Hrolf the Viking (Norman Genesis Book 1)

by Griff Hosker

  "We eat well tonight. The rest of the ale and the grain I have bought comes tomorrow!" he shook his head. "This is an expensive place. We had best hunt again soon!"

  After we had eaten the Jarl introduced us to the new men. He told a little about them as he did so. In some cases it was the reason they had their nickname. In others it was for a deed they had done. After Erik One Arm had been introduced he spoke of me. He spent longer this time and told of my thraldom, my service to the Dragonheart and my visit to the witch. Every eye was upon me. I wondered if I had grown a third ear in the middle of my face.

  Then one by one our new crew stood and gave their names. As they had lost their drekar and their jarl they were tight lipped about their past. I guessed that the Jarl and those who had spoken with them knew their stores but, for now, we just had their names. When they spoke them Sven and Siggi assigned them their oar and their chests were moved there.

  "Erik Green Eye."

  "Rolf Arneson."

  "Alf the Silent."

  "Harold Haroldsson."

  "Gunnar Stone Face."

  "Einar Einarsson."

  "Rurik One Ear."

  "Thorir Thorsten."

  "Ketil Eriksson."

  "Knut Eriksson."

  "Beorn Fast Feet."

  "Olvir the Child Sparer."

  "Gunnstein Gunnarson."

  When we were all seated on our chests the Jarl addressed us all. "You are now one crew. We are the Raven's Wing clan! We are brothers. I swear to look after you as a father and you must swear to follow me."

  We all shouted, "We swear!" Even though the original crew had all sworn an oath the fact that Hermund and his men had broken theirs meant we had to reaffirm ours.

  We stayed aboard the drekar that night. Dorestad was not the place to throw coins around. You might end of with a slit throat. We questioned our new shipmates about their experience and they asked about ours. I confess that I attracted more attention than I would have wished. Even though the crew of 'Raven's Wing' had sailed with Dragonheart I had been a closer companion for I had sailed aboard the 'Heart of the Dragon'. I had touched the sword touched by the gods. I was uncomfortable but I endured the interrogation.

  We were due to sail as soon as the ale and grain arrived but before it did so Imperial officials came striding down the quay to the drekar. The Jarl was suspicious and spoke to them from the sheerstrake.

  "Jarl, we have come to ask you about the taxes you paid yesterday."

  "It was the right amount was it not? I though it excessive but this is the land of Louis the Pious."

  "Do not speak thus! You are in enough trouble as it is."

  "Why? Have we broken laws? Have we avoided paying taxes?"

  Siggi said quietly to me, "Be ready. I smell trouble." I saw him catch Sven's eye and nod.

  The official said, "It is only of late we have allowed your kind to use our port."

  "If you are always this inhospitable then our visits will stop."

  The official held up a gold coin. "You paid with this yesterday!"

  "Aye. As I said I thought one gold piece was excessive."

  "This is a coin from the Emirate of Cordoba."

  "Aye, what of it? It is gold is it not?"

  "It is but how did you come by it?"

  The Jarl smiled, "We are merchants. We trade. We traded spices here yesterday and we now have Imperial coins."

  "You are pirates and we believe you may have stolen this. Cordoba is now an ally of the Empire. We wish to question you further."

  The Jarl spread his arms, innocently, "And we are here."

  "You are forbidden to leave the port until we have investigated."

  He nodded. I peered over the sheerstrake and saw the ale wife marching along with the firkins of beer. "Siggi, take four men and fetch our grain. Sven, prepare to leave! I would not suffer the same fate as Thorgeir the Clumsy."

  Siggi White hair tapped me, Arne and Ulf Big Nose. We grabbed our swords and headed towards the grain warehouse. We passed the officials and, worryingly, I saw them speaking to the Captain of the Guard. Siggi said, "We had best hurry. I think we have outstayed our welcome."

  Our sacks, all four of them were waiting for us. We hefted them on our backs. It looked like they would be all the grain we would have until we raided. We hurried back to the drekar. The sacks disguised us somewhat and when we passed the Captain of the Guard and his men as they marched to our drekar they did not recognise us. Once we had passed them we hurried. I saw that Sven had untied us from the wooden stanchions on the quay and the two new brothers Ketil and Knut Eriksson stood holding the ship to the shore.

  We hurled the sacks aboard and Siggi White Hair shouted, "Cast off! There are men coming!"

  The Captain of the Guard and his men were now running towards us in an attempt to prevent us leaving. Ketil and Knut jumped aboard still clutching the ropes. Six of our crew pushed us away from the stone quay.

  "Stop in the name of the Count!"

  One of the new men, Rurik One Ear, stood and put his hand to the space where his ear should have been had it not been sliced off. He mimed deafness. As we drifted with the current we all laughed. It was the first sign that we were one crew. We were unwelcome and we had been chased out of Dorestad but we were Vikings. As soon as you boarded a drekar you were feared. We headed south. We had a home to build and a future to begin.

  Chapter 5

  The guards had no bows and they stood impotently shaking their fists at us as we sailed out to sea. We were running out of places where we could trade. As we began to row, for the first time as a single crew, I said to Siggi, "Perhaps we could used Olafstad as somewhere that people could come to trade."

  He shook his head, "It would not work. You need a place with families. We are warriors. Your Dragonheart is lucky to have Úlfarrston and to have knarr to send around the seas. It is why we raid. We would trade if we could but we are seen as pirates. You heard the official."

  He was right but I still had my dream of my own land in Neustria. It seemed a long way away but I had come far already. A few years earlier I had been a slave. Now I was a warrior. Soon I would own my own byrnie. I was young and I had time. I would have Siggi teach me to be a better swordsman. I decided to have Erik teach me to speak the language of the Moors. Who knew when that skill might come in handy.

  The island was still deserted when we returned. I wondered if people may have visited from the mainland. It was only when we had been there for some time that we discovered the sea frets and fogs which sometimes hid the island from the mainland. It was isolated. That suited us. We did not use the side which the fisher folk had used; we returned to our beach. Olaf was buried there. This would be the home for our drekar. We would not be close to the haunted farmhouse. We were superstitious. It did not do to anger the spirits.

  Our first task was to build a hall for us. We left just Sven and the ship's boys to secure the drekar and we took axes and tools up the slope. Ten men went to cut timber, ten went to dig turf and sods. The rest of us went, with the Jarl, to find a site. The island was not large and we found a dell with a spring. It was sheltered from the east winds and it faced west. There was a ridge which gave some protection and the trees which grew there were small and could be easily felled. I was sent with four others to fetch the large timbers which had been hewn. This was the first hall I had built but I knew how they were made.

  Harold Fast Sailing took charge of the construction. We built the frame of what looked like a drekar. It looked flimsy. It was but a skeleton. Siggi and the Jarl had had the men dig eight huge holes in two lines. As soon as the eight trees were trimmed to the same size they were placed in the holes and packed with cobbles from the beach. We then had to summon the whole crew to lift the framework for the roof on top of the timbers. My muscles burned as we stood there. We had to wait until Siggi and Harold had fastened the roof to the timbers before we could relax.

  Jarl Gunnar was pleased. "Broach a firkin of ale! You have deser
ved it!"

  The barrel was soon empty but my arms no longer burned. The next part was equally as hard. We took out the turf from inside what would be the hall and began to stack it to make the walls. Then we had to bring over the rest of the turf which had been cut to build up the walls. I was sent with some of the younger warriors to collect thin branches of willow and hawthorn. I saw why when we returned. We had to scramble up the newly built turf walls to begin to fill in the gaps in the roof timbers. Finally, as the sun was setting, the first layer of turf was laid upon the hawthorn and willow to make a watertight roof.

  The Jarl nodded is satisfaction. "Tonight we sleep on the beach but tomorrow we celebrate our hall!"

  Sven and the ship's boys had gathered shellfish. Using the bones of two harms we had carved for our food during the day they had made a stew. All of us yearned for bread but the bread oven would be built the next day and it would be some time before we ate bread again. Although I was tired I knew I needed to work on my shield. I used a torch to search for beetles and when I had enough I crushed them to make a paste. I wanted my horse to have red eyes and the beetle juice was perfect for that. I would need to find some cuttlefish for their ink. But, as I went to sleep, I was happy enough with the work I had done so far.

  That night I dreamed. I usually dreamed but that night I dreamt of a horse. I rode the horse and I led my own men. The horse seemed to stride across the land eating up the ground. It was so vivid that I swear I could smell horse. I ached when I awoke. It would pass but I did not relish more work. The dream stayed with me. It lurked in the recesses of my mind. I would be a horseman and I would lead men. When?

  The Jarl divided us into three groups. Two small ones began to build the bread oven and the smithy while the rest of us fetched stones and sand from the beach. The floor of the hall would be made of sand, topped with stone and finished off with timbers. The large stones would be used for the oven and the smithy. Siggi White Hair and Ulf Big Nose disappeared for they sought clay. Without clay we could not have an oven.

  When the Jarl was satisfied with the floor we cut down more trees to make the timbers and the one doorway. For food we ate the salted fish which the dead fisher folk had left. Miraculously we managed to finish by dark and we had a roof under which to sleep. The fire in the middle was lit. We let the smoke filled the hall. It would drive away any unwanted animals and insects whilst drying out and hardening the roof and walls. Siggi told me that we might have to cut a hole in the roof for the smoke but he was confident that Harold's design would mean we did not need to.

  That night we finished off two firkins of ale and those with good voices sang songs and told sagas. It made the hall a home. The new crew had songs we had not heard before and they had not heard ours. Before we could raid again we needed more weapons making. We had our smithy ready but no smith. There was plenty of metal and Beorn Beornsson set to work making arrow heads. The new warriors who did not have spears could still make and use a bow. The ship's boys were sent to find the wood and the feathers to manufacture them. When the fire was hot Beorn began to melt the iron. I helped him by using the bellows we had fashioned from leather and a pig's bladder. It was selfish on my part. When he had finished I intended to make my metal studs. I had already made the mould from sand. We had a plentiful supply. I also wanted to see how Beorn made the iron molten.

  I used different muscles when working the bellows but I soon tired. I was grateful when Beorn said it was hot enough and I helped him to pour the molten metal into the moulds. He turned to go as I put the broken pieces of metal into the crucible we used. He stopped, "Do you need help, Hrolf?"

  "I think I can do this."

  He nodded, "Let me help you. We are one clan now. What do you make?"

  "Studs for my shield."

  He nodded approvingly, "That is good. Many warriors do not do that. They should." With Beorn's help I soon melted the metal. I was about to pour it when he took some burned charcoal. It lay around the fire and it had cooled. He dropped a small handful in. "It makes the metal harder and besides Thor likes it."

  We left the metal to harden, "The smithy is free!" He shouted.

  No one else had any metal to work and we let the fire die. I went down to the sea. A few warriors were collecting limpets and other shell fish. I saw Sven there. He was using a line to catch fish. "Have you caught any cuttlefish or squid, Sven?"

  He shook his head, "No they are further out." He pointed to some rocks which were just visible above the surf. "Try there but you will either need to dive or a net. Unless, of course, you can use a spear."

  I shook my head, "I need the squid blood. I wish to paint my shield."

  "Ah. Then use a net. Whatever you do not need we will cook! You know you do not need a great deal of it?"

  I nodded, "I want my shield to stand out."

  "Then you are a brave man for such a shield attracts warriors who will wish to fight you."

  "I just want everyone to know who I am."

  "You have dreamed."

  "How did you know?"

  "I recognise the look. Such as you are chosen by the gods or toyed with my the Weird Sisters. You are like the Ulfheonar or Berserkers. You do not tread the same path as us. I will watch you progress with interest."

  It took me all afternoon but I caught enough squid for the ink I needed and crabs besides. It was a good stew we ate that night. Arne had promised us that the bread oven would be ready the next day. I finished off my shield after we had eaten, for the days were still long. My fingers were stained and remained so for days but I had the effect I desired and the shield would have days to dry and to harden. I would apply a coat of resin the next day for I knew where the pines were. It would stop the inks from fading.

  As I lay down my shield Siggi came over. "I have been speaking with Sven the Helmsman. He says you wish to be known on the battlefield. That is either very brave or very foolish. You can use a sword but you have little skill. You were lucky fighting those Moors. Had they had swords then I would now be talking to a ghost."

  I nodded, "Would you teach me?"

  He grinned and nodded, "I will. I know you have the strength and you have the wit to fight for you are able to think. I need to help you harness the two, that is all. We will train tomorrow when the work is done."

  I was up before dawn. I could not sleep. I collected the resin first. Then I took my studs from their moulds. Only one was faulty. I put that in my pouch to use as a sling shot. I went to the beach where I hammered my studs in to the shield. I was pleased with the effect. Then I returned to the hall and coated my painted horse with the resin. The shield was finished. All I needed was to add a long leather strap to hold it against my back and it would be ready.

  Siggi White Hair was waiting for me after I eaten the last of the dried salted cod. The spring water tasted good. We had been lucky with our choice of sanctuary although I suspect the Norns had directed us here. I knew not why. I f I expected to be using 'Heart of Ice' I was wrong. Siggi waited with two old swords. He had rescued them from the supply Beorn was going to melt.

  "Why not use our swords?"

  He smiled, "I thought that you felt affection for that sword. It is special is it not?"

  I nodded, "The Dragonheart had it made for me. It is the most valuable thing I own."

  "And that is why we use these old things. They have neither edge nor point. I do not wish to be harmed by a lucky blow from you! They will suffice for what I intend." He threw one to me. It was heavier than mine and not as well balanced. Siggi smiled, "See already you realise that your sword is much better. If you can fight with this then what can you do with your own, eh?"

  I could see his reasoning. I stooped to pick up my helmet.

  "No, we use neither helmet nor shield. I want you to fight unprotected."

  "But you have a mail byrnie!"

  He laughed, "Which I have earned and when time allows I shall buy a full byrnie as I do not have the death wish upon me. I went berserk once. That i
s enough for any man. Now what do you try to do to an enemy when you fight him?"

  "I do not understand. Kill him?"

  "Good answer. Too many men try to show their opponent that they have more skill than they do. They play with their enemy. Such men are fools. You kill and you kill as quickly as you can. Where will you strike me to kill me? I wear no helmet and I have no shield."

  "Then your head."

  He shook his head, "Try it!"

  I swung my sword at his head. As he blocked it he hit me hard in the stomach with his fist. I doubled up, winded. The rusty blade was placed next to my throat. "You are dead and I have your fine sword."

  He helped me up and when I had regained my breath I asked, "Then what should I do? Should I have punched you when I struck?"

  "I was only able to punch you because I had blocked the blow. You had all of your weight behind the blow. You would not have been able to do so. I will show you. I will attack you!"

  I was ready with my left fist. I would show this old man that I, too, could punch. I was ready for a swing at my head. Instead the rusty sword darted out and struck the top of my leg. "I thought you would attack my head as I did with you!"

  He laughed, "Use your eyes and your wit. You are clever, Hrolf the Horseman. Watch your enemy, look at his eyes. Try to hit me again."

  I was tired of being made to look like a fool. My stomach hurt and my leg throbbed. I feinted at his leg for he would expect me to copy him but instead I swung sideways at his arm. He blocked it easily but he smiled. "Much better. I watched your eyes and looked at your body. I knew what you intended. Again."

  We spent the rest of the morning thrusting and parrying. He still made me look foolish but his praise kept me going. We stopped after I had made my most successful move. Instead of swinging at him I feinted and then turned away to bring my sword around his back. It was the first time I had surprised him. He was delighted and picked me up in a bear hug. "That is how you use your head! Had you struck me I would have been dead. We will stop now for we have done enough for the day. Come and sit by me. Fetch your sword."