by Lena North
I barely slept that last night, and I knew that Ulf didn't either because I heard him tossing and turning. What was on my brother's mind I didn't know, but I knew what was on mine.
I thought about Joss and our short time together. I remembered that day when he'd given me the apple, how he'd warmed my feet and how we'd laughed together. I felt my cheeks getting wet and had to press my knuckles to my mouth to stop a few soft whimpers. I wondered if I did the right thing. Maybe it would have been good enough to be his thrall.
I knew that if I hadn't heard what he told his parents, I would have forgiven him for anything. Then I would probably have stayed. It would have been safer than the uncertain future I had ahead of me and I knew that part of my sadness came from being afraid, but most of it was because I wouldn't see his sweet smile or hear his laughter again.
When I had no more tears to cry, I pushed it all away because it was what it was. I'd made a decision, gained my freedom, and that would have to be enough. There was no use in dwelling on what life would have been if I'd stayed, I told myself.
I must have fallen asleep finally because I jolted when mother shook me gently.
"Time to get up, Sissa," she said as she did almost every morning of my life.
"I love you, Mother," I replied sleepily, and she looked surprised.
"Oh, Sissa," she sighed. "Take care, wherever you go."
Then she leaned down to kiss my cheek, and it wasn't words of affection, but I knew what she meant.
Jarl Ingolf sent everyone away, and it was just him, Einarr, and my parents watching as we left. Two warriors would go with us, and we were going by horse. I nodded farewell to Jarl Ingolf and then I turned to Einarr.
"Thank you for everything, Einarr," I said, smiling at the man that I'd found so frightening.
I had wondered what he would do if you pushed him, if he'd walk away like that wolf I'd met a long time ago in the forest, or if he'd pounce. His eyes narrowed as I studied him and my smile widened because he looked like that wolf again. He'd walked away, I thought. I had pushed, and he hadn't hurt me.
"Thank you, Sissa, for everything," he replied, and his face relaxed into that soft look he so rarely showed. Then he leaned in closer, and I thought that he'd hug me. Instead, he whispered softly in my ear, "When you know what you want, then come back here."
I pulled back to stare at him, but his face closed up again. Then he backed away. Father came forward and we hugged. Then I turned to Jarl Ingolf.
"Can I have a few words of farewell, alone with my mother?" I asked. "Just a few words," I added when it looked like he would protest and he nodded curtly.
I pulled Mother with me, away from the others. Then I spoke quickly and quietly.
"I don't know where they'll send us first, but we'll make our way to the Northern Isles, Mother. Torbi will be there with my friends. We'll go to them. If anything happens, then look for us there."
At first, she didn't understand, but I held her gaze and finally, her face softened.
"Are you sure, my girl?" she asked.
"Yes. Very, very sure. Unless something happened on their journey north, then that's where they are."
To my surprise, Mother burst out into loud laughter, and it took a while for her to calm down again.
"How I ended up with children this crazy, I do not know, but I thank the gods for it." she said.
Then we walked back to the others, and without any further words, Ulf and I got up on our horses to ride away from the only village I'd ever seen. I had to swallow a few times and breathe deeply through my nose to hold my tears at bay. I didn't turn around to look back.
"We'll be fine, Sissa," I heard Ulf murmur. Warmth spread through my chest because I would have left alone if I'd had to, but I was happy to have him next to me.
"Where are we going?" I asked the warriors.
"Going north, to the harbor," one of them replied calmly.
"What?"
"You'll be going on a little boat trip, Sissa," he added.
I turned back to look at Ulf and then we laughed. How strange, I thought. It seemed like Einarr would send us right where we'd wanted to go anyway.
Chapter Thirty
Anywhere
I groaned as I crawled up on my hands and knees. The boat was rocking gently, but we had spent several days at sea, and even the slightest movement made my insides roil. I'd puked so much I'd thought my stomach would turn inside out, and I felt slightly dizzy.
Then I realized what the gentle movements meant - we were in a harbor, finally.
Slowly I stood up, looked around, and found that I'd been right. The trading ship that Jarl Ingolf's men put us on had anchored by a short bridge. I could see a village sprawling out along the bay.
"Come, sister!" I heard Ulf calling.
He was waving at me with a huge smile on his face, though he would have that, I thought sourly. He'd taken to sailing like he'd done it his whole life and even the tradesmen had been impressed.
Hjalvor had given the captain of the ship instructions, but the tradesmen had been as secretive as Jarl Ingolf's men so we still didn't know where we were. Before the puking commenced I'd tried to watch the stars, to find out what direction we were traveling, but they seemed to move with the waves, and I'd lost my bearings almost immediately. After less than a day there was water all around us, and I'd been in no shape to even talk to Ulf.
A small group of men was waiting on the bridge, and I stopped to look at them. Three tall, black-haired men stood side by side at the front. They seemed to be a few years older than me, which would make them Ulf's age or around that. The captain of our ship was talking to them, and when he'd finished, they all straightened and suddenly their eyes were on me.
Huge smiles spread over their faces. They started to move but by then Ulf reached them, and he turned to shout for me.
"Sissa! Come!"
I started walking, but the men at the front were pushed aside then, and a familiar face appeared between them.
"Siss?"
It was Fin.
I couldn't believe my eyes, and as I walked faster, a smile started to form on his beautiful face. I remembered how I'd seen that grin every day, my whole life, until the day he disappeared, and there he was.
He met me just in front of the others, and he started to spread his arms out when I raised my hand and with a tightly closed fist I punched him straight in the face. I thought I heard his nose crack under my knuckles as he fell backward to land on his behind with a loud thump, but that could have been the sound of my pulse beating in my ears.
"Ouch! Sissa, what -"
"You left me behind. I had to stay in that village as a thrall, thinking that you were dead, Fin. And here you are... Grinning happily. Alive. Free."
I leaned over him and the numbness I'd felt in the years since he disappeared was completely gone, finally. Everything that had happened in the past months, from Heidrun's death, how my time with Joss had ended and all the way through the horrible days I'd just spent at sea, echoed in my voice when I shouted at the top of my lungs,
"Go to Hel, Fin!"
Then I straightened and marched along the bridge in long angry strides. A loud cheer from the men around Fin erupted, but I didn't stop. I had no clue where we were, but I was free, and I would find out. I would create a life for myself. Not with Joss, and not with Fin.
I'd find a way to fend for myself and if this wasn’t what the gods had planned for me, then bedamn it all. They'd just have to change the runes of my fate.
~~~
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Lena North
COURAGE
Book 1 in the Dreughan series
Vilda lives in a muddy little corner of the world, in the time of the war that never ends. The war between the Waterfolk and the Dreughan. She is different where conformity is important, break rules in a world where
punishments are given freely, and she pays for it. If it weren't for her best friend Troy, she would have no one.
Then Vilda saves the life of a dragon and shortly after that, things are spiraling out of control. The Waterfolk attack, searching for an unclaimed girl, and Vilda has to escape through the night together with Troy and the only other girl the Waterfolk could be looking for – their former best friend, Susannah.
Soon, they find themselves in Dragoncourt, the stronghold of the Dreughan, where a prophecy predicts that the war will finally come to an end when the beautiful Dreughan prince has claimed another royal from the end of the world.
It seems as if Vilda is the girl in the prophecy, and she might be, but she also has a strong link to a young man with black hair and eyes as blue as the summer skies – the prince’s cousin, Drake...
Read chapter 1 on Lena North's web site
47 Sweet Street
Louise loves her life. She married her high school sweetheart, stayed in her small home town, and has what she always wanted – a good life on 47 Sweet Street, with Dan, their daughter Nin and their two big dogs. Except, Nin is going away to college after summer and Louise just can’t seem to find the right words to talk to her daughter anymore. And what about Dan, what if they don’t have anything left to talk about either?
Nin hates her life. College can’t start fast enough, and she’s ready to start her life as an adult, to leave the boring little town and the street with the silliest name in the whole county. Probably in the whole world. Sweet Street – who the heck came up with a name like that? Except, Nin’s nervous about leaving her safe home, and what if her mom and dad won’t understand that she’s so not interested in getting a business degree?
Then Dan has to leave and things take a turn for the worse as the two women struggle to find their way back to each other, or maybe forward together?
Read part 1 on Lena North's web site
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Thanks
Norse terminology
Characters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Read more by Lena North - Courage
Read more by Lena North - 47 Sweet Street