Varangian (Aelfraed) (6 page)

I shook my head ruefully, “I doubt it.”

I had chosen the middle watch for Eric and me.  I regretted it, as Stig woke me, but I had to take the worst duty for myself.  As I rose I felt the stiffness in my limbs.  In another few hours I would be up again and having to row once more.  And this was but day one! Eric changed the torch and we sat at the bow watching for any ships coming downstream and any ripples in the water which should not be there.

“Do not look at the light Eric or it will spoil you night vision. Look to the dark.”

“Thank you.”

There was silence for all the creatures of the night were either far away or too quiet to be heard.
  “Do you regret coming Eric?”

“Oh no!
  It is even better than I thought it would be.  And the stories the men tell! They will make wonderful songs. It is good to be with men who take me as I am and do not try to change me into what they wish me to be.”

“Your brothers?”

”My brothers.  My father let them treat me harshly but I think that if it had been just me he would have been kinder.  He had a reputation to keep. I will miss him a little but as my mother is dead, there is nothing left for me in Hedeby.”

It had surprised me how well this Prince of the Danes had taken to the life but then I thought back to my childhood at Medelai and the bullying of my brothers.
  After that anything was preferable so I suppose Eric was just pleased to be away from his prison. I looked at my hands; the cloth had helped a little but it was now in tatters.  I resolved to use my gauntlets the next time and hope that the leather protected me more.

By the time we pulled in to the town of
Velikiy Novgorod
, many days down the river, my hands had toughened up and my muscles felt toned.
  I no longer felt the burn and the Weasel and I grinned and nodded to each other all day. Jarl Gunnersson had confided in me that there were two or three towns at which we could stop on our way south but this was the safest.  When I saw it I wondered what the others were like for it looked like nowhere I had ever seen before.  The buildings were all made of wood but their design was radically different from those in Denmark and England.  They had long sloping roofs and looked, somehow, like small churches.  The people too were different.  Many of them had a sallow, almost yellow skin and eyes which appeared narrower than ours.  Their clothes were mainly furs and those who had footwear had wooden shoes rather than leather ones.

Gunnersson called me over.
  “I need three of your men to escort me and my men to get some supplies, the rest should stay here on guard.  This is the safest town we pass but I still would not trust them an inch.”

I wanted to see the town but I need
ed experience too. “Ridley, keep the rest of the men on board and make sure nothing is stolen and the men don’t leave.  Stig, Hammer, come with me, we are to escort the captain around the town. Arm yourselves.” They both took a club and a sword.

Stig and Hammer looked delighted but the others, Ridley included, cast me dark looks.
  Uncle Aethelward had told me that every decision a leader made would upset someone, even one as trivial as this.  I took my sword rather than Death Bringer, it was easier to wield in a confided space and I strapped my shield to my back. There were four men with us and I went next to the Jarl with the other two warriors bringing up the rear.  We ploughed our way through the throngs.  I led slightly and people soon learned to avoid the mail shirt which was wrapped around my huge frame. 

We did not have to travel far for there was a shop which sold the food we would need to eke out our rations to Miklagård. The Captain gave his order. “Leave your men here we will have to get our travel documents.”

We left the shabby little shop and entered the half stone half wood building next door.  There were four guards but they recognised the Jarl and let him in. Inside there were three small figures that were reading lists.  Clerks; I had seen many such in Winchester although there they were priests and holy men.  These looked like shifty little thieves. I did not understand a word which was spoken but I did recognise the bribe which the Jarl paid to ensure that we could leave quickly. I waited at the door for the captain to finish and I saw one of the furtive little ferrets slip out of the back door. I noticed him because he had a split nose, normally a punishment for some transgression, but it made him look as though he had two noses. I should have ignored it but something about the way he looked at us and then left made me suspicious.  All the way back to the boat I kept my eyes peeled for the little man but they were all little men in that town so far down the river and so different from England.  The Jarl, Hammer and I stood a head taller than any of them.  The goods from the shop next door were still being assembled and I waited in the street with the Jarl.

“That is why we stop at few places.
  It costs money and all comes from our profits.” I knew from Folke and Thor that the captain and the merchant shared the profits once the guards cut had been taken.

“Will we need to stop again?”

“At a town?  No.  But we will need food.  From here on we forage, fish, hunt animals; there should be berries at this time of the year. But I warn you Aelfraed, the hardest is yet to come. We have another lake and then portage.  And we must slip through two towns at night to avoid the taxes. Soon you will earn your passage.”

It was coming on to dusk when we reached the boat and I could see that something had happened.
  Ridley looked red and angry while Eric looked worried. Ulf was dabbing at a bleeding nose. Gunnersson glanced at them and then at me.  I shrugged. It would have to wait until later. We rowed until dark and anchored in the middle of the river. The men had eaten aboard the ship when we were moored in the town and I waited for the Weasel and the others to leave before speaking with Ridley.

“Well?”

“Well what?” He almost pouted and I was tempted to laugh.

“Well what happened when I was in the town?”

“How do you know something happened?”

“From your face, Eric’s face and Ulf’s bloody nose.”

He sighed.  “I was not paying attention; I was talking with Pig and Harald when Eric came to tell me that Ulf was not aboard. The two of us went ashore and found him down a side street.  He was talking with someone but I could not see who. Eric asked him who he was talking to and Ulf went for him.” He paused.  “I hit him first.”

I put my hand on his shoulder.
  “You did right and now we will go and see this Ulf and find out what is amiss.”

My men were sat at the stern under a small awning.
  Ulf was off to one side and the others all looked at him when we approached.  I was pleased to see Ragnar and Hammer on either side of Eric protecting him.  Ragnar was sending filthy looks towards Ulf.

I had learned enough of the language now to be able to speak without the translation skills of Eric. “Ulf come here.”

He slouched over and I noticed that he had his hand on his dagger.  Not a good sign.  “Why did you leave the ship?  You were ordered to guard it.” He said nothing but stared malevolently at Ridley. “I asked you a question.  Now answer me.”

“You did not order me.
  He did.” The finger stabbed out accusingly at Ridley.

“What Thegn Ridley says, I say.
  You disobeyed me and you tried to hit Eric.”

He leered at me. “I could blow him over!”

I walked closer to him.  “Ulf you disobeyed me.  I cannot have that.  Tomorrow I will put you ashore and pay you off.  I must have men I can trust.”

His hand moved as quickly as a snake striking and he stabbed at me with his dagger.
  He had forgotten that I wore my mail shirt beneath my tunic and the point merely broke two or three links and cut me slightly.  Thwarted he pushed me back with one hand and they leapt overboard into the black waters of the night.  Ridley roared out and raced to the stern but he had disappeared. “The rat! I should have really damaged him.”

Eric rushed to me.
  “Are you hurt my lord?”

I shook my head.
  “I have hurt myself more when I fell over drunk.”

The Jarl came to see what had happened and we told him.
  He turned to Eric.  “What did the man look like that Ulf was talking to?”

“One of the locals my lord, a little man with a cut down his nose.”

“I saw him in the port office! He left before we did.”

The Jarl nodded and looked at the mast head.
  “Well I am sorry I recommended him.  He was obviously up to no good.  Not only does it leave you shorthanded but it also means we are likely to be attacked. That is a favourite trick of the river pirates; they plant someone on a boat and the inside man helps them to get aboard.” He waved over his first mate. “We leave at moon rise.  We row through the night and put some distance between us and Ulf’s friends.”

By the time dawn broke we were exhausted.
  We had rearranged the rowers to accommodate the lack of Ulf and it meant that Eric could stand lookout forrard. I looked aft to Jarl Gunnersson but he showed no sign of wishing to stop.  It was hard to see how long we could keep going but then, I reminded myself I had found it hard to row for a few hours when we had first started the voyage.

The Jarl saw my looks and shouted down, “I am heading for Lake Ilmen.
  It will be safer there and it is not far away.”

I nodded, as I needed all my breath for the rowing.
  I wondered how Ulf had been recruited.  Had it been pure luck that I had chosen him and, would any boat he served on have been a target?  It was hard to say.  I was pleased that the others had not been happy about the traitor and then I thought that was what a traitor would do to allay suspicion. I shook my head to clear it of the confusion.  The only ones I could really trust were Ragnar, Eric and, of course, Ridley.  It would take combat for me to truly assess the worth of my remaining five warriors; only then would I know the value of their oath. Ulf had condemned himself with his actions, he had broken his oath.  He would not enter Valhalla.

When we finally stopped, in the middle of the lake, and the Captain dropped the anchor, I almost collapsed with exhaustion.
  The others just slept at their oars but Jarl Gunnersson beckoned me forward. “I have set Eric to getting some food ready and you and I must stand guard for we are still not safe.”

I remembered something Cnut had said as we sailed from Leith.
  “Perhaps if we wait for other ships travelling the route we might have more safety with the larger numbers.”

He shook his head, “That is an excellent plan but the last two ships sailed the day before we left.
  We had to wait for Thor’s ship and the cargo to arrive.”

And that was it, the Norns again.
  The ship had delayed sailing from Hedeby to accommodate me and my party and that had meant we had missed the other ships.  We would be safer in their company. I hoped that the Norns planned a grander end for me than being killed by river pirates on the Lovat River which was our next waterway.

It felt like I had been asleep for moments when Ridley woke me but he assured me I had had hours of sleep.
  Certainly the sun was lower in the sky. “To oars.  We row.” The Jarl hoisted the sail and caught the little breeze that was available and we found it easier to row, despite our tiredness.  There was little current on the lake but, once we struck the Lovat then it would be hard going.  The Jarl kept watching the mast head pennant for a change in the wind’s direction because, if it swung too much, we would have to lower the sail and it would be hard work again. While we had been standing watch the Captain had told me of his plan.  “We will sail into the darkness and when we anchor I will not light a torch, we will rely on the eyes of your men.”

The resourceful Eric had changed the duties so that one man had a night off watches and we watched with a different partner each night.
  Now that we had all experienced watches it made sense and it allowed me to get to know the others of my company.  So far I had not detected any other with traitorous intent.

I wondered
how much further we would sail as dusk descended, when the Jarl suddenly shouted, “Back oars!” We had rarely had to do that manoeuvre; it was used to stop the boat quickly.  “Up oars! Saxon, get your warriors there are men in the reeds!”

We quickly sprang into action.
  The hatch was below the Weasel’s feet and he jumped away to allow Ridley to open it.  I grabbed my shield and sword and strode to the side, knowing the rest would follow when they could.  The river’s banks were covered in thick reeds, the perfect place for the nesting birds that lived there.  Suddenly one of them, a heron, fluttered noisily into the sky. It made me jump but, at the same time focussed me on the place it had left.  I too could see a face. “Ridley, get your bow.  There is someone out there.”

The Jarl’s voice rang out. “Hold fast Aelfraed.
  Let me give them a chance. Ho! You in the river.  Show yourselves or be prepared to die.”

By now my men lined the sides and even Eric stood there with his sword and buckler.
  I had never seen the boy fight but I doubted that he would be much use. Still it showed that he did not lack courage.