curved his rough warrior’s palm around her cheek. His touch was its own sort of magic. “Will you be waiting for me?”

  Tamsin didn’t have a choice. She had never attempted to leave her land. It was who she was. And she didn’t understand why he could leave her so easily. “Why can you not stay with me?”

  Bjorn seemed surprised. “I suppose I could.”

  “Yes, stay with me. Your people can take the stones and then return later. This way we can be together.”

  “Of course, my love. I wouldn’t want to be away from you.”

  The words were what she wanted to hear. But she couldn’t feel any truth behind them. Her instincts told her that his words were a lie. Yet, Tamsin didn’t want to think badly of the man she had come to love. Maybe he didn’t think he could stay with her and now he would be happy. She could make him the hut he spoke of. There would be warm fires, fish to eat, and endless nights of pleasure. They would be happy.

  One day, she came down early hoping to surprise him. She’d visited another lake nearby and brought him some stones that were as clear as air. So different from the stones his warriors had collected to carry to their homeland. She hoped he would like them.

  But when she let her body form on the land, she froze in shock as she found him mating with a woman from his clan. They were rutting on the shoreline, their naked skin flashing in the sunlight. The woman was moaning and clawing at his back, her hair whipping back and forth with her passion. Bjorn was all muscle and skin, his body heaving over the warrior woman, pounding into her with all the fierceness of his being. It was nothing like the beautiful moments he and Tamsin had shared together. He had been so careful and soft with her. Sweet and tender. She thought that was what he wanted, how it was supposed to be.