They Came On Viking Ships Read Online Free

last time. ‘Take care of her, Riki Snarfari,’ she instructed Snarf.
    ‘Arf,’ said Snarf, sitting on Hekja’s foot, and panting. He’d already rolled in fresh cow dung, and looked proud of his new smell.
    ‘See?’ said Hekja. ‘He understands!’ But her ma just smiled, and bit her lip, then followed the other women down the path.
    Hekja stood watching her, till the path twisted and she was out of sight. Then she turned back to the sheiling.
    The other girls were already inside, setting out their bedding. Raina and Reena took charge, as the chief’s daughters. Reena pointed to the back of the hut, furthest from the draught of the door. ‘We’ll sleep there,’ she said.
    ‘And you’ll sleep there,’ Raina said to Hekja, pointing to the windy spot by the entrance. The chief’s daughters weren’t fond of Hekja for their brother liked her far too much, and her dress was ragged hide, not woven wool like theirs.
    ‘And the dog can sleep outside,’ said Reena. ‘What’s he doing here anyway?’
    Hekja said nothing, just set her chin in the stubborn way her ma said was just like her father, when he meant to do something but didn’t care to argue about it. She was quite happy to sleep by the door, and when the girls were asleep Snarf could slip in beside her, just as he did at home.
    The cows wandered around, remembering the meadow from the year before, and showing their calves the best spots to graze. The rocky mountain slope gleamed in the last of the sunlight and the clouds raced across the sky like they were chasing hares.
    Hekja smiled in spite of the chief’s daughters. You could see the whole world from up here, she thought, the islands scattered across the sea and the line where the waves met the sky. And she had Snarf too. What did it matter what Raina and Reena said?
    It was time for milking. The cows were rounded up, tired after their walk. There was not much milk tonight, as the calves had been drinking when they felt like it. Tomorrow the girls would keep the calves away from the cows during the day, so they’d eat the soft new grassinstead of sucking at their mothers, and the milk supply would be better.
    The girls put the buckets of milk in the hut for the cream to rise, but kept one bucketful for their dinner. It was rich milk tonight too, with all the cream still in it.
    They sat on the cool grass as the last of the sunlight drained away across the sea. The chief’s daughters drank first, then passed the bucket around, each girl drinking her fill. Hekja was the last, then she passed the bucket to Snarf. He’d just got his tongue into the milk when someone snatched the bucket away.
    It was Reena. ‘The milk is not for dogs!’
    ‘I’ll wash the bucket clean over in the spring,’ said Hekja mildly. ‘Snarf can have half my share.’
    ‘Why should we share the milk with your dog?’ said Janna angrily. ‘If the chief’s daughters don’t have a dog, why should you?’
    Janna, too, had been casting glances at Bran, down in the village.
    ‘He stinks,’ said Raina.
    ‘It’s a good smell! It’s a dog smell!’ said Hekja hotly. She grabbed Snarf and hugged him close to her. Snarf licked her face happily and grinned at the girls, his long tongue hanging out.
    ‘He stinks of cow shush,’ said Raina.
    ‘And fish guts,’ said Reena.
    Hekja said nothing. It was true. Snarf had been nosing in the compost heap just that morning.
    ‘Arf!’ said Snarf, looking at the girls with whiskery friendliness and licking his milk moustache.
    It didn’t work. ‘Let him hunt his own food,’ said Reena.
    ‘But he’s lame!’ pleaded Hekja. ‘And he’s still too young to hunt!’ It hadn’t occurred to her that the girls on the mountain wouldn’t share with Snarf as she and her mother had done.
    Reena shrugged. ‘Then he’s not worth his keep,’ she said.
    Hekja looked at Banna, her friend, hoping for support. But Banna just looked at the grass. She liked Hekja, but she didn’t want to