Page 42 of Alien Viking's Plunder

They slowly pulled the boot off, and Bragr quickly unwound the white rags that he wore instead of socks.

His foot was swollen and red, but it wasn’t as bad as Josie had expected. “Maybe try to cool it down,” she suggested. “Stay here.”

She found an empty clay pot and crawled out of the hut. Outside the air felt icy cold, and the trees were silent, dark shapes all around her. Straight up the sky was dark and filled with glittering stars.

The thought of escaping barely crossed her mind. She had no idea where to go or how to get home. But she was on friendly terms with probably the only man on the planet who could help her. Of course he was also the man who’d put her in this situation.

“Complicated,” she muttered to herself as she filled the pot with snow. “But they say that changing the system is easier from within than from the outside.”

She crawled back in and placed the snow-filled pot on the ground. “Put your foot in here.”

“I wondered if you had run away,” Bragr rumbled as he stuck his big, swollen foot into the snow, digging the toes into it. “And I’m happy to see you didn’t.”

“Someonehas to keep you safe,” Josie said and sat back down, draining her cup of myod and refilling it herself. “You’re an injured man.”

“We will keep each other safe,” Bragr rumbled. “The cold snow feels good. I wonder, are you a healer?”

Josie stretched, the warmth of the room making her drowsy. “I had some first aid training. But the medpack is empty.”

“Fursade tranin,”Bragr repeated thoughtfully, badly mangling the English words. “Is that when you put your hand on an injury, let the warmth from Straum fill you, and then heal it?”

“Not exactly,” Josie said, thinking about how to explain it when she saw the mischievous look on his face. “Oh, I see. You want me to try that now.”

“Would you?”

“Only if you promise me not to murder me with your sword when your foot doesn’t get better.”

The hurt look on his face made her immediately regret that thoughtless joke. “I mean, I know you won’t,” she hurried to say. “Sorry. I’ve had too much myod, I think.”

Bragr nodded. “Myod makes the heart speak its truth, they say. While your mind knows I won’t hurt you, perhaps your heart isn’t so sure. I fear it will take time for me to convince it. But I will try.” He got to his feet, one of them still in the bucket where the snow had mostly turned so slush. “Now I invite you to join me behind this door. You may enjoy it.” The huge Viking chief untied his pants and pulled them off in one movement, then stood naked in the flickering light from the fire.

The breath caught in Josie’s throat. It was the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen. His legs bulged with muscles, looking like perfectly sculpted tree trunks. The firelight caught the tattoos and made them shine like golden lightning down his whole body. From his middle something big and exotic jutted out. But Bragr turned around before Josie could properly check it out without staring too blatantly.

Bragr opened the door. A wave of searingly hot mist washed over them.

“A little too chilly in there still,” the Viking rumbled. “But it will soon be better. Join me? Clothes are not worn in here, for reasons I’m sure you’ll understand.”

13

- Bragr -

He left the door half-open and sat down on the wooden bench, checking the contents of the water buckets. That was also something the users of the hut had made ready, with six big wooden and lidded buckets that had been frozen to ice when he first checked the room. He had put one of the buckets over the fire, and now the ice had melted and some of the water had been turned to steam.

He took one of the other buckets and stuck his injured foot into it. The water was still cool.

Josie came to the door and peered in.

“If this is too hot for you, we can make it colder,” he told her. “Or hotter. It’s your choice.”

She disappeared again.

Bragr sighed. She wasn’t going to follow him in here. Oh well, he could enjoy it by himself, the way he had many times. Thebastuforced sweat from him, making the body cleanse itself. And the snow bath later would be extremely pleasant—

Josie tiptoed into the room, holding a fur in front of her. The rest of her was clearly bare. “It won’t get any hotter, will it?”

“Not if we don’t want it to,” he said, unreasonably happy to see her. “If we pour water on the hot rocks, there will be more steam to heat us up. If we don’t, it stays like this.” He patted the bench beside him.

Josie quickly sat down, holding the fur tightly in front of her. “I like it like this.”

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