He turned back to the girl and looked into her luminous green eyes. "Eira, my name is Halvar. I am the leader of this clan and as long as I live, no harm will come to you here. Now, come. You will tell me about this uncle of yours and the reason people think you're an evil witch."
Eira stepped forward hesitantly and thanked him. The old woman who had been beside her smiled as she limped away. There was something uncanny about the way the amma had looked at her and Eira wondered how much she knew. But she didn’t have time to think about it. She was just deeply grateful for the chief’s intervention on her behalf. She sensed the hatred in the minds of the people around her and the stench was almost overwhelming.
CHAPTER 4
T he sun was sinking slowly as Halvar and his men made their way to his longhouse at the center of the village, leading Eira between them. Outside, there was a large cooking spit like those that Eira had seen in her own village. Eira knew that most of the cooking took place in the center of the longhouse and the firepit outdoors was used for roasting large game. She looked around for the woman of the house but couldn’t see one. Instead, thralls prepared the food, hurrying to make up for time lost after the tumult erupted. These slaves had so much freedom that they were more like hired servants. She had never seen thralls treated this way before. It seemed that the chief was a kindly man.
Halvar invited her into the smaller pit-house beside the longhouse and asked one of the servants to provide her with water and a bowl of food from the cooking pot. Then he went back outside to supervise the preparation of the meat from the hunt. When it was ready, he cut a large, juicy portion and sent it inside for her. She was ravenously hungry and appreciated his thoughtfulness. It had been more than a day since she’d eaten. She devoured every delicious morsel of the food he sent inside.
When she’d finished eating, she washed her face and hands in the water he’d provided and peeked out the door to see if she could catch a glimpse of her rescuer. She saw him sitting near the fire with his men and was able to observe him unnoticed. She saw that he had shoulder-length blonde hair and a short, neat, gingery beard. Blonde hair was regarded as highly desirable among her people and all the young girls dreamed of marrying a handsome, blonde man. Dark-haired men were considered less fortunate and many bleached their hair and beards. Halvar’s lips were perfectly formed and rosy-red and his eyes were a piercing blue. His skin was clear and smooth and he was tall and broad-shouldered. He was a handsome man indeed and she found herself wondering why there appeared to be no woman in charge of his household. At his age, he should have been married with children. She quickly ducked inside the doorway when she saw him rise and move toward the house. It would do no good to be caught spying on the men and their conversation.
Halvar ducked through the door and sat down next to Eira in the flickering torchlight.
"So, why were you really banished?" he asked, mindful of scaring her. The poor girl had endured two terrifying ordeals in two different villages in the past few days.
Eira studied her interlocked fingers. She was still uncertain how he would treat her after the day’s events. Did he come to her rescue simply to restore peace to the village? Did he do it out of kindness? Whatever the reason, she was now safe because of him and she decided that he deserved the truth.
"Honestly, I don't know where to start,” she said. "It began when I was seven. I don’t know how, but I can read the emotions of people around me. I can tell what their moods are and that helps me to know what they are thinking. At first, people thought it was a good thing and it was expected that I would become a Wise Woman. But as I grew older, my skill became more intense and focused. I found myself warning people about bad things that I sensed others were about to do to them. Of course, that made me unpopular when I spoiled bad plans and it wasn’t long before they began to accuse me of being an evil witch. The rumours came from those whose plans I foiled.” She paused and her eyes had a faraway look.
Halvar sat still, his eyes on her face, listening to her with keen attention.
"My father's position as leader of the clan began to come under scrutiny because he protected me. The other men were not brave enough to stand up to him and his loyal men. He is a feared warrior.”
Halvar laughed. "Typical Bjarni," he said.
Eira smiled at the compliment. "He has always had the knack of being there right when I needed him. I’ve escaped beatings and death because he was there to rescue me. He did not wish to force me to leave the village. But he found himself in a position where he had to make a choice. Either he banished me or the villagers killed me. So, my parents sent me here.”
Halvar placed a hand in her shoulder in a bid to console her. He felt a sense of warmth and wellbeing steal over him and his heart skipped a beat.
"Well, rest now. You can sleep here tonight and I will sleep in the longhouse with my men. This pit-house is used for storage and making repairs during the winter months, but
