“Are you sure you know what you're doing?” A chill wind blew as he spoke. We gazed down at the entrance to the caverns where the trolls were lurking out of sight.

     “I know my trade,” I answered grimly. I hate it when my employers question me like that. It only made things worse that these were my people, the Haleygir of Halogaland, though it had been decades since I had been to the village of Sand on the island of Sandsey. That small island had been my childhood home, and so many years later it looked even smaller to me.

     At that moment, however, we stood on more dangerous ground. We had crossed the narrow strait that separated Sandsey from Bjarkarey. The name means “island of the birch trees.” It sounds pr...

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