Page 69 of Alien Viking's Plunder

“There’s no king in Hjalmarheim!” Bragr declared. “Despite what madness may have possessed Gornt to declare himself a monarch. This is an earldom. Where is he now? In the jarlagard?”

“He calls it the ‘konungsgard’ now,” Heidran says. “And he is having a crown made.”

“The raiders brought home some alien females, like Josie,” Bragr said. “Where are they now?”

“They were all together at the jarlagard,” said Arn, one of the raiders. “We weren’t sure what to do with them, and we couldn’t ask you. We treated them as honored guests. To my knowledge they’re still there, but now Gornt is their host.”

“I see.” Bragr looked away. He had to seem cool and in control. But this was looking really bad. Yet another bloody war to fight. He knew there would be great bloodshed. Gornt had learned since last time. This time he would be a much harder enemy. And he had not been easy to fight the first time. If he had alien skrymtir now, that was a whole new thing to learn how to fight.

He made a difficult decision. “Do we still have longships?”

“We have three, Chief. They’re hidden away. Gornt’s forces came in theDead Sonand many alien ships.”

“Assemble a small crew for one longship and get it ready to sail as soon as possible.”

The warriors looked at each other, confused.

“Excuse me, Chief,” Heidran said carefully. “Are you ordering a raid? Now?”

“No, that’s not it,” he said and took Josie’s hand, leading her a little distance away. His heart ached with what he had to do now.

He looked down on her. “I love you, Josie. And I have done my best to protect you from the dangers of Hjalmarheim. But this coming war will be terrible. I will not be able to protect you. That is not acceptable to me.”

Josie’s eyes widened as she understood. “No, don’t—”

He put one finger gently across her lips. “The last thing I want is to send you away. And yet I have no choice. This is not your war. It’s mine. And I cannot watch you get hurt or die for a land that’s completely alien to you or for a man who has abducted you from your home. The crew will take you home to Earth. You can reassure everyone that we will never raid your planet again. I don’t regret abducting you, my love. I’m grateful for the short time I had with you.” Despite his efforts to stay cool, his voice cracked at the end.

Josie’s eyes flashed. “You’ve been saying all along that I’m a warrior. Or a freaking shieldmaiden, whatever the hell that is. You saw me fight those dfergir and the skrymtir. You said it was good. You made me name a damnstick!And now you’re sending me away? When you’re about to go to war? When you’d need all the warriors you can get? We fight well together, you said! You were just lying to me, then!”

A thousand possible replies shot through Bragr’s mind. Most of all he wanted to tell her how serious he had been about those things, how much he wanted her to stay and that he would keep her safe. But he knew he couldn’t promise that. He couldn’t have her, after all. The only thing he could do for her was to keep her alive, but that had to happen away from Gardr. Gornt knew about her, and if what Bragr felt for Josie was so obvious to others, then Gornt would certainly know. His chilling little smile during the battle in the River was a strong indication.

Well, Josie had given him the clue to how this conversation could end. Now he had to be convincing.

He sighed. “Yes, of course I was lying! You’re a tiny female with a stick. Do you seriously think you could measure up to my real shieldmaidens and warriors? Look at them! They’re twice your size. You can’t even lift their weapons! But you were pleasant company on the journey. Very accommodating, you were.”

His heart felt like someone had pierced it with a red-hot needle when he saw the hurt in her eyes. Her hand twitched around the spear. If she thrust it at him now, he knew that he would let her kill him. He would deserve it.

Josie’s little shoulders sank. “So that’s the way it is. You tricked me. But I won’t go home alone. I will only go with Aretha and the others.”

“Unfortunately that’s impossible,” he told her. “They are all held by Gornt. I will send them after you, once we can free them.”

“I don’t believe you,” Josie spat. “You’ve lied about everything. ‘You will do well on Gardr,’ you said. But that’s fine. I’ll find them myself.”

She suddenly bolted and sprinted to the shortship, leaped inside, and pulled back on the controls, making it rear skywards. It all happened so fast Bragr had no chance to do much else than stare.

Soon the shortship was flying unsteadily away, just above the treetops.

“I’ve never seen anyone move so fast,” Prince Craxon marveled. “She ran to the shortship before any of us could even draw our weapons. Truly she must be formidable in battle.”

“I can’t let her fight for me,” Bragr said, his mind and heart pitch black. “It’s not her war. Heidran, we must prepare for it.”

The shaman was gazing thoughtfully at the quickly moving shortship, now only a speck against the green hillsides. He rubbed his chin. “We had already started to prepare for this war, Chief. But nobody knew it would happen this soon after the Prophecy. Now I wonder why the oracle never mentioned that alien shieldmaiden. It seems to me that her presence on Gardr would be hard to miss.”

Bragr saw the shortship vanish in the distance, taking all his joy with it and leaving his life gray and dull. “Oh, the oracle didn’t miss her presence, Heidran. Let me explain what I mean...”

20

- Josie -

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