Page 3 of My Fair Viking

With a sigh, Adam rose to his feet and let Rashid lead him down the rows of pallets where dozens of people lay sick and dying of the wasting disease that had hit Jorvik with such devastation these past months. The toll in lives thus far was horrible to contemplate.

"Healer, help me," one dying man called out to Adam.

"Master Adam, Master Adam…" another entreated.

"I hurt," a child's weak voice whimpered.

Over and over, the sufferers called for Adam and his healing skills, but he had nothing left to give. If he had not been able to save his sister, how could he help them?

Adam followed Rashid outdoors where the fresh air was at first a balm to his raw lungs. It was a momentary ease, however, for as his eyes scanned Rainstead for the first time in five years, he did not see the manor house, the orphanstead, the weaving sheds, stables and outbuildings, the hospitium… all that Rain and Selik had built over the years to aid the homeless of Jorvik. What he saw was the grave mounds being dug for his stepparents, whose material possessions would go to their natural children; they had passed to the other world only days ago.

He grieved mightily for Selik, who had adopted him and Adela all those years ago… and for his wife, Rain, who had been more than adoptive mother to him. Rain, a far-famed healer, had taught him all she knew of medicine and encouraged him to study further in the East-lands, where the Arab physicians were at the forefront of research amongst all those in the world. But Rain and Selik had passed many winters together, having seen more than fifty good years. Adela had been a relatively young woman… only twenty-seven.

If only he had not stayed away so long!

He'd received the missive a month ago from Rain, informing him of the epidemic and how it was hitting so many in Jorvik and at her orphanage. "Come home, Adam. You are needed here."

Rain and Selik and Adela had not been afflicted then, but he had made all possible haste at the summons. Immediately after receiving the letter, he'd left the caliph's palace in Baghdad, where he'd been conferring with physicians who'd gathered from all sectors of the Eastlands to share their knowledge, but his longship had had to be prepared for the journey and then they had been delayed by sea storms for a sennight and more. He'd arrived two days past to find Rain and Selik already gone, and Adela near death.

"You came," Adela had whispered on first seeing him, raising a hand weakly to caress his face. Already, the death rattle had been in her voice.

Then, "Thank you, dear brother, for caring for me all those years."

And finally, "I love you, Adam. Be happy."

He'd tried frantically to save her… everything Rain had taught him, everything the world's best physicians had taught him… but nothing had worked. She'd died in his arms an hour ago.

"What will we… what will you do now?" Rashid asked.

Adam shook his head with indecision. "I must stay for the burial of my stepparents and Adela. Viking funerals are elaborate, drawn-out affairs. After that, I do not know. Mayhap I will go to Hawkshire… that small estate Selik and Rain left me in Northumbria. Mayhap I will return with you to the Eastlands."

A long silence settled over them as they walked aimlessly about the grounds.

Finally Adam said, "One thing is certain. No longer will I answer to the name of healer. I am forswearing medicine."

Chapter One

Hawkshire, Northumbria, A.D. 962 (two years later)

"With all due respect, Master Adam, you need a harem."

"No harems, Rashid."

"Just one."

"Not even one."

"Dancing girls?"

"Nay!"

"A Nubian concubine?"

"Nay!"

"Triplets from Cordoba who could give a man thrice the pleasure?"

"Nay, nay, nay!"