Page 107 of The Caged Viking

“My, my! Aren’t you the handsome little man?” Kirstin said.

The boy looked fairly clean and his tunic and braies, though of a simple, brown homespun, were obviously new. He preened at her remark about his appearance, but then confided in a tone of disgust, “The master made me take a bath. Again! Called it the Yule Bath, but methinks he were just makin’ mock of me.”

“I see that you lost two of your front teeth.”

Gorm nodded. “But I’m gonna grow other ones in that place.”

“You know, Gorm, where I come from, children get a gift from the tooth fairy when they lose a tooth. I wonder if I might have something for you. Oh, I know. I brought some things that should please you as well as all the other children here. In fact, they are a special Christmas…um, yule treat.”

Reaching once again into her cloak, she took out a bag holding several dozen items. Gorm leaned forward, studying what she held in her hand, sniffing the peppermint scent, clearly not understanding.

“These are called candy canes. I noticed that there is a yule tree out in the hall. These are meant to be hung from the limbs of the tree, and then on Christmas day the children get to take one and eat it.” She pulled one out of the bag and put the end in her mouth, sucking on it and humming her enjoyment. “These sweet treats are best if you suck on them, making them last a long time. But some people just crunch them. Here, try one.”

“They look like shepherds’ crooks.” Gorm took one and hesitantly put it into his mouth, right between the open space in his teeth. Immediately, he smiled and said, “Good!”

She could hear him boasting of his booty to his friends once he exited out into the hall, but then she worried that these “gifts” she’d been doling out might prompt even more visitors. So, she went to the door and locked it by pulling a bar against the latch. With that little bit of effort, she had to lean against the wall for a moment to steady her wooziness. If Hauk wanted to talk with her, he would have to knock.

He never did.

Chapter 24

If Dr. Phil were a Viking…

Just as Hauk had been plagued by advice from one and all when Kirstin had disappeared all those months ago…nine sennights and two days, to be precise…he was plagued now by people…meddling busybodies, to be precise…giving him advice of a different sort. How to punish his wife. How to keep his wife. How to reject his wife. How to win his wife’s affections. How to…how to…how to! ’Twas enough to drive a Viking man mad.

Signe was the first to approach him where he was shoveling snow from the path to the fjord. It wasn’t as if the path hadn’t already been cleared a number of times already, as evidenced by the waist-high banks on either side, but there’d been another snowfall. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t plenty of others to handle this chore. But Hauk needed hard work to deplete his body humours lest he explode with fury, or frustration, or mind-blowing something or other.

“Master?” Signe called out, as she approached. When he ignored her, she repeated, “Master?”

“What?” he snapped.

She flinched.

“I’m busy, Signe,” he said, as if that was any kind of apology. “What is amiss now?”

“She’s sorry.”

“Who?” he asked, as if he didn’t know.

“Your lady. She said to tell you that she is sorry.”

“Pfff!” He would like to ask what she was sorry about. Leaving, coming back, lying, or something altogether different. “It matters not to me, Signe.”

Instead of leaving right away, Signe shifted from foot to foot.

“What else?” he asked, trying his best not to betray his emotions by snapping again. He continued to shovel around Signe.

“She thought you got married.”

Now, that surprised Hauk. “Is she barmy? Why would she think that?”

Signe gave some long-winded explanation that made no sense, ending with, “And that’s why she called you a pig.”

Hauk just shook his head, then sniffed the air. “Why do I smell flowers?”

“Oh, ’tis perfume that my lady gifted me. Isn’t it wonderful?” She stuck out her hand for him to smell.

Truly, Hauk felt as if he’d fallen off a cliff into a land of the demented. He narrowed his eyes at her. This must be a magic trick Kirstin was employing, using scent on this wench to lure him back. With a snort of disgust, he continued shoveling, and Signe wandered back to the keep, muttering something about bull-headed men.