A Viking's Catch (Book One of the Sogn Series)

Chapter One

Just like that, she looked away.

Clare suddenly took in the fact that only her father and she had yet to hide. They went into their small town, to where everything had been abandoned. Doors were wide open and various items were scattered on the ground. Her father continued pulling her on, despite the disorder, and she soon realized that they were heading towards the church. The church doors opened for them, and only mere moments after they had entered the crowded room did many men board the doors shut.

People were praying, pleading, and crying to God. Women hushed their children and men sharpened their knives, and only then did Clare take in how quickly everything had happened.

"Come, Daughter." Her father took her to the group of her townspeople, "Let us sit over here."

Clare felt worthless sitting with the women and children. She watched as her father picked out weaponry, and somehow she had managed to smuggle a dirk without anybody seeing. She held it firmly in her hands, but she did not pray because she knew that the upcoming events were inevitable.

They must have waited for an hour before the savage cries of foreign men were audible and the crashing and burning of buildings could be heard. It unnerved Clare at how insensitive and barbaric those men were as they destroyed what she knew to be her only home.

It was not cowardice that fueled her, but rage. Her rage grew as she heard the terrible men stop before the church and speak in muffled voices. There was no doubt that they were debating on how to break the doors down.

Another couple of dreadful minutes passed, and then the pounding on the church doors began. The Vikings were smart in the way that they had used a heavy force to push the doors open, because only on the fourth try had the wooden barriers began to break and splinter. On the fifth try, however, the doors flung opened.

Women screamed, children cried, and men attacked the Vikings with useless attempts and feeble weapons compared to what the Vikings had. Clare did none of this. Unlike everyone else, including her father who fought the hardest out of all the town's men, she sat valiantly within the very center of the room.

"How dare you?" she said, more so to herself. The women and children around her were taken off guard by her words, and briefly paid her a little attention.

"How dare you?" Clare said a little louder, making several of the townspeople stop to look. Then, she began to stand in her place, "How dare you?" she shouted, her voice low and strong, almost feral.

As if that wasn't enough, Clare walked towards the fighting men, "How dare you!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, catching everyone by surprise and causing them to put down their weapons to watch the girl's odd behavior.

The Vikings began stepping back and making a pathway, leaving everyone astonished, their heads turned to watch the empty space forming between them. Only a second more and a familiar man with strong facial features, long hair, and dark eyes walked between them. His strides were long, like his legs, and he stalked like a cat would its prey. Then, his hard gaze met Clare's defiant one, and briefly, something flared in his eyes. Something other than ambition or anger, something Clare could not identify.

Nonetheless, Clare stood her ground and stepped towards the man, whom she identified to be the Vikings' leader. She got as close to his powerful aura as she could, as if trying to break him. Clare held the dirk she had taken, and pressed the point of it against his neck, and then she demanded once more, "How dare you?"

The man smirked.

Anger coursed through Clare's veins like fire, making her want to burn this man that stood smirking before her. He did not speak, not a word left his lips. His silence, and the people watching with gawking eyes, fueled Clare even more.