Varangian (Aelfraed) (3 page)

I glanced at Ridley for confirmation of the decision I had already made. Ridley nodded. This was
wyrd
again.  This was reminder of all the men who had died for me.  I would take Ragnar with me if only to haunt me with the face of those who had fallen for me, Tadgh, Aedgart, Edward and hundreds of others.  He was the opportunity to thank those who had sacrificed themselves for me. “Aye, he will do.  He makes the last of our company.”

I stood looking at the three expectant faces. Ragnar, who towered over both Ridley and myself, little Eric who looked as though Ragnar could hide him under his arms and Ridley, open honest Ridley who would follow me to the ends of the earth and beyond.
  I realised that I did not want us to have to spend a night in the warrior hall again for I needed to get to know my two new companions.  Our journey would be long and if there was one thing I had learned about leadership it was to get to know the men on whom you depend. “Eric, we will find a tavern and stay there.  Do you know of any that would suit?”

“It will not be cheap my lord.”

I ignored his deference.  “Do not worry about money.”

“But you will need money to buy passage.”

“I said do not worry, Ridley and I have coin but we will not be paying money for our passage, believe me.  Now a tavern?”

He shrugged.
  “There is the Hawk.  It is the best tavern in Hedeby and has many rooms.”

“We only need one.”

Eric looked shocked while Ragnar just smiled, and I wondered if hwas simple as well as wounded. “In one room! But you are a lord!”

“And you are a prince and Ragnar is a warrior.
  Why waste time giving us our titles?  We know who we are.”

Ridley grinned for he knew me well.
  “Aye Eric we are the company of the red horse.”

Eric looked puzzled.
  “Fetch our gear from the hall and it will become clear.  Tell your father that we need to be together to plan our voyage and I mean no disrespect to him.” Eric nodded and Ragnar started to run after him, “Eric tell Ragnar to leave his gear here.  We will watch it for him.” The grinning giant dropped his bag and loped off after the speedy Eric.

“Well old friend they are not the men I thought we would take with us.
  They are not Branton and Osbert.”

“I know but it is something to do with you Aelfraed.
  I was lonely until you befriended me.  Remember Wolf? And Branton and Osbert were seeking a leader when we found them.  No, this is
wyrd
.  We were meant to take these with us and, who knows, they may have qualities which we need on this long voyage into the unknown.”

Ridley rarely made long speeches and this was one of his longest.
  “You are right and there is something in both of them which spoke to me.  When I met Ragnar I was reminded of all the men of war who do not die but have to eke out a living amongst those who are whole.  Aethelward was lucky for he was a lord and rich but those who fought with us like Aedgart and Osbert had they been too wounded to fight what then?”

He shook his head.
  “You have a short memory Aelfraed.  You looked after those too.  Remember the men who guarded and looked after our camps?”

I nodded.
  I had forgotten the six men who had been too wounded to fight in the shield wall but had still served me, bravely, until they were killed in the last assault by the Normans. “You are right but Ragnar is still the walking reminder of the debt we owe our comrades.”

When they returned Ragnar had managed to carry all of our equipment. I took from him my shield.
  “Do you see Eric? The Company of the Red Horse.” Now lead on.” I started to take my axe and shield from Ragnar but he gripped it and shook his head. I turned to Eric.  “Tell him that there is too much for him to carry and that Ridley and I are warriors.  We carry our own weapons.” Eric translated and understanding lit up Ragnar’s face.  He grinned and allowed us to take our weapons and picked his own bag up.

The tavern was comfortable and, after paying high prices in Jorvik, seemed more than reasonable. The four of us ate in the main room and I could see that Ragnar had not had the company of others for some time.
  It was hard having Eric translate all of our words to him and I wanted to speak with him.  I knew he could not speak in reply but he had the most wonderfully animated hands and we found it easy to understand him. “Eric, you must teach us your language.”

Eric looked crestfallen.
  “Why, my lord, would you be rid of me?”

I laughed, “No you foolish young man.
  I would speak with Ragnar and others in their own language.  It is only right.  You will still be needed do not worry.  Ridley and I have learned over the years that your Norns weave fantastic webs and threads. Who knows what skills you have that we know not yet?”

“I am glad that you came to my father’s court for there they believe that a man is born with one purpose, normally to fight, and they understand no other.”

“Without meaning disrespect to your people Eric, that is wrong.  I have seen peaceful men like my old Steward Thomas fight as ferociously as a warrior for what they believe and I have seen tough warriors being gentle.  We are complex creatures who make their own choices and decisions.”

Ragnar made the gesture for Eric to translate his words and when he had finished the giant nodded eagerly to show he agreed and he took my right hand in his, shook it and then kissed it. The gesture should have been embarrassing but it was not and I nodded, “Thank you Ragnar.”

That night the Company of the Red Horse was forged and its links were stronger than steel.

When we sailed from Hedeby it felt like the start of a new life; Topcliffe and England were far behind us and we were beyond the reach of William the Bastard.
  I was now further east than I had ever been and soon I would be in unimagined lands which not only spoke a totally different language but, according to all I had heard, looked and smelled different too.  We had spent the last few days before embarkation buying the equipment we thought we might need; furs, knives and short swords for Eric and Ragnar; a couple of bows, flints, water skins, the list was endless for we knew not what we might encounter.  We found a Jew in the back streets of Hedeby who knew Reuben and had heard of us.  We sought his advice about the journey for he was a merchant and understood such things.

“You will need trade goods my lord, not large things but small precious things which might be used to barter rather than fight.”

“But if they are precious how could we afford them?”

The wise old Jew shook his head.
  “No my lord, you mistake my words.  I meant precious to them, not to you. Well made daggers are much sought after as are pieces of jet.”

I mentally cursed myself for back in England there had been many jet mines close to where we lived and I could have brought much of it with us.
  We thanked the merchant and he directed us to where we could buy such things. Thus equipped, with a new leather helmet for Ragnar we stood at the quayside.  Ragnar was more pleased by the helmet than anything apart from the sword for they marked him once again as a warrior.  I noticed him casting envious glances at our shields, replete with the red horse and I knew that he coveted them; once a warrior, always a warrior.

Sweyn had come to the quay to see us off. As we waited, while the cargo was offloaded, he took me to one side. “Rather than this paying off a debt I fear it has put me once more in yours for much as my other sons dislike him I have a soft spot for Eric.
  He is like his mother who was a soft skinned beauty from the east, more used to pleasure than work.  It is
wyrd
that my son should return to the place of his mother’s birth.  The Norns must love you to spin such a web for your life.“  He became serious, “Look after Eric, he is not as other men and that is the reason I have chosen Ragnar to accompany you, for he was the finest warrior I ever knew, until I met you and Lord Ridley. Should you return, I will reward you more than I did this time,” He was almost apologetic.  Sadly the old rogue died before he could redeem his pledge but I am glad that we parted on good terms for when I meet him in the afterlife I would have him tell me tales of going a-Viking.

The captain was a roguish sea dog who looked so ancient that he could have been sailing with the Romans.
  His ship was old and decrepit but sailed quite well and was comfortable.  He was known as Thor.  I never knew his real name but I found out why he was called Thor after he struck one of his sailors who had been slow to reef the sail- he did not have hands he had hams! One blow could almost fell a man. He and the merchant, Bjorn, must have owed Sweyn a favour or two for he gladly took the four of us and we found there was an added bonus.  After Uppsala he was sailing to Lake Ladoga and offloading some goods to a river boat. It gave us two opportunities to find a berth on a boat heading south.

Thor proved to have a mine of information. For some reason he took to Eric; perhaps he thought he was ingratiating himself into Sweyn’s favour but I do not think so.
  It was something else; he just got on with him and liked him.  That was the way with Eric; you either took to him or made his life hell.  Whatever the reason, we benefited. He confirmed Cnut’s view that, as we were warriors, captains and merchants would pay us to row the waterways and protect the cargo.  The fact that three of the four of us would be able to do so was an advantage.

Eric had looked downcast at that; no man likes to be thought of as cargo, all men want to feel valued. Thor had shaken his head wisely.
  We had learned enough of the language to be able to pick up most of the words Thor spoke.  “Eric you can read and the merchants value that for they need a record of their goods as they travel down the river.  Even if you were not with such warriors as these you would travel for nothing.”

Thus reassured we spent the next week as we toiled up the Baltic, learning as many words as we could.
  We discovered that even though the Rus came from a different region many of their words were the same and there appeared to be a common spine of words which could be used. Ragnar enjoyed our stories of the wars once we had mastered the basic vocabulary and, with the song maker helping us we told the tales of the battles in which we had fought. I suspect that when Eric translated some of the words he was not as modest as Ridley and me who tended to praise others like Harold, Aethelward, Osbert, Aedgart and Branton but they enlivened a few nights of the voyage. Ragnar’s eyes lit up when we spoke of the death of Hadrada.   Eric explained that Ragnar had been with the fleet which Hadrada had defeated and many of his comrades had drowned.  He was pleased to meet the killers of his enemies.  The voyage finally sealed us as a tightly knit company.  We would still have to learn the important things about each other such as how we all reacted to danger and to hardship but I was confident that we would only see good and we would not be disappointed in each other.

Uppsala was a huge port.
  It looked to be the hub of the Baltic with many different kinds of ships.  As we sailed towards it we were amazed by the sheer number of vessels, it seemed impossible that they did not collide.  Thor nudged his ship into a berth which looked too small to fit but he managed it with much creaking and grinding of wood. The four of us went ashore to meet the merchant whose goods were to be taken by Thor. As we walked he tapped his nose and explained, through Eric, about the merchant.

“This may be your opportunity for this merchant, Folke the Fat, does not like to journey down the river.
  He normally hires warriors to do his bidding.  Unless he has already chosen a man we might be able to persuade him to take you all on.”

I looked at him suspiciously.
  “You are being very generous with your information and help.  Without meaning disrespect what is it in it for you?”

“I understand your suspicion but I am an old man now and I have been married to the sea.
  You three seem like brothers and I would like to think that had I sons they would have turned out like you, leaders, warriors,“ he nodded to Eric, “singers and poets.  I have enjoyed your company and I would like to voyage to Ladoga with you.” There was honesty in both his words and eyes.  I had learned to see deceit and here there was none.

Satisfied I nodded, “Then thank you
, Thor, for your kindness and I apologise for my rudeness.”

“No
, Aelfraed Godwinson, even here in the Baltic we heard of your fight and how you were betrayed by so many.  I understand your suspicious nature and it will stand you in good stead for the land of Miklagård is a treacherous place. I will go in first and introduce the idea.”

Thor returned after a few moments and beckoned us in. Folke the Fat was well named for he was the fattest man I had ever seen.
  Unlike other fat men I had seen, however, he was not jolly and appeared to have no sense of humour.  However he had an acute business sense which had made him one of the richest men in Uppsala.

“Thor here tells me you wish to be hired on as guards and book keeper for the voyage?”

Eric spoke for us all.  He translated what Folke said and then answered for us.  That day I was glad that we had agreed to take Eric on for he spoke with confidence which had not been visible in Hereby. “We would; we have three strong men and two acclaimed warriors and I have the ability to read and to write.”