Free Rough and Ready by Sandra Hill Page B

In fact, he wasn't leaving till the bastard was lying in his own blood. Suddenly, Torolf went stiff and wide-eyed.
    "What?" everyone asked as one. SEALs were alert to the least change in one of their teammates. They even knew each other's scent.
    "Sonofabitch! It's the damn dog again." He swung his right leg out from under the table and over the bench. Stig was clinging to his leg like a SEAL
    trainee
    hugging the greased pole on the grinder in BUD/S. He limped to the door with the stupid dog hanging on, then he pushed it outside.
    When he got back and the guys were done laughing their asses off at his expense, the pragmatic Geek asked, "How far are we going to have to travel? And is that longship salvageable?"
    "Feet on the ground all the way," he replied. "As for distance, I'm not sure.
    As
    little as ten miles, up to twenty."
    They all nodded. Traveling by foot was no problem for a SEAL. They often ran thirty miles a day, just for exercise.
    "As for the longship, I'll check it out, but I'm not so sure we want to use it.
    Too visible."
    They nodded at this, too. SEALs preferred to travel under cover, usually at night. But then they had night goggles.
    "Okay, then, we're good to go. If all goes well, we should be back home within two weeks, sipping suds at the Wet and Wild."
    "Hoo-yah!" they all chanted.
    Geek, who sat on Torolf's other side, looked at him strangely when the others began to talk about some of the women here who had been hitting on them and counting how many condoms they had among them. "This isn't make-believe, is it?"
    Torolf hesitated. "No, this is the real thing." Geek made a clucking sound of acceptance. "You believe me?"
    "I don't know. I need to investigate more. All I know is… this is too authentic.
    Most of all, the thing that boggles my mind and convinces me something is askew is the language situation. I know they are speaking Old Norse, and we all understand them. I know we are speaking English, and they understand us.
    Either
    we have died, we have landed in some futuristic society where people have implanted translators, or we really have time-traveled to the past by some miracle of God or scientific method I'm unaware of."
    "And how do you feel about that? The time travel?"
    A slow grin spread over Geek's face. "Cooool!"
    Who were these men… warriors or lackbrains?…
    Hilda left the courtyard finally, as the women continued with their seduction lessons and the divvying up of the men.
    This was an absolutely ridiculous and pathetic effort on their part. But she could not blame them. Their goal was an admirable one… to have children. And she had to admire them as well for being receptive to bedplay after most had all been illused in that regard in the past.
    She ran into Torolf in the corridor leading from the great hall to the scullery.
    Her head had been down, and she'd been muttering, when she hit his hard chest.
    "Whoa!" he said, taking her by the upper arms so she would not fall. "What's your hurry, sweetie? And what are you muttering about?"
    "You do not want to know."
    He cocked his head in question. "Does it have anything to do with the meeting you women have been conducting outside?"
    "You do not want to know."
    "Does it have anything to do with me, or the other guys?"
    "Yea, unfortunately."
    "Tell me."
    She shook her head. "You'll find out soon enough."
    He took her hand, linking her fingers with his, and tugged her forward.
    "C'mon.
    My men and I need some intel from you about Steinolf so we can plan our attack."
    "Attack? You are going to attack? Have you taken leave of your senses? There are only five of you. I thought you were going to work on defensive methods of fighting."
    "It's what we SEALs do best in covert operations. Hit the ground running and shooting. Swoop in. Strike. Then leave. Guerilla warfare to the max."
    "I have ne'er heard of such."
    "Better to fight than sit on your ass. Not your ass precisely, I meant asses in general." He grinned.
    What a lout! "If we are