Days of cool sunshine and scattered rainfall attended Hakon and his small group as they awaited their army. Hakon enjoyed the respite, but as the days wore on, and the battle with Erik loomed before him like some giant wave growing before the deck of his ship, the pressure began to wear on his nerves. He knew that when that wave finally broke, the havoc it would wreak and the c*****e it would leave in its wake would be horrific beyond words.
It might have been alright, had he something to anticipate on the opposite side of that swell, but he did not relish the thought of Groa waiting with her chubby arms outspread, ready to provide a comfort he did not want. Nor did the dream of bringing his faith to this darkened land seem obtainable. Too many times now, he had observed the deep-rooted b
