by Griff Hosker
I suddenly sat up and opened my eyes. Kara was standing at the door with a smile on her face. “I told you, father, mother is happy now and watches over us. You rest and leave all to me and Rolf. When you wake you will feel better and your new life can begin.”
Just as suddenly she was gone. I undressed and slept. She was right I was exhausted and, if truth be told, I wanted the chance to dream for if Erika inhabited the dream world then I would see her again. I did dream and I saw Erika again but this was the young Erika. This was before the Midsummer festival on Man and was when I first came to know her. Ragnar, Butar and my mother appeared in the dreams too but I heard not their words. I did see their smiles and watched the three of them as they laughed and played with the baby Butar. When I woke I felt both refreshed and at one with the world. It had been wyrd. I could do nothing about the events which took place. The Norns had woven and I was part of their plans and schemes. It was like trying to tell a storm to abate or the tide to retreat; you could nothing about either save live with the consequences.
It was the middle of the night when I emerged from my hall. The clouds which had plagued our voyage home had now scudded away and a bright moon peered optimistically above the hills. I could see old Olaf reflected in the waters. The waters were still, save for the occasional ripple where a fish rose close to the surface to devour an insect. It seemed as bright as day. I wandered down to the mound. As I did so I heard the sounds of the woods: the owl swooping on its prey, the snuffle of a hedgehog. I could hear them all clearly. When I reached the mound I touched the freshly laid turf. It was just Erika’s body which lay there and her spirit was in the Otherworld but it was a comfort to know that she was close. I walked around the mound and stood on the shore.
I picked up a stone and skimmed it across the water much as I had on the river when I was growing up. What would I do now? Kara would not marry and that meant that Arturus must for he had to have children. My ancestors had sent the sword called Saxon Slayer to me. I was part of a line which stretched back beyond memory. My blood was in the rocks of this land. I was not Norse. I had been born in this land from those who had lived here. I was part of this land the Romans called Britannia. Until I had found the sword and the tomb I had not known that. The sword had changed me from a Viking to something else. I had a past and that past would determine our future. I had been sent the sword for a purpose. Bjorn had told me the sword could never be used in battle and I knew that it was a symbol. Just as the wolf was my symbol so the sword was the symbol of the land. The wolf would fight and the sword would defend. I stood, as the moon dipped below the hills. I knew what we must do; we had to make my home and my land stronger. We had to provide a haven for those who wished to live like us. Erika had shown me that when she had taken in the sick.
I returned to the hall. Save for the two guards on the walls I was the only one who moved. There was silence. There was peace. I lit a candle and sat at the table. Aiden’s satchel lay upon it. It had been laid there before we had buried my wife. I took out the parchments and the maps. I could see the additions Aiden had made. These were the copies. I looked carefully at the place we had found the scabbard. It was marked by the original map maker as Luguvalium. I could see the Roman Wall began there and the river flowed through it. I had been sent there by the past. There was more reason than the treasure. That was the bait with which the past had caught me. The treasure was the land and Luguvalium was the key.
I followed the red trail Aiden had marked on the map. It was our journey north. I saw the place where we had fought the barbarians; it was marked by a cross. As I moved my finger west I found a small symbol. I recognised it as a fort for there was one on Windar’s Mere. I looked east and saw where Ulf and Ulla had built their farmstead on Ulf’s Water. I hoped that he had survived the winter for there was a pattern. The heart of my land was Cyninges-tūn. The body which protected that lay all around and just as I protected my body with armour so we needed to protect the land. I would spend the year making my land secure and then, when it was safe I would go to Miklagård. Part of my destiny lay there. I knew that. I was not a king but I had a kingdom.
Chapter 12
I was still seated at the table when the hall awoke. One of the slaves, Anya, peered fearfully at me as though she expected to be chastised. I smiled, “Fear not, Anya, and I am hungry enough to eat the leather from my boots. Some food would be most welcome.” She smiled and scurried off. The sound of my voice woke both Kara and Arturus. The contrast in their faces was startling. Kara looked calm and at peace. Arturus had a red and angry face as though he had been weeping all night.
Kara nodded as she sat down. “You have understood father. I see the change in you.” She put her arm around Arturus. He flinched a little. “You may be my big brother but I will heal you.” She rose and kissed him on the top of the head, “I will go and make you a yarrow and sage brew. It will bring peace to you and your troubled mind.”
After she had gone he said quietly, “She has changed father and it frightens me.”
“All things change my son and change itself should not be a threat. Besides she is still Kara, your sister. She has just become a woman.” He still looked confused. “Is Wolf, your dog, still the same beast as when he was a pup?”
“Of course not. He plays less and sleeps more.”
“And he has changed; as you have changed and Kara has too. As a father I might yearn for the days when the two of you played with me and bounced on my knee but we all grow. Embrace it.” I hesitated, “You are now a man my son. You have killed other men. You will soon be a man grown and need to think about fathering children. Your sister has shunned men and that, for her, is a good thing. You will rule this land when I am gone and you need sons.”
He looked terrified. “You will not die too, will you?”
“We both know that could happen but I do not think my death is imminent. Just heed my words. This death, which is sad, will change all of us. Let us change for the better.”
He seemed happier and after he had drunk Kara’s potion he seemed more relaxed. Scanlan came to see me. He had been a slave whom I had freed and he now ran the day to day business of my house.
“I am sorry I could not save the lady, my lord but she sent us hence. We were forced to wait outside while the two of them fought the sickness.”
“I know Scanlan and do not reproach yourself. My daughter has told me all. She will now be the lady of the hall. You and the others will heed her commands. I know that she is young but she has an old mind.”
He smiled, “I know, Jarl Dragon Heart. Fear not the women of the house all dote on her anyway.”
“Good. I shall be away for a while but we need to use the seeds we brought and make sure we have plenty of food. I would not have more of our people die in the winter.”
“We have cleared more land by the water and it will yield good crops. The sheep our men brought are growing well and their wool is of a high quality. We will have much to trade before the snows come.”
I went first to my blacksmith. I was anxious to see the new weapons we had found. The journey back and the events since we had arrived meant I had never even looked on them.
Bjorn was at his forge already and his boy was heating it up. “I am sorry for your loss, Jarl.”
I nodded. I would have to get used to this. “Have you studied the weapons we brought back?”
His demeanour changed. He was like an excited child. He went to a chest and brought out a sword. “I have. They are a wonder, jarl.” He pointed to the depression in the middle which was also on my sword. “Haaken and Cnut told me the purpose of this. I feel so foolish. I should have realised that before now. The blade is so much lighter and you use less metal.“
I took the sword from him. It was longer than most swords, mine included and yet it felt lighter. “Frankia is closed to us. We could go to the land which made this sword but that would take a long time. Could you make swords like this?”
It was as though
he had not thought of the question until that moment. “Not if we have to use the poor quality iron from captured weapons.”
It was a good answer, “Suppose we could get you better iron; how then?”
He looked at the blade and I could see his mind working. He looked down the Water and then up at the hills. “We would need more men and a bigger building if we are to smelt our own iron but, yes, we could. I could use these blades as models.”
I nodded, “I would use Aiden and his sharp mind.”
He grinned, “He would have been the first person with whom I spoke.” He frowned, “Where will you go for the iron?”
“I know not yet but I suspect that Aiden can help there too.”
“Yes my lord?”
Aiden appeared from behind me. “We need to make our own iron rather than Bjorn here just reworking old iron.”
He beamed. “In the parchments it tells how the Romans built kilns for their iron and I have ideas how to make the blades stronger yet lighter.”
I could see Bjorn was intrigued. “How? It is not like gold you know. You cannot melt it and make it run.”
Aiden looked at him, “Why not? If the rock is hot enough it will melt.”
“But you would need it in something which would not melt. Have you such a vessel?”
“Not yet but I have yet to read all.” He looked at me. “They would have many such books in Constantinopolis.”
I saw Bjorn’s puzzled look, “Miklagård,” I said. Realisation dawned. “That is for the future. Tell Bjorn how you would make them stronger.”
He looked around and then looked in his satchel. There were some pieces of yarn he used to tie up his parchments. He handed one to Bjorn. “Break it.”
He did so easily and laughed, “Give me a challenge.”
Aiden laughed and bound together many of the pieces. He twisted them and tied them together. The he dipped it into the water. “Now try.”
No matter how much he strained he could not. “That is unfair. This is more like rope.”
“Exactly. You do the same with the iron. Make thin bars and twist them together. When they are twisted you flatten them, fold them in two and keep repeating until you have a thin blade which is made from many layers.”
“That is similar to what we do.”
“Aye but then you take four smaller pieces and join them along the two sides. You will have a gap in the middle to make it lighter and yet you will have more strength. The tang will just have the core of iron. With the higher quality iron which we can produce ourselves we will have no need for Frankish blades.”
“It will take much longer.”
It was my turn to contribute. “Not if we employ more men. We have strong warriors who can no longer fight. Men like Rolf. They can beat iron. You would make the final sword but they could do the repetitive work. I have decided. We make the kiln and make our own swords. We have enough for now. You have until next spring to make us the finest swords in Britannia.”
“Come then, Aiden, show me how to make this iron kiln!”
When I reached the warrior hall I found myself feeling hopeful and that should not be. I had lost my wife and yet, deep in my heart and my head, I knew that I had not. She and my mother had much in common and just as I spoke with my mother in my dreams so I would speak with Erika. I would never touch her again but she would be with me wherever I travelled.
The Ulfheonar looked at me warily. Trygg, in particular, looked apprehensive. The man next to him was almost shaking with fear. I knew who it was. “Trygg what is the name of your relative?”
He spoke quietly and gestured towards the fearful man. “This is my cousin, Siggi Olafson.”
I went over to him and clasped his arm. He looked surprised. “I am sorry for your loss, Siggi.”
“I thought you would be angry and cast me out.”
“Why?”
“We brought the sickness into your home and your family died.”
“As your family died. It was meant to be and we can do nothing about it. Will you join us here? We need hard working families. If you are half the sailor your cousin is then we will do well.”
“Aye my lord, I am your man.”
“Good. Then Trygg, I want you and your cousin to go to Úlfarrston. Help Bolli to finish the drekar. When it is finished the two of you can be escorted to Frisia and we will trade.”
Haaken looked surprised. “You will trade with those murderers?”
“Of course. They will be cautious next time and we know what to expect. We received good prices did we not? And there are many priests. If the Count wishes to buy and then free slaves, who are we to argue?”
“And what of us. What do we do until the ship is finished?”
I pointed north. “We make our land secure. We raid and conquer Luguvalium.”
Kara and Arturus were the only ones who understood my energy. I knew that many of the women disapproved of my actions. They thought it showed disrespect to my wife. They wanted me to mourn. I was doing this just to honour her. It was for her that I was making our land safe. She had given her life for the people and the land so that she could become part of the land.
We called at Windar’s Mere on our way north so that I could explain to Windar my new ideas. “I want you to make your kinsman, Ulf, secure the eastern approach. He should make a wall strong enough to prevent anyone, Saxon or other, from invading and raiding from the north west. Even if you have to garrison his farm yourself it will be worth it. We go to make the north safe and when I have been to the west it will be winter and we will sleep easier this year.”
Windar shook his head, “You are changed Jarl Dragon Heart. Your eyes burn fiercely. We will do this. I have men who would travel north with you.”
I shook my head, “No but I will need them when we sail in the autumn for I need two drekar filled with warriors. I intended to show the other Vikings that we are now powerful. I want them to fear us here in our home.”
In truth I needed no more men. I led a warband of sixty warriors. Half of them were Ulfheonar. With our new weapons I feared no-one. Once we had taken Luguvalium I would travel the valley of the Itouna to subjugate the people. If they accepted my rule I would let them live but opposition would result in slavery or death. It was a harsh world and my loyalty was to my own and not strangers.
With Aiden still building his kiln I would have to rely on my own reading skills should we come across any books. As well as my warriors we also brought ten of the older boys. I was keen to gather any animals we might find and it would also be an opportunity to see how they fared when there was adversity and combat.
Reaching the col close to the Grassy Mere was a momentous occasion for many of the warriors and boys with me. Some had ventured this far north in search of game but it was a new world beyond the narrow pass.
We had time, this time, to investigate smoke. I wanted to know who lived in this land. Snorri spotted a number of huts up a side valley just after the col. The land was flatter here and looked as though it might support farms. I took just ten Ulfheonar to investigate. We would not need more. Dressed for war we would intimidate most people. I sent Thorkell and four warriors around to the north and we headed up the valley. The trees had hidden the fertile little dale and I spotted sheep and goats on the slopes. They had animals. I heard a dog barking ahead and knew that we were spotted. As the trees thinned I could see that they had cleared the land and were growing vegetables and what looked like either barley or rye.
There was a stockade but it was barely high enough to stop their fowl escaping. Three men stood there with an axe, an old spear and a Roman sword.
They spoke to me in the language of the Cymri. I understood their words. I could speak a little.
“Who are you? We have nothing worth stealing.”
Our weapons were sheathed and I spread my arms. “We mean you no harm but we now live just down the valley close to the large lakes. I am Jarl Dragon Heart. And who are you?”
The one w
ith the sword spoke, “I am Osric of Thirl and this is my family.” He seemed to see our shields and weapons for the first time. “You are the men of the north, the Norsemen.”
“We are.”
“What do you wish of us?”
“Nothing… at the moment. We are heading north to the place where the Itouna passes the Roman fort.”
His face became angry, “Then you will need to be careful for there are animals that live there. The men of the Hibernians and Saxons dwell close by and they are a cruel people.”
We heard shouts from the north and the men turned around. Thorkell and his men were walking towards us and a gaggle of women and children ran before them.”
“So you trick us too!”
“No, your families will not be harmed I gave my word. You were saying about the Hibernians and the Saxons. I have not heard of them before.”
“The Saxons came many years ago and they were bad enough masters. They would take our young sheep and our crops. But then the Hibernians came and joined them and then they began to take our children and our women as slaves.” He pointed to the north east. “We lived close to those hills and there were many of us. We were forced to flee here to this hidden valley.” He spat on the ground. “It is hidden no more.”
“If I get rid of this menace will your swear fealty to me.”
He looked at me suspiciously. “What would you wish us to do?”
I shook my head, “Warn me of any danger from the north. Share any surplus you might have.” I looked at the family. They all had similar looks. “And I have young men and young women who might wish to settle close by. I would have you make them welcome.”
He looked at the other men. They looked to be his sons. “Can you do as you say? I count only ten men. Dál Uí Néill has over a hundred.”
“And are they as well armed as we are?”
“Are you the ones who killed his brother?”
“I know not of his brother.”
“Some time ago his brother led a band chasing some cattle thieves south. They never returned.”