I Read Stories: The Barrow Troll by David Drake

 

The Barrow Troll by David Drake

Ulf Womanslayer is a Norse berserker. He got his name from burning a hall and killing everyone who came out. Before he did the woman inside, Thora, told him of a lord’s hoard, taken from Ireland. How it was cursed so that a troll would guard it. And he would need a mass-priest to make a fire to stop it.

He has Johann, a Christian priest. He has taken him to the barrow with the treasure. He will face the troll, for the barrow will always have a troll to guard it.

Drake wrote this as an homage to Norse epics and he captures the brutality, the uncompromising inevitability, and even a little of the sly cleverness. A tough story, and a brilliant one.

Read This: Norse fantasy swords and sorcery
Don’t Read This: Real Norse stories are bad enough
And Also: Another view on the story