"Kim Wilkins - Giants of the Frost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilkins Kim)

to the northeast hid the expanse of Sj├бfjord. Mist hung low in the valley and the grass was jewelled with
frost. Nobody in sight. No watching eyes to report back to his father, no waiting tongues to say, "I saw
Vidar drawing runes in the seeing-water." The fjord would be cold, but the thought of Halla warmed his
blood.

He stripped to the waist, waded into the shallows and waitedтАФthe water icy around his ribsтАФfor the
surface to still. He crossed his hands over his chest. Not a movement now, not a breath. He feared that
the excited beat of his heart would make the water pulse and jump in harmony. But soon the surface
became motionless.

Vidar lifted his hand. With a graceful movement, he traced a circle in the water. Steam rose where he
drew. He waited, glancing all around him for watchful eyes, then focused and drew four runes in the
circle. His breath crystallized on the morning air as he said her name: "Halldisa."

At first he could only see his own reflection, dark hair and dark eyes and the pale morning sky behind
him. But then another face formed in the water and he recognized her instantly. Storm-eyed,
snow-haired. Seeing her face robbed him of his breath. He drew another rune, and whispered, "Where
are you?"

Danger, extreme danger. His heart chilled colder than the fjord. Odin's Island. He glanced to the east,
toward the silver roof of his father's hall, which was hidden behind the miles of misty hills and wooded
valleys Vidar had put between him and his family. Memories streamed through him: blood and fire and
the helpless shrieks of mortal suffering. "There is no love, Vidar," his father had said. "There is only fate."

"Vidar!"

A woman's voice. His young bondmaid, Aud, had woken and found him missing. With a skilled hand he
banished his seeing magic and turned to her, deliberately relaxed. "Good morning, Aud."

"What are you doing?" she asked, coming to the edge of the water.

"Catching fish."

Her smile said she didn't believe him.

He waded from the fjord, dripping and cold. "Come, Aud. You may draw me a hot bath and forget you
saw me catching fish in Sj├бfjord."

"I won't forget," she said, "but neither will I tell." She clearly relished being part of his secret.

He spoke no further and she walked beside him in her usual besotted silence. His mind turned the image
of Halla over and over; desire warmed his veins, filled his fingers and swelled his heart. This time he
would make her his.

This time he would protect her from the brutal rage of his father.
Chapter One


[Midgard]