Book 3: 'Arrow Odd'

1.0 GRIM 'HAIRY-CHEEK' KETILSON

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 GRIM 'HAIRY-CHEEK'KETILSON   (840 AD)

"Let us take this Saga for a ride,

Let us take it to a gallop,

Let loose the reins a bit....

Let's see just where it takes us."

Brian Howard Seibert

This Jarl of Hrafnista, this man named Grim, had the byname 'Hairycheek' because when he was conceived, a strange thing happened; Ketil Trout, his father, and Hrafnhild, Bruni's daughter, went to bed together and her father spread a hide over them because he had invited some Lapps over, and during the night Hrafnhild looked out from under the hide and saw one Lapp who was very hairy. And it was at that moment of conception that Grim got his mark, his hairy cheek. Grim lived on the island of Hrafnista and was one of the most wealthy and powerful men of the Nor'Way. He was tall and strong with short cropped brown hair and he kept his hairy cheek clean shaven. He was married to a bright and beautiful woman named Lofthaena, the daughter of Lord Harald of The Vik Fjord in the east of Norway.

The summer after the death of Brother Gregory of Gardariki, Grim planned a journey to Hraegunarstead in Stavanger Fjord and then on to The Vik Fjord, where he had much property. Lofthaena wanted to go with him, but Grim was reluctant because his wife was with child. He had planned on taking his concubine wife, Aester, Brother Gregory's voluptuous woman, whom he had married in respect of the Goth when he'd learned he had perished in the ice of the Nor'Way. Lapps had found his new ship crushed and deserted in the ice over winter and they knew the markings of Jarl Grim of Hrafnista and they returned him his dragon's head from the forestem. They told him there were no signs of the dead, only signs and tracks of white bears and wolves where the dead had perhaps lain. So he had married the large breasted nursemaid that Brother Gregory had hauled, much to her horror, north across the Nor'Way to the northmost tip of Thule, and he had adopted her son as well.

"I will not be happy unless I go," Lofthaena told him stubbornly.

Grim loved her dearly, so he let her come with him. She was very attractive, intelligent and well-spoken and was used to having her way. Her long blonde hair fell halfway down her tall lean body. They outfitted their two ships smartly and adorned themselves lavishly and the people of Hrafnista loved them for it and gave them a grand send-off. When they reached Stavanger they turned into the fjord and sailed up it until they beached their ships at Hraegunarstead. They were greeted by his Aunt Kraka and Jarl Brak, Ragnar's foremost man. Ragnar himself had not been home in years, having marked himself with a spear to dedicate himself to following Odin's calling. When Grim told his aunt that Brother Gregory had requested that his baby be raised at Hraegunarstead, she suggested that he be raised at a farm by the stead called Berurjod, just along the bay. Grim's friend, a man called Ingjald lived there with his new wife and baby, a handsome boy called Asmund. Ingjald's new wife was having trouble breast feeding and it was obvious that Grim's concubine, Aester, had no such difficulties, and Ingjald was very pleased that the voluptuous woman came along with the boy. Lofthaena had seen to that.

When Ingjald asked Grim what the baby's name was, Grim explained that there was none. Brother Gregory wanted Ragnar Lothbrok's son, Erik 'Bragi', to name the boy when he next returned to Norway from Gardariki. Kraka thought the instructions very odd, so that is what they decided to call the boy until his proper naming...Odd, meaning edge.