CHAPTER 1

FREYA

“FREYA,” Dad yells, and I stop the training with the other shield maidens.

“Yes, Dad.”

“Why are you training?” He asks me.

“You know why,” I say.

“You are not fighting Freya, you know Leif doesn’t want you to,” Dad says.

“But Dad.” I start.

“No, you are to stay out of the raid. By the boats. You will stay at home if you can not do that.” He threatened.

“Yes, Dad, I will stay by the boats,” I say quietly.

“Good, then stop and go help your mother.” He tells me.

“Yes, Dad,” I say, put down the shield and weapons, and walk towards home.

-

I am Freya, and I just turned twenty. And I am the only child of the great Viking Toke and shield maiden Randi. My mother had not fought in many years, but many women who did still said she was one of the best.

Usually, I would have been engaged at seventeen and married off when I turned eighteen. But there had been no one who wanted a girl like me. I am not normal, and many say I am cursed. My skin is always cold. I don’t freeze, but I still feel cold to everyone who touches me. Many say it is my fault, that my mother has not given my dad any more kids, and I cursed her womb. Some even think that I had been given the wrong name, that it is a disgrace I am named after the goddess Freya.

They were planning a raid in another country. Years ago, some Vikings started raiding unfamiliar countries, and now they were going to do it again in a country they heard travelers call America.

And as they would be gone a long time, I was to go with them, not to fight but to celebrate their victory by holding the wedding there. I wanted to fight and raid with them, but Leif wouldn’t let me. He said he didn’t want a wife with battle scars.

Just before I turned twenty Leif offered my dad to take me, but I would not be his wife as he already had one. I am still mad at my dad for doing this to me, he had essentially sold me to be Leif’s slave, all because people think I am cursed. , he wants to leave me in America along with a group of others, to live there and learn to use the lands there. And I will just be there waiting for Leif to come back. It will be the last time I will see the home I grew up in.

“Mom?” I call when I get home.

“I’m inside.” She calls back, and I walk in.

She is working on packing things, and right now, she is packing the clothes that I am meant to bring with me to the new country. Mom is not coming on the raid, and I will probably never see her again when I leave.

“Mom, please. Do not let Dad do this to me. Please.” I beg.

“Stop. This has been agreed on, it is happening and you will do as you are told.” She tells and looks at me, and I know She means it.

“Do you need help? Dad sent me to help you,” I say.

“No, I am good. Why don’t you go see Sif and say goodbye before you have to leave tomorrow.” Mom says, and I nod my head and leave.

Sif is my best friend. She is my only friend and the only one who isn’t treating me like I am a curse. She fell in love when she was fifteen, and they married on the day she turned eighteen. They had just had their first child, a healthy boy.

Her husband isn’t too crazy about me but accepts that Sif is friends with me. I even helped her when she gave birth. Her husband is not one of our warriors, so he is not going with us on the raid. He is a farmer and one of the biggest ones we have. He provides a lot of us with food, and he is a good man and good to Sif, so I am happy for her.

“Sif?” I call.

“Freya?” She calls back, and I find her inside feeding her little boy, björn.

“Hey, is it a bad time?” I ask, and she smiles.

“No, just come in,” she says and I walk over and sit down next to her.

“I just wanted to see you before I leave tomorrow,” I tell her.

We sit and talk for hours, she is mad that my dad just sold me like that and warned me.

“Be careful with Leif, I have seen his wife with many bruises, and he is not a good man.” She tells me.

“I can’t do anything, Sif, and this was not my choice. Dad sold me.” I say and look down at the ground.

Sif doesn’t say more, but she is done feeding her son. She lays him in his bed, comes back, and hugs me. She never cared that I felt cold to touch, to Sif I was simply just her friend and not the cursed girl that everyone instead saw gone.

“Don’t forget me.” She whispers.

“Never, you are my only friend,” I whisper back.

“Friends forever.” We both say and smile.

After a few hours, her husband came home and hugged me, which shocked me. I thought he had never liked me.

“Thank you for always being a good friend to Sif.” He told me.

“Thank you for letting me,” I answered, and he nodded, wishing me good luck and a safe trip.

Then I left. I walked home and saw how the boats were being packed with all the stuff we were going to bring. I walked into the house to see Mom and Dad waiting, dad looked at me and pointed to my sleeping area.

“Go sleep.” He said, and I did as he told me to.