Sandra Hill - [Vikings I 02] Read Free Page B

widespread legs, he raised his sword and shield to the sky in outstretched arms, crying out his desolation in a raw and primitive manner. His pale hair blew softly in the wind while tension-coiled muscles bunched under his mail-covered tunic.
    “Odin! All-Father!” he keened. “Take me to Valhalla. Do not forsake me.”
    Rain heard a loud noise and realized that some angry Saxons had left the skirmishes still going on at the other side of the plain and had gathered forces to come after Selik. He needed help—desperately.
    Swallowing a harsh sob, Rain yelled, “Selik!” But he didn’t hear her, even though she stood only a few yards away. “ Selik! ”
    Still no response.
    Rain turned frantically, searching for some means of escape, and saw the faithful horse behind her. Thank God! She rushed back and grabbed the reins.
    Rain hadn’t ridden a horse in twenty years, since her days at summer camp, and this was no pony. Desperation gave her courage. “Come on, honey,” she crooned to the skittish animal. “You’ve got to help me.” After several unsuccessful tries and some choice swear words directed at the shifting horse, she climbed clumsily onto the destrier’s huge back and guided him carefully over to Selik.
    “Selik, come with me. Hurry!” she ordered loudly.
    At first, he just lowered his shield and sword and stared at her in confusion. His burning eyes reflectedthe tortured dullness of his soul in the aftermath of his berserk fight.
    “Hurry! We’ve got to escape,” Rain urged, holding out her hand to him.
    Suddenly alert, Selik’s head swung to the fast-approaching enemy warriors and took in the peril at a glance. Swinging up behind her with lightning agility, he grabbed the reins and set the horse quickly into a gallop. They soon lost the Saxons who pursued on foot, but Rain knew others on horseback, implacable and murderous, would follow soon. They didn’t have much time.
    For more than an hour, they rode swiftly in silence. As they passed other escaping soldiers along the way, mostly on foot, Selik shouted out in a brusque, deep-timbred voice directions to their eventual meeting place.
    The rough ride bruised Rain’s bottom and chafed raw the inside of her widespread thighs within her linen slacks, but a part of her reveled in the odd comfort of being in the cradle of Selik’s arms. An aura of peace came over her, transmitted by the strength of Selik’s body, and her despair lessened under the indefinable feeling of rightness. Despite the horrendous cruelty she’d just seen him display, Rain sensed that this ferocious Viking held the key to her future and the reason for her journey back in time.
    Rain tried to speak several times, but her voice came out garbled and breathless due to the jolting of the horse’s swift movement and her inability to turn and ask Selik her questions. She had a tough enough time holding on to the horse’s mane. Selik’s silence erected another barrier to conversation.
    So Rain leaned back against the Viking’s massive chest, feeling his strong heartbeat, even through the flexible mail coils of his armor. Ripples of unexplainable pride coursed through her when she watchedthe corded muscles of his forearms flex as he moved the reins to direct the destrier through the seemingly impenetrable forest they were now traversing.
    Selik finally stopped to rest their heaving mount. His huge body slid easily off the horse, which he drew to the edge of a secluded stream. Then he deftly removed his mail garment, under which he wore a sweat-soaked tunic. Dropping to his knees, he drank greedily of the clear water before dunking his face, then shaking his head like a shaggy dog. Then he sluiced water over his forearms up to the short-sleeved garment. Rain watched, fascinated, as muscles rippled enticingly across the back of his tightly fitted garment. Her pulse quickened when he stood and stretched his powerful body, then sank with easy grace to the ground. He leaned his head