To Win a Warrior's Heart- The Frozen Heart

Chapter One

It was time to go raiding again, to once again be warriors and not merely men. Time to win glory, and bring the crumbling ruin that was there home back from ruin. Calum prayed he was up to the task ahead, prayed that the gods would favor him and his men, that their raid would reap them all fortune and glory, and not death.

Calum ran his hands through his white-blond hair pushing the thick mane back from his face. He gave the men before him a withering scowl, his blue eyes as hard and cold as the glacier atop Bald Mountain. His warriors had become soft and as temperamental as old women this past winter, but the snow had been unusually deep and the icy winds had howled through the cracks in the keep walls, forcing everyone to huddle about the fire. The cold and poor food had depleted everyone’s spirits and left even the heartiest of his men ill-tempered and tired.

Eburstad had once been a proud hold full of life but that was years ago, before the wars and the blight. Now Eburstad was in need of rebuilding and the village was full of empty crumbling cottages that needed repair.

Calum had taken over as lord of Eburstad two years ago; he’d come to Eburstad as a boy of fifteen and quickly proven himself to Eburstad’s Lord, Thorfin Forkbeard. Calum’s great size and unmatched strength had given him an advantage and he’d quickly risen to captain his own ship by the time he was twenty. But Thorfin had grown weary of fighting and trading and in the ten years before his death, he’d rarely left his chair before the fire. As a result, Eburstad had fallen rapidly into decline, going from a fine hold to the pitiful place it was now. When Thorfin had died no man had been foolish enough to challenge Calum for the right to be thane.

Thorfin in his seventy-plus years had fathered eight children, but the wars and the blight had taken all but Helga. While tall and beautiful beyond compare, Helga was a vain and ill-tempered shrew that no man would have for a wife, even though her father had been thane.

Calum now ruled Eburstad by right of might. His first act as thane had been to build two new ships. Before the war and the blight, the Freyjians had been feared as raiders and seamen. But no one at Eburstad had gone raiding in twenty years. It was time to go raiding again, Eburstad was foundering. The war and the blight had taken most of the life stock and the women. Eburstad was populated by men and a few old women, if they did not find both wealth and women soon Eburstad would cease to be. Calum hoped to return with gold, livestock, and women to bring Eburstad back from the brink.

The thought of a woman of his own sent a fierce wave of longing through Calum. He’d had only four lovers; they had all been older women, widows who had sought his bed out of curiosity. None had stayed long, all leaving him to find rich husbands or more experienced lovers. He wanted a woman of his own, he wanted a wife. The problem was that of the few unmarried women Calum had found none would have him as they all feared his huge size. No woman wished to wed a giant it seemed, and a poor one at that. Calum’s father was an ice giant who had fallen in love with a human and traded twenty years of his life for a charm that let him assume a man’s size for one week out of every month. As the product of such a union, Calum was small for a giant and large for a human, so he fit in neither world completely. It was only among the humans that he had found acceptance and a home. Men revered and respected him, while women simply feared him. It wasn’t that he was ugly or misshapen. No, there was nothing to fault with his looks, it was simply his size. He was over seven and a half feet tall, and the width of two men. He was also no lightweight, his men joked that not only was he as strong as an ox but weighed as much as one. While his looks attracted women his size made them fear him, so he despaired of ever finding a woman.

Calum prayed to the goddess Brigit daily to send him a woman, in ten years of prayer his request had yet to be answered but he was a patient man. Over the years he had narrowed down his wishes for a wife to a short list. The woman must accept him for what and who he was and not fear him. She must have a pleasing disposition and not be vain or sharp-tongued. Lastly, she should be younger than he and at least passing pretty. He had once longed for a tall dark-haired woman, a woman of great beauty and wit but now he would be happy with much less. If he found a woman who didn’t fear him, and who stirred his loins he planned to make her his wife and bring her home, even if she didn’t wish to. He was sure with time he could convince a woman to care for him, he was not a cruel man nor particularly hard. With a mental sigh, he dragged his thoughts back to the present, there was work to be done. If they weren’t successful in the upcoming raid not only would Eburstad cease to be they would all starve come winter.

“Are the ships ready?” Calum demanded looking at Ebur. Ebur was muscular and tall, with sandy blond hair and near Calum’s own age of thirty summers. He was second in command under Calum, as well as being his friend. Everyone had thought Ebur would take over Eburstad when Thorfin died, as Thorfin had been his uncle, but Ebur didn’t have the will or the strength to be a leader, so Calum had taken command.

“Aye, are you sure of what we do? None of us has ever sailed farther than Slesvag. This voyage will take us out of sight of land for a full four days if not more.” Ebur protested sounding as peevish as an old woman.

“Harik and Hedeby sailed to Celtiberan as boys and all of the men sailed under Thorfin before he became too lazy to leave his chair.” Calum fixed Ebur with a glower. “Perhaps you have lost your sea legs, or have you become like your uncle afraid to leave the fire.”

Ebur bristled at the insult but didn’t challenge Calum for the insult; a man would be a fool to challenge Calum. Calum wasn’t just tall; he was built like a mountain of muscle. His shoulders were a good two axe handles wide and his legs and arms were as round and thick as young trees.

“And perhaps you are too eager.” Ebur retorted. “I want wealth and a woman as well, but to die at sea in quest of either is foolish.” Ebur rubbed the back of his neck then looked back at the grey crumbling hold. The others were all eager to go raiding; only Ebur was weary, but he couldn’t deny that things could be better, couldn’t deny that much of the blame for Eburstad’s present sorry state could be laid at his feet. “I still say you should marry Helga, she is beautiful and tall for a woman. Your marriage would also ensure Thorfin’s bloodline as rulers of Eburstad.”

Calum’s scowl deepened as he shook his head. Once he’d thought to marry Helga to help cement his place as thane, but Helga, while beautiful was unchaste and lazy. Calum knew she had slept with at least six of his men and he had no desire to wed a woman that had been known by so many of his men.

“Helga is a viper and a whore.” Calum said softly so only Ebur could hear, then he looked back at the men clearing his throat loudly. “Go to your ships and remember my orders we stay in sight of each other. If we become separated continue as planned and make landfall on Celtiberan. We seek gold, weapons, and livestock.”

“And women.” Came several shouts, bringing rough laughter.

“Aye and women, but heed my words no woman is to be taken by force. Any man I find harming a woman or forcing a woman shall have to answer to me.” Calum roared.

“You are soft Calum, in my day we would just take any woman we wanted.” Harik shouted back bringing laughs and ayes from the other men.

“And if the blight struck Celtiberan too? Then the men there would guard their women well, I don’t want a war because we stole the wrong wench. Stick to the plan, is that understood.” Any negative reply was stopped by Calum’s icy glare, no man gainsaid Calum and didn’t pay the price. “To the boats.” Calum bellowed. The men shouted as one and hurried down the rocky road towards the ships.

Calum looked back at Eburstad one last time. He vowed he would not return till his ship was full of goods, and if the gods smiled on him a woman by his side.