by Griff Hosker
Olaf the Lame looked at me sceptically. “Are you sure Dragon Heart? There is no gold in them and they are just words and pictures on deer hide.”
“Trust me, Olaf, they are each worth more than all the gold and silver you have collected. They can be sold in Frankia or even here in this land and you will receive a king’s ransom.”
Jarl Harald had heard the last part and his greedy eyes widened. “You keep them safe for me Olaf the Lame or you will be Olaf the eyeless!” He looked at Cnut. “I hear some escaped?”
“Yes, Jarl Harald. They had a secret door in the walls of the northern side.”
He frowned, “What did they take I wonder?”
I had an idea how to find out. “Haaken and Cnut, come with me and talk about anything. I want to get as close to their priests as I can.”
They both nodded and began jabbering about what they would like to do to the women priests we had captured. I saw the younger ones huddling closer together as the two fierce looking warriors approached. An older, stern looking woman was sat next to an equally old, tonsured priest who had a wound to the head. She was cleaning the wound. They began to talk in Saxon. I pretended I was listening to Haaken and Cnut but I was, in fact, eavesdropping.
“Did Brother Cuthbert escape?”
The old priest tried to nod and I could see him wince. “Yes, he and Brother Garth and Brother Aiden.”
“Good then the crown is safe.”
“Aye and more importantly they can bring the warriors from the fort.”
The woman suddenly noticed me and cast me an evil look. I was not afraid of a spell of the White Christ. I had heard enough. “Come let us find the jarl.”
When we discovered him he was beginning the process of moving his treasure. “We may have trouble Jarl Harald. Those three priests were going for help. There are warriors in a fort close by.”
I could see him calculating how to get the captives and the loot back to the ship. It was only a couple of miles but it would take some time.
“Could you three find them and stop them?”
“We could try.” I wondered why I had kept the knowledge of the crown hidden from Jarl Harald. At the time I could not possibly know but it was the Weird Sisters once more weaving their webs and embroiling me in the heart of them.
“We will load the captives. If you have not returned by the time we are ready we will wait just off the coast for you.” He pointed to the west. I could see that our wellbeing was of no concern to him. I could have refused to go and risked being caught by the Saxons but I had given my word that I would help the jarl. Next time I would be more cautious about giving my word to another.
The three of us secured our weapons and headed for the secret door. Now that it was daylight their tracks were easy to see. These priests were not trying to hide their escape route they were just trying to get to help with the crown. They followed the trail which headed north. I did not know how fit they were but I knew that we were Ulfheonar and could run down a wolf. We would find them.
We had been running for a few hours when we suddenly saw some game birds rise noisily into the air. We knew what that meant in an instant. We took our bows and each notched an arrow. Cnut moved to the left and Haaken to the right. We moved slowly through the wood. I thought I heard voices and I held my hands up. We all stopped. I had heard voices and they were speaking Saxon. I moved closer to catch their words. It was the priests and they were telling the newcomers of our raid. I had no idea how many men were there but the relief in the priest’s voices suggested that they were allies of some description.
I waved the others forwards and I saw, in the clearing six hunters and the three priests. The hunters looked to be warriors rather than villagers. I glanced left and right and saw that the others were in position. We raised our bows. There would be no spoken signal but when I heard Cnut’s arrow being released I let mine fly. Three of the hunters dropped like stones. I dropped my bow and drew Ragnar’s Spirit. I ran into the clearing, swinging my sword as I went. The hunter thrust his spear at me. I twisted my shoulder so that the spear ran along the links of my mail and I continued the swing of my sword. It sliced through his middle and jarred on his backbone.
One of the priests ran at me and I grabbed his shoulder and threw him forward. The next spearman sank his weapon into the surprised priest expecting it to be me and I stabbed the spearman. I heard a scream behind me as the last two were slain and then there was silence in the bloody clearing. They were all dead.
I waved Cnut to check up the trail while Haaken and I made sure that they were dead. While we were doing so we relieved them of their valuables. The oldest priest was carrying a sack. I opened it and found a crown for a queen. At least I assumed it was for a queen for it was quite small. I felt a little shiver race down my spine when I saw a blue stone in the middle which was exactly the same colour as the wolf’s eye on my amulet. They had been made by the same person!
When Cnut returned he shook his head, “There was no one else.”
Haaken said, “But there will be when these six are missed.”
“Let us go then and find Jarl Harald.” We retrieved our arrows partly because they were valuable and partly to obscure our identity. I knew that warriors such as we attracted more attention than most and the Saxons would move heaven and earth to get to us. The bodies were shoved beneath bushes. They would be found but not until they organised a serious search. By then we would be safely aboard Jarl Harald’s boat.
The journey south was harder than the one north had been. We had been up all night. We had rowed to the mainland and, since daylight we had been running after the priests. We moved much slower. To my dismay I saw the sun setting towards the west and we were still a mile or so from the estuary. If we arrived after dark we would need to signal the ship somehow. We pushed on even harder and ran through the pain barrier. We made the estuary while the sun was still a golden glow in the west. We had made it early. But there was no ship, the “Crow” had flown and we were trapped on the mainland where every man was our enemy. I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I knew that there was another place where they could meet us but I heard a voice in my head telling me that we had been abandoned.
Chapter 12
The estuary was empty. “Perhaps he is waiting off the coast as he said he would.”
I looked at Cnut, neither Haaken and I believed that for a moment but we had to give him the benefit of the doubt. “We might as well walk there anyway but let us be more careful now about tracks.” Expecting the ship to be there we had moved as quickly as we could after the ambush. Now we needed to hide our presence from those who would be pursuing us.
As we moved west, trying to find solid ground and avoid breaking trail I ran through all the possibilities we might have to return home. We were not far, as the crow flies, from our island home but we needed a boat and, as we had travelled east to reach this land, we had seen no ports and few boats. The nearest place was forty miles south at the Dee. That would take two to three days and I was not certain we could evade capture for that long. By the time we reached the sea the sun had set and the water was devoid of ships.
We sat, forlornly on the beach. We hoped that the jarl would return for us but he should have been there. This place held no danger for him. We also sat there because we were exhausted and we could go no further without something to eat and some sleep.
Cnut flourished a cooked bird of some description. He had taken it from the dead hunters and it was, no doubt, intended for supper. After we had eaten it and washed it down with the last of the water from our skins we felt better. We found some bracken to make a bed and a shelter of hawthorn and ivy. It would keep us warm, and help us avoid prying eyes. We were too few to set sentries and we lay, relying on our senses to wake us.
As I drifted off to sleep I thought of the connection between the crown and my mother’s wolf amulet. She was no longer around to ask and I regretted the time I had wasted not finding out more about her origins. I kn
ew that she had lived in the land of the Cymri but that her people had originally come from the ancient land of Rheged which had been raped by the Saxons. This crown was unlike anything I had ever seen the Saxons use. I had only glimpsed it before I had stuffed it in my satchel but I thought were intricate lace dragons. If so what did that portend? My dreams were filled with images of my mother and flying dragons. I did not sleep well and would have woken had anyone come close. I awoke stiff and cold but we were unmolested.
Dawn was just breaking far to the west and the sea remained annoyingly empty. There was little point in waking the other two and I watched alone. When they emerged from their green cocoons they stared, as I had done at the shipless sea.
Cnut stretched, “So what is the plan?”
Haaken joked, “Perhaps we could walk on water.”
I smiled, “Until we can do that I would suggest we find a boat to steal.” I pointed south. “Let us cross the estuary and put as much land between us and the ambush as we can.”
It was not the best of plans but it was the only plan I could come up with and we set off. The hunger which gnawed at our bellies would only get worse. We would not be able to afford time to go hunting. Although it had been an uncomfortable night we had rested and moved much quicker as we headed back to the estuary. Once again we had to ensure that we left as little sign of our passing as possible. They would be hunting us.
We made good time once we had waded across the ebbing river and climbed up onto the southern bank. The land before us was a large plain with one or two knolls to break the monotony. We headed south west towards the coast. The land worked in our favour. An enemy would not have a good vantage point to spot us. We would be hard to see. There were a few woods, copses and hedgerows. We used those whenever we could but, inevitably, we had to risk the open land occasionally. It was when we were out in the open that they spotted us. Cnut’s sharp eyes saw them even as they spied us. There were ten of them on hill ponies.
I calculated that we had been travelling without food for eight hours or so. If we continued to run then we would become weaker and they would win. I saw, just two hundred paces away a small wood and a piece of slightly higher ground. It was not much but it was better than the open.
“Let us go there and make a stand.”
They nodded their agreement and we reached the wood when the horsemen were still a good two hundred paces away. I think they thought that we would try to outrun them and were happy for us to waste energy. When we halted they urged their ponies on.
We slipped our bows from our shoulders and each notched an arrow. I kept watching them as I did so. They were armed with a sword, spear and a small shield. Some of them wore a leather helmet. They outnumbered us and that was all. I released an arrow which smacked into the shoulder of the lead rider, pitching him from his saddle. Cnut and Haaken did the same and were rewarded with an arrow in a pony and another in a rider’s leg. If they had had someone who could give orders they would have withdrawn and used their superior numbers to encircle us but they seemed to be over excited. They had three of their hated enemies and were probably already telling their fellows the story of their success.
They did one thing correctly, they spread out and charged us. I loosed one more arrow which scored a red line down a pony’s flank before I swung my shield around and drew my sword. We stood close together so that our shields overlapped and we held our swords above them. They came at us from all sides. Haaken and Cnut smashed their swords against the ash shafts of the spears and they shattered. I yelled, “Brace!” We all planted one foot firmly behind the other and took the hit of the first ponies. The brave beasts tried to turn. They were trying to go uphill and the metal studded shields would have looked like a wall of wood to them. As I stabbed forwards at the Saxon who leaned towards me with his spear, Cnut sliced into the throat of his pony while Haaken did the same to the second one. There was a jumble of dying screaming animals and the line halted. Now was the time for us to take charge and I yelled, “Ulfheonar!”
We leapt over the dead and dying and hacked at the warriors who had not expected us to attack. The dying pony allowed me to jump up and take the head of one warrior. I landed next to a rider on a pony and I pushed with my shield and the weight of my armour. The rider and pony fell to the ground and I skewered the rider before he could escape. Cnut and Haaken had not been idle and the others fell to their swords.
“Grab those ponies. They will save our legs.”
While they caught the remaining ponies I went around the Saxons to make sure that they were all dead. One was alive, barely, but he had enough breath to curse me in Saxon. “Priest killers!”
I nodded and spoke to him in Saxon, “You were brave warriors and I will see you in the Otherworld. Would you like me to put your sword in your hand for the journey?”
He laughed and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “I will be with Christ in Heaven and you will not, barbarian!”
There was no pleasing some people. I would watch him die if he did not wish a warrior’s death. Then I remembered the crown. “What is this?”
His eyes widened when he saw it and he spoke without thinking, “The crown of the Queen of Rheged!”
I nodded, “Thank you.” His face screwed up to curse me again but he had used the last of his life force and he fell dead.
The others had returned with four ponies. “The others fled.”
“It appears we have the crown of the Queen of Rheged here. I suspect the Saxons and the priests of the White Christ wished to use it to confirm their rule of this land.” Putting it away I said, “Check the bodies and let us leave this place quickly. There may be others.”
We left the bodies as I did not know the rituals of the White Christ. They were a strange people. They did not wish a warrior’s death. Why did they fight? How would they get to their heaven? Their loss was our gain and we rode swiftly towards the coast. We reached it by late afternoon and headed south seeking a settlement and, hopefully, a boat.
Cnut’s sharp eyes picked out the houses at the same time as Haaken’s nose sniffed out the wood smoke. We halted, “This is not the time for war. Take off your helmets and sling your shields. We will try to pay for our passage home.”
Haaken gave me a strange look. “Why?”
“We need a boat and we need to get home.” I sighed, “Haaken, just try it my way. You can slaughter them all if I fail.”
He nodded affably and I heard Cnut chuckle. Haaken was predictable. “Here, take my helmet and wolf cloak. I would take off the mail shirt but I fear I might need it. Wait under cover of yonder beech. When I wave then come, slowly, to the village.”
I led the pony towards the village. It was undefended and, thankfully, had six or seven small fishing ships drawn up on the beach. The pony I led neighed and it alerted the fishermen who came out armed with a pathetic assortment of implements. There was one sword. I had left the others behind for I spoke Saxon and they did not. As I expected they initiated the questions.
“Who are you stranger?” Their weapons, poor as they were, were all pointed at me.
I smiled, “I am one of King Eardwulf’s oathsworn. I am here with two companions who are tardier than I.” I leaned forwards, putting my throat perilously close to a rather rusty pitchfork. “We have been sent on a secret mission.”
Thankfully the weapons were lowered a little. My tongue and my smile had disarmed them. Their leader, a man with skin which looked like leather and arms like knotted rope put his sword aside and asked, “What can poor fisher folk do for warriors?”
“You can sail us across to the island of Man.”
They burst out laughing, “Are you mad? Have you been bewitched? The Vikings have Man and they will eat your heart and use your empty skull as a drinking vessel.”
“Even so I am sworn to go there and retrieve a treasure taken by Viking raiders.” I paused and looked around as though someone might be listening. “The crown of the Queens of Rheged.”
&
nbsp; They had obviously heard of the treasure. The headman stroked his beard and greed flashed into his eyes. “We would like to help the king but we are poor people.”
“I can pay you.”
He smiled, “What with, you do not look to have anything with you to trade.”
“We have four ponies.” I could see that I had almost persuaded him. Ponies could be used for many tasks, dragging boats to the beach, transport, even food. “And this.” I took out one of the seaxes we had taken from the dead warriors.”
His eyes lit up, it was a far better weapon than the one he had. He held out his hand. “We will take you. When would you go?”
“Night would be best. We would like to land unseen.”
He nodded. “That is sensible. How will you escape them when you have the treasure?”
“The king is sending a ship.” The thing about a lie was that once you started, it was hard to stop. “I will go and see where my men are.” I stepped back on to the trail. “As I thought, they are resting.” I waved, “Come on you sluggards.”
The headman headed for the beach. “Come, the tide is almost right now.”
When Haaken and Cnut rode up I gave a slight shake of my head and put my finger to my lips. I waved at them to follow me. They both exchanged a worried look but then complied leaving the three ponies to be taken away before the exorbitant price could be renegotiated. I smiled to myself. The ponies had not been mine to trade nor had the seax. It was worth the price to get home safely. I kept hold of the seax as insurance. Cnut handed me my helmet and my cloak. I murmured, “Keep silent.”
The headman was already in the boat and two of his people were holding it steady. He frowned when he saw the size of the men and their armour. “They are heavier that I thought. We will have to balance them carefully. You sit next to me and put them one in front of the other in the bottom of the boat.”
Climbing in was easier said than done. I found it easier to take off my shield and put that in the bottom first and then I hauled myself up and over. The boat tipped alarmingly but the men in the water held it. They grinned at the look on my face. Cnut came alongside and I pointed to the front of the boat. Once he fell into the bottom the balance was much better and Haaken had the easiest time of all as he clambered to the middle.
