Part 11 (1/2)

”What of it?”

”I just hope its ale is better than its owner's welcome,” I said.

He laughed at that. ”Welcome to Dumnoc,” he said, climbing back onto the trading s.h.i.+p, ”and I give you leave to spend a night here in peace. But if any of you commit a crime I'll hold you all in custody!” He paused and looked toward Seolferwulf Seolferwulf 's stern. ”Who's that?” 's stern. ”Who's that?”

He was staring at Skade, though he must have noticed her earlier. She was again cloaked in black so that her pale face seemed bright in the misted late afternoon. There was gold at her neck. ”Her name is Edith,” I said, ”and she's a Saxon wh.o.r.e.”

”Edith,” he repeated, ”maybe I'll buy her from you?”

”Maybe you will,” I said, and we looked at each other and neither trusted the other, and then Guthlac gave a careless wave and turned away.

We drew lots to decide who could go ash.o.r.e that evening. I needed men to stay and guard the boat, and Osferth volunteered to command that group. We put twenty-three dried peas in a bowl with twenty silver coins, then Finan took the bowl and stood with his back to me as I faced the a.s.sembled crew. One by one Finan drew either a coin or a pea from the bowl and held it aloft. ”Who'll have this one?” he would ask and I would pick a man from the crew without knowing whether Finan held a pea or a coin. Those who drew peas had to stay with Osferth, the rest were allowed ash.o.r.e. I could have just chosen which men should stay aboard, but a crew work better when they believe their lord is fair. The children all stayed, but the wives of the sh.o.r.e party accompanied their men. ”You stay in the tavern,” I told them. ”This town isn't friendly! We stay together!”

The town might have been unfriendly, but the Goose was a good tavern. The ale was pungent, freshly brewed in the great vats in the inn's yard. The large main room was beamed with keels from broken-up s.h.i.+ps, and warmed by a driftwood fire burning in a central hearth. There were tables and benches, but before I let my men loose on the ale I negotiated for smoked herring, flitches of bacon, barrels of ale, bread, and smoked eels, and had all those supplies carried to the Seolferwulf. Seolferwulf. Guthlac had placed guards on the landward end of the pier, and those men were supposed to make certain none of us carried weapons, but I had Wasp-Sting hanging in a scabbard at my back where she was hidden by a cloak, and I did not doubt that most of my crew were similarly armed. I went from table to table and told them they were to start no fights. ”Not unless you want to fight me,” I warned them, and they grinned. Guthlac had placed guards on the landward end of the pier, and those men were supposed to make certain none of us carried weapons, but I had Wasp-Sting hanging in a scabbard at my back where she was hidden by a cloak, and I did not doubt that most of my crew were similarly armed. I went from table to table and told them they were to start no fights. ”Not unless you want to fight me,” I warned them, and they grinned.

The tavern was peaceable enough. A dozen local men drank there, all Saxons and none showing any interest in the Seolferwulf Seolferwulf 's crew. Sihtric had drawn a silver s.h.i.+lling in the lottery and I ordered him to make frequent visits to the yard. ”Look for men with weapons,” I told him. 's crew. Sihtric had drawn a silver s.h.i.+lling in the lottery and I ordered him to make frequent visits to the yard. ”Look for men with weapons,” I told him.

”What do you fear, lord?” he asked me.

”Treachery,” I said. The Seolferwulf Seolferwulf was worth a thegn's annual income from a substantial estate and Guthlac must have realized we carried coin on board. His men would find it hard to capture the s.h.i.+p while Osferth and his band defended the pier's end, but drunken men in a tavern were easier prey. I feared he could hold us hostage and demand a huge ransom, and so Sihtric slipped constantly through the back door, returning each time with a shake of his head. ”Your bladder's too small,” one of my men mocked him. was worth a thegn's annual income from a substantial estate and Guthlac must have realized we carried coin on board. His men would find it hard to capture the s.h.i.+p while Osferth and his band defended the pier's end, but drunken men in a tavern were easier prey. I feared he could hold us hostage and demand a huge ransom, and so Sihtric slipped constantly through the back door, returning each time with a shake of his head. ”Your bladder's too small,” one of my men mocked him.

I sat with Skade, Finan, and his Scottish wife, Ethne, in a corner of the room where I ignored the laughter and songs that were loud at the other tables. I wondered how many men lived in Dumnoc, and why so few were in the Goose. I wondered if weapons were being sharpened. I wondered where all the gold in the world was hidden. ”So,” I asked Skade, ”where is all the gold in the world?”

”Frisia,” she said.

”A large place.”

”My husband,” she said, ”has a stronghold on the sea.”

”So tell us of your husband.”

”Skirnir Thorson,” she said.

”I know his name.”

”He calls himself the Sea-Wolf,” she said, looking at me, but aware that Finan and Ethne were listening.

”He can call himself what he likes,” I said, ”but that doesn't make it true.”

”He has a reputation,” she said, and she told us of Skirnir and what she said made sense. There were nests of pirates on the Frisian coast, where they were protected by treacherous shoal waters and s.h.i.+fting dunes. Finan and I, when we had been enslaved by Sverri, had rowed through those waters, sometimes feeling our oar-blades strike the sand or mud. Sverri, a clever s.h.i.+pmaster, had escaped the pursuing red s.h.i.+p because he knew the channels, and I did not doubt that Skirnir knew the waters intimately. He called himself a jarl, the equivalent of a lord, but in truth he was a savage pirate who preyed on s.h.i.+ps. The Frisian Islands had always produced wreckers and pirates, most of them desperate men who died soon enough, but Skade insisted that Skirnir had flourished. He captured s.h.i.+ps or else took payment for safe pa.s.sage and by so doing he had made himself rich and notorious.

”How many crews does he have?” I asked Skade.

”When last I was there,” she said, ”sixteen small s.h.i.+ps and two large.”

”When were you last there?”

”Two summers ago.”

”Why did you leave?” Ethne asked.

Skade gave the Scottish woman a speculative look, but Ethne held the gaze. She was a small, red-haired, and fiery woman whom we had freed from slavery, and she was fiercely loyal to Finan, by whom she now had a son and a daughter. She could see where this conversation was going, and before her husband went into battle she wanted to know all she could discover.

”I left,” Skade said, ”because Skirnir is a pig.”

”He's a man,” Ethne said, and got a reproving dig in her ribs from Finan.

I watched a servant girl carry logs to the tavern's hearth. The fire brightened and I wondered again why so few men were drinking in the Goose.

”Skirnir ruts like a pig,” Skade said, ”and he snorts like a pig, and he hits women.”

”So how did you escape the pig?” Ethne persisted.

”Skirnir captured a s.h.i.+p which had a chest of gold coins,” Skade said, ”and he took some of the gold to Haithabu to buy new weapons, and he took me with him.”

”Why?” I asked.

She looked at me levelly. ”Because he could not bear to be without me,” she said.

I smiled at that. ”But Skirnir must have had men to guard you in Haithabu?”

”Three crews.”

”And he let you meet Harald?”

She shook her head. ”I never met him,” she said, ”I just took one look at him and he looked at me.”

”So?”

”That night Skirnir was drunk,” she said, ”snoring, and his men were drunk, so I walked away. I walked to Harald's s.h.i.+p and we sailed. I had never even spoken to him.”

”Stop that!” I shouted at two of my men who were squabbling over one of the Goose's wh.o.r.es. The wh.o.r.es earned their living in a loft that was reached by a ladder, and one of the men was trying to pull the other off the rungs. ”You first,” I pointed at the more drunken of the two, ”and you after. Or both of you together, I don't care! But don't start a fight over her!” I watched till they subsided, then turned back to Skade. ”Skirnir,” I said simply.

”He has an island, Zegge, and lives on a terpen terpen.”

”Terpen?”

”A hill made by hand,” she explained, ”it is the only way men can live on most of the islands. They make a hill with timber and clay, build the houses, and wait for the tide to wash it away. Skirnir has a stronghold on Zegge.”

”And a fleet of s.h.i.+ps,” I said.

”Some are very small,” Skade said. Even so I reckoned Skirnir had at least three hundred fighting men, and maybe as many as five hundred. I had forty-three. ”They don't all live on Zegge,” Skade went on, ”it is too small. Most have homes on nearby islands.”

”He has a stronghold?”

”A hall,” she said, ”built on a terpen terpen, and ringed with a palisade.”