Read Online Gudsriki by Ari Bach - Free Book Online Page B

far?”
    â€œFrom Lairg.”
    â€œMy goodness! Ye must be freezin’ years off if ye came by sea. Y’care for some beer?”
    â€œYes, thank you!” she exclaimed, more out of surprise than gratitude. She followed the man back to a small house a few blocks south where he showed her in. There was a fire burning and a small family lounging, reading paper books. Vibs felt like she’d entered one of her dreamscapes. One of the books she saw was The Devil Drives . Familiarity that seemed too perfect to be real. She grew somewhat suspicious.
    The man introduced her to his wife and her other husband and all three of their children, seven, eight, and ten. He insisted on sharing some of their food. She wanted to respond in kind, but the idea of feeding the family butchered rapist seemed impure, as if it would taint them with the misery of the mainland.
    â€œThe peace won’t last much longer,” said the man. “There’s fighting on Eday and Sanday, not far from here. North Ronaldsay’s been taken by force. YUP army.”
    â€œYUP? They’re here?”
    â€œComin’ here. UKI’s fighting the good fight, but they say the YUP is part of a new clan that’s taken all Europe. The nation of Ulver.”
    The word sounded familiar to her. “Ulver?”
    â€œAye. They took the Shetlands last week. Rumor is they left it untouched mostly, except the blondes. Kidnapped all the blondes on the Isles. Insanity, if it’s true.”
    â€œDoes anyone know why?”
    â€œRumors about Ulver are wild, lassie. Some say it’s run by the old man’s child himself, that we’re in the end times. Religious tomfoolery’s been rampant since the war. Some say it’s run by a man with a metal jaw.”
    Ulver meant “Wolves.” Vibeke was haunted by the idea it could have something to do with Wulfgar’s gang. How much had he made selling the Ares? If he captured Valhalla?
    Two of the boys observed Violet’s Tikari, which frolicked before them, careful not to cut them with its wings. They took it as being timid. They had no idea how dangerous a piece of equipment they were toying with.
    â€œAll we really know,” he continued, “is they fight strong but fight fair. No chemical attacks, no more nukin’, they take prisoners when they can avoid killin’ and ’on’t massacre the towns, so the escapees say.”
    â€œBut they take blondes.”
    â€œRumors abound, lassie. Rumors abound.”
    They let her sleep in the children’s room, keeping their three boys in their own. Their naiveté was stunning. Tactically unsound. But these weren’t people obsessed with tactics. They were altruists, creatures not to be trusted but taken advantage of in the extreme. Vibeke felt like she sullied their house, the things she’d done. The things she’d enjoyed doing. But shelter was not to be abandoned in such times. She got another full night’s sleep and woke rested and ready to hunt. She thanked the family profusely, but offered them no supplies nor protection should the war come. She couldn’t tie herself down or lose a single syrette. She left in the morning asking only one question.
    â€œHave you heard of a doctor with a red beard coming to the islands?”
    He had not. She began the search.
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    D IM GLIMPSES of the water flickered before Mishka’s eyes. She was coming out of the cryo—if all went well, and she was alive, so it had—a week and a half after Balder’s death. Not long enough for the ravine to forget her acts, but long enough they wouldn’t be looking for her right under their nose.
    She flexed and let the ice inside her muscles break apart and warm. She opened her eyes. A thin gap between the rocks let light in. The dim light of a winter sun, dimmer than she expected.
    She began diagnostics. Radiation was higher than normal. Pollutants off the scale. She kicked