Blood on the Blade

by Griff Hosker

  Two of the ones who were not warriors turned and started to flee. The lord shouted, “Help me!” They hesitated and then went to him. Putting their arms around him they lifted him. The delay enabled Leif and Olaf to hit one of them in the leg and the lord in the arm. We had parity of numbers. I pulled back the Saxon spear and thrust it at the Saxon oathsworn. This was no novice and he fended it off with his shield and, as he did so, lunged at my middle with a knife held in his shield arm. Had I not had quick reactions then I might have been wounded. As it was, I turned to my right and hit him in the side of the head with the boss of my shield.

  To my left I heard Olaf and Leif as they charged down the slope shouting, “Clan of the Fox!”

  The man I was fighting reeled from my blow and glanced to the right. I pulled back my arm and stabbed down at his foot. I pinned it to the ground. He screamed in pain and as I withdrew it swashed his sword at me and then, limping and with a bleeding foot, fled. Olaf and Leif had made the Saxons think we outnumbered them. As Arne rammed his spear into the middle of his enemy the survivors, all three of them, joined the man I had wounded and they ran after their lord and his men. I think that Arne was considering making the victory complete when he saw that Asbjorn had been wounded. The Saxon spear was still sticking from his right shoulder.

  “Erik, fetch the animals. Faramir catch the pony! Sigismund, search the dead!” Sheathing my sword and slinging my shield around my back I ran up the slope. The two slaves looked up in terror as I appeared. Padraig’s face creased with relief, “They are gone?”

  “They left dead and their lord is badly wounded. They are gone.”

  By the time we had led the animals down to the river, where they drank for a long time, Asbjorn had had his wound tended. I went to the man I had killed. He had a sword and a seax. I handed the seax to Padraig. “Here is a weapon for you.”

  He handed me back my dagger and Arne threw a seax to Aed, “And here is one for you. Erik was right, you did not run and you deserve to be rewarded.”

  We had spears, shields and helmets. We loaded them on to the two horses’ saddles. Asbjorn used the pony as a staff. The animal was too exhausted to carry him but it was able to support him. We crossed the river. We left the bodies where they lay. As we climbed up the valley side Arne said, “How far, navigator?”

  I did not need to look at the map to give the answer. I said, “Twenty miles. We will not make it home in one march. We will need to camp. The animals are suffering and Asbjorn is wounded. Let us find a wood in which we can shelter.”

  He nodded, “Good advice.”

  In the end the gods sent us something better. We found an abandoned Viking farm. Half of the roof had collapsed but there was still a roofless barn and there was water. We found, close by the barn, the bones of the last occupant. He had either been slain or died some years earlier. If we had time, we would bury him. In the house we found a pot which just had a crack close to the top. We could use it to cook with. It would do. Arne showed that he was the leader. “Leif and Erik, you had no sleep last night. You sleep this night.”

  Faramir said, “Asbjorn needs hot food. We all need hot food.”

  My brother frowned. I smiled, “Arne, if there are enemies nearby then the Norns do not wish us to get home. If we are to die then let it be with a full belly!”

  He laughed, “Aye for they have spun a good web thus far. Hot food it is.”

  After a hot meal Leif and I just fell asleep close to the welcoming fire. I was so tired that if I dreamed, I did not remember it. We were not attacked and although Asbjorn’s wound ached we were able to finish the march home and we reached there before noon. We were greeted as heroes and our stad was safe for the winter.

  The fact that we had horses now made an enormous difference to our lives. We could use them to haul timber from the woods and we had great quantities of timber laid in for the time of the new grass. We had frost and ice that winter but no snow. We saw snow, in the distance in the Land of the Wolf. We had none and by Gói we were able to build more halls. We had a smithy and forge to make weapons but no smith. That did not matter over much. Most of us knew how to shape iron. I spent the long nights shaping my bow. It was not a quick process but when it was finished and it was strung, I knew I had a good weapon. Leif and Olaf showed me how to make arrows. I did not waste metal on the end. I used flint and stone arrows. When the heads broke it did not matter. I became quite proficient. I hunted larger birds and small animals. They added to the pot and improved my skills.

  As Gói came and went I approached Padraig and Aed. “You have fulfilled your side of the bargain and now we shall honour our side. I will take you to Dyflin in my snekke.”

  They looked at each other and Padraig said, “We are happy here. We are free. We have fished in the snekke and our life is good. The roof we have over our heads was built by us and we both like your people. If you would have us, we would join the clan.”

  I nodded, “For my part I am happy but that must be put to the whole clan at the next Thing. There will be one in the middle of Einmánuður when the days are the same as the nights.”

  “We are happy for the clan to decide.”

  The ship’s boys enjoyed going out with the two Hibernians. I fished less now. I knew that I needed to improve as a warrior. Arne and I practised each day. We now had more men with mail. Arne and I did not but our leather jerkins were studded with the thin metal we had beaten out on the anvil. I had retrieved the Saxon lord’s helmet from the river. It fitted me for I had a smaller head than my brother. He was envious but accepted that the helmet had chosen me.

  Two days before the Thing I went out in the snekke with the two Irish men and the ship’s boys. If the clan chose not to accept them then this might be my last chance to speak with them and I had enjoyed their company. We had landed a sizeable catch and we were just enjoying the sea. I was loath to head back. We talked of their lives in Hibernia. It seemed similar to our life. The three ship’s boys were also rapt. However, we still had one on lookout and it was Stig who shouted, “I see birds and they are flocking around something in the water.” He pointed to the north. I stood and looked. It was in the distance but it looked like wreckage. We hoisted the sail and headed for it.

  I sent Eidel up to the mast and he shouted, “There are people. They are clinging to the wreckage.” He shaded his eyes, “I think that they are our people. They have seal skin capes and boots.

  Here was a tale. How had they reached us and were the Norns spinning? From the wreckage it looked like a knarr. There was one man, two women and a child. It was hard to tell if they were dead or alive. I began to call as I neared, “Hello! I am Erik of Larswick. We come to help you.” I saw a feeble arm raised. One of the women, at least, was alive. “Stig, Sven, move the catch. We must make space for them. Padraig secure the wreckage. Aed and Eidel help them aboard.”

  Eidel said, “And if they are dead?”

  “Still bring them aboard. We have a cemetery and they can be buried amongst Norse.”

  I lowered the sail myself as Padraig grabbed the wreckage and acted as a human grappling hook. Aed and Eidel clambered aboard the wreckage. Even as they did so it began to break up. They passed the children and the two women first. Stig and Sven had created enough room and they made a space for them by the mast fish. The man was the hardest to pull for he had the fur of a bear upon him and his seal skin boots were filled with water. Aed and Eidel had just managed with the help of Padraig to pull him aboard, when the wreckage separated. Another few moments and they would have gone to Ran.

  “Raise the sail!” I put the steering board over. I saw Padraig checking them. He raised his thumb and smiled. He took the spare sail and covered them with it. Aed took the ale skin and tried to force some down their throats. They were deathly white and looked more dead than alive. I had seen this once before. When we had lived on Orkneyjar we had seen a knarr founder on some rocks a mile away. In those days we had no snekke and my father and uncle had waited on the
beach. When the only three to survive landed they were shivering and could not even speak. It had taken many hours for them to become men again. These people looked to have been at sea for a very long time. There had been little left of the knarr save for the steerboard side and part of the prow.

  As we neared the mouth of the river I wondered at this turn of events. The Norns had to have been spinning. Our timing had been critical. We might have turned for home had not the conversation been so enjoyable. We would not have had that conversation if we had not rescued Padraig and Aed. Wyrd.

  I sent Eidel and Stig to the stad to fetch help. We needed Gytha. Although heavy with child she would come down the slope and begin to heal them on the quay. My father and uncle came down as well as two other women. While they tended to the four we had rescued Snorri said, “You have landed the biggest catch I have ever seen.” He glanced down and said, “I know this man. It is Wraghi. He moved from Orkneyjar to Ljoðhús for he did not get on with the jarl. That would be his wife and sister but where are his brother and his sons?”

  Gytha looked up, “Instead of chattering like a magpie have these carried to the hall. They are close to death, especially the child. Maeve, bank up the fire and take off all their clothes.”

  Snorri said, “Take off…”

  “Do I tell you how to fight battles? No! Then do not tell me how to heal. My baby is due any day and I would not have its birth cursed by the deaths of these four. Erik has saved them from the sea. We must save them from Hel!”

  I turned to Sven, “See to the unloading of the fish. Padraig, take the man’s feet. Aed help my uncle take one of the women.”

  I grabbed the man’s shoulders. Gytha smiled, “At least one who has Ragnarsson blood knows how to act!”

  When we entered the gate, I saw Olaf and Leif practising with their bows. “Go to the quay. There is a woman there, bring her to the hall.”

  When I reached our hall, I saw that my mother had, indeed, put more logs on the fire. Padraig and I took off the man’s clothes. Water poured from his boots. His breeks and kyrtle were sodden. His pale flesh was icy to the touch. My mother went and found a fur. “Go. When Gytha and her volvas arrive, they will perform their magic. They will be naked when they do so and this is not for the eyes of men.”

  I shook my head and we left. I later found that this was the volva’s magic. By putting their naked bodies next to the four who were near to death they would drag them back from the brink by giving them their warmth and part of their life spirit. Had someone told me then I would have said they had eaten of the mushrooms which make men mad but as the four were all recovered by the next day then all that I can say is that it must be true.

  I did not sleep in my father’s hall. Arne and I slept in the warrior hall with the unmarried warriors. When we entered the hall, the next morning, Wraghi was dressed and with a red face. He had recovered. He smiled when he saw us, “This must be Erik and Arne. I remember them when they were no bigger than my sea boot. And I understand that I owe you four lives, Erik.”

  I shook my head, “You owe us nothing. I am glad to have arrived in time.”

  He clutched his hammer of Thor, “Aye, the Allfather was watching over us.” Snorri and Siggi entered, “And I owe your wife and the volvas too, Snorri Long Fingers.”

  My father said, “Sit, tell them what you told me, Wraghi.”

  “When we heard, last year, that you had left Orkneyjar we wondered what it meant. We soon discovered what it meant for the King of Norway came to our island. He brought an army. Jarl Eystein was with him and Bjorn, Lord of Mann. They said they had come to save us from a life of hardship. They demanded that we swear an oath to them and that we pay taxes. We told them that we would not and wished to live the life we had always led.” He shook his head, “We should have either run, as you did, or fought there and then. The King and his henchmen let the men leave to return to their homes and then sent their warriors to kill their men and take their women. Agnete, here, my brother’s wife, was one who escaped. My sons and brother were slain and their wives taken as slaves. When she told us, we saw the cunning of the plan of the King of Norway. We should have stayed together and fought but he ate us piecemeal. We gathered what little we had and we fled in my knarr. We encountered a storm off the coast of the Wolf. I managed to get all aboard the wreckage and then you found us.”

  I asked, “Who is the boy?”

  “He is Naddor, my grandson. He was staying with us. He is but three and does not know yet that his father is dead.”

  “You are welcome here.”

  “I am not sure that you will have much longer to enjoy this freedom. He knows where you live. You killed his men and he has sworn to have vengeance upon you. He will come for you Lars. You know that in your heart.”

  I saw my father look at his left arm. He was now half a man. He limped and could not hold a shield. He could no longer fight against the King of Norway. Snorri had recently and reluctantly taken over more of the decision making. He said, “Then that leaves us the land of the Northmen in Frankia or the land of ice and fire.”

  My father shook his head, “I do not wish to run anywhere but as there are few people in the land of ice and fire it strikes me that it might be the best place to build a new life.” He shook his head, “But the land here is perfect.”

  My mother shook her head, “If we have to defend it from so many enemies then it is not perfect and although I fear this land of ice and fire if it can be our home then I would go there.”

  The Norns were spinning. Their web was both large and powerful. It had dragged folk from across oceans and planted them here on this green and fertile piece of land. We were going to exchange it for an unknown world filled with ice and fire. My choice would be to stay and fight but I was young and had no voice.

  The Thing accepted and welcomed all of the new folk into the clan including Padraig and Aed. It was an important moment. As part of the clan they could now have families. They could marry. The Norns were indeed spinning their webs.

  Chapter 15

  We had almost a year where we prospered. Neither Dane nor Saxon came for us. The King of Norway was busy dealing with islands and lands further north. Four more knarr made it from the islands with more refugees and we grew. We raided Mercia and we raided Ireland. I did not even need to go ashore for when we raided the Irish they were not as well armed as we were and when we raided Mercia, we had more men. Padraig and Aed did not raid. They stayed at home to defend Larswick. We began to believe that King Harold of Norway had forgotten us. He had not. My father was now an important jarl in the King’s mind. He had flouted his authority and so long as he remained alive then he would be a reminder that men could fight the King of Norway. His Lord of Mann was having trouble with those who lived on the island closest to us. That was the only reason we had escaped his attention.

  I was in the snekke, fishing with Padraig and Aed when we spied a laden drekar. We hauled in our nets. Since our encounter with the two drekar sent to hunt us down I had grown in confidence. “Be ready to use your bows if they attack.”

  “You are going to speak with them?”

  “They have no shields along the side and they are laden. They come from the north and west which means Mann. I will shadow them. If they make for the Loyne then we can beat them to our river and give warning. If they keep heading south, we will see where they go.”

  I had learned that the snekke was so lively that she could sail with any wind. The drekar, in contrast, was labouring. She was so laden that waves broke over her side as she wallowed towards land. The captain put her helm over to come towards us. It was a mistake for it took her beam on to the waves and one broke over her showering those on board. He wished to speak to us and he was not a good captain. I headed towards him and he resumed his course. I sailed around his stern to keep the wind. Aed and Padraig had two bows already strung if this was some sort of elaborate trap.

  I adjusted the sail to slow us down. As we came close to their st
eering board a Viking leaned over, “Are you from the stad they call Larswick?”

  “I am.”

  “We are fled from Mann. Where is there land we could take to make a new home?”

  I knew that my father would not welcome these men from Mann even if they were refugees from Finehair. He did not trust them. I pointed south and east. “There is a river, the Ribble. It is just a few miles south of here. The land on the two banks has no settlers but I should warn you that the Mercians from the south and the Danes from the east may challenge you.”

  He nodded, “Then we will fight for the new land. We had to fight for that which had been ours for many years on Mann and we still lost. The King of Norway wishes the world and we will not bend the knee. My brother brings the rest.” He pointed astern. I saw a sail low down on the horizon. “May the Allfather be with you.”

  “And may he protect you and your families too.” I made us fly down the side of the drekar. She was so low in the water I could see that they were mainly women and children. I was pleased that they had not asked to come to Larswick. The refugees we had had before had come from the islands. They were our kind of people. We knew many of them. Two boat loads could bring trouble. We headed home. That evening, as I told my uncle and father of the events, I could see that they were concerned. Siggi and Arne sat either side of me as I spoke. Both were now men grown with full beards. I knew that we were the future of the clan. The five of us spoke each day. We were of one mind.

  “I do not blame them for seeking a land free from the iron hand of a ruthless king but if there are large numbers then they might try to take that which we have.”

  I knew what he meant. Most of the men now had farms. They were all dotted around the stad and none was further than a mile away but if we had neighbours to the south that might bring us conflict.