“What? What do you mean?” said Harald.
Thorfinn bit into the scone with relish. He didn’t think it was polite to speak with his mouth full, so he waited until he had finished before he replied. By that time his fellow Vikings were just about pulling their hair out with suspense.
“Come, I’ll show you,” he said.
He got up, taking his scone with him, and led them up to the brow of the hill. From there they could see all around. He pointed out a hill on the other side of the village.
“There,” he said.
Sure enough, they saw campfires, banners fluttering in the breeze, weapons propped up in pyramids, and men clad in leather armour riding warhorses. An entire army was camped there.
They couldn’t believe it. Right under their noses. And nobody had noticed.
Just then, it struck them. If they’d attacked the village, they would have been wiped out. All Vikings liked a good battle, but fighting against an entire army was asking a bit much … even for them.
“Well, when I got to the village they did get a bit of a shock,” Thorfinn continued. “You see, I am dressed like a Viking, so they thought I wanted to hurt them. Indeed, they were about to send a messenger to fetch the army. But when they saw my manners they decided that it was impossible for me to be a Viking. I was far too nice. So they invited me to stay for afternoon tea instead. They are terribly polite people, these Scots.”
“Afternoon tea?” said Erik, horrified, like it was some form of torture.
“By the hounds of hell!” said Harald. “Do you realise that it is only because of Thorfinn that we are still alive? If we’d sent someone else down there, and if we’d attacked the village, then we’d all have been slaughtered.”
They were completely stunned, but didn’t have a moment to lose. They had to get back to the ship before they were discovered.
There was no doubt about it. Thorfinn had saved them all. Again.
CHAPTER 16
The Vikings marched to the ship and set sail right away. They were leaving Scotland empty-handed, and without ruining any villages. Being Vikings, they were a bit disappointed about that, but it could have been a lot worse. They might never have left at all if it hadn’t been for Thorfinn.
Now, the cheers and the songs were all for him. It felt like Thorfinn had won them a great victory.
“Long live Thorfinn! Thorfinn has saved us! Go on, then, I WILL have a scone!”
They sailed east, towards home, as the red sun set behind them. Thorfinn’s father broke out the ale, and they hoisted Thorfinn up on their shoulders and carried him around the ship in triumph.
Now they decided that being nice might not be such a bad thing after all. They stood around swapping polite remarks. They even started saying “Pardon me” after they belched.
All, that is, except for Olaf and his father Erik. They stood alone at the prow of the ship, folding their arms and grumbling.
“Good day, indeed!” scoffed Erik. “Anyone saying ‘good day’ to me better watch. They’ll get an axe through their head.”
“Just wait. We’ll get our revenge, Father,” said Olaf.
“Yes, we will.”
And they swore on it.
It was Harald who brought a hush to proceedings. This time he didn’t use his axe to shut everyone up. Instead he picked his son up in a big bear hug. Thorfinn couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
“You are a very nice young Viking,” said Thorfinn’s father.
“Thank you, dear Father. How very nice of you to say so,” Thorfinn replied.
“He is,” added Oswald, laughing. “Very very nice indeed!”
A booming laugh came from Harald’s chest. “Why, that’s it!” he said. “You have it, Oswald. My son has won his name. From this day forward let Thorfinn the Very-Very-Nice-Indeed be a Viking hero. Let legends be written about him!”
The crew cheered. “Thorfinn the Very-Very-Nice-Indeed! Let tales be told about him. Let songs be sung about him.”
“Huzzah.”came the reply.
“Let his deeds be told in stories round campfires for generations to come!”
“Huzzah!” they replied again.
And they finished all the scones.
Copyright
Young Kelpies is an imprint of Floris Books
First published in 2015 by Floris Books
Text © 2015 David MacPhail. Illustrations © 2015 Floris Books David MacPhail and Richard Morgan have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 to be identified as the Author and Illustrator of this work
This eBook edition published in 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the prior permission of Floris Books, 15 Harrison Gardens, Edinburgh
www.florisbooks.co.uk
British Library CIP data available
ISBN 978-178250-160-2
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Thorfinn and the Awful Invasion Page 4