By the time dawn arrived we had the treasure and the supplies we wanted ready to be taken to the drekar. As I had promised I buried Mary’s father, in the graveyard. It amused Alf, I think. The next task was to choose the slaves we would take. Anyone over the age of eighteen was dismissed and as we had killed all of the men there were just a handful of boys left. In all, we had twelve young women and girls along with eight boys. I suspect some had run when we had arrived. Mary had told me, almost threateningly, that the ones who had run would have gone to Stocc-ton which was just a handful of miles away. I told my foster father and he just nodded. He accepted the risk. There were animals and we used those to carry the sacks of grain and treasure. When Griotard and his men had gone to the mill they found it abandoned but full of grain sacks. We began our arduous journey back down the track to the drekar. The tide had come in and although we still had mud to negotiate to get back aboard it was not as bad as it had been. We loaded the sacks and treasure below the deck and then, as noon approached, we loaded the captives. Half of the sheep and two goats were retained as well as one cow for the milk. The other two were butchered and we salted them with the salt we had taken from the village. All this took time and the sentries we had left at the mill came racing down to tell us that a warband was on its way. Mary had not lied. We boarded and pushed off from the muddy shore. Four warriors watched the captives for we wanted none throwing themselves overboard and the rest of us took to the oars and headed back to the main channel.
Rowing steadily, we spied the warriors who, running down the trail to the river, brandished their weapons at us, impotently. I saw as we headed away from the landing place that we had found a natural bay in the riverbed. Now, at high tide, it made passage between Norton and Billingham impossible. It looked like it might be negotiated at low tide, but I could not see the causeway there had to have been. What it meant was we would not be pursued! The captives were relatively quiet and that was a good thing. Thorstein was keen for us to reach the sands where the seals gathered before dark. We had taken food from the village and we could eat while riding at anchor.
It was as we rowed that Alf said to me, “We could have stayed in the village, Sven. Those men who came were no threat. Only two wore mail.”
I nodded as we rowed, “But our hersir is a clever man. We would have gained little except for a night ashore in a village. We might have lost men and there may have been more warriors coming from further afield. What care you? You have a mail suit now.”
He looked at me in amazement, “But you fought and defeated him.”
“And you killed him. The byrnie is yours.”
“Thank you, Sven, I will not argue with you.”
I think I knew then that I would either have a byrnie made or the one which I won would be as special as my sword. It was then that the name came to me. I just said, ‘Oathsword’, almost to myself.
Alf said, “What?”
“My sword, it has a name, it is Oathsword. I swore an oath on the hilt and when I kissed the hilt, I felt something. The sword spoke to me.”
Sweyn Skull Taker was not rowing but he was looking for a place to land. He must have heard me for he nodded, “That is a good name. King Sweyn coveted the sword and there is more to it than a mere Latin inscription. Is that why you brought the parchments aboard or did you wish to use them to light a fire?”
“The girl I took can read.”
“Then you wish to keep her?”
I nodded, “I thought she could be a companion for my mother. She seems bright and despite trying to gut me has a pleasant nature. My mother is lonely, and this seems right.”
“She is yours although it seems you have made a poor exchange letting me have one mail shirt and my son another. By my reckoning that is three mail byrnies sent to you.”
“But none of them spoke to me, that is the difference. I have Saxon Slayer and Oathsword and when a byrnie finds me then I shall know for my weapons will tell me.”
I had done well out of the raid. I had taken two swords and a bent one which could be melted down to make the boss for my shield. I had the dagger which I had taken from the girl. That, too, was a beautiful object with a blue stone at the pommel and another at the cross of the hilt. It was not a weapon of war, but it was a weapon, and it had a beauty about it. I also had the treasure we had found beneath the floor of the hall. While the larger chest would be shared, we had discovered the other chest and it was ours.
When we reached the mouth of the estuary there was enough sun to show us sand dunes to the north of us and, some miles to the north the lights of what we assumed was Herterpol. We anchored a hundred paces from the grass-topped dunes. The cows were milked, and the milk given to the captives. We drank the ale we had taken and ate the food we had found. While we did so the hersir came around to divide us into watches. We, the hearth weru and hersir, were one watch and he had given himself, and us, a hard one.
Thorstein, once the ship was secured, went around to tend to the wounded. Most were minor wounds but he called over the hersir. We three followed for he might need us. The wounded were close to the captives at the mast fish and Thorstein took us to one side so that we would not be overheard, “Sweyn, Einar Siggison has a bad wound. A sword has laid his arm open to the bone. He needs fire.”
Thorstein did not make a decision for my foster father but his advice was clear. Lodvir and Griotard had wandered with us. Lodvir said, “The dunes will not have warriors in them and you did say that you wished to hunt the seals.”
Sweyn Skull Taker nodded, “But that was before the raid. The men of Norton fought well, and we took more than we expected. We do not need the seals, their oil and their skins.”
I had noticed with the hersir and his oldest friends Lodvir and Griotard that they sometimes took opposing views but being a trio they always had a deciding opinion. In this case, it was Griotard who shrugged, “We might as well go ashore and have a fire. The hot food would be welcome, and I need some new boots. The mud did not improve them.”
That decided my foster father, “Then in the morning, Thorstein, find a place to land and we will spend one day hunting. No more, mind, for we have little enough room on the drekar as it is.”
We returned to Einar. He was the same age as Lars and he had taken a wife who was with child back in our home. It was Thorstein who spoke, “Einar, you have a bad wound. We will land in the morning and use fire to heal it.”
“I will not lose my arm!” There was terror in his voice. A one-armed man could do little.
“I hope not.” He looked around and said, “We need someone to loosen the bandage every hour or so and make sure he has enough ale to dull the pain.”
Sweyn Skull Taker said, “The watch will have to do it.”
I saw the girl, Mary, she was sat apart from the other female captives and she was staring at the tableau. “I will ask one of the captives.” Until then I had been invisible, but they turned to look at me. “The girl we took in the steward’s hall had a father who had been a priest.” I shrugged, “She is clever, and this will keep her occupied so that her mind does not turn to mischief.”
Thorstein nodded, “That would be best, but can she be trusted?”
I nodded, “I think so.”
I walked towards the captives and many of them shrank back. My leather byrnie was covered in blood. It was no wonder that Mary had been terrified of us. The girl was unafraid now. I said, “Mary, we have a warrior who needs a bandage loosening and then fastening each hour. Could you do that?”
“I am cold!”
I saw that she had just a thin shift and was shivering. I unfastened my cloak and wrapped it around her. She nodded and came to Einar.
Thorstein said, “Tell her what I am doing and ask her to repeat it each time the hourglass is turned.”
As the healer did so I explained and she nodded, “Is there food? We are all hungry.”
I looked up at the hersir, “They are hungry.”
Lodvir smiled, “This one is clever. She helps us but at a price. Watch her, Sven Saxon Sword. I will fetch food.”
As we headed back to our chest Sweyn Sweynson said, “Lodvir is right, cousin. She is too clever to be trusted and her father was a priest!” Like many of our people, the priests were considered to be the witches of the White Christ.
I sighed as I turned to open my chest and take out my blanket, “She is a captive and that is all. Einar’s life may be saved by her presence and so it matters not if we can trust her. I do not believe that she will harm him, look.” We turned and they saw what I had glimpsed, she had spread my cloak so that it kept Einar warm as well as herself. “She is a Christian and even though she may hate us she will care for Einar.”
I slept fitfully until we were woken. It was not just the cold air of the river and the lack of a cloak; the captive had disturbed me. She had made me use the sword for an oath and had helped to give it a name. Were the Norns using a Christian to weave a web? Had the sword been bewitched? Already our lives were intertwined, and I wondered where the threads would lead.
The morning was dull, and the sun took some time to rise. The hersir roused the crew and we rowed a little way up the coast until we spied an inlet which was close to the mudflats on which the shiny bodies of the seals could be seen. The drekar was turned so that the stern faced the shore and then the ship’s boys, stripped to the waist, leapt into the water, and took the ropes that were thrown to the beach. The older boys had wooden mallets and four stakes. The drekar was secure but I knew that once the tide went out a little they might be dragged from the sand. We would have to make them more secure. The wounded men were left to watch the captives and the animals. The rest of us, with just spears, axes and clubs, and, like the boys, without armour and boots, clambered over the side. Thorstein and some of his boys set out to find wood for the fire. Leaving half the men to watch the dunes and the distant settlement the rest of us headed for the seals. The hersir would begin the hunt.
I had never hunted such beasts. I had hunted rodents and squirrels with my sling but some of these beasts were bigger than a warrior. We flanked the hersir. In the water, I have no doubt that these animals were fast and agile but, on the land, they were not. Sweyn Skull Taker chose the largest of the seals. If he had been a land animal, I would have called him the bull.
“Spread out and use your spears to stop him returning to the sea!”
I stood with my back to the gentle waves of a tide which was turning. The beast lurched towards me and he moved faster than I expected. I lunged at him with Saxon Slayer. He came so quickly that the spearhead struck his skin but failed to pierce it! Was the animal wearing mail? Sweyn Skull Taker used a two-handed Danish axe we had taken in Norton and swinging it, hacked through the back of the seal’s head. Even though mortally wounded the brave beast turned to snap at his tormentors. His writhing accelerated the loss of blood and he died.
“Let us take him back to the drekar.” As we made a bier from our spears the hersir turned and shouted, “Hunt, and hunt quickly. Take the males!” He then used his axe to completely sever the head. It would be less weight for us to bear.
It took all four of us to lift the animal and, despite the cold, we were sweating when we reached the water close to the drekar. Before we took it aboard, we gutted the animal and took out the heart, liver, kidneys and stomach. The rest of the animal would rot more slowly that way. It was easier to move the carcass through the water and lines were thrown to haul the seal aboard. The blood was washed from us by the sea and the hersir said, “Now don your mail and fetch your weapons. We will become the watch.”
We climbed aboard and I stripped naked for I was soaked to the skin. I put on fresh clothes and felt much warmer. I put on my byrnie, coif and helmet and strapped on Oathsword. I walked to the mast fish and handed my blanket to Mary. “This will keep you warm and I need my cloak.”
She nodded and handed me the cloak, “I hope this blanket does not stink like the cloak!” The girl had an attitude. I could see why the other villagers resented her. She seemed to think she was above all of us!
I smiled, “So long as it kept you warm.”
She nodded, “It did, thank you!” Her words and half-smile warmed me.
We would leave our shields on the side of the drekar. Saxon Slayer still lay embedded in the sand. The boys had run out the gangplank and we were able to use it to avoid the deeper water. We passed the fire where a pot bubbled with some of the food we had taken from Norton and some shellfish the boys had collected. I saw that Thorstein was about to use fire to seal the long and ugly red gash. Einar would always be scarred but he might still retain the use of his arm.
“We will be the watch on the dunes. Have your boys fetch us food when it is ready.”
“Aye, Sweyn Skull Taker.”
Lodvir saw our approach and he led the ten men with him towards the fire, “We saw nothing, hersir, but there is a small settlement just five miles north of us.”
“We will watch. I want us to be ready to leave by noon.”
We stood on the highest dune. The sandy dunes became grassier to the west and they stretched as far north as the small huddle of huts with the smoke rising from them. Beyond them, we saw the tower of a church but that had to be more than seven miles from us.
“Keep a good watch. Word will have spread that raiders are about and Herterpol may have ships whose captains are foolish enough to take on a drekar.”
Alf asked, “But if they are like the warriors in Norton then they will be like us, Danes. They may have a drekar.”
His father smiled and shook his head, “These Vikings gave up the sea long ago. I was told a tale about a might Danish king, Guthrum who, five generations ago, brought a mighty army to this land and took it from the Saxons. His army settled here and gave up the sea. The ones we fought are their descendants. They are still fierce warriors, but they are raiders no longer.” He nodded to Alf, “The scale mail you took from the warrior you and Sven killed, is ancient. I believe that was handed down from father to son since the time of the Great Danish army.” He pointed north, “Now keep a good watch.”
An hour later I needed to make water and, as I turned so that I did not pee into the wind, I saw that the seal covered sands were now empty of the animals. The hunt was over. The ones we had not killed had fled back into the sea. I also spied two of the boys hurrying to us with a bowl of food in each hand. By the time it reached us it would no longer be hot but warm food would be welcome on a beach where an icy blast from the east chilled us to the bone.
When he turned for the food my foster father saw the empty sands, “Tell Thorstein to begin to prepare for sea. The hunt is done, and I am guessing that the fire has done its work.”
Ketil Svenson nodded, “The smell of the burning flesh almost made Olaf here throw up, but Einar made not a sound!”
“Good!”
They scurried back down the marram grass-covered dune and we ate. The stew was just warm but tasty and mine was finished before I knew it. I was still hungry. I turned and looked north. I saw a movement and even as I looked a head rose and then fell. “The enemy!”
The others turned and the heads appeared again. They wore helmets. Sweyn Skull Taker nodded, “Sweyn sound the horn!”
As the eldest, Sweyn carried the clan’s horn. He put it to his lips and sounded three blasts.
Picking up his spear from the sand my foster father said, “Come, we buy the drekar time!”
Thorstein had yet to return with the wounded man and already the men from the north were that much closer. We ran down the dunes discarding the wooden bowls as we ran. They could be replaced! We stopped just twenty paces from the bottom of the dunes and Sweyn Skull Taker had us turn and stand together with our spears ready. Numbers were hard to estimate but I saw at least fifteen. Behind us, I heard Griotard shouting out orders.
As I looked along the dunes, I saw sails, “Foster father, there are ships!”
He glanced and said, “Aye. We work together. Begin to walk backwards. Keep your eyes on them.”
We had to have trust and confidence not only in each other but also the rest of the crew. The decks of the drekar would be kept as clear as possible and the men who had bows would be stringing them ready to cover us as we ran back to the drekar. The enemy did not organise a shield wall for they saw only four of us. I heard thundering and saw horsemen galloping down the beach. There were just four of them and they only rode ponies, although some way up the beach they would be a threat to our right flank.
The hersir saw them and took command, “Alf, join your brother on the right.” Alf shifted his position leaving me to guard the hersir’s left. We kept walking backwards.
The men who ran at us had shields and spear. Most had helmets and at least half had a sword, but none had mail, not even leather. Two had throwing spears in their hands and they hurled them at us. As they threw them from a range of fifteen paces they were doubly wasted. We had time to avoid them and they struck us weakly and secondly in throwing they had to stand. Just five men reached us. My shield easily deflected one blow and allowed me a thrust into the middle of the warrior. I withdrew my spear quickly, twisting as I did so and a nest of red snakes came with it. Two men were attacking my foster father, but his mail meant that their blows did not hurt him. Even so one might get lucky and I was hearth weru. I thrust at the nearest warrior’s unprotected left side and drove my spear through his body to prick the other warrior who, distracted, was easily disposed of. The two javelin throwers came closer to hurl their second missiles and they struck our shields. They were not the threat for the four horsemen were almost in range.
“Sven, take these two!” The hersir turned to his right and locked his shield with his sons to face the horsemen.
I ran at the javelin men for they each of them had just one throwing spear left and I did not fear the seaxes in their belts. Neither wore a helmet and so I jabbed Saxon Slayer at the head of the closest one. His javelin struck my byrnie but did not penetrate. It was a well-struck blow, and I would have a bruise, but I was not hurt. As I took the second javelin thrust on my shield my spear found the eye of the first javelin thrower. He screamed and his companion grabbed him and ran away. It would have been an easy pair of kills to run after them and kill them, but I was hearth weru and my hersir was in trouble. I ran back as arrows came from the drekar to discourage the others who were still running from the dunes. I ran at the nearest pony and without hesitating rammed Saxon Slayer into the head of the pony. It died instantly and, as it fell, threw the rider from its back and into the second warrior. When that rider struggled to control his mount then my three kinsmen drew blood.
Lodvir shouted, “Back! We will cover you!”
The biggest threat, the horsemen, were disorganised and while the twenty odd men who were less than forty paces away were a threat, with a rising tide we had the opportunity to escape. Keeping our front to the enemy we hurried backwards until we felt water lapping around our ankles. I slipped my shield around my back and handed the haft of Saxon Slayer to Leif who leaned over the side and then, as he took the strain, walked up the side of the drekar. I felt a thud as an arrow hit the back of my shield. I was lucky. The men cheered as Sweyn Skull Taker slipped his leg over the gunwale. It was as I turned east that I realised the Norns were spinning. We had expected a wind from the west to take us home but at that moment it was from the northeast. As soon as the other three were aboard Thorstein unfurled the sail and we moved away from the shore. Griotard had some of the oars manned and as they began to pull, we drew away from the shore.
Lodvir shouted, “The four ships will catch us. One is an old threttanessa.”
Sweyn glanced to the north as did I. The ship looked old and the sail had been hurriedly repaired but she was a warship. The dragon prow did not look like a dragon for the paint had peeled completely. The other ships were the tubby Saxon ships which were better suited to cargo than battle. It was the dragon ship which could hurt us. Until we had our ship under full oars then they could catch us. We either headed into the wind or took a southerly course and headed across the incoming tide. Either way, we would be in trouble.
“Man the oars!”
It was as we all ran to the mastfish that two of the female captives and two of the older boys saw their chance and they hurled themselves overboard.
Lodvir shouted, “Einar, stop the others!” Einar’s wound was sealed, and he could still use his right hand. He drew his sword and drove the others closer to the mast fish. Alf and I grabbed our oars and we glanced over our shoulders to get the beat from Leif and Bjorn behind. As the oars bit, we began to move but we were fighting tide and wind. The ancient drekar had the wind and was racing towards us. It was ahead of the Saxon ships which lay to the east and were ready to fall upon us when we were grappled by the drekar. I saw that the captain of the threttanessa was adjusting his course so that he would ram us amidships. We were rowing as hard as we could, but it was as inevitable as night following day that we would be struck.
It was Thorstein the Lucky whose quick thinking saved us, “Larboard oars up.” As the left side of the ship raised their oars he must have turned the steering board and with just the steerboard oars rowing we pirouetted on our own length so that we were facing the threttanessa. “Steerboard oars up. Larboard oars, row!”
I had no idea what he was doing for my back was to the enemy now that we had turned. I could see two Saxon ships to the east, but I knew they were not a threat. I heard a crunch as our bows sliced through the oars on the steerboard side of the threttanessa. Then I saw, slightly below us, the lower freeboard of the dragon ship’s bow. There were screams from the men who had been sliced and skewered by shattered oars then there was a grinding crunch as our bows hit their steerboard a glancing blow. It was an old ship and perhaps this was a fitting end to an old warrior. As we passed, I saw her begin to break up as our ship sailed over their captain and their crew.
“All oars, row!”
We are the bird you cannot find
With feathers grey and black behind
Seek us if you can my friend
Our clan will beat you in the end.
Where is the bird? In the snake.
The serpent comes your gold to take.
We are the bird you cannot find
With feathers grey and black behind
Seek us if you can my friend
Our clan will beat you in the end.
Where is the bird? In the snake.
The serpent comes your gold to take.
The Saxons in our path had seen what we had done to a warship and they headed towards the men in the water. There would be few of them left. We rowed for an hour and then Thorstein was able to turn and head south-east. That gave us enough wind to take us closer to home. I took off my helmet and coif and unstrapped my sword. Warriors were slapping oars on the deck and shield brothers on the back.
I just looked at Alf and shook my head, “We were lucky there.”
Thorstein heard me and said, “No, Sven Saxon Sword, the Norns spin and that was a test.” He pointed to the pennant at the masthead, “The wind is changing and soon we will have a fast passage home. It is good to know I still have skills.”
Lodvir said, a little louder than he needed to, “As do Sweyn Skull Taker’s hearth weru. If Thrond doubted the wisdom of having three young warriors, then today we saw that it was a wise decision. The three of you fought as well as any warriors I have ever seen.”
Griotard nodded, “Aye, Sweyn Sweynson, you now have your first song to compose! Lodvir, open the ale barrel. I have a thirst!”
I looked to the mast fish and saw that all the heads of the captives were hanging down for they knew their last chance of freedom had been sunk along with the threttanessa. Mary, however, was looking at me strangely, as Lars and Leif clapped me on the back. What was it she saw?