by Griff Hosker
As I made water, I reflected that none of us had spoken of Erik’s present circumstances. The volvas had not sensed his spirit and that made us believe that he was not in Valhalla and was a lost spirit. Yet, even as I pulled up my sodden breeks, I wondered at that. Erik, if he was lost, would have tried to follow us and yet none of the birds, which we had long ago lost, had spoken to me. As a rogue wave hit our steerboard side making everyone lurch and the women and children scream, I put those useless thoughts of my brother from my head. I had to save what was left of the clan!
It took another day and a half for the storm to abate sufficiently that I did not need to have two of us on the steering board and, when the next day came it was as though the storm had never been. There were blue skies with a few scudding clouds and the waves were barely halfway up the drekar. I was able to send Danr to the masthead and we used a reefed sail to keep the way on her.
I patted the gunwale and murmured, “Thank you ‘Gytha’ for you have saved us.”
I waved Ebbe to the steering board and, after taking out the hourglass, compass, wax tablet and map, walked down the drekar. We had lost barrels, but they were mainly the smaller ones. I would have to find out what exactly had gone. We had, miraculously, lost not a single member of the clan. The one sheep had been our only casualty. Reginleif and Ada rose to greet me. My wife kissed me first, “Thank you, husband.”
Ada smiled and hugged me, “I told you that you could do this. Erik’s trust was not misplaced.”
I nodded, “Let me know what was lost and what this will mean. I hope to have a better idea of our position by the morrow.”
She looked around, “And where are the other ships, the drekar and the snekke?”
“It was a wild storm and they could be anywhere. Let us just put ‘Gytha’ in order and then I can work out what we need to do next. When you have time, I would have the volvas of the clan weave.” Even as I walked to Æimundr Loud Voice and Harald of Dyroy, both curled up asleep, at the prow I saw that we had lost ropes. They were a precious commodity. The damaged ones would have to be saved for they could be re-used but we would need to put our few replacements in their place. The mast and crosstree looked sound, but I would need to scale the mast to see for myself. Thanks to my command to reef the sail early we had no damage to the sail.
Æimundr Loud Voice’s son shook him awake as I neared him. He looked up at the sky and, clutching his hammer of Thor, kissed it, “Thank you Allfather for giving Fótr the skills of his brother.” I smiled. He looked around as Harald rose to his feet, too. The area around the animals stank although the seawater had removed much of their dung and piss. Æimundr said, “The others?”
I shook my head, “Danr has not spied them yet but we knew this might happen. The circumstances are more dramatic than we might have expected but we will do what I said we would do. We will sail in a long circle this day and at dawn I will continue east.”
Harald shook his head, ‘Njörðr’ might have survived but the snekke? I fear Aed and his family will be dead.”
“We know not, Harald of Dyroy. Keep those thoughts to yourself. Until we have evidence then they are alive. Smile for the women and children look to us.”
I returned to the steering board and I spoke to as many of the clan as I could. I remembered Erik doing this when we had sailed from the Land of Ice and Fire; I was young but now I was the navigator. Reginleif and Erik awaited me at the steering board with a horn of ale and some salted meat and cheese. “Eat and drink for you have deserved it.”
I smiled, “Ebbe, take a sight on the sun and I shall steer. Mark our course for I intend to sail in circles until the middle of the afternoon. I can eat and drink while I do so.”
I saw that Ebbe was delighted with the responsibility and the fact that I trusted him. In truth, he had done well. Bear Tooth had merely followed Ebbe but then Bear Tooth was a warrior, as he had shown when we had been attacked. Reginleif and Erik stayed with me as I ate but soon my son became bored.
“I shall have to go, husband, but know that my thoughts are always with you.”
I nodded, “And the baby was not hurt by the storm?”
“A Viking baby is born with a heart which is ready to fight for life. All is well.”
As we began our turn I shouted, “Do you see anything, Danr?”
“The empty sea, Captain.”
“Watch for wreckage!”
I saw some of those who had relatives on ‘Njörðr’ turn at my words and I cursed myself. I should have sent Petr up to pass the message on.
“Aye, Captain.”
We sailed two wide circles; the clan saw what I was doing, and the sides were lined with them as they sought our consorts. Ebbe said, quietly, “Fótr, we have reached the point where we began our search.”
I had seen him making the marks on the tablet and already knew. I nodded, “Then we head east. We will keep the half-reefed sail. The wind is not strong, and they may be ahead of us.”
As soon as the clan realised that we would be heading east then some of them turned to look at me for they knew what a momentous decision it was. I was abandoning the other two vessels. This was the real responsibility of leading the clan and, as soon as we reached land then I would relinquish the role. I should have known that the Norns were spinning as their threads still held us together and that meant they had not finished with us.
I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep before darkness once more overtook us and then, under reefed sails, I sailed east. The boys who had begun the voyage as novices had been tempered by the storm and now knew their business. They scrambled up the mast, sheets and stays as though born to it. They no longer had a nervous air and were even able to joke and banter with each other. They knew my routine and, with the hourglass once more in use, they knew when to bring my ale and my food. I allowed Ebbe a little longer asleep and waited until full dawn before I roused him. It was good that I did for Leif shouted, from the mainmast, “Captain! Wreckage ahead to steerboard!”
“Loose the sail!”
My shout woke the warriors and even before the ship’s boys had scrambled up the mast to obey my orders the sides were lined with the warriors seeking a sign of ‘Njörðr’. I could see nothing but that was because of the watchers lining the side. I would just steer the ship.
“It is a sail and it looks like ‘Njörðr’s’. That was an easy conclusion for the drekar had a much bigger sail.
“Reef the sail and try to gaff it!”
“Aye, Captain. A little more to steerboard!” I nudged over the steering board as Danr leaned out with the hooked gaff we used. “I have it!”
As the soaked sail was hauled on board, I resumed our eastward course. “Ebbe, go and check the sail to see where lies the damage.” If the sail was whole, then it did not bode well for the drekar. I hoped it would be torn for that would just be storm damage. A whole sail would suggest that the ship had gone down!
Although it was my turn to sleep, I would not do so until I was certain that there was no more wreckage. Ebbe came back to me, “The sail has been torn. It is now too small for us to use.”
I nodded and felt relief as it meant that there was a chance that the drekar was still afloat. The whole of the clan aboard my drekar now watched for we were seeking a large object, a drekar. When Petr shouted, “Wreckage ahead!” I expected it to be followed by shouts telling me that it was the drekar. The words, when they came, were shouted by Petr, “It is ‘Jötnar’ and she has been dismasted.
Chapter 5 Fótr
Once again, I would have to shout words which I knew the women would not wish to hear but I had no choice, “Are any aboard?”
“Aye, Captain, I see movement but there is no sheep!”
I shouted, “Lower the sail and be ready to board the snekke!”
We sailed quickly even though the wind was little more than a breeze, but it still seemed an age until Ebbe shouted, “We are almost there, Captain!” I saw the half-submerged snekke.
&nbs
p; Rather than raising the sail to stop us, I put the steering board hard over to almost put us into the wind and then reversed my action. The result was that all of the way went from us and we edged east on the gentle breeze. I saw Ebbe nod and smile. He was becoming a sailor and appreciated the skill. This time Harald and some of the other men were clinging to the outside of the drekar with their feet on the strakes. When I saw their heads disappear and the damaged ropes we had salvaged hurled, I knew that they were securing the drekar. When Aed’s three children were rescued, followed by his wife, Maren Finnsdotter I spied hope for the first time since we had awoken to an empty sea. Aed was the last to be hauled aboard.
“What do we do with the snekke, Fótr? It is waterlogged!”
“Is it holed?”
There was silence and then Harald’s voice came to us, “No, Fótr.”
“Then Leif and Petr, go aboard and tie her to the stern. Bail her out. We may need her yet!”
I knew not why I kept the snekke, but I did. I suppose she had been made by my brothers and my father and that was the reason, but I genuinely thought that we might have a use for her. The Norns were spinning.
Once the boat was secured and bailed, I had the sail lowered so that we could go at full speed. We would lose some speed due to the tow but that mattered not. I handed the steering board to Ebbe so that, before I took some much-needed rest, I could speak with Aed.
He looked up at me as I approached, “Where is Padraig and ‘Njörðr’, Fótr?”
I shook my head, “We thought you both lost until we found you. What happened?” I needed to know to discover what we had done that they had not.
He shook his head, “You are younger than we, Fótr, but Erik trained you well. You are a better sailor. We saw you reef your sail and I was slow to react. My brother was slower. In the dark, we were travelling so fast that I had to put the steering board over to avoid your stern. We overtook you and you knew not for we were both too busy trying to reef our sails and the night was as black as the Morrigan’s heart! Once we had passed your drekar we briefly saw my brother, but the wind was blowing so hard that it was like trying to ride an untamed stallion! We lost the sheep that first night and the hens followed soon after. It was all that Maren could do to keep the children inside the snekke and I had to fight it all the way. The sail and the mast lasted but a day and a night and then the winds sheared them. We would have been dragged to our deaths had Maren not used my sword to hack through the rope. Our food, water and ale were swept away. Until yesterday I had not slept, and I clung on to the steering board as though it was life itself. When the storm blew out, I could not help myself, I just fell asleep. We were so exhausted that had you not seen us we would have perished upon the seas. We owe you our lives, Fótr, for you did that which you promised.”
I nodded, “I am just sorry that your family had to suffer so.”
It was as though he suddenly realised that he had another family, “And Padraig? Where is he?”
“We have not seen them, but we found part of their sail. They may have suffered as much as you did, perhaps more.” His face fell, “We will continue to search but, for now, we will reef our sails and I will get some rest for I must steer this night. From what you say, Padraig will be ahead of us for we deliberately sailed in a circle to seek you. If he did as you then he will be to the east of us.”
I confess that exhausted though I was I found it hard to sleep for, as well as my itching arm, I wondered if I could have done anything differently. Had I not sailed in the circle then I would have found Aed sooner. Suppose I was too late to find Padraig and his drekar was already swamped and sinking? When we made landfall then I would relinquish the clan for I was not meant to lead, and I just wanted to be a husband and a father. Arne had been the leader and he was gone. I was not woken during the night but, despite my exhaustion, I woke naturally while the sun was still high in the sky.
I saw that it was Aed at the steering board and he shook his head, “I see that you, too, are troubled and cannot sleep.” He peered ahead, “I fear for my brother, yet I think that he is still alive.” Aed and his brother were Hibernians and that meant that their religion was different from ours. I knew that Morrigan he had spoken of was their god of war. He and his brother had a connection like that of Erik and Gytha.
I stood and made water over the stern. I looked at the waves and saw that the swells were getting larger. The skies did not look stormy, but the seas were growing and the snekke was bobbing up and down. That gave me hope for the snekke was smaller than ‘Njörðr’ and yet she was still sound. “You think he is ahead of us?”
He nodded and, as I pulled up my breeks and turned, he said, “I do not think that he is dead, and I do not sense him to the west. I think his size would have carried his ship further ahead of us. What I cannot understand is how this drekar avoided damage.”
I shrugged as Aed’s son, Erik, brought me a horn of water, “Perhaps it was the Norns although I had not realised the difference a few moments could make when reefing the sails. We had already tied down all that could be tied, and I had boys watching the animals.”
“My brother and I sailed with Erik but did not learn as much as you. We were and are fishermen. This deep-water sailing fills us with fear and dread.” He shook his head, “I confess that despite the riches of the land we have just left I shall be glad to get back to waters I know. This vast ocean is not meant to be sailed.”
As I walked the drekar I thought about his words and realised that he might be right. We had fled a king whom we had thought to be a tyrant and yet the freedom we had found in the New World had been soured by our own tyrant, my brother Arne. If we had stayed there, then he would have sought more power and more conflict. Arne had been different to my father and to Erik. I saw then that Siggi would have been a better jarl. As I nodded and smiled to the women and children I thought back to Erik’s tales of when the three of them had first sailed and all became clear; if Siggi had been the leader we might have managed to make a home in the west.
Galmr Galmrsson was at the prow, “Have you seen anything?”
“There were small pieces of wreckage, Captain, but nothing that suggested a drekar was close by.”
Just then I heard from the masthead, “Wreckage to larboard. It is ahead of us!”
I looked up at the mast and saw that Sven Folkmansson was pointing just off our bow. I shaded my hands from the sun and peered ahead. After a few moments, the speed of the drekar took us closer and I saw that it was a barrel. I shouted, “Aed, take us to larboard. Reef the sails. Galmr, take the gaff and see if you can snag it.”
The barrel would be proof that ‘Njörðr’ was ahead of us for we were in the middle of the ocean and I doubted that any other ship had sailed this far west. As Galmr leaned out I grabbed his leather belt in my hand. I heard the barrel bump alongside us and then Galmr pulled. Harald of Dyroy leaned over and his mighty arms helped Galmr haul the small barrel aboard.
“Full sail!” It was as the sail billowed that I felt the strength of the sea. The ocean was gaining in strength. It might not be a cataclysmic storm, but we were in for some rough seas!
Mikel examined the barrel, “I recognise it as one of ours. See, here, there is a rune and it tells me that Faramir made this.”
Harald lifted it up, “It is still filled and that means it was not abandoned.” None of us thought for one moment that our drekar would waste even an empty barrel but Harald’s words told us that the barrel had been lost accidentally.
“We keep a good watch! ‘Njörðr’ is out there!”
Having found Aed and the barrel we all had reason to be vigilant. When we landed, we would need all the men that we could muster and we had, thanks to Arne, precious few left. The ship’s boys had shown me that we had the raw materials to make warriors but, as I knew, it took time. As I walked back down the drekar I saw that Anya and Bear Tooth were together and were watching to steerboard. They were close and I saw that their fingers touched. Tostig
and his sister, Helga, were on the other drekar. Bear Tooth would have to speak with them if he wished to join with Anya. Despite my responsibilities, I would need to speak with him for he did not know our ways. I doubted that Helga would object but Tostig was a different matter. He had been wounded by the Skraeling and, like Arne, had had a poor opinion of Bear Tooth.
I ate and spoke with my family and Ada. It was not sleep but I felt more rested than might have been expected. In my mind, I heard voices crying for me to come to them. I did not recognise them, but they spoke Norse and they were my people. Somewhere, in the vastness of the ocean, the rest of the clan was still alive! As darkness fell, I relieved Aed who went to the prow to sleep with his own family. He hoped that his dreams would take him closer to his brother.
Although the seas had grown in strength there had been enough sun for us to take regular sightings and I had a reasonable idea of our position. If we had been alone and not seeking Padraig, then I would have changed course to the northeast for the winds would have sent us to the Land of the Wolf more quickly. As it was, we were heading for the land of Hrólfr the Horseman. The movement of our drekar became more exaggerated. We were sailing with the barest of sail. We sank into troughs and climbed up salty cliffs. There was no rain, but the wind was stronger than at any time since the storm. We had learned the lesson of the storm and everything was tied down. The damaged rope had all been used and we had even used some of ‘Jötnar’s’ rigging to secure all that could be secured. Our women and children had built nests and mothers had tied themselves to the mastfish and mast with their children in their arms.
When dawn finally came it was not with the promise of a fine day. The clear skies had become cloudy and although there was a hint of red in the east it was not the sign of a good sunrise for, as the old sailors said, ‘Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning.’ I glanced behind and saw clouds gathering. We were in for another storm and I prayed to the Allfather that it would not be as devastating as the first. Our rolling motion, even though we had built a drekar which was as stable as possible, made movement on the deck for most, impossible. Danr was at the masthead and I knew that less than a month ago he would have struggled to hold on, but he now did so with ease and it was his sharp eyes which spotted ‘Njörðr’. He was so excited that he forgot to give me its position!