Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series)

by Vanessa Ravencroft

  You are by the same traditions the father of Eric and nothing in the Old book can change that. I made Eric the sole heir of all that is Ragnarsson. This very burg, the farms and ranches. The boats, ships and submarines. Every mine, stocks and every credit in every account will be his the day he turns sixteen! You were there Isegrim as I made this vow on the crib of my newborn Grandson and no Ragnarsson has ever backed out of a vow and I shall not be the first one."

  He paused and looked at me." Eric I am an old fool. I was full of love, hope and pride when I saw you for the first time. I made a foolish vow I regret now very much, but both as a man and a Viking I must see it through even if it kills me inside. I hope one day you understand!"

  Father's face changed to a cold smile." Indeed I was there when you made that runt of mine your heir and handed me all this on a silver platter!

  "Yes! I have beaten your daughter, my wife and on many occasions as she did not adhere to our traditions and rebelled often against my will and word, but I do not need to justify to you or anyone on this world why I chose to end her life. She was after all, only a woman! One might say it is your fault not to raise her properly and accepting the rule of man."

  The older man's face showed deep sorrow and regret." I have learned that the Vikings of old the tribe on Earth respected their women and that Leif Erikson the man who founded the Viking movement and led our ancestors to this world knew little about the culture he tried to revive."

  He clasped his hands. "Be as it may this is neither there nor here. In the many ages we have made this world our own and the ideas of a small group over the passing of millennia became our sacred traditions. I admit I have put the love of my daughter on occasion above my dedication to our traditions. It is not you who stand judgment over me. "

  He took a deep breath to calm himself and he said." Now hear this as it is my word. I hold you to these traditions you hide behind like the coward you are! Should you fail to punish your wife according to them I shall hear of it? Should you transgress against even the smallest step against anything that is written in the ancient Book you will no longer be protected by them and I drag you personally before the gates of this burg and tie you to the rocks so the crabs will tear you to death, bit by bit! Do you understand that?"

  Grandfather said in such a thundering fashion that father nodded." I do!"

  Erik Gustav stared at him with burning eyes. "Be aware that you admitted murder to me! Should you from this day forward step anywhere on Union ground or leave this world you will be arrested and I will have my fondest wish come true!"

  Father grunted." I have no desire to be a slave to the degenerate weak Off Worlders like you! I a content to be on Nilfeheim and need nothing the outside offers!"

  "You are a fool, Isegrim there is strength and power out there far beyond your comprehension, but you know well about the Credits you like to spend and the ales you drink they come from beyond this world."

  Grandfather looked at me again." By our traditions, he is your firstborn and not Lothar. While you have the right to choose anyone as your heir in your home. This is not your home! It is mine and will be his. By our laws the day he completes the ancient challenge he will inherit!"

  Father laughed." That is the day all that is yours will be mine! I am the Clan Chief and Eric's father and he must obey my will! The day after he inherits it will be all mine and there is little you can do!"

  "Eric could challenge you! As your rightful firstborn, he can challenge you! Then all that is yours will be his and I predict that whatever I want have done to you would have been merciful compared to the payment he will take for his vengeance!"

  Father roared with laughter." This weakling, this failure? I will rip him to shreds the second he turns sixteen! There will be no challenge!"

  Grandfather leaned back and put his hand on my shoulder keeping me from getting up and he said." A weakling that kills a Fangsnapper with a kitchen knife, beats Sigvard the strongest in his class to an inch of his life, dispatches two Tyranno Fins by the age of twelve and stands tall against a boat load of enemies?" I agree with you to him you will be no challenge by the time he reaches sixteen! "

  Father stopped laughing as he heard that and clamped his whip.

  "These are four long years and at any time I could decide I don't need all these trappings of luxury and return to my Burg and turn this insult of a son into a bloody smear!"

  Hogun, his brother spoke for the first time. "What Burg do you want to return to? You left the rock and declared to be the master of this! You abandoned Olafson rock by and you went so far as to ask the Elders to rename this one after the Old Patriarch died."

  Father shrugged." So what? I am the Clan chief and do as I please! You are but a second born living on the coat tails of your wife!"

  "Not quite. It is true we second born have little rights on this world where the first born is exalted, but that does not mean we have no rights. You abandoned the traditional home of your ancestors. You have not sold it, given it to someone or maintained one single guard there.

  By our laws and verified by the Elders I am now the owner of the rock."

  Father gasped in total surprise and it took him several moments to digest the news." You are still Olafson and I am the Clan Leader. I order you to return the Burg into my possession!"

  "Oh I would do that, but you see I sold it and this is no longer possible! "

  Father fumed." We are brothers by blood only, but enemies to the death from now on! You are expelled from the Olafson Clan!"

  Hogun shrugged. "You see how much that hurts me! As for your threat, I may not be as vicious as you but I take your challenge anytime you dare!"

  Uncle Hogun clenched his fist around the metal tankard and the sturdy thing bend and deformed in his fist.

  Father swallowed at this casual demonstration of almost inhuman strength. He said in a much meeker tone, "Who did you sell it too? For how much? I want that money!"

  "I am no longer of the Olafson clan and therefore not obliged to follow your orders or tell you anything." Hogun laughed." You made a fool out of yourself again! Do you know how much even the smallest piece of land is worth on a world without land where real estate almost never changes hands?"

  Grandfather laughed too." He does not know such things he rather take things the easy way, by marriage. What you called it a worthless pile of rock before witnesses many times including Elders. Yet the Elhir Clan paid credits and Iridium making your brother a very wealthy man! Who is of course honorably welcomed in the Ragnarsson clan!"

  Grandfather got up and said." I am going to take my grandson to the Faceless Seven now and return to Pluribus myself. You may pretend to be the lord of this burg, wield your whip and spew your poison for a little while longer. I also close all purse strings. You may live on what your clan earns. The herds, the farms and everything Ragnarsson not located in this burg is no longer yours."

  Father leaned back in a brooding manner." Take him as I agreed to it in public. Take heed old man no one makes me an enemy lightly."

  Hogun also got up." You are very good in making enemies brother, but your list of friends and allies is shrinking fast."

  Chapter 18: Stairs of Hasvik

  Grandfather himself took the controls of the Volvo Flyer as we left the Burg. He had not said a word until he had set course due north and activated the Computronic, then he turned his seat and looked at me." You think of me as a fool giving your mother to this father!"

  "Grandfather you are the best in my life. I don't feel alone since I know you are there and know that I exist!"

  "I do know you exist. I think of you every time I think of my daughter and that is every day,"

  He looked sideways and out the window. "Nilfeheim is a beautiful world Eric. It is still wild and raw and clean. These traditions we hold so dear shield us in a way from the outer Universe." He sighed and turned back to look at me." You are still young and what I say most likely will make no sense to you, but who knows when I am ab
le to talk to you again and in time my words might become meaningful to you."

  I simply leaned forward all attentive not wanting to miss a single word my grandfather said. He smiled at that and said." I am now more away than I am here and I see the changes that come to Nilfeheim; some are good some are not. We had virtually no crime here Eric. There was no theft, no robberies and even in town there were no locks on the doors. Nilfeheim still had no police force, no lawyers. The only court is the Circle of Elders. Everything else is dealt with by the clans. There are no seniors all alone and abandoned by the Young. These are the good things!"

  He pointed his finger upward." The Union is a great institution and it is quite successful in terms of Galactic societies, but evil no one here on Nilfeheim exists out there.

  It came to our world once before during the last real Clan wars. This is why the Elder scrambled to prevent an escalation, Neither Elhir nor your father are known to be temperate and it could have spiraled out of control."

  He put his hand on my shoulder."You made me very proud when I heard how you stood against the Elhir men. Both men are cowards, Nilfeheim whispers so loud I can hear it on Pluribus. Everyone expected challenges to be spoken."

  "Will you challenge the Elhir Chief?"

  "Unfortunately no. The truth was sealed by my ill chosen steward. The Elhir Chief must do something against me or the clan, and he knows I am on Nilfeheim. I already made inquiries about his whereabouts and was told he went to the south pole inspecting the Elhir herds. Something he has never done before during the fishing season."

  He took my hand and squeezed it. "Don't think of me as a coward, I am an old fool, but for all the bad Isegrim did for all the grief he caused, he also brought forth you Eric, and I love you as much as a Grandfather can love his grandson. Knowing you be the result,I would give my blessing even today.

  He paused and rubbed his eyes." I am on Pluribus hoping to protect Nilfeheim as much as I can from the bad and let in the good. I was elected to this post by the Elders because I was the first who started mining our neighbor planet and they deemed me more experienced and able to deal with the Off-Worlders. I am only free to do what I think is best since no one else on Nilfeheim really cares or even asks what I do. I am the representative of this world for over 30 years now and in all that time I received twenty calls and requests. While Nilfeheim is an insignificant world, we do have a voice. I am exiled from my own world by the necessity that someone has to do it. "

  "But why Grandfather? What would happen if no one was there?"

  "Nilfeheim does not realize it, but it is a rich world Eric. We have commodities that are worth much elsewhere, and the most important one is food. The Galaxy is a hungry place Eric and it happens to be that 60% of all Union Species can eat the same food. Their DNA and their body sugars turn the in the same way that is. Yes much can be synthesized but the markets demand fresh or grown foods. We have water and fresh air. We got plenty of room.

  Without a representative at the Assembly a corporation could move in, kill everyone and declare the planet a private Corporate World and exploit it. Of course it is against the law but if there is no one that can complain or even raise the issue who would miss Nilfeheim? It has been done before and I am certain more times than we know.

  "When billions of Credits are to gain there is always someone willing to break the law, Eric. That is a very real threat and me or anyone just being there prevents that. There are other reasons of course. Like the Nilfeheim Exception that allows our world be part of the Union without complying with Union Laws."

  He leaned forward."When a man accepts a responsibility he can not abandon it. This is the reason I cannot be with you and must return to Pluribus.

  There is a new Generation of Nilfeheim Vikings in Halstaad Fjord and they starting to do business with the Universe. The twenty calls I got were all within the last two years and all from young Neo Vikings usually from lesser Clans, mostly to assist in trade deals and business assistance, but there were voices that demand modernization and political changes on Nilfeheim. I was chosen by my peer to defend the interests of our world and until I am relieved from that duty I must perform it. Do you understand that?"

  "Yes Grandfather I think I do. "

  "I knew you would! "

  He glanced outside and then said." Are you afraid of what lies ahead? I am sending you to an almost mystical place and you have not asked a single question about it."

  "Grandfather, there was no time to ask you anything. It is the second time I see you and the first time in person. I would be afraid to spend three month in the Burg with Father. Whatever lies ahead is better so I look forward to it."

  His smile vanished." It is true I did not give you much chance to talk to me. I have seen first-hand how he treats you, but short of taking you away and denouncing all our heritage and traditions there is nothing I can do. I am as securely bound by the invisible shackles of these blessed and cursed rules as I am bound by my word and oath. It might be a fault and this philosophy where a man's word and stand is more important than his own life might be outdated but it is what defines me to the core and I cannot, as an old Terran saying goes, jump over my own shadow. I cannot express how much sorrow I feel when I hear of your fate as plenty of messages reach me from the Ragnarsson Clan bemoaning the fact we will cease to exist and tell me of you as well."

  "Could you not simply marry again and sire a son? You are not that old Grandfather. That would give you a legitimate heir and make the entire Olafson affair and me a mood point."

  "You speak like an old Viking and your suggestion would be quite an elegant solution, but I promised myself never to marry again after I lost your Grandmother who I loved more than my life. I already declared you to be my heir."

  I lowered my head." I won't be a good heir! I will leave Nilfeheim and become a Star ship Captain after I have killed him!"

  "Eric look at me!"

  I did and he said." You are your own man. It is your live and your future. I am bound and shackled by old traditions that does not mean I want you to be! I will the proud of you. Remember I know what a Star ship captain is, and I have no doubt you will eventually reach that goal.

  Now for the immediate outlook, there is reason for hope. I can not take you from your father, but I have set a few things in motion. You see I tightened the purse strings. There Ragnarsson wealth extends far beyond the rock even on this world. He will realize it takes much money to maintain such a big burg and entourage. Without the income form the farms,herds and the quarry, he must rely on fishing, without herds he must buy hides for the tannery. He will be much more subjective to suggestions in a few month."

  The fliers Computronic beeped and grandfather took the control. Then he said." The Faceless seven are a peculiar group Eric. They take our believes and the adherence to the traditions even more serious than the Elders but they are also more in tune with this planet and know many secrets. I am as much an Elder and a Neo Viking as I am a Citizen living on Pluribus and I assure you even the most advanced Civilizations have not found scientific answers to the most fundamental questions of life and death and the old saying that there is more between the heavens and the earth than we can see holds true even in the fiftieth century."

  The weather outside was changing from clear skies and sunshine to lead-gray sky and heavy rain. There was much floating ice below. I said." You mean like ghosts and spirits, the gods and magic?"

  "Yes Eric that is what I mean. Now I am not saying that these things exist nor do I say you should believe in them. I am saying that this Universe is so vast and so big and that there are many wondrous things we may never be able to understand to keep your mind open. Who knows what you might encounter once you are a Star ship Captain!"

  "You think I will make it?"

  "Of course, you have the thick skull of the Olafsons, the strength and perseverance of the Ragnarssons and from what I hear you have a lot of the stubbornness and Intellect of the Hellstrom Clan! I have no doubt you will
one day command a Star ship if you really want it. When that day comes Eric, I will be there! Be it in person at a great ceremony or be it I spirit."

  Peculiar warmth filled me from deep within and then I asked." I never heard of the Hellstrom Clan, who are they?"

  "Eric!" he sounded surprised and disappointed. "Your Grandmother's Clan of course! Do they not teach about the Old clans I Heritage Class? "

  "Yes but I am not allowed to attend. Father prohibits it. He says it is knowledge reserved for Lords and Clan leaders not for Nubhirs and Under men. Not that he has plans to keep me alive past my sixteenth birthday. I heard him often enough say it."

  The Hellstrom Clan is old and far in the west and they own the biggest private island on the entire planet and your Grandmother looked very much like your mother did. As for what your father plans and what will actually happen I would not worry too much. "

  He reduced speed."To be accepted as a student by the Faceless seven is a great honor and it is a sure way into the Circle of the Elders. If they accept you that is, there will be others like you but most of them shovel snow, scrub stairs and leave the place none the wiser. Only a few will be accepted. Don't be disappointed if it does not happen. No one but they know why and how they elect. I only shoveled snow when I was there."

  "I know why you sent me here grandfather!"

  "You do?"

  "To be away from father and have peace for three month."

  ***

  The Halls of Hasvik were built into the side of a snow covered mountain that stuck out of the everlasting ice, up here so close to the North Pole. Grandfather has landed before a seemingly endless flight of crooked stairs that led to a gray forbidding looking burg like structure with three towers, most of it covered with more snow. The wind blew with gale force and hammered me with frozen snowflakes pricking my bare arms and my face. Grandfather put his hand on my shoulder." This is where I will leave you. You must make it alone up these stairs and report to the Gate Keeper. From there on do as you been told. I once climbed those stairs and so did many Ragnarssons before. You be the first Olafson in many generations that made the pilgrimage. Go up with all my blessings Eric and come down in three month with honor and Mördaren will be yours!"