by Griff Hosker
"Thank you Haaken."
He shook his head, "It was not me. Magnus Slender Leg here finished off this monster although I fear he has blunted his sword."
"I will thank you later, Magnus. Search the bodies for treasure and then get back aboard the 'Heart'!" I picked up the axe the giant had used and began to hack through the timbers of the deck. They soon gave way and I saw the hull beneath my feet.
I turned, "Back! I am going to sink her." I took three mighty swings. The hull must have been old for soon sea water flooded in when I had made two cracks appear. Aiden threw me a rope and I clambered to safety as the Saxon ship became waterlogged and sank slowly beneath the waves.
"Here, Magnus," I handed him the axe. "A souvenir." He took it gratefully, "Erik we have wasted enough time. Find the knarr!"
Chapter 2
We pulled inshore that evening on a deserted beach between two sets of cliffs in Frankia. After our encounter with the Saxons the winds had whipped us across to the east. The Saxon ship we had sunk had floated in pieces behind us as we had left the battle. Men clung precariously to the wood. Not many would survive but those that did would tell their comrades to fear the ship with the wolf on its sail.
Once we landed we soon had fires going and sentries posted. Siggi, Trygg and Coen had been more than grateful to us for our timely intervention. "It just shows, Jarl, that you were right to escort us."
Aiden nodded as he added more wood to the fire. "Perhaps the Gods were testing us."
Haaken grimaced, "Or the Norns playing with us."
"Just ensure that you have three or four of your men with bows at the stern. It discourages our enemies."
After we had eaten and broached a barrel of ale I summoned Magnus Slender Leg. "Thank you for your intervention, Magnus. I would have struggled to get my seax into his layers of fat." I took out a gold coin. "Here is for your trouble. Buy yourself a better helmet."
You would have thought I had slapped him. "I do not want coins for saving your life Jarl. I would be Ulfheonar!"
I was about to speak but Haaken beat me to it. "Young Magnus you may become Ulfheonar in the fullness of time but that is not the decision of Jarl Dragon Heart alone. The Ulfheonar decide and it takes more than one blow to the back of a wounded warrior to achieve that status. Even when you have satisfied the rest of us then you have to kill your own wolf. Take small steps my friend." He said it with a smile but Magnus did not take it in a friendly manner.
"I had thought, when we joined you, that we would be accepted as equals. I can now see that you think you are better than us." He stormed off to his friends who were by the south cliff.
Haaken began to rise, "Leave him be, Haaken. He is young and he will regret his words. Take it as a compliment that all such as he wish to become as you."
Sigtrygg said, "I do not agree Jarl. That one is a bad seed. I agree with Haaken."
"Let us not be hasty. We have months ahead of us to discover what he is really like."
We left on the early morning tide and sailed down the coast of Frankia. It was a slow voyage for the winds were not favourable but my men did not row. We had to keep pace with the knarr. There was an uncomfortable atmosphere for Magnus Slender Legs and his three companions had obviously felt slighted by Haaken's comments. I did not disagree with them but sometimes he could be a little blunter than he needed to be.
We passed the land which had once traded with us. As I had been told they were now closed to us because of raids by other Vikings and so we ventured further south. Here the land became hotter and fewer Norse had raided. I hoped to find friendlier ports. I did not mind raiding but I preferred to do it after we had exhausted the possibilities of trade.
Towards dusk Karl sighted a wide estuary. It looked a perfect place to rest for the night. There were wide beaches on both sides of the river but Erik was loath to risk drawing our drekar on to the sand. "We know not how much tide movement there is. I would sail further upstream where the effects of the tide might be less." He pointed to the knarr. "If they are grounded then we might lose both them and their cargo."
"You are the captain. We are in your hands."
And so we rowed a few miles upstream. At first I thought he had made a mistake for the banks were lined with reeds but eventually we discovered a small beach on the northern bank. We pulled closer to the bank and left the four ships anchored in the middle of the river while we waded ashore. Some of the men went and trapped a few of the birds which nested along the river and we ate well that night.
Haaken had had enough of Magnus Slender Leg's petulance and he put the four of them on sentry duty. He was a harder task master than I would have been. I wondered if Cnut's death had had a deeper impact on my friend than I had realised.
As we ate the food I asked Aiden. "Do you think this might be Vasconia?"
"It could be, Jarl. But I have no maps of the area as it is now. I just have the old ones from the times of the Romans. They are useful for many things but the names of these lands change so much that I just do not know. This could be Vasconia or it could be further south. The maps show this river. There was a Roman fort somewhere along it."
"But not at the mouth."
"No Jarl." After we had eaten and I lay down I found myself excited by this. It was exciting for we were in the unknown. None had ventured up this river. This was what I had missed back in my home; it was the challenge of something new.
I was woken by Ulf Olafsson just before dawn. "Jarl, I can hear men moving down the river." He pointed upstream.
"Wake the others but do so silently."
I shook Aiden awake and put my finger to my lips. He nodded. I strapped on my sword and walked along the river bank in the direction Ulf had indicated. I had no helmet. I needed my ears but my sword was drawn in case of danger. Aiden was behind me and I knew that Haaken and the others would be there too. Every few steps I stopped and listened. On the third occasion I heard noises from ahead. I regretted not having Snorri and his bow with me. I held my hand up so that the others would know there was danger. I saw a faint hint of dawn to the east. I knew that we would be in darkness for we were to the west.
Suddenly I heard voices. I did not recognise the language. I looked to Aiden. He nodded. He knew their words. He had mastered many tongues. He and Erik could speak more languages than the rest of us. Haaken and Sigtrygg silently stepped next to me with weapons drawn. The voices had stopped but I heard the sound of movement through the long grass ahead of us. I could make out shapes and they were moving towards us. They were armed men. I was about to order my men to attack when Aiden grabbed my arm and shook his head.
The advancing men spoke again. It struck me that they were not very good at this. They made as much noise as a horse careering through a forest and they spoke. If they had belligerent intentions then they needed to be quieter. Aiden's voice next to me sounded inordinately loud and made the advancing party stop. I could see them more clearly now. None had mail and they held just spears. Aiden spoke again and the leading man answered. It was maddening to hear a conversation and not understand a single word. It was with some relief that I saw the weapons lowered and the men advance, smiling.
Aiden turned to me. "These are the men from a small settlement just along the river. They spied us and thought that we were Franks from the Empire. This is Vasconia. We have found the land we sought." He spoke again to the men who turned and pointed. "He says there is a city just down the river, Bourde. There we will find Seguin I Lupo, the Duke of Vasconia."
"Do you think it is safe, Aiden?"
"I do not feel danger and if the Empire is their enemy then that suits us for the Empire has no love for Vikings."
By the time the sun had finally risen we were already on the river and rowing upstream. The knarr had to tack their way behind us. They would have an easier task coming back downstream. I had had my men don their mail. There were two reasons: if this was a trap we would be prepared and secondly, if we met someone, we would look more impre
ssive.
The city of Bourde was bigger than I had thought. I could still see the Roman influence in the stone walls and the fort. It was clearly a working port for there were wharves and jetties. Erik saw an empty berth and we headed towards it. I saw a reception committee coming from the gates. It was led by a warrior dressed in a strange overlapping armour. I had seen something similar in Miklagård. His head was uncovered but I saw that a young man, behind him, carried his helmet. I guessed it would be the Duke.
I turned to Haaken, "I will go ashore with Aiden. This may go well or the Norns might be toying with us again. I leave you in charge."
He nodded, grinning, "This may well be another fine story, Jarl Dragon Heart."
Although weapons were not levelled at us I could see the suspicion in the eyes of the warriors who faced us. Aiden gave a short bow and spoke. I recognised the words he used for he spoke in Latin. The leader smiled broadly when he heard the words and he nodded. I had tried to learn the language with Aiden and I had a few of the words but I recognised few save the word, 'friend'. The warrior spoke rapidly, too rapidly for me and Aiden nodded.
Suddenly and alarmingly the warrior strode up to me and throwing his arms around me almost picked me up. He put me down and began to speak. Aiden translated, quickly, "This is the Duke of Vasconia. He says that you are a wolf too. He saw the wolf skin. He swears you are brothers beneath the skin and he invites all of our men to his city."
"Tell him we will be pleased." I turned, "Haaken bring the Ulfheonar and the captains of the knarr. We go to the city. Erik commands the others. Bring your wolf cloaks." I saw the Duke send a messenger back to the city.
If Haaken thought the last command an odd one he said nothing. As they assembled I saw the Duke laughing and, nudging his men, he led us up to his castle. He had a fine gatehouse and I saw that he kept his ditch maintained. The Duke was no fool. The warrior in me worked out how to assault it. We were taken to what we would term the warrior hall but looked to me to be the old barracks from the Roman times. It had been converted to a place where a large number of warriors could eat. Slaves and servants were hurriedly putting drinking horns, cheeses, ham, bread and amphorae on them.
We waited until the Duke had seated himself and waved us to our places before we sat. his men sat on one side and my Ulfheonar on the other. I sat next to him with Aiden to my left. It was annoying having to speak through Aiden but there was no other choice.
"I would buy your fine cloak from you, Jarl Dragon Heart. How much would you want for it?"
"It is old and not worthy of a Duke. When I return home I will hunt a wolf and send you a new one. It will be the foundation of our trading alliance."
He had nodded as Aiden translated the words and he toasted us. We were not drinking beer but a powerful red wine. I hoped that Haaken and the others would exercise caution. I did not want them beginning fights because they were drunk.
"What have you to trade?"
Aiden listed the goods we brought and it seemed to impress him. He held up his goblet. "We have this fine wine. Perhaps we could trade it?"
I looked at Aiden. He nodded, "We may not have much use for it but they like it further north in Frankia."
"But we cannot trade with Frankia." I wondered what Aiden was thinking.
"Coen ap Pasgen can. If this Dukedom has rebelled then there will be a shortage of wine further north. It will have a higher value." I should have known that Aiden had thought ahead.
After we had eaten we returned to our ships. I was pleased to see that my men had exercised some restraint. When the Duke had examined our goods we made a trade which, in my eyes, was highly profitable. He seemed happy to take the iron which Bjorn Bagsecgson had thought too poor for his purposes. He liked our swords and spear heads too. We emptied Coen's ship and filled it with wine. He would head north to trade it and the Duke agreed that his ship could await our return in his port. I suspect he saw a way to continue trading and making money by using our ship. Pasgen's son was clever enough to make money from it. We put some other barrels of wine in the hold of Trygg's knarr and bade farewell to the Duke.
As we headed back to sea Aiden asked, "Will you send him a wolf cloak?"
I nodded, "I look forward to the wolf hunt. I have not needed to join the young men but now I can."
My men were all in good spirits. Sadly Magnus Slender Leg and his fellows took offence at the fact that they had been left aboard while my Ulfheonar had been feted. Snorri tried to explain to them that it was because of the wolf cloaks but they were having none of it. I feared that this would be the first and the last voyage that Magnus Slender Leg would take with us. We did not need this dissension in the drekar. We had to be of one mind.
We kept our weapons and armour close to hand once we began to approach the Muslim kingdoms. The Duke had told us that the land of Asturia was hostile to everyone, including themselves and they attacked first and asked questions later. We had decided to avoid that place and Olissipo too. The Blue Sea beckoned. We would not sail to Miklagård but we would try, instead, Italy. Aiden was curious about Rome's influence. We had seen much evidence of their works in our land. How much more would we see in their homeland?
Although I was worried about pirates coming to attack us I still sailed close to the coast. Aiden needed to mark the towns and ports on his maps. We kept the two knarr to the west of us. I felt that we could handle any attacker. We saw one or two places which looked as though they might be raided. They were the ones with a wooden tower and little sign of a castle. As we sailed I saw Haaken looking wistfully at them. The breeze was bringing the smells of the towns towards us.
"There would be rich pickings there, Jarl. I can see no castles."
"And we may raid them but not yet. When we have finished in the Blue Sea then we will consider that. Are you so keen to fight?"
He lowered his voice, "No, Jarl but some of the newer warriors are becoming a little restless."
"You mean Magnus Slender Leg?" He nodded. "He was a mistake. He has poisoned the minds of those other three warriors. He will not sail with me again."
"And there is nowhere to put him ashore here is there? Perhaps we could put him on Siggi's knarr. We always need warriors to defend them."
"I had thought about that but he might cause trouble there. Here we know who he has affected. Perhaps when we return and we raid, as you suggest, it might change him." Even as I said the words I did not believe them. You know with some warriors that they have a bad heart. Magnus Slender Leg was one such.
As we neared the Pillars of Hercules, as the Romans had called them, I had the grinding wheel brought up and we sharpened our blades. The Blue Sea was filled with pirates. The gleaming black bodies filled their dhows and they were ferocious fighters. The land of Al-Andalus was also dangerous now for it was filled with Arabs who preyed upon those who were not of their religion. I was wary but not frightened. Our ship was as fast as their dhows and we were better armed and armoured. The pirates fought without any armour.
Once through the straits we noticed a dramatic difference in both the sea and the climate. It became warmer and the sea flatter and much calmer. Using the sun to guide us Aiden directed Erik to sail to the north east of the Blue Sea. Here we were better informed for Aiden had charts which the Roman Navy had used. We would head for the land north of Sicily. It had been Lombard but the rumours abounded that some of the more remote places had become independent of their overlords. We would chance those. We knew not their names but their position. It was said that the Duchy of Naples now owed its allegiance to the Pope. Perhaps we could exploit this and make some good trades.
The knarr sailed closer to us. These were, for us, new waters. When we had sailed east before, Josephus had taken us further south than this. I knew that Erik was thinking of his old mentor as he took us through the waters Josephus had learned his trade.
"Land to the east!" We all looked at the mast head and saw Karl pointing directly ahead of us. Erik shortened the sail and
my men prepared themselves. This could be a hostile place or we could be welcomed. Aiden had been poring over his charts so much that I swear he must have had them in his head. He suddenly stood and walked to the prow. I could see, from my position next to Erik that there were high cliffs ahead. Was this a port? Aiden came back with a smile upon his face. "It is Amalfi, Jarl. There is a port there."
"Are you sure? Look at the cliffs."
Aiden shouted up to Karl, "Can you see ships, Karl?"
"Aye, there are many of them and they have a jetty too."
Aiden nodded, "I told you!"
Aiden might have been right but the ships I saw were not just merchant ships. Some of them appeared to be sleeker than the merchant ships. They were ships which could fight. We lowered our sail and went in under oar power. I was acutely aware that we were viewed with some suspicion. "Aiden it will be down to your language skills to make sure that we do not end up having to fight our way out."
"Do not worry, Jarl. Josephus told us that the people of this land understand Greek and I always have Latin to fall back on."
Karl and Cnut tied us up and the gangplank was run out. Aiden and I went ashore. I left my shield and my helmet. I was not there to fight. Curiously there did not appear to be a belligerent reception awaiting us. Instead we were greeted by well groomed and dressed officials. They addressed me but it was Aiden who replied and translated.