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       Will you seek the icy north?

       Are you steering by the sun?

       Where you journey there is none

       But a frozen Viking targe...

      — Arthur Maquarie, “Rhapsody”

       LIST OF CHARACTERS

      Rigg Leifsson: The seventeen-year-old son of Leif Eriksson and Fianna.

      Ari Bardasson: Rigg’s best friend, aged nineteen, an aspiring poet of Baltic ancestry.

      Nara: A Tornit (Dorset-Inuit) girl from the north of Greenland, about the same age as Rigg.

      Fianna: Rigg’s Irish mother, wife of Leif, originally his slave.

      Tyrkir: Rigg’s teacher, a noted rune interpreter, originally a German slave of Erik’s.

      Unn: A tomboyish and clever thirteen-year-old, Rigg’s friend from childhood.

      Gudrid: Unn’s older sister, a noted beauty, married to Erik the Red’s favourite son, Thorstein.

      Erik the Red: Great explorer, devoted pagan, and founder of the Greenland settlement, Leif’s father and Rigg’s grandfather.

      Theodhild: Erik’s wife, a Christian convert.

      Brandt: Erik’s estate manager.

      Freydis: Erik’s only daughter, a noted sibyl, or prophetess, and reputed witch.

      Thorvard: Freydis’s husband, a skinflint, dominated by his powerful wife.

      Ottar the Moneyer: A drifter and spy who has settled in Greenland and is allied with Freydis and Erik.

      Thorstein: Erik’s favourite son, husband of the beautiful Gudrid. He attempts to reach Vinland with Erik.

      Death Watcher: A mysterious warrior who bears the mark of the coveted Helm of Awe.

      Thorhall the Hunter: Close friend and travelling companion of Erik.

      Rolf the Navigator: A mariner and farmer who sailed to Vinland with Leif. A trusted friend of Leif and Fianna.

      Gardar Olafsson: A friend of Leif’s and a collector of animals.

      Leif Eriksson: Rigg’s father, a Christian, and the famed discoverer of Vinland.

      Various veterans of the voyages of Erik and Leif, and other Greenland settlers, also appear, including Bild the Blacksmith, Ragnar the Wary, Crow, Neri, Hedin, Pilgrim, Odd Arngrimsson, the Hawk, Owl, Ketil, Solve, and Einar of Einarsfiord.

      A BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTE

      The Rigg Viking books are set in the early eleventh century, and Viking Terror, the second of the series, takes place at the Ostri Bygd, or Eastern Settlement, as the Norse called it, located in Eriksfiord on the southwestern coast of Greenland, and also in the Nordsetur, the Norse hunting grounds some twelve hundred kilometres north. The Eastern Settlement was founded by Erik the Red around the year 985 CE (his farm estate, known as Brattalid, had the best land), and from there the Norse spread out to the northwest. Banished from Iceland some years earlier, Erik had made a tremendous voyage of exploration, visiting the unknown lands west of Iceland and covering forty-five hundred kilometres. In the end, he chose a very good place for his settlement, since the Norse lasted in Greenland until about the fifteenth century. It was from southwestern Greenland that Leif, one of Erik’s sons, born in Iceland, set sail on his voyage to North America around the year 1000.

      The years of the new millennium were a particularly meaningful time for the Norse peoples. For one thing, Christianity was just reaching them and changing their ancient pagan culture forever. Since the beginning of the ninth century Viking raiders, who came from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, had voyaged and plundered, gradually extending their range east and west, until they reached the heart of Russia, Constantinople, Iceland, Greenland, and the shores of America. Not merely despoilers, the Norse were also great explorers and traders, and superb creators of arts, crafts, and literature. In 930, in Iceland, they established the world’s oldest surviving parliament. One historian has referred to them as a great catalyst for European society.

      At the time in which the Rigg novels are set, the Viking world had reached its peak and was about to collapse inward.