Across the Seas Read online

  Arne had also risen early. “Brother, I will come with you and the Irishmen today. You might have an eye for a harbour but I am jarl and I will choose where we defend!”

  “Of course.” I pointed north. The fjord was a long one. “There may be better places further north.”

  He shook his head, “You have good instincts. If we have a hall at the mouth then we can control who uses our fjord. Other Vikings will follow. Not all will be as successful as we were but they will come. This is our land and we will control who lives close by us. We are the Clan of the Fox.”

  We ate some scraps left from the night before and then, after donning our capes and taking weapons we went to find Padraig and Aed. They were ready and we headed down the coast. We walked as close to the cliff as we could. There were trees but closer to the sea they were a little stubbier than those closer to the nearby mountain. We watched the ground as we walked. There was no trail. There was no game. The only tracks we saw were those of foxes. I guessed that they preyed on the seabirds. As we walked, we heard the birds. They roosted along the cliffs. Arne nodded, “I will send the boys out later to collect eggs. If they take their slings and their bows then they can hunt some of the birds too.”

  Aed said, “The birds will learn and choose somewhere else to roost.”

  My brother had an answer for everything. “And by then we will be harvesting our first crops.”

  It was not an easy walk. Unlike the land of the Angles or Orkneyjar, here there were no trails and we found our way by instinct. We made mistakes and had to back track occasionally. We crossed streams which fed from the mountain. Aed said, “The snow there means these will never dry up.” He tasted the water. “It is not the best but it can be brewed if there is grain.”

  We were nearing the mouth of the fjord. It had taken us half a morning to reach it. What I saw, I liked. There were three small and natural harbours. The middle one had a beach but the other two, although they had rocks, looked like we could build a quay along their rocky arms. It had helped us when we had been on the Loyne. As a sailor, it was what I wanted but Arne was our leader and he would decide.

  He pointed to the sea. “Go and check the approach while I see if there is a site we can defend.”

  When I went with the two Irish sailors to the rocks, I saw that the sharp rocks were on the first bay but only on the eastern side and the south. We could build a quay on the western side and would not risk the drekar. When we looked at the centre one, I realized that if we built a quay in the first bay we could land from the beach on the other side. The two bays gave us alternatives to land and yet were easy to defend. I sent Aed and Padraig to look at the third bay while I sought Arne. He was a dot in the distance. I followed him, wondering why he had wandered off. When I reached him I saw the reason why. There was a large patch of water. I knew it was drinkable when he scooped a handful and drank it. He stood and walked towards me.

  “This is where we build. The water has a taste but it will do. We can build a stronghold close to the sea.” He pointed to the southwest. Through the trees, I saw that there was another huge bay there. We had seen no landing places when we had passed it but it would be used for shelter if our fjord was inaccessible. “The ground just three hundred paces from us has a view of the bay. This is good. We can have another Larswick.”

  I shook my head, “That would be bad luck. We burned the other.”

  He clutched his Hammer of Thor and nodded, “Aye, you are still the thinker. We will come up with a name later. Does this mean you can sail the ships here?”

  “It does. We can use the beach to land. When we build a quay then the first bay will be perfect. Tonight, we will do our best to seal the damaged knarr. We sail the drekar and the knarr here. That way we use the knarr for a hall.” I saw Padraig and Aed heading for us.

  “That is good. We will keep the women and the children close to the camp until the hall is built. We can set the others to collect food. Padraig and Aed can sail across the fjord and take men to hunt seals. I think that we will need to lay in as much food as we can. It is summer now but it still feels cold.”

  We headed back to our camp and reached it in the late afternoon. Arne gathered the men and told them of our decision. We did not need to hold a Thing. When we had built the hall then they could have the choice to come with us or find farms on the rest of the island. I went to see my mother. Gytha was with her accompanied by her son, Tostig. Helga, Freja, and Gefn were also with Gytha. She was the matriarch of the clan. They were tending to my mother.

  “What ails her, Gytha?”

  “She has a cough but she is a Christian. She has given up on life.”

  Edmund shook his head, “Christians do not give up. It is the climate and this island!”

  “Edmund! You are a thrall! Go and collect firewood. This is not your concern!” He was about to say something but I think the tone of my voice dictated his course of action. I knelt next to her, “Mother, what is this? We have a new home and we have no enemies here! Come, rouse yourself.”

  She shook her head, “I was never one of the clan. Your father loved me and while he was alive that was enough. You and Arne do not need me and as for Fótr? He is a Viking. Like his brothers, he will soon grow and not need me.”

  Gytha’s voice was commanding when she spoke, “He needs you now. You are a mother! Rouse yourself for the child! You make me ashamed to be a woman!” Her words were harsh but they worked. My mother rose. I put a hand out to help her. Gytha shook her head, “None of that, Erik. She does not need it. She seeks sympathy!”

  My mother’s eyes narrowed, “Pagans!”

  Gytha laughed, “I take that as a compliment.”

  Helga always got on well with my mother and she said, “Come Maeve, I will help you. My child is not yet due and this will be good for the unborn babe.” The two of them went to Fótr who had been watching the interchange with his mouth open. Such arguments were rare.

  Gytha smiled as she turned back to me. It was as though there had been no argument at all, “Have we a new home?”

  “We have. It is the first bay we passed. There is fresh water close by. There are plenty of trees for houses and ships. We will need to build fishing ships. When we cut them down, we will have land to farm. We have time to plant barley before winter and oats too.”

  Gytha’s eyes bored into me. She seemed to read my mind. “You are not a farmer. Your path is across the water. This is but a halt on your journey. I see you in the land where the sun does not set over the sea but on mountains and forests. I have dreamed. Take my advice and use the snekke to sail around this island. It will help your brother. The only law here will be the law of the sword. Arne is jarl and he needs to know where others are settled.” She saw my eyes flicker to my mother. “Forget your mother. I have done what I can to stir her but I have looked into her eyes and I have seen death.”

  Despite Gytha’s words and the power of her witchcraft, I could not abandon my mother. That evening I ate with her and Fótr. Freja must have told Arne of the argument for after they had spoken with the men he came over. “Mother, what is this we hear? You are giving up. Father would not like that!” His words did not come out as the words of a son but the jarl. I saw little comfort in her eyes.

  “I will do all that a mother should do for the one son who needs her and then my work on this earth is done.”

  Arne did not listen to the thoughts beneath the words and he nodded, “Good.” He turned to me. “Can you manage with just your ship’s boys and twenty men tomorrow?”

  “Aye.”

  “Good. For I intend to have half of the men drive the animals to the new settlement. When the hall is erected, we can sail the other boats with the grain and all else that we need.”

  “Do you have any preference for the men I take?”

  “I think that you should take Snorri Long Fingers. I do not consult with him as much as I think he would like. “

  “I do not think he minds, brother. It was our father
who wished to be a leader. Our uncle seems happy with his wife.”

  “You may be right but take him anyway.” I turned to go but my brother gripped my arm, “I heard that Edmund spoke up against you.”

  I shook my head, “He was being Edmund. You know how he is with mother. It was nothing.”

  “Brother, we do not suffer injuries and slights from Saxon thralls.”

  I laughed, “We have few enough as it is. I was not slighted.”

  “I am content.”

  Chapter 2

  Sighwarth insisted upon steering his doomed knarr. I knew how he felt. A man’s ship was almost an extension of him. It would be like losing a limb. The ship was to have one last voyage and they would share it. We stripped all that could be used from the interior. The mast, sheets, stays, decking, all were taken. We left in the ballast for that would be used to help build the hall. The fact that it was stone from our home across the seas was important. We had noticed that there was a current down the fjord. It was not a strong one but it would aid our journey. We also rode high in the water for we had neither cargo nor mail. Our shields lay at our camp. We had seen no foes. Our weapons would remain in their scabbards.

  We had hewed some trees already. When the snekke and knarr sailed to our new home they would tow them. Men would continue to take trees from further up the fjord until we sailed. The tow was secured and we rowed steadily down the fjord. Having walked the coast, I knew it slightly better. I studied every blade of grass, every sedge, and every heather as we headed to the fjord’s mouth. This was our new home. I needed to become familiar with it.

  As soon as I passed the first bay, I had the ship’s boys take in the sail. The way went from us for the knarr was taking on water again and was lower in the water. I put the steering board over and had the larboard oars stop their rowing. This time I wanted us in a circle so that we faced the fjord again and the knarr was inshore of us.

  “Release the tow!”

  As we turned the knarr was released and Sighwarth let her ground herself gently on the beach.

  “Back water.” I used the steering board to help the drekar push the knarr gently up the beach. There was the slightest of creaks from the wood of the knarr and then the sound of sand grating beneath her keel. “In oars. Ship’s boys, secure us.” We would have to clamber over the knarr until we moved her. “Uncle, take charge of the knarr if you would.”

  “Aye navigator! That was neatly done.”

  By the time we were tied to the shore the men had begun to take out the ballast from the knarr and to climb the slight slope to the two crossed pieces of driftwood Arne had left as a marker for the hall. Sighwarth was carefully dismantling the steering board. It was a fine piece of work. I know he hoped for another ship. The board would be a thread which tied the two ships together. After carrying them to the two crossed pieces of driftwood, we laid the ballast stones in a rough knarr shape. We had brought tools. I had my compass with me and we laid out the stones so that the knarr would be on a north to south alignment. Leaving the ship’s boys to begin to cut the turf we would use we went back to the now empty knarr. There were spindly trees which were close to the shore and we cut them down to make rollers. We could have carried the knarr but we would need timber for building in any case. One knarr would not house our clan.

  It took all morning to drag and roll the knarr to the ship’s boys. By that time, we heard our animals in the distance. They were being driven to their new home. We had brought food and we ate. My uncle sat with me on the pile of freshly cut turf. “If it were not for the smoking mountain behind us then this patch of land could be our home on Orkneyjar.”

  “Aye, you are right but this has more to offer.” I pointed to the whales who were passing the headland. “We can find more that we need from the seas. They look rich.”

  “Aye, but can we grow grains?”

  My uncle was right. We had brought sacks of seeds but would they grow here in the land of ice and fire? If not then we would have to raid and that meant crossing the seas back to the land of the Saxons and the Hibernians. We would not know until we had spent a winter in this land. We had eaten and drunk our water on the voyage. We could refill the barrels here. We had some flour for bread and we had some barley for beer but we had no ovens nor brew house yet. We had much to build before we could enjoy some creature comforts.

  Snorri rose, “This is not getting shelter for our women. Off your backsides let us lay Sighwarth’s ship to rest. “

  The boys had already dug two holes for the prow and the stern post. They would secure the knarr to the ground. They were very large holes so that we had a margin for error. We would then need to dig a line so that the knarr’s gunwale lay below the top of the soil. The ballast stones would be laid along the edge. I thought that would be all that we would achieve this first day. The most delicate part of the operation was turning the knarr. We had to do so gently as though the knarr was an invalid. The ship was already stricken. We had men with ropes holding the side of the knarr and resisting the pull as the majority of the men hauled her over. My uncle was not pulling. He was at the prow and watching both sides. He had Eidel and Halsten with him and they were used to pass instructions to the rest of us who, clad only in breeks and boots strained and heaved. We held the ropes for so long, at one point, that I felt my arms begin to burn. When the command came, “Lower!”, there was a collective sigh of relief. With the slightest of creaks, which sounded like the knarr’s sigh of death, the boat slid into her two holes. We all cheered. All that is save Sighwarth. I saw sadness on his face. Would I feel the same when ‘Njörðr’ or ‘Jötnar’ was laid to rest?

  We were just embedding the hull when Arne arrived with the animals. While the men he had brought used some of the rolling timbers we had used to build a pen he came over.

  “You have done well, uncle. This means we can bring our people down on the morrow.”

  Uncle Snorri looked pleased with the work. “And now we have animals.” Lowering his voice, he said, “This is good for a home but how many farms can it support?”

  He was right. We had many families. Some would have to find land and clear it themselves. They would not be close to the settlement. Arne and I had already noted that between our camp and the new settlement we could only see land for, perhaps three farms.

  “You are right and that is why I wish my brother to sail up the fjord and see what lies there. Tomorrow will be the day for moving but the day after I would have you and two of your boys explore the land to the north of us. It may be that the clan farms together.”

  I nodded. I did not mind. I enjoyed being on the water and it had been some time since I had sailed ‘Jötnar’. Unless we moved or went to war then the drekar would not be needed but the snekke was the best to explore and to fish. It was dusk by the time we had secured the hall and begun to lay the first turves upon her roof. Leaving four men to watch the animals we boarded the drekar and sailed up the fjord. When we reached the camp, I would have the mast stepped and the sail stored. There would be winter storms and the ship would suffer less damage without a mast and sail.

  There was food already cooked for us. It was a shellfish and seal stew. There were wild greens which grew close by and they had been added to the stew. We were so hungry it mattered not. Butar Beer Belly shook his head, “The first thing we build, jarl, is a brewhouse! A man cannot live without beer! I cannot lose my name and I will be wasting away to nothing soon!”

  We laughed but Snorri counselled, “We cannot brew all that we want yet, Butar, for we have bairns to feed and crops to plant. It is summer now but when winter comes it will be worse than on Orkneyjar.”

  With that sombre warning ringing in my ears, I retired to my ship. The six boys all slept aboard too. We had stepped the mast already and the drekar looked lean, almost naked. “When we have moored our ship tomorrow then I will take three of you to explore this land. The other two will need to secure the drekar for winter.”

  “Who will you take,
Captain?”

  I smiled, “Let us see who impresses us tomorrow!”

  The next day it rained. As we later discovered there were more days with rain than without, even in summer. It made the journey for those who walked to the new camp, both muddy and unpleasant. We took the women carrying unborn babies and the old. Edmund was forced to walk for he was a thrall. He was not happy to be separated from my mother. I took just six men to row. It was not far. The snekke and the knarr took other women and young children. The campsite looked empty and desolate as we left. There were the blackened fire pits. The places we had used to leave night soil and the places the animals had relieved themselves would become fertile but most of the dung we took with us along with that collected on the voyage. The soil would need to be improved and that was the start.

  Arne had begun the men to building a second hall even before I arrived with the drekar. I had wanted my quay to be built but I understood the need for shelter. The rain which began to fall emphasized that. A door had been cut in the hull of the knarr and soon the interior would be made habitable. While the women began fires to cook for the clan the men not cutting timber for the second hall began to build the bread ovens. The whole settlement looked as though a nest of ants had been disturbed.

  I needed our three ships to be secure. If there was rain then there might be wind and a storm. I took an axe and my six ship’s boys. I chose a fair-sized tree. I did not need a thick one. I wanted six posts to drive into the ground to hold the three ships until we could build our quay. It took us until late afternoon to cut the tree and trim the branches before sawing it into six lengths and sharpening the end. The ships were held by rocks and that was not good enough. The boys began to dig the holes while I hardened a point on one end of each of the six stakes in the fire. Each trunk was as wide as my thigh and it took some time. The holes dug, we used the smith’s hammer to drive them so that just the length of my arm remained above ground. When the ships were tied, I was happier.