Viking Boy by Tony Bradman Read Free Book Online

Rurik and smiled. “You’re right, this will do nicely,” he said. “The boy is yours.”
    Rurik nodded and pushed Gunnar out of the hall. Then he strode off down a nearby alley, keeping the boy moving ahead. Soon they came to a hut and went inside. A ring of hearth stones stood in the middle, a fur-covered bracken bed against one wall, a wooden chest against the other.
    “Don’t be worried, boy,” said Rurik. He eased his sword belt over his head and tossed it on the bed. Then he kneeled by the hearth and poked at the ashes with a bit of kindling. “I’m not going to eat you. Make yourself at home.”
    “This is not my home,” said Gunnar. “And I will never be your slave.”
    For a moment Gunnar thought Rurik hadn’t heard. The big man blew onto the ashes in the hearth and a red glow appeared that he fed with more kindling. “What’s your name?” Rurik said eventually. “At least tell me that.”
    “Gunnar.” Yellow flames were starting to flicker over the wood.
    “Just Gunnar?” Rurik sat with his back against the chest and crossed his legs. “Suit yourself. And I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me how you ended up being sold as a slave by Gauk of the Silver Tongue, are you?”
    Gunnar shrugged. “There’s nothing to tell.”
    “There’s always a story to tell, and I can probably guess some of yours. Your clothes are of fine quality, but they’re stained with blood. So you’re of good family, but something bad must have happened. Am I right?”
    “Maybe,” said Gunnar.
    “You’re a tough one, I’ll give you that.” Rurik grinned. “And you’re a fighter. That’s what I like about you.”
    “So let me go,” Gunnar said quickly. “I swear I’ll find the money to pay you back. But I can’t be your slave. I can’t stay here.”
    Rurik’s grin vanished. “Listen, boy. Until today you might have thought you were free, but this was always going to be your fate, foretold by the Norns.”
    That same image of three ancient women in ragged black clothes filled Gunnar’s mind again. He remembered Brunhild talking of them too, and he suddenly felt angry. “What have they got to do with me? I’ve heard them mentioned in old stories, but I don’t even know who they are.”
    “They know you,” said Rurik. “Some call them the Norns, others the Three Sisters. They sit at the foot of the great tree Yggdrasil and weave a web in which each thread is a life – its past, present and future. They decide all that will happen from the day we’re born to the day they cut our threads – and we die.”
    Gunnar wondered if it was true. Had he always been doomed to see his home burned and Father murdered, and to end up a slave? If so, there was no point fighting against it, and he might as well give up any idea of bringing Father back from Valhalla and saving Mother. But a new thought occurred to him and he spoke it out loud before he could catch himself. “What if this isn’t my
final
fate? What if my fate will lead me to other things?”
    “Perhaps it will,” said Rurik. “
My
fate has brought me to this stinking hole. You might find your way to somewhere else, but for now you’re my slave, and you’d better get used to the idea. As fates go, it’s not that bad.”
    “Really?” Gunnar scowled at him. “How did you work that out?”
    “I’ll be a kindly master. I won’t beat you or make you work too hard.”
    “But you’ve never bought a slave before. Why did you buy
me
?”
    “I thought it would be worth it just to see Hogni’s face when he finds out I’ve bought you, and that you’re going to be around all the time…”
    Gunnar’s heart sank – he was to be Rurik’s means of tormenting the smith. His presence in Kaupang would be a constant reminder to everyone that Hogni’s nose had been flattened by a mere slave boy. So not only was he stuck here when he should be on his way to Valhalla, he was caught in a feud between two violent men. “Why do you hate each