SWORD & SORCERY ADVENTURE
WINTER’S COLD HEART
A.R. WILLIAMS
Interior Blurb:
Swords . . . Sorcery . . . Adventure . . . A tale told at the most personal level of heroism and action. Warriors battle against their fate with skill, cunning, and bravado.
Blood & Death . . . Minor obstacles in the struggle for life.
Victory! . . . Only the strong live to see another day.
Journey with heroes who don’t know the meaning of defeat. Visit worlds unseen. Face incredible danger at the hands of a merciless foe. Feel the action of a Sword & Sorcery Adventure . . .
Winter's Cold Heart
When he visits the tribe of the Elk, Leif Jurgensen falls for the chief’s beautiful daughter. The man that slays the local monster will be offered her hand in marriage. Leif volunteers for the task. But when Anneke, the chief's daughter, makes a special request Leif struggles to make the difficult choice between what his heart desires and his honor demands.
Sword & Sorcery Adventure:
Winter’s Cold Heart
Smashwords Edition
Sword & Sorcery Adventure: Winter’s Cold Heart
© Copyright 2014, A.R. Williams
Cover design by Keith Draws
All rights reserved. Except as permitted in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is sold DRM-free and is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased exclusively for you please purchase a copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The Mead Hall
Chapter 2: Hunter’s Way
Chapter 3: The Snow Beast
Chapter 4: Hail, Victor!
CHAPTER 1
The Mead Hall
An elk made of iron and wood decorated the thirty-foot-tall doors in the side of the mountain. It reared on its hind legs, its antlers a pattern of intricate circles that spiraled and twisted over one another. Giant icicles hung above the doors in rows of jagged lines that looked like the gaping maw of some great beast. They caught the fading light from the sun as it dipped below the mountain crest and appeared like bloodstained teeth.
The wind blew harder, biting through Leif Jurgensen’s furs and leather as he gazed up at the massive doors. Snow that had collected along the rock face drifted down.
Leif scratched his beard and pondered how to enter. There were no guards upon the walls and only the giants that once lived here were tall enough to reach the door knocker that towered twenty feet above him. Leif raised his hammer and slammed it against the door three times. Three booming echoes greeted him. Then silence.
Leif waited patiently and listened for the call of a guard questioning his presence. There was no challenge or any guard that he could tell. Darkness descended quickly once the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The temperature would grow colder just as quick and Leif was eager for food and rest.
He shook his head. The tribe of the Elk was lax in its duties, overconfident that the giants that had abandoned the mountain would never return. Angered, he raised his hammer once more.
The doors began to move. They ground slowly open, growling and rumbling as stone scraped against stone. As they opened, a dark tunnel stretched ahead of him into the depths of the mountain. A warm orange glow came from a chamber further down. The smell of roasted goat and garlic wafted
