Viking Treasure (17 page)

As the sail billowed and we surged forward Haaken said, "What of Raibeart?"

"He will be as our sheepdog.  If any drekar escapes then he will come to our aid."

I went to don my helmet and to prepare for war.  Karl's voice drifted down to me.  "Jarl there are three drekar attacking one!"

Halfdan had been caught.  I hoped we would be in time. Maddeningly the rocks which lay before us stopped us taking the most direct course.  We were less than four hundred paces from the battle but we might as well have been four thousand.  My drekar was distinctive and as soon as he saw it Halfdan put
'Storm Bird'
over and took advantage of the wind.  It would take him out of the bay.  We were on a converging course.  What none of them could see was Asbjorn and Sigtrygg as they raced along with the following wind to cut off the escape south. As we also had the wind we were not rowing and my men prepared for battle.  I saw Harald Black Teeth, or, at least, the warrior in the fine armour at the stern of
'Eagles Heart'.
He carried an axe and stared over at us from beneath a helmet with a bird of some description on the top.  I assumed it was an eagle.

Although Halfdan was under attack it was only from arrows.  He had out manoeuvred the other pirates. There were, however, three of them and they were all large drekar. I guessed that at least two of them had been Jarl Thorfinn Blue Scar's once. The four ships were pulling away from us as we had to turn slightly north to negotiate a rocky promontory.

"Jarl, look at
'Red Snake'
, she has the wind."

I watched as Raibeart deftly handled his lighter threttanessa and overtook us.  He would be the first to reach Halfdan.  He was too brave for his own good.  I saw that the three ships of Harald Black Teeth were almost upon Halfdan.  All four ships were using their oars but the arrows from the three drekar had thinned out the crew of 
'Storm Petrel'
. They would catch him.

"Where are '
Crow
' and
'Odin's Breath'
?"

"They are tacking around now Jarl.  The ships cannot escape south."

My captains were doing as I had asked but now I needed them to sail north.  They would obey me and block the southern passage.  It was up to me and the drekar of Ulf Grimsson. One of Black Teeth's drekar caught
'Storm Petrel'
.  I saw the ropes snaking over. The other two sailed alongside the pirate drekar to use it as a bridge. At last we could turn and Erik put the steering board over.  I saw the rocks less than ten paces from us.  We were that close to ripping out our hull. Raibeart had turned quicker and he laid his drekar alongside
'Storm Petrel'
.  We now had a chance but Raibeart had the smallest crew.  There had to be over a hundred and twenty warriors upon the three enemy drekar!

"Erik lay us beam on to the bows of
'Storm Petrel'.
We can use the stern of
'Red Snake'
to board."

I turned and shouted, "Tell Ulf to lay his drekar on the steer board side of
'Red Snake'
!"

Raibeart deserved his courage rewarding. We would support him. I led my men to the steerboard side. 

"Shorten sail!"

As the sail was furled we lost way and bumped gently into the stern of
'Red Snake'
and the bows of
'Storm Petrel'
.  I saw that Halfdan and his oathsworn were beleaguered at their stern.  Raibeart and his men had formed a shield wall around the mast of
'Storm Petrel'.
  I jumped to the steering board of  Raibeart's ship.  The ship's boys stood there with bows in hand. "Support your captain! Ulfheonar to the mast."

Raibeart was a popular warrior.  Despite the fact that he was not born Norse he embodied everything my men admired in a warrior.  Olaf Leather Neck led the charge across the deck.  He and Rolf Horse Killer did not use their shields but swung their axes two handed.  Normally this was dangerous, especially on a ship, but here they carved a path through the two sets of  Black Teeth's men. Until the men from Ulf Grimsson's drekar boarded we would be outnumbered. Olaf's charge had cleared a space so that we could form a wall of warriors.

We were fighting against warriors who, like us, knew how to fight on a drekar.  These were neither Franks nor Saxons and they fought hard. I had my shield and I blocked a blow from a hand axe.  Ragnar's Spirit sliced down and bit into the shield of my opponent.  Perhaps he was taken aback by my grey beard but he looked surprised at the power. I ripped it out and as his hand came forward I jerked my tip into his throat. More of my warriors followed us and I felt Cnut Cnutson and the men of Cyninges-tūn add their weight to our back. The extra power pushed the enemy towards the gunwale.  My men were fresh and they were strong.  Warriors tumbled over the side as they fought to keep their balance.. 

Then I heard a shout, "Jarl the steering board!"

I glanced to my right and saw that Harald Black Teeth had moved his drekar and was now piling his men over the stern.  Halfdan was now completely surrounded. We had to do something quickly.  "Push!" I held my sword above my shield as did Haaken, Finni, Leif and Rollo.  As our warriors pushed, the men whom we faced could not avoid the points of steel. They tried to move their heads out of the way but their feet slipped on the blood covered deck and soon the last of those before us tumbled over the side.

"Cnut, support Halfdan.  Ulfheonar, let us board the enemy!" The only hope we had was to threaten their drekar.

We leapt down on to the deck.  Now that Harald Black Teeth had gone to the stern there were just two drekar to deal with at this side. Although more men were clambering across to us they were not the mailed warriors whom Harald Black Teeth led. We were reckless and we were wild. We swung our swords and axes before us as we moved quickly across the deck. I blocked a sword with my shield and brought my own weapon up into the gut of a warrior.  I tore my blade out knowing that the edge had ripped through his stomach. I stepped across his body and dropped my head as a wildly swung axe came close to decapitating me. It glanced off my helmet.  The uncontrolled swing left the warrior open to my sword.  I stabbed him so hard that my sword came out of his back.

Sometimes men get lucky.  Finni the Dreamer slipped on the guts of the warrior I had slain.  As he did so a warrior with a spear darted forward. Finni might have been slipping but he had the reactions of a fox.  He turned his head so that the spear clanged against it, stunning him.  Before the warrior could strike again I swept my sword down.  It sliced through his right wrist and his left forearm.  Bright blood spurted and made the already slippery deck even more treacherous.

"Erik Eriksson, help Finni back to our ship." Finni the Dreamer had taken a hard blow and he was dazed. "Leif the Banner, guard my back!"

"Jarl! It is
'
Crow
'
!" Snorri pointed to the south where Sigtrygg was bringing
'Crow'
to our aid.  Asbjorn still obeyed my orders and blocked the route south.

Then I heard a cry, it seemed to come from far away, "Jarl! We need help!" It was Cnut Cnutson.

"Back to
'Storm Petrel'
. Sigtrygg can deal with these." Although there were two drekar we had slain many already and with a fully crewed drekar Sigtrygg would make short work of them. I hurried back to the
'Red Snake'
.  It was too late for Halfdan. Even as Leif and I climbed back aboard the threttanessa I saw Harald Black Teeth as he slew the brave warrior and take his head.  He flourished it before hurling it into the remains of the crew.

It enraged me.  With my Ulfheonar I attacked the press of warriors who had surrounded Cnut Cnutson. I saw warriors who had come from Cyninges-tūn.  They lay dead. Even as we closed with them the crew of 
'Eagles Heart'
began to return to their ship.  They had seen the approach of '
Crow
'. Harald Black Teeth would fight another day.  Even as we slew the last of the men who remained on the deck of
'Red Snake'
I saw Harald Black Teeth laughing as his ship headed north and east.  He could not flee south but he had the whole of the wild seas of the north in which to hide.  I hacked down at the Viking who cried for mercy. He held his sword still and I sent him to Valhalla.

"Kill them all!" There was no point in keeping any warriors alive.  These were the sweepings of every outlaw in the Isles of the North and beyond. They were treacherous killers with no honour.  Harald Black Teeth had deserted them. They deserved nothing better.

By the time it was over the two drekar were charnel houses.  We had just begun to strip the armour from the dead when Erik shouted, "Jarl, we are drifting on to the rocks!" I could see that the wind and current had taken us alarmingly close to the rock filled shore.

"Men of Cyninges-tūn, back to our ship.  Ulfheonar, we will stay and help the crew of
'Red Snake'
." Raibeart's crew were in a bad way.  He had lost warriors and others were wounded.

I went across to the next drekar.  Sigtrygg stood there. "I am sorry we were late, Jarl.  We obeyed orders."

"You did right.  Let us see if we can save these drekar for Jarl Thorfinn Blue Scar."

In the end we simply did not have enough men.  We salvaged
'Storm Petrel'
but only twelve crew remained.  With Asbjorn's help we saved another of the jarl's captured ships, '
Dragon'
. Harald Black Teeth had renamed it '
Serpent
'. The last one which had been called
'Whale of Ljoðhús'
had been renamed
'Scavenger'
it was not a good name for a ship and she had ripped her hull out on the rocks. Erik Short Toe said she had done it to avoid the shame of her new name. We spread the few men we had to each ship.  We would have to rely on the winds to return to Jarl Thorfinn.

The battered fleet headed north, back to Ljoðhús. Our enemy grew ever more distant as he fled north. He would not risk these seas again. Erik asked, as the lights of Ljoðhús hove into view, "What will he do, Jarl?"

"I am guessing he will sail around the coast and head for Norway, Denmark or Frisia.  As Thorfinn has kin in Norway I would say Denmark or Frisia. Perhaps he will go to Eoforwic.  Who knows.  He will have gold for he has taken many ships.  He did not strike me as the kind of jarl who would share his profits.  I think he will buy another drekar and find more men like the ones who now lie at the bottom of the sea.  There are many such leaderless men. We have not seen the last of him but our waters will be safer now."

Jarl Thorfinn Blue Scar was happy to have his ships returned but it did not compensate for the loss of his men.  "Halfdan was like a son to me." He shook his head.  His eyes were red and hollow.  He had the smell of death about him.  "If you see my children say I beg them to come home.  My hearth is empty as is my heart. I have built a land but it is not a home."

I looked around the deserted warrior hall, "Have you enough warriors to fend off an attack?" I knew he had many enemies.

"We have young men and boys.  We are old but we can train them. You have taken away the danger to us.  The Pictii do not like to risk the sea.  We will survive."

"I will have my drekar keep watch on your sea lanes.  If you need help then send to me.  I am your ally."

"I know, Jarl Dragonheart.  I know."

We stayed for six days ensuring that the ships, all of them, had suffered no damage and sharing out the mail and the weapons.  The forty young boys and youths who were being trained by the old men would be well armed.  I hoped that they would have time to gain the skills which might save their lives.

As I boarded my drekar Jarl Thorfinn Blue Scar came to see me off.  It would be the last time I would see him for he was dying.  I think he knew that but I did not; I just suspected it. He clasped my arm, "As one father to another I tell you to hang on to your children. I used to believe that it was
wyrd
for them to fend for themselves.  Now I do not think so.  I would give all of my treasure for one of them to be with me now."

I nodded, "They may return.  Who knows?"

He shook his head, "I shall die alone with my old warriors for company and soon we will be a name, a distant memory only."