Dream of Me/Believe in Me

the net and to his utter amazementfound himself gazing upon a young woman of extraordinary beauty. With no adornment save her own milky white skin and ebony hair, she was by far the most desirable woman he had ever seen. Straightaway, he made up his mind to marry her. The lord took his bride home and presented her to his people. Although they were surprised, to be sure, none would gainsay him. The lord and his lady from the sea were wed, and in due time they had strong sons and daughters. All seemed as it should be save for one strange habit of the lord's. Regularly, every few days or so, he would go off by himself to a place only he knew. He only stayed a short time but he never failed to go, and whenever he went, he ordered his wife locked in her chamber so that she could not follow him. This went on for years until finally one day the lady asked her eldest daughter to follow her father. The girl did as she was bid and reported back to her mother that the lord's destination was a small cave not far from their holding. The girl had not dared to follow him inside, but this did not seem to trouble her mother. She thanked the girl, then kissed her gently and told her how very much she loved her and all her other children. The next day, the lady vanished. She was never seen again, although the gown she had been wearing was found in front of the cave to which the father had gone these many years. As her children wept for her, their father confessed the truth. When he drew their mother from the sea, he found something else in the same net that held her, the skin of a skelkie. Right away, he knew it for what it was and recognized that the beautiful maiden he had captured was an enchanted creature who could only stay with him so long as she could notrepossess her skelkie skin. Faithfully, he cared for it, going to the cave every few days to make sure it remained wet as it must and in good condition, for if it did not, he knew she would die. But never did he want her to leave him, so he kept the whereabouts of the skin a secret. Once a skelkie rediscovers her skin, she can do naught but return to it and to the sea, as his wife had finally done. As long as he lived after that, the lord went to the sea every day and looked out over it, as though searching for his lost wife and beseeching her to return to him. From time to time, a shape could be seen far out in the water looking back at him, but she never came near again.
    “A
strange story,” Hawk said thoughtfully. He had heard more than a few odd tales but never one odder than that. Offhand, he wasn't inclined to believe it, yet he had to admit that some of the strangest tales turned out to be the truest. For instance, there was the one about an island to the west with mountains that spewed rivers of fiery mud. What sane man would believe that? Yet he knew men of impeccable sense who swore to have seen it with their own eyes.
    Dragon seemed to feel the same way. “I admit it sounds unlikely but who knows? Besides, if any place harbors such creatures, it would be Eire. Have you ever been there?”
    Hawk had not and didn't expect he would ever make the journey. He had his hands full trying to help Alfred put England to rights.
    “The Norse have established a holding at a place called Dubh Linn,” Dragon went on. “Unless the Irish manage to unite their many clans, it is likely that far more of their fair isle will be lost before long.”
    “What is it that compels you Norse to prefer thelands of others to your own?” Hawk meant no offense by the question, he was genuinely curious. The Danes he thought he understood well enough for they were driven by the same lust for wealth and power as seemed to strike many Saxon men. But the Norse, who were cousins to those very same people, seemed to seek both less and more, preferring land above all else.
    “Mayhap there is not enough of our own,” Dragon said good-naturedly. “Our lands are beautiful but harsh. Little can be grown save in the scant months of summer. In deepest winter, not even the sea can be harvested. We tend toward large families, so some of us must seek our livelihoods elsewhere.”
    This seemed a reasonable enough answer and Hawk was mulling it over when he noticed that Krysta suddenly appeared paler. So bright was the moon as to make the torches all but unnecessary. In the glow of silvery light, the flush that had stained her cheeks scant minutes before seemed to have disappeared. Even as he watched, she