The Viking and the Witch [Halfdan The Black]

Chapter 7: Him

For the rest of the day he trained with fellow warriors but always kept an eye out for the little girl. He was fighting with Björn when he saw her again. She was talking to the blacksmiths son and a blond woman. She seemed happy talking to them.

Halfdan got distracted and Björn thought he had a good opening on Halfdan. Yet the younger man found himself on the ground with a knife to his throat before he could strike. In the distance they heard laughter and saw Björns father and his brothers coming towards them.

"You are to slow."

"You are just quick for an old man." Björn told him.

Halfdan greeted Ragnar in a somewhat friendly way and nodded towards the younger men next to him. He recognised them as Ubbe and Hvitserk.

"When are we sailing for the raid?" Halfdan asked. He couldn't wait and already felt the drill and excitement surging through his veins. He slowly became impatient.

"Soon. A few of the younger warriors need more training."

Halfdan nodded, disappointed with the answer he had gotten. The men stopped talking and the others stopped their fighting as a few women arrived. Each held a few cups and something to drink. Among those women was Mary but she kept her distance from the King, his sons and Halfdan. Never the less Halfdan kept his gaze on her. How she moved from Viking to Viking, how she spoke to them in her soft voice and smiled when the Vikings talked to her. Mary was a part of this village. It became obvious with how everyone treated her. Most of the men looked at her with a desire. She was considered perfect by their standards: A caring young woman with good looks and a kind nature.

The others did not seem to notice Halfdan's glances or chose to ignore them.

The blond girl, who Mary had spoken to a few minutes ago, walked towards Ragnar and his sons and started pouring them some when the water ran out.

"I am so sorry. I will be back in a minute."

She kept her head bowed as she turned to leave. Halfdan noted how Mary quickly walked to her and touched the girls hand. They exchanged a few words before the girl came back with more water. Something was not right about this. How did she fill the water up again?

Ragnar and his sons were still talking so they didn't see the strange exchange or Halfdan's confused look. The girl smiled at the men until she met his glaring eyes. Fear sparked in her eyes and she looked to the ground pouring the men more to drink with shaky hands. Before she left she gave a son of Ragnar, Hvitserk, a flirty look and after a view minutes of participating in the conversation he followed the girl.

"We shall see each other at the feast tonight!" Ragnar told him and left to his hut while his sons stayed on the training ground.

Halfdan didn't go to the feast in the evening but stayed in his hut. It confused his brother but Harald didn't say anything.

The thrall was just making some fire when Halfdan came into his hut. She backed away from him scared and wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

"Stay!"

She shook at his commanding deep voice and turned to him scared.

"What do you know about the red haired girl? Mary?"

He watched with curiosity how her expression changed from scared to angry before she tried to hide it.

"She is with the devil. She killed my village."

Halfdan could easily detect her emotions: Sadness, anger, jealousy. She was truly bad at hiding her emotions.

The devil. Halfdan didn't know a lot about the culture of the other lands. He just wanted to raid, conquer with his brother and live a good life before being welcomed in Valhalla. But he knew the devil was the opposite of their god.

"And how did she do that?"

Now the girl looked even more frightened in fear of the consequences of her words. Bad things happened to the people who spoke or acted against Mary.

"I cannot tell. She will know and punish me for this!"

Halfdan started laughing and compared the two women to each other. Both were small and skinny but Mary was more healthy and even though she was weak she had more muscle than the slave. If Mary wouldn't stand out with her hair he could have considered her a real Viking woman. The slave was blond, scrawny and seemed filthy. She was undesirable unlike the red haired woman he lusted for.

He bathed and went to bed before sending the thrall away. She was shaking because of everything Halfdan did to her to release his frustration of not getting the right girl yet. As he was laying in his bed he thought that Mary was not as innocent as she seemed. Halfdan became intrigued by her even more now and would definitely talk to her tomorrow.