Read Online Norse Valor by Constantine De Bohon - Free Book Online Page B

Her
steps were hesitant and to his dismay somewhat wary. The poor thing must be
feeling very alone. Vakr had traveled far in his days and had many interesting
items to show for his endeavors. Eagerly he displayed them for her, wanting to
show an obviously well-traveled woman he wasn’t a heathen. Her opinion meant a
great deal to him. Anxiously, he hovered.
    Svana fingered a velvet cloth. It was simple, yet beautiful
with pearls stitched together to form a flower. Vakr had intended to give it to
his mother, but she had told him that one day he would meet a woman who would
appreciate his eye for beauty. Svana’s lips twitched with a tender smile. Her
hand traced a rug that lay atop his table; he hadn’t the heart to toss it on
the dirt ground. Svana roamed her way around his fire that burnt brightly
centered in the middle of his long hut. She gazed up at the hole in the roof.
    Before Vakr had left, he had made his mother a hearth in her
hut. The concept was the same except the hearth was built upwards with stone
where the wall had once stood, whereas his own was more like an open fire pit.
His mother had claimed she wished they had styled the fire like the hearth he
had made her, when he was a small child. She only had to watch one section to
keep fingers from burning instead of all around the hut.
    Svana strolled to the back of the hut where a penned-off
area stood void of animals. Her nose wrinkled and she looked concerned. That
made Vakr worry and he rushed forwards.
    “Do not worry, soon it will be filled with animals,” he said.
    “Huh?”
    “When spring comes and we are able to raid a few distant
villages, I promise you there will be scores of animals to take care of.”
    “Inside?” Her dark eyes widened.
    “Well, in the winter months it is too cold for them to stay
outdoors.”
    “Vakr, do you know what a barn is?”
    “A barn? Your word is unfamiliar.”
    “A stable, you know where people find a manger and hay and
straw…and the animals.”
    Vakr could hear the sarcasm in her voice. For some reason
she was distressed his hut housed animals. How
odd. “You do not find this arrangement appealing?”
    “You think?” she said, scowling. “I don’t want to be in the
furs doing the funky chicken with a real live chicken gawking at me from over
here.”
    “Funky chicken?”
    “Sex, Vakr!” she yelled.
    “Why on earth would you be distressed to have an animal
watch you have sex? It’s not like they will be commenting later on technique.”
    “I want you to build a barn,” Svana said.
    Though her words were controlled he saw her jaw twitch with
irritation.
    “When we move, I will build a barn near the house,” he
conceded.
    “No animals in the house?”
    “None, although a dog would be nice.”
    “A dog is fine; a cat is fine, but no cows, sheep, chickens
or horses.”
    Vakr opened his mouth to say something, but she practically
jumped down his throat.
    “If you say goats or pigs, I’ll kick your ass,” she snapped
in warning.
    Vakr clamped his jaw shut.
    Svana moved to his pile of furs and sat cross-legged upon
them. Vakr walked over and crouched on his heels before her. Her head was
bowed. “Is it really so different where you come from?” Vakr asked.
    “You have no idea.”
    “Tell me.”
    “What would be the point? You would have no grasp of
technology. Your men fight with swords and hunt with bows and arrows and
spears. You live with animals, no less. You have no planes…”
    “Oh yes, I have seen vast plains,” Vakr interrupted, nodding
vigorously.
    Svana blinked at him. She then muttered something
unintelligible before beginning again. “You have no phone; you have no
electricity or television. I’m sorry to sound so desolate, but I can’t help but
feel like a good whine.”
    “I’m sorry, Svana, there is no wine.”
    Svana dragged her hand down over her face and muttered a
string of more unintelligible words.
    Oddly enough, Vakr thought her words could be mistaken