I stepped aboard and we cast off. Olaf Two Teeth had the helm but next to him stood Beorn. He would never make the same mistake again and I had chosen him to train as my new helmsman. From my mast flew my new banner. Gefn and Bergljót had sewn it. It was a dark blue banner with my longsword sewn in grey thread. It looked a little like the standard which Alain of Auxerre had flown. I liked it. It was simple and the sword had now come to represent me. Many men called me Longsword. I had more names than Loki!
Our voyage would be a long one for we would head west around the north coast of the land of the Picts. We would be passing the land where Kaðlín lived or, at least, the land where her father ruled. Wyrd . It was a hard voyage. It was the time of the storms. We had completely repaired our drekar and I believe that saved us. I had made a blót before we had left but the waves were so high and the troughs so deep that there were times I thought I should have made a bigger one. The coast had savage teeth which threatened to tear out our keel. Finally, as we turned south, disaster stuck. A crack appeared in the main mast. We managed to beach her in a small bay in the land of the Caereni. It appeared to be deserted.
We had the captives brought ashore first and I set a good watch upon them. We were close enough to their home for them to risk running. While the rest of the crew took the sail from the damaged mast and prepared the new one I went with Bergil and Sven to scout out the land around the bay. I did not want to be attacked. The land was bleak and desolate. I saw no sign of habitation save a single path which wound along the coast. We spied no horse droppings nor any footprints. We were on a deserted part of the coast. We returned to the beach. Night was falling and we had still to attach the sail. We would have to camp on the beach.
“When we have traded, what are your plans?”
Bergil looked at me as Sven asked the question which had been vexing me for some time. “Take the treasure back and share it.”
Sven shook his head, “Honesty. We have supported you but we would have you speak honestly to us too.”
I sighed, “I am bound to sail back to the Land of the Horse. I would do so sooner rather than later.”
“With just one ship; a threttanessa?”
“Sven, I would take a knarr if that was all that I had. I have a father to avenge. If it means my death then so be it. I cannot escape this web.”
Sven smiled, “Good. That is what I wanted to hear. When you did not take on Bjorn I thought I might have made a mistake with the choice of the man I would follow.” He swept a hand around the camp. “These men will follow you anywhere.”
“But what of Bergil’s mother and Gefn?”
“They are Viking women. They will come with us but that will be when we have won. We do not go there to lose Göngu-Hrólfr.”
I was a lucky man to be surrounded by such warriors.
We could not leave at first light. We rigged the sail but a storm blew up. The wind was blowing directly into the bay and we would have to wait until it abated or turned. We could not row against it. The Weird Sisters were still spinning. I spied a small ship. It looked like the Hibernian version of a knarr. It was trying to avoid the bay but it was as though it was being drawn into it. Eventually the captain gave up and he stopped fighting the sea. We hurried down to the shore. I think the crew thought we were going to fall upon them but we did not. We helped them to beach the boat.
The captain, a Hibernian, fell to his knees in the sand, “Thank you master! I pray you do not harm us. We are simple sailors.”
He spoke our language, “Rise. We are all sailors. Where were you running in such a hurry?”
“I deliver a message to Áed mac Cináeda, King of the Caereni. It is from Prince Beollán mac Ciarmaic.”
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. “What is the message?”
“The king’s daughter is married to the Prince. I am to tell her father that she is about to give birth to a child. It is cause for great celebration.”
“How so?”
“The Prince has had wives before but none conceived. The princess conceived immediately after their marriage. God has smiled on their union. The Prince wished the king to know that.”
I nodded. The child was not the prince’s. It was mine. Wyrd .
It took two days for the storm to abate. We managed to make all our repairs as did the Hibernian. We left at the same time. We headed south and he headed north.
Bergil saw that I was distracted. He took me to the side and asked me why. I could not keep it a secret from him and, besides, there was no reason to do so. I told him. “It might not be your child.”
I tapped my chest, “Something in here,” I tapped my head, “and here, tells me that it is.”
“Will you do anything about it?”
I shook my head. “I have one quest. Save my land and find my grandfather.”
I looked astern as we sailed towards Dyflin. Family was more important than any seed I might have sown. I was determined.
The winds were precocious. They had blown from the west and kept us in the bay. Now they had swung around to the south and east. They made life hard. We had to both row and tack. This was my drekar but I rowed. Bergil laughed, “I do not think that the gods wish you to get to Dyflin.”
I shook my head, “This is the Norns. They are spinning. I can feel their web.”
We ended up close to the Land of the Wolf. I had never been there but my grandfather had told me so much about it that I felt I knew it. My back was burning from the constant effort of rowing. Olaf said, “Jarl…”
“I am not jarl!”
He smiled his toothless smile, “Lord then. We have come far enough south. If we turn west we will have enough wind to make Dyflin.”
“Then make the turn.” As soon as he put the steering board over I shouted, “In oars! Rowers we will broach the barrel! We can buy more in Dyflin!”
The men cheered. They had worked hard. We did not get to open the barrel of ale. We had new ship’s boys and the one at the masthead was Ragnar’s son. He was keen to become a warrior. He wished to emulate his father, a hero. “Ships ahead!”
“Where away?”
“To the north and west, lord!”
“What are they?”
“A knarr, she looks Norse is being chased by a drekar.”
Sven looked at me. “A drekar means a Viking.”
I nodded, “As does a knarr. We can sail further south and close our eyes or we can go closer.”
He cocked his head to one side, “We have captives and treasure on board. Why do we risk losing them?”
“I said we can sail south and avoid them.”
He laughed, “That is what you said but that is not what was in your head.”
I nodded, “You are right. The storm broke our mast and that meant we met the Hibernian. We were forced south and now we find a battle. We are meant to intervene.”
“You are right. Following you may be a short life but it will not be dull.”
I turned to Olaf, “Head for the drekar.” I shouted, “Prepare for battle!”
I had my mail on but some of the others did not and they hurried to arm themselves. I walked down to the prow. We could have avoided this battle but something deep inside told me that I had to intervene. I looked up at the mast. “Erik Ragnarsson, will the knarr escape?”
“No, lord. The drekar is rowing. They are gaining.”
I peered ahead. The ships were sailing on a south west to north east course. We were gaining rapidly for we had the wind and we would close with them. I hoped that the drekar would not see us. Their attention would be on the helpless little knarr. Olaf Two Teeth had grown to understand the drekar on our voyage around the coast of Britannia. Our ship was getting faster. He was teasing speed from the sails and the hull.
I walked back down the ship to make sure that everyone was armed. I would not be using my long sword. The pitching ship of a drekar was not the best place for such a large and long weapon. I took a pair of short swords. Men nodded an
d grinned as I passed them. They were ready. I reached Olaf and Sven. “Try to lay us along their steerboard side. That will keep you safe and let us disable the ship.”
When Sven Blue Arm nodded appreciatively I knew that I had made the right decision.
Erik Ragnarsson shouted, “Lord, they are about to grapple the knarr.”
The small ship was hidden from us but the drekar was just two lengths from us. Sven knew ships. He had sailed far and wide. “That is a ship of Man.”
“How do you know?”
“The standard they fly from their mast. It is the four legs which radiate from the centre. They are from Man.”
I felt better. The men of Man were known to be without honour. They were pirates. All Vikings were pirates but there were degrees of villainy. They were amongst the lowest. The knarr was a victim. “Olaf, lay us alongside them!”
“Lord they are boarding the knarr!”
Just then there was a shout from the drekar as she realised we were closing with them. I ran to the larboard side. I kept one sword sheathed and I stood on the gunwale and held the backstay. “These are pirates! No quarter!”
My men cheered. Olaf put the helm over and our ship crashed into the side of the drekar. I was about to lose my balance anyway and so I leapt. Most of the men of Man were trying to board the knarr from the larboard side of the ship. I ran for the steering board. Drawing my second sword I blocked the sword of the Viking who lurched at me and gutted him with my other. The helmsman saw a giant and he leapt over board.
“Beorn and Olaf guard the ship and the captives. Erik Ragnarsson, come and take this helm!” I ran down ship, shouting to my men who were scrambling over the side, “To me!”
I hurtled down the drekar towards the press of men trying to board the tiny knarr. The first four men died without even knowing that we were aboard. Then their jarl, who was on the deck of the knarr, realised that his ship was under attack. He yelled, “Back!”
As he did so I recognised the warrior he had just killed. It was Erik Green Eye. Then I saw the helmsman. It was Harold Haroldsson. Slumped on the deck next to him was my grandfather. The knarr was the ‘Kara’ ! My grandfather was here! The Norns had indeed spun. I just prayed that my grandfather’s thread had not been cut.
The warriors of Man tried to climb back aboard their drekar. It was higher than the knarr and I slashed and stabbed at the ones whose hands appeared. My men arrived and a terrifying battle ensued. It was a fight to the death. The drekar was bigger than mine and had a bigger crew. We had to kill them all. They needed to kill us to regain control of their ship. The chief, I recognised him by his warrior bands, hit his sword against Sámr’s helmet. My friend slumped to the deck and the chief sprang aboard his own drekar.
“You have bitten off more than you can chew giant. I will have the knarr and your ship.”
I said nothing. He was mailed and he had a shield. He had a sword but he had killed Erik Green Eye and for that he would die. I blocked his first blow and, instead of aiming at his shield or his body, I slashed at his knee. His byrnie did not cover it. I had a short blade but it was a sharp sword and I ripped open the flesh of his knee. He roared in pain and I punched at his sword arm with the hilt of my second weapon. He had to take a step back and that made his leg bleed more. I lunged with my sword at his middle and when he brought his shield around I lunged at his shoulder with the other. I found flesh and his shield dropped a little. He was pressed against his gunwale. Blood pumped from his leg and seeped from his arm. I whirled the swords above his head and he appeared mesmerized. I brought them together and the two of them took his head. It fell to the deck of the knarr.
His crew were being attacked by my men and the handful of crew left on the knarr. It would be bloody but the outcome was no longer in doubt. As my men slew the last of them I leapt aboard the knarr and ran to my grandfather. His eyes were closed. I could not see a wound. Had he suffered a blow to the head as Jarl Rognvald? That would be truly ironical. Was I too late? I laid down my swords and cradled his head.
“Grandfather, it is Rollo! Come back to me! Do not go to the Otherworld!”
His eyes opened and he smiled at me, “Not yet for I have searched two years to find you. I have come to take you home.” Then his head slumped and he fell backwards. I saw that his leg was bloody. I saw the wound. I had to save him.
Hrolf the Horseman
Epilogue
When we had left Dyflin I had felt old and I had felt weary. I had sailed the seas, it seemed, forever. In my heart I knew that my grandson, Rollo, was still alive. There had been enough stories and legends from the north to keep me searching. The giant who had descended upon a Danish village, the warrior with the two-handed sword who had captured a kingdom in the far north, the warrior who had sacked Streanæshalc; all of these told me that my grandson was still alive but it had been a hard search. I had never believed Ragnvald and his story. Perhaps that was because I did not like him anyway but there was something in his eyes and in his demeanour, that told me all was not as he had said. All of those I trusted, my son’s hearth weru, were dead. The witnesses were warriors like Arne the Breton Slayer and they were Ragnvald’s men. I could not bring myself to say grandson.
Folki had been the only one I could ask and he had told me that he had seen little in that confused night. He had gone to the aid of my son and found young Ragnvald defending my son’s body. The fact that there were no Danes nearby was suspicious enough. Of Rollo there was no sign and Ragnvald had said that Rollo had fallen overboard and been dragged down by his armour. That I did not believe. Who could have slain my son?
Ragnvald was now jarl and I could not bring myself to abandon Rollo. I had asked for warriors to come with me and search for Rollo. We had filled ‘Kara’ with trade goods and set sail pretending to be simple traders. That had been more than two years ago. We had sailed to Cent and the Isle of Grain. As we had sailed over the waters I had not sensed his body and we had searched elsewhere. We had sailed to Brvggas. Now that Dorestad had silted up it was where a man could still buy and sell slaves. He was not there but, while in that port, I had talked with Erik Green Eye and Harold Haroldsson. We had used our heads to work out where Rollo, if he was still alive, might be. The winds had been from the south. The crews of all the drekar had attested to that. It had made the voyage home hard. We had to look north.
For half a year we had visited as many ports in Denmark as we could. We had been about to give up when we heard of a village sacked by Vikings. We would have ignored it save the word, giant, was spoken. It proved, if proof were needed, that my grandson was still alive. Our cover worked and we visited port after port from Svearike to Horderland in Norway. It took more than six months. We traded well and we were in profit but my grandson was as elusive as ever. We gave up that search. I intended to sail to Dyflin and seek information there or perhaps Úlfarrston and the land of the Wolf. There I had friends who would speak the truth.
Then we heard of a band of Vikings who had raided the land of the Cornovi. They had taken many slaves. That was when Harold had come up with an idea, “Jarl we are doing this the wrong way. We are searching for a single fish in a great sea. Let us see if he will come to us. If they have slaves then they need to sell them. We should sail to Dyflin. You will be welcomed by the Vikings there. They are friends of the Dragonheart’s family. We can trade.”
Erik Green Eye had agreed, “And there we will be more likely to hear of a giant Viking who raids the northern seas. All sailors head to Dyflin. They have the best ale houses and whores in the north.”
We had sailed to Dyflin and we had waited. We heard of a clan in Norway. They were a mighty clan and, it was said, the son of one of them was a giant. We dismissed that. Rollo’s father lay dead. We thought that the trail had gone cold until ten days since. Word came of a raid on Streanæshalc. It was brought to us by a Saxon who had been there. He had fled across Northumbria with his hoard of jet that he wished to sell. He told us of a giant who had a two-ha
nded sword he used one handed. It was when he spoke of how this giant had defeated horsemen that I knew it was Rollo. It was then that I knew I had stopped searching Norway too soon. We had finished our trading and loaded the knarr. We had set sail for Norway and then we had been followed. A drekar from Man had pounced on us as we headed north. The winds prevented us from heading for the Land of the Wolf and we had tried to out sail them. When we had spied the second drekar we had thought we were doomed. The men of Man had boarded us and I had thought to end my life with my sword in my hand but my son unavenged. I had been laid low by a sling shot and thought I was bound for the otherworld and then Rollo had leapt aboard. Too late to save Erik Green Eyes, he had saved his grandfather. The sword thrust I had taken to my leg would not kill me. I had reason to live.
I saw my wife’s face and I saw my son. I realised that I was dreaming. Had I dreamed Rollo? His voice woke me, “Grandfather, open your eyes so that I know you are alive.”
I opened them. I saw Harold Haroldsson at the steering board. A bandage covered the side of his head. I saw my grandson. He had grown since I had last seen him and, beneath his beard, I saw a long scar running down his cheek. I reached up and ran my fingers down his scar. “You have had battles.”
He nodded and smiled, “I have had battles.”
A grizzled warrior standing next to him said, “Göngu-Hrólfr Rognvaldson, will you stay on the knarr? We have two ships to crew.”
Rollo turned, “Aye Sven Blue Cheek. It seems we have no need for a second drekar, the gods have sent us one.”
The warrior he had called Sven Blue Cheek laughed, “Aye, I wondered how you would manage that trick. It seems you are the chosen one.” He looked down at me. “Your grandson says that you met a Norn, Jarl, is it true?”
I nodded, “I am never foresworn; aye it is true.”
“Then I have chosen the right warrior to follow. Back aboard the drekar. Boys, we have much to do. Strip those bodies and feed them to the fishes. Bergil, take half the crew and sail the new drekar!”
Brothers in Blood (Norman Genesis Book 7) Page 23
