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      West

       of the Moon

      KATHERINE LANGRISH

       This book is for my mother and father

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

      Part One

      Chapter 1 - The Coming of Uncle Baldur

      Chapter 2 - The Departure of Ralf

      Chapter 3 - Talking to the Nis

      Chapter 4 - Meeting Hilde

      Chapter 5 - Trouble at the Mill

      Chapter 6 - Trolls from the Dovrefell

      Chapter 7 - Granny Greenteeth

      Chapter 8 - A Day Out

      Chapter 9 - More Trouble at the Mill

      Chapter 10 - Bad News

      Chapter 11 - The Dogfight

      Chapter 12 - Stolen in the Storm

      Chapter 13 - The Nis to the Rescue

      Chapter 14 - Peer Alone

      Chapter 15 - Torches by the Fjord

      Chapter 16 - In the Hall of the Mountain King

      Chapter 17 - Raising the Hill

      Chapter 18 - Home

      Part Two

      Chapter 19 - What Happened on the Shore

      Chapter 20 - A Brush with the Trolls

      Chapter 21 - A Warning from the Nis

      Chapter 22 - Bjørn’s Story

      Chapter 23 - The Quarrel

      Chapter 24 - Exploring the Mill

      Chapter 25 - A Family Argument

      Chapter 26 - Voices at the Mill Pond

      Chapter 27 - The Nis Behaves Badly

      Chapter 28 - The Nis in Disgrace

      Chapter 29 - Success at the Mill

      Chapter 30 - Rumours

      Chapter 31 - More Rumours

      Chapter 32 - The Mill Grinds

      Chapter 33 - The Lubbers at Large

      Chapter 34 - Under Troll Fell

      Chapter 35 - The Nis Confesses

      Chapter 36 - The Troll Baby at the Farm

      Chapter 37 - Granny Greenteeth’s Lair

      Chapter 38 - The Miller of Troll Fell

      Chapter 39 - Kersten

      Chapter 40 - New Beginnings

      Part Three

      Chapter 41 - Far Away in Vinland

      Chapter 42 - Water Snake

      Chapter 43 - ‘Be careful what you wish for”

      Chapter 44 - The Nis Amuses Itself

      Chapter 45 - The Journey Begins

      Chapter 46 - The Winter Visitor

      Chapter 47 - Ghost Stories

      Chapter 48 - The Nis at Sea

      Chapter 49 - Lost at Sea

      Chapter 50 - Landfall

      Chapter 51 - Spring Stories

      Chapter 52 - Serpent’s Bay

      Chapter 53 - Seidr

      Chapter 54 - Disturbances and Tall Tales

      Chapter 55 - A Walk on the Beach

      Chapter 56 - Single Combat

      Chapter 57 - Losing Peer

      Chapter 58 - “A son like Harald”

      Chapter 59 - Down the Dark River

      Chapter 60 - Thorolf the Seafarer

      Chapter 61 - War Dance

      Chapter 62 - The Fight in the House

      Chapter 63 - Death in the Snow

      Chapter 64 - Peace Pipe

      The background to Troll Blood

      Glossary

      Also by Katherine Langrish

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

map

      Part One

      Chapter 1

       The Coming of Uncle Baldur

      PEER ULFSSON STOOD at his father’s funeral pyre, watching the sparks whirl up like millions of shining spirits streaking away into the dark. The flames scorched his face, but his back was freezing. The wind slid cold fingers down his neck.

      Surely this was all a bad dream? He turned, almost expecting to see his father standing behind him, his thin, tanned face carved with deep lines of laughter and life. But the sloping shingle beach ran steep and empty into the sea.

      A small body bumped Peer’s legs. He reached down. His dog Loki leaned against him, a rough-haired, flea-bitten brown mongrel – all the family Peer had left.

      The pyre flung violent shadows up and down the beach. Friends and neighbours crowded around it in a ring. Their faces were curves of light and hollows of darkness: the flames lit up their steaming breath like dragon-smoke. Above the fire, the air shimmered and shook. It was like looking through a magic glass into a world of ghosts and monsters – the world into which his father’s spirit was passing, beginning the long journey to the land of the dead. Was that a pale face turning towards him? A dim arm waving?

       What if I see him?

      Beyond the fire a shadow lurched into life. It tramped forwards, man-shaped, looming up behind the people, a sort of black haystack with thick groping arms…

      Peer gave a strangled shout.

      A huge man shoved his way into the circle of firelight. Elbowing the neighbours aside, he tramped right up to the pyre and turned, his boots carelessly planted in the glowing ashes. He waited, dark against the flames, until an uneasy silence fell. Then he spoke, in a high cracked voice as shrill as a whistle.

      “I’ve come for the boy. Which is Ulf ’s son?”

      Nobody answered. The men close to Peer edged nearer, closing ranks around him. Catching the movement, the giant turned. He lifted his head like a wolf smelling out its prey. Peer stopped breathing. Their eyes met.

      The stranger bore down on him like a landslide. Enormous fingers crunched on his arm. High over his head the toneless, reedy voice piped, “I’m your uncle, Baldur Grimsson. From now on, you’ll be living with me.”

      “But I haven’t got an uncle,” Peer gasped.

      “I don’t like saying things twice,” the man said menacingly. “I’m your Uncle Baldur, the miller of Trollsvik.” He challenged

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