Another snippet from Maddie and the Norseman: eBook on sale through September at Smashwords, Amazon, ARebooks and more.
“I was
totally caught up in this story. Time travel is such an unbelievable concept
and I often have trouble following it in a story. I thought Tricia McGill wove
a colorful tapestry of time travel. One that makes the reader believe it is
possible. The characters are so realistic and have such depth to their
character. I was drawn to them and wanted to find out if Maddie could ever find
Amber and what she would choose to do about Erik. Robyn –Once Upon A Romance.
**~~**
Madeline (Maddie to her friends),
an Australian history teacher, travels to York, England, to visit her friend
Amber who is working there with a team of archaeologists unearthing Viking
relics. They share a passion for the Viking Age, and both studied the Old Norse
language.
About
to take part in a re-enactment at the Viking village and wearing typical
clothes worn by a Viking woman, they are swept back in time to the town of
Jorvik, a thriving
trading town, as York was in the year 879 AD. Maddie meets Norse trader Erik
and is stunned by his uncanny resemblance to the Viking she has been dreaming
of.
Ivar seemed uncomfortable again. Maddie wished
she had a toothbrush and couldn’t for the life of her recall what Vikings used
or even if they cleaned their teeth. She said as much to Amber, who still
shivered with the cold. Maddie was worried about her; never did she expect her
friend to cave in like this.
“I have no idea.” Amber rubbed her palms
together. “I guess they eat plenty of hard fruit. These two seem to have decent
teeth.”
Secretly Maddie was glad her Viking had even
white teeth—how awful would it be to finally meet up with the man of your
dreams only to find he had rotten choppers and gaps in his teeth.
Ivar obviously came to a decision, and said,
“You can sleep on the bed and Erik and I will sleep here by the fire. I’m sorry
I do not have a more luxurious home to offer.”
“Thank you, Ivar, and don’t worry that your
home is not too splendid. We really appreciate that you’ve let us stay.” Maddie
touched his arm and he gave her that lovely soft smile of his.
“Erik will not suffer too greatly.” His smile
broadened as his friend scowled. “He is used to sleeping on a hard deck in all
weathers.”
“And that is why I pay you a visit when I come
to Jorvik. To spend one night at least on a soft bed.” Erik sat on the bench
and pulled off his boots, which he tossed near his bundle of belongings. Amber
sent Maddie a glance of horror. Surely the big man wasn’t about to strip?
“There are plenty of females in town who would
willingly let you share their soft beds with them, and you know this,” Ivar
said with a chuckle, and Erik grunted an unintelligible word—perhaps an oath.
The thought of all those willing females made Maddie’s heart sink. How stupid
was that. Just because someone who looked very much like him had inhabited her
dreams didn’t mean she had any claims on him. Anyway, by the looks and scowls
he kept sending her way it was pretty clear he didn’t find her attractive in
any way, shape, or form.
Their fears were unfounded. Ivar handed Erik a
small sheepskin which he stretched out on beside the fire. He put his rolled-up
bundle beneath his head, dragged his cloak about his shoulders, sighed and
shifted a couple of times, and began to snore softly.
Ivar put a log on the fire, took off his shoes,
nodded to Maddie and Amber as he also spread a sheepskin on the other side of
the fire, then stretched out and closed his eyes, a hand beneath his head.
Maddie sat on the side of the bed and took off
her boots. “I suppose we’ll have to sleep in our clothes,” she whispered, as
Amber joined her and did the same. They both discarded the head covers.
“Well, I’m not stripping and that’s for sure.”
Maddie lay beside Amber, flapping the only blanket there seemed to be over
them. Amber clutched at her hand. “God, Maddie, how on earth did this happen?”
“Buggered if I know. But one thing’s for sure,
we’re lucky we landed here in Ivar’s hut. Think what might have happened had we
been dumped down in the open. Or worse, in the hall of a drunken chief.”
Amber’s grip on her didn’t loosen as they lay
there whispering. Erik’s snores were even, and somehow soothing. Maddie grew
drowsy.
Please take a moment to hop over to these author blogs for more Sunday Snippets
http://yesterrdayrevisitedhere.blogspot.com/ Juliet Waldron
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Pretty cool stuff, Tricia! I've seen the Viking museum in York--what a good idea for a time travel.
ReplyDeleteThanks Juliet. Lucky you. I never even thought of the Vikings while growing up in England so never got that far north. Strangely they never taught us about them at school during history class.
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