Part 10 (1/2)

We did not have a full crew, but sufficient men took their places on the rowing benches. The dawn was breaking as I ordered the wolf's head mounted on the prow. That carving, with its snarling mouth, was stored beneath the platform in the bows and was only displayed when we were away from our home waters. It risks bad fortune to threaten the spirits of home with a defiant dragon or a snarling wolf or a carved raven, but now I had no home and so I let the wolf defy the spirits of Lundene. Alfred had sent men to guard my house, and though those mailed warriors could see us in the dock beside the terrace, none interfered as we cast off the lines and pushed Seolferwulf Seolferwulf into the Temes's strong current. I turned and watched the city beneath its smear of smoke. ”Raise!” Finan called, and twenty oar-blades were poised above the river's filth. into the Temes's strong current. I turned and watched the city beneath its smear of smoke. ”Raise!” Finan called, and twenty oar-blades were poised above the river's filth.

”And strike!” Finan called and the boat surged toward the dawn. I was without a lord. I was outcast. I was free. I was going Viking.

There is a joy at being afloat. I was still under the thrall of Gisela's death, but going to sea brought hope again. Not much, but some. To drive a boat into the gray waves, to watch the wolf's head dip into the crests and rear in an explosion of white water, to feel the wind hard and cold, to see the sail taut as a pregnant woman's belly, to hear the hiss of the sea against the hull, and to feel the steering oar tremble in the hand like the very heartbeat of the boat, all that brings joy.

For five years I had not taken a s.h.i.+p beyond the wide waters of the Temes estuary, but once we had cleared the treacherous shoals at the point of Fughelness we could turn north and there I had hoisted the sail, s.h.i.+pped the long oars, and let Seolferwulf Seolferwulf run free. Now we went northward into the wider ocean, into the angry wind-whipped s.h.i.+p-killing sea, and the coast of East Anglia lay low and dull on our left and the gray sea ran into the gray sky to our right, while ahead of me was the unknown. run free. Now we went northward into the wider ocean, into the angry wind-whipped s.h.i.+p-killing sea, and the coast of East Anglia lay low and dull on our left and the gray sea ran into the gray sky to our right, while ahead of me was the unknown.

Cerdic was with me, and Sihtric, and Rypere, as were most of my best men. What surprised me was that Osferth, Alfred's b.a.s.t.a.r.d, came too. He had stepped silently aboard, almost the last man to make the choice, and I had raised an eyebrow and he had just given a half-smile and taken his place on a rower's bench. He had been beside me as we lashed the oars to the cradles that usually held the sail on its long yard and I had asked if he was certain about his decision.

”Why should I not be with you, lord?” he asked.

”You're Alfred's son,” I said, ”a West Saxon.”

”Half these men are West Saxons, lord,” he said, glancing at the crew, ”probably more than half.”

”Your father won't be pleased you've stayed with me.”

”And what has he done for me?” Osferth asked bitterly. ”Tried to make me a monk or priest so he could forget I existed? And if I stayed in Wess.e.x what could I expect? Favor?” he laughed bitterly.

”You may never see Wess.e.x again,” I said.

”Then I'll thank G.o.d for that,” he said and then, unexpectedly, he smiled. ”There's no stench, lord,” he added.

”Stench?”

”The stink of Lundene,” he explained, ”it's gone.”

And so it had, because we were at sea and the sewage-soured streets were far behind us. We ran under sail all that day and saw no other s.h.i.+ps except a handful of small craft that were fis.h.i.+ng and those vessels, seeing our rampant wolf's head, scattered from our path, their men pulling desperately on oars to escape Seolferwulf Seolferwulf 's threat. That evening we ran the s.h.i.+p close insh.o.r.e, lowered the sail, and felt our way under oars into a shallow channel to make a camp. It was late in the year to be voyaging and so the cold dark came early. We had no horses so it was impossible to explore the country about our landing place, but I had no fears because I could see no settlements except for one reed-thatched hovel a long way north, and whoever lived there would fear us far more than we feared them. This was a place of mud and reed and gra.s.s and creeks beneath a vast wind-driven sky. I say camp, but all we did was carry cloaks above the thick tideline of weed and driftwood. I left sentries on the boat, and placed others at the small island's extremities, and then we lit fires and sang songs beneath the night clouds. 's threat. That evening we ran the s.h.i.+p close insh.o.r.e, lowered the sail, and felt our way under oars into a shallow channel to make a camp. It was late in the year to be voyaging and so the cold dark came early. We had no horses so it was impossible to explore the country about our landing place, but I had no fears because I could see no settlements except for one reed-thatched hovel a long way north, and whoever lived there would fear us far more than we feared them. This was a place of mud and reed and gra.s.s and creeks beneath a vast wind-driven sky. I say camp, but all we did was carry cloaks above the thick tideline of weed and driftwood. I left sentries on the boat, and placed others at the small island's extremities, and then we lit fires and sang songs beneath the night clouds.

”We need men,” Finan said, sitting next to me.

”We do,” I agreed.

”Where do we find them?”

”In the north,” I said. I was going to Northumbria, going far from Wess.e.x and its priests, going to where my friend had a fortress in the bend of a river and my uncle had a fortress by the sea. I was going home.

”If we're attacked,” Finan said, and did not finish the thought.

”We won't be,” I said confidently. Any s.h.i.+p at sea was prey to pirates, but Seolferwulf Seolferwulf was a wars.h.i.+p, not a trader. She was longer than most merchant s.h.i.+ps and, though her belly was wide, she had a sleekness that only fighting s.h.i.+ps possessed. And from a distance she would appear fully manned because of the number of women aboard. A pair of s.h.i.+ps might dare to attack us, but even that was unlikely while there was easier prey afloat. ”But we do need men,” I agreed, ”and silver.” was a wars.h.i.+p, not a trader. She was longer than most merchant s.h.i.+ps and, though her belly was wide, she had a sleekness that only fighting s.h.i.+ps possessed. And from a distance she would appear fully manned because of the number of women aboard. A pair of s.h.i.+ps might dare to attack us, but even that was unlikely while there was easier prey afloat. ”But we do need men,” I agreed, ”and silver.”

”Silver?” He grinned. ”What's in that big treasure chest?” He jerked his head toward the grounded s.h.i.+p.

”Silver,” I said, ”but I need more. Much more.” I saw the quizzical look on his face. ”I am Lord of Bebbanburg,” I explained, ”and to take that stronghold I need men, Finan. Three crews at least. And even that might not be enough.”

He nodded. ”And where do we find silver?”

”We steal it, of course.”

He watched the brilliant heart of the fire where the driftwood burned brightest. Some folk say that the future can be read from the s.h.i.+fting shapes inside that glowing inferno, and perhaps he was trying to scry what fate held for us, but then he frowned. ”Folk have learned to guard their silver,” he said softly. ”There are too many wolves and the sheep have become canny.”

”That's true,” I said. In my childhood, when the northmen returned to Britain, the plundering was easy. Viking men landed, killed, and stole, but now almost anything of value was behind a palisade guarded by spears, though there were still a few monasteries and churches that trusted their defense to the nailed G.o.d.

”And you can't steal from the church,” Finan said, thinking the same thoughts.

”I can't?”

”Most of your men are Christians,” he said, ”and they'll follow you, lord, but not into the gates of h.e.l.l.”

”Then we'll steal from the pagans,” I said.

”The pagans, lord, are the thieves.”

”Then they have the silver I want.”

”And what of her?” Finan asked softly, looking at Skade, who crouched close to me, but slightly behind the ring of folk around the fire.

”What of her?”

”The women don't like her, lord. They fear her.”

”Why?”

”You know why.”

”Because she's a sorceress?” I twisted to look at her. ”Skade,” I asked, ”do you see the future?”

She looked at me in silence for a while. A night-bird called in the marsh and perhaps its harsh voice prompted her because she gave a curt nod. ”I glimpse it, lord,” she said, ”sometimes.”

”Then say what you see,” I ordered her, ”stand up and tell us. Tell us what you see.”

She hesitated, then stood. She was wearing a black woolen cloak and it shrouded her body so that, with her black hair that she wore unbound like an unmarried girl, she appeared a tall slim night-dark figure in which her pale face shone white. The singing faltered, then died away, and I saw some of my people make the sign of the cross. ”Tell us what you see,” I commanded her again.

She raised her pale face to the clouds, but said nothing for a long while. No one else spoke. Then she shuddered and I was irresistibly reminded of G.o.dwin, the man I had murdered. Some men and women do hear the whisper of the G.o.ds, and other folk fear them, and I was convinced Skade saw and heard things hidden from the rest of us. Then, just as it seemed as though she would never speak, she laughed aloud.

”Tell us,” I said irritably.

”You will lead armies,” she said, ”armies to shadow the land, lord, and behind you the crops will grow tall, fed by the blood of your enemies.”

”And these people?” I asked, waving at the men and women who listened to her.

”You are their gold-giver, their lord. You will make them rich.”

There were murmurs round the fire. They liked what they heard. Men follow a lord because the lord is a gift-giver.

”And how do we know you do not lie?” I asked her.

She spread her arms. ”If I lie, lord,” she said, ”then I will die now.” She waited, as if inviting a blow from Thor's hammer, but the only sounds were the sighing of wind in the reeds, the crackle of burning driftwood, and the slur of water creeping into the marsh on the night's tide.

”And you?” I asked, ”what of you?”