Sif broke the silence, a tremor in her voice as she sat rigid by the fire, seeing nothing and no one but Thordin.\u00a0 \u201cWhat became of you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to live with Grayson,\u201d he said quietly, both hands wrapped around his mug.\u00a0 The steam that still rose from it wreathed his face, his gaze faraway.\u00a0 \u201cHis daughter was grown and moved away and his wife was dead.\u00a0 Laura came a lot.\u00a0 She was his deputy and she worried about the two of us.\u00a0 She and her husband didn\u2019t have any children of their own.\u00a0 I\u2019d stay with them sometimes.\u00a0 John helped me remember who I\u2019d been in the long ago, showed me the ways of his people.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t unlike ours in the days long gone.\u00a0 I was happy there despite everything.\u00a0 I was happy for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you end up this far east?\u201d\u00a0 Neve asked.\u00a0 \u201cYou were even further east when you met up with Cameron and I.\u00a0 If you were so happy in Wyoming\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was more family,\u201d Thordin said.\u00a0 \u201cThey lived in Minnesota.\u00a0 When they finally found out about what had happened to Lili and Sven, they wanted me.\u00a0 I was eighteen, then.\u00a0 It was my decision.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure what I wanted.\u00a0 They wanted to know me and they said that they\u2019d…acch, it doesn\u2019t matter what they said they\u2019d do.\u00a0 I went and stayed there for a time, read too many books and became curious about too many things.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes slid closed.\u00a0 \u201cDid you know that there are legends about the Vikings landing in Canada and spreading down the St. Lawrence and up and down the coast?\u00a0 They left stones carved with runes to mark their passage.\u00a0 I decided I had to see for myself, so I quit my job as a ranger for the parks service and headed east.\u00a0 The world ended while I was hiking back from Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d heard those stories,\u201d Marin said softly.\u00a0 \u201cPhelan talked about it, too, but he made it sound like it was people from Ireland, not Vikings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neve glanced at her.\u00a0 \u201cHe told you that tale?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had to,\u201d Marin said.\u00a0 \u201cHe was telling me the whole story about Vammatar and that…explained part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDamn those bitches,\u201d Sif growled, shaking her head hard.\u00a0 \u201cThey never did know when to quit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do bear some serious grudges,\u201d Thordin agreed quietly.\u00a0 \u201cAnd now their grudge against him has been extended to everyone else, though it\u2019s worse than that.\u201d\u00a0 His lips thinned.\u00a0 \u201cThe Hecate walks, Sif.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe walks and she wants the Taliesin for herself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sif broke the silence, a tremor in her voice as she sat rigid by the fire, seeing nothing and no one but Thordin.\u00a0 \u201cWhat became of you?\u201d \u201cI went to live with Grayson,\u201d he said quietly, both hands wrapped around … Continue reading