Page 27 of Alien Viking's Passion

Craxon knelt by the unlit fire, drew his knife, and struck the back of the blade sharply against a metal piece on his sword’s scabbard. It created a rain of sparks that hit the kindling, making it smolder. He blew on the fire until it was burning cheerfully, lighting up the tall teepee and the trees around them. “Oh, I think we can make up our own sayings about berries. Perhaps those sayings should mention that not all berries are fit eating for those who wish to see another day.”

Aretha thought about it.

“Sweet like honey, small like drops

Playing happy on the tongue.”

Craxon nodded and threw more of them into his mouth.

“But heed the bite, the taste that pops

Or you might find you have been stung.”

Aretha raised her eyebrows. “Ooh! That sounded good.”

“Rhymes will make our kvad easier to speak and to remember,” Craxon said as he put a handful of berries into his mouth. “But Ican usually never make them myself, relying on myskaldto do it for me. Well, we all have some things we do better and some we do worse.”

Aretha finished the nuts and berries in her leaf. It had all been filling, and she had some energy again. “Your skald is the man who makes poems about you, right?”

“The skald makes poems about me and about many others,” Craxon said, chewing on a straw. “Though it seems to me that regardless of the topic, he always makes sure to insert lines about my shortcomings, which makes everyone laugh. I left him behind in Ragnhildros when I came here, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being far away from him.”

“You don’t long for your home?”

“Oh, I do. I miss Ragnhildros. I should have been there when the Big Shine started, and I should be there now! How they must worry and wonder about the absence of their prince! Holy Zhor, I have to get home!”

Craxon got up and paced back and forth in obvious frustration.

“But Bragr is building a ship for you,” Aretha reminded him. “Eira and I found a mast for it and everything.”

He stopped. “Oh? A ship?”

“You don’t remember that? It’s a big ship, one that can float on water. Because the longships don’t work in the Big Shine.”

The prince rubbed his head. “A ship… for the ocean… I think I remember. Carpenters hewing logs for the frames… the smell of the shipyard… that must be it. Ah, then I will soon be on the way. But… are you coming with me, Aretha?”

“I don’t think I can,” she said gently. “My friends are all in Hjalmarheim. The other Earth girls, I mean.”

“They can come too, of course. Oh, did Bragr marry one of them? She won’t be able to travel, then. Or do I remember wrong?”

“He married Josie,” Aretha said. “You were at the wedding.”

Craxon put more wood on the fire. “I remember parts of it. Holy Zhor, what else have I forgotten? How can I be a prince ruler if I don’t have a working memory?”

The little porcupine was back, sniffing at Aretha’s foot. She reached down with a nut between two fingers. “Hey you,” she said in English. “Do you like nuts? Or are you more of a berry hedgehog?”

The not-porcupine sniffed the nut and then nibbled at it.

Aretha dropped it and leaned back as the little creature held the nut with two forepaws and kept nibbling. It had a broken spike, just like the one by the jarlagard. But it couldn’t be the same one.

“I think that memories can return,” she said in Garda. “They’re probably not lost forever.”

More cold raindrops fell.

“Time to see if our shelter is able to shelter us,” Craxon said, holding out his hand to help Aretha up.

She brushed debris off her and shuddered from the cold. “Hopefully it won’t start to snow.”

He pulled her close and embraced her. “I will keep you warm. Aretha, I don’t remember what happened. From your tale, it sounds as if I acted like a coward. If indeed I fled like prey after our warm embrace, then you must be greatly offended. Certainlyno prince should behave like that.”

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