Chapter Thirteen
Eight days later,they arrived at the first seaside village—Lagrith. More populated than Miran had thought it would be, she approached the cliffs overlooking the water. How she loved the smell and taste of salt air and the way the waves crashed against the rocky coast. The tumult reminded her of how she often felt inside, her emotions churning uncontrollably. But there was also hope within the apparent chaos, for the sea sustained these people, allowing them to survive while other villages oftentimes suffered at this time of year. Women and children starving to death or fathers forced to sell their daughters into servitude for a day’s worth of bread.
The dark thought sent chills down Miran’s spine.
“Are you cold?” Kai came to stand beside her.
“Nay,” she said, wondering what kind of strange land waited on the other side of the sea.
“This is an ancient place,” he said.
“Aye?” she looked at him then.
“Did you not notice the earthen huts and cottages most of the people from this village live in?”
Indeed, she had. “There is a shortage of building materials here.”
“This village is named after a great Viking princess.”
Why hadn’t she ever heard that before? “Are ye making up a tall tale to please me, Kai?”
“Nay,” he said with sincerity. “I admire Lagertha’s story. She was a shield maiden, sworn to fight for the Viking god, Odin, and King Ragnar Lothbrok’s first wife. She assured many victories for her husband—including a bloody battle on these very shores.”
She respected his knowledge of history. “How did ye come to know all this?”
“Part of any warrior’s training should include studying the great civilizations that came before his own. And the Norse, as barbaric as my people found them, visited many distant lands, including Constantinople, fighting for our rulers, and carrying immeasurable wealth back to their homelands.”
“What happened to this shield maiden-queen, La…ger…tha?” she stumbled on the pronunciation of her name.
“L-a-g-e-r-t-h-a,” he gently corrected.
She smiled and made a second attempt at saying the name.
“Aye,” he said. “No one knows. Though some say she earned her way into Valhalla, a sort of heaven, and is now a Valkyrie.”
She gazed across the water again. “I wonder what she looked like?”
His big hand slipped up her back and into her unbound hair. Welcoming the heat of his touch, Miran leaned into him.
“Like you,” he said quietly. “Gold-spun hair as soft as silk with violet-colored eyes and an indomitable spirit.”
She chuckled. “Yet I have never killed a man in battle.”
“Let us hope you never need to.”
They stood in silence for several moments, Miran’s thoughts divided between the legendary Lagertha, and wondering where her maid, Cadha, had gotten to. “Are we friends now?”
Kai looked at her. “Is that what you wish to be?”
“I doona think I am ready for more.” Sometimes she found it difficult to put her feelings into words. She wanted to share so many things with Kai. Their newfound lust for each other clouded her judgement, especially concerning the promise she had made to her da, to wait until she met the right man, and loved him with all her heart, mind, and soul, before she gave up her maidenhood. She snuck a peek at the captain, only to find him studying her. Did he love her?
“What are ye thinking, Miran?”
She let out a heavy sigh, her breath misting in the cold air. “Many things.”
“Tis not an adequate answer.”
“My stripes have healed nicely,” she changed the subject. “Thank ye for the salve, it lessened the pain and I have no scars.”
