Across the Seas

by Griff Hosker

  I did not turn but nodded, “Aye, I dare say she will. Her body will be safe from any who would disturb it.”

  “She was a Christian,” I said nothing. “Edmund told me once that Christians had to be buried in holy ground.” He sighed, “I know not what makes holy ground but I do not think that the holes we dug for them were holy.”

  “You may be right.” I was just filling the silence for Fótr had something he needed to talk through and this was a good time to do so.

  “What I mean is that if she is covered by the blackened bones of the fire snake then she will be trapped there for all time.”

  “Perhaps, except that she is not alone. Her father is with her. He stayed with her all the time she lived with us. That shows great love.”

  “But she should be in heaven! Her heaven! It is not Valhalla. Will she be there?”

  He wanted an answer I could not give. I would not lie to him. “When we found Edmund, he told us that he had heard our mother’s confession and he confessed to us. I do not understand the idea but the followers of the White Christ believe that if you confess before you die then you go to heaven. Perhaps our mother is with her god now.” I did not say that it should have been a priest who heard the confession. Edmund seemed happy that just saying the words granted him entry to heaven.

  Fótr said, “Thank you, Erik. You have eased my troubled mind.” I heard him stand. “I kept this. Was that wrong?”

  I turned and saw that he had the wooden cross my mother kept around her neck. We had not found it when we had buried her and Arne had made a cross from two pieces of wood. “You took it from her?”

  “After she was dead, I took it from her fingers. I just wanted something to remind me of her. When we had the storm and I thought we were going to die I held it and I heard her voice. It brought me comfort.”

  “Good, then keep it. A sailor needs all the luck he can manage.”

  The rest of our watch continued in silence. We had no way to measure time but when Fótr began to nod off I woke Sven and gave him the compass to hang around his neck. “The wind has not changed. The course is still south. We keep this course until I wake and then I will decide whither we go.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Come Fótr, we brothers will share the bear fur. He will guard us both.”

  I was more tired than I thought for as soon as my head touched the fur and I wrapped it around us I was asleep. For the first three days we kept a course heading south and then the wind changed. We had had no sun for the ash cloud had followed us. The ash became less and less. Then the wind changed to come from the north and west. I gave Arne the bad news. “We had this last time. We may need to tack to make progress. I had hoped to sail west but that will have to wait and as we have neither sun nor stars, I cannot place us. The wind for the last few days aided us and took us further south than we might have hoped. Do you feel the air? It is already less cold.”

  He shook his head, “It is still cold or that might be that I miss hot food. We are in your hands.”

  We could still make good progress south for we could use the wind from the north but it meant we crabbed our way. When I could I eased the steering board to take us towards the southwest but, generally, we headed south by southwest. At some point, we would need to head west. We would have to use oars. I was waiting until the wind came from the south and west. I knew it would come and then, by rowing into the wind we would close with the hidden lands of the west. Then we would tack. I wanted to delay tacking for as long as possible. We invited collision with the snekke.

  We had been sailing for eight days when the wind swung around to stall us. “Oars! Reef the sail!”

  We had worked out that we could manage six oars on each side. We could double crew them. That would leave us men to take over. This was the first time we had run out the oars and we did not manage it smoothly. It took Gytha to restore order for it was the women and the children who caused the confusion. When the men were at the oars, I began a chant. We would not sing it for long. We just used two verses to get the rhythm.

  The Clan of the Fox has no king

  We will not bow nor kiss a ring

  We fled our home to start anew

  We are strong in heart though we are few

  The Clan of the Fox has no king

  We will not bow nor kiss a ring

  We fled our home to start anew

  We are strong in heart though we are few

  The women had never heard the song. It told them who we were. I used the hourglass to keep a record of the time we rowed. We changed rowers after an hour. In all, we rowed for four hours. I deemed that we had made some progress south and west. “In oars! Lower the sail!” The snekke, as I knew well, did not need oars. She could tack and turn and still keep pace with us. North and south were somewhat uncertain directions without the sun but the light in the morning and the evening told us where east and west lay. The sun was lowering in the sky. There was cloud cover but an occasional shaft of sunlight told us where lay the west. Using the wind which was sent by the gods we headed south again.

  All three watch keeners were awake. “We keep heading south. I know that we head towards an empty ocean but you need to trust me. Once the water feels warm then we will head west even if that means sailing north and west. We need some sun and I pray that the Allfather sends it to us.”

  Three days later and the wind had veered back to blow directly from the west. We could sail south and west once more. Even better was the fact that the Allfather answered our prayers. He sent the sun. It brightened the spirits of all of those on board. The clouds we had contained moisture and we had had rain. Those with seal skins had not suffered but some of the women and children had had to live with wet clothes. The sun allowed them to dry their clothes. The rain had, of course, topped up our barrels. I was confident that we would not run out of water. We had augmented our diet with fish. We would not starve. The snekke had also managed well and those on board were in good spirits. The day the sun came out felt like a wedding day. If we had had beer then it would have been perfect!

  Now that we could use the compass, I was much happier. Our position was not precise but by using it and recording the position of the sun we could monitor our progress across the ocean. I still had the record I had taken in the snekke. Only I could read my notations but life was never perfect and we all had to make adjustments. The sun shone for the next three days. Our progress was steady. The last of our grain would be fed to the animals and we had rationed it so that it would last for fifty days. I hoped to make landfall before then. I had decided to risk the deer island with the warriors. I knew there was grazing and the warriors had not seemed particularly threatening.

  Eidel had grown into his role. All of his experience came back to help him and I allowed him to take a night watch. It made life easier for me. I had felt like a bat, only coming out at night! Halsten was less confident. He always had been. We developed a routine now that I was awake during the day. Gytha, Arne and Snorri came to see me and they were filled with questions. The further south we went the more the air became warmer. The furthest south any of them had lived had been Larswick. I believed we were enjoying weather which was as warm as Larswick and I knew it would get warmer. They were curious how much warmer it would get.

  I told them and then mentioned the biting insects. Gytha had questioned me about them when we had still been in the knarr hall. We knew of such insects. They plagued the land of the Picts and they were bearable. Arne and Snorri had dismissed them as an irrelevance. I saw their faces when Gytha probed me further.

  “They are insects, Erik. A warrior bears such things.”

  Fótr was off duty too and he sat by me, “Tell them, Fótr, of the insects.”

  “There are so many that your head and face turn black with them Your arms are black too. They each bite so that your head swells with the red bites. Dreng suffered worst of all. He was ill.” He looked at me, “Could the bites have killed him?”

&
nbsp; I shook my head, “I know not.”

  Gytha smiled at Arne, “And that is why we listen to Erik. You said that when you ate garlic they did not bite as much?”

  “Aye.”

  “I am assuming it grows freely in this land?”

  “We found it in the dark and shady places.”

  “Then my women and I will seek it out when we land. People can eat it but I think I can make a salve. Did you see any of the fragrant herbs we had in Larswick?”

  “I saw none but then we only explored part of one island.”

  “There will be other herbs which grow in this new world. We will find them. And you say there are honey bees?” I nodded. “Then the plants which the bees use will be the ones we use to ward off the biting insects. We use nature to fight the insects.”

  We had a period of twelve days when the weather remained the same. Some days sunny and some cloudy, occasional showers and the wind, generally coming towards us. Our progress was slow. Then the weather changed. When we had been at sea for twenty-eight days according to my tally stick, I saw, to the north and east, clouds. I wondered if it was our island then dismissed it. The wind began to turn so that it came from the north and east. While Arne took this as a good sign, for it meant we travelled faster, I feared it for the black clouds would herald a storm.

  Halsten was steering and I went to him. “Turn so that we sail west. We will take advantage of this wind. I will tell Padraig.” I went to the stern and made the signal for the snekke to close up to us. “How fare your passengers?”

  “They are happy.”

  “There is a storm coming. I will turn west and make as much progress as we can. If we are separated, I will shorten sail to help you find us.”

  “Aye, captain.”

  “Rek this is about the place we saw the geese. It seems like a lifetime ago!”

  Rek shouted, “For Dreng it is!”

  He was right. Dreng had seen the geese but he had not reached his home. He was a reminder of the dangers we faced. I warned my brother of the storm and what it would mean. I took my seal cape and donned it. “If you wish to rig the sail over the passengers then do so. It might keep the bairns safe and make the women less fearful. I know that we had to bale for long periods in the snekke to keep her afloat. Padraig and his people will work hard. The sail might send the water over the side.”

  Arne decided that it was worth trying and he and the men set to organizing it. I had my ship’s boys stand by the sheets and stays. Rather than risk losing the sail or having our mast damaged, I would reef it. The problem was one of timing. At the moment the wind was serving us and whipping us along the waves. I wanted to cover as much distance as we could. I had Halsten on the steering board and Eidel watching the snekke. The storm closed with us during a long day. We had the sail ready but not rigged. It was the late afternoon when the first drops fell and they were huge ones.

  Arne shouted, “Rig the sail!”

  I watched the pennant at the masthead. It was horizontal and stiff. The wind was coming from directly astern. From the light in the west that meant we were sailing due west. Then the rain began. It did not fall, it plummeted. There were hailstones mixed in with it and we heard the rumble of thunder.

  “Reef the sail!” Sven helped the boys to do it faster than I had ever seen it done.

  I glanced astern and saw that Padraig’s sail was already reefed. I could not hear them but I saw Rek handing around containers to help them to bale. Thanks to our seal hunts the one thing we had plenty of was seal oil. I lit the lantern and hung it from the stern. We did not need it yet but by the time we did then I might be too busy to do so. We barely had the sail reefed before the heart of the storm struck us. It was a wild motion. The prow seemed to dive into troughs and a deluge of water cascaded from the waves behind. I feared for the snekke although we had endured a similar storm and we had survived. Some of the younger women screamed as the ship lurched. I heard Gytha’s voice commanding order. It worked.

  I joined Halsten at the steering board. It would take two of us to hold her. The snekke had been easier. We had been right to rig the spare sail for rivers of water poured over the sides. That was water we would have had to bale. The storm raged for two days. I never left the steering board but I was helped by the other three helmsmen. Lightning struck the seas around us but we were spared. I think others managed some sleep in those two days but I did not. We lost a sheep overboard and would have lost a child had Gandálfr not been quick-witted enough to grab him as he slid towards the gunwale. From then on, the women held their children even tighter.

  I knew that the storm was abating. The motion became easier. The rain had stopped in the night but the waves were so high that we had to endure as much wetness as we had when it had rained. It was as I glanced astern to see the light that I realized I could not see the snekke. ‘Jötnar’ had disappeared during the storm. When dawn broke and the seas calmed, we looked out on an empty ocean.

  Chapter 15

  I had the sail half lowered and sent Fótr up the mast to see what he could. He sat there until noon but saw nothing. I sent Tostig up to relieve him. The wind was once more from the northwest and we had resumed our crabbing course south and west. I had the sail lowered just half way. Arne came to me as the sun began to set ahead of us and Sven lit the lamp. “Do we turn and search for him?”

  I shook my head, “He could be ahead of us or to the north or the south. We envisaged this happening. That is why Rek is with him. He has my maps and Rek will know the place we seek. If we became separated, we would meet at the first land we found. The land of the deer.”

  “Were there not warriors there?”

  “Aye, and they know that. This time they have two warriors with them. When I was there, I had four boys. This time they know what to expect.” I could tell that he wanted a different answer. “Arne, this is not like losing men on land. There are no paths here to follow. The only signs we might find would be wreckage if they have sunk. Remember when I followed the drekar in the snekke, heading for Larswick? I became separated but all was well. You must trust our people. We are sailors and we can sail.”

  He nodded, “We have lost enough warriors already. We cannot afford to lose these two as well.”

  “And we will not. Lower the sail. Tostig, scan the horizon one more time and then descend. Their fate lies with Ran and in the skills of Padraig, Aed, and Rek!”

  The loss of the snekke cast a dark mood on the whole of our ship. The two families were popular. My cousin, Helga, was also on board. Snorri’s grandchildren were with them. I felt eyes staring daggers at me. Gytha sought me out. “You did the right thing. My daughter is not drowned. Her spirit is still in this world but the ocean is so vast that I cannot see her.”

  “Her husband is a good sailor.”

  “I know and you are too. Your achievement is even greater than we thought. You did this in a tiny snekke. I feel humbled by what you did.”

  I began to blush. I was not used to such compliments. “It is just what I do.”

  She shook her head, “You are too modest but I am glad you are our leader on the sea. I sleep better and feel safer.”

  Each day we had taken to having a lookout at the masthead. All of us were desperate to see the snekke once more. As the days progressed and we saw an empty ocean then hope was lost. Then, one-morning, Tostig shouted, “Captain I spy a bank of cloud on the water.”

  Fog! It was an even greater enemy than a storm. It masked rocks, “Keep a watch on it. Crew, take a reef. Let us edge into this fogbank.”

  We were soon in the damp air. Over the past six days, the air had become much warmer and I knew we were closing with the land. We had seen more seabirds but this fog was a disaster. I remembered the rocks which ringed the islands along which we had sailed. When we entered the fog, I had Tostig join the other boys. They clung to the prow peering into the murk.

  It was Fal who spied the rocks, “Rocks and white water to larboard!”

  I put
the steering board hard over. The movement was so violent that two women fell over and the cow mooed in terror.

  “Take in another reef!”

  The fog lasted a day and we edged our nervous way through it. Once again, I did without sleep. I was on watch at dawn when the sun rose and burned through the fog ahead of us. I sent Fótr up to the masthead. He had no sooner reached it than he shouted, “Land ahead.”

  I could not believe it. We had reached the new world sooner than when we had sailed the snekke. It must have been the time we rowed with oars and, perhaps, the fiery mountain had helped us too. Everyone gathered along the sides for their first glimpse of their new home. The sun began to burn away the fog and, as I glanced astern to see our wake, I also spied land to the south and east. The land ahead was not the land we had visited.

  “Prepare to come about. Let loose the sail!”

  Arne looked at me incredulously, “We have found land! Would you go home?”

  Pointing ahead I said, “That island I do not know.” Turning I said, “I believe that is the land we first found but I must sail around it to ascertain the truth of it.”

  “But there is land ahead!”

  I shook my head. I was captain and this was my decision. “And the land behind us is closer. Besides Padraig might be there. We have to investigate.” I sighed, “Brother until I say we are at the island of the bear then you must trust me.”

  He gave me a nod, “And I do. That you have found land after the storm, the fog and so many days at sea astounds me. Of course, I will trust you.”

  I waved over Sven and Fótr. “Fótr, to the masthead. I believe this land ahead is the land we first spied. I think we missed it in the fog. I intend to sail east and then south. The others can watch for rocks I wish you two to look at the land. You know that which we seek.”