by Unknown
Chapter 16
We waited until dark before we sailed. I had told Sven that we would not need the mast. We would not be using the sail. I wanted us to just use oars. We rowed out to sea and then down the coast. I had a fully crewed drekar although my men did not wear mail. Only the four of us who would actually board wore mail. I gambled that the ship would come to the same place each night and receive the messages from the shore. Finni would light a brand to hold the attention of the ship and I hoped that we would be able to stop it leaving. We rowed in silence. The sea was a little lively. There were white caps on the waves but Sven now knew these waters well. When Sven estimated that we were close to Rurik’s farm he turned the ship to face the shore and the oars just kept us in the same place. Siggi Far Sighted was under strict orders not to shout. He was leaning over the dragon prow. I stood just behind him with Gilles, Bertrand and Folki. I had already decided that we would be the first aboard the ship.
Sven had said that it was not a Saxon ship. At least it was not a Saxon ship we recognised. It had oars and was narrower and longer than the ones they normally used. It explained why they were able to evade Sven.
Siggi hissed. I looked up and saw that he pointed ahead. I saw the flash of light from the dunes. Finni had done as I asked. Alain and his men would be with him on the beach in case the enemy tried to land anyone else. What we now needed was to spot the ship but none of us could. If they had not signalled with the light, then they would have remained invisible. Siggi pointed. They were just off the larboard bow. I said, quietly, “Go and tell Sven. We will keep watch.” He scurried off the prow and hurried down the centre of the drekar. His movement alerted the rowers.
Once we saw the light I could make out the dark shadow that was the ship. I saw the mast and the furled sail. We had been right to leave our own mast down for that was the marker we used as a target. The oars slid through the water and we started to turn. I slid my sword out as did the other three. I did not need my shield for I had my seax. Siggi raced back down to join us and he used his bare arms to direct Sven. Arne Four Toes was keeping a steady pace. We did not need to go too fast. My aim was to board her and, perhaps, capture her.
We were seen when we were just sixty paces from her. They reacted quickly and I heard a Danish voice shout, “Down sail!”
We could now throw caution to the wind, “Arne, full speed! They are moving!” They were facing south and would escape.
Siggi shouted, “Larboard a touch, captain!”
They were not going to escape but I knew that we would strike them. Whatever damage ‘Dragon’s Breath’ suffered would have to be endured. I could not allow this ship to escape. I wanted the Leudes in the dark. He had been making all the moves and this was our one chance to make him wonder what we were doing. The ship was moving but it would not escape. I saw the crew as they ran out oars to try to evade us. There were confused shouts as the crew tried to bring order to a chaotic situation. We would strike them just aft of the mast.
“Brace yourselves!” I turned and shouted, “Up oars!” I grabbed the stay and pulled myself up on to the bow. I gripped the dragon with my sword hand. Folki stood on the other side. The sound of splintering oars told us that we had struck theirs. Men would be hurt. A shattered oar could be as deadly as a spear. Then our bows struck their sheerstrake. There was a crunch and then a crack as we broke it and the strakes below. It had doomed the ship. The integrity lay in the keel and the two sheerstrakes; with one broken it would only be a matter of time before she would sink. I was almost shaken forward, into the enemy ship, but I kept my balance. I leapt down into the well of the ship. I landed on a Dane who had a broken oar sticking from his chest. I slipped slightly and felt a twinge in my foot. I slashed my sword at the two Danes who ran at me. My blade tore the bicep of one. The other hit me in the middle with his sword. My mail held but it knocked the wind from me. Folki’s sword ended the Dane’s life and then Gilles and Bertrand were next to me.
Water was already puddling around my feet. Some Danes were throwing themselves over the side while others were intent on taking us with them. Had we not had mail then it would have gone badly for us but their blows hurt without wounding. I pulled my seax and rammed it into the eye of a Dane who tried to get under my swinging sword. Then I heard Siggi shout, “Jarl! Come back! Their ship is about to sink!”
He was right. The water was up to my knees. “Back to the drekar!” I swung my sword before me although there were just two men left alive and both had wounds. I sheathed my weapons and grabbed the rope which snaked down towards me. As the ship sank below the waves my men pulled me and the others aboard.
Arne Four Toes shook his head, “You had no need to risk your life, jarl. When we struck the ship, she was doomed.”
“I know but when I jumped we did not know that for certain.”
We rowed slowly back to the Haugr. Sven did not want to take any chances with the drekar until he had examined the bow. I had been close to the impact and I was not worried. We had struck the Dane perfectly and hit just pine strakes. Our oak prow and keel were far stronger. As I tried to move down the boat I felt a pain in my foot.
“What is it, jarl?”
“I must have twisted my ankle, Gilles, when I landed on the Dane. It will pass.”
They insisted that I sit down. I know now that I should have put my foot in cold water. My wife told me when I returned to my hall but I did not. We arrived back shortly before dawn. We were barely able to take off my seal skin boot and I would not let them cut it. They were expensive. I suffered the pain. My wife sent for a pail of sea water and she wrapped me in my furs and sat me on my chair. She took my foot and gently immersed it in the water. I felt relief immediately.
“You can sleep there!” She sounded cross but it was concern that I heard. The salt water helped and I slept. when
When I awoke, it was mid-morning and the swelling had gone down although the ache was still there. Mary had the servants take away the water and then bound my foot. “You will sit there until I say that you can move. There is naught for you to do. Your warriors can deal with any problems which arise. You are jarl. You should be able to sit for one day.”
She busied herself with Matildhe and the hall. Ragnvald came and sat by me. He was a curious boy and this was his chance to ask me questions. He threw question after question at. Often a question would come as a result of my answer. My head began to spin. I had not had the chance to do this with my father and so I endured the questions.
Pepin and a slave came with our food at noon. I was hungry. There was smoked fish, fresh bread and a nettle cheese I was partial to. With a freshly brewed ale I was happy. Ragnvald tucked into bread and cheese. Pepin hovered nearby after the slave had gone. “I will stay in case you need anything else, lord.”
I had not had much opportunity to speak with him. During the day, I would normally be riding and at night I would be too tired to talk. After I had finished and, while Ragnvald still played with his food, I spoke with him.
“How is the arm now, Pepin?”
“I still think I have the hand there. I try to wiggle fingers which are gone but I am used to it. I am just grateful that it was my left hand.”
I nodded. I would not apologise for the wound was as a result of war. When you went to battle then such things could occur. “What is your story, Pepin?”
“My story, lord?”
“Yes, how did you get from Senonche to Ċiriċeburh?”
“I was the youngest son of a cloth merchant. There was no chance for me to be involved in the family business and my eldest brother had been given the chance to serve the Count of Burgundy. My father made it clear that I had to find a position for myself.”
“How old are you, Pepin?”
“I have seen eighteen summers, I think.”
“How did you get here? Senonches, it a long way from here.”
“Aye, lord. It is on the way from the royal palace and the lord, Philippe of Rouen, passed through our
town on his way back from visiting the king and being given the governorship of this land. He stayed with us. My father told him that I was looking for a position. The Leudes said he might know of something. The Leudes was given an expensive bolt of cloth to ensure that I was taken care of.”
I nodded. “At least he did something for you.”
“I suppose but I was unwelcome. I knew that. I was not the son of a warrior. Everyone made me feel like a fraud as we rode west. I had a sword, a horse and nothing else. When we reached Rouen, I was forgotten until Lord Hugo came. He had a letter from the Count of Orleans and the Leudes saw a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Lord Hugo had been given Ċiriċeburh and he needed men. I was given to him.”
“Then things must have changed when you reached Ċiriċeburh?”
“No, lord. Lord Hugo left us in the charge of a sergeant who had little patience with me and the others who were novices. That was why I was at the rear of the line when you attacked us. Michel and I were always at the rear. I suppose I was luckier than he was. I survived my first battle. He did not.”
I suddenly felt guilty. I had killed a novice and maimed another. It had not been fair. “What do you know of the Leudes?”
He frowned. “I am not sure what you mean, lord.”
“You travelled a long way with him. Describe him to me,”
He nodded and began to clean up Ragnvald as he did so. “He is young and was with the Count of Orleans and Hugo of Tours on the Cordoban campaign. He has studied in Constantinopolis. He knows of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, Pompey the Great, Julies Caesar, Emperor Vespasian and Justinian. Many men think he will be a general as great as Charlemagne.”
“How did he fare in the Cordoban campaign?”
Although Pepin had seen Alain of Auxerre and his men around the Haugr he had not spoken to him. He did not know that he had been in that campaign. “He commanded my lord, Hugo of Ċiriċeburh.”
I now understood. The young general had not done as well as he had been expected. He was now more cautious. One disaster might be excused but not two. The Count of Orleans and Hugo of Tours had been held responsible. Philippe of Rouen would show King Louis that, left alone, he could rid the land of this new pestilence, the Vikings.
I nodded, “Thank you for being so honest. I would like to apologise to you for your wound.”
“It was war, lord, I understand.”
“But you were inexperienced. You should not have been in that position.”
He smiled, “That shows that you have true nobility, lord. It takes a great man to see his own failings and to admit to them. I am happy here. This is not a Viking land; it is something altogether new. I have seen Frank and Norse working together. I am pleased that I am here.” He took the wooden platters and knives. “It is, what do your people say, wyrd.”
I was up and about the next day. One day lying on my back was more than enough for me. And I had plans. I saw now that the Norns had meant me to sprain my ankle so that I could talk with Pepin. My enemy was being cautious for he feared failure. I could use that fear. Even now he would be wondering where his ship was. Where were his spies? What did I know? His original plan had failed. He had not weakened us. He had thought to keep us waiting for an attack. He hoped we would watch our walls and not tend our fields. We had not done as he had expected. He did not know of my Franks nor, I suspect, did he know that Folki had joined me. In terms of numbers I now had more men than my clan had ever had. It was more than when Jarl Gunnar Thorfinnson and his brother had taken two drekar to raid Andecavis. We might only have one drekar but we could field a large warband.
I threw myself into improving the defences of the Haugr. If the Leudes did not come, then it would not matter but if he did then we would be prepared. I had sand brought from the beach to pack around the base of the wooden palisade. It would make it harder for the enemy to damage it. We added more traps to the ditches and deepened them. The metal chains on the bridge across the ditch were now in place so that we could draw up the bridge and have a double gate. I had barrels of sea water brought up and the wooden walls soaked. If they tried to use war machines and fire, then our walls would be slow to burn. The barrels were then refilled with sea water. We could not drink it but we would not waste precious drinking water to fight flames. The only weakness now was the pen for the horses. We had a ditch around it and a wooden fence but we could not defend it. There was no fighting platform.
It was Alain and Bertrand who came up with the solution. “We have ten riders who will not be needed inside the walls. We can take most of the horses outside the walls and move away from danger.”
Gilles said, “And there are boys who work with the horses. They can ride. If we have your horses and Freja inside the walls, then when danger threatens we take the herd to where the enemy cannot get at them. They cannot have enough men to surround the haugr completely.”
And so that problem was solved. Gilles and Bertrand moved outside of the Haugr and set up their home close to the horses. They were happy and I was contented. Alain and his men now rode the borders. Half of his men would sleep at Rurik’s and the other half in their hall at the Haugr. I wondered why until, one evening as I went to visit my horses, I saw two of the Franks with two of the new female slaves we had taken from Haestingaceaster. I had no doubt that there would soon be two new huts. They were men and needed women. I realised that we would have to work out some way to expand our home without damaging its defences.
I summoned Pepin of Senonche. Since our talk, I realised that he had skills which could be used. The lack of an arm would not hinder him. He could give orders. “Pepin I want you to have some slaves build another bridge for the ditch. It needs only be as wide as one man but it must bridge it. You do not need to attach it.”
He nodded, “You wish another way out of the Haugr.” I nodded. “Thank you for letting me do this, lord. I do not mind helping the Lady Mary organize the home but I am part of this clan now and I should help to defend it.”
The clan, I now realised, was more than just the Norse who had followed me from Raven Wing Island. It was everyone who chose our way of life.
Einar Asbjornson also had a son who was a year older than Ragnvald. After his day’s work was done he had taken to showing his son how to use a slingshot. He took him down to the beach and they would hurl stones at the seabirds. It was good practice. When other fathers sent their sons of a similar age it became almost a ritual. It was good that they did so. They began to form the bonds that would help them to fight in the shield wall when they were older. Ragnvald asked to go. He was, perhaps, a little young but it would do no harm and so he joined the other boys on the beach. There was healthy competition and when they began to bring home dead gulls to put in the pot we knew that they were becoming more skilful. When they manned my walls, and used Bagsecg’s lead balls, they would be even more accurate. The Franks would be in for a shock.
Sven and Harold had one more voyage to make and that was to the land of the Cymri on the Sabrina. There they mined iron ore. We now had goods that we could trade with them. Our successful raids meant we had a surplus of fine linen as well as much sought-after pots and cooking vessels. We could always get more by raiding. If the local Franks did not want peace, then they would have to endure raids. Bagsecg needed good quality iron ore to augment the re-used metal from captured mail and swords.
While they were away I devised a plan to weaken our enemies. I sent for Alain and his men. I had twenty of my men who were good riders and I sent for them also.
“We have sat on our backsides long enough. I intend to raid our neighbours. If they shun our friendship, then they can suffer the consequences.”
“We take the drekar?”
“No Einar. We ride to war. We have over thirty good horses. We ride down to the village south of Valauna. Bertrand thinks it is the stad of Edmons. We raid it.”
“What is there?”
I nodded to Bertrand who said, “They breed horses and raise
cattle. It is just thirteen miles from here.”
I nodded, “And the horses are the bigger ones the Franks breed. If we can get a couple of good stallions, then it will improve our stock and our herds.”
My men knew the right questions to ask. “And does it have a wall?”
I smiled, “They raise horses and cattle. The one thing which is hard to do is to keep such animals within the walls of a town. I do not think that there is a wall but it does not matter in any case. I have no intention of bleeding on my enemy’s defences. We ride boldly south and if there is no wall we take the village. If there are defences that we cannot secure, then we take their horses and cattle and drive them home.”
The men were happy although my Norse were not as happy about riding to war and, possibly, fighting from horseback. They were getting more confident but they still preferred having the ground beneath their feet.
We left before dawn. I led. I was still the best scout in the clan. Bertrand rode next to me. Rurik and Finni were awake as we passed their farms. Instead of riding through the forest we rode down the beach path. Sven’s voyages up and down the coast had made us familiar with it and it was an easier route. As dawn broke we cut inland to head directly for the village. The land was flat with barely anything higher than a barrow. We passed farms and fields dotted with horses and cattle.
We rode in pairs as the Franks did. With Alain and his men at the fore we looked like Franks. We had swept around to approach from the sea. Perhaps the farmers thought we were from Rouen for they waved at us.
“We could take them now! They suspect nothing.”
“We need not slaves, Sven Siggison. We are here for cattle and horses.” Bertrand had told us that there was a lord who lived in the village. He was a warrior but the others were not. It was as we approached the village that the alarm was given. There must have been someone with sharp eyes who saw my men at the rear who still looked like Vikings. The bell in the small church sounded and men grabbed weapons to face this foe. We were a hundred paces from the village when I saw a man mount a horse and wave for the people to head south. This was horse country and I saw two and three people clamber on to the backs of horses and head south.
