Sandra Hill - [Vikings II 04] Read Free Page A

he stopped gagging.
    “About your marriage,” Madrene persisted.
    “You overstep yourself, sister,” he cautioned. “I am the jarl here.”
    “Am I supposed to be impressed?”
    “Well, nay, but you should treat me with more respect … and stop bringing up marriage.”
    “You are the last male in the line. You must have sons … legitimate sons … if our father’s bloodline is to continue.”
    Ragnor would have asked why Madrene did not do the job herself, but he knew better. Her husband, Karl, had put her aside five years ago for failure to breed. Pronounced barren, she had vowed never to wed again. Personally, Ragnor suspected Karl was not that great a husband or lover, and that the fault might have lain in him … at least partially. But he decided not to broach that subject with Madrene. She would no doubt bring up her “dangly male parts” theory again.
    “I will consider marriage someday,” he promised. “But it will be on my own terms. With a bride of my choosing.”
    Madrene nodded.
    “In the meantime, I will be departing in a sennight or two.”
    “A-Viking?”
    “Mayhap.” Most men of his acquaintance went raiding in the spring, after planting, or in the fall, after harvest. It was midsummer now, but the land didnot bind him as it did others. “Or I will join forces with other Norsemen to assault the Saxons.”
    “Come, brother, let me help you to your bed furs. You need to sleep for a good long time. Then we will discuss your future plans.”
    Leave it to Madrene. She did not berate him for his plans to go a-Viking or soldiering. She was a good Norsewoman. A strong female. And handsome, too, when she was not nagging. He only wished she’d been able to find a husband who pleased her, in hearth and heart, but most especially in the bed furs. Forget that nonsense about soulmates, a good bedmate would do.
    He looped his arm around her shoulders, though he did not need her to lean upon, and she wrapped her arm around his waist. As they walked through the great hall, heading toward the staircase leading to the upper chambers, she said, “I know what this is all about, Ragnor.”
    “What
this
?”
    “Your mood. ’Tis that time of year. Midsummer. That was when our father left with nine of our brothers and sisters on his sea voyage.”
    “And never returned,” he finished for her.
    “Yea, never returned. Dost think there is any chance they are still alive?”
    He shook his head at her, sad that she would even ask the question. “Nay. You know
Faöir
would have sent us word. He would not disappear for eleven years without telling us, if he were still alive.”
    “I know,” she said on a sigh. “Still, we have no proof. Just news of their longship having been in Greenland and beyond. Then nothing.”
    “They are dead, Madrene,” he said gently.“Betimes, though, I wish that we had gone with him on that fateful trip.”
    “Then we would be dead, too.”
    He shrugged as if that might not matter so much. Odin’s breath! This kind of talk would put him in an even darker mood. He tried to brighten up Madrene, at least, if not himself. “Well, we still have each other. And I will not be leaving for a good many days yet. Shall I challenge you to a game of
hnefatafl
this evening?” He leered at her like some crafty gambler.
    She smiled back and nudged him in the ribs with her elbow for his teasing. “I always win, you rogue, unless you cheat. Methinks ’tis time you brought me a few more baubles back from your adventuring. Yea, that is what I will take for my prize this time. A woman can never have too much amber … or gold.”
    Ragnor laughed and hugged her to his side as they walked up the stairs. Inside, though, he thought,
What a sad and lonely pair we are!

Chapter Two
    A thousand or so years later. … Are we having fun yet? …
    “Magnusson! Get your hairy ass up here and give me fifty. You are one sorry sonofabitch! You run like a girl. You breathe like a girl. Pff-pff-pff! Are you