Runestone

by Anna Ciddor

Oddo gaped at her.

  ‘But we aren’t very far from home,’ he said.

  Thora frowned.

  ‘What do you mean we aren’t very far? We were rowing for ages.’

  Oddo snorted. ‘Yes, and getting nowhere. The wind and the current are pushing us the wrong way. Mother was right. We’ll never make it. It would be easier to swim all the way to market than row a boat there!’

  He stood up, groaning, and made his way on shaky legs towards the boat. His feet felt heavy, and the ground seemed to be rising and falling like the waves.

  ‘I guess we’ll have to spend the night here, then try to get back home tomorrow.’

  ‘You mean, give up?’

  Oddo was too upset to answer. He reached over the side of the boat and dragged out his fur blanket. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. It was wet with seawater and stinky with dog vomit. His clothes were soaked too. It would be sensible to get some dry clothes out of the chest, but he didn’t have the energy. He dropped the blanket on the beach, rolled up inside it and fell asleep.

  In his dreams he was rowing again. This time there was no land in sight, only endless sea. He couldn’t stop rowing. He had to go on forever and ever . . .

  ‘Oddo, Oddo!’ Rough hands were shaking him awake.

  Oddo opened his eyes. Thora’s hair was tickling his cheek and her breath was warm against his ear.

  ‘Oddo, I’ve had an idea!’

  The air was filled with a grey light. Oddo closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘Is it morning or evening?’ he asked. ‘How long have I been asleep?’

  ‘It’s morning, and you’ve been asleep all night. Listen, you know how you said it would be easier to swim to market . . .’

  ‘I didn’t mean it!’ Oddo’s eyes flipped open in dismay. What ridiculous idea did Thora have this time? She knew he couldn’t swim. He’d only been in the water once before, on the day he’d fallen overboard. The memory came back now with terrifying vividness: the choking darkness, his panic, and the sudden relief as Bolverk’s powerful fist grasped his hair and hauled him to the surface. Bolverk, with his growls and his frowns, who’d always been there to pick him up when he fell down . . . Bolverk, who lay in bed now like a dead man because of Oddo’s foolishness . . .

  ‘Oddo you’re not listening!’ Thora’s sharp voice cut into his thoughts. ‘I know you couldn’t swim if you were you,’ she said.‘But what if you were a fish or a seal or something? Then you could swim to the market. Easy!’

  ‘But I’m not a fish or a seal or . . .’ Suddenly Oddo realised what Thora meant. ‘Jumping jellyfish! You mean, I should do a shape-change?’ he asked. He started to sit up, then squawked with pain. Every muscle in his body was stiff and sore.

  ‘It gets better when you move around,’ said Thora. ‘Well, what do you think of my idea?’

  Oddo hesitated. ‘How would I carry all our things? And what about you and Hairydog?’

  ‘You could tow us in the boat!’ Thora sounded very proud of herself.

  Oddo frowned. Could it really work?

  ‘Let’s light a fire and have some breakfast and then we’ll try it,’ said Thora.

  There were a few bits of driftwood scattered on the beach, but they were all too damp for firewood. Oddo and Thora headed inland. In a short time they had collected a bundle of wood and dry leaves. They carried them down to the beach. Ceremoniously, Oddo drew his firetools out of his pouch. With stiff, sore fingers, he struck the iron against the flintstone to make a tiny spark of fire. On the third try, a spark landed on one of the dry leaves and flickered into a tiny flame. Thora blew on it gently to coax it upwards. A little twig crackled to life and soon the whole heap was burning merrily.

  Oddo leaned back proudly on his heels. Just at that moment Hairydog came bounding up, a rotting fish dangling from her jaws. She dumped her prize on Oddo’s knees and tried to lick Thora’s face with her smelly, fishy tongue. Oddo and Thora sprang to their feet, exclaiming.

  ‘Urk!’

  ‘Yuck!’

  ‘Hairydog, you’re revolting,’ said Thora.

  Oddo kicked the rotting fish into the fire. Soon the smell of cooking fish filled the air and his belly began to growl with hunger.

  ‘What are we having for breakfast?’ he asked eagerly.

  ‘Whatever I can find,’ Thora replied. She hung the cooking pot on its tripod over the fire, fetched the skin bag of water and a handful of barley from the boat, and tipped them into the pot. Then, to Oddo’s surprise she picked up some strands of seaweed lying on the beach, rinsed them in seawater and dropped them in the pot as well.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, handing Oddo the water bag. ‘Let’s find a river and fill this up again.’

  As they looked for a river, Thora kept stooping to examine flowers and plants. Every now and then she picked a few leaves. When they got back to the beach she added them all to the cooking pot. Oddo added a few sticks to the fire.

  ‘How long till the food’s ready?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, if you don’t mind the barley a bit hard and chewy we can eat it now,’ said Thora. She fetched their bowls and spoons from the boat and served up the stew.

  ‘I hope it’s not poisonous,’ thought Oddo. But he was too hungry to care. He spooned up a mouthful, blew on it to cool it down, then swallowed it quickly. After a few bites he began to get used to the taste. It wasn’t too bad, and it was hot and filling. He finished eating and licked the bowl clean.

  ‘No washing up!’ he said.

  Thora looked pleased.

  ‘I’m glad you liked it,’ she said. ‘Now let’s pack everything back on the boat, ready to do your shape-change!’

  21

  A wand and a way

  ‘First,’ said Thora, ‘we need a wand for drawing the magic circle.’

  She bustled off in the direction of the trees again.

  ‘Thora!’ Oddo tried to call her back, but she ignored him. Oh well. He sat and waited for her. He thought of the night when he’d been looking for his runestone and done a shape-change into a puppy. He’d done that without a wand or any fancy spells, just scraped a circle with his foot, and it had worked all right. Shape-changing wasn’t difficult.

  Thora reappeared, dragging a big dead branch and holding a spray of scented white blossoms. She dropped the branch in front of him.

  ‘You could have come and helped me,’ she said. ‘You’re supposed to choose your own wand. I had to lug this whole branch here just so you could break off your own piece to use for the spell.’

  ‘But I don’t need a wand,’ said Oddo. ‘I tried to stop you but you wouldn’t listen. I did a shape-change at home on my own one night and I didn’t use a wand. I made the circle with my foot.’

  ‘Oddo!’ Thora’s voice rose. ‘You can’t play with magic! It’s not a game. It’s very dangerous. If you do a shape-change without a magic circle, then there’s nothing to protect your real body while you’re riding the other shape. You can’t swim off to market and leave your body here unprotected. Anything could happen to it!’

  ‘Oh.’ Oddo examined the branch and broke off a short, straight twig. ‘Will this do?’ he asked.

  ‘Fine. Now you have to do a spell to make it magic.’

  Oddo rolled his eyes.

  ‘It’s just like the spell you did over that tool when you were making the runestone.’ Thora began to pull the blossoms apart. ‘These are rowan flowers. They’re good for protection. Put them in a circle round the wand. Now, can you remember the rhyme we made up for the tool?’

  We didn’t make it up, thought Oddo. I made it up.

  ‘Yes,’ he said out loud, and began to recite:

  ‘Magic from the ground, magic from the air

  Touch this tool and stones, leave your power there!’

  ‘Good,’ said Thora.‘You can change that a bit and use it for the wand.’ She frowned. ‘We should really have an incense burner, but a burning juniper stick will have to do.’

  She plucked a branch off a nearby
bush and lit it in the fire. Oddo took the flaming stick in his hand and concentrated on the little wand in its ring of rowan blossoms. A thick cloud of scented smoke from the burning juniper drifted towards Thora. She held her nose and tried to wave it away. Hairydog came running up to see what was happening. She bent her head to sniff at a rowan flower, then opened her mouth and snapped it up before Oddo could stop her.

  ‘Naughty dog!’ cried Thora, and started to cough. She pulled the dog back and held her firmly. ‘Okay, start,’ she croaked.

  Oddo chanted quickly:

  ‘Magic from the ground, magic from the air

  Come into this twig, leave your power there!’

  Thora was still coughing.

  ‘Is that it?’ he asked.

  Thora nodded, looking up at him with streaming eyes. Suddenly, Oddo felt a sharp pain in his hand. The burning stick had burned right down to his fingertips!

  ‘Yow!’ Oddo flung the stick on the ground, shook his hand vigorously and stuck his fingers in his mouth.

  ‘Careful!’ squeaked Thora, rescuing the wand before it caught on fire.

  ‘You see,’ said Oddo. ‘Every time I try to do magic, something goes wrong!’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Thora answered. ‘You just blame the magic when you do silly things.’ She held the wand out to him. ‘Do your shape-change now. Just let me get in the boat.’

  Reluctantly, Oddo took the wand and looked towards The Cormorant. The tide had fallen during the night and she was stranded high and dry on the beach.

  ‘We’d better push her to the edge of the water first,’ said Oddo.

  They positioned the boat half in the water with a rope dangling from the prow.

  Thora and Hairydog crouched on board and watched as Oddo bent to mark out a circle in the wet sand. Then he stopped.

  ‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘If I do a shape-change here, how will I turn into a boy when we reach the market? My real body will be here on the sand!’

  He climbed into The Cormorant with the others. ‘I’ll have to do the shape-change on the boat!’ he exclaimed.

  Thora shuffled back as far as she could, pulling Hairydog with her. Oddo laid the point of his wand against the floor. Then he stopped again.

  ‘This is going to make a fire,’ he said, looking worriedly at Thora. ‘Will the boat burn?’

  Thora shook her head.

  ‘It’ll be okay,’ she said firmly. ‘It’s a magic fire.’

  Oddo started to mark out a small circle. He felt a thrill of power as flames spurted up from the floor of The Cormorant. Hairydog barked excitedly. Heat flowed up Oddo’s arm and filled his body, so that he felt as if he were on fire himself. But this time it didn’t hurt, and there was no smell of burning wood.

  ‘Is it working?’ asked Thora.

  Oddo looked up, surprised. He’d forgotten that Thora couldn’t see the magic flames. He nodded and grinned at her.

  When the circle was complete, Oddo laid down the wand and sat in the middle, his back resting against the chest. He closed his eyes for a moment.

  ‘Something that swims,’ he told himself.

  Then he opened his eyes and looked at the flames expectantly. To his surprise, they didn’t seem to be rising up as they usually did. In fact, they seemed to be fading away. Then he saw why. Water was spilling over the side of the boat and washing across the floor. It was quenching the fire! The magic couldn’t work!

  The water was pouring in faster and faster now. Oddo tried to get up, to call out a warning. But he couldn’t move or speak. He could only watch, helpless, as a huge wall of water rose up and curved over the boat. Oddo had a last astonishing glimpse of Thora sitting there, grinning and unaware, before the wave crashed down on top of him! The water poured over his head and the violence of its wash dragged at him, sucking him out of the boat. He seemed to have no power to fight it, no strength in his hands to grab hold of anything. He just spilled overboard and into the sea. He glimpsed a seal flashing through the murky green water. Then he felt his body grow stronger. He began to glide, flicking the water with his . . . with his flippers. He saw a fish swimming past, and instinctively opened his mouth to gulp it down. Then he rose to the surface of the sea to get a breath of air. He glanced towards the shore. The boat was still lying on the beach.

  ‘The magic did work!’ he thought. ‘I’ve turned into a seal! And there are Thora and Hairydog and The Cormorant waiting for me.’

  Diving back under the water, he gazed around in awe. Here was a whole world he’d never seen before. Behind the coral branches and the fronds of seaweed, he caught glimpses of little silvery sprats, the orange glow of starfish, sea urchin spikes and prying lobster claws. And pulsing against his ears were the sucking and champing sounds of their feeding. He was dying to explore, but the memory of the boat on the beach tugged him back. Reluctantly, he turned in the direction of the shore.

  22

  Under the waves

  The moment Oddo touched the sand he felt heavy and awkward. When he tried to wriggle forward he just seemed to rock up and down. At last, by squirming on his belly and scrabbling with his front feet he began to move clumsily forward. He reached the towrope dangling from The Cormorant, gripped it between his teeth and turned back to the sea.

  A surge of excitement filled him as he slid back in the water. They were on their way! He flicked his tail happily, turned so the coast was on his left, and began to swim.

  Almost at once he was jerked to a halt, his teeth almost ripped from his mouth. The rope was pulled taut, but the boat wouldn’t move!

  Oddo raised his head out of the water and looked towards to the beach. Hairydog yapped excitedly. Thora was facing out to sea now, frowning and peering into the water. Suddenly she waved her hand gaily in the general direction of the sea and called out.

  ‘Okay, Oddo, we’re ready!’

  Oddo turned and tried again. He could feel the muscles all through his body bulging with the strain, and his jaws ached. But The Cormorant still didn’t move.

  Oddo let the rope drop from his mouth. He made his way back to the beach and hauled himself, tired and disappointed, onto the damp sand. Hairydog was barking at him frantically, her front paws resting on the side of the boat. Thora was still gazing out to sea. He honked at her but she didn’t turn, then he realised she couldn’t hear him any more than she could see him. Oddo lay gloomily on the sand.

  ‘Hey, what’s happening?’ Thora called.

  ‘Nothing,’ thought Oddo. ‘Nothing. I can’t do it.’

  He felt a gentle froth of water as the edge of a wave licked at the sand. A moment later, a whole wave washed over him. Oddo turned in surprise. He’d forgotten about the tide! He glanced towards The Cormorant. She was deeper in the water now. Maybe if he tried again . . . Honking enthusiastically, Oddo splashed through the shallows. Once more he took the rope between his teeth. He lunged forward, pulling with all his strength. Yes! This time he felt the weight of the boat easing away from the beach.

  The sound of The Cormorant breaking free boomed and echoed through the water. In the sea, everything sounded so loud! Even the wobbly body of a jellyfish just floating in the water made a noise.

  At first, it was hard to keep a grip on the rope. The Cormorant tossed in the waves and the rope bucked and twisted in Oddo’s mouth. But gradually he worked out a rhythm. He learnt to rise and fall with the sea’s pulse and soon the little boat was skimming easily behind him. His wonderful, streamlined body sliced through the water, hardly heeding the flow of current pulling in the other direction.

  He found himself swimming through a forest of brown waving seaweed. There were hundreds of tiny fish darting among the leaves. If only he could open his mouth, what a feast he could have! But he kept his mouth clamped tightly shut, holding onto the rope.

  Every few minutes he left his blue-green world to rise to the surface and take a breath of air. At noon, the light on the water almost blinded him, but as the day drew on, the surface of the water turned grey and dul
l.

  ‘It’s nearly night,’ thought Oddo, ‘Thora will expect me to beach the boat. But I can’t. Next time I mightn’t be able to get her off the sand.’

  He realised that he’d have to go on swimming night and day till they reached the market. Thora would be wanting to cook a meal, to lie down on the sand and have a comfortable sleep. Oh well. She had plenty of salt fish and cheese on board. At least she could eat.

  ‘Not like me!’ thought Oddo mournfully, watching another school of fish swim past his nose.

  As night fell, the water turned greeny-black. It was scary to swim through. Oddo kept imagining hungry sharks gliding towards him through the darkness. All around there were gurgling and gulping sounds from unseen creatures. Long strands of eel grass shivered against his face. Humped sponges glowed whitely on the ocean floor. A huge pike sprang out of the gloom and wolfed down a passing fish with its jutting jaws. Tiny things in the water gave off sparkles of light, but they seemed as distant and unfriendly as stars.

  Each time he rose for breath Oddo glanced towards The Cormorant. Her short, tubby hull, tapering to a point at either end, was familiar and comforting.

  At last the water grew lighter. Day was dawning. Oddo began to swim more rapidly, eager to reach the market as fast as he could. He found himself gliding across a reef of orange coral. Strange-looking starfish crouched among its branches, gathering tiny shrimps with spidery arms. Sea anemones waved soft pink fringes. A long eel-shaped fish flashed past, a stripe of white along its flank like a stroke of paint.

  ‘I’ll race you!’ thought Oddo.

  But after a while he began to have an uneasy feeling that something was following him. He turned his head to look behind. No, nothing there. From the corner of his eye, though, he glimpsed a shadow slipping out of sight. He swung back the other way, feeling anxious now. What was trailing him so furtively? He slowed his pace, and slid into a cautious, searching circle. There was a glimmer of movement far below. Suddenly, from the deeper, darker water, a huge grey shape burst into sight. It was a shark, and it was heading straight towards him!