West of the Moon. Katherine Langrish
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West
of the Moon
KATHERINE LANGRISH
This book is for my mother and father
Contents
Part One
Chapter 1 - The Coming of Uncle Baldur
Chapter 2 - The Departure of Ralf
Chapter 3 - Talking to the Nis
Chapter 4 - Meeting Hilde
Chapter 5 - Trouble at the Mill
Chapter 6 - Trolls from the Dovrefell
Chapter 7 - Granny Greenteeth
Chapter 8 - A Day Out
Chapter 9 - More Trouble at the Mill
Chapter 10 - Bad News
Chapter 11 - The Dogfight
Chapter 12 - Stolen in the Storm
Chapter 13 - The Nis to the Rescue
Chapter 14 - Peer Alone
Chapter 15 - Torches by the Fjord
Chapter 16 - In the Hall of the Mountain King
Chapter 17 - Raising the Hill
Chapter 18 - Home
Part Two
Chapter 19 - What Happened on the Shore
Chapter 20 - A Brush with the Trolls
Chapter 21 - A Warning from the Nis
Chapter 22 - Bjørn’s Story
Chapter 23 - The Quarrel
Chapter 24 - Exploring the Mill
Chapter 25 - A Family Argument
Chapter 26 - Voices at the Mill Pond
Chapter 27 - The Nis Behaves Badly
Chapter 28 - The Nis in Disgrace
Chapter 29 - Success at the Mill
Chapter 30 - Rumours
Chapter 31 - More Rumours
Chapter 32 - The Mill Grinds
Chapter 33 - The Lubbers at Large
Chapter 34 - Under Troll Fell
Chapter 35 - The Nis Confesses
Chapter 36 - The Troll Baby at the Farm
Chapter 37 - Granny Greenteeth’s Lair
Chapter 38 - The Miller of Troll Fell
Chapter 39 - Kersten
Chapter 40 - New Beginnings
Part Three
Chapter 41 - Far Away in Vinland
Chapter 42 - Water Snake
Chapter 43 - ‘Be careful what you wish for”
Chapter 44 - The Nis Amuses Itself
Chapter 45 - The Journey Begins
Chapter 46 - The Winter Visitor
Chapter 47 - Ghost Stories
Chapter 48 - The Nis at Sea
Chapter 49 - Lost at Sea
Chapter 50 - Landfall
Chapter 51 - Spring Stories
Chapter 52 - Serpent’s Bay
Chapter 53 - Seidr
Chapter 54 - Disturbances and Tall Tales
Chapter 55 - A Walk on the Beach
Chapter 56 - Single Combat
Chapter 57 - Losing Peer
Chapter 58 - “A son like Harald”
Chapter 59 - Down the Dark River
Chapter 60 - Thorolf the Seafarer
Chapter 61 - War Dance
Chapter 62 - The Fight in the House
Chapter 63 - Death in the Snow
Chapter 64 - Peace Pipe
The background to Troll Blood
Glossary
Also by Katherine Langrish
Copyright
About the Publisher
Part One
Chapter 1
The Coming of Uncle Baldur
PEER ULFSSON STOOD at his father’s funeral pyre, watching the sparks whirl up like millions of shining spirits streaking away into the dark. The flames scorched his face, but his back was freezing. The wind slid cold fingers down his neck.
Surely this was all a bad dream? He turned, almost expecting to see his father standing behind him, his thin, tanned face carved with deep lines of laughter and life. But the sloping shingle beach ran steep and empty into the sea.
A small body bumped Peer’s legs. He reached down. His dog Loki leaned against him, a rough-haired, flea-bitten brown mongrel – all the family Peer had left.
The pyre flung violent shadows up and down the beach. Friends and neighbours crowded around it in a ring. Their faces were curves of light and hollows of darkness: the flames lit up their steaming breath like dragon-smoke. Above the fire, the air shimmered and shook. It was like looking through a magic glass into a world of ghosts and monsters – the world into which his father’s spirit was passing, beginning the long journey to the land of the dead. Was that a pale face turning towards him? A dim arm waving?
What if I see him?
Beyond the fire a shadow lurched into life. It tramped forwards, man-shaped, looming up behind the people, a sort of black haystack with thick groping arms…
Peer gave a strangled shout.
A huge man shoved his way into the circle of firelight. Elbowing the neighbours aside, he tramped right up to the pyre and turned, his boots carelessly planted in the glowing ashes. He waited, dark against the flames, until an uneasy silence fell. Then he spoke, in a high cracked voice as shrill as a whistle.
“I’ve come for the boy. Which is Ulf ’s son?”
Nobody answered. The men close to Peer edged nearer, closing ranks around him. Catching the movement, the giant turned. He lifted his head like a wolf smelling out its prey. Peer stopped breathing. Their eyes met.
The stranger bore down on him like a landslide. Enormous fingers crunched on his arm. High over his head the toneless, reedy voice piped, “I’m your uncle, Baldur Grimsson. From now on, you’ll be living with me.”
“But I haven’t got an uncle,” Peer gasped.
“I don’t like saying things twice,” the man said menacingly. “I’m your Uncle Baldur, the miller of Trollsvik.” He challenged