by Griff Hosker
“Yet I hope that you will share the watch with Asbjorn and me.”
“Of course.”
“And,” I reached down and picked up the sealskin pouch, “mark the compass for me.” He nodded and took out the charcoal and compass. “I gave the hourglass to my father. When you see them turn it you could take a sight for me.”
“Of course.”
And so we settled into a pattern. I steered and the others trimmed the sails and chatted. Olaf watched the drekar and when my father took a sun sight then so did he. We were lucky that there was a bright sun. We headed north and west for most of the morning. With the wind from the north west we had to tack for most of the morning but once we cleared the north west corner of Hrólfsey we were able to take advantage of the wind as we sailed south and west. I smiled. My father had planned on a westerly course but the Norns had been spinning. We sailed close to Orkneyjar. The burning of the two farms had not been done out of sheer malice. We wanted eyes drawn there. My father believed that the jarl would send more men to punish us and burn our ships. This way we would have a good start over any pursuit.
As the wind filled our sails and the drekar sailed as she was intended, I was able to look at her critically. She was lower in the water than we had planned. Her decks were crowded. There were women, children, animals and cooking gear. We anticipated landing where we could cook and have hot food. If we had been heading for a raid with an almost empty drekar we could have done the journey in two hard days. As it was, we would have to double that. We were plodding rather than racing. The sun was at its height when we saw ‘Moon Dragon’. She was well astern of us. It was Olaf’s sharp eyes which spotted her on the horizon. He knew her well. His grandfather had sailed it for many years and he recognised the red sail. I sailed directly for ‘Njörðr’s’ stern. ‘Jötnar’ was like a horse which was eager to open her legs. We reached the drekar in a few heartbeats.
Olaf cupped his hands and shouted, “Jarl, ‘Moon Dragon’ is following!”
“We will use our oars and head between Ljoðhús and Skíð. We have a shallower draught than ‘Moon Dragon’ and we can lose her in the small islands.”
Olaf waved his acknowledgement and I tacked us to allow him sea room. The oars came out and as my father turned the steering board the wind and the oars bit together and ‘Njörðr’ began to draw away from us. We were now heading south and east. Asbjorn shouted, “Olaf, join Erik and watch for him.”
Olaf stared astern. “Your father has built two good ships. Already I can only see the mast head and top half of the sail. We will outrun her.”
I clutched my hammer. “Do not tempt the Norns, Olaf. We know not what is ahead.”
I saw that my father had sent Finn’s son up the mast to act as lookout. Olaf shouted, “I can no longer see them.” I looked at the drekar and saw that the oars were being drawn inboard. Rowing on such a crowded drekar was to be avoided. Finn’s son must have seen that we had lost them? My father then headed south and west. It was getting on to dark when we spied the coast of north Uist. I saw my uncle waving and so I took us closer. “We are going to find a beach to land.”
Siggi waved and then came aft to tell me. I stretched my arm, “And right glad I am! My back aches.”
Olaf said, “I would have relieved you had you asked.”
I laughed, “Do not worry, next time I will not be such a hero! I need to make water!”
We found an uninhabited island with a good beach. It lay to the south of Ensay. I saw the sails lowered and then the oars backed her towards the beach. My father turned her so that they could run out a gangplank. Once I saw they were safe I raced into the sand, “Prepare to lower the sail!” Leif, Olaf, Siggi and Arne were all ready. I knew my little snekke now and when it seemed we would fly onto the sand I shouted, “Down sail!” And as it came down put the steering board over. It was almost our undoing for the weight of the men and chests nearly capsized us. It did not and we rested in ankle deep water.
Asbjorn glowered at me, “Do not show off Erik Larsson! You are a better sailor than that!”
“I am sorry.” The apology was to the crew and the ship. I had learned a lesson. Arne, Siggi and I secured the snekke and while I went to make water, they began to light the fire on the beach. We would need many fires to feed all the people. When I had finished, I walked back to the snekke.
I thought that my father would be angry for he had seen my landing but, instead, when he strode over, he just smiled. “It is good that you are getting to know the limitations of both yourself and your ship.”
“She is fast!”
“I know. She is like a terrier. Other ships will be bigger but you will be able to dance around them.”
Snorri joined us. They both looked north and east. I asked, “Do you think that we have lost them?”
“I thought to make them believe we had gone to the land of ice and fire. Now they know where we sailed and they will follow. We will have to be vigilant.”
“You are riding lower in the water than I expected.”
“I know, my son. I can see that you are a navigator. We have too many people on board. We will have to rest ashore each night. We had to bring all who wished to do so. I could not leave them to be persecuted by the King of Norway and his lackeys.”
We sat by the fire and watched as the food was prepared. Arne came to join us. “I have looked at the chart. Mann is not far from this new land you wish us to use. What is to stop Bjorn and his men coming to attack us?”
“Nothing, Arne. In fact, I expect that once he knows where we dwell, he will come to try to destroy us.” Arne frowned. My father smiled, “There is nowhere else for us to go, my son. Yes, we may well be attacked but it will be not for a while. It is one thing to make Bjorn Lord of Mann but another thing entirely to expect the ones who live there to accept his rule. We destroyed the pirates and their ships but there are other Vikings who live there. We have made our choice and now we must live with it. We are Vikings. If we were not, we would live like the Saxons and tend fields. They sailed the seas once but now have given up.”
We ate well and we drank good ale. I slept on the snekke. Arne and Siggi tried to persuade me to sleep ashore. “No brother. I know it may sound foolish but when I sleep in the snekke I dream and my dreams are of the future. I do not understand them yet for they are like pieces of a torn piece of manuscript. I need to put them all together. ‘Jötnar’ is speaking to me and I must hear her.” They nodded and they left. Siggi and Arne were less worried about the snekke and more worried about those pursuing us. I saw them hold their swords and scabbards as they curled up before the fire. My sword lay in my chest. I would not need it.
I had woken, after my first night aboard, with a vivid picture of trees laden with fruit. It was not the land of ice and fire but where was it? When we had slept on the snekke in the jarl’s stad I had dreamed of trees with trunks so big that it took ten men holding hands to surround one. I was looking forward to the picture I would be sent this night.
When I woke I stared west. I had seen the sun set over land in my dream. The land was a forest. Did they have such forests in Hibernia? If it was not Hibernia then where was it? Was this the snekke or was it the Norns? I knew not but I woke each day and I was excited to be alive.
Once again it took longer to load the drekar than it should. We had tethered our two goats to graze on the salt grass. Siggi milked the female before we loaded the two of them. We gave the milk to the children on the drekar. There had been surprisingly little dung from them and Arne and Siggi had disposed of it at sea. The cow on the drekar was a different story. I had seen the two ship’s boys cleaning the deck while we ate.
Once again, we resumed our course south and west but as the day wore on my father made it more southerly and then, finally, south and east. We were heading for the coast of the Land of the Wolf. Once it had been a land which had welcomed Vikings. That had been when the Dragonheart ruled. No one had seen him for many years. My father said that h
e had to be dead. If he was alive then he would be more than a hundred years old. Yet no one had seen him die. His sword, the one touched by the gods, had disappeared and his granddaughter, Ylva, the most powerful of witches, now ruled the land.
We would use a beach which had no access to the land and we would trust the witch left us alone. In the end we did not reach the Land of the Wolf. It came on to dark as we neared the islands called Suðreyjar. The beach we found was long and empty. More importantly, as we had sailed south, we had seen little smoke from the island and none on the west coast. The snekke made a more sedate landing. I received smiles from the crew rather than scowls.
That night I slept aboard and I dreamed again. This time I dreamed of dragonships. There were three of them. They came towards my snekke and I was mesmerised. Their prows crushed our little boat. It was so vivid that I woke with a start. The night was pitch black. I rose and after taking off my breeks walked into the shallows to empty my bowels. I had just cleansed myself when I heard a creak. To a Saxon or a Pict, the sound would be dismissed easily but I knew that it was the sound of a drekar. It was out at sea but I knew the sound. When I had stood a watch, I had heard it. I stared out to sea but it was so black that I could see nothing. Was it a dream? I felt foolish. I returned ashore and donned my breeks. I could not get the thought from my head and so I went to the drekar. My father was not sleeping on board. He was rolled in his fur on the beach.
I shook him awake. “What is it? Trouble? Does the weather or wind change?”
“No but I woke and I am sure I heard a drekar pass by.”
He frowned. “You were not drinking heavily? Sometimes drink makes a man think he sees things.”
“No but I had dreamed of drekar.”
He touched his hammer, “Then perhaps you were warned and it was not a dream. There may be enemies ahead then. Tomorrow be ready to race to our aid if danger strikes.”
“I will.”
As we set sail the next day, I realised that I was now totally in tune with the snekke. My back had not ached as much the previous day as on the first. I was able to make minor adjustments calmly. I confess I was not sure that we would ever need to use the oars unless we were trying to get up a narrow river. We could use any wind even one from our bows. I told the crew about my dream and what my father had said. All of us knew the power of dreams. It was how the gods, the spirits and the Norns spoke to us. They planted seeds in our sleep and let them grow. The wind had changed to one from the west and north. It was stronger and felt slightly warmer. It would help us as we headed towards a beach in the Land of the Wolf. We could have sailed further south but we knew of treacherous sands which lay north of the Loyne and we wished to avoid them. This way we would arrive at the Loyne in daylight. That was always better.
It was getting dark when we spotted the two drekar. They were following us. We were close to the Land of the Wolf which lay just over the horizon. Olaf had just used the compass and it was he saw them. “There are two drekar. We had better tell the jarl.”
He hurried to the prow as I stopped tacking and used the wind to sail directly towards the stern of ‘Njörðr’. Olaf cupped his hands and called to my father. The wind took the words from me but Olaf heard them. I saw the oars being run out.
“Your father is going to sail due south. We are to keep four lengths astern. As soon it is dark, he will head due east and sail for the Land of the Wolf. He said we should keep sailing south. When the light has disappeared, we can lose them.”
Asbjorn nodded, “It is a good plan and the jarl does us great honour but it means that you have much upon your shoulders.”
“I know.”
Arne said, “This is your dream, is it not?”
“Perhaps the Norns are testing us. We will do as he says. Asbjorn, I can sail but all else will be up to you.”
“I know. Get your bows and slings. Siggi, you had better stay with the goats. When Erik begins to throw this snekke around then they may become distressed and we will have enough to deal with fighting two drekar.”
He glanced astern. “They are following and they have their oars run out. They are catching us.”
“And we cannot show them our turn of speed yet. I would have that come as a surprise. Arne, watch them for me.”
‘Njörðr’ was slicing through the water and I allowed her to move away from us. She would still be visible to the two drekar but as soon as dusk came then they would be lost in the murk of a darkening sky. A turn east would make them vanish as though by magic. The trick would be to distract them. Olaf had not recognised the drekar. That meant they were the King of Norway’s. They knew neither my father nor me. I would use that uncertainty to our advantage.
“Brother, they are splitting up to come on either side of us.”
“How far back are they?”
“Ten lengths or more.”
“Tell me when they are five lengths from us. Siggi, can you still see ‘Njörðr’?”
“Barely.”
It was time. “Asbjorn I am going to turn into the wind and head west and south. I want them to think I know not what we do. When they begin to turn too, I will race across their bows and head north and west as though we are heading back to the north.”
“It is a risk, Erik.”
“Trust the snekke, Asbjorn.”
He laughed, “It may be a short life but it will be exciting. Ready bows and slings.”
When I judged that it was dark enough and my father’s ship was hidden, I put the steering board over and we almost stopped. “Leif let out the forestay.”
We caught a little more wind and began to head south and west.
“Three lengths and closing. They are turning!”
It was working. They could no longer see the drekar and assumed that we were mirroring their course. I put the steering board over hard to head north and east. Leif’s action gave us a huge burst of speed. As we whipped around, I saw the prow of the nearest drekar. It was a skull with a hawk on its head. The men on the drekar were not expecting such a manoeuvre. The four bows and our slings sent a torrent of missiles at the drekar. I saw the bow of the drekar. It was less than a length away and beyond it I saw the second drekar. A mad idea came into my head. I would sail between the two ships. The prow of the first drekar was less than twenty paces from our stern as I turned. The huge drekar tried to turn to cut us off. Asbjorn and the others enjoyed free rein to rain arrows and stones upon the crew of the first drekar. The second Norwegian was turning. The sun was a glow in the west and, to the east, all was darkness. We were skimming over the waves now. The first drekar had men who had been hit. As we sailed past, I saw oars in disarray. The second drekar was turning and so oblivious to all but us that they did not seem to see that they were heading for their consort.
Arne was still whirling his sling but I was not certain he was close enough to hit. Suddenly he shouted, “The prow is going to foul the back stay!” I could not resist turning to see the two drekar become entangled. Oars were shattered and then the two ships disappeared into the darkness. I tweaked the steering board a little to larboard and the wind pushed us into the dark. We could hear the shouts from the two drekar as they tried to disentangle themselves. We had been lucky. Had they had archers or slingers ready then we could all have been slain as we sailed perilously close to the two of them. We were not safe yet. They were close enough to follow.
Asbjorn came to the stern. “You are right Erik, this is a special boat. We had better follow the jarl.”
I shook my head. “We are still bait. Let us head due east and find somewhere to land. My father will not light a fire. They will eat cold this night and we will not find them. Let them look for us.”
“How can they follow in the dark?”
I pointed to the water behind the snekke. Small as we were, we had disturbed the water. There was some sort of light which followed a ship when it sailed in the dark. A lookout would see the direction we had taken. “Eventually we will be far enough ahead
for them not to see our wake but until we see the coast we would be better staying on this course.”
He shook his head, “How do you know about this?”
“When we sailed to Mann, I was lookout. I saw the trails behind the other ships.”
“Then we will head east.”
“Leif, tighten the forestay again.”
I heard him laugh in the dark, “Aye Captain!”
I began to worry about sailing in the dark. It had been a clear sky when the sun had set but clouds had arrived and I could not see the stars. I think Asbjorn was worried too. “Erik, let us stay here for a while.” I looked at him. “We both know that a drekar under sail makes noises even above the noise of the sea. If they come close then we will hear them.”
“Arne, Leif, lower the sail.” We had a bag of oiled wool with a hole in the end. It was tied to a piece of rope. I threw it astern. It would not stop us moving but it would slow down the movement and keep us pointing with the wind. As soon as the bag filled the bow swung around and our movement became easier.
Olaf handed me the ale skin. We said nothing for we needed the silence of the night to hear the approach of the drekar. I drank deeply and handed him back the skin. Like the others I made water. I saw Asbjorn tapping most of the men on the shoulder and miming for them to sleep. He came aft and sat by me. Our backs rested against the strakes. Once I had attuned to the sound of the night and satisfied myself that the drekar were not close I relaxed a little. How had I known what to do? I had never been in the position before. I thought back to that day in the bay when I had found that piece of wreckage. Where was it now? Perhaps in touching the wood and sitting upon it I had been touched by the builder of the unknown ship. I would be a navigator but I knew that would not be enough. I had to be a warrior too. We were a small clan. Each of us would have to fight. When we reached our new home then I would learn.
After a while Asbjorn touched my shoulder and said, quietly, “I think we have lost them. Let us sail south and try to find the drekar. They will be worried.”