Islands in the Fog (20 page)

Toki studied his feet and scratched the back of his head. She was correct, of course. Only flippant replies bloomed in his thoughts and he bit those back as he searched for more affable words. The pause grew awkward and his desperation mounted, so he trusted inspiration.

"This is difficult for you. It is a hard time for us all. I wish things could be otherwise, but they are not. My heart is loyal to you, Halla, and will always be so. If I can find a way to settle with your father, I will. But I doubt he wants to make peace. There was a time when I thought your father's threats empty. Now it is a real possibility that he will have my head. But for you, the risk is worth it."

They fell into silence again. The ship swayed and mast creaked as the sail filled, driving the ship over the foamy sea. Toki waited patiently for Halla. After several moments, she placed her delicate hand on his knee.

"I'm sorry, you did not ask for this. I first sought you as a way to escape Vermund. I wasn't sure what else I wanted. You are a good man, and I have no other to turn to now. It's just hard to accept what is happening. I have the same guilt that you do. Your sister hates me and blames me for this."

"That is untrue," Toki said. It was yet another statement lacking conviction but one he thought necessary. Halla withdrew her hand.

"You know it is true. I hope your sister can accept that I am not my father." Frustration infused her voice as she touched her head, shaking it. "But I did choose you, and I still believe it was the right choice. The time we spent together in secret gave me the fondest memories of my life. We spoke to each other like I never imagined two people could. Be patient with me on this mission. I understand how my father has brought this upon himself. I know he sought any excuse to make war with Ulfrik. I know he thinks me tarnished and useless now that I've left with you. But it still does not mean I wish to see him dead. Can you understand that?"

Toki nodded.

"Good, I will need your support in the coming days. I want to start a new life, one where we control our destinies. But so much seems uncertain today."

Toki took her hand again and squeezed it. He glanced around, and everyone was absorbed in other duties, real or feigned. His face heated up at the thought of displaying his tender side. Rather than deepen his embarrassment, he merely stood with Halla's hand in his own.

"You will have my support. But remember your speech is for all to hear on this ship, even when others pretend they are deaf. My sister worries for her husband and her son fears for his father. Your words must be soothing ones in their presence. Save other thoughts for when we can be ashore and alone."

"I will. I'm sorry to have been so thoughtless." She withdrew her hand, a sincere smile widening on her face. Her hair gleamed white with a ray of sunlight poking through the gray clouds. Toki felt calmer now, having navigated those treacherous emotional currents without a wreck.

Feeling the tension in his neck and shoulders abate, he returned to the tiller. As Einar handed it over to him, Toki caught Runa glaring at him again. He smiled, but it was like smiling at a wolf. She would rip out his throat if he gave her cause. He pulled hard on the tiller, hoping his sister and his future wife could share this ship long enough to find help for Ulfrik.

The morning of the next day, Toki conferred with Einar and the two other men. Toki had camped them on shore for the night, and woke to discover a square sail on the horizon. Fortunately they had not started a fire, and the ship sailed past. Toki had actually held his breath as he watched the ship vanish into the morning fog.
Raven's Talon
with a cargo of gold and women would be a plump target for raiders.

"Could it be more mercenaries drawn here by Hardar's offer?" Einar asked.

Toki frowned and shook his head. "We'll never know. It could be anyone. But I saw it filled with crew, and even a peaceful crew might make slaves of us. We must skirt that ship."

The two other men were brothers and close friends of Toki's. The older brother was near Toki's age, broad shouldered and stout. He was called Njall the Tall. His younger brother wore an innocent face ruined by a lazy eye, and was called him Thrand the Looker. Together with Bork they had been the core of Toki's friends.

Njall studied the point on the horizon where the unknown ship had disappeared. "What if they're headed to the same place? Wouldn't want to sail in on whatever business they're doing?"

"So can't we try somewhere else?" Thrand's sideway gaze landed on Toki. "Just go find another jarl to persuade."

Toki spit on the sandy grass. He heard Runa shouting. His stomach lurched and his hands went cold. But when he spun around she was yelling for Gunnar to climb down from a pile of high rocks. Toki's shoulders slumped in relief. The three others gave him worried looks. "I thought she was warning of danger," he lied. He had feared Halla and Runa were at each other's throats. "You've got a point, Thrand. But Ragnvald is our best hope and if we can gather him to our cause, we will have more influence on the other jarls."

No one appeared to have any better ideas and they shifted around rubbing their hands or stretching and delaying. Toki hated the absence of Snorri and Ulfrik. One of them would have taken his ideas and make a real plan from them. But now he was on his own, and the obvious leader. Then an idea flashed and he started to put it together as he spoke.

"What if we were to hire our own mercenaries? We can offer some gold up front, and promise a take in whatever spoils they can capture from Hardar." Toki's eyes widened in excitement at his new idea. The others seemed less favorable.

"Wouldn't have Lord Ulfrik thought of the idea himself?" asked Einar.

"Yeah, it sounds dangerous," Njall said. "Why not just kill or enslave us and take all the gold we carry?"

"Let me think this out." Toki clapped his hands together and rubbed. "We only want to bring more men to the cause. If we have more men, the other jarls will be encouraged to join us. Why join a single ship of desperate women? A ship of fighting men will give them confidence enough to join."

"But Lord Ulfrik said we should hurry. Where are we going to find mercenaries?" Einar asked.

"The islands to the east are filled with the remnants of the armies that faced Harald Finehair at Hafrsfjord. Among those lands are men ready for battle. Bork came to us from those lands, you'll remember." Toki's excitement began to overtake his judgment. "We could seed the word along the shores, hire those who seek adventure and be back to persuade Ragnvald. My ship can hold twenty men or more. A filled ship is more likely to attract another filled ship."

Einar frowned in thought while Njall and Thrand looked to him for a response. Toki believed in the superiority of this idea. Ulfrik had planned in haste and under a tremendous burden. But this type of daring plan seemed more like the cunning Ulfrik loved. Even if only Ragnvald joined them, he could still bring three ships full of men to Ulfrik's aid.

"So your silence means you haven't a better idea?"

Njall folded his arms. "I'm just trying to think this out. It's two days sailing with good weather. Then we need time to find men willing to join us. Once we get back to Ulfrik it could be weeks gone."

"It was going to be weeks anyway," Toki insisted. "How fast do you think the other jarls will act? What if one of them decides to side with Hardar? We will have no men of our own for protection. Ulfrik would be truly lost then. But with a larger crew, we can deal more safely. I think this is the right plan."

Njall and Thrand both appeared to accept Toki's reasoning. Only Einar seemed to still debate the idea.

"There's an ill cloud over this plan. But I can't say what it is."

"That's only because the plan is new to you. Give it time and you will see it makes sense." Toki looked to Njall and Thrand for agreement, which they gave. "Besides, we need time for Hardar's mercenaries to depart and that strange ship to pass through. So let's get back to sea and take advantage of this wind."

Einar begrudgingly nodded. Toki scanned the distant sea, seeing nothing but gray fog obscuring the horizon.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The ships appeared as flat water bugs stretched out on the sea. Oars formed their legs, pulling across the sparkling azure surface. Inside the ships, flesh colored dots swayed back and forth in unison with the oars. Each dot was a man and each ship held twenty men at ten oars to a side. Other men walked between the rowers or leaned on their tillers. Some sat idle in the prow.

But the men at the oars labored, as they had for a full day. Their grunts were audible above the splash of the water and the creak of the hulls. They sat on sea chests, and some had their feet bound with seal skin rope. Those with free legs sang songs. Those with bound feet grunted or kept silent.

Ulfrik had not spoken since being dragged aboard Kjotve's ship. His arms and shoulders burned from the strain of rowing. His back and chest felt tight and heavy. He kept his head down, focusing on the seawater sloshing around his bound feet. Though others sat before and behind him, he was alone. The foolishly brave men who had followed him into slavery were seeded throughout the other ships. The few on his ship were seated behind him. He hadn't dared turn around.

Ulfrik's mouth was filled with paste. His throat constricted so even spit popped his throat when he swallowed. His hands and feet were cold, not from the ocean temperatures, which were mild, but from fear. The cold seeped into his chest, and were it not for the constant friction of rowing, Ulfrik would have felt like a naked man in a winter gale.

But for all the physical symptoms, nothing matched Ulfrik's inner suffering. This was not how the plan was to work. Hardar was supposed to have shamed him in front of the other jarls. Toki and Runa would have had time to find allies, to build a resistance to Hardar. Kjotve should have been dead. Now Ulfrik was a slave to a blood-thirsty raider, rowing to an unknown destination. How would anyone find him again?

For the first time in his life, Ulfrik knew fear. He had survived trials and battles that had left better men dead. He had faced the evil of his brother's schemes. He had been driven from his home to be chased by wolves and dark-hearted men. He had walked away from all of it.

But this fear was different.

Unlike everything else he had faced before, his actions now affected many. Thoughts of Runa and Gunnar filled his mind, envisioning them lost at sea or falling into enemy hands. His beautiful family, those he loved and swore to protect, were now on a hopeless mission. Their lives were ruined. He had caused it. He blamed his hubris, short-sightedness, and foolishness. He cursed his arrogance. What had he been thinking? Why had he refused to flee with his family? How had he made this terrible choice? How had so many people put faith in him, only to be ruined? These questions seized his mind and clenched out anything else. Worry turned the scraps of food he had been given to tasteless leather. Fear and worry refused to leave him, and enslaved him as well as Kjotve had.

"Oars in! Raise the sail!" A voice boomed behind Ulfrik, and the rowers hauled in their oars with grateful moans. The wind had steadied at their backs, and would give them better speed to wherever they traveled.

Ulfrik yanked in his oar and let it thud to the deck. He slumped to lean on his knees, but a heavy hand cuffed his head. "Don't drop it on the deck. Rack it, you stupid dog!"

Ulfrik hoisted himself off the chest, dragging the oar from the deck. The man moved past him, finding other slaves to cuff. Ulfrik shuffled to the rack beneath the mast and flung the oar onto the pile. Others did the same. He met one of his former crewman's eyes as they stared at each other across the rack. Ulfrik had to turn aside, his stomach knotting at the hopelessness he read in his follower's expression.

He slouched on the sea chest and stared down at his feet. Kjotve's crew stood and stretched while others hoisted the sail. The ship tugged ahead as the wind filled it. Someone handed him a wooden cup half filled with water. He took it, stared into the reflected sky in his cup, then drained it. When he finished, he found Kjotve seated on the chest across from him.

"How are you enjoying life aboard my ship?" His thick forearms were folded across his belly as he smiled. "Nothing like a good day of rowing to renew a man. Don't you think so?"

Words fled Ulfrik. A croak bubbled out of his throat, making Kjotve roll back with a laugh.

"Never thought I'd find you without something to say. How far you've fallen, boy. Anyway, you've been boring me. I've been expecting a little more spirit out of you."

Ulfrik stared at Kjotve's lusterless eyes. Years before, they had sparkled with passion, but now were like two nubs of old wood. Ulfrik's pasty mouth produced rough, dry words. "Your eyes say you died at Hafrsfjord."

Kjotve laughed again, but false and short. "I lost everything at Hafrsfjord, if you didn't know. I lost my son, my ships, my fortune, my home. I lost my kingdom, and all with no small thanks to men who fled me rather than honor their oaths."

"I thought you were dead. Harald had you cornered on an island."

"You fled while I lived. The sheep herders on these islands might call you a hero, but I know you for a coward. I survived and learned who was true and who was not." Kjotve leaned forward on the sea chest and jabbed a finger at Ulfrik. "You broke your oath to me! After I took you in and gave you land!"

"I gave my oath to your son, Thor. My duty died with him."

"I was the Jarl of Agder, and that oath was mine as well. You destroyed your honor when you fled."

"I thought you dead," Ulfrik mumbled. He dropped his head, feeling numb.

"So you had hoped." Folding his arms again, Kjotve leaned back on his seat. "You know oath breakers should be killed out of hand. If a man can't honor his oath, then what's he worth?"

Ulfrik met Kjotve's eyes and sneered. "I suspect you will tell me. You didn't kill me, and so must see some value."

"You're value at market will tell me what you're worth," Kjotve said, his voice low and hissing. "You and your fool crew are going to the slave markets of Dublin. I'll recover some of the gold I wasted on you, and justice will be served."