by Griff Hosker
‘But….’ The light in the cave faded and I found myself flying once more. I felt cold and I had not felt cold in the cave. I opened my eyes and I was in the steam hut. It was dark and the fire was now just embers.
I wept. I had not wept before, but I did then. Ylva had not meant it unkindly but her words were like a death sentence. The life I had known was ended and a new one had begun. No matter how good my new life was I would regret the goodbyes I had not made. My life seemed to be filled with such unsatisfactory ends. I stood and wrapped my bear cloak around me. When I entered the hall I saw that Laughing Deer was not asleep. She sat by the fire and I saw that beneath the deerskin she was naked. She put her arms around me and held me tightly. Without speaking I knew that she had realised I was sad and had been weeping.
She said huskily in my ear, “I am sorry that you are sad. I did not mean it to be but a voice in my head told me that you needed the steam hut.”
I kissed her, “I am not angry, and the sadness will pass. It was right what you did for I am now resolved. We make a new life, but we need to find it in the west. I dreamed on the birch bark boat and saw a thundering waterfall which was as big as a sea.”
She stepped back with wide eyes, “I have heard of this place but how have you?”
I shrugged, “I dreamed it. We will speak more of this at another time. I am guessing it is many miles from here.”
“It is not in the land of the Mi’kmaq and I believe that the tribes there are fierce. They call it, Onguiaahra.”
I smiled, “My life, it seems, is not destined to be an easy one.”
Chapter 13 Erik
We did not speak of the dream again for some time. I had much to do. The first thing we would need to do would be to visit the mainland and speak to Chief Wandering Moos. As events turned out we should have done so sooner rather than later.
As it was the time of plenty Laughing Deer and Stands Alone worked on the vegetable garden as well as collecting the fruit which was gradually ripening. Poor Laughing Deer bemoaned the fact that there was no corn for her to grind. At first oats and barely had been considered a novelty but now she yearned for the food she knew. It was another reason to go to the mainland. I worked on the ditch. I used the spade made from the shoulder of a cow and the spears we had taken from Yellow Feather. I broke up the soil with the spears and then moved it with the spade. I mixed it with water and used it to pack behind the wood I had attached to the walls. The wood was now half-way up the hall. I wanted the ditch as deep as my leg and I knew I was making a great deal of work for myself. The safety of Laughing Deer and her sister was paramount. It took almost half a month to dig the ditch all the way around. I left a connecting bridge until I could manufacture a moveable one.
We celebrated the completion of the first part of the defences by eating our first lobsters. Laughing Deer knew how to make lobster traps and we captured our first ones just as I finished the ditch. We had four and they were delicious. My black beer was ready and that went down well too. Stands Alone still yearned for the sweet mead she had tasted. “We will need to find a hive and the bees who make the honey. I fear that there are none on the island. It is another reason to go to the mainland.”
Laughing Deer shook her head, “Not yet for it will soon be the time of the long sun and I would like to be here when that day comes.”
And so, we put off the voyage. I had intended to go in the next few days for it would not take me long to finish the ditch. The next day I made the bridge and the day after broke through the narrow piece of earth to complete the ditch. We were able to bring the bridge in to the hall or even have it as extra protection for the door. I saw no sign of danger and so I left the bridge in place while I prepared stakes and spikes. I intended to fill the ditch with seawater. When the clan had built the halls, we had dug a channel and it would not take much to resurrect it. To celebrate the completion of my task I lit the fire in the steam hut and indulged myself. I knew, from Ylva’s words, that I would not see her or Gytha but the smell from the leaves Laughing Deer had used had been soothing. Once again, I sat naked on my bearskin and I had the same floating experience. My thoughts were random, and I saw pictures in my head. It was like a dream rather than a nightmare and then suddenly a Penobscot warrior leapt at me. It was so real that I reeled, and my eyes opened. There was nothing there but what had made me start? The fire was not yet dying but I left and went indoors.
“What is wrong, my love, you look troubled.”
I forced a smile, “It is nothing; I just had a bad dream. I think, tonight, we will sleep with the bridge on the inside of the door.”
“Why?” I heard the fear in her voice.
“It is not finished yet and I want to try it to see how it can be improved.” She was not satisfied with my answer, but I began to kiss and caress her and soon she forgot my words.
That night I sent myself to sleep working out how to use ropes to pull the bridge up from inside the hall. The bridge was easy to build and then I dug the old channel out. Stands Alone loved it when I broke through and seawater cascaded along the ditch.
“I must warn you to stay away from the water. There are stakes and spikes in there. You could hurt yourself.” Once the water settled and the rush of water ceased, she became bored and wandered down to the river to search out shellfish.
Laughing Deer walked over to me and said, quietly, “Do we need this?”
I decided to tell her the truth, “You said you fear that Angry Voice had not forgotten you and that he might come to hurt you. It is a hard journey here in a birch bark boat but if he is determined…” she nodded, “and I dreamed we were attacked. It may be nothing but for a few days’ work then I have given us a warning.”
“The Penobscot are fierce warriors!”
I smiled, wryly, “I know, they killed my brother, nephew and cousin but I am a warrior, and this is now my home. It will not be as easy as they think.”
“You are a good man.”
“But I wish us to travel to speak with Chief Wandering Moos as soon as we can. Firstly, so that word can be sent to your family that you are alive and also to make an alliance with them. We are a small clan and cannot live alone.”
“We need weapons.”
I had expected that “Come inside and I will let you choose.”
There was a chest of weapons. They were not ones the rest of the clan wanted which was why they were left behind but each of them was superior to the bone weapons of the Penobscot and Mi’kmaq. She chose two seaxes for her and her sister. One was smaller than the other. They both had a scabbard.
“I will sharpen them for you. This weapon is not a stabbing one. It is a slashing weapon.” She did not understand the word and so I went to one of the fish we had caught in a net. It was hanging close to the front door. I took my seax and slashed it quickly. Even though it was a big fish with thick skin the razor-sharp blade ripped through it and the guts fell into my ditch. “That is how you use it!”
She nodded, “Stands Alone and I will practise. If they get in here, they will pay.”
“Hopefully, that will not happen, and my dream will just prove to be a piece of bad meat!”
She laughed, “I believe I am coming to know you and I hear when you lie.”
I flushed and said, “I am just protecting you.”
“You need not. Living with Penobscot men has made me, what is the word you use, tougher than you think.”
I hugged her, “And I will try to remember that.”
For the next few days, we both walked around the hall and tended to our tasks with one eye on the sea and one ear cocked for the scream of a Penobscot. Each night I walked to the spit of land which afforded the best view of the south and the west. I spied nothing except for the smoke from the Mi’kmaq fires. Crossing to the mainland was vital and yet neither Laughing Deer nor I wished to leave the island for our life was perfect. Stands Alone had grown to be an inquisitive and lively child. Her traumas were behind us and we both knew that the
longer she stayed on the island then the better she would become. If she saw Mi’kmaq warriors, then she might revert to her silent world. I returned each night to the hall as the sun set over the mainland. I did not think that they would come at night. I was wrong.
It was two nights later when our world changed irrevocably. I had managed to hunt an old deer on the far side of the island. I had gone there because I wanted to look at Horse Deer Island in case the Penobscot had gone there. It would have given them the shortest journey to our island. I knew that the deer had prospered for we had seen their dung. I had trailed them and seen that they were growing in numbers. One old female was limping. The herd would be better off without her and I used a bone arrow to wound her and then ran after her with the Penobscot spear. I caught her and finished her. Stands Alone was delighted when I returned to fetch the cart and she came with me. There was much we could take from the deer and after I had skinned it, I chopped off the hooves to melt them down for glue. We pulled the cart back to the village where Laughing Deer pegged out the hide and the two of them began to scrape it before we made water upon it. I butchered the animal and we hung the haunches in the larder and put the offal to be cooked. The head was put on to boil. We had salt in abundance, and we would brine and salt most of the meat. The choice cuts we would have when they had hung for a few days. I knew the meat of such an old animal would be tough and we would cook it slowly.
I had explained to Laughing Deer that soaking the tough meat in ale for a few hours before we cooked it would help to make it tender. She was looking forward to it. That night we were exhausted but we ate well, and I finished off the last of the black beer. I had a golden ale which was almost ready and as I drained my horn I said, “That beer was good. I think I will just taste the new batch.”
Laughing Deer laughed, I loved her laugh, “Let us hope you can find your way back to our bed then!”
We had not raised the bridge for that was the last task each night. Usually, I would go outside to make water and when I returned, I would raise the bridge. The brewery was just forty paces into the forest. Our alewives had chosen that as the best place. I took my horn and scooped a frothy golden hornful. It was as I was leaving, I realised that I needed to make water. My horn had a flat stand and so I went to the estuary mouth and laid it on the quay. By then I was desperate to pass water and I barely opened my breeks in time. When the splashing stopped, I pulled up my breeks and it was as I was washing my hands that I heard a regular splash. Waves might seem regular, but they are not, and this splashing was very regular. I stood and I sniffed. As usual, the wind was coming from the south-west and the mouth of the bay. As I sniffed, I listened; the sound was not one regular splash but a number. When I smelled humans, I knew that the sound I could hear was the sound of birch bark boats’ paddles. It was night-time and the Penobscot had come for Laughing Deer! I ran straight back to the hall and pulled up the bridge before dropping the bar into place.
One look at my face was enough for Laughing Deer who simply said, “The Penobscot.” Stands Alone opened her mouth to scream and Laughing Deer placed her hand over her sister’s mouth, “You must be strong. Get your weapon.”
I went to don my mail. I had no idea how many were coming but the mail would stop them from hurting me too quickly. The hall had a half-floor above the sleeping chambers. We used it for storage but as the only access was by a ladder the sisters would be safer there. “Take hatchets and my bow and get into the store above our bed. Pull up the ladder.”
“What will you do?”
“What I have to! Keep silent no matter what happens. Let uncertainty be our ally.”
I had my mail donned and my helmet was on my head when I heard the first splash and then scream which told me that the Skraeling had found the traps in the ditch. More shouts and cries followed. I strapped on my shield and donned my bearskin. I put the head over my helmet and fastened the clasp around my neck. Putting my seax into my left hand, I drew my sword and waited just three steps behind the door. I heard a noise from halfway up the wall. They were trying to climb onto the roof. There was little to grip there, and I heard a rumbling above me and then a splash and a scream as the warrior fell into the ditch. The others might just be injured or wounded; falling from the roof onto the spikes meant that at least one was dead. And then there was silence. I knew what they were doing. They were looking for another entrance. They could search all that they liked there was none. Viking halls had one way in and out. Another splash and a shout told me that they had discovered the ditch and traps behind the hall.
This time the silence seemed to go on forever. Were they trying to make me think they had gone? I would not fall for that trick. I heard whimpering from the half-floor and then Laughing Deer as she whispered to Stands Alone.
What they were doing became obvious when there was a crash from the bridge. They had made a ram and were trying to break down the door. It would take time, but they would break it down eventually. The longer it took then the more exhausted they would be. They had already paddled across the bay and the longer this went on the more chance I had of surviving. The ones who had been wounded would be bleeding and, as I knew, bleeding weakened a warrior. I just hoped to kill enough of them to allow Laughing Deer and Stands Alone to survive. Bear Tooth had told me that when a leader died then the rest lost heart. Angry Voice would be the one with feathers in his hair and the one who would come for me first. Then I heard hammering at the sides of the door. They were using their stone clubs and knives to smash the hinges. A splash and a scream told me that they had paid the price for such an attack. A voice shouted something, but I could not understand it. The noise stopped and was replaced by a sawing sound. They were cutting through the ropes which bound the bridge to the inner door. The moon must have shone and illuminated the knots. After some time I heard a crash and knew that they had succeeded. Now they had just the main door to breach.
The ram began again and now I saw the effect. Dust and splinters flew from the inside of the door and its hinges creaked. They were made of leather and were the weak point. If they realised that and used hatchets and tomahawks instead of clubs then they could cut them. The bar on the door would brace it, for a while at least. After many strikes, there was a crack and a shard of wood fell from the centre of the door. Voices outside screeched with delight. I said nothing but I could hear Laughing Deer’s soothing voice as she calmed her sister. Would the tale of our clan in this New World end with the three of us being butchered? Had my brother’s martial ambitions brought us to this? In my heart, I could not believe it. Gytha had not spoken to me but I felt her presence and that of Snorri. There were other spirits too. I was a Viking, I was Clan of the Fox and I would fight!
Through the ever-growing crack in the door, I saw in the moonlight the three Penobscot warriors who held the ram. It came to me that if they held the ram, which was a roof support torn from one of the huts, then they could not hold a weapon at the same time. If I could strike quickly when they broke through, then I might be able to hurt all three of them. I realised that if I stood directly in line with the door then they would hit me when they broke through. I stepped to my right. The centre panel shattered, and the bar cracked telling me that I had but moments. I wanted to shout to Laughing Deer to warn her but that would tell the warriors where I was. I had to remain hidden for the hall was dark and the moonlight outside would affect their ability to see well. I had to use every chance the Allfather gave me. I prayed that the Norns’ threads were stronger than the Penobscot’s will to kill us. The voice outside, I assumed it was Angry Voice, screamed out an order. It was that order which gave the three warriors extra strength and the ram smashed through the door, the bar and they hurtled in.
I had to be quick. The Penobscot were both smaller and shorter than I was. I had the advantage of height. My change of position also helped me as I brought my sword down on the back of the neck of the first one as he tumbled forward and even as bright blood spurted, I backhanded my sword ac
ross the throat of the second. As the first two died the third began to stumble and I stabbed him in the back, my sword sliding next to his spine. Outside I saw two more warriors as they began to cross the bridge and I stepped over the three bodies and the ram to fill the door. The first warrior had been watching his feet and as he looked up, he saw a huge bear, my helmet and bear head making me even bigger than I really was. His spear struck my shield but without any force for the terror on his face told me he was too shocked to fight. I pushed him back with my shield as I lunged at his shoulder. My sword went into soft, yielding flesh and muscle and, tearing it out sideways, he fell into the ditch.
I stepped into the doorway for that way I was protected by the hall and it meant none could get by me. In the bright moonlight which made the night almost seem like day, I saw that there were eight warriors left but at least half were wounded, and they were standing further from the hall. That meant there were three or four I had to fight. When I looked, I saw that one had feathers hanging down from his half-shaven head and when he shouted orders then I knew this was Angry Voice. They did not rush me, instead, they each threw their spears. I raised my shield to block them, but one hit the bear head. I heard a cry of joy and then a wail as the spear fell to the ground.
I spread my arms wide and shouted, “I am Erik the Navigator! I was Clan of the Fox but now I am the Bear! Flee while you can!” I spoke in Norse for I wished to terrify them, and it worked. Three recoiled but Angry Voice picked up a spear one of his wounded warriors had dropped and he ran to hurl it at me. He was just four paces from me when he released it and it struck my chest. The blow hurt but the bone head, sharp though it was, did not penetrate and shattered on my mail. I was not the warrior my brother and father had been but I knew, at that moment, that I had to take the offensive before they realised that they had weight of numbers on their side and that despite my defences they could overcome me. I ran towards Angry Voice.