Falcon Warrior (The Swordswoman Book 3)

by Malcolm Archibald

  'We must go back!' One red-haired man named Gunnar said. 'We'll go back and find them! We'll slaughter them!'

  'No Gunnar', Frakkok said. 'They've long gone. They'll be on their way back to Dhegia. We go on. They burned our home; we will burn theirs!'

  'We did not see any ships,' Gunnar said.

  'They came out of the fog and disappeared in the fog,' Frakkok told him. 'They may have passed you the same way, or sailed a completely different route.'

  'That is a lot of explanation from Frakkok,' Bradan said. 'She is normally close-mouthed.'

  'She could be guilty that she was caught so easily,' Melcorka said.

  Bradan nodded. That could be so,' he said.

  'How many did we lose?' Erik shouted across to Frakkok.

  'Everyone except those on my ship. I have only twenty men and five women.' Frakkok said. 'No more questions; head west.'

  Melcorka raised her eyebrows. 'We have a new leader, it seems. I wonder what Erik thinks about that.'

  'Something cute, no doubt,' Bradan said. He sat at his oar and pulled.

  Now three ships strong, the small flotilla surged westward, with Catriona between the two dragon-ships and the grey sea rising and falling all around.

  'Where are we headed now?' Melcorka shouted across to Erik.

  'Still Vinland!' Erik yelled back. 'And watch for the icebergs.'

  There were days of clean sailing. There were days when the fog was so thick that the mariners placed lighted fir torches on stern and stem posts so they could be seen by their neighbours. There were days when the wind came from dead ahead so the crews spent sweat-laden hours labouring at the oars merely to maintain their position. There were days when storms hurled mountain-high waves at them, with the wind howling through the rigging and the sea breaking creamy green against the hulls. There were days when the sun was as bright and hot as midsummer, baking them at the oars.

  Then there was the day of the iceberg.

  'Look at that!' Bradan gestured to the north. 'It's like a floating island.'

  'It must be half a mile long, at least,' Melcorka said.

  The thing floated majestic and serene with pinnacles of ice higher than any cathedral and an aura of cold that chilled even across the hundreds of yards that separated them.

  By now used to the smaller bergs that they cautiously passed, the Norsemen also lined the sides of their vessels to point and stare at this island of ice that floated silently past them. As they watched, the northern edge of the berg sheared off, creating a massive wave that roared toward the flotilla.

  'Steer toward the wave,' Bradan ordered.

  'I already am,' Melcorka was at the tiller, pointing the bow toward the fast-approaching wall of green water. It gathered strength as it came nearer, with the water specked with fragments and chunks of ice.

  Catriona's bow lifted, higher and higher until the ship was suspended at an acute angle and the stores rumbled and rolled along the deck planking toward the stern where Melcorka clung to the tiller. 'Hold on!'

  Grasping the mast with both arms, Bradan nodded. 'You too, Mel.'

  They watched the bow lift until it was nearly vertical, twisting to starboard as if Catriona was about to capsize. Melcorka kept her eyes open, hoping that the magic that protected Catriona's crew from drowning in Scottish waters would work this far west. And then they were levelling out, cruising on the summit of that massive green-and-silver wave with the iceberg still floating in front and the smaller chunks of ice clattering and clinking all around.

  Melcorka stole a glance right and left. Sea-Serpent was there, missing her mast but upright. There was no sign of Frakkok's ship. And then they were descending the other side of the wave with Catriona's bow plunging down, down and down forever and the sea roaring and howling around them.

  They smashed into the swelling sea, taking on scores of gallons of water, and righted sluggishly as waves surged and smashed around the hull, white and green and roaring with rage.

  'Bradan!' Melcorka yelled. She looked forward; he was no longer at the mast. 'Bradan!' The sick horror was worse than anything she had felt since her mother had been killed. 'Bradan!'

  'Here, Melcorka,' the voice came from the flooded bows. 'I'm here.' He stood up, holding his staff and shaking off the water that cascaded from him.

  'I thought…' She bit off the end of her sentence.

  'My staff was nearly overboard,' Bradan said. 'I had to go after it.'

  'What?' Sudden anger washed away Melcorka's relief. 'You could have been washed overboard and drowned. You fool!'

  'This staff is important to me,' Bradan held it up.

  'Did you not think that other things may matter more?' Melcorka closed her mouth. She was not yet ready to say what was in her mind. He should know anyway.

  'We've lost a ship,' Bradan said.

  'I'd rather lose a hundred ships than lose you,' Melcorka said, but so softly that Bradan could not hear her.

  Sea-Serpent rolled in the sea alongside them. Of Frakkok's ship, there was no sign although a few heads bobbed with a scattering of wreckage among the waves. Melcorka saw Erik's men throwing lines into the sea and Frakkok clambering nimbly over the stern. For one second Frakkok's gaze locked with hers; there was nothing there but hatred. Melcorka lifted a hand to acknowledge her rescue. She did not know why Frakkok harboured this animosity; she only knew that it was deep and corrosive and when it eventually came into the open, one of them would be badly hurt. That was not yet here.

  There was the day of the sea monsters.

  'What in God's name is that?' Bradan pointed to larboard. 'It is some sort of monster!'

  The Norse obviously thought so too as they clustered in the stern of Sea-Serpent, staring at the things that swam alongside.

  Huge and dark, the monsters rose from the green depths of the sea and stared back at the men who gawped at them. Massive in size, they had long curved fangs on either side of their heads, were more than twice the size of a man yet swam with the grace of a seal.

  'It's a dragon!' Arne shouted.

  'No, it's a Kraken,' Gunnar contradicted.

  'It's a walrus,' Erik said. 'They are quite common.'

  'Kill them!' Frakkok ordered.

  Arrows and spears whizzed from Sea Serpent, most to miss, some to bounce harmlessly from the thick hide of the walruses, and a few, a very few, to stick in. Then they dived and were gone forever.

  'We killed them!' Arne yelled.

  'You did not,' Melcorka said softly. She remembered the Ice king mentioning his power over the walruses and wondered if he had sent them to spy on them. With their great fangs they would have been a formidable foe.

  'You should have jumped over the side to fight them,' Frakkok chided Erik.

  Erik looked away, saying nothing. Melcorka slipped a hand inside her cloak and stroked her head-band. When she looked back at Sea Serpent, Erik was watching her. He returned her smile of encouragement and for a long minute she held his gaze.

  The ships sailed on.

  'If those were an example of the sort of creatures this new world of Vinland has,' Bradan said, 'this expedition will bring many hard knocks and very little glory.'

  Melcorka nodded. 'There are many wonders ahead,' she said. She did not mention that splendid city she had seen in her visions or the men who walked at her side. One of them had been Erik. She had not seen Bradan there.

  There was the time of the shallow seas.

  The fog was thick again, clinging to the ship as they eased along, with the oars shushing into calm water and the sound of their voices echoing hollowly, eerily to one another. Melcorka looked to starboard, where strands of mist wisped from the repaired and new-fished mast of Sea Serpent and trailed behind her like the ragged remains of a tattered flag.

  'Look down,' Erik shouted to her. 'Look at the sea. It's alive!'

  'Alive!' For a moment Melcorka thought that Llyr the sea god was about to clutch at them. Instead, she saw that only a few feet under Catriona's keel, the
sea was one mass of fish. Silver cod by the million, the fish formed a shoal so large that they sailed over it for days and it never ended.

  'It is a fishing bank like no other I have ever seen before,' Bradan said. Reaching over the side with his staff, he hooked it under a large cod and tossed it on board. It lay there, wriggling and silver. He added another, and another. 'Breakfast, dinner and tea,' he said, 'with no effort at all.'

  'Truly this New World is a land of wonders.' Melcorka said.

  'And look!' Bradan shouted. 'I can touch the bottom of the sea!' Leaning over the side, he thrust down with his staff. 'There is sand beneath the fish.'

  'We are lucky we are of shallow draught,' Melcorka said. 'Sea Serpent had better be careful.'

  Her words were prophetic for twice that day the Norse dragon-ship ran aground and their crew had to disembark and walk through the sea. With the water lapping up to their chins they pushed their ship along, cursing, stumbling and supremely unhappy with life.

  'We will tow you,' Bradan shouted.

  'We don't need your help!' Frakkok said.

  'We want to help!' Bradan insisted and threw a line across. Erik tied it around the mouth of the dragon figurehead and sent two of his men to Catriona to give extra power to the oars.

  Despite Frakkok's frown, the little extra pull helped. Each time they hauled on the oars, Sea Serpent eased a little closer to deeper water.

  'Don't get drowned now,' Melcorka shouted cheerfully to the men who still trudged through the water.

  Frakkok said nothing as Sea Serpent, at last, floated free and the two oarsmen boarded again.

  They sailed on, cautiously.

  'Thank you!' Erik waved, and Melcorka replied, happy to have his company in this strange new world of monsters, shallow seas and great mountains of floating ice.

  That night, as Bradan slept on the deck, she fingered the head-band. Even that slight touch brought a shiver to her. She held it up high, examining the workmanship and the strange falcon design.

  'Who made you,' she said quietly, 'and where are you from? What strange nations lie ahead?'

  On an impulse, she once more placed the band around the head and again experienced that strange vision.

  There were thousands of people around her, men and women, some bare-chested, others elaborately clothed but all with that same attractive copper-coloured skin and all treating her with tremendous respect, even awe.

  She walked along a broad street with great green mounds rising on both sides and a massive square-based pyramid in front, surrounded by a high wall. Beside her was a tall, very handsome man who walked with great dignity. Ahead of them, there was an elaborate gateway guarded by men with beautifully fashioned clubs and head-dresses of bright feathers. They stepped aside as she approached. The sky above was brilliant blue, cloudless as it stretched forever upward. Colourful birds sang among scattered trees and she was at peace.

  'Melcorka,' Bradan's voice penetrated her mind, wakening her. She shook him away, desperate to return to that beautiful place where she was wanted and admired. That place where she belonged. Instead, she opened her eyes to the wet, cold deck of Catriona and a thin drizzling rain that wept from an overcast sky.

  'Time you were awake; there is land ahead.' Bradan's smile was slow. 'A land neither of us knows.'

  Without an order given, the Norsemen on Sea Serpent furled their sail and rested on their oars. Melcorka and Bradan did the same, staring ahead at the coast of this new world.

  'So there it is,' Bradan said. 'The land that the Norse call Vinland.'

  'I wonder what adventures lie ahead,' Melcorka said. 'What strange peoples, what creatures, what buildings and ideas.' She felt the interest surge within her as if she was intended to be here, as if some manifest destiny had brought her here, so far from her tiny island across the sea.

  'We will soon find out,' Bradan tapped his staff on the deck. 'God help us, we will soon find out.'

  Melcorka nodded, slid her hand inside her cloak and fingered the head-band again.

  They skirted the coast for three days, seeking some inlet to guide them inland. Instead, they saw dense green forests of tall pine trees and rough rocks, with high hills further inland.

  'This is a huge land.' Melcorka said.

  'It is bigger than Alba I think,' Bradan agreed. 'And it's fertile with forests.'

  'Where are the people?' Melcorka asked. 'Where are the fishing boats and the coastal villages? Has some enemy destroyed them? Have the Norsemen harried and pillaged this coast as they did to Alba and Northumberland and Ireland?'

  'Perhaps not the Norse,' Bradan said. 'Perhaps it was this Empire of Dhegia.'

  It was another day before they saw their first native of Vinland. They continued to cruise with the heavily timbered coast so close that they could smell the sweet scent of pine and hear the music of the birds.

  'Over there: what's that?' Bradan shouted. 'It's some sort of boat.'

  The vessel was small, narrow and close to the shore, with two half naked men kneeling inside. As soon as they saw Catriona and Sea Serpent, the paddlers turned their vessel and sped for the shore faster than even Catriona could follow.

  'They are only Skraelings,' Erik shouted from Sea Serpent. 'They are not like the warriors of Dhegia. Let them go.'

  Melcorka nodded and lifted her hand in acknowledgement. 'Our first contact with men from this new world.' She thought of her visions, of the streets and civilisation, of the city that was larger than anything she had ever seen before. These semi-naked Skraelings could not have built such a place. There was more inside this new world than these men, however fast their boat had been.

  'Are you all right, Melcorka?' Bradan was at the tiller, guiding Catriona past a headland where the sea surged and splintered. Seagulls circled them, squawking loudly.

  She nodded, wordless. For some reason she could not explain, she could not tell Bradan what she had seen, and what she thought.

  'Do you want to tell me?'

  'There is nothing to tell,' Melcorka said.

  He watched her for a long minute and glanced across at Sea Serpent where Erik stood in the stern beside Frakkok. 'When you want to tell me the truth, I am willing to listen.'

  Melcorka said nothing. She was not sure what truth Bradan wanted to hear. How could she tell him about her visions when he was not part of them and another man was? Yet how could she continue to lie to Bradan? Turning away, she stared at the coast of Vinland, as miserable as she had been for many months.

  After a week of hugging the coast and probing into inlets where more Skraeling boats slipped away from them, and river mouths that led to nowhere except dark forests tainted with the slight drift of wood-smoke, Sea Serpent turned a headland into what was undoubtedly the estuary of a major river, or even the end of Vinland.

  'This is a beautiful place,' Melcorka said as they cruised past a large island, so close they could smell sweet grass and hear the chatter of a thousand birds. Ignoring the constant stare of Frakkok, she acknowledged Erik's cheerful wave and steered them onward, with the wind pushing them against the current of a powerful river.

  'We are heading deep into Vinland,' Melcorka said. 'I wonder if the Norsemen have explored this part already, or if we are the first.'

  'I don't know,' Bradan said. 'I can't see any sign of the Empire anyway.'

  'Nor can I,' Melcorka said.

  They sailed on, tacking back and forth against the current or occasionally resorting to the oars when the wind died. On the third day, Bradan sniffed the air.

  'I smell smoke,' he said. 'Wood smoke.'

  'There will be a village ahead,' Melcorka predicted, scanning the wooded shores for signs of life. She saw the boat first, another of the small, light, double- prowed vessels favoured by the local Skraelings.

  'Erik!' she shouted and gestured to the boat. 'I am going to follow it!'

  As she expected, on sight of Sea Serpent and Catriona and the Skraeling boat turned around and sped for the shore.

>   'Follow her,' Melcorka ordered and watched carefully in case the Skraeling vessel vanished into some hidden creek in the forest. It was fast and manoeuvrable, with the paddlers pushing her forward with a skill that Melcorka could only admire.

  'They're not running from us,' Melcorka said. 'They're bringing news of our arrival to their village – and there it is now.' She pointed as the Skraeling boat eased onto a muddy beach.

  'I see it,' Bradan said and furled the sail.

  Catriona eased to a halt in the river off the Skraeling village.

  Composed of about thirty huts, some conical, others rounded or rectangular, the village was surrounded by a simple palisade and had a dozen of the light, narrow boats drawn up from the river. The inhabitants gathered to watch this strange vessel, so unlike their own boats and the larger Sea Serpent that waited in deeper water. Dressed mainly in furs, men and women mingled together, some with elaborate winged hats of a style Melcorka found quite attractive, others bare-headed with long hair down to their shoulders. The men carried bows and arrows, or short spears.

  'They are not firing at us.' She said.

  'I don't think they are unfriendly,' Bradan said. 'Let's say hello.'

  The Skraelings stepped back as Melcorka and Bradan splashed ashore. Some pointed arrows at them or lifted their spears although most just looked curious. One elderly woman took a pace forward, speaking in a low, clear voice.

  'I don't know what you are saying,' Bradan said, smiling. 'I am Bradan the Wanderer.' He jabbed a finger on his chest. 'Bradan!'

  The woman waved her hand to indicate the entire village. 'Lnu'k' she said as if that settled all arguments.

  Bradan touched Melcorka. 'Melcorka' he said. 'Melcorka.'

  'Tomah,' the woman pointed to herself. 'Tomah.'

  Unsure what to do, Melcorka smiled as widely as she could, bent forward and kissed Tomah on the forehead. That seemed to work. More of the Lnu'k people surged forward and for the next few minutes Bradan and Melcorka were at the centre of a crowd, all engaged in mutual pointing, name giving and kissing, with much smiling and laughter for good measure.

  'They are friendly!'