by Norman Crane
eyes.
Kaspar and Agata gathered around them.
"We grabbed what we could, but there wasn't much left," Agata said.
"Good," Dvalinn said. He probably sounded absent because he was still coming to his senses, but that was hardly surprising. The fall had knocked him hard. It must have been a great gust of wind that had sent them hurtling into the rocks jutting out of the sea. He concentrated on the most important facts. The boat was badly damaged but they were all safe. Most importantly, they had arrived.
"So," Drudge said, sitting up and rubbing his reddened eyes, "this is the new world. This is Vinland."
"I don't see any vines," said Kaspar.
Dvalinn didn't see any vines, either. In fact, his first impression of this land was not something that he'd seen at all but something that he felt. Ever since regaining consciousness on the shore, he'd felt overwhelmed by the immensity of the surroundings he couldn't see but that he knew were there. The new world, as Drudge had called, was big, bigger than Iceland, bigger than Greenland, and bigger even than the western mainland. Here, even Dvalinn felt small.
But it was something altogether different that kept gnawing at him, something that he had seen. Immediately after opening his eyes, he'd craned his neck to the left and—where now was but a scattering of boulders cushioned by the dark, sandy ground—he'd seen a figure: a figure the size of a child, dressed in purple, with green skin. And he would have discounted the sighting as a result of his confused state were it not for Erlandr, whose eyes now met his and in whose retinas he could still see, emblazoned, the same green-skinned little man.
Also by Norman Crane
Novels
A Paunch Full of Pesos
Novellas
Fairy of Teeth
Stories
The Boy Who Spoke Mosquito
The Circular Logic of Space Exploration
Dear Bette Davis
Don Whitman's Masterpiece
Goblongo
Hazelnut Street
Saint Addiction
The Salt Hollows
About the Author
Norman Crane lives in Canada. He writes books. When he's not writing, he reads. He's also a historian, a coffee drinker and a cinephile.
His first novel, A Paunch Full of Pesos, is a spaghetti western.
On the internet, he keeps a blog, has Facebook and tweets (@TheNormanCrane).
Attributions
Thanks to Martin Lopatka for this Creative Commons image, which was used in the background of the book cover:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/apothecary/6654153279/