by Griff Hosker
Rurik yelled, "Wait for us!"
I did for I knew that I could catch them as I was mounted. I waited until my companions descended from the store. Rurik rubbed his shoulder. "I am glad that we did not need a third arrow. I fear my arm would not have been able to pull back the bow."
"Come, we can catch them. They are tired and all but one are wounded."
The two of them ran alongside Dream Strider as we galloped towards the north coast. It did not take long to begin to catch up with them. One of them was lagging behind. The unwounded man was stretching his legs. It was not a clan we followed it was a band of bandits who thought to make coin while our ship was away. As I rode alongside the last man I smacked him on the head with the flat of my sword. He fell in a heap. I saw the haunted farm ahead and knew that they would think they had escaped us. That would not happen. I kicked hard and Dream Strider opened his legs. We began to catch the last wounded man. I rode beyond him. Rurik and Erik would catch him. I wanted to catch this man who deserted his comrades. He had fled three men with wounds and he had yet to test himself. He was not a warrior.
He ran towards the sea and their boat which was drawn up on the sand. Had he turned and faced me he might have lived. Had he been a warrior he might have decided that one on one he might win. He did neither and he kept running towards the boat. I rode behind him and swung my sword. I hacked deeply into his neck. I struck hard and his head was almost severed from his body. As he fell and his head hit the water it separated and floated, briefly. The dead eyes stared at me and then it sank beneath the waves. I allowed the tide to take out his body and then I returned to the two survivors.
When I reached Erik and Rurik, Rurik shook his head, "One was dead when we reached him. This one has not long to live. I cannot understand his words."
I stared down at him. His eyes were closed but I saw that he was breathing still. "Who are you?"
He looked up at me with wild eyes, "You are not supposed to be alive! How can a man fight a ghost?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know you! You were a slave and you should be dead yet you ride a horse like a Leudes."
"Speak clearer! I do not understand you! How do you know me?"
"You are a ghost!" His eyes closed and he died.
Rurik, who had not understood a word, said, "What was that about?"
"I know not but he called me a ghost. I have never seen this man before. I do not understand it."
Erik said, "I saw his eyes, Hrolf. He was terrified of you."
We gathered the bodies. We removed the few valuables from them and burned their remains. Rurik and Erik sailed their boat around to our cove. It would not do to leave a reminder for their friends. If I was a ghost then better they thought that and stayed away from our island.
We were more watchful from then on. I rode all around the island first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I took to sleeping in the store. If an intruder came at night then Dream Strider would wake me. The times alone were important to me. Who had the man thought I was? I had never seen him before. My home was far from the land of the Bretons. I now regretted burning his body. I could have looked for signs of his clan and his origins. Perhaps he had travelled here from my former home. Yet even that would not explain anything. I was a slave. What difference would it make if I were dead or alive?
The three of us were all glad when we saw the drekar as it appeared on the horizon. When we saw a second we wondered if this was our Jarl. I recognised 'Raven's Wing' and breathed a sigh of relief. I counted the oars and saw our drekar had each one manned. The Jarl had found replacement crew. The second drekar looked to be much smaller. I took her to be a threttanessa. She was lithe enough and she rode high in the water. She was not heavily laden as was 'Raven's Wing'.
I did not saddle Dream Strider but attached the cart to him and led him down to the beach where we awaited the arrival of our comrades. One of the jobs we had completed was to drive a huge timber into the top end of the beach. We had packed it with rocks and, as the ship's boy jumped ashore with the rope, we tied the drekar to the mooring timber. Had we known there was a second we could have made a second mooring post.
The Jarl jumped off and waded through the water. He looked relieved to see us. "Thank the Allfather you are safe."
Rurik looked at me and then the Jarl, "Are you a galdramenn, Jarl? How did you know we had trouble?"
"Come we will walk to my hall and I will tell you. The others can empty the drekar." We turned and headed up the slope. I handed Dream Strider's halter to the ship's boy. The Jarl asked, "What was this trouble, Rurik?"
He told him of the events of the last week. When he had finished I said, "One of those who died said he thought that I was a ghost and that I should be dead."
We had reached the hall. Rurik poured the Jarl some ale and he began his story. "Hermund the Bent has caused us great harm. When he landed with the fishing boat he told the Franks that it was you who had slain the fisherman and his family. He said that he had a killed you and that was why he had to flee. He named you as 'Hrolf the Horseman'. He said you had the mark of the slave on you. There is now a price on our heads. The Count of Neustria has ordered any who capture us to take us to Tours for judgement."
Rurik said, "But it was Hermund who killed them!"
I shrugged, "He is a liar and without honour."
"I am sorry, Hrolf. I should have seen Hermund's black heart. And there is more. The Count of Austrasia had also put a price on our heads for the burning of his abbey at Jumièges. We are wanted men. King Egbert of Wessex has declared all Vikings to be enemies of God and the south coast of his land is being lined with burghs." He quaffed the ale, "This is not bad. So it seems we must make our little island a fortress."
The door of the hall opened and Siggi strolled in, "I might have known you would be taking it easy!" He picked me up and hugged me, "How is the leg?"
"The sea water and the swimming helped."
The Jarl said, "And they were raided by men from the mainland. Hrolf is a ghost, apparently!"
Siggi seemed to approve. "You killed them?"
Rurik said, "Aye. That is their boat in the cove."
"Good, your brother comes!"
I looked at the Jarl, "Your brother lord?"
"Aye my younger brother became bored at home and he pestered father to give him a drekar. Poor Gunnstein does not realise that he will have to pay father back for his boat. It took me a year of serving with the Dragonheart to pay off 'Raven's Wing'."
Siggi poured himself some ale and after tasting it smiled, "Aye well 'Sea Serpent' is little more than a knarr. It should not take him long."
"You forget, Siggi, that there is a price on our heads. Wherever we sail men will hunt us."
Siggi laughed, "We are Vikings! We do not expect to be greeted with smiles and maids who fall on their backs and spread their legs for us. We expect them to run from us and to be terrified. We have the winter to make weapons and to plan our raids. Hrolf was right to suggest we winter here. We can raid as soon as the weather improves. Why we can raid when the weather is bad." He pointed to the land. "If three men can defend this island then two boat crews of Vikings should fear nothing! We make Olafstad impregnable!"
Winter Interlude
Gunnstein Thorfinnson looked like his brother. He was barely twenty and yet he had scars on his arms. He had been on raids. He had a mail byrnie and a fine helmet. I liked him as soon as I met him. Although his crew only numbered twenty seven with the new crew brought from Dyflin and the smith and his family we had to build a second warrior hall as well as a hut for the smith. Our little clan was growing.
Rurik, Erik, the Eriksson brothers and me were given the task of building the hut. It had to be close to the smith. Our new smith, Bagsecg Bjornson, was one of Bjorn Bagsecg's children. I had seen him in Cyninges-tūn. He was now married with two children; one a babe in arms. If his wife, Anya, was intimidated at the prospect of being on an island with almost eighty men she
did not show it.
The six of us working together soon made a hut which abutted against the smithy. Bagsecg said, "It is a trick of my father's. In the winter you get the heat from the smith to keep the home warm and in the summer the smoke keeps away the insects."
Anya said, "It is a shame it does not also wash the clothes to get rid of the charcoal and iron too!"
"I am a smith. What else would you expect?" Poor Bagsecg might be a mighty smith but his sharp tongued wife still ruled the roost.
She had no answer to that and so she rounded on us, "And I wish my feet to be dry!"
Erik One Hand could not rid himself of subservience. He had been a slave for many years. "The sand, the stones and the wood are effective. It is what we have in the hall but we can dig a better ditch around the outside if you wish."
His voice sounded so pleading that she relented and smiled, "No, Erik One Hand. This will be good." She looked at us as we began to take away the wood we had not needed. "The Jarl will need to find some women for you. It is not healthy to have so many men living together!"
Ketil said, "We wanted to bring some back this time but the drekar could carry no more. After the winter perhaps."
Bagsecg patted his anvil, "And I have the winter to make mail, weapons...."
"And gold," piped in Anya.
"Aye and gold." He looked at me. "It is why I came from Cyninges-tūn to Dyflin. I was the youngest smith in the land of the wolf. I had the leavings of my father and brothers. We did not like Dyflin."
Anya shook her head, "Jarl Gunnstein is a good man but the men who came there were barbarians! They stink and they have no manners."
"Aye, here we are safe and I can ply my trade."
I grinned at Bagsecg, "And I would be your first customer! I would have a mail byrnie!"
They all looked at me in surprise. Ketil said, "You are younger than us all! Where would you get the coin for a mail byrnie?"
I found myself reddening. Had I not proved that I was a warrior? "Wait here and I will bring gold!" The Eriksson brothers laughed as I left. I went to my chest and took out the golden necklace I had taken from the Moor. I also took two gold coins. When I returned I dropped the gold necklace on to the anvil. "Would that pay for a byrnie of mail?"
Ketil picked it up and bit it. "This is gold! Where..."
I snatched it back from him and gave it to the smith, "We raided before you joined us, Ketil Eriksson. I am one of the original crew remember. I am Raven Wing clan!"
Ketil looked contrite, "I am sorry, Hrolf. I forget that you are a warrior. You need a thicker beard!"
I shook my head and handed the gold to Bagsecg. "Well?"
He nodded, "Aye!"
Anya shook her head as she took it from him, "And how will I spend this? We are on an island?"
"Never mind woman, go and see to the bairns. Take your gold with you!" When she had gone he said, "This would buy a full byrnie."
"I have something different in mind, Bagsecg. I wish one which is split at the front from the waist to the knees."
He nodded, "That would make movement easier but you would not be as well protected."
"I wish it so that I can ride a horse with it. It needs to be the finest of mail links. I need it to be light."
"That is more work and..."
I handed him another coin, "And this will be payment which your wife does not see."
Ketil chuckled, "I can see I will have to play bones with you, Hrolf. I could become rich!"
"I gamble with my life not with bones!"
As the nights lengthened and the storms increased our life on the island settled into a comfortable routine. With the halls built we had somewhere sheltered to work when the weather made life hard. Men used the animal bones to make combs, needles and other intricate work. I groomed Dream Strider. When the weather allowed we fished, set traps, made ale and collected wood for arrows and spear shafts. With our own smith we now had a plentiful supply. Anya proved to be a skilful fletcher and she earned coins by collecting the goose feathers and making arrows. Anya liked gold!
And of course we kept a good watch. Every seven days a different four men would spend the week in what we termed the haunted house; the old fisher folk's hut. No one enjoyed their duty but we needed a watch to be kept on the mainland. The worse times were when there was a fog. We dreaded them sneaking over under the cover of a sea fret. The Norns did not send any enemies to us or perhaps the Allfather gave us special attention. As Yule approached Siggi, the Jarl and Gunnstein Thorfinnson took to planning raids for the spring. As I had some knowledge of Neustria I was often included. I took it as an honour for I was still young. Siggi White Hair told me, one night, it was because I had an old head for one so young. "Perhaps being a slave has done that for you."
I shook my head, "I visited the witch and went into the bowels of the earth. When you emerge it is as though you are reborn and you realise that you must value each day. We are given a short time on this earth. If you are to make a difference you take life seriously."
Siggi was older than the two brothers and despite the fact that he was not Jarl he took the lead in all the discussions. "We need slaves and we need women. Forget gold. We have had four fights in the last ten days. Someone will get hurt unless the men can release their seed."
"Hibernia then?"
"Aye or the land of the Cymri. I would have said Wessex but it is too risky now. We need to raid wisely."
I ventured, "What about the land of Corn Walum? King Egbert has fought there but it is not yet his, at least I do not think it is."
Gunnstein said, "I think you might be right. The men of Wessex slew many of the warriors there. It is a poor country but they have women."
Siggi clapped his hands together, "And tin!"
We all looked at Jarl Gunnar. We had discussed but it was his decision. He nodded, "It is not far to travel and we can be there in two days."
"It will have to be fine weather for 'Sea Serpent'." Gunnstein ventured his opinion. It was a mistake.
"If it is not then you can stay and guard the island."The younger Thorfinnson looked aggrieved. "We will have to have some warriors guarding the island when we leave to raid."
Gunnstein nodded, "Aye you are right." He looked up. "What about the land of the Bretons? That is close and we can be there and back before anyone knows."
"So far they have left us in peace. They are our nearest neighbours. There will come a time when we may have to fight them but not yet. They are no friends of the Empire. If they do not bother us then I will leave them alone. We may raid Neustria for it seems they are set on our destruction and I fear they may try to end our threat when summer comes."
"Then you have your plan, Jarl. We get slaves and then we raid Neustria. As I recall there is a port just at the mouth of the Liger, Nantes. The Bretons attack it all the time. It would be an easier target than Tours which has a Roman wall." Siggi White Hair made the final decision but he made it sound as though the Jarl had made it. He was wise.
And thus we decided what we would do when the year turned. The winter passed quickly. Unlike Ljoðhús there was no snow. There were no wolves and our animals began to give birth. It was as though we had found a piece of Valhalla here on earth. Only the lack of women cast a shadow over our world and when the wind began to blow from the south the Jarl decided that we would raid. Our clan went to war once more.
Chapter 9
My mail was not finished and so we set sail with me wearing my old leather armour. I had sewn in some strips of thin metal which we had made from the poorer quality iron. I sewed them on my shoulders and my arms. My mail vest also gave me some protection. Poor Erik had been desperate to come but the Jarl pointed out that he could not row but now that he could fight left handed he could help his brother who had been forced to remain and guard the island. Erik just wanted to feel needed and he was happy with the judgement.
It was not a pleasant two day voyage we endured. We took advantage of a wind from the south w
hich meant it was slightly warmer but, more importantly, it took us to Corn Walum that bit quicker. Some of the new crewmen had raided the coast and told us of a fjord which was deep enough for a drekar and had many villages along its banks. Our plan was simple. We would sail as far up as we could get and find a village to raid. Then we would sail down the fjord, back to the sea using the current to aid us. If we found more villages then we would raid them. We sought no treasure and we sought no weapons. It was women and slaves we needed.
We saw the coast before dusk. Karl the Red was the one who had raided there before and he stood at the prow. He used hand signals to direct us. We sat at our oars. Fully crewed we were very fast when we needed to be. Once we entered the river we would row hard for we would take down our sail. We wished to be invisible. It was just after dark when we passed the river mouth and we began to row. We did so silently. We heard a bell tolling from our steering board side as we headed up the vast patch of open water. Karl the Red had told us that it was sea water until we reached the river the locals called the Fal. He said there was another smaller fjord close to the village with the church. I knew that the Jarl had noted the bell. We were here for slaves but a church would have treasure and that was always useful. The book of the White Christ which had nearly cost me my life had brought twenty gold pieces in Dyflin. I had no doubt that it would fetch much more when it was sold in Lundenwic. That rich port was barred to us.
Where the river began there was a village on the headland. It was on the north bank and there was a creek next to it. We turned and headed for it. The smell of smoke drifted down the hillside towards us, it was a good sign. Ulf Big Nose leapt ashore and began to head up the slope. We tumbled out into the water. Five of the new men would remain with the drekar. We had that luxury now. Once again I was one of the first to follow Ulf. I knew how to move in the dark and keep my senses alert. Ketil and Knut were close behind me and, since our fight with the bandits, Rurik One Ear had been a constant at my side. He had learned to run with his good ear next to me.