Page 57 of Alien Viking's Plunder

They came closer, Bragr and one other, half-carrying and half-dragging a third.

Josie dove into the tunnel, crawled through it, quickly pulled on her tights, got her headset, and crawled right out. She lit the light on the headset, and the gas discharge diode bathed a good two thousand square feet of the forest in stark, blue light.

She immediately regretted it. There were two horned warriors with Bragr, one lying on the ground and the other on their knees.

“Do you need your sword?” Josie called over, her voice sounding thin.

“Bring the light here,” came Bragr’s calm, bassy reply.

Toocalm, it seemed to Josie. She hurried over, wishing she had brought a fur or two.

The warrior on her knees was Siv, the one who had threatened Josie on theKraken. The one on the ground was one of the other warriors.

“We fell,” a raspy voice said with great effort. It was the warrior on the ground, and in the blue light Josie could see that he was terribly burned all over his face and torso. His face was singed black and gave off a sour smell. “We clung to the aft of the ship, the dragon’s tail. It burned on the way down, but it stayed in one piece until it hit the ground. I burned too. Siv broke both her legs and many ribs. There were vettir right away… but now my chief is here… I can lie back…” the voice faded away.

“Rest now, my brave herjer,” Bragr said tightly. “We’ll get you inside the hut where it is warm.”

“He carried me the whole way,” Siv said, voice shaking along with the rest of her. “Despite him being just as badly injured as me. But he could walk. I couldn’t. The vettir hacked at him, tearing burned flesh off him. Day and night he carried me, singing his sword’s battle chant. Oh mighty Zhor, save him… save him…”

“And nowweshall carryhim,” Bragr said and kneeled down to get a good grip. “Josie, take his arm… oh.”

The warrior was staring emptily up at the sky.

Siv collapsed on his chest. “No, no no… my love… stay… mighty Zhor, let him go on…”

For a long moment the only sound was Siv’s desperate pleading with her god through clattering teeth.

Then Bragr closed the dead warrior’s eyes with his hand. “Now rest, son of Hjalmarheim. Much can and will be said about you. But now I will only say one thing about you: you were a herjer. We shall meet again in Valhalla.”

Siv shook with sore sobs, then dragged herself to the warrior’s head, her legs trailing uselessly behind her. The big shieldmaiden laboriously positioned herself with the dead man’s head on her broken knees. “I will guard him.”

Bragr’s hands were closing and opening in frustration and despair. “He doesn’t need a guard, Siv. Come into the hut, warrior. It’s cold out here.”

“I will guard him,” the woman said again as if not having heard. Her body trembled uncontrollably with the cold.

“Are you crazy?” Josie exclaimed, grabbing Siv’s upper arm. “You can’t save him! Come inside! It’s warm, and we can put splints on your legs!”

Siv calmly drew her ax out of her belt and pointed its massive edge at Josie. “You wanted revenge? It’s yours now. You must now take the place of Sigurdr and me in my chief’s crew.” Before Josie could reply, Siv looked at Bragr. “My chief and earl and captain! It’s been my honor to be a shieldmaiden to you. You are the finest earl Hjalmarheim has ever had. We all say it, and we thank Zhor every day for being allowed to fight alongside you. Go on like that, Chief. Go on for Hjalmarheim. But you and our beloved land will go on without Sigurdr and without me.” Her face was gray and stiff and her voice was flat and lifeless, but she held the huge ax as steady as if it were wedged into bedrock.

Josie backed away, realizing there was more going on here than she had thought.

“Then,” Bragr said, clearly struggling to stay calm, “we shall meet in Valhalla. All of us. Go on ahead, if that is your wish. Daughter of Hjalmarheim, much can and will be say about you. Now I will say only one thing: you were a herjer.”

“It’s the finest thing to be, Chief. Good lives had we as your warriors.” Siv’s lips were blue from the cold, trembling uncontrollably. She wouldn’t last long.

“I didn’tactuallywant revenge,” Josie said weakly. “It was just something I said. I really didn’t want this to happen at all!”

Bragr firmly grabbed Josie’s arm and led her back to the hut.

They crawled inside. Bragr pulled his pants on and wrapped a fur around Josie’s bare shoulders.

“She knows that this was not your doing. It was her way of acknowledging you as an equal. Think no more about it.”

He stood in the middle of the hut, head slumped forwards, fingertips of both hands on his forehead.

“Are they brother and sister?” Josie asked quietly, shaken by the experience.

He turned his head. “What?”

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