The savage wilderness, p.17
The Savage Wilderness, page 17
I said, quietly, “The reason we left our home in the east was because we wanted the freedom of making our own choices without worrying about a king telling us we could not.”
I saw realisation in his eyes. Arne was not a stupid man but he always acted and spoke quickly, almost rashly. Sometimes that was necessary but this was not a time for rash decisions. He nodded, “We have time before the Thing to reflect on our words and our decisions. All I ask is that you do not argue with me in public.”
I smiled, “Then that is easy, ask and do not command. Ask implies I have a choice and can give my opinion. Command suggests that I am your inferior.”
I saw that he was about to say that I was and thought better of it. He nodded and said, “I will choose my words carefully then.” He held out his right arm, “All is good between us.”
I clasped it and nodded, “All is good.”
I meant it and, I think, so did Arne but the Norns were spinning and the web was becoming more complicated with each passing day.
Chapter 13
It took a week to ready the drekar for the sea trials. Gytha had improved enough to come to the shipyard to see her figurehead fitted and the crew aboard for the first sea trial; she was also there to give her blessing. Gefn, Helga and Ada stood close by so that the four of them could spin their spell which would protect the drekar when she sailed the seas. Arne, pointedly, remained in his hall with his wife and sons and daughter. Perhaps he thought to allow Fótr and me the opportunity to command without his presence or it may have been he wished to distance himself from the new ship and its purpose, to return east. It was as the crew took to their oars that I realised he had done little to help us build the drekar. He had helped to fetch the wood but there was not a drop of his sweat on the deck. I wondered at that. Siggi took the leading oar and I was pleased that nothing had changed between my cousin and me. I dare say he did not like the conflict between us but he would never side with one over the other. Æimundr Loud Voice took the other oar and I was content.
I turned to Fótr and said, “Let us fit the figurehead together.”
The prow of the drekar looked almost disfigured without a figurehead. The one carved by Snorri and painted by Fótr, the ship’s boys and me, lay waiting to be fitted into the smoothed slot. I waved the ship’s boys with us and we went to the prow. Those waiting on the shore were silent as they watched this most powerful of events. Until the figurehead was fitted, this was just a ship. When it was attached it would become a drekar, a dragonship, it would be a shark of the sea and become a living thing. I handed the hammer to Ebbe and the peg to Bear Tooth. They had both sweated and bled in the making of this ship. Bear Tooth and Lars’ weather vane stood on the masthead as a symbol of that effort.
Fótr and I took the weight of the figurehead but the other ship’s boys, led by Stig, supported it, too, for they wanted their hands to touch the magical figure. We knew that it would fit but this final fitting had to be without mistakes or the ship would be cursed. We lifted it carefully, as though it was a wounded warrior or a new-born babe. It slid into the hole perfectly as we knew it would. There was just enough resistance for us to have to force it down.
Ebbe said, “Clear!” once he saw daylight through the hole. He put the peg in and Bear Tooth hammered it through. Once it was through Ebbe took a second peg and Bear Tooth secured the first peg in place. As Fótr and I stepped back those on the side cheered and I saw Gytha give a wave of approval.
As we headed back to the steering board I said, “Ship’s boys prepare to free us from the land. Bear Tooth you can have the honour of climbing the mast and becoming the lookout.” Poor Lars had been desperately upset that he would not be allowed to participate in the trial and allowing Bear Tooth the honour of being the first up the mast was my way of assuaging his hurt for Lars was close to Bear Tooth. “Fótr, I will steer us to Deer Island and, when we have sailed around it you can have the helm and take her out to sea. This is your drekar now but she needs to speak to me before I give her to you.”
He smiled, “Brother, you and I are as one. Fear not that you will upset me for I know you are not Arne. This is good.”
I nodded, “Cast off! Let fly the sail!” The sail was made from deer hide. It was a tough and hardy material but until the drekar returned to the lands in the east and a more functional sail was added, then ‘Gytha’ would never sail as fast as she ought to. Speed was not necessary for the voyage east and so we were content. On the sail, we had painted a red fox and I heard the gasp from those watching as the wind caught it and it billowed. It was a good sign.
I nodded to Siggi who said, “Clan of the Fox, row!” He and Æimundr Loud Voice pulled on their oars and like waves rippling along the shore, each pair behind copied them. It made for a gentle, almost regal departure and we sailed slowly from the bay. As I turned to head north the wind, which came from the west, caught us and I said, “Stop oars!” Every oar was raised and run in. The rowers would not leave their benches for this was a sea trial and before we headed to the open sea, we would test the dragonship as much as we could.
This first voyage was important and I closed my mind to everything but the ship and how it moved. It was wider and longer than ‘Njörðr’ and that affected the way it sailed; it was slower to turn but there was less risk of water coming over the freeboard and that would be important when it transported animals and families east. There were no large waves in the sheltered bay but it cut through the ones we found rather than riding over them as ‘Njörðr’ did. I knew she would not be as fast but she was faster than I had expected. The first real test I gave her was when I sailed through the narrow channel between Deer Island and Little Deer Island. I had sailed the snekke there and knew that the channel was deep enough, wide enough and I had the necessary skill to navigate, but I realised that Fótr was worried when he saw that there were rocks an oar’s length away. It was why I had not asked him to sail this course. I was testing ‘Gytha’s’ limits. She handled the turn well and we sped through the gap as the full force of the wind caught us and I felt the drekar surge like a fine stallion. Satisfied with her handling abilities in tight situations, I headed out beyond the islands. Bear Tooth’s weather vane told me that the wind was behind us and ‘Gytha’ seemed eager to show us what she could do.
With open water before us, I was almost ready to hand over to Fótr but I kept hold of the steering board for just a little while longer. I moved the steering board a marginally small fraction to larboard, I doubted that any of those aboard would have known I had made a movement but I felt the extra speed the move generated.
I did not turn as I spoke; a good captain kept his eyes on the sea and the course he was navigating, “Fótr, this drekar is very responsive. It will take you time to learn how to get the most out of her but she is a good ship. Take her now for the shipbuilder hands her over to her new captain. May the Allfather watch over you.”
I waited until he had the steering board in his hand before I stepped to the side. I saw the nods of approval from Siggi and the senior warriors. It had been well done.
Fótr said, “I am honoured, Erik, that you have put so much into this ship and I swear that I will try to live up to the high standards which you have set.” He raised his voice, “Clan of the Fox, I am young to be a navigator but so was my brother and there is no greater navigator than Erik. Let us see what ‘Gytha’ will do. We will sail east for an hour and then turn to head home. It will mean the rowers will have the opportunity to get to know this fine lady who will carry the hopes of the clan in the future.”
I stood aside to watch Fótr and to feel the ship. She was a deep-water vessel for unlike ‘Njörðr’ she was not as affected by the larger swells which came in from the east. True, we did not have to endure the huge troughs and crest we had experienced heading west but I was confident that she would handle them well. When we had to row for the last few miles, the rowers found the experience easier than on ‘Njörðr’. Much of that was down to my design and that had been determined by the wood we had used. It was wyrd.
Fótr showed how much he had grown for he chose a chant to make the crew and ship one. He picked the Clan of the Fox chant and that was good for it honoured our father.
The Clan of the Fox has no king
We will not bow nor kiss a ring
We fled our home to start anew
We are strong in heart though we are few
Lars the jarl fears no foe
He sailed the ship from Finehair’s woe
Drekar came to end our quest
Erik the Navigator proved the best
When Danes appeared to thwart our start
The Clan of the Fox showed their heart
While we healed the sad and the sick
We built our home, Larswick
The Clan of the Fox has no king
We will not bow nor kiss a ring
We fled our home to start anew
We are strong in heart though we are few
When Halfdan came with warriors armed
The Clan of the Fox was not alarmed
We had our jarl, a mighty man
But the Norns they spun they had a plan
When the jarl slew Halfdan the Dane
His last few blows caused great pain
With heart and arm, he raised his hand
‘The Clan of the Fox is a mighty band!’
The Clan of the Fox has no king
We will not bow nor kiss a ring
We fled our home to start anew
We are strong in heart though we are few
It was the first time I had heard the words when I was not steering and I seemed to hear them for the first time. They brought a lump to my throat.
As we sailed into the bay and moored next to ‘Njörðr’ I knew that this was the end of one era and the start of another. We now had two drekar and that gave the clan choices. When we held the Thing warriors could speak their true feelings and I wondered how that most crucial of gatherings would go.
Snorri was interested in how the ship sailed and I went to speak to him when we landed. I let Fótr and the ship’s boys attend to its mooring. It was no longer my ship. Gytha tried to rise but I waved her to her bed and I sat on the chair next to the bed as Snorri questioned me, “Well, nephew, how does our drekar sail?”
“She will make a better trader than a warship, uncle, but, having said that, she will be able to hold her own against any ship which tries to take her. For what we intend I would say she is perfect. The passengers will be more comfortable on the voyage east and she will ride the storms and huge seas easier.”
He looked pleased. He would never sail east and would not travel on her but he had been instrumental in her construction. I had consulted him each day. It had been mainly to confirm that what I did was right but at others, he had gently pointed me in the right direction.
When I had finished, they both looked at me and Gytha said, “And Arne?”
“You know already.”
“Perhaps but I would hear it from your lips for the words you choose will tell me much.”
“Arne sees enemies everywhere. He fears conspiracies and plots.” I shook my head, “I am loyal to him and yet his words encourage me to betray him. He did not come to see the ship sail nor sail with us. He did not come to speak to either Fótr or me when we landed. It is as though we are no longer brothers.”
Snorri gave me a sharp look, “But you will not betray him, will you?”
“I will not.”
“Brothers often have differences.”
“Not you and my father, surely.”
He nodded, “I am sorry to say, aye, but none were as dangerous as the one which divided the three of you. Your father resented Gytha and the influence she had on the clan. He wanted your mother to be the matriarch of the clan and she never was. I had to swallow many insults but I did so for the good of the clan. You have done the same. Poor Fótr does not deserve this.”
“There is more, is there not, Erik?” Gytha was, once more, reading my mind.
I nodded, “I believe he has some plan for the Thing. I cannot divine what it is but he is desperate for the clan to remain in the west, the new world and he will do all in his power to achieve that end.”
“And that is why I cannot understand his treatment of you. You are an ally who wishes to stay here. Snorri and I also wish that but Arne has yet to cross the threshold of our home. Do you know that? In all the time we have been here he has never once stepped into our home to consult or to ask how I am. I am sadly disappointed in him.”
Snorri said, “He has much to occupy his mind.”
Gytha shook her head, “It is Freja. He changed when he married her. She wishes to be a queen. She wants others to fawn all over her. The word shallow does not even begin to describe her.”
I hid my smile. Gytha was accurate in her description. I had thought Freja just to be a pretty face but she was not she was vindictive and worse, she could smile with her mouth as she was plotting. She was shallow and measured success in clothes and jewels. I wondered if she wished to return east too. That might explain Arne’s short temper.
She said, “And now you should leave us for this conversation has tired me. I will speak at the Thing, even though I know it will take much out of me.”
I left and felt sad for Gytha would shorten her days on this earth by trying to save the clan. Ebbe and Bear Tooth had already reached the hall by the time I had made my way from Snorri’s home. Lars greeted me with a running hug which almost knocked me from my feet. “Bear Tooth told us how you made the new drekar fly and that you sailed her through a gap little larger than that of a birch bark boat.”
I looked at Bear Tooth who shrugged and gave an apologetic grin, “Captain, you are a shaman for no other could have done that which you did.”
Ada shook her head, “Showing off again, Erik?”
“I was just testing the drekar to see her limits,” I said, defensively.
“Sit and eat. You will not have to sail now until after the Thing. You can get to know your son and daughter a little more!”
Arne came to see me early the next morning. “The drekar is ready?”
“Aye. If the clan decides it wishes to make its home in the east then it can take many of them. At a push, it could take most of them but I hope that will not be the case.”
He gave me a strange smile, “That will not happen. Come, walk with me to the water.” We headed towards the two drekar, “And Fótr, he can make the journey?”
“No one has ever made that journey, not even me but I believe he can.”
“Could you make it?”
“I just told you that I believe that Fótr could.”
“But you know that you could?”
I did not understand the direction that this conversation was taking. Did he want me to go? “Aye, I could but I will not for I do not wish to upset the Norns and Fótr can do this.”
“Of course.” He pointed to the three ships, the snekke and two drekar. “Who would have thought when we boarded our first ship that one day you and I would have three such vessels? If Karl and the others could see us now… eh?” I nodded as I did not know what he wished me to say. “And I have your support at the Thing?”
“Of course, although I had not planned on speaking.”
He looked relieved, “Good! You have done much for the clan and now you can enjoy time with your family.”
I obeyed my brother and Ada. It was easy. I could play with Ýrr and it took little to amuse her. Lars and I carved bone. I wanted my own whale spear, not to hunt whales but the design was one which would make a kill on a horse deer more certain. I wondered why the Mi’kmaq had not used them. Bear Tooth was helping Lars and me to carve them and he shrugged, “We use the same methods used by our forefathers; bone spears and dogs. It works and we do not like to change what worked in the past.”
I said nothing but I knew that new things had to be tried.
We also made fish hooks from the smaller bones. Finally, we began to make a set of chess pieces from some of the bone we could not use for any other purpose. After we had made the first four pieces, Bear Tooth became quite agitated, “You are a shaman, Captain, for this is what our medicine men do. They make figures of our enemies and then use them for spells!”
I laughed, “This is a game. This piece,” I held one up, “is the king and the object of the game is to capture him. When we have made it, I will show you and Lars. It will be good in the long winter nights to do something which occupies our minds.”
He said, shrewdly, “Then you will still be here in winter, Captain?”
I could not answer him for I did not know. It was the Norns and their webs which would decide that. I had to accept my fate for I was in their power.
Lars was growing and so we took one of the hides from the white-tailed deer and made him a tunic and pair of breeks. This land was less tamed and cultivated than where we had lived in the east. He needed something robust. Bear Tooth showed us how to make wooden beads which he painstakingly drilled with a piece of bone and then, after staining them, attached them to the tunic. Lars was delighted and it drew Bear Tooth and him even closer. Ýrr also changed as she ceased to be a mewling babe forever seeking milk to one who would take note of what you did. She could laugh and she could use her tiny fingers now with purpose. She could grab my increasingly unruly hair and giggle as she tugged it. It was a good time and I was truly happy and then we held the Thing.
The clan had agreed a time but the sight of the newly finished drekar bobbing in the bay made those who wished to return home, impatient. The day arrived and the Allfather showed his favour by sending bright, warm sunshine even though the day was so cold, with a wind from the east and north, that some needed a fur. Two chairs were brought out for Gytha and Snorri and while Snorri managed to walk from the hall unaided, Siggi and I carried Gytha. Her skin was even more translucent than it had been and I felt as though I could almost see her bones beneath the skin, yet her eyes were bright and her mind was still sharp. She chuckled as we sat her down. “That I am still alive will upset Freja!”
