Derrick followed Callum as he led them up the drive of a sprawling farmstead to the small house in the center. It almost blended into the landscape with how low it sat. Taylor’s camera shutter accompanied their footsteps as he took pictures of the surroundings.  “The first building was somewhere that way–” Callum gestured off ...

Ingrid forced Rionan into a bath in the back room of the longhouse and handed her a bar of soap dotted with lavender. Rionan appreciated the subtle scent as she rubbed the smooth foam into her arms and hair and listened to the bickering outside. It felt good to have soot and dirt out of ...

The man who grabbed their attention was in his mid-sixties, at least, with a salt-and-pepper beard that reached his chest. He had a full mug in hand like he had just returned from the bar. Kally sniffed and nodded, “Why?” Derrick hesitated. “It’s for a project,” he hedged. “We’re college students.” The man lumbered over ...

Derrick stared at the Hnefatafl piece. Outside, the sky had darkened with threats of a storm. Taylor called him back over.  “We need to leave soon if we’re going to catch the bus back,” he said. Kally booed from the pit where she was once again circling the walls. Derrick wondered what she saw that ...

“I prayed for you,” Rionan said. Ingrid paused, stirring the pot over the flames. It was too early for the sun to have risen more than a sliver over the horizon, and a dim shadow infused the woods around them, but the trees were already alive with birdsong and rustling leaves. Ingrid stared, unsure what ...

Reykjavik was on fire. Ingrid scrambled from house to house and pulled people from their doorways and bedrooms. A boy grabbed at his siblings as Ingrid kicked in the door to yank them out. Once assured they were safe, she hurried on. The flames grew higher and higher as she stumbled about, calling for Rionan ...

They broke down and extended their stay with the doctor. Professor Fraser had taken it well. She sounded mildly peeved at the amount of grading she’d have to do alone. “Tell Maggie she owes me a drink,” she grunted over the line before the connection died and the dial tone took over. Taylor looked at ...

Snow lay heavy on the ground around their shop, but the cold hardly touched them inside despite the cracked door. Ingrid sat in front of the hearth and warmed her hands while she stirred a bubbling concoction in the pot. As she worked, she hummed.  It was the first night of Yule. A fire was ...

Jason read his book in the graveyard near the school, as he often did, delaying his walk home to the inevitable fighting that ensued. The clouds covered the sun as a fall breeze whisked crisp leaves around the tombstones. The Vikings are now believed to have arrived in North America as early as 1021, Predating ...

“How old is this piece?”  Kally poked at a sealed bag containing a chipped axe head carved with twining figures that ended in curls or ran to the edges of the metal.  “That,” Mr. Kingsly said while shooing her hand away. “Is a Mammen-style axe head, a little past the period you’re looking for, I’d ...