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Автор Джеймс Л. Нельсон

Night Wolf

A Novel of Viking Age Ireland

Book Five of The Norsemen Saga

James L. Nelson

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Fore Topsail Press

64 Ash Point Road

Harpswell, Maine, 04079

All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by U. S. Copyright Law.

Copyright © 2016  James L. Nelson

All rights reserved

ISBN-13: 978-1534879683

ISBN-10: 1534879684

To Steve Cromwell for all your fine work in creating the look for this series, and for all your kindnesses over the years.

Shape-shifter: Closely associated with the berserks, those who were hamrammir [shape-shifters] were believed to change their shape at night or in times of stress, or leave their bodies (which appeared asleep) and take the physical form of animals such as bears or wolves.

From Glossary – The Icelandic Sagas

He always went to sleep early in the evening and woke up early in the morning. People claimed he was a shape-shifter and they called him Kveldulf (Night Wolf).

Egil’s Saga

For other terms, see Glossary at the end of the book

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Epilogue

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Prologue

The Saga of Thorgrim Ulfsson

There was a man named Thorgrim Ulfsson who was the son of Ulf Ospaksson, who was known as Ulf Quick-wit.

Thorgrim was also clever and he was a skilled warrior as well, and so he was looked upon as a leader of men. If he had one fault, it was that he would sometimes grow foul-tempered as the sun went down. During those times his anger was such that people would not dare be near him. Some people thought that he was a shape-shifter, and that earned him the name of Thorgrim Kveldulf, which means Night Wolf. In his younger days the wolf spirit frequently came over him, but as he grew older he found it happened less often, and he was generally glad of that.

As a young man Thorgrim had gone a’viking with a local jarl named Ornolf the Restless. For many summers they raided around England and sometimes as far off as Frankia. The raiding was good in those days and Ornolf, who was already wealthy, grew wealthier still, and the men who sailed with him likewise gained much plunder. But of all those men, Thorgrim was Ornolf’s favorite, and so he offered his daughter, Hallbera, to Thorgrim as his bride. This was a match that Thorgrim was happy to make. Thorgrim gave Ornolf fifty silver coins as a bride-price and Ornolf gave Thorgrim a bountiful farm as a dowry.