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Viking ones of the same name. In fact, even the way these people dressed was similar to the Scandinavians of old.
    When all the men had assembled Erik began his defense. “Amora and I were coming back from our meeting with the Skraelings in the Great Woods when we pulled in to the river bank for a rest.”
    Rex nudged Jed. “Who or what are the Skraelings?”
    “Eskimo’s.”
    “What?”
    “I’ll explain later.”
    Erik continued. “We had just hauled the canoe onto the gravel when we were suddenly surrounded by six Sky-Gods.” There was a loud murmuring from the men. “They dragged Amora away and were about to kill me when these men,” he nodded in the direction of the explorers, “used their thunder sticks to save us. All six Sky-Gods are dead,” he said triumphantly.
    The longhouse erupted with excited babble until the old man rapped his walking stick loudly on the wooden floor to silence them. “How did you come over the ice?” he asked Jed. “Did you fly, like the Sky-Gods did?”
    Jed thought carefully. If he said yes would they consider him to be a Sky-God spy and put the three of them to death? On the other hand, if he said no, maybe they wouldn’t believe they had walked over the frozen continent and put them to death for lying. He decided to go with the truth. “No,” he said reluctantly, “we did not fly.”
    “Then how did you cross the ice?”
    There it was. This was the question that would ultimately lead to either exoneration or death. “We crossed the ice on skis.” He hesitated. He must tell them the rest but it was so unbelievable he didn’t see how people even as primitive as these were going to swallow it. “We tied ropes to big wings we had made ourselves and these wings dragged us along.” He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable eruption, and he wasn’t to be disappointed, as a hundred or more voices broke in unison he was certain that it was the end of the road for him and his two pals.
    “It is the ancient prophesy,” the old man said, as the last refrains died away. “They are the long awaited three that the ancient prophesy speaks of.” He turned to Jed. “Our ancestors prophesied that three men would come to us from across the ice on skis directed by birds they had created. They would come to free us from an enemy we could not defeat ourselves.” He now looked at them with reverence. “And now you have come. We will obey all your commands.”
    Jed breathed a sigh of relief; at least it had bought them some time. But if they didn’t come up with a good plan to destroy Montrose, and soon, he doubted if their welcome would last.
     
    That night, in Erik’s cabin after enjoying their first meal of meat in over two weeks, Jed decided to ply his host with questions in order to extract some much needed answers. “Why did you tell your people we had come to defeat the Sky-gods?”
    “I had no choice, if I hadn’t told them that they would have killed you.”
    “Then why did you bring us here if you thought they might kill us?”
    “If I had left you back on the river bank then Montrose and his Sky-Gods would have killed you for sure. How could I leave you to that fate when you had saved my sister, the only one who brings me joy?” He looked across at Amora and smiled at her before continuing. “You will be safe here with the Noragin. You are one of us now.”
    “You realize we don’t have the ability to defeat the Sky-Gods, don’t you?”
    Erik nodded. “But with your thunder sticks you will give us a better chance, and coming from the same land as the Sky-Gods you will understand better than us how to fight them.”
    Jed looked him right in the eye. “What makes you think we come from the same land?”
    “Your speech, you sound the same, and your weapons are thunder sticks. Only Sky-Gods save thunder sticks.”
    “You mustn’t tell the others we are not the men of their ancient prophesy,” Jed warned. “If they discover we are not, they will kill