Free Norseman Raider (The Norseman Chronicles Book 4) by Jason Born

those Romans.  “Before even steel was invented, this king ruled.”
    “ By Hel,” I barked.  “I understand that it was long ago.  Tell me about this treasure.”
    “It’s important that you know just how ancient is this treasure.  When this king died – Maredubb wasn’t able to share his name for he didn’t know it, it was so long ago – he was buried in a great mound.  Inside with him went his riches, bejeweled weapons and metals like copper, silver, and gold formed into magnificent works.”
    “If Maredubb knows all this, I’m sure he or his people have rummaged through it by now,” I said with a wave of my hand at the preposterous story.   I thought that I should be sleeping.
    “That’s just it.  No one has touched it, though it stands in the open and a blind child could stumble across the mound by accident.”
    “I don’t believe it.  Why would someone not dig up the mound at night and become the new and richest king?”
    Eyvind frowned.  “Because the king also had one thousand of his best soldiers sacrificed and buried with him.  This ancient king humps forty of his wives so that they plow their way through eternity behind the able guard of a regiment of the dead.  The mound is cursed.  It requires no human sentinels.  No one has touched it for thousands of years.  No one will touch it now.”
    Gudruna yelped .  Eyvind and I both looked over to where Leif was climbing out from under the queen.  Her dress was bunched up around her waist so I could see her naked legs and bare chest.  She wore a surprised and disappointed look on her face as if Leif had cut off their union prematurely.  He was young, I thought with a shrug.  The woman couldn’t expect him to last very long.
    The queen moved to gather up her clothes and leave, but Leif gently set a hand on her side to hold her in place.  “An unguarded treasure?” Leif asked Eyvind.  Gudruna looked confused.  Clearly, she had been attuned to the desires of her loins more than my conversation.
    “That’s not what I said,” answered Eyvind.  “No man guards it.”
    Leif looked at me.  His eyes flashed as his terrific and thoughtful mind worked its sorcery.  Leif pulled Gudruna to him so their naked torsos barely touched.  “And our King Godfrey needs wealth to rebuild an army to exact his revenge on Dal Riata.  What better way to obtain money, than to steal it from a useless corpse?”
    Eyvind and I were both shaking our heads.  “Leif, you know the power of the dead,” I scolded.  “Think of your night on the barrow mound.  Think of our encounter with the skraelings and all that brought.  Death brings death.  It is as sure as a man and woman, living, bring more life.”
    “Halldorr’s right,” said Eyvind.  “It’s a tale.  I believe it to be true.  I told it not to inspire action, but to entertain.  I’m a simple skald, telling yarns for coin.”
    Leif and Gudruna were nodding their heads in agreement, with neither Eyvind nor me , but rather each other.  They had already set their minds on a treasure, free for the taking.  Without looking away from the queen, Leif said, “Halldorr, you were moments ago just as interested as I am now.”
    “That was before I found out the grave was cursed,” I protested.
    “And I wasn’t interested until I found out it was.  Men with a spear can kill us, but draugr, or specters will . . .”
    “Terrify us and then kill us,” I finished his sentence.
    “Will embrace us as their own,” corrected Leif.  “We will free them from their eternal burden of vigilance.  We will take the riches of the ancient king and use them for today’s king to build a great land.”  I remember thinking that I had wanted the treasure for myself, not necessarily for Godfrey.  Now we were talking about sharing it, giving it away.  “This Anglesey will be part of a great kingdom, ruled by King Godfrey and Queen Gudruna.”
    Leif moved away from Gudruna and took a step toward