Valkyrie Heat Read Online Free Page A

Heat

    pyrite and some flint. She willed her intelligent mind to take
    charge of her situation. Iron pyrite, or fool’s gold, was the most
    common of sulfide minerals. Flint was a hard sedimentary
    cryptocrystalline. When struck together, the two produced a
    spark. If she could collect dried kindling, she would have heat and a
    modicum of protection from wild animals. If she could gather
    some pine needles, they would smoke and perhaps give someone
    an indication she was out here.
    Her thoughts began to race. She looked down at her hip
    where she had banged into a broken branch on a tree. A bruise was
    beginning to form. Sky always seemed to be battling anemia. She
    had to get food. If she were to turn over a few logs and rocks she
    could find worms and insects to fish with. All she needed was some
    strong vine and a twig sharpened at each end with a stone.
    Sky glanced at her immediate area wondering how to make a
    shelter. Her mind filled with determination and optimism. She was
    going to survive, she just needed her wits about her. An odd aroma
    reached to invade her mind’s ramblings. She stood and sniffed the
    air. A familiar smell teased her nostrils and her heart filled with
    mounting hope—she smelled smoke. It wasn’t wishful thinking
    either. Her eyes lifted to the sky and she saw a dark cloud billow in
    the distance. The stones she held clutched within her palm dropped
    to the ground in relief. She had never started a fire that way. Now
    it would seem she wouldn’t have to. Hurriedly, Sky followed the
    distant cloud. Someone must be there; someone had to be there.
    On and on she ran until a small village came into view. Sky
    ventured closer with caution, she was nude after all. Her eyes grew
    wide with puzzlement. No one was about. The homes were odd
    structures—wood, stone and mudlike. The thatched roofs were
    also made of wood and mud and thick grass. There were eight of
    them, one was burnt almost to the ground and still smoldered. It
    looked like a movie setting for an old Viking film—a battle scene
    of destruction.
    17
    Viking Warriors Book 3: Valkyrie Heat

    “Hello?” Her voice cracked and she called out again. Dead
    silence greeted her.
    She walked cautiously to a door that was partway open and
    pushed on the heavy wood. It swung slowly inwards. It was dark
    inside, only a small amount of light from an open leather flap at the
    window shone in. It took a moment for her to adjust from the light
    outside. Her eyes blinked in shocked surprise. A woman was nude
    lying across a table belly down. She wasn’t moving, her hands were
    tied behind her back. The sight, even though before her, wasn’t
    registering. It was a mistake, a hoax. Morbid curiosity moved her
    to prove herself wrong. Sky’s feet shuffled forward as though made
    of lead as she ventured forth timidly. The woman’s eyes were open
    in a sightless terrified stare. When Sky reached to check for a pulse
    at the woman’s neck she felt a slickness. When her hand pulled
    away, it was covered in blood. She gazed upon it with
    incomprehension. She knew what it was, she just couldn’t believe
    it was on her hand. Her body began to shake with fear. The woman
    was dead, murdered. This was no movie scene, it was real. Sky
    threw up the water she had just drunk.
    Sky backed out of the hut shaking. She ventured into home
    after home, desperate to find someone alive. She became more
    horrified with each discovery. Everyone—old men, women and
    children of all ages, babes in arms—was dead. Each one
    slaughtered. The last home was where she found clothing near a
    young man’s body, the only things not saturated in blood. With
    repentance she reached for the material feeling guilty as though
    stealing, or disturbing the lad’s rest.
    “I’m so sorry.”
    She heard an apology muttered then realized she had spoken
    the words aloud. She threw the shirt over her head; it was way too
    big, concealing her hands in cuffs that hung. The baggy