I turned to speak with Rollo. His face was filled with the joy of riding and, I believe, riding with his father. “Your grandfather told me of Ragnvald.”
His face changed in an instant. He hung his head. “I did not want him to! I can handle this myself. I am bigger than Ragnvald now. He cannot bully me as he once did.”
“No, you cannot. He has others who would join with him. I am disappointed that you did not tell me.”
“It is not the way of a warrior.”
“You are not a warrior. Your brother is much older than you are and he has allies.” We rode in silence for a while. I waved at one of the farmers who was tending his apples on the hillside. “Your grandfather has offered you a place in his hall.”
“Ragnvald will think I am afraid of him and I am not.”
“He will not. You wish to be a horseman. Hugo can make you a better one than I ever could. He knows even more than Lord Bertrand and your grandfather. If you are to be a horseman then you should be the best that you can be.”
“I would like that but I would miss you.”
“Do not worry. If you are here then I will visit every month. I have not seen enough of my father of late. Do you wish me to ask Hugo?”
He was silent and then he nodded, “But I am not afraid of my brother.”
“I know, my son. I never thought so for an instant.”
In that moment we made a decision that would change the clan forever.
Chapter 4
We rode to Bertrand and he agreed to help me raid Cancale. He had trained me. Now with grey hair and children he was keen to do all he could for me. “Ragnvald, why have you not advanced our lands further south? It is rich farmland. Carentan might become flood every year but south of it the land is fertile and the ground has no rocks. The Franks do not have many strongholds there.”
“Could we take it?”
He poured me some wine. I saw Rollo taking in every word we spoke.
“The land to the south and west of ours is Breton. We have kept the peace with the Franks and, thus far, they have not bothered us. It seems to me that by raiding the Bretons in Sarnia and Saint Maclou you have begun to make war.”
I sipped some of the wine.
“Surely you knew that when you raided?”
“It was a raid.”
“I am no Viking but I know that your people did not raid their close neighbours unless they wished to war and to take their land. That is what your father told me happened in the Land of the Horse and now half of that land is Norse.”
“I raided because we needed food and supplies. The coin we got will make our people safe.”
“And that means your people need land. We can raid Cancale by horses. It will be dangerous and it will cost men and horses but we can do it.”
“Then you say do not do it?”
He laughed and looked at Rollo. Bertrand’s servants had brought in the foreleg of a pig. He handed the platter to Rollo. “Eat this Rollo.”
“All of it?”
“Could you?”
My son considered and then, taking his knife out he cut a piece. He began to eat it. He nodded appreciatively, “Eventually!”
It was my turn to laugh. “A good illustration. We take it piece by piece. How far is it from Coutances to Cancale?”
“Seventy miles. The Bretons took Périers two years after we sacked it. They hold it but have not fortified it. That is half way from Carentan to Coutances. You retake Périers and then Coutances.”
“We do not have enough men to hold them.”
“Then do not. All you are doing is making certain that when you travel to Cancale there are no enemies in your path.”
What he said made perfect sense. We had not raided on horses for some years. We needed to do so gradually. I saw now the foolish nature of my initial idea. Bertrand had refined it for me. “That would mean beginning our move south in early summer.”
“In less than a month.”
“Would you be ready to accompany me?”
“We would. My men become rusty and my young men grow restless. If they cannot fight another then they will fight amongst themselves. Aye we will come. You will need Folki and Einar too. From what you say Finni will be in no condition to help.”
“Then I will see you at my hall in thirty days from now.”
As we rode back to the Haugr I could tell that Rollo had been listening carefully. “You do not go to conquer these lands? You go to raid them and then punish the Bretons for the attack on our ships.”
“You were listening, good.”
“One day will be conquer them?”
“Perhaps. Let us take short steps. As Bertrand said, we must eat this piece by piece.”
For the rest of the journey I was not questioned, I was interrogated about how we would do this. I was secretly pleased for it showed that my son had a sharp mind and understood strategy.
When my parents returned it was not for two days. Rurik One Ear was dead. My father believed he had waited to say goodbye to his oldest friend first. The death of Rurik changed my father. When he returned he seemed determined to make more of what he had. We went to his tower with a flagon of wine and we drank it all. It was a Viking custom. “I put his sword in his hand. Agnathia held his other and I heard his last breath. He is now in Valhalla with Siggi White Hair and Ulf Big Nose. They will tease him about his girth and speak of our battles on Raven Wing Island. You and I, my son, will send him hence with this wine.”
After had told me the tales of Rurik, most of which I already knew, he told me that he would make sure that my son was safe with him. Hugo was more than delighted, he was honoured to be given the task of training the grandson of Hrolf the Horseman. I told my father what Bertrand had said. “I can see the wisdom in that and I will send what horsemen I can. I know that Gilles’ boys, Rollo son of Gilles and Erik son of Gilles would like to go to war and there are young men here. Hugo and the others I will retain. I will not be coming. That is not because I do not wish to but I do not want you to worry about me while I am with you and you would. Besides I have a task here. I am going to make a horseman of my grandson.”
“Thank you, although the way he is growing we will need to breed bigger horses if we are to do so!”
“Aye, he may well be the biggest horseman ever! He has grown a hand span since he has been here. He will be a giant when he has finished growing.”
“The volva cast a good spell!”
I called in at Gilles’ horse farm on the way south. As I had expected his two sons were keen to take part in a campaign. They both had men who followed them. With the men promised by my father, as well as Bertrand and Gilles, now I had almost eighty horsemen to add to my thirty. One hundred and ten horsemen would be enough to challenge any Bretons.
When I broke the news of my son’s training I could not have had a more contrasting response. Mathilde was appalled that she would not be seeing her son. She used the word abducted. She flew into a rage and told me that Ragnvald would not be leaving her any time soon. Ragnvald showed complete indifference to the news. It was as though he did not have a brother. It confirmed, if confirmation was needed, that Rollo had spoken truly. When Mathilde stormed off with my daughters and Ragnvald made to follow I stopped him.
“You have been tormenting and hurting your brother.”
He did not deny it. “Has that milksop been blubbing to you? I was trying to make a Viking of him. He is soft.”
I was sorely tempted to backhand him but one day Rollo would return. Hopefully he would be able to handle himself. If I struck Ragnvald then it might be even worse between them. I nodded, “I do not think so and I am jarl but I am disappointed with you. My estimation of you had risen after the raid now I think less of you.”
My words hit him harder than any slap I might have used. He coloured. “There are others in the clan who do not agree with you.”
“Be careful, my son. If you surround yourself with flatterers and deceivers then you are laying yours
elf open to treachery.”
“I know who is true and who can be trusted. When I am jarl I will reward those who support me.”
“And I am not certain that you would make a good jarl. You are young. Perhaps you will change… for the better. I hope so.”
He tried to outstare me but failed. He turned and left. He was angry. So was I but I was the warrior. I would have to forgive him and try to change him. I wanted him to be better than I was. The man who led the clan would need to be better if we were to fulfil the Norn’s prophesy and rule Frankia. I put him from my mind as I prepared the assault on the Bretons.
The first thing I did was to visit Finni. I needed to tell him my plans and invite his assistance. I was pleased to see him walking about although I noticed that his men hovered close by for he looked unsteady on his feet. “Like a baby, eh Jarl? I am learning to walk again. And I get pains in my head. That priest of your wife says it is to be expected. Even ale does not numb them!”
“So long as you heal. I need a favour from you.”
“I owe you a life.”
I nodded, “I am going to take men to raid the land to the south of us. When it comes time to raid Cancale I want the Breton land to the south of us to be a wasteland. I need you and your men to guard my home for I will be taking my best men with me.”
“Then we will guard your home and your ships.”
I sent a message to Erik Green Eye and Einar Bear Killer. I asked if they had men who wished to raid over land into the heart of Brittany. If they said no they knew I would not be offended. I sent Leif Sorenson. He was a quiet spoken man and known to be of my hearth weru. I rode to speak with Folki myself. He had the largest warband. With Carentan’s walls to guard he needed many men. I rode with my other three hearth-weru. Snorri Snorrison. Harold Strong Arm and Haaken the Bold were all competent riders. They were better warriors in a shield wall but they had skills as leaders which outweighed any deficiencies they might have had in the saddle. My younger warriors would be around me in battle. They would be behind ready to fill gaps with other warriors. Like me they wore the helmet with the nasal and carried an oval shield which protected their upper left leg. Their byrnies were split to enable them to ride.
“You plan on taking Périers, Jarl Ragnvald?”
“Aye, Harold.”
“It fell quickly enough last time.”
“Perhaps we should have held on to it, eh?”
“At the time, Snorri, we did not have enough men. My father took the decision to hold on to Benni’s Ville and Carentan. Since then we have grown. Coutances will be a more difficult prospect but I would like to take that one and hold it. It is close to the sea and there is fine farmland.”
“I would prefer to fight on foot, jarl.”
“I know Harold but we must move quickly. A horse is the fastest way to cover great distances. With luck Jarl Folki and his men will give us the opportunity to do as we did last time and sweep around the flanks of the enemy. We fought Franks then, not Bretons.”
“We beat the ones on the beach!”
“We were lucky, Haaken. Do you think they would have been so reckless against a Viking shield wall?”
I rode with a handful of men to Carentan. Folki had not changed the Frankish town. He had just moved in and used it the way he found it. It had been me who captured it but I had not wanted to rule there. Benni’s Ville was close to Mathilde’s parents’ home and the Haugr. We had been spied from afar and Bergil Bjornson his lieutenant greeted me. “The Jarl is with his wife and sons in the hall. One of the men had composed a saga about our raid.”
Nanna was Folki’s wife. She was a lively woman and a wonderful mother. With flaming chestnut hair, now tinged by the first hints of grey, she threw her arms around me. “Jarl Ragnvald! Your wife is a lucky woman! You still look like a young man and yet my Folki looks like an ancient piece of rock.” She shook her head, “A large rock!”
She liked to tease Folki and he always took it in good part. “Perhaps the jarl would look as old as me if he was married to you!”
She laughed, “I will have a chamber prepared for you.”
Most of Folki’s hearth weru were gathered in the hall. These were the ten men who guarded Jarl Folki in battle. He had more than I did. Part of that was to do with the battle which had cost his brother and most of their clan their lives. These heart weru were the last remnants of that clan. Others had joined them but these eleven had a special bond.
“What brings you here, jarl? I do not think it would be to enjoy our food.”
“You know that we plan a raid at Tvímánuður?” He nodded. “I plan on beginning to pave the way for that by raiding Périers and then Coutances. I want to clear the land of Bretons. That way when we raid at Tvímánuður, we will not have to worry about our lines home being threatened.”
His servants had brought ale. He drank some. “We lost few men on the last raid. I could bring forty men. Would that suffice?”
“I have over a hundred horsemen promised. We would seal off the two hamlets and you would assault them. It might be, if the Bretons have not repaired the walls that we could take the towns with our horses.”
“But you need a shield wall.” He nodded.
“I hope to have more men. Erik Green Eye and Einar Bear Killer may join us. Their men will have sown their crops this would be a good time.”
The jarl looked at his hearth weru. Bergil Bonecruncher grinned, “I speak for all of the men, jarl when I say we relish the chance of taking land and treasure from Christians! It is easier than taking eggs from hens!”
By the time we left the next morning all had been arranged. Folki had young warriors who would scout out the two hamlets and we meet up with them at Lessay. That had been Frankish too but after we had defeated them the inhabitants had fled. A couple of families farmed there.
Erik Green Eye himself awaited me. He was also a greybeard now. With him was his son, Rollo One Ear. His son was a hero who had been with my father when we had made our land safe from Frank and Dane alike. As soon as I saw him my spirits were lifted.
“Jarl Ragnvald, we received your message although your father had already mentioned it to me. I am too old for such things. My heart would be there with you but I fear that my arms do not have the strength they once did. My son would lead my men.”
I turned to Rollo. “It would be an honour to have you fight alongside us. How many men could you bring?”
“I have fifty warriors who seek adventure, glory and, I hope, treasure.”
“The adventure and the glory I can promise but I am unsure about the treasure.”
“We will take our chances. You and your father are both known to be lucky warriors. When would you want us?”
“Twenty days hence at Lessay.”
“We will be there.”
“What of Einar Bear Killer?”
“He went to raid the Franks up the Issicauna. He said that he enjoyed the raid against the Bretons but he did not get to kill enough enemies.”
I was disappointed but I had almost two hundred men. It would be enough.
Rather than repairing my old helmet Bagsecg Bagsecgson had made me a new one. I had approached him when I had visited my father. We had made enough coin for me to pay him well. He had used some of the candlesticks and melted down the brass to make a strengthening band around the helmet. It ran down the nasal and up to the crown. It added to the look of the helmet. He also repaired the mail. It was a time-consuming process to make a whole new byrnie. I chose the two horses I would take with me and I had more spears made. These were longer than the spear we used in the shield wall. We had learned that enemies could lie on the ground. We needed something to deter that. My horsemen did not use bows but Rollo One Ear and Folki would make sure that we had plenty of arrows. The Bretons used crossbows but they did not have many of them.
Ragnvald kept away from me. He worked with the other ships’ boys. Our drekar needed maintaining and with new boys to train he would be busy. Noneth
eless it was obvious to me that he was shunning me. I had no time to worry about that. I worried more about Rollo for he was at the haugr and I missed watching him develop and grow. When this foray was over then I would visit him and my father again.
Folki came to visit with us. His scouts had returned. “Périers has no wall, jarl. They kept the ditch but they have yet to rebuild the wall. It will not cause us much of a problem. We saw men who were armed but most appeared to be farmers or men who work in the village. We saw smiths and potters as well as tanners. There is no warrior hall. Coutances is a different matter. They have a ditch and a wooden wall. They also have a watch tower with a bell. They have learned from Carentan. They have cleared the land around it so that we cannot sneak up, save at night.”
“Then we take Périers quickly and isolate Coutances.”
“Saint-Lô may be a problem. They have ramparts and they have mailed men there. There is a Bishop and a cathedral.”
“But we do not raid Saint-Lô.”
“I know, jarl but the lord there is powerful. He has ridden up to our walls on more than one occasion. We are too strong for him but he is not afraid of us. Lord Saloman’s family were given the town by Charlemagne himself.”
“What is his sign?”
“It is the sign of a hunting bird on a yellow background. He likes to wear a yellow feather in his helmet. Those of his men without mail wear a yellow kyrtle over their leather.”
“Thank you for discovering that. We will have Rollo One Ear with us.”
Brothers in Blood (Norman Genesis Book 7) Page 6