Page 15 of Alien Viking's Plunder

It made him furious, and he mowed the enemies down with no regard for his own safety.

“I’ll get you!” he shouted. “Courage!”

Finally he’d had enough. He turned and ran to the main rigging, climbed up, and swung himself over to the deck of theDead Son. There were no enemies there, except the two that were dragging Josie.

He ran forwards to the bow, ready to thrust Brisingr right through the skrymtir holding her. But they were smart enough to stay so close to her it was too risky to try.

Josie gave him a look, then yanked hard on the arms holding her and dropped to the deck. It got her out of his way for a split second, and that was all Bragr needed. Almost lazily he cut down the two skrymtir.

Taking Josie’s hand, he pulled her behind him, away from the enemies that were now throwing themselves back to their ship, dirty blades bared.

Bragr was about to turn and run when he saw a tall, pale figure standing at the rudder of theDead Son. The man was staring at him with an expressionless face, holding a long, thin blade — the legendary sword Sjelbrand. Between his horns hung the thick chain of silver that was the symbol of the Earl of Hjalmarheim. Both should by rights be Bragr’s.

It was Gornt himself, the former earl that Bragr had deposed.

For a moment they stood staring at each other across the mass of skrymtir.

Gornt had changed since Bragr had sent him on his way, banishing him from Hjalmarheim forever. He was thinner and paler, and his beard was gone. But he didn’t look older — there was something ageless about him.

Bragr felt coldness gather in his stomach. Gornt was a witcher now, using dark powers to give life to skrymtir and to do other forbidden things. Extending his own life may well be one of them.

Then Gornt smiled, a barely perceptible twitch of his thin-lipped mouth. But it was not a smile of recognition or joy. It was a smile that said only one thing:I see a weakness in you.

Bragr looked down at Josie’s face. A weakness? This random alien female? Nonsense.

He turned his back and ran along the side of the ship, cutting the ropes to all the grappling hooks. Then he jumped back into theKraken,using his legs in a mighty heave to push the two ships apart.

His crew cut down the half dozen skrymtir still on their ship, then got busy putting distance between the longships.

Bragr held Josie out from him and looked her up and down. “Are you injured?”

“Ahm fein,” she said. “Dadwus skeri, doe. Ardey sumkyna gosts?”

“Captain, we’re free of theDead Son,” Siv called to him. “The sails are up.”

Bragr let go of Josie and took the rudder, plunging it deep into the River to outrun theDead Son. But when he looked back, Gornt wasn’t even trying to catch up. His sails were slack and his course was all wrong.

“Such a strange thing,” Sigurdr fretted, coming over to him. “They attack us in the River, for the first time, then just let us go. And that was Gornt himself, as clear as day. If he came on that voyage, it must have been important.”

“I think he changed plans midway through,” Bragr said, peering at the chart to get the course right.

“They got some of our plunder, but none of the gold. Can’t understand why he would change his mind that suddenly.”

Bragr gave Josie a glance. She was staring past him, back towards theDead Son. “Strange indeed.”

“That was an interesting fight, Captain,” Siv said, wiping blood off her ax and giving Josie a curious look. “I’ve never seen you take risks like that. Jumping into the other ship, too.”

He shrugged. “It worked, and we’re still all alive.”

The shieldmaiden pointed at his thigh. “You’re nearly not.”

Glancing down, he saw that a skrymtir blade had gone through the skin of his pants and made a slash across his leg. One finger’s width closer to the inside and it might have cut an artery. “That little scratch? It’s not bad. Not enough to even call an injury.”

“It’s the worst injury I’ve seen you get from skrymtir, Captain,” Siv said as she replaced the ax in her belt. “But you got your captive back, so hopefully it was worth it.” She gave Josie a look with ice in it.

Josie was holding on to the railing of the ship with both hands, knuckles white and eyes clenched shut. Bragr understood it well — the first time on deck while in the River, it could be an unpleasant experience.

He remembered the first several voyages he’d been on from Straum to another sun. He’d barely been able to tell which way was up. It would slowly get better, but nobody was completely comfortable with this strange onslaught on the senses.

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