by Griff Hosker
Aiden said, "The Norns wished us to visit here. They would not harm us."
I pointed to the north, "And now we must leave. Gunnar is in trouble."
Rolf Horse Killer asked, "How do you know, Jarl?"
Olaf Leather Neck said, "He dreamed it. The spirits told us and it will be true. Sharpen your axe boy, you will need it before long."
Aiden looked down at Haaken, "We cannot leave yet. We must attend to Haaken."
"You will cut his skull?"
Aiden looked to Olaf, "Has he stirred?"
"No, galdramenn. We gave him water as you said but he stirred not."
"Then I cut him. Build up the fire and boil water. Olaf I need a thin piece of metal as big as the palm of Hrolf's hand. I want the edges as smooth as you can make them."
Erik Short Toe said, "I have such a piece of metal. There is a hole in the middle will that hurt?"
"A small hole."
"Big enough for a leather thread."
"Then that will do."
"While I heat the knife he needs the side of his head shaving." He pointed to the left side of his head; the side near his empty eye.
"I will do that." He was my friend and my oathsworn. We had stood together in many battles. It was right that it would be me who helped my comrade.
I took my seax and knelt next to my oldest friend. I could not save his life but I could help those that would. I lifted his hair. He was vain and would hate the fact that his hair would be shorn but we had no choice. My seax was so sharp that I used it as a razor. I gently sliced the hair from the side of his head. I handed it to Hrolf. "Keep this safe, Haaken will want it." Then I slowly drew the blade across the depressed section of his skull. With the hair gone the hollow became clear to see.
Aiden said, "That is enough Jarl Dragonheart. You are a good barber!"
"I hope I am a better friend."
As I stood Aiden knelt and took my place. "No Jarl, stay here and hold his head. He sleeps now but he may move. It is wyrd that you are the one to help save him. Your friendship began when he lost his eye you are bound through all eternity."
I knelt and held the back of his skull securely. Aiden took my pugeo from the fire and used the tip to cut away a flap of skin around the depression. There was blood but not as much as I had expected. He gently lifted the flap and exposed the bone of Haaken's skull. I could see that it was broken and cracked.
"This is the critical time, Jarl Dragonheart. Now you must keep him still. I must remove the fragments of bone."
I did not envy him his work. He took away the larger pieces first and then used the tip of the blade to pick out the tiny ones. I felt a movement. "Aiden! He moved."
He said quietly, without lifting his head, "Then hold him. Olaf, the metal plate."
Olaf handed him the plate. I saw that it was just slightly bigger than the hole. Wyrd! Aiden placed it over the hole and I saw him breathe out. Then he took the bone needles and the animal gut in his right hand. He carefully and gently sewed the flap of skin back in place. I saw that where there had been a depression there was now a bump, albeit small. I felt a movement. "Olaf, hold his arms and stop him moving."
All around us my crew watched in morbid fascination. This was magic of the highest order. Aiden had been inside a man's head and it looked as though he might bring Haaken back from the dead. This was a White Christ miracle!
When he finished he sat back. I saw that he was sweating as though he had been lifting heavy weights all day. I maintained my grip on Haaken's head. "Haaken will owe his life to you, Aiden."
"No , Jarl, he owes his life to the parchments we took from Wessex. They told us how to do this." He looked up at Erik. "Where did you find the metal plate?"
"It was in Hamwic. I think it came from a Saxon ship."
Aiden touched his golden amulet, "Wyrd!"
I saw my Ulfheonar do the same. I held my friend's head still. He was not out of danger yet.
"You can release him. He will awake soon enough. Carry him on board while he is still asleep."
My Ulfheonar allowed no one else to carry their brother. They laid him in the centre of the drekar, close to the mast. There the motion would be the most gentle. Once he was aboard I said, "Let us head north. We have another brother to save!"
We took the fish the men had cooked on board the drekar. Erik had fitted the new sail. We would repair the old one when we returned to Cyninges-tūn and keep it as a spare but we would need a new one for the next year. I was starving and I grabbed one of the still warm fish and greedily ate it. I wiped my fingers on the old frayed rope Erik kept by the steering board. It was an old trick Josephus had taught him. Josephus had been a sea captain we had rescued. He had taught Erik all that he knew about sailing, We had named a drekar in his honour. It had been plagued by the worm and sunk but his memory lingered on. I wondered if that was my destiny. A memory of what I had taught others and how my deeds had changed their lives. Josephus had told Erik to hang the pieces of rope so that men's hands were not greasy when they worked the ropes and sails. He said that should we ever run out of food the ropes could be boiled and the grease would make a soup to keep us alive. I did not relish that soup but we did as the old captain had advised; we kept old frayed ropes for a day we hoped would never come.
Erik waited for me to join him, the wind was blustery and he said, "Did your dream show where Gunnar was attacked?"
"I saw the three legs of Man."
"Then it will be the sea close to Ynys Môn." He looked up at the masthead pennant. He grinned, "The Norns must wish us to get there quickly; see how the wind takes us swiftly."
The wind had veered and was now from the south and east. I wondered where the rest of our ships were. Had they waited for us or sought us out? I doubted that Wolf Killer and my other captains would have done that for they would know that I could look after myself. Besides, they, too, might, have been spread over the ocean by the stormy seas.
I could do nothing more and I wandered to the centre of the drekar where Aiden and Hrolf knelt next to Haaken. My Ulfheonar had made a shelter for him to keep the worst of the spray away. I sat on Haaken's sea chest which was by his head. Aiden was dripping water into his mouth. "How is he?"
Hrolf burst out, "I saw his eyes flicker. Aiden is a great wizard is he not, Jarl?"
I smiled, "He is indeed and I am lucky to have him."
"Is it true he was a slave?"
"No, Hrolf, that was me. Aiden here was a hostage."
Aiden nodded, "My father did not want me but the Dragonheart did."
"Your father did not want you?"
Aiden shrugged, "It is better this way. I have a life I love and I live with people who chose me just as they chose the Dragonheart. That is worth more than the red stone we gave to the witch."
"How did she know?" I knew that the question had been in Hrolf's head since we had met the witch.
"She is not of this world. She is of the spirit world." He looked at Hrolf, "She was not a living person, she was a spirit."
Hrolf clutched his hammer of Thor. Olaf had given him one when we had left Neustria. It had been his before he had become Ulfheonar and now had the golden wolf as a charm. "But her hand touched mine!"
"And it was cold? As though she was dead?"
He recoiled as though she had just touched him. We laughed. "I felt the same, Hrolf, the first time I met her."
"You have met her before. Jarl Dragonheart?"
"Many times. One day when I meet her it will be in the Otherworld and I shall be dead."
I saw all of my men clutch at their wolf amulets.
The winds did indeed carry us swiftly north. We passed the mouth of the Sabrina in the middle of the afternoon. We were close to Dyfed and the place where I had found the blue stone. Haaken awoke. "Lie still Haaken."
He did as Aiden had ordered but he opened his eye; the shelter stopped the sun from blinding his good eye. "Where are we? On the 'Heart'?"
Olaf and the other Ulfheonar knel
t around him. I think they were fascinated to see what change the metal plate would make. "Aye, old friend. You were wounded."
He closed his eye again. "I remember a mighty blow and then all went black." He suddenly opened it and said, "I dreamed, Jarl and I saw you and Aiden." He closed his eye and opened it once more, wider this time, "No, that is not right. I dreamed I fell into a dark place. I saw Cnut and Beorn. They were drinking and I asked them to share their ale with me. They said they could not. The ale was Odin's nectar and was for dead heroes. They said I would have to wait and they told me to find you, Jarl. I wandered. I returned to the cave at Din Guardi but it was empty and then," his face and his voice became animated, "and then I fell beneath waves and I was drowning until I saw your hand come beneath the waves and drag me up and then I saw Aiden." His eye flickered to my galdramenn. "You put your hand deep inside my body and then all my pain disappeared and I slept."
I saw that my men clutched their wolves. Olaf Leather Neck said, very quietly, "Aiden took away part of your head and he touched your mind. You have a metal plate in your skull, Haaken Iron Head!"
He put his hand to the bump on his head. "I thought it felt different." His voice betrayed his fear. "Will I die, Aiden?"
"One day, Haaken but not from this blow. You are healed. You will not fight for some time and you will need a new helmet but I am pleased with my work."
"And I owe you a life, Aiden, and another to you, Jarl Dragonheart."
I shook my head, "We are brothers, we owe each other nothing." I nodded towards Olaf, "Do you want the name Olaf Leather Neck has given you?"
"No Jarl. I have been Haaken One Eye too long to lose that name besides there are some who would say I have always had a hard head." We laughed, "Tell me what happened; I can see that I have missed much."
I stood, "Hrolf and Aiden can tell the tale for I believe you will have a good saga and this time you will be the hero of it. I go to speak with Erik."
I had felt a change in the wind. I hurried to the steering board. Erik pointed to the masthead. "The wind changes. It has veered to the south and west. The gods wish us to hurry."
"How far to the coast of Ynys Môn?"
"With this wind we will be there shortly after dusk."
I spoke my thoughts aloud, "Gunnar does not know the waters around Ynys Môn well, he will not take the narrow passage. He will head towards Hibernia. The men of Man will wait close to the Calf."
"You think they planned to attack our ships? It is not an accident?"
"You know that where we are concerned there are no accidents." I suddenly remembered my dream. "Hakon the Bald knew where we were going. I wondered why he sent Gunnstein; he was not oathsworn. He cares not if his ship survives or not. He hopes to benefit from our raid. He would buy a better ship or even take one of ours!"
"You know this for certain, Jarl?"
"No Erik but the spirits have given me enough clues. Besides if we hurry and find naught then we reach home that bit quicker and it will just be my pride which is hurt. It may be that the Norns wish that too. Perhaps I am become too arrogant."
Erik laughed, "You are many things, Jarl Dragonheart, but arrogant is not one of them. They will be there and I hope we are in time." He suddenly stopped. "Perhaps all of our ships are in danger?"
I thought about that. Closing my eyes I listened to the words in my head. I heard nothing. "Aiden."
My galdramenn hurried to me, "Aye Jarl?"
"Is it just Gunnar who is in danger?"
"If we are to believe your dream then I would say aye." He paused. "Sometimes, Jarl, a small stone falls from the top of a mountain. In nine cases out of a hundred it will nestle close to where it falls but at other times it gathers pace and it gathers brothers and it becomes an avalanche which changes the face of the world. When Egbert paid those Danes that was the stone. You decided to wreak vengeance upon King Egbert and that meant we had to take men from Dyflin and Ljoðhús. It may be we serve the Norns and that they want a change. Hakon the Bald and the men of Man may be the ones to suffer the wrath of the Weird Sisters and we are merely tools."
"There Erik, you have your answer." I cupped my hands to shout above the wind. "Prepare for war!"
Hrolf came to help me don my red cochineal. I had not fought in it the last time but this was different. We were ready for this fight and we could prepare properly. I went around the newer warriors such as Rolf Horse Killer. I gave them all the same advice. "If we have to fight at sea them place your feet wide apart and keep your weight low. Feel the drekar. Our ship is well made and she will fight for us. If we have to board another vessel then remember that we may have to fight their drekar too."
"Will we fight the men of Man?"
"I believe so but whoever we fight we will win!"
They all banged their hands on the deck. "Listen for my orders and when I say board do so and when I order back to this ship then you obey me!"
"Aye Jarl!"
Fights at night were rare. Most captains did not wish to sail out of sight of land at night time. Those who lived on Man knew their waters well. When we had lived on Man we had lived on the north and the east. Those who had filled the space we had left chose the south and the west. That was why Erik was making for the channel around the Calf.
We had five men with bows on board our drekar. The rest were with Snorri aboard the 'Red Snake'. Beorn took them to the bows. They were little enough but they could make the difference. If they could clear the stern then we would have a chance to take any drekar which we met. Although the wind had not abated the proximity of the coast meant that the swells were smaller. As night fell we risked sending Thorir Svensson to the mast in the hope that his young eyes would spy out any other vessels.
I had begun to think the Norns had toyed with us and there was no danger when I heard , "Ships ahead, captain."
"Where away?"
"Due north."
As I passed down the ship to reach the prow I heard Haaken, "Let me fight."
I stopped, "Haaken One Eye you will stay where you are. Aiden, Hrolf, stay with him."
Hrolf said, "Am I not to fight?"
"You are young and you are brave but today you would be a liability. I would not risk a warrior to have to save you. Stay here and hold my banner for me. Let our enemies know whom they fight."
Satisfied he nodded, "Aye Jarl."
I stood on the topmost strakes and leaned against the dragon prow. Peering into the dusk I saw the shapes of three ships. I could see their sails flickering in the dark. They disappeared as a wave came before us and then reappeared. I could hear nothing but the sound of the sea and the crack of our sail and ropes. The wind was now coming from the steerboard quarter. We would be able to choose whom we attacked. I had no doubt that there was a drekar which was being attack by two others and I guessed that they were on each side of 'Raven Wing'.
We were about half a mile away and we had time to make the right decision. I joined Erik Short Toe, "Which ship do we attack? The one to 'Raven Wing's' steerboard or the other one? Which one would you choose?"
"The other one, Jarl Dragonheart."
"Then I leave it with you. Olaf, have the men on the steerboard side. Beorn have your archers target the ship on our steerboard."
I donned my helmet and made my way to mid ships. We were now close enough to begin to hear the clang of metal on metal as they battled on Gunnar's ship. 'Raven Wing' was smaller than the two which attacked her but she was double crewed. The men of Man were not having an easy time of it. Had they attacked a single drekar they would have won by now. If Gunnar was dead I swore that I would have revenge on the men of Man. It was a powerful oath for I made it to myself. I would honour the oath.
The darkness hid us from the drekar. The crew at the stern were too busy keeping the ships close together. I stood, holding the sheet in my left hand with my shield around my back. It might have looked precarious but I had done this since I was Hrolf's age. You never forgot. The first the enemy knew was w
hen we were thirty paces from them and Beorn and his archers cleared the stern of the ship. The noise of the battle on 'Raven Wing' disguised the noise of dying sailors. As we bumped next to them the jar made those on the far side of the drekar turn around. Thorir Svensson threw a grappling hook as the sail was lowered. We were tied together.
I jumped aboard and was swinging Ragnar's Spirit two handed even as I landed. The warrior who turned at the unexpected noise lived but a heartbeat before my sword bit across his chest and laid him open to his heart. My Ulfheonar led but the men of Cyninges-tūn were not far behind and we flooded across the deck of the drekar. The handful of men they had left aboard their ship were soon despatched and I leapt to the top strake of the Manxman. I saw that Gunnar and his men had paid a heavy prices. There were but twenty of them gathered around the stern and they were beleaguered. Shield to shield they faced their enemy. We had no time to waste. I yelled, "Ragnar's Spirit!" as I leapt aboard Gunnar's drekar. The Ulfheonar were right behind me and I saw the terror on the faces of the men of Man as they turned and saw the red eyed monsters who appeared behind them. My name was known to them; I was their enemy and they knew that I would be merciless.
Time was of the essence and I swung my shield around before hurling myself at the warriors who stood between me and my ally. The warriors who stood before me had no armour and had expected to be victorious. When my sword slashed across the back of the first warrior, spraying the others with his blood it sent a ripple of shock through the others.
I heard Gunnar shout, "It is Jarl Dragonheart! On!"
The combination of the two sets of warriors had an immediate effect. We slashed and hacked through them. Beorn brought the archers over and they began to loose their arrows at those on the drekar tied to the other side of 'Raven Wing'.
I recognised one warrior who faced me from his shield. He had been a warrior who had followed Jarl Erik. He had been called Audun the Fair. From his armbands I guessed he must be a jarl. I slew the two warriors who stood between us. Audun the Fair looked to escape but the other drekar had cut its grappling lines and was drifting away with the wind. I left my men to slaughter the others and I faced Audun the Fair.
