Daughter of Fire and Ice by Marie-Louise Jensen

only because I spotted a growth of stunted plants beside a stream on the way. Remembering Erik’s cough, I stooped to look more closely. They were a plant I knew, but smaller, probably struggling to grow to any size in this raw, wet climate. I carefully picked off a few leaves, leaving the plant to grow. There were more and I lingered, collecting a leaf here and there, until I had a small handful.
    By now, Erik and Grim had gone ahead and I was left alone on the hillside above the beach. I could see that our small boat had left without us already, heading out to the two big ships, loaded almost to the waterline with the heavy barrels of water. Kai and Stein were rowing it. Only Erik and Grim were left on the island with me. As I watched the boat pulling out into the bay, I felt a prickle in my fingertips and the hairs rose on the back of my neck. There was danger close by.
    I couldn’t place it straight away. I was badly shaken by the encounter in the house, and at first I put it down to that. But the feeling strengthened. It crossed my mind that the three of us could be left stranded here, but that wasn’t it either. It was more menacing than that. I felt bad intentions thick in the air. I looked back, scanning the hillside behind me.
    The pieces suddenly began to slot together in my head. Sheep droppings, but no sheep. A longhouse that was left empty except for one girl. No boats in the bay, though these people must surely live at least partly from fishing. I’d smelt fish in the house.
    This was a trap. We’d walked into a trap. The people were, as Erik had said, hiding somewhere, watching us, waiting to attack. It was that decision that I had sensed just now, I was sure of it.
    I ran the last stretch down to the beach where powerful waves pounded the lonely shore, drawing back with a rush and a rattle of pebbles and sand. I was breathless with fear and the sense of danger was growing on me fast.
    ‘They’ll be back for us in a while,’ said Erik, nodding to the boat that had now reached the ships. ‘It wouldn’t have floated with all of us.’
    I could just make out the people, tiny in the distance, passing the barrels up onto the ship and then one man heading back to pick us up.
    ‘Yes, of course,’ I agreed anxiously. ‘Will they tell Bjorn what the girl said about a gift? He might choose to send something.’
    ‘Yes, I mentioned that,’ nodded Grim.
    There was nothing to do but wait. I was reluctant to frighten my companions with my fears, so I passed the time by scraping the bark off a flattish stick and cutting runes into it with my knife. It was intended for the girl in the house and invoked the blessings and protection of the goddess Freya. When it was done, I stuck it in the sand. If Bjorn refused to pay, that would be my gift to her.
    As I finished, I became aware it had grown darker and darker around us, though it was still hours until night. I looked up, puzzled, and saw heavy clouds rolling down from the hills behind us. With them came once more the heavy lash of rain.
    ‘What a climate,’ shivered Erik. He coughed, drawing his cloak more closely around him. I sensed danger again at that moment, strong and vivid, a picture filling my mind.
    Men creeping along the ground towards us under the cover of the fog, their intentions dark and dishonourable. Closing in on us.
    ‘What did you say?’ asked Erik, grasping my arm. Shocked from my vision, I focused on his face, blinking.
    ‘People are coming,’ I whispered fiercely. ‘Be ready with your weapons!’
    ‘I can’t hear anything,’ Grim objected, but Erik reached for his sword, loosening it in its scabbard. The rain was coming down in bucketfuls, so heavily we could no longer see our ships out in the bay.
    Our boat was close, almost within reach, when we heard shouts behind us. All three of us began wading out into the freezing water, but we couldn’t go far as the beach shelved away sharply and the waves dragged strongly at us. I cast an