Page 1 of Drengr
1
Errik
If Njal hadn't been my Captain and friend, I'd have punched him.
"What did you do?!" I roared, my hand clenching around my battle axe. It was instinct to attack anyone who wronged me, and Njal had done more than just that. He'd gone against my explicit wishes, then lied to me, and now expected gratitude for it all.
Njal stood his ground, calm like a rock on the surface, but his dark eyes held a challenge. If I charged him, he'd retaliate, friends or not.
"Your potential mate is about to arrive," he said calmly. "You need to get off this ship now. It's the rules. We want them to acclimatise to being in space before they meet their mates."
I couldn't believe it. I'd told him, I'd told everyone that I didn't want to be added to the database. I didn't want a mate. Didn't need one. Yet he'd done it anyway. The stinkingkamphundr thought he was doing me a favour.
"Get off this ship now," Njal commanded, now speaking as Captain of the Valkyr. "They will arrive any moment."
"Not my problem," I snapped. "I didn't submit a sample for a reason. You went behind my back like ahrafnasueltir-"
"What's that?" Steff asked from behind me. She was Njal's mate - and partly to blame for what was happening.
"One who starves the carrion eaters on the battlefield," Njal explained with a loving smile. "A coward."
"I love your Vikingr insults," she grinned, completely oblivious to my plight. "It's probably good that the implant doesn't translate them." The Peritan female tapped the place behind her ear where we all wore our translator implants.
An alert sounded, signalling that the shuttle was approaching the Valkyr.
"Off the ship. Now." Njal shot me an icy glare. "Most males on my crew would be grateful if I told them that mates have been found for them. Everyone is desperate for a female. You should think yourself lucky, not reject the good fortune you've been given."
I opened my mouth to respond, but then gave up. He had a point.
Iwaslucky. And I didn't deserve it, which made it even worse.
"You'll be ported to the dwelling the agency has secured for us," my Captain continued. "You will stay there until your mate is ready to meet you. That will give you some time to think. I expect you to be on your best behaviour once you return to the Valkyr."
I saluted him half-heartedly and went to pack my things. Even though I'd not expected to be matched to a Peritan female, I knew the plan. They'd arrive on the Valkyr today to be greeted by Steff. She'd introduce them to life on a spaceship and tell them more about us Vikingar. Once she felt the females were ready to meet their males, the potential matches were allowed back onto the ship. We'd spent the last few days rearranging the cabins, merging them into larger rooms that would serve as private quarters for the new couples. Space to get to know each other while each also had their own small cabin, in case the female didn't want to complete the mating right away. My Vikingar brothers all assumed their females wouldn't be able to resist their charms, but Steff and her superior, Pam, had advised us that Peritans could be slow in accepting their mates. Something about their species not being used to having soulmates. They took life partners, what we called kvenna, but it wasn't the same as a mate, who was destined to be a perfect match by the gods themselves.
I grit my teeth as I thought of my own kvenn. Randi. The most beautiful female I'd ever laid eyes on. My one true love. And one of a billion Vikingar who'd died when our planetJörð had exploded.
There had been months when I couldn't even think her name. It was too painful. I didn't know how I'd endured her loss, how I was still alive. The pain had eaten away a piece of my heart, leaving only the cold certainty that I'd never feel true happiness again.
I reached my cabin - due to my station, I had my own, albeit small room - and randomly dropped some clothes into a bag. My three shirts were tattered and full of patches where I'd tried to repair them. The others kept telling me to get rid of them, but how could I, when Randi had sewn them for me? If I started walking around in only breeches like the unmated males, I would spit on her memory. I would wear the shirts until they fell apart and then...
I pushed away the thoughts and focused on what else I needed. I didn't know what our accommodation would be like. I'd assumed I'd be one of the select males chosen to stay on board, invisible to the Peritan females, tasked with keeping the ship running. It had been a logical assumption. I'd not submitted a DNA sample to be added to the matching database. I didn't want another mate. All I wanted was another battle in which I could meet my glorious end.
To distract myself, I looked around the small cabin. I had very few personal effects. Nothing I would miss during the days or weeks I’d have to spend on Peritus, except for a tiny holoframe that held a photograph of Randi. I stared at my kvenn with despair. What would she think of me now? Would she ever forgive me for not joining her in Valhalla right away? I should have followed her as soon as I heard ofJörð's destruction.
At first, I'd been frozen by grief, disbelief and the hunger for revenge. Once we'd found out that nobody had claimed responsibility for the loss of our planet, that it had likely been a natural cataclysm, that hunger had turned into constant pain. It had devoured me from the inside until I was but an empty husk, cold and without emotion. No, that wasn't quite right. I stillfelt, if only one thing: guilt.
Guilt for not being able to protect my kvenn. Guilt for not being with her when our planet broke apart. Guilt for still being alive.
"Why are you still on board, Errik?" Njal's voice came through my cabin's speakers. "You've had your chance. Porting you down to the planet's surface in three... two..."
I only had time to grab my half-filled bag before I was enveloped in bright white light and my body started to melt.
* * *
I hated porting.It always made me feel strangely vulnerable, as if my insides were on full display to the universe. I blinked a few times until the whiteness gave way to my new surroundings.
I stood in front of a large stone building, the only house as far as I could see. Rolling green hills reached to the horizon, low grey clouds skirting their peaks. The air was moist but wonderfully fresh. It didn't have the same salty scent of the sea that I was used to from my homestead in Jörð, but it was much better than the recycled air on the Valkyr. I breathed in deep, opening my senses to this alien planet.
