by Griff Hosker
I turned the carved piece of wood over in my hand. This was a real secret. They all looked at me. Mother said to me. “Your grandfather, my father, was also a wolf warrior. He too wore a cloak made of a wolf’s skin but not the head. This is wyrd.”
She reached under the neck my tunic and took out the wolf with the jewelled eye. Both Olaf and Butar gasped. “You have always had this?”
“No Olaf, only since I boarded the ‘Sif’. Mother gave it to me.”
“This is the work of the Norns. Your destiny and that of Ragnar are intertwined.”
I did not sleep much that night. I was afraid. I had felt special before and both my friends had noted it but this was different. I had a connection from my adopted grandfather and my birth grandfather and it tied me to the wolf. Perhaps I had been meant to meet the wolf pack that day. Maybe part of the wolf’s spirit had entered me.
The next day the storm broke and it was nothing to do with my find. My mother and Butar were summoned to the Great Hall; Harald’s long house. Harald’s oathsworn were there as well as all not only the senior warriors but every other warrior from Ulfberg. The hall was packed. Most worryingly of all was the presence of Aethelfrith and Morwenna.
Harald stood and began without any preliminaries. “Myfanwy, wife of Butar Ragnarson, you have been summoned here to answer charges of witchcraft.” There was an audible gasp from everyone although my mother appeared calm. I think her calm exterior puzzled Harald. “What have you to say to the charges?” I think he hoped that by coming out without a preamble he would take my mother by surprise. He did not know my mother.
“I am no witch.”
Aethelfrith pointed a triumphant finger at my mother, “That is what she would say. It proves she is a witch.”
Mother shook her head and smiled, “If I say nothing I am a witch, if I say I am not a witch then I am a witch. Should I lie and say that I am a witch?”
The logic of my mother’s words confused the Saxon princess who began to weep. “I can feel her power, husband. She is trying the bewitch me. She is a witch.”
I could see Butar becoming angry. “Who lays these charges?”
Aethelfrith stopped weeping for a moment. “I do. I should be with child but I am not because of her spell. You and she are too old to have children and yet she is with child. She has stolen my baby.”
The argument was so ridiculous that I thought it would have been laughed out of this court but everyone looked deadly serious. Jarl Harald shrugged as though this was not his doing. “Unless you can prove that you are not a witch then I will have to exile you from this place.”
Now I began to see the plan and the thought which had gone into this. It was not about my mother. It was about getting rid of a rival. If Butar had a son and Harald did not then Butar’s son would become Jarl. No wonder Harald had been so happy to see us going trading. He had hoped we would not return. He now had more men than when I had arrived in the village and they would all be loyal to him.
Silence descended like a rain cloud on the assembly. My mother’s voice sounded pure in the quiet. “I am no witch.”
The room remained silent. My mother’s fate was sealed for they were all men. Had there been women then there might have been voices against her but Aethelfrith was as cunning as her husband. The two young girls played the innocents and no-one would gainsay them. “As you continue to deny the charge I have no choice but to exile you from the village. You must leave by dawn.”
Butar had gone beyond anger. He stood by my mother and put his arm around her. “You are doing this because you fear me and yet I have never been anything less than loyal. I will take ‘Ran’ , Dragon Heart, and my wife and I will leave this place.”
I could see the look of triumph on Harald’s face. “Then I hope your son and your wife can row for no-one will go with you.”
Olaf stepped forwards, “I will go with you Butar for I wish to serve a man who has honour.”
“Me too.” Haaken stood beside me.
“And I,” Cnut was on the other side.
Soon forty men had stood behind us and Harald was almost apoplectic with rage. He could say nothing for he had created this situation. He expected Butar to be isolated but he was popular. The men were mainly young warriors but there were some experienced ones like Bjorn, Bagsecg the blacksmith and Godfrid. Harald One Eye face reddened and he spat out, angrily, “Then go leave Ulfberg. From this day forth you are no kin of mine. If we ever meet again then I will kill you and all of your family.” His one eye wandered from Butar to Mother, finally settling on me. “Watch your back, Butar Ragnarson.”
“With you as a cousin Harald One-Eye, I always will.”
I said to Butar as we left the hall, “I must do something.”
I could see the question on his face but I think he heard the determination in my voice. I took a torch and ran up the path to the house of Ragnar. I was out of breath by the time I arrived. No-one else would live in Ragnar’s home. It might be petty, even vindictive but I would not share that memory with anyone. I knew there was nothing of value left inside and I piled the bed and the wooden items together in the middle of the room. “Ragnar, I will give your home a funeral fit for a warrior in Valhalla!”
I thrust the torch into the straw and I was almost scorched by the flames as they leapt in the air. I left the house and shut the door one last time. As I did so I could not resist knocking on it and saying, ”Ragnar, it is your thrall.”
I made sure that it was well alight and I turned to descend the path. On impulse I turned one last time and shouted, “Wolf brothers this land is yours now. Protect it for my grandfathers and me.”
I ran all the way back. I felt guilty having left my mother and Butar to gather our belongings and place them in the ship. They had, surprisingly gathered all that they needed, I could see a chest with clothes, and the weapons Butar would use as well as the pots my mother would need. They had even gathered my meagre possessions. They both turned when I entered. Butar began to say, ”Where…” when he saw the flames on the hillside through the open door. He smiled, “Good. It is what he would have wished. We were just discussing where we should take our people.”
“I would have thought down to the land of the Franks. Sigismund the trader told us that the land there is good and our people are there too.”
A look of triumph came over Butar’s face, “There. Even your son agrees with me.”
She gave him a superior smile, “That is because he has not heard of my plan and my destination.”
“Go on then tell him.”
“Instead of going south let us go west. If we go around the land of the blue warriors we will come to the islands off Cymri.”
“Why?”
“Harald One-Eye and his whore have it in for you and me. They will not rest until we are dead. Everyone knows you traded in the south and that it is likely you will return there. Besides we would not be the first settlers. We would have to fight for land and we are too few for that.”
That was the argument which persuaded my father. “Very well but I will wait until we are at sea before I tell my people. I do not want to let my cousin know our destination. Come son, let us load the boat. I fear it will be crowded.”
When we reached the boat Olaf and the younger men were on board. They did not have much to take with them. Olaf was grinning when we arrived, which was always disconcerting as it was like a dark empty tunnel looming up at you. “What is making you happy you old pirate?”
He tapped his nose, “The boat will be overloaded will it not.” Butar nodded. “We will need spares if we have to repair the ship.” Again he nodded. “We have tied four larch trees to the hull. We float higher and we can use them for masts or make planks.”
“Excellent. Store our gear. We had best put the sword blanks in the bottom as ballast and to keep an even keel.”
Haaken came over. “We also have two small boats and two fishing boats. We forgot that two of the warriors are fishermen. We can use thei
r boats to carry chests and pots.”
“Aye, tie the small boats to our stern or they will slow us up.”
“And remember, Jarl Butar, we have more rowers and so we will be swifter when we travel.”
“Thank you Olaf but I am not Jarl.”
“You are to us my lord and we will be your oathsworn. All the men will swear once they are aboard. The sooner we leave here the better.“
Cnut asked, “And Jarl Butar, where is our destination?”
Butar winked at me, “You will discover that when we sail.”
Olaf took charge of the trim. He ordered everyone around. I noticed that there were only five women on board and just six children. We were all young men. Nor were there any thralls. We would take slaves once we had built our home. We could not take all the animals but we had a couple of pigs and some chickens. We took a pair of goats mainly for the milk on the voyage. We struggled with food for we had not yet begun to salt the meat and the short deadline imposed by Harald meant we would have to fish for our food for a while. Luckily our two fishermen, both fathers of young warriors, were confident that they would manage. The salt we would use to preserve whatever we caught was in one of the smaller boats with chests.
No-one came to see us off, which I found sad but, as we pushed away from the shore, I saw the glow of the fire of Ragnar’s house winking as we sailed down the fiord. I felt comforted knowing that no-one would live in Ragnar’s home. As we rowed, I was next to Haaken, Butar, or Jarl Butar as he now became known, spoke to his people.
“I know that you have given up much to follow me and it is not too late to change your mind. I will pull ashore should anyone wish to stay.” No one said a word, “I am not telling you where we are going for I do not know its name. It is west of here. We will sail to the land of the Angles and then around the land of the Picts. When we find somewhere we like we will settle.”
I thought that sounded daunting but I forgot that the others were young men and to them this was an adventure. They would be living a saga and they all cheered. We sailed on through the dark and sagas were sung to enliven the journey through the night.
I knew, from our journey across, that we would have a few days at sea. We would be out of sight of land too. The last time I had been a prisoner but this time we were all free men. It made life easier. We reached the open sea just before dawn and Olaf loosed the sails. It was a good wind blowing from the north east. It took us due east and was a fast wind; moving ‘Ran’ swiftly away from Ulfberg. We were ordered to retrieve our oars. Olaf and four others took the first watch while the rest of us slept. Before Butar joined my mother and me he checked to see that the two fishing boats, each with six passengers were still on station. They were and, from the way that they were sailing, were moving quicker than we. That was good. Our two boats attached to our stern and filled with cargo were acting as an anchor. I knew that we would not survive wherever we landed without them.
Ran is a thoughtful goddess and she was with us as she helped out little fleet across the waters. Once dawn broke that first day we had used the sun to sail north west. We devised a system at night to have a light from all three boats and by sailing in a line we could navigate when the clouds hid the stars. After three days we spied land. The Picts were known to be a fierce people and Butar did not risk a landing. The fishermen had caught fish and we still had stale bread and some dried meat. We were not starving. The rainwater was collected so that we had water. Olaf made us clean the filth from the bottom of the boat on a more regular basis. All of us, Butar, Olaf and the women excepted, each took a turn. I think it helped us. We were all equal.
The first squall hit us on the first morning after we had struck land. It gave us plenty of water but upset both the women and the animals. Olaf just chuckled. “Do not worry, the goddess Ran wanted to let us know she was changing the wind. “ He pointed at the pennant flying from the masthead. “See it now blows from the south east.”
The wind from the south was warm and we flew. This time the fishing boats did not outpace us and we made many miles until we saw, at last, the headland of the land to the south. We turned west again. This time the wind pushed us hard to the north west and, when we awoke we found no land at all in sight. Olaf took a sun sight and we headed west again. The next time we sighted land it was not the mainland but a string of islands and this time there was smoke from the houses we saw there. It was inhabited. We now needed food and Butar took the decision to land. We took out the oars and made swift progress to the island with the largest number of houses. Butar kept us apprised of our position. “There look to be ten or twelve houses and they look like longhouses.”
That set the rowers to chattering like starlings. The houses we had seen in the land of the Picts had been tiny roundhouses. Did this mean that there were people like us ahead? The others seemed happy about that but I was not sure. Although they might welcome us they might not want to share what they had. Olaf shouted to the two fishing boats to stand off in case there was a problem and we edged towards the beach.
“There are warriors and they are armed. There are just fifteen of them.”
That meant that we outnumbered them but did we really want to fight? We had been at sea for almost a week and our legs would not allow us to fight well. We slowed down as the sail was lowered and the oars retrieved. “Dragon Heart and Haaken, come with Olaf and me. Bring your swords.”
By landing with just our swords and neither shield nor helmet we were showing that we wanted peace but we could and would fight if forced. “Haaken, Dragon Heart, secure the boat.” We took the rope and waded through the water to tie it to a large barnacle encrusted rock.
The men who approached us kept their swords sheathed but their faces showed their concern. They spoke our language as they greeted us. “I am Hrolf, the headman of this land.”
“I am Butar Ragnarson of Ulfberg. What is this land called?”
“It is Orkneyjar. The island of the seals. Forgive my bluntness but why are you here?”
“We left our home to seek a new home.”
“Then you will need to carry on. This island supports the few families who live here now and your boatload is too many.”
Butar nodded. “We have been at sea for ten days. Could we stay one night and then move on?”
Hrolf looked at his men and they shrugged, “One night.” He pointed to the headland to the south. “There is a bay there which will suit you.”
I saw Butar and Olaf exchange a knowing look. “You are most hospitable.”
We returned to the ship and everyone looked at us expectantly. Was this our new home was the unspoken question on their faces. Butar said, “We will camp here tonight and leave in the morning. The Jarl says it is too poor to support more.” As we sailed around the headland he added, “He is a wise Jarl. He shows hospitality but prevents us from a sneak attack in the night.”
It was good to be off the boat and the children ran around in the sand dunes as though they had never run before. Of course they had never seen sand before. Our rocky home just had rocks and steep cliffs. The women set to cooking the fish that the men had caught and Haaken took some of the men further south to forage. They came back with two seals. We ate well that night and made some seal oil which was always useful. The next morning we began to load the boat and Hrolf and some of his men joined us.
“You kept your word Butar and I thank you. We thought at first that you were raiders but now I see that you are like us settlers looking for a peaceful life.” He pointed south, “South of here are islands but they are occupied by the Picts. They are a fierce people who paint their bodies blue. They can be defeated but they never know when to give in. Further south there is land which has opportunities. There is an island called Manau. The Saxons live there but there are few of them. We have raided the Saxons there. It is good land but we like the seals here. The land to the west is the land of the Irish. Some of our people went there but we have not heard of them since.”
“
Thank you Hrolf for your hospitality.”
Hrolf turned to one of his men who had a sack. “Here are some fresh vegetables. You may need them.” He gave a rueful smile. “We would have killed to get them when we arrived for we were hungry beyond words.” He raised a hand in farewell. “We may see you for we visit the islands when we need sheep.”
As we left the island Butar explained to my mother and the others what had transpired. “That is the island my people called Mon. It is not far from my home; the land of Cymri.”
That decided Butar. “Then we will go there.”
As we rowed Cnut asked, “Why did we not fight them? We will have to fight the Saxons.”
“The Saxons are our enemies, certainly the enemies of my mother.”
“But you are half Saxon.”
“That is the half of me I do not like. That is the half which is like Tadgh and Saelac. Besides I do not think that Butar wishes to fight people like us; those who have been dispossessed. This is better. It is a new start in a new land.”
The night ashore had done us all good and, even though the winds were not as favourable, the rowing was not hard. The seal meat had also been a delight. We sailed between the huge islands of the Picts and we saw their settlements. We steered clear of them having heeded the warning of Hrolf. We awoke one morning to see a land to the west and another to the east.
“That must be the land of the Irish to the west and the land of Northumbria to the east.” Butar pointed due south. “Soon we will see Manau. Warriors arm yourselves we may have to fight.”
As we dressed for battle I was not sure of the wisdom of leaping from our boat to begin a war but Butar knew best and he was our leader. We had all become oathsworn the night we had left Ulfberg. None would leave now save with his permission or they would be the lowest of the low, they would be oath breakers. My weapons were all sharp and protected with seal oil but I checked them anyway. Our shields lined the side of the ship and I would be happier when mine was on my arm. I still needed my leather cap inside my helmet but I was still growing and I knew that soon I would just need a woollen one.