Blood on the Blade

by Griff Hosker

  “His father is a good warrior. Perhaps he will be one, too.”

  Shaking his head Olaf said, “I fear that Ran, god of the sea, has determined otherwise. He can stand and fight in a shield wall but how can he run?”

  I touched my hammer of Thor. What had I done? I looked back at Karl. This had not been my doing. This had been the sisters. If he had not tried to hurt me, kill me even, then I would not have fought so hard and he would not be lame. I knew that our threads were bound together. The blood brothers and Karl were intertwined in some way. The spinning of their web would stretch into the future and across the sea. Wyrd.

  Chapter 3

  Karl’s foot did not improve over the next few days and he was given the task of sitting by Ulf and either fishing or fetching and carrying for the helmsman. The five of us had an increased work load but we did not mind. We all managed to get on better without his abrasiveness. Even Siggi was less clumsy. More importantly my knife remained hidden. Each night I took it from its hiding place and after drying it and cleaning it slept with it beneath my body. I needed a scabbard but that would have to wait.

  It took another six days before we reached the river we would use to raid. This was the Sabrina. On one coast lay the Kingdom of Wessex and on the other the Kingdom of Gwent. We would raid Gwent. We ran out a sea anchor when we arrived at noon and we waited below the horizon. Olaf explained that the river had a powerful current. We had to time our arrival for the incoming tide and the hours of darkness. The Walhaz had watch towers. Our men would still have to climb a palisade but that would be easier under cover of darkness. The Walhaz had good archers. We respected them. I knew that when I returned home, I would be ready for my first bow. When Arne and I both had one we would practise. The hunting of birds would give us the skill to kill men.

  As we waited in the estuary with our dragon prow facing upstream the men prepared. I saw that only four men had mail. The jarl, Bjorn Bjornson, my uncle and my father. Only the jarl had a full byrnie. The other three wore a short one which covered their chest and back. Their arms were unprotected as were their hips and legs. I saw some men applying cochineal and charcoal to their eyes and faces. My father and uncle did not. Only the jarl had a mask on his helmet. The rest had conical ones or round ones. My father and uncle had added their nasals themselves. My uncle had explained why before we left our home, “A one eyed warrior is at a disadvantage and a nasal can block the blow which would take out the eye and it saves the nose when you head butt an enemy. When we have the coin your father and I will have a mask like the jarl for they are even better.” There was but one weaponsmith on our island and that meant that he could charge whatever he wished. He was the richest man apart from the jarl. It was why my uncle and father had adapted their helmets themselves. Every Viking warrior could work metal. The nasals were crude but effective.

  The ship’s boys had little to do until we moved off. The sail was furled and all that we would need to do would be to jump ashore and hold the drekar against the bank.

  “Oars!” The sound of the jarl’s voice prompted all of us into action. We ran to the centre of the ship and waited. Olaf would be at the prow looking for the land. It was too dark to use anyone on the mast. There were just four of us for Karl was still incapacitated. The rowers rowed silently. We had not needed a chant and now was not the right time. We were invisible but a chant would identify us as Vikings. The jarl stood with Olaf. He had his helmet in his hand and he sniffed the air. I now knew why. He was smelling for smoke and the smell of animals. Both would identify settlements. We knew which one we sought. We did not know its name but we did not need to. We would not be going there to speak with the people. We would just take their treasure and enslave their women. Traders had told us where it was. The King did not live here but there was a lord who ruled the area. He lived inland from the small settlement. The church there was one of many. It was a community of men. They were rich men for they had good candlesticks, holy books and fine linen. They also ate well. However, as my uncle warned, we did not know how many warriors would be there. If there were many then we might lose men. If we had to row home then that would be a problem. It was all in the hands of the Norns. They spun and trapped men in their spells.

  I sniffed and I could smell wood smoke but I could see no lights nor could I see the shore. There was no foam breaking upon it. We were in an estuary. Olaf had told me that the estuary was as wide as the channel between Orkneyjar and the mainland. I saw Olaf wave and Ulf said, “Larboard oars in. Ship’s boys, to the side.”

  We had to move quickly. I ran to the mast fish and tied one end of the rope around the lower support. Olaf, at the bow, would have to use a thwart as would Leif at the steering board. I wrapped the coils diagonally around my body and pulled myself up onto the gunwale and held on to the stay. I could now see the thin line of white which marked the shore. This was a river. The bank would be more likely to be mud than shingle or sand. Now that the larboard oars had been run in Ulf North Star was using the steering board to counteract the effect of the steerboard oars. We crabbed our way to the shore. The smell of smoke was stronger now and I detected the smell of both human and animal dung. There was a settlement close by.

  Olaf whistled to get our attention and we all turned to look at him. He would leap and we would follow. All that we had to do was to find something to hold the drekar while the warriors leapt ashore. Then we would rejoin the drekar and turn it. Leif and Olaf, as the two biggest, would have to scull against the river. I saw a tree ahead of me. I had something to secure the drekar just so long as I could outrun Siggi and Arne. I saw Olaf leap and I was just behind him. I landed in the water and it was still deep and so I swam. It was easier. As I came up when the river was up to my knees and I saw that Arne and Siggi had struggled in the mud. I was glad that I was bare footed. Had I worn boots they would have been sucked off. I reached the tree and wrapped the rope around it. I went back to the river. The water washed the mud from me and I handed the end of the rope to my uncle. He and his shield brothers pulled. As soon as Olaf handed his rope to the jarl the drekar began to close with the bank. The warriors would not have to land in the mud. They could leap to dry ground.

  The drekar was disembarked so quickly that it astounded me. Soon it was just Ulf and we, the ship’s boys, who were left. We coiled the ropes and clambered aboard. Olaf and Leif were at the sweeps. Ulf North Star shouted, “Karl, you are an apology of a ship’s boy but you are a sizeable lump. Go help Olaf. Arne you help him too. Erik and Siggi help Leif.”

  Olaf and his helpers pushed the larboard side from the shore. Leif put the oar in the river and said, “Now push. We use a double steerboard.” With Ulf pushing on the steering board and Olaf sculling, we turned.

  Ulf seemed satisfied, “Now back water! The tide will turn before dawn. We have to save the warriors a walk.”

  It was hard work and we seemed to make little progress but when I saw my tree again, I knew we had returned to the mooring site.

  “Arne, Siggi and Erik secure us tightly to the bank. Use a good knot but one you can slip if there is trouble.” This time it was easier as the tide was still coming in and we were closer to the bank. I tied the rope and made sure that there was an end for me to pull. We used just three lines. “Now run out the gangplanks. There will be captives.”

  By the time we had done all that I was exhausted. Olaf and Leif grinned and Olaf said, “We deserve a reward, grandfather.”

  “Aye you do. Horns of ale for all of us! Even the lump of lard that is Karl.”

  “I am wounded, Ulf North Star!”

  “No, you are not! You cut yourself on a rock and you are milking the wound for all that it is worth. You make the limp more exaggerated when the jarl is watching! I know you! Give him half a horn. I do not like his attitude.”

  As we drank the ale and chatted, I felt good. Karl would not sail with us again, not as a ship’s boy at least. My life and those of my blood brothers would be safer. I had always thought I w
ould like the life on a drekar and now I knew it for certain.

  Suddenly we heard a cry and then the sound of a church bell. There was a roar upriver and then a clash of steel. Ulf nodded and hung his empty horn from around his neck. “Arm yourselves, spread yourselves out and watch for enemies. We have to defend the drekar until the jarl and our men return.”

  We all had more stones but I had no knife. I wondered about retrieving my hidden weapon and then changed my mind. Karl would recognise it. I needed to change the handle before I dared wear it. I picked a good stone and sat on the mast fish. I was elevated and could see further than those lower down. There were seven pairs of eyes watching the shore although I was unsure whence would come our enemies. The sounds of fighting reached a crescendo and then there was a cheer. We could not tell who cheered. It was unlikely but our men could have lost. If they had then I would expect them back soon. No one came and I saw, in the east, dawn begin to break.

  I had just turned my head when I saw a movement to the north, in the land of Gwent. I did not see it again and I thought I had imagined it. I would appear foolish if I was wrong. Better foolish than lose the ship. I hissed, “I saw a movement on the bank!”

  “Stand to!” I saw Olaf nock an arrow as did his grandfather. We four whirled our slings slowly above our heads. Ulf North Star shouted, in Norse, “Speak or die!”

  No one spoke and Ulf let fly with an arrow. Perhaps he had seen a movement or perhaps he was trying to make the watcher move. The watchers moved and began to run towards the drekar. I had a good view of the gangplank and I saw the five warriors run for it. While Ulf nocked another arrow, Olaf sent an arrow at the leading man who had a small shield. The warrior took the arrow on the shield. I was above him and I sent my stone into the side of the head and he fell from the gangplank into the mud. The Walhaz warriors would have been better using both gangplanks but they were eager to capture the drekar and kill ship’s boys. Ulf’s arrow caught the next warrior unawares. It hit him in the shoulder. He had leather mail but Ulf was less than twenty paces from him. It spun him around and he landed in the mud. Olaf sent an arrow into the warrior I had hit. He was rising from the mud and had no protection. At ten paces Olaf could not miss and I saw the arrow enter his forehead and emerge from the back of his skull. Leif and the others sent their stones to hit the fourth warrior. I had a stone in the sling and I sent it at the last one. It hit his right hand and I heard a cry. When Olaf and Ulf sent arrows into the shield of the nearest warrior one of them shouted and the four survivors ran for the bank. They did not escape unscathed. One was knocked to the ground and did not move. One of the others picked him up as an arrow from Olaf hit his calf. Arne’s stone smacked into the back of another. Then they disappeared in the undergrowth.

  The dead warrior lay face down in the mud. He had a shield, a sword and, I guessed a knife. I was new but I had helped to kill him. Perhaps Olaf would let me have something. Ulf shouted, “Can you see any more?”

  Olaf shouted, “I do not think so.”

  “Erik and Leif go and check. The warrior should be dead but make certain!”

  I slipped to the deck and almost ran down the gangplank. The light was getting better. You could make out shapes. I ran to the body. The arrow had hit so hard that there were pieces of bone in the mud. I saw that there was also blood close to his ear. That was where I had hit him. Leif appeared, “That was a good strike. He would have died from that wound.” He took his sword belt and sword. He handed me his dagger. He slipped the sword and belt around his neck. He tugged the leather boots from the body and then searched his clothes. He found a purse and a metal cross. He took them and put them on the gangplank. “Come, let us search the path.”

  I slipped the sling into my leather pouch and held the dagger before me. I was pleased that the light was better. We reached the path and saw nothing. Leif turned and shouted, “They have gone.”

  Just then a hand appeared from the undergrowth and grabbed Leif’s ankle. Without thinking I raised the Walhaz dagger and plunged it into the warrior’s neck. The blade cut an artery and blood spurted. The tip had gone in quicker than I had expected and I felt it grate off bone. The warrior’s death had been so quick that he had not uttered a sound.

  Leif said, “Thank you Erik. That was my error.” He handed me the sword and belt and then stripped the body. He took the Walhaz sword, belt, dagger, coins and boots. We had not raided the settlement but we had treasure! “Come we have pushed our luck and I hear the Norns spinning.”

  When we returned to the drekar Ulf said, “What happened?”

  Leif nodded to me, “A wounded Walhaz grabbed my ankle. Erik slew him. He is blooded!”

  I saw the admiration in the eyes of all but Karl. Olaf said, “We will share the booty when we have time.”

  Ulf nodded, “Your last voyage as a ship’s boy has shown that you have wisdom, grandson, I will miss you next time.”

  “Do not worry, grandfather. We have good ones to replace us.”

  “Even me?”

  “Even you, Siggi the Clumsy.” Although Siggi was pleased to be accepted I saw him worrying that his nickname would stick.

  We heard noise coming from upstream. “Stand watch! This may be our war band but it could be the Walhaz. Be prepared to slip the ropes!” Olaf took his bow and we ran to the ropes. The light was better now and I recognised Karl’s father leading animals down the path. There were pigs and sheep. Olaf shouted, “It is friends!”

  We had wounded too and they came on some horses which had been captured. I saw Ulf frowning. Pigs and sheep were one thing but cows and horses were difficult to transport. As Bjorn Bjornson and his four men led the animals to graze on the grass, we went to help the four wounded warriors. One, Eystein, had lost fingers on his left hand. I wondered how for he had had a shield. He had no shield now and perhaps that was the story. Petr Petrsson had a gashed leg. It looked bad but it was on the fleshy part of his leg and my father said those wounds were the best to have. The other two, Folki and Benni, had both been laid unconscious. It was hard to see what their wound was. They were too heavy for the three of us and so we saw to Eystein and Petr.

  Petr said, “Your father, Arne and Erik, is almost a berserker. He is relentless once he starts laying about him with his sword. Poor Eystein tried the same and when he tried your father’s trick of sweeping aside the sword, the man he fought took his fingers from the inside of his shield. He will have to be a farmer now. At least I can still row and fight!”

  His words told me that my father was alive and that was good news. It took until noon for the drekar to be loaded. The tide was racing out and Ulf was becoming quite agitated. We did not take the three horses. There was no room. With five women and four children, not to mention the sheep, pigs, and fowl, we were well loaded. The sacks of grain, hides, the carcasses of slaughtered animals, looted treasure, weapons and helmets were all stored beneath the deck. Our little haven by the prow now became crowded for we had the captives there too. Olaf and the rest of us were their guards. Ulf North Star annoyed Karl by telling him that he was no longer his assistant, he was in charge of the captives for the rest of us would be needed to trim the sail.

  I had little chance to speak to my father but he smiled at me as he came on board. Ulf shouted, “Lars, your son did well. He killed a man and saved Leif from injury. You should be proud of him.”

  I saw my father nodded and his smile became broader, “I am always proud of my sons but today my chest swells just a little more!”

  We managed to make the tide. The five of us swarmed up to the spar. It was daylight and we did not need a lookout. The river was wide and the current and the oarsmen took us. Our warriors did not row hard. It was to keep way. We sat on the yard for although the wind was against us once we turned to steerboard to sail along the coasts of Gwent and Dyfed we would have a breeze pushing from the south and west. The warriors would still need to row but it would be with just half of the rowers. Ulf North Star was confident that, at this
time of year, the winds and the current would be from the south and west. I had asked him many questions about being a navigator. At first, he seemed to resent my questions but now he was almost resigned to them. He told me that there was a warm current to the west which pushed all the way around to our home. I wanted to sail that current. Was it made by the gods? Perhaps that was how Ran navigated. There was much I did not know but I had learned so much on this one voyage and there would be more.

  I was between Leif and Olaf. They seemed happy to talk with me. “How long will it take us to get home, Olaf?”

  “Faster than the journey here. We will have the wind and the current. We will sail closer to Hibernia in case the dogs of Mann are hunting. My grandfather thinks that the jarl will make war on them.”

  Leif asked, “With one drekar?”

  “There are other drekar on the islands.”

  “But not enough to destroy the pirates.” Olaf was silent. “Perhaps, if it is not for some time I may be old enough and strong enough to take an oar.”

  Leif’s father had been killed fighting alongside the Danes. Leif had never known him. His mother had brought Leif and his sisters up alone. They were poor. He lived on Orkneyjar and I knew that the other families looked after them but Leif wanted to take care of his own family. He could not do that as a ship’s boy. It was another reason why the two dead Walhaz were so important. We had not spoken of it but I knew he wanted the sword. It was mine by right for I had slain the Walhaz warrior but Leif needed it more than I did. Besides I would not be able to use it. I had decided already that I would let him have it. There were two daggers from the dead men and I wanted just one of them.

  I looked to steerboard and saw that the land was flying by. Our rowers were barely stroking. I now understood how our drekar were able to cover such vast distances so quickly. We truly were the master mariners.