The Expeditions of the Vikings

THE EXPEDITIONS
OF THE VIKINGS
WRITTEN BY
JORDI ORTIZ
ILLUSTRATED BY
MIGUEL ÁNGEL SAURA

THE EXPEDITIONS OF THE VIKINGS
WRITTEN BY
JORDI ORTIZ
ILLUSTRATED BY
MIGUEL ÁNGEL SAURA

Hi! I love reading and learning
about ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.
But I like visiting them with
my PALS, Victor, Ibis, and my
cousin Seldon, even more.
CHRISTINA
Hey! I can’t wait to start
another ADVENTURE,
although everyone says that
time travel is really dangerous.
VICTOR
Huh! Who could be scared
with someone as SMART as
Christina and as STRONG
as Seldon by their side?

The Expeditions of the Vikings
MEET THE GANG
Well, let’s not kid ourselves.
Right now, I could be really
enjoying a nice NAP. But someone
has to watch these three.
I don’t know how
they always manage
to get into messes.
Tee-hee! I’m the baby
of the group. I’m always
playing with Cali,
the dragon I found in the
HYPERMEGASUPER-
BIBLIOMUSEUM.
IBIS
SELDON
•7•
CALI

Hmm. For many years
I pretended to be dead
and hid away in the
HYPERMEGASUPERBIBLIOMUSEUM.
Until I met Christina. She and
her friends are the only ones
that can finish my work.

The Expeditions of the Vikings
…AND ME TOO
Hmm. They have to visit twentyone
civilizations from history
to get the last objects that are
missing from my collection.
But there’s a problem.
Hmm. ETERNAL MALEFICENT,
my old assistant, has made up
his mind to scupper all THE
Time Explorers’ missions.
Maleficent is a
formidable enemy.
My young friends don’t know
what he’s capable of yet.
PROFESSOR
SOCKRATES
•9•

Most scientists agreed that TIME
TRAVEL was impossible. The boldest
thought that, in theory, we could
make a slit in the SPACE-TIME fabric
and peek through at another period
in history. What everybody did agree
on was that nobody could ever in
a million years visit another time.
Professor Sockrates and THE Time
Explorers had proved them wrong.

THE
EXPEDITIONS
OF THE
VIKINGS

•12•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
THE KING’S GIFT
"ARCHIBALD!!!" Professor Sockrates roared, even though he
knew perfectly well that the butler was a couple of steps behind him.
“Yes, Professor?”
“Hmm. I’m going to finish the final details for the journey to
the Viking Age. Meeting in the PARCHMENT ROOM in an hour.
Meanwhile, Gertrude can get the outfits ready and the kids can
put them on.”
“Rrright away, Prrrofessor,” said the cook enthusiastically. “Ha,
ha! I like this. I rrreally do!”
The children got up from the table and went with Gertrude into the
CHANGING ROOM, which was right at the bottom of the kitchen.
Apologetically, Archie said, “If you will excuse me, I have to change
Otto’s water. The Professor will need him.”
“Who’s Otto?” asked Seldon.
Gertrude replied, “Oh. You vill see. Forrr the moment, ve hafff
to get to vork, we only hafff one hourrr. Now, I think that on the
fourrrth shelf of the seventh doorrr, behind everrrything, therrre’s
something Viking style. Vherrre did I leafffe the thrrread box?”
•13•

A few minutes later, THE TIME EXPLORERS were trying on their
outfits. Christina was lucky because hers suited her perfectly!
There was even a belt and some bracelets that she’d found in a
wicker basket. They only needed to find a cloak to match. Victor’s
pants just needed taking up a bit, which Gertrude sorted out with
her scissors without paying much attention to what she was doing.
She explained it like this: “You’rrre supposed to be drrressed as
farrrmers. It vould look verrry odd if the bottoms of yourrr pants
verrre perrrfect.”
Seldon’s shirt was too tight. Gertrude quickly chopped off the
sleeves, cut the back open from top to bottom, and added a strip
of fabric to make it bigger. She sewed so fast that you could barely
see her fingers moving.
Ibis was the most difficult because there was nothing her size.
Gertrude had to improvise an outfit with a few scraps of cloth that
she found by rummaging in a trunk. It took her no more than ten
minutes to take the measurements, cut the fabric, and stitch it
together, but Ibis couldn’t keep still and never stopped bouncing
on the tips of her toes. Referring to the Professor in her own, sweet
way, mixing his name with the word “grandpa,” she asked, “What
d’you think Grandpasocks’ll send us to GET?”
“I know,” said Seldon.
Ibis clapped her hands.
“Do you? What? What? Tell us!”
•14•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“One of those helmets with horns on.”
Christina couldn’t stop herself from
contradicting her cousin. “I don’t
think that’ll be it. The thing about
horns on VIKING helmets is made up.”
“Oh. Is it a lie?”
“It’s a big fat lie,” Victor assured them.
Gertrude put the last stitch in Ibis’s dress and looked satisfied.
“Now you’rrre all set. Let’s go to the PARRRCHMENT RRROOM
beforrre the Prrrofessor starrrts yelling forrr us.”
They went out of the CHANGING ROOM and turned right, towards
the PARCHMENT ROOM. As they were crossing the kitchen, Archie
joined them. He was carrying a fish tank on a silver tray.
“What’s that critter?” Seldon asked. “Is it OTTO?”
“Yes. It’s a squid, Master Seldon. The Professor needs it for writing.”
Just as Seldon was about to ask for more details, a noise was heard
from the PARCHMENT ROOM.
“Gobble, gobble, gobble!”
Archie gave the door to the room a push and they walked down the
corridor that ran under the stairs. Ralf, the turkey that was always
wandering about in the kitchen, came shooting out like a bullet.
•15•

Professor Sockrates was waiting with one of Ralf’s feathers in his
hand. Archie held out the tray with the fishbowl and the Professor
tapped Otto, who scared easily, with his finger. Otto filled the fish
tank with ink to camouflage himself. The Professor said, “Come in.”
He closed the door, dipped the feather in the squid ink, went up
to the PARCHMENT that was hanging behind the door, and drew
a line through the first mission, which the children had already
completed.
THE LEGIONS OF ROME
“Hmm. This is much better,” said the Professor. “And now, as you’re
dressed as Vikings, you can go to Iceland in the year 980. There’s
something I’d like to add to the collection.”
“What is it, Professor?” asked Christina.
“A SILVER BROOCH. To be specific, the one King Harald II of
Norway gave to Erik the Red.”
“What’s a brooch?” asked Seldon.
The Professor explained. “It’s a piece of jewelry that’s worn on a
cloak or a coat. Well, actually, it’s two pieces that fit together.”
“Ah.”
•16•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“Just a second, Professor,” interjected Christina. “Did you say Erik
the Red? The explorer?”
“Ha, ha! The very same. Ahem. You’ll be going to see him while he’s
preparing his expedition to colonize GREENLAND. Gertrude, are
the LANGUAGE beans ready?”
“They’rrre in a pot on the stofffe. Eight beans, fourrrteen oats, and
a black chickpea each.”
“Excellent. It won’t be long before we get the Time Clock going
again.”
They left the PARCHMENT ROOM to go back to the kitchen.
“Everrryone sit down at the table,” said
Gertrude, carefully counting out the beans
and oats that she was placing in the Time
Explorers’ wooden bowls. The Professor waited
impatiently and Archie seemed as calm as
ever, as if preparing for a journey through
time was an everyday task – something like
dusting a mammoth skeleton or polishing
samurai armor.
“Can we start?” asked Seldon, who
was hungrier than usual because he
was nervous.
•17•

“Go ahead. And don’t leafffe a single grrrain orrr you von’t speak
the VIKINGS’ language prrroperrrly.”
Cali was waiting next to Ibis, beak open and tail wagging, in case
her friend threw her something. Ralf, who had forgotten how much
it hurt to have a feather pulled out, snuck under the table and stuck
his head out from between Seldon’s arms. When he was about to
put his head in the bowl, Gertrude gave him a quick whack with the
ladle that sent him shooting off. “Out of herrre, you featherrred
devil! If I catch you, you’ll go headfirrrst into the pot!”
As soon as THE TIME EXPLORERS had finished, Gertrude placed a
single boiled pea in each of their ears so they could understand the
Vikings’ language, then gave them a reminder. “Rrremember that
the effects of the language beans and the trrranslating pea last a
veek. This is much longerrr than you can stay vith the Vikings,
because the Time Tunnel vill only be open forrr thrrree days.”
“Hmm. I don’t want to be a bore,” said Professor Sockrates very
seriously, “but I’ll be reminding you at the beginning of every
MISSION, since it’s the most important thing you have to bear in
mind: you must come back before three days are up. If the Time
Tunnel closes, you’ll be TRAPPED forever in the place and time
you’re visiting. Forever. Understood?”

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“Understood,” assured Christina and Victor. Ibis clapped her hands
and Seldon grunted something incomprehensible.
They left the kitchen through the right-hand door to go into the
room with the TIME CLOCK sign.
“Seventy-two hours,” the Professor repeated. “Not one more.
Where’s…? ARCHIBALD!!!”
“I am here, Professor, in the Clock Room. In fact, I was the first
here. It was I who opened the door for…”
“Could you shut up for a bit, Archibald? I don’t want to waste
another second. I’m eager to know how the mission will end.”

“You will know within fifteen minutes, Professor,” the butler
replied. “As your young guests know, three days on the
other side of the Time Tunnel are only fifteen minutes in the
HYPERMEGASUPERBIBLIOMUSEUM, so… Why are you covering
your ears, Professor? Understood, I will shut up.”
Professor Sockrates went over to the DISHWASHER that he had
made into a Time Machine and turned over the hourglass on top,
the TIME CLOCK, which was synchronized to time the maximum
duration of the mission down to the second. The fifteen minutes
began from that moment. Christina said, “We’re ready, Professor.”
Archie, who had rolled up his pants to mid-calf and was sitting on
the bicycle that provided the Time Machine’s energy, added, “I, too,
am ready.”
Gertrude clapped her hands.
“Go ahead, EXPLORERS!” exclaimed Professor Sockrates as he
opened the dishwasher. Victor was the first to put his head in the
Time Tunnel. He was followed by Christina, Ibis holding Cali in her
arms, and then Seldon, grumbling that they were going into the
lion’s den again.
•20•

THREE YOUNG WARRIORS
The Expeditions of the Vikings
Seldon found the Time Tunnel unbearably NARROW. Confined
spaces made him feel nervous. He raised his elbows to head
height and separated them to stretch it.
“Careful,” warned Christina. “The tunnel wall is a very fragile
membrane!”
“Professor Sockrates didn’t say that it could tear,” said Seldon as
an excuse.
“The Professor,” his cousin pointed out, “didn’t imagine you would
treat the tunnel with so little respect. I don’t want to even think
about what would happen if we ripped it. We’d be stuck at some
random point in HISTORY with no chance of coming back.”
Seldon was about to apologize, but he didn’t have time because the
dishwasher door shut behind him.
The Time Tunnel became transparent and the Explorers started
floating among millions of stars. Ibis exclaimed, “Tee-hee! I love
this part of the ADVENTURE!”
The journey through the tunnel was as thrilling as it had been the
first time. For almost half a minute, the four friends had the feeling
of going down a slide at supersonic speed.
•21•

The tunnel had gotten longer. Behind them, far away, they could
see the dishwasher door. It was a black square with the sides lit up.
In front of them, also very far away, was the zipper that shut the
EXIT to the Time Tunnel.
Christina and Ibis were squealing; the endless drop was the most
exciting thing imaginable. Seldon was yelling in terror and Victor
was laughing uncontrollably.
They suddenly began to fall more slowly and the two ends of the
tunnel moved closer together. The stars shone less brightly but,
before their light vanished altogether, the children saw a forest
through the odd material of the tunnel. They plunged towards it
and, all at once, the feeling of weightlessness disappeared.
It was DARK. Victor lit the match that Archie had given him so he
could find the exit easily. It gave off enough light to see the tunnel
wall, which had become stiff and opaque, and the zipper that closed
the exit.
Christina smoothed down her dress, went up to the zipper, and
opened it. The smell of wet EARTH and grass floated in.
“Blow out the match, Victor. Make sure it’s completely burned and
there’s not a trace of it left.”
“But it's too dark!” exclaimed Seldon. “We should’ve brought a
torch to see by. We’re bound to be at the back of a cave.”
•22•

“The Professor knows perfectly well what he’s doing. There aren’t
any caves around here,” Christina assured him. “Just a huge forest.
There’s light ahead. This must be some animal’s abandoned lair.”
They left the TIME TUNNEL and closed the zipper. They walked a
few steps with Victor guiding them, ducking to avoid the tree roots
that grew above their heads. The path got steeper and steeper
until they had to use their hands to stop themselves from slipping.
Victor pushed aside a few twigs that covered the entrance and
stuck out his head to have a look. They were in the middle of a
forest, as Christina had said. He put out his arms and gave a push.
He went down on one knee and managed to get out, then helped
the others. Finally, he covered the entrance again with twigs and
fallen leaves. He took a good look at everything around them so he
could find the place again on their RETURN.
Christina, however, looked at the position of the sun.
“What are you looking at?” asked
Ibis.
ICELAND, 980

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“Look. Every morning the sun rises over there, on the left. Then
every evening it sets there, on the right. We have to go back to the
HYPERMEGASUPERBIBLIOMUSEUM before the sun is at the same
height in THREE days’ time.”
“Which way do you want to go?” asked Victor.
Ibis broke into a run, followed by Cali. Christina shrugged her
shoulders and said, “Let’s follow them.”
Seldon soon started grumbling. “You can’t walk this way. Ouch!
What the heck!? My big toe! I’ve tripped over another stone. Plus,
this FOREST goes on forever. And it’s really boring: all the trees are
the same.”
Christina explained. “They’re birch. It’s the only tree that can
stand the COLD weather here. Do you see that their branches are
covered in shoots?”
Ibis came running up to them with Cali following closely behind
her.
“There’s a village of wooden houses over there, and the sea as well.”

Soon they arrived at a small hill from which they could look at
the village Ibis had discovered. There were numerous birch trunk
HOUSES with thatched roofs and smoking chimneys. Grass grew
between the houses and hens roamed around. The village was split
down the MIDDLE by a path. One way led to the forest they had
just left, the other to the seashore, although this was quite a long
way from the village.
While they were busy looking at the scenery, the sound of children’s
voices reached them. Victor gestured to the others to bend down
and go hide behind a rock that was big enough to cover them all.
From there, if they kept quiet, they could watch what was going on
in a little clearing nearby.
There were three CHILDREN who must have been about ten years
old, judging by their height. They were kitted out with leather
helmets and wooden swords and shields. They were practicing
fighting techniques! One of them was better than the others and
was teaching them.
A group of five boys armed with sticks suddenly rushed into the
clearing and started hitting out right and left. The youngest was
ten and the oldest was fourteen.
They were BROTHERS
and, as well as looking
extremely alike, they all

The Expeditions of the Vikings
shared a very uncommon feature: their right eyes were blue and
their left ones were green.
The three that were practicing with the wooden SWORDS were hit
a few times but they reacted straight away. The one that was the
best fighter turned to face the three oldest assailants and rained
down blows that left them all crumpled up on the ground. Luckily
for them, the sword wasn’t real.
The other two duels were more evenly-matched, one against one and
they were over very quickly. The attackers couldn’t defend themselves
against the children, who proved to be great warriors. With the aid of
their shields, they managed to ward off their attackers’ blows, then
their wooden swords hit hard enough to make them run away.
Christina came out of their hiding place and the others followed
her. They walked towards the young Vikings, stopping a few steps
away. The three WARRIORS took off their helmets. The one that
had left three of their assailants writhing on the ground had a long
mane of blonde hair that fell below his shoulders. When he turned
around, Seldon couldn’t hide his surprise, and exclaimed:
Geez!
It’s a girl warrior!

THE EXPLORER’S CHILDREN
“I’m Freydís Erikdóttir. And you? Who are you and what are you
doing here?”
FREYDÍS was still panting from her efforts. She stood on guard,
with her shield held between her and the newcomers and her sword
ready to attack. The other two children stood on either side of her,
waiting for orders. The two assailants who had been able to escape
watched the scene from the edge of the clearing, aching from head
to foot and with no desire whatsoever to get involved.
Christina walked forward until she was only a couple of yards
away from the girl warrior, then asked her, “Erikdóttir? So, if I’m
not mistaken, these two must be your brothers, Leif and Thorstein
Erikson, right? And your FATHER is Erik the Red.”
•28•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
The young VIKING girl stared at Christina for a while. Finally, she
lowered her weapon, pointed to her two brothers, and introduced
them.
This is Leif. And this is
Thorstein. How did you
know? I don’t remember
seeing you before.
Seldon gave Victor a nudge
that completely winded him.
"That's right," he whispered.
“How did she know?”
“And how do I know? But if Christina says they’re Erik the Red’s
KIDS, you can bet your life they are.”
•29•

Go back in time!
The Time Clock takes you there
through the Bibliochronohistories.
From their father
or mother’s name.
Explorers, do you know how
Viking surnames are formed?
The Viking leader
Aud the Deep-Minded
will help you learn
your Viking surname
on page 170.
Christina introduced the GANG. “My name’s Christina. This is
Victor. This is Seldon, my cousin, and the little one’s Ibis. You’re
right, we haven’t seen each other before. We’ve only just gotten
here.”
“The truth is that you’re the only one that looks like a Viking.
You’ve got funny names and you’re not carrying any weapons.
Where have you come from?”
“We’re from the other side of the island. We’re FARMERS,” Christina
explained. Freydís couldn’t hide an expression of distaste.
“Farmers? Then you’re only half-Viking. Our father doesn’t like
farmers much. But you still haven’t told me how you know who my
brothers and I are.”
•30•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“There’s no mystery there. Everyone knows that your father’s
getting a great EXPEDITION ready. His children’s names pop up
in the gossip.”
The three boys that Freydís had beaten up were trying to leave on
all fours, without drawing attention to themselves. The girl gave
the oldest one's butt a KICK.
“Come on, Halstein. Next time you’ll do better. Go home and cry
to Mom.”
The three boys joined the other two, who were waiting for them
at a safe distance. They all rushed off together as quickly as their
legs would carry them. Victor asked Freydís, “Do you know each
other?”
“It’s Halstein, Halfdan, Harbard, Hjalmar, and Halvard, Olaf’s sons.”
“Who’s Olaf?” asked Seldon with interest.
“The master SHIPBUILDER,” explained Freydís. “He’s fallen out
with my father.”
“And their kids have fallen out, too, from what’ve seen,” Christina
concluded.
“Sure. We used to be really good FRIENDS. Now there’ll be no peace
between the families until our fathers settle their differences.”
•31•

“I don’t think they’ll bother you again. You taught them a good
lesson,” Victor assured her.
“Oh, of course they’ll be back. Vikings never GIVE IN. But what do
you farmers know about honor, bravery, and all that stuff?”
Seldon took a handful of roasted chestnuts out of a bag hanging
from his belt. He put one in his mouth and said to Victor under his
breath, “This girl is a real piece of work.”
Ibis, who got bored if she had to stand still for more than a minute
flat, said to Cali, “Let’s see who can go up that tree the quickest.
Hey, climbing, though. No using your wings, okay? Tee-hee!”

The Expeditions of the Vikings
Leif opened his mouth for the first time to say to his sister, “We’d
better get going, Freydís. OLD BALDNUT will miss his brats and
he’s capable of coming to get them. There’ll be trouble.”
“You’re right,” agreed Freydís. “Thorstein, get the things together.
We’re going back to the VILLAGE.”
Who’s Old Baldnut?
The father of those five.
Olaf Old Baldnut.

Leif corrected his sister. “He’s really known as Olaf Whitebeard. It’s
only Father that calls him Old Baldnut. If anyone else did, he’d split
them down the middle with one blow from his AXE. With Father, he
doesn't dare.”
“So your two families get on really well, right?” Victor blurted out.
Freydís scowled at him. She looked as if she were about to explode.
Leif felt the TENSION and stepped in by asking Christina, “So,
farmers, right? And how come you’re here?”
Christina gave a smile of relief and started to tell a carefullyprepared
story to stop suspicion falling upon them. Meanwhile,
Seldon whispered to Victor, “This kid’s got much more sense than
his sister.”
“That’s why it’ll be him that leads the first European expedition to
AMERICA,” Victor replied.
•34•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
What are you saying
he’ll do? LEIF ERIKSON
will get to America?
Yes. In twenty-two
or twenty-three years’ time.
But weren’t you listening to
Professor Sockrates
when he told us?

Go back in time!
The Time Clock takes you there
through the Bibliochronohistories.
Vinland
(land of vines).
Explorers, do you know what
the Vikings called America?
The pioneer
Gudrid
Thorbjarnardóttir
will reveal who
was responsible for
that on page 174.
While Christina was trying to convince Freydís, Leif, and Thorstein
that they were HARMLESS farmers that had come to sell wool
from the sheep they bred, Ibis and Cali were about to reach a
thick branch on which there was a red kite’s nest. They were each
climbing up one side of the birch tree.
Although Ibis was very agile, Cali was lighter and had claws that
she could dig into the tree bark to stop her from slipping. She
reached the nest just before Ibis and found herself face to face –
or beak to beak – with the red kite… which, without any warning,
gave her a very painful peck.
Cali lost her balance and fell. She tried to glide but she didn’t really
know how and ended up crashing down onto Seldon’s head. “What
the heck!” he exclaimed. “Come here, BIRDIE!”
•36•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
Cali fled into the forest before Seldon could catch her. Ibis slid
down the tree trunk and ran after her friend, laughing non-stop.
“Wait for me, Cali, I’m coming!”
Seldon looked towards the forest and scratched the back of his
neck. It wasn’t worth wasting energy running after the DRAGON,
but he was worried that Ibis might get hurt. He didn’t know whether
he should go get her or not. All at once, he heard a shout that came
from the direction in which Ibis and Cali had disappeared.
"COME HERE, BIRDIE!"
It sounded like Seldon’s voice, but it was Cali who came swooping
into the clearing, crashed into a bush, and rolled over and over,
finishing belly up. Running behind her was Ibis. With a frightened
expression on her face, she blurted out, “OLD BALDNUT’s here. He’s
with his sons and he’s got an enormous axe!”
“Yikes! Now we’re in trouble!” groaned Seldon.
•37•

A GIANT WHO WANTS
TO BE IN CHARGE
HUGE MAN over six feet tall came into the clearing. He was
A undoubtedly Olaf. He had a very long and well-cared-for
white beard and there wasn’t a hair on his head. His right eye was
blue and his left one was green. He stopped in front of Freydís and
leaned on the handle of his axe, which was enormous – in fact, it
was taller than she was.
Olaf’s SONS appeared behind him: Halstein, Halfdan, Harbard,
Hjalmar, and Halvard. They stood side by side, from the tallest to
the shortest. One had a black eye, one a bump on his head, one a
scratch on the palm of his hand, one a cut on his cheek, and one a
dislocated shoulder. Their clothes were crumpled and their hair full
of bits of leaves and twigs.
Leif and Thorstein stood either side of their sister with their wooden
swords in their hands. Seldon’s knees were shaking. He asked, “Why
is nobody trying to run? Have you all lost your minds?”
Christina raised a hand to ask for silence. In a low voice, she
explained, “Erik the Red’s children won’t run. Not even this GIANT
scares them.”
•38•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
“Well, it would be a good thing if he did,” replied Seldon. “This
dude’s come to avenge his sons.”
“I don’t think he has,” Victor reassured him. “Olaf’s sons would
never own up to a thrashing. Especially as the ones who won the
fight are his most hated rival’s kids… It would be a DISHONOR.”
•39•

“Well, from the state they’re in, I don’t know what they could have
told their father. They look like they’ve been run over by a TRAIN…
But there aren’t any trains here, of course.”
Victor shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t care less.
“Be careful,” warned Olaf, staring at Freydís but speaking to them
all. “The forest is DANGEROUS. You could get hurt.”
“Is that a threat, Old Baldnut?” Freydís asked defiantly.
Seldon covered his eyes while Cali shook the fleas out from under
her wings and Ibis braided blades of grass to make herself a
bracelet.
“Watch that tongue of yours, young Erikdóttir. I advise you to go
back to the village. You and these… STRANGERS. I’m going to cut
some trees down and I wouldn’t want one to fall on your heads.”
“That would be a pity,” mocked Halvard, the youngest Olafson.
Freydís glared at him and put her hand on the hilt of her sword. The
joker hastily hid behind Halstein, the eldest brother.
“Ahem,” Seldon stepped in. “We were just going, right?”
Freydís led the way with Thorstein at her side. The entire gang
followed her and Leif brought up the rear, looking over his shoulder
the whole time.
•40•

The Expeditions of the Vikings
When Olaf and his sons were alone, he lifted the axe and rested the
handle on his shoulder. He FROWNED and bellowed at his eldest
son, “Okay, Halstein, tell me again why you’re in such a state,
because I don’t quite buy your story.”
“I told you, Father. We rolled down a slope. I promise it’s nothing to
do with Erik the Red’s kids. Don’t you see that if we’d had a fight,
we’d have turned them into DUST?”
Their father gritted his teeth, grasped the axe firmly, and plunged
it furiously into a tree, which fell as if it were no more than a stalk
of wheat. After the first tree, another one fell, then another, and
another. The giant paused to give his sons a warning. “We can’t
let that damned Erik the Red, or his children, LAUGH at us. Do you
understand?”
“Yes, Father,” they chorused.
Olaf Whitebeard cut down half a dozen more TREES, then sat down
on a stump to rest. After a time, he asked
his eldest son, “Why are you looking at
me like that, Halstein? You look like you
daren’t speak. And a Viking must never
be afraid of anything!”
“No, Father. It’s just that…”
•41•