Free Odin's Shadow (Sons Of Odin Book 1) (9th Century Viking Romance) by Erin S. Riley Page B

so.
    Would she ever become accustomed to the violence of these Finngalls?
    She peeked outside her tent and saw the men loading numerous large vats from the merchant ship onto the dragonship. The Finngalls had rigged up ropes to lower the unwieldy vats onto the ship, where several men waited to roll and push them into the middle. One of the ropes slipped, causing the vat they were lowering to hit the deck with a thud. The horses, already skittish from the smells of battle, reared away as the vat cracked open, spilling its blood-red contents over the planks of the ship. A vision of the foreigner's spurting blood arose in Selia's mind, and she averted her gaze with a shudder.
    Wine. The merchant ship had been carrying wine. Those men had left their wives and families to trade their goods in Ireland, but instead had found a brutal death at the hands of Alrik's band of Finngalls. The families of the foreigners would be awaiting the return of their loved ones, as she herself had waited for Niall's return from a long voyage. But these men would never make it home. Their final resting place would be at the bottom of the sea, and no one would ever learn of their fate.
    Selia watched as Alrik supervised the transfer of cargo from one ship to the other. He was covered with blood—the front of his mail shirt was slick with it, his face and beard spattered with it, and even the ends of his hair appeared to have been dipped in red. There was blood everywhere, the men slipping in it; part of the reason they were having so much trouble with the vats.
    She counted to determine how many had fallen to the foreign sailors' weapons. Then, unbelievingly, she counted again. All of the Finngalls had survived. Although a few of them had a bandage here and there, no one appeared to have more than a superficial wound.
    No wonder her people lived in dread of the Finngalls' return each year. The crew of the merchant ship had been well armed and prepared to defend themselves against attack. They had outnumbered the Finngalls two to one. Yet they had died, every one of them, and all of Alrik's men had lived. Clearly the Finngalls were not only physically larger and stronger than other men, but were also much more skilled in battle. How could a village hope to ever defend itself from such invaders?
    And she was married to the leader of this war band. A man who could frighten her beyond belief, yet the next moment look at her in a way that made her lose all reason. He had saved her life twice today, once from the arrows and once from the man with the dagger. Yet he had been the one who had put her life in danger in the first place by ordering his men to attack the merchant ship.
    Should she be angry with Alrik, or grateful?
    Selia wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. Alrik noticed the movement and met her gaze. His lips curved in a flinty smile. He was on the far end of the ship, but even from that distance she could sense his restless energy, could feel his desire for her. She stared at her blood-covered husband, and a sudden, unexpected surge of heat coursed through her body, as though answering his call. It felt like the very flames of hell.
    They beached the ship in another deserted cove. The men knew what to do with very little direction from Alrik; several went in search of firewood while another unpacked dried meat from the ship. While one man busied himself with the makings of a fire, another cleaned a string of fish they had caught earlier that afternoon. Others took buckets of seawater and scrubbed the blood from the deck of the ship. It all seemed very efficient to Selia, more accustomed to men who were helpless when it came to basic housekeeping tasks.
    Alrik had perched her on a large boulder away from the men, with orders not to move from the spot. She felt rather like a dog, sitting obediently and waiting for its master, but did as she was told. He would occasionally glance up from what he was doing as if to assure himself she was still