Page 9 of Wolf of the Nordic Seas (Valiant Vikings #2)

The Mermaid of the Waterfall Cave

Elfi followed the tunnel under the castle and emerged into the woodland cave near the clearing in the sacred grove where she had earlier practiced weaponry with Njord. She crossed the dense forest of ash, beech, fir, and oak trees to the opposite side of the woods, where the mouth of a nearly identical cave was concealed by low lying branches and thick, vine-covered foliage. Clutching her torch to illuminate the gloom, she entered the cavern and descended into the familiar darkness.

As children, she and her brother Dag had discovered this secret passage which led from the sacred grove in the heart of the forest to an astonishing sea cave on the face of a white chalk cliff.

She followed the steep descent of the tunnel from the forested plateau to the mouth of the grotto two hundred feet below. The sea cave opened onto an elevated rocky ledge a few feet above the water of the sheltered inlet that she and Dag had named the Mermaid Cove.

A plentiful freshwater spring cascaded down from the jutting precipice at the edge of the limestone cliff overhead, covering the open mouth of the cave with a magnificent waterfall which emptied into the saltwater inlet of the Narrow Sea.

Every summer, she and Dag had jumped through the waterfall from the mouth of the cave into a deep pool formed by the nearly circular curve of the protective limestone cliff which surrounded the hidden inlet. A narrow opening, like the long thin neck of a bulbous bottle, allowed the brackish waters of the Mermaid Cove to ebb and flow into the Narrow Sea.

Elfi used to pretend that she was a sjóv?ttir— a sea goddess spirit who protected the sacred waterfall and ocean inlet of the Mermaid Cove. At times, Dag would portray the thunder god Thor; at others, he would embody the deity Njord, the Norse God of the Sea.

Now, as she emerged into the waterfall cave and looked out through the thunderous cascade to the blue green waters of the hidden Mermaid Cove, Elfi marveled that her future husband was named after the famed Nordic God . Our fates and our souls are linked by the sea.

As the sparkling chute of the freshwater spring splashed into the deep ocean pool below, Elfi sat down on the floor of the sea cave and retrieved Dag’s flute from the bodice of her gown.

Her brother had trained her to deftly wield his Viking sword, Shadowbane . But he had also taught her to skillfully play his beloved flute. A wondrous whalebone instrument that he’d obtained on a Viking trade expedition to the Baltic Sea. A treasure that Elfi now owned, cherished, and performed each day.

In the waterfall cave of the Mermaid Cove.

Every day, as they’d grown up — after she and her brother had sparred with swords — Elfi had come to the waterfall cave to practice playing the flute. When her faeir and bróeir had gone on raids with the Viking warriors of étretat, Elfi had continued her daily dance with the sword in the sacred grove, always coming to the waterfall cave to develop her musical skill.

And now, since Dag’s death, she came here every day — to offer a glorious song of tribute to her valorous Viking brother.

As she put the flute to her lips and began playing the heartfelt notes, she hoped that her melody would honor him in the halls of Valhalla.

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It was the ethereal music which had first drawn Lugh to the waterfall cave.

The pure, plaintive notes—crystalline and clear as a freshwater spring— had reached his Elven ears when he’d come to the sacred grove to pay his respects to the fallen hero of étretat.

He’d placed a bright red poppy— its vivid color representing the bravery, sacrifice, and bloodshed of the Viking warrior who had died to defend le Chateau Blanc —on Dag Thorfinnsson’s burial mound.

And the hauntingly beautiful lament of love, loneliness, and loss had stirred his Ljósálfar soul.

Enchanted, Lugh had traced the ephemeral elegy from the sacred grove of ash trees to the majestic waterfall cave. Where he’d glimpsed her. The flutist of the Mermaid Cove.

A siren with sea goddess eyes.

Enrapt by her stunning beauty, enthralled by her sublime music, he’d stood entranced, watching her play the wondrous flute.

Golden streaks glinting in the afternoon sun, her light brown hair had tumbled in glorious waves to her curved hips, like the magnificent waterfall which cascaded in front of her, just beyond the open mouth of the sheltered sea cave. Slender, lithe, and graceful like a swan, she’d swayed with the melody, the waterfall, and the rhythmic, rolling waves of the Narrow Sea.

Besotted and bewitched by the most fascinating female he’d ever encountered, Lugh had returned to álfheim, the realm of the Light Elves, anxious to discover her identity. He’d hoped to woo her, mayhap even wed her, for many Ljósálfar married or mated with humans. But when he’d looked into the luminous depths of his Elven Mirror—the marvelous instrument which illuminated darkness and elucidated truth—he’d seen that the mermaid with the enchanting flute was Elfi Thorfinnsdóttir, sister of the fallen hero of étretat.

Fated mate of the Viking jarl from Denmark, Wolf of the Nordic Seas.

Despondent that she was destined for another, Lugh had also foreseen in the Elven Mirror that darkness threatened the siren with sea goddess eyes .

For in the lustrous midst of Ljósálfar glass, he’d glimpsed that the same vile human who had impaled and killed Dag Thorfinnsson now hunted the Heiress of étretat.

And Alberic of Soissons was aided by the dreaded Dokkálfar.

The Dark Elves whose malevolent magic wrought death, destruction, and despair.

Lugh loved and guarded the alabaster coast of Normandy— including the valiant Vikings who defended the white chalk cliffs of the Pays de Caux . He vowed he would watch over and protect Elfi Thorfinnsdóttir.

The Mermaid of the Waterfall Cave.