by Griff Hosker
I held out my hands in the sign for peace. I now had a few words in the language of the people of Rheged and I said, “Friend.” He looked at me blankly. He did not speak the language. Either that or I had spoken it badly. I repeated it in Saxon and he lowered his bow.
“Friends do not put a dagger at another friend’s throat.”
I nodded to Snorri who removed the dagger. “You are Saxon?”
He shook his head. “I am Lang and I am my own man.”
“And yet you speak Saxon.”
He nodded. I was taken as a slave when I was a child.” He shook his head, “I do not know where I was taken from. When I was older I met Morwenna, my wife. She too was a slave. I did not like the way my master treated her. I killed him and his family and we fled here. No one had bothered us until you came.”
This was an interesting development. “We will not bother you.”
“But you are Vikings. Your people raided the monastery close to where we lived in the east and killed the priests.”
“I know but I have said I will not harm you and you are safe.”
He looked surprised. “I can go?”
“You can but we would speak with you.”
“I have your word that you mean us no harm?”
I took out my sword. “I swear!”
“Come we will go to my home but, please, keep your weapons sheathed. My wife is nervous.”
He led us along the wall until we came to an opening. I saw that he had fashioned a gate with which he could close the gap. His wife looked fearful as we approached and she grabbed her children about her.
“Fear not. They mean us no harm.”
I noticed, as we approached, that there were two large logs outside the hut; they looked to be seats of some kind. They faced west. Lang gestured at them and we sat down. He looked at me expectantly, “You say you fled here. Why did you choose here to live? We have seen no villages close by.”
“That is because there are none. We travelled over the high mountain and saw no one. Once we dropped towards this fertile place we saw few villages and farms. We walked for a whole day and half and did not see anyone. When we found this valley we settled here.” I nodded. It made sense. “And you?”
“My warriors and I are at the long water just south of here.”
“Close to the animal water?”
“Where the haughs are close to the tarns?” He nodded. “Yes that is a good place to hunt animals.”
“It keeps us in food.” Even though there were five armed warriors Lang was not intimidated. “Do you come here to rule?”
I laughed, “No but we may come here to live. We may be neighbours. Does that bother you?”
“Not so long as we are left alone.”
“That is not always a good thing.” I told him about the Hibernians and the raid.
“That is why we chose here. No one passes. You are the first visitors we have ever seen.”
“But there is a Roman Road.”
“It travels to the coast and there are a couple of villages there but the pass to reach the coast is high. You know that in the winter you cannot get out of this land? The passes are blocked by snow. From the time a month before Yule until the first flowers peer through we are isolated.” He smiled, “I like that.”
“We will leave you alone but when we return to live by the long water I hope that you will visit. We have children and it might do your children good to visit with others and our wives are gentle too. Women like to talk do they not?”
“They do and I will consider your words.”
We left and his words had helped me to make up my mind. We would visit the other water and then travel back to Úlfarrston. I did not wish to be trapped in this land over winter.
The skeleton of the house was almost finished when we returned. Thorkell and the others had plenty of game although when we told them of the tarns and the animals he was rueful. We went east and not west.” He showed me his arms. They were covered in bites. “We caught the animals but the insects fought us all the way. I would sooner face a Welsh army than those creatures.”
As we ate, we watched the sun slowly set over Olaf’s mountain. I told them of my decision. “Tomorrow we will all finish the house. The day after half of the warriors will explore to the west, the mountain of Olaf and I will take the other half to visit this other mere. We will risk the biting insects.”
Chapter 11
Surprisingly Aiden did not wish to travel to the other mere with me; he wanted to go with Rolf to the mountain. He said, “I have seen the light reflecting from rocks.” He shrugged, “There may be metals there that we can use.”
Arturus was now torn but, in the end he came with me. The Ulfheonar all went north east to explore the land there. We would be leaving in a few days and I wanted as clear a picture of the land before I returned to Man.
It was the first time I had travelled in close proximity to Windar and I found him interesting. I had always thought him to be older than me; he always had a confident manner about him. I found that he was the same age as I was and he, too, had been briefly enslaved. It made the journey interesting as I found out about this warrior who was now a leader.
He showed his confidence within a mile of leaving the house. “My lord, Snorri and Thorkell said there were biting insects in the forests to the east. We also have to climb the ridge to reach the other side. Would it not be better to follow the water course we see?”
He had spotted a small stream heading north east. “As you will, Windar; we will try that way. According to Beorn it is not far to the other water anyway.”
It was a wise decision. In a couple of hours we spied the large mere on our right and we had travelled along the stream without the onslaught of insects. We saw a similar aspect to that of the other water except that this one was, as we had been told, bigger. The mountains to the east looked as high as the ones near to our pass.
Windar was particularly impressed. “This is, for me, Jarl Dragon Heart, a better place. I would like to live here.”
I was noncommittal but I stored his words. He sounded much as Thorkell had done when we had first seen the land around the Clwyd. We travelled around the northern edge of the water and saw the remains of a Roman fort and the huts of the village which surrounded it. I saw, in the distance, tendrils of smoke which bespoke isolated farms such as the one occupied by Lang. As we headed back I had an argument with myself in my head. I needed to sort out my thoughts before I spoke with my men and then faced my wife.
Aiden, when we returned, was almost beside himself with excitement. “Look, Jarl Dragon Heart. It is copper!” He held in his hands pieces of rock. “The mountain is full of it. I brought back as much as I could carry.”
Rolf smiled, “When he told us it was metal I had my men collect it too. If it is worth anything then I can take the horses on the morrow and we can collect much more.”
I looked at Aiden who nodded. “It is valuable my lord. It is not iron but we can mix it with iron.”
Rolf said, “And from the top of the Old Man you can see Man. It is a sign.”
“Good. Then we have two days to explore and gather and head south.” The warriors who were there looked disappointed. I realised that they did not know about the winters as I did. “I am pleased that you like this land for I am taken with it too but you need to know that if we stay beyond the first snows we would be here all winter. I, for one, would like to be with my wife when the snow falls. We have come ill prepared to winter here. I had thought we would have to fight to claim the land but that is not so. When the Ulfheonar return then we will hold a thing tonight.”
Back on Man, Prince Butar had begun to hold a thing for the jarls to discuss laws and to pass judgement. It worked and we had no blood feuds. We would do that this night.
After we had eaten we wandered down to the shore. Water fowl were swimming up and down, their calls giving a background to our words.
“When I came here I wished to find out more abo
ut the place my family originated many lifetimes ago. I now see that it was meant to be for I feel happy in this land. I thought I would never find anywhere which would surpass Man but, here, I do. We have trees, we have animals and we have metals. Man has few of those. I also believe we have security. The passes in and out of this land are easy to defend. We would not be prey to raiders from the sea.”
I stopped.
Haaken said, “You wish to come here and live?”
“I do.” I knew I had made it clear but Haaken knew me well and he was giving the question for those who might not have followed. “What do you think?”
Windar could not keep silent any longer. “I think it is a good idea. We visited the other mere today and it is a place I would like to call my home.”
Everyone laughed. Haaken said, “In that case we shall name it after you. It will be Windar’s Mere.” The name stuck and long after we had moved to the land we still called it that.
Rolf stood and rubbed his beard, “It is a fine place and I can see why we would want to live here but if you wish us to give our opinion I say what about women? There are few settlements. Where would we find the women and girls we would need to make more warriors?”
It was a point well made and was a setback. He was right, of course. It had been a slightly smaller problem on Man as there were the Saxons who chose to stay there but many of my warriors were now looking for a wife. They were ready to become fathers.
It was Thorkell who gave us the answer. “We had the same problem and we decided to use the slaves we captured. Most slaves would choose to be a wife rather than a slave. We have never had any problem finding slaves have we?”
“Aye but remember the last raid; we found only men.”
“You are right Cnut; we must raid further afield.” I pointed to the east. “I was born to the east and there are many villages there. We can raid in the spring. Before that we have the winter for those who wish to choose brides from Man.”
Aiden put up his hand. “You do not need to ask permission, Aiden. You are not a thrall and we value your opinion.”
“From what I have heard all who are assembled here would wish to move.” He paused and heads nodded. It was as though it needed someone else to voice the thought for it to become reality. “But what of those at home, on Man, who do not wish to leave the island? There are many who fled there for security.”
Aiden was a bright youth and he was right. All faces turned to me. “Then they can stay. As can any of you. I will do as Prince Butar did when we left Norway. Only those who wish to come should come.”
We talked around it for quite a while but everyone knew that we would come in the spring and we would be leaving behind some of those who wished the life on Man to the uncertainty of life here in this watery paradise.
We finished the hall and a second building before we left. They were crude affairs and would need improving when we returned but we would have some shelter when we came back. We decided to go back the way that Snorri and Beorn had arrived. We left by Windar’s Mere. There was a good deal of banter as we passed that huge patch of water. Windar took it all in good part.
“Just because it is named after me does not mean you may not look at it. Of course you may. Later I may charge but for now it is free!”
When we reached the river which led to Úlfarrston we stopped to examine the sections that would be too shallow. Ketil Flat-Nose had sailed with the Rus. “The Rus travel down rivers like this on their way to the spice markets of the east. When they reach somewhere like this they cut down trees as rollers and carry the drekar to the next patch of water. I have heard that they take them over mountains. Here it is just a few hundred paces.”
Windar nodded, “And we could deepen the channel easily.” He pointed to the vast water. We could not drain that.
We made the rest of the journey before nightfall and reached the crew of the ‘Bear’ and then Pasgen and Úlfarrston. As we sat in the headman’s hut we heard the first of the autumn storms crashed against the walls we realised how lucky we had been to have reached the houses when we had. Pasgen was pleased that we would be his new neighbours. His people allowed many of the men to sleep in their huts and only a few of my men had to suffer the rain aboard the ‘Butar’ and the ‘Bear’.
The next day Pasgen allowed us to use his ship the ‘Úlfarr’ so that we could transport all of my warriors down to Audun’ston. A week later and we arrived back in Hrams-a. We had not been away as long as I had expected and yet we had accomplished far more than I could possibly have imagined. I believed that, for once, the Norns were being kind. I realised, when the spring came, that I was wrong. They were merely playing with us as a cat might toy with a wounded mouse.
My ,, when I reached home was to speak with Erika. I was never one of those warriors who just expected their wife to go along with whatever idea he had. My mother would never have stood for that and the only marriage I had witnessed was that of Butar and my mother. I told her all the reasons why I wished to make the move.
She listened and then said, “So you wish me to leave my comfortable home and take just that which we can carry on a ship. We will travel to a land which is perilously close to the Saxons and where there is not even a house for us to use.”
“That is about it. Are you unhappy?”
She smiled, “No, you goose, but I wanted to make sure that you had given me the truth. It will be hard but, from what you say it will be even better than Hrams-a, eventually.”
I told her of the thing and how I intended to bring it up at the Yule festival when the jarls would visit me.
“Then I will need to prepare well for it may be the last such feast we hold. This might be the last time we see many of our people.”
As I said, she was sensible but thoughtful too. How lucky I had been on that midsummer all those years ago.
I made one exception I went to see Bjorn the blacksmith and confided in him. “Bjorn, would you walk with me and Aiden.” I had brought Aiden, not for moral support but for his knowledge of the metals. We walked by the sea. “Bjorn I will ask that you keep what I am to tell you in confidence.”
“I will, of course, but this sounds serious.”
“It is a decision I had not taken lightly.” He looked up at me with concern etched across his rugged face. He was worried and I could not keep him that way. “I intend to take my family and any others who wish to come with me to the mainland. We have found a place due east of here which I think is perfect.”
He nodded, almost relieved and asked, “The Ulfheonar will go with you?”
“They wish to as do most of Rolf’s men.”
“I am happy here and it is the place where my father died. I feel close to him here.”
“I know and I feel the same way about my mother.” I cast a glance at the spot where she had fallen. “If it is any consolation I always feel close to my mother and her spirit guides me still.”
He smiled, “As my father’s spirit does when I am working the forge. I can almost hear him when I make a mistake.” He looked at me, “You wish me to come?”
“With the exception of Haaken and Cnut there is no one closer to me than you. Every time I go to war I carry a piece of you with me. Your skill has saved my life and I am loath to lose that skill. Your brother Harald is now one of my warriors and he has already said he wishes to come with us.”
“I see.” He looked over to the west.”He has a young wife and two sons. It would be good for him.”
Aiden said, “You see that place you are looking at in the distance?”
“Aye.”
“That is the place we would go. Rolf and I climbed there and we saw Man.” Bjorn stared at the tiny spot of land as though he could see every valley and gully. Aiden held out his hand, “See what I found there.”
“Copper!” Bjorn picked it up and smelled it then held it up so that he could see it better. “This is high quality. Did you have to mine it?”
“No, for it lies on the ground
.”
“With this we could make even better weapons, armour and jewellery.” I smiled. He was convincing himself. He looked at me and I could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I have a family.” I went to speak. “I will not mention this but if I come with you and they like it not I will return and I mean no disrespect to you.”
“And I will take none. Thank you for that.”
He put his arm around Aiden. Bjorn was so big that it went all the way. “And you and I have much work to do. We need to repair the sword of Rheged before it is returned there.”
As it was to be the last Yule on Man I had gifts made for the jarls. I used some of the gold we had acquired to have wolf brooches made for their cloaks. Bjorn and Aiden even managed to incorporate some of the copper into the design. It seemed to make them look even better.
The hall was packed and all were seated as close as it was possible to do. Erika had made sure that we had plenty of food and ale. Since her mother had died two years earlier it had been my wife who was seen as the island’s matriarch and she wanted no-one to suffer. When we went it would be Erik’s wife who would fulfil that function. Erika and I could not see him leaving the island. His wife was far too comfortable for that and besides she had always slightly resented Erika. This would be her opportunity to be Queen of the island.
When all had eaten and Haaken had sung his latest saga I stood and silence descended. All knew there was to be an announcement and there was much speculation. I had even heard the rumour that I was to name myself King of Man; as if that would ever happen. Prince Butar had been the only one entitled to a title on Man.
“Friends, for I feel that we are friends, this will be the last Yule my family and I spend on Man. When the winter storms are over we will travel to our new home across the water in Rheged.”
There was an audible gasp although one or two nudged their neighbours as much as to say, “I told you so.” I knew that despite my wishes the secret was no longer a secret.