Odin's Ravens (Descendants Saga Book 2)

by Jerry Autieri

  He had done what the Christians called a good deed. The feeling of such a success warmed him more than the ale or even the hearth.

  At last the night's revelries began to slow and Hakon stood then pounded the table. Voices and laughter faded away as he waited for all the men in the hall to face him. To Yngvar he seemed like a more affable and kinder Erik Blood-Axe. Despite their age difference, the two brothers were strikingly similar in the manly planes of their faces and the wolfish gazes. Both radiated authority and readily commanded obedience. When Hakon had the hall's attention, he extended his drinking horn over the heads of the crowd.

  "Tonight we feast to the return of our heroes. They sit among us so humbly, as if they had not taken risks that would shake a strong man's heart." Hakon swept his horn across Yngvar and all his surviving crew. "Without their daring, perhaps I would now lie betrayed and murdered in my own hall. So it is their heroism we celebrate tonight. Let my skalds compose a tune to remember what they've done."

  The hall erupted into cheers, stomping feet, and banging tables. Yngvar lowered his head in embarrassment. Bjorn and Alasdair were red-faced as well. Both Brandr and Thorfast sat up straight for the praise.

  Once the hall silenced again, Hakon extended his palm and Fridlief appeared next to him holding gold arm bands. They clicked as he passed these to Hakon.

  "I promised gold and gratitude to Yngvar and his crew. They've earned that and more. Let me place these arm bands upon you so that men will know your greatness."

  When Yngvar did not rise, Hakon motioned him forward. Despite his hunger for glory, Yngvar shied now that he held every man's attention. He stood before Hakon, who held the sparkling armband in both hands. He smiled and bent the band open to fit around Yngvar's upper arm.

  "Not long ago, I stood before all of you and declared Yngvar and his crew outlaws. It was a necessary part of the ruse to get close enough to Gorm to learn his plans. I am sorry for my deceit, and more sorry for the unfortunate confusion that followed it."

  The allusion to Rognvald did not go unnoticed. Yngvar was certain he saw a man from the corner of his eye frown and fold his arms. Yet Hakon glided past that moment.

  "Yngvar and all his crew are fully under my protection and restored to all their rights as freemen. For those who were maimed or have died in service to me, I will pay the blood price owed. For those who still stand, I will pay silver to Yngvar for him to distribute as he will to those who served him."

  Hakon clasped the armband to Yngvar's bicep then patted it. He slapped both hands over his shoulders and held him. "You will remain with me. I will speak to Jarl Alrik and compensate him for his loss. I have great need of resourceful men."

  Yngvar inclined his head. He tried not to act like a boy receiving his first toy sword, but his smile could not be tamed. "It is a great honor, King Hakon."

  The hall cheered again and Hakon repeated his praise for each of his wolves in turn. Alasdair made the biggest fuss about receiving his armband. "I only did as commanded. My role was nothing, lord. Truly!"

  At last Bjorn carried Alasdair like a sack of flour and set him before the king. The laughter in the hall threatened to rattle the thatch from the roof. His armband had to be bent nearly twice around to fit his arm, generating more laughs.

  As night deepened, men siphoned out of the hall or fell asleep where they sat. Yngvar and his men had no place other than their ship. Some returned there, stammering out drunken thanks to Yngvar before leaving him. Others just collapsed to the table. King Hakon took his leave, but not before pausing to thank Yngvar once more.

  "We might have deflected Gorm's blade today, but he is not done," Hakon said. "I fear we will never be done with the Danes. My hungry brother and his family, they will nip at our ankles like beaten dogs. There are threats to my rule all around. But this country needs peace, and peace is made through the just application of law. That and a strong army. I will need you as part of that. Now get some rest."

  Hakon winked at Yngvar and his wolves, who now counted Brandr among their number. The king and his guards left him in the hall, the sounds of snoring and quiet speech filling the night.

  "What will happen to the false priests?" Alasdair asked.

  "I expect Hakon will send their heads back to Gorm," Yngvar said. "At least that is what I will suggest if he asks my opinion."

  Alasdair tucked his chin in thought. With everyone tired and bellies filled, they just stared at him. "Lord, do you think they might have been real priests?"

  "They couldn't read," Yngvar said. "So I don't believe so. They must have been desperate men from Wessex. All of them were old, meaning they were probably at the end of their lives and had families to see to before they died. One of them must have been at least fifty. How much longer can a man live? Anyway, Gorm likely promised to care for their families after their deaths. I don't think they expected to return home. The daggers were for Hakon and the poison was for themselves. That's what I think."

  "How did you know all of them were working together?" Thorfast asked.

  "Besides the fact that they sacrificed one of their own too readily, I thought it would be difficult to hide one false priest among so many real ones. Surely an impostor would have been revealed before he could get close to King Hakon. So it must be easier to have one real priest among many false ones. Besides, five killers would ensure the job succeeded, but one alone could be easily foiled."

  The others nodded. Bjorn's red-rimmed eyes were closing and his face slipping from his palm. Yngvar laughed and stretched. Alasdair still seemed troubled.

  "It's a lot of work to memorize Latin, lord. This plan must have been long in the making. Others in Wessex had to aid these men in this plot."

  "Don't worry for it," Yngvar said, patting Alasdair's shoulder. "Gorm is a king with resources men like us do not have. I'm sure Hakon will dig into where these so-called priests came from and who sent them. But it is not our concern, not tonight."

  Alasdair pursed his lips then seemed to put the matter aside. Brandr and Thorfast both stood, Brandr laying his hand on Yngvar's shoulder.

  "You've grown into a great leader," he said. "Grandfather Ulfrik lives in you. I may be your older cousin, but I am also your willing crewman."

  "That is heavy praise," Yngvar said. "I'm not worthy of my grandfather's name."

  "In time," Brandr said, smiling. "I hope I only live long enough to see how high you rise."

  "Enough praise, or he'll be calling himself a jarl by morning," Thorfast said. They all gave a small laugh, but Thorfast turned serious. "Thanks for seeing me through my wounds. You should've abandoned me."

  "Trust me, I considered it almost every day." They laughed again, and now Yngvar stood as well. Suddenly he remembered what he had left to do.

  "Ah, I had almost forgotten this," Yngvar said. "Wake up Bjorn for me."

  "Why not ask me to melt a glacier with a candle?" Thorfast poked Bjorn, who snorted and buried his face into the crook of his arm.

  "Very well," Yngvar said. He pulled the gold armband from his bicep. It was warm and smooth. He prized it for all it represented, but to him there was one who deserved it more.

  "Alasdair, for my life and for your endlessly worthy service, I award you this armband." He held it forward with both hands. "You may not stand as tall as us, nor carry sword and shield into battle, but you have proved again and again you are equal to the bravest of warriors."

  "No, lord, I can't accept such a generous gift," Alasdair said, nearly falling over as he scrambled back from the bench. "I only did what I could do."

  "Take it," Thorfast said. "Or I'll grab it and spend the gold on women."

  Yngvar pressed it forward. "It is yours. I might have found you learning letters from priests, but you have the heart of a warrior who goes a-viking and cares not what he risks. Wear it with pride."

  "Lord, this is your gold."

  Yngvar let the band slip into Alasdair's opened palms.

  "There is gold and glory waiting f
or me yet," he said. "And I have my whole life to find my fill of it."

  Author's Notes

  In the first years of Hakon the Good's rule, he had to repair the damage from Erik Blood-Axe's draconian policies. Hakon is most famous as a law-giver and protector of the land, and earned the title of "the Good" early in his career. He rebuilt his rule through systematic reorganization of the various provinces and assuring these provinces had a say in national matters. He placed leaders strategically to ensure these men were both mollified in their ambitions and in place to support his aims for the country.

  In this novel, we find Yngvar being "summoned for service" to King Hakon. The Vikings practiced an early form of "the draft," called the leidang. Hakon used this to bolster his own forces. However, the truly systematized practice would not become a permanent feature of Norse leadership until the eleventh century. Hakon would no doubt have seen similar practices in both Wessex (where they called it the fyrd) and seen it in practice with the Danes to the south.

  The leidang divided the land into regions that were responsible for building, provisioning, and crewing a single coastal defense ship for their region. The earliest ships and their crews were poor affairs. However, by the tenth century, which is the time of our story, these coastal defense ships were outfitted with men in mail shirts and iron helmets. They carried spears and shields as well as long swords. They were more like professional soldiers.

  The various chiefs and leaders responsible for sending their ships were usually anxious to participate when these coastal defense forces were sent beyond the coast. These sorts of expeditions were more like raids and were often profitable. All freemen were required to serve the leidang, either as a ship builder, provisioner, or crewman. The levied service period was not standardized but typically lasted three to four of the summer months. The leidang would also be summoned at any time an invading force threatened, and service would last until the threat was removed.

  Spies have always been part of any king's military force. Spying does not seem to match our stereotypical views of battle-mad Vikings hacking away at each other until the last man. It is too nuanced. Yet the Viking jarls all employed their spies, and it was the foolish leader who did not try to learn the secrets whispered in his enemy's hall. Often these spies would be nothing more than merchants who carried a tidbit of news with them from another land. Yet more formalized spies were dispatched with missions such as the one Hakon assigned Yngvar: to detail enemy strength, learn their plans, discover their weaknesses. The jarls could then plot their own strategies in accordance with this intelligence.

  So Yngvar was sent to spy upon Gorm the Old. Here we are still in the early years of the conflict with Denmark. Denmark did have claims upon certain territories in the south of Norway, which were essentially unenforceable. While this early in Hakon's rule we do not know of any serious Danish invasion, it is likely he had to repel many harassing attacks. He developed a system of coastal beacons to warn of Danish aggression, which we see the roots of in this story. Though historically it's likely he devised the idea on his own.

  Who was Gorm the Old? Despite the tales of the Jomsvikings, we do not know much about him. He was a great jarl, a king of Denmark. Did he rule all of Denmark? Possibly. He certainly ruled the majority of it. Was he old? While some ancient scholars thought him so, he was not such an old and slothful man. The Vikings enjoyed the irony of certain names. Their nicknames would often either reflect a physical characteristic or else be the inverse of it. So a short man might be called "the tall" and a young man be called "the old." Since our friend Thorfast likes to talk, Yngvar and Bjorn have taken to calling him "the silent."

  In any case, we know Gorm lived. He raised a famous runestone to his wife, Thyri. He was a pagan. He had children. At least one daughter, Gunnhild, who we have already met, and at least one son, who we spotted briefly in this book. That son will grow to be a famous man, and since this will overlap with Yngvar's time period, I will not say more about him. However, modern readers will speak his nickname almost daily. Though unnamed in the story, the young man will grow up to be called Bluetooth.

  Gorm struggled against the Old Saxons and Frisians, and these people were a constant source of pressure on the Danes. As seen in this story, Gorm had to constantly watch the south or else find himself bitten from behind. Perhaps this pressure is what kept him from a greater military advance into Norway. In any case, he had his hands full conquering most of Denmark and preserving his rule there.

  Now that Yngvar and his wolves serve King Hakon directly, he will find himself more impacted by national politics than ever before. While he still dreams of bringing home lands and riches to the girl he wishes to marry, the world will have its own way with him. Fate weaves a different strand than what he expects, and Denmark and Norway slide ever closer to outright war while Erik Blood-Axe fathers children that will covet Hakon's rule. More adventure lies ahead!

  I hope you enjoyed this book. If you would like to know when the next one is released, please sign up for my new release newsletter. I will send you an email when it is out. You can unsubscribe at any time, and I promise not to fill your mailbox with junk or share your information. You can also visit me at my website for periodic updates.

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  Other Books by Jerry Autieri

  Grimwold and Lethos Trilogy

  A sword and sorcery trilogy with a decidedly Norse flavor.

  Deadman's Tide

  The Children of Urdis

  Age of Blood

  Ulfrik Ormsson's Saga

  Historical adventure stories set in 9th Century Europe and brimming with heroic combat. Witness the birth of a unified Norway, travel to the remote Faeroe Islands, then follow the Vikings on a siege of Paris and beyond. Walk in the footsteps of the Vikings and witness history through the eyes of Ulfrik Ormsson.

  Fate's Needle

  Islands in the Fog

  Banners of the Northmen

  Shield of Lies

  The Storm God's Gift

  Return of the Ravens

  Sword Brothers

  The Descendant's Saga

  More historical adventure in the Viking Age. The grandchildren of Ulfrik Ormssson take the the seas in search of riches and glory.

  Descendants of the Wolf

  Table of Contents

  Contents

  Title Page

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Author's Note

  vens (Descendants Saga Book 2)