Sigrid

By Suprina Frazier

Embark on a journey through time with Sigrid, the eldest of three extraordinary sisters. All born with supernatural abilities to instantly change the world around them.

Only one of the sisters belong in the current century. The other two had to flee the past with their Viking father, Magnus, through a portal that opened up just in time to escape their violently jealous uncles.

Sigrid thought she’d found sanctuary in the future with her sisters, father, and stepmother Jolie. That security proved to be fleeting when an old enemy discovered a way to open up another portal.

As danger looms and a new portal threatens to send them hurling back into a past they no longer know, Sigrid and her family discover that their only hope lies in the strength of their bonds, the resilience of their love, and the power of devoted mates yet to be found.

Will Sigrid and her sisters find competent mates in time? If so, will those unwavering alliances be enough to triumph over the evil forces that seek to unravel time itself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bridges & Channels Enterprises, LLC
• Release date: Nov 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215710111

Book preview

We Daughters Three Series

SIGRID

By Suprina Frazier

Copyright © 2023 by Suprina Frazier

Published by: Bridges & Channels Enterprises, LLC.

Website: http://www.bridgesandchannels.com/

Email: [e-mail]

Cover design: Suprina Frazier

Photo credits: Ray Bilcliff on Pexels.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in ANY form or by ANY means (including but not limited to scanning, copying, emailing, and uploading and downloading on file sharing sites) without the prior written consent of the Publisher. Doing so is ILLEGAL! Thanks in advance for doing the right thing!

All characters in this publication have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. Except for the states and major cities of distinction, all other cities and towns referred to herein are fictional and purely the invention of the author. Any song lyrics and titles have been properly cited within the text.

* * *

Special Thanks to my Heavenly Father for with You all things are possible.

* * *

Other published eBooks by this author:

Arousing the Falcon’s Fury

Big Girlz Won’t Cry

Country Gal Gone Wild

Enticing Mr. Wrong

Kin to the Saboteur

Lady T’s Place

Loving Contrasts

Miss Opportunity

My Lover, My Friend

Pretty Packages

Pulling Him Back

Pursuing Mrs. Regrets

Sweet Lips

Taming Amos

The Harlot’s Hero

The Lawyer: Count

The Professor

The Professor’s Brothers

Treachery Among Diamonds

UnCommon Duo

UnConditional Love

UnPretty

Prologue

A Father’s Fight

Newfoundland, Canada (Spring – 1021AD)

– MAGNUS GUNNAR –

Lord, has it come to this even in this new land? Will I now have to change my name to Nicodemus?

I posed such questions in prayer for I tire of sneaking around like this. I do not like praying and worshipping in secret. Nor always at twilight when the day is about to turn into night. When no one whose opinion matters can see me.

From my kneeling position by the pond, I looked to the right and then to the left, scanning the perimeter of the private cove. It only had one way in and one way out. That way was directly across the pond in front of me.

I did not possess eagle eyes, but my keen eyesight was quite handy in making sure no foe in the immediate vicinity was able to watch me pray to Someone other than the Norse gods of my father and forefathers.

My double-edged sword was still in its leather sheath strapped across my back. My right hand stood at the ready to reach back and retrieve it.

I am a shipbuilder by trade. A warrior among warriors by lineage. Cleaning blood from my weapons was familiar territory to me.

I also know what it feels like to rip a head, animal or otherwise, from a body with my bare hands. It can be messy, but necessary to protect me and mine.

Every fight I’ve ever had was…necessary.

Thankfully, the only eyes upon me belonged to my two beautiful daughters. Sigrid – age seven with thick red locks and icy-blue eyes like mine. Her heart-shaped face and dimpled chin came straight from her Scottish mother.

Astrid – age five with blondish-white hair, naturally pale skin, and lovely slanted eyes like her Chinese mother. However, the color of her eyes also perfectly matched my own.

Though sisters from different mothers, they played in harmony with the small toy boats I made them as they sat on the large tartan in the grassy area to my right. Two lanterns sat on elevated stones on either side of their play area, imparting a gentle glow.

That plaid blanket was handwoven by my beloved first wife, Cairstine. My second wife, Meiling, carefully packed it for our journey west. A journey she didn’t live long enough to join us on.

Meiling died suddenly just like Cairstine. Also under mysterious circumstances while visiting relatives. Gunnar relatives.

Just thinking about my wives pierced me through with sadness like no bone-tipped arrow ever could. Yet I mustered up the strength to smile at my daughters. There was always strength to be found for them…even beyond the extra helping of physical strength I was given at birth.

Sigrid and Astrid were my main reasons for coming to this new world, far across the sea, away from the land where I buried both of their mothers. Hopefully away from the pain of those untimely losses as well. Or at least from constant reminders of them.

My children returned my smiles each time I paused in prayer to check on them. Except for that last time.

That’s when I noticed how often their eyes returned to the shadowy mountain cliffs above and the waterfall in the far right corner.

The moon had not yet begun its dance across the sky, but there was something shining just beyond the gently cascading water. Its reflection glinted sporadically upon the mellow ripples of the pond.

The hairs on my arms suddenly stood at attention. I quickly realized – we were no longer alone!

Was this secret place also in use by one of the Natives? If so, they were trespassing. Trespassers would not be tolerated!

I traded fairly for this mountainous patch of the new world. The fresh callouses from the longboat I hewn for that trade were still present upon my hands.

Hands that felt the familiar tingling sensation at my fingertips. That tingling was the only precursor to the surge of extraordinary power that would flow through my veins soon thereafter.

If there be any more time for prayer tonight, it would be on my feet and silently as I stood upright again. I walked just as casually as I rose to close the distance between the little lasses and I.

I did not wish to alarm the children. Nor did I want to alert foes that I was aware of their unwelcome presence.

I made pointed eye contact with Astrid first and subtly shook my head as a deterrent. She was the youngest and more prone to impulsiveness. I did not want her using her special gift to peel back that curtain of water.

She must not use her aquatic abilities unless absolutely necessary. For each usage came with a painful price. I wanted to spare her any unnecessary pain.

The same goes for Sigrid, who had special powers over stone. I looked at my eldest daughter and sent her the same silent message – tarry.

Sigrid nodded in return. Subtly, just the way we practiced in case of potential danger.

Out of necessity, we have rehearsed certain rules and cues. Both lasses knew not to disobey me unless our lives depended upon it.

Sigrid and Astrid also knew not to obey anyone else’s order to use their special gifts. That included all three of my brothers. The very ones I tried to leave in the old country when my beliefs abruptly shifted and my doubts about their loyalty arose.

Unfortunately, Ivar, Raulin, and Erik followed us across the ocean in another boat six months later. They now lived with their families in the main settlement upon the meadows.

Just as I reached the hem of the outstretched cloth, multiple whizzes violated the air space round about me. Fiery darts from above suddenly appeared on either side of me, catapulted from the bows of those well-versed in battle.

We were under attack!

But by whom though?

My answer came quickly.

Do not move another step, little brother. Raulin, Erik, and I have decided that the girls have gone as far as they can with you. We will tend to them now, nurture their gifts for the family’s greater good, and teach them how to preserve the old ways after your own untimely death, my oldest brother Ivar said.

His voice sounded as cruel as the words he spat out. No doubt there was thick spittle mixed with crud dripping upon his long red beard as he spoke. Ivar was always chewing on something vile.

What kind of brothers are you? Did I not build enough ships for your plundering raids? Or are you all so rotted with greed, that you would steal my very children from me? I bellowed, not moving an inch as I stalled for time.

I needed more time to assess the situation. More time to figure out a way to stay alive and keep my children.

If my brothers were above, then who was beyond the waterfall? Friend or foe? And how long had they been there?

Steal? One cannot steal what already belongs to them, Raulin said, making his presence known as one of the enemies above. Those girls are a part of our clan. The family owns them.

No one owns my children! They are not slaves. They were both born free. My gaze flickered from the sinister figures cloaked in the shadows above to my girls below.

Astrid had already started to bleed out of one nostril as she slowly moved water from the pond in tiny trickles to extinguish the fiery darts around me. Dimming the lighting gradually like that would give me snippets of time to take small steps towards them with each strategic retort.

Sigrid held her little sister close, her face etched with worry. We both knew that Astrid was in pain and why. Even so, my heart swelled with pride at their ingenuity.

As I continued to stall for time, I couldn’t help but regret not protecting my wives enough when they were alive. For trusting the wrong people to look after them while I was abroad deeply involved with trading at faraway posts.

I would not make the same mistake with my children. I could not protect them from everything, but I vowed to try harder than I did with their mothers.

The only reason I was gone so long and so often was because I was doing my part to enrich the Gunnar clan as a whole. Especially after our parents died. Were it not for God’s gifts to me and my children, the entire family would have never moved from being ordinary citizens, surviving barely above slaves, to the esteemed class of the rich and powerful.

It is not our fault that you were not wise enough to keep your wealth going after we left. That you made us your lifelines to continual prosperity, despite what it costs us physically every time we use our powers, I said, slicing right to the heart of the matter.

You are no longer a lifeline to us. You have become a hindrance, dear brother. Erik scoffed from above, confirming that he was also a willing participant in this insidious betrayal.

If you want my daughters, then come down here and fight me for them, I said, challenging all of them as more darts were subtly extinguished.

It would take all three of my brothers and more to subdue me. I could feel additional strength pouring into my body as I moved even closer to my children. More than I’d ever felt before.

The muscles upon my arms and chest expanded beyond the usual. Thick veins appeared upon the backs of my hands as they widened and lengthened extraordinarily.

Did God know that I would need a surplus portion of power? Surely, yes. He knows everything.

Was that also a sign that my girls and I would survive this treachery? I hoped so.

Hope led to faith. I used that potent ingredient to add power to my prayer.

Lord, I’m pouring all of my faith into Your cup. Please don’t let one drop of it hit the ground.

I believe my battle axe can accommodate you, Erik roared, slamming his weapon against the stony edge of the cliff. The harsh clanging echoed in the cove. Your blood will run red in that pond before daybreak.

Let it be so then. I smirked at his feeble counter challenge, taking two more small steps to the right.

Erik was always the hottest head in the group. Hopefully, the heat of his temper would inflame the others. Let him lead the way down here to their own doom and destruction instead.

When I ripped their arms from their bodies, I would do so as enemies. For I could no longer call them true brethren. Our parents must be turning over in their graves.

Why you—

No, I think we will remain up here! Ivar suddenly interjected, speaking over Raulin and verbally vetoing any other plans but his own. Death by a thousand arrows is a more fitting demise for you!

At the word ‘you’, another barrage of fiery arrows descended over the cliff. I snatched my iron shield off my back and used it to cover my head as I ran toward my children.

Simultaneously, Astrid threw up her tiny right hand, causing water to leap from the pond and form a liquid dome to protect us like a wider shield.

The last fiery dart on the ground was instantly quenched. Darkness suddenly enveloped us as the sun had now set and the lanterns had also dimmed.

At the same time, I heard rocks falling. Pebbles at first. Then large stones.

Loud screams followed as the cliffs above crumbled underneath the feet of those that wished us harm.

My God! The pain Sigrid must be in to carve away such massive chunks out of the left side of the mountain.

Her nose had not yet started to bleed, so that was another good sign. The nosebleeds would stop altogether as she got older, but the pain would remain.

Seizing those moments of distraction, I sprinted faster. Still holding my shield in one hand, I scooped up both children in the other, leaving everything else behind.

I headed straight for the waterfall. There was nowhere else to run.

The trail leading into the cove would undoubtedly hold more danger in case my siblings recruited assistance from other covetous Norsemen in the settlement. The cove itself wasn’t big enough to hide in many other places.

Plus, I wasn’t sure how long Astrid could maintain that water shield. She was still so young. Her powers were still so new to her…to us all.

The only place left to go was the small cave behind the waterfall. It wasn’t big enough for a man of my height to stand upright in, but it had ample room for my children to stowaway from the most pressing danger.

But first I needed to neutralize whoever was hiding there now. I placed long fingers across my daughters’ eyes to protect the remaining innocence of their souls.

If by some chance I died today, I did not want my girls to see it. I also did not want them to see me kill my siblings, despite how despicable they were. Being eyewitnesses to brutal death could be hard on anyone’s soul.

Papa, look at the pretty lady, Astrid said, peeking between my fingers as she peeled back the cascading water just in time to reveal one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.

Was this an African queen standing near the entrance of the cave?

I had seen such dark beauty in my travels, so I knew that it existed. That women like her existed. But they were often on a throne.

Where was her golden, diamond-encrusted crown? Her colorful silk robes?

And why was she wearing men’s clothing – a one piece garb that looked to be made of animal hide dyed white. It seemed to fit her curves like a second skin as she stood just beyond the water’s edge of the cave.

Please drop your shield and sword, then come inside quickly! the woman whispered urgently, beckoning me and the girls over with rapid hands covered in white gloves.

The strange mixture of compassion and fear in her eyes told me to trust her. To just take a leap of faith and trust…her.

An enemy might fear me. But I have