The Spear of Destiny Read Online Free Page B

the Doctor. Yes. Is
     he drowned?’
    Jo hung her head. ‘Oh, I hope
     not,’ she said quietly.
    Njord straightened. ‘My men are
     looking for him. They will find him if he still lives.’
    Staring hard at the earth in front
     of her, Jo fought the urge to weep.
    ‘You are the Healer’s woman? His
     wife?’
    Jo lifted her head. ‘I am the
     Doctor’s companion,’ she said proudly, and held Njord’s gaze for
     as long as she could, until her nerve failed her.
    A smile spread slowly over Njord’s
     face. It was not a nice thing to see. His lips parted and Jo
     almost winced when she saw his blackened teeth.
    He put his boot on Jo’s shoulder
     and with a shove sent her to the floor, where she lay on her
     side, wondering how accurate the Doctor’s lecture about peaceful
     Viking farmers had been.
    Njord stared coolly down at her.
     ‘Today there was almost a fight. Everything is as Frey said it
     would be. Old One-eye killed one of his own to stop the war from
     starting. He is scared. He is weak. Full of bluster and noise,
     yes, but in reality he is weak. And when
Skithblathnir
returns to our shores with
     Frey at her helm, carrying more warriors to swell our army, we
will
go to war
     with the Aesir. And we
will
win.’
    Jo lay still, trying to understand
     everything she had heard, knowing it might be important, knowing
     it would be good to be able to tell the Doctor everything she’d
     learned. If only he was still alive.
    Hands grabbed her again and
     dragged her out of the hall and through the village. She saw a
     wagon being pulled by four oxen. On the wagon was the
     TARDIS.
    She was about to yell when someone
     pulled her back so hard the breath was knocked from her. Before
     she knew it, she was taken into a small but solid hut, where she
     was tied to the post that held up the roof, and left to
     shiver.

9
    Darkness fell, and as Jo’s
     shivers turned to great shudders of cold, she wished she’d taken
     the Doctor up on the offer of his cape.
    It was
that
cold.
    She’d lost track of how much time
     had passed. All she’d heard were the sounds of the village:
     footsteps coming and going, the occasional chatter of voices,
     the clang of metal somewhere and the barking of dogs.
    Then there was the scrape of the
     door opening. Jo looked up, blinking in the light of a burning
     torch being held by one of the warriors, and saw the Doctor
     being ushered into the hut. Two more men tied him to the post,
     so that he and Jo sat back to back on the cold ground. Then the
     door shut and they were left alone in darkness once more.
    ‘I’ve just been talking to your
     friend Njord,’ said the Doctor.
    ‘I’m fine,’ said Jo. ‘Thanks for
     asking. And how are you?’
    ‘Very well, my dear. Thought I’d
     find you here somewhere. Are you warm enough?’
    ‘You’re joking,’ said Jo. ‘I’m
     freezing!’
    ‘Well, sit as close to me as you
     can. I’ll warm us up. Three hearts are better than two, after
     all.’
    In spite of herself, Jo laughed.
     ‘Doctor?’ she said. ‘Who is Njord? He kept speaking about
     someone called Frey, too. I don’t think he’s here now, though.
     He’s away, fetching warriors on his ship. It had a funny
     name.’
    ‘
Skithblathnir
.’
    ‘Yes! That’s it! How did you know?
     Gosh, Doctor, have you got a fever? It’s like sitting next to a
     log stove!’
    ‘Well, you did say you were cold.
     Jo, do you remember we spoke about Odin?’
    ‘What about him?’
    ‘You know him as a god of Norse
     mythology, correct?’
    ‘Yes. There’s Odin, and Thor too.
     He has a hammer and makes thunder. I think he was Odin’s
     son.’
    ‘That’s right. And Odin was
     supposed to have the spear, Gungnir … and he only had one
     eye.’
    ‘Doctor! Njord spoke about someone
     he called One-eye, like a nickname.’
    ‘We saw him earlier today, Jo. He
     killed one of his own men. And there was a man with a hammer,
     too.’
    ‘Thor! But they’re supposed to