Viking Gold (56 page)

“Oh, yes,” Brother Luke said,
seeming to snap out of his reverie. As he handed it back to Redknee he asked in
a low voice, “Is she still alive?”

Redknee edged towards the
door. “Is
who
still alive?” Brother Luke was behaving strangely. He
wanted to get back to the others.  

“My wife … Ingrid … she sewed
that when we were newly married. I remember her working on it as clear as if it
were yesterday.”

Redknee’s mouth turned dry.
“Your …
wife
… made this?”

Brother Luke nodded. “I
wasn’t always a monk. I used to be a Northman – a Viking – a pirate. My brother
and I, we used to sail across the sea, looking for easy targets to plunder. But
then, one day, just like you, my ship was washed up here. And well, I liked the
life so much … found it was my true calling …”

“The woman who embroidered
that was my mother. But she is dead, murdered by Jarl Ragnar.”

Brother Luke leant against a
desk for strength. “Even after all this time, I still believed she might be
alive.” He looked up at Redknee, his eyes bright with tears. “And you lad, how
old are you?”

“Sixteen summers this year.”
The import of the monk’s questions was beginning to dawn on Redknee.

“It cannot be possible …” he
said, squinting at Redknee, studying his features, “but miracles
do
happen … my work here has taught me that.
My son
,” he said opening his
arms

Redknee hesitated. “
You
are Erik Kodranson?”

Brother Luke nodded slowly.

“But you are a monk.”

“A young man goes out to
conquer the world, to change it in his image, yet finds, as he grows older,
that he is the one changed by what he has seen, by what he has done.”

“I don’t understand – what
happened – I thought you died.”

“At Ragnar’s hand?”

“Or at Uncle Sven’s.”

Brother Luke frowned. “Why do
you say that? After Ragnar wounded me in our fight, Sven helped me, hid me in
some caves and tended to my wounds.” He raised his withered arm. “This is my
reminder. As for Sven, he saved my life, for Ragnar wanted me dead. I’d dared
to challenge him for making eyes at Ingrid – your mother. Even then, Ragnar had
a fast temper, and an even faster blade.”

“What happened next? After
Sven took you to the caves no one in the village saw you again. They thought
you dead.”

“Ah yes,” Brother Luke said,
slumping onto a stool. “Sven told me Ragnar was still after me. That he would
hunt me down and kill me. I thought it wrong to return to the village; putting
the lives of others at risk. But I was also in the grip of a madness of my own.
That book you carry –
the Codex
Hibernia
– Sven and I stole it from a monastery not unlike
this one.”

“I know,” Redknee said. “I’ve
been to the Promised Land.”

Brother Luke sat up straight.
“You have?”

Redknee explained how Ragnar
had attacked his village and stolen the
Codex
; instigating the chase
across the high seas. “Sven died trying to find the Promised Land, and when we
got there, there was no treasure … things were no better than in the
Northlands, except for a few more trees.”

Brother Luke sighed. “When I
was a young man, I became obsessed with the stories in the
Codex
. I’d
learnt a bit of Latin from my trading days and this was enough to ignite a
passion in me. I’d spend days poring over the words, trying to work out what
Saint Brendan had meant. So when Sven proposed I take a ship and actually look
for this Promised Land, I’m ashamed to say, I jumped at the chance.”

“But your wife?”

“Sven said he would take care
of Ingrid. And remember, I was a marked man. Ragnar has always been a favourite
with King Hakon. And I didn’t know she was with child.”

“How did you end up here?”

“The ship Sven put me on was
washed ashore here in a storm. I was the only survivor from the shipwreck. The
monks took me in, clothed me; taught me to read; told me of our Lord. I learned
that my fascination with the
Codex
lay with its deep expression of
faith. So, with my ship at the bottom of the sea, and no way to return home, I
was baptised and changed my name. Not long after, I took holy orders.”

“Did you ever see Sven
again?”

Brother Luke nodded. “About
seven months after the shipwreck. He’d worked out where I was from asking
around. He must have known Ingrid was with child by then. That must have been
what he came to tell me. But he found a very changed man – I was no longer the
fighting, drinking Northman he had known. I told him I wasn’t coming back. He
said he would take care of Ingrid as if she was his own wife. He never told me
she was with child. I think he did the right thing, because, by then, I don’t
think I could have left.”

“And you never saw Sven again,
after that?”

“Once, about two and a half
years ago Sven came here. Asked if I still had the
Codex
. Apparently the
tales of Saint Brendan and his Promised Land had been haunting him. I told him
I still had the book. Indeed, the old abbot was particularly interested in
Saint Brendan, and without his support I never would have been able to go.”

“Go where?”

“Sven helped me prepare a
ship to sail to the Promised Land. He didn’t come himself. Said it wasn’t the
right time to leave the Northlands. I made it as far as
Greenland
,
where I fell ill. The Jarl of Iceland had joined our quest and the others
sailed west with him. Without a ship or men I was forced to return home.”

Now Astrid’s story made
sense. Brother Luke had been the monk who’d gone to
Iceland
.

“When I returned to the
monastery I was welcomed by the other monks as a hero. I never made it to the
Promised Land of Saint Brendan, but it was then I realised I’d found my own
right here.”

“And that was the last time
you saw Sven?”

“He came one more time. I
gave him the
Codex
, I had no use for it any more.”

Redknee exhaled. The past was
starting to make sense. “My uncle never married. He looked after me as a son.”

A tear sprang to Brother
Luke’s eye. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you,” he said, holding out his
arms. “But I never knew …”

“No,” Redknee said, stepping
into the embrace. “My uncle never told you … I wonder why.”

Brother Luke held Redknee
away from him. “I’m so glad to have found such a fine son, so late in life,” he
said, smiling broadly.

My brother, Erik
Kodranson, is not your father.

Redknee
tried to push Sven’s words from his head, but found that he could not. Sven had
been trying to tell him something more. Of that Redknee was sure. But what? The
dates added up … in truth either Kodranson brother could be his father …

As tears of joy streamed down
Brother Luke’s cheeks, Redknee came to a decision. “Yes,” he said, gripping
Brother Luke by the shoulders, “I, too, am glad … to have finally found a father.”

The
Codex
could not be saved. Redknee was secretly glad. Its promises of glory and riches
had ruined too many lives. They would ruin no more.

Seeing Redknee’s interest in
books, Brother Luke taught him to read the Latin that was so important to
Sinead. It was slow work. Unused to sitting still and concentrating on one
thing for such a long time, Redknee found it difficult at first. Soon though,
as the words and their meanings blossomed into rich, interwoven tales and
philosophies, he found himself looking forward to the time he spent reading and
talking with Brother Luke each day.

If it was cold or wet, they
would read inside, often in the refectory. But if the weather was good, they
would take long walks on the beach, finding a quiet spot, out of the breeze, to
sit and study a particularly difficult passage. Redknee found that, while he
enjoyed the bible stories of Moses and David, the Greeks were his favourite,
especially the voyages of Odysseus, an adventurer like himself.

He thought about Sinead a
great deal – how she would have loved to explore the scriptorium and discuss
book-ideas with Brother Luke. But it was more than that, he found he missed
her. Silver did too, for whenever Redknee spoke her name, the pup would spin
round, searching for her familiar features among the rocks.

Redknee knew he couldn’t stay
on the island, little more than a rock, forever. The others were restless too.
Brother Alfred wanted to tell leaders in the Church about the Promised Land,
convinced there would be an abbacy in it for him. Toki and Koll spent their
days fishing and trapping wild birds, but such a small island held nothing more
for them; they were restless. They needed to return to the world.

A
small amount of timber from Wavedancer had washed ashore, but not nearly enough
to make a boat. The island was treeless, save for a few small shrubs. Brother
Luke said they could wait for the annual visit of the ship from their sister
monastery on the mainland – but that could be months away.

One day, when Redknee was
sitting on the beach, trying to understand Pythagoras’ theorem, he remembered
the story of Saint Brendan. Not the intoxicating tale where he reaches the
Promised Land, but its humble beginning where he spends weeks constructing a
boat from animal hides.

Of course, with the
Codex
ruined, Redknee had no way of knowing how to go about this. Then he remembered
the list Running Deer had given them. He ran, as fast as he could across the
beach, taking the steps up the hillside two at a time until he reached the top.
He’d left the
Codex
in the scriptorium because the monks thought they
could perhaps reuse the vellum.

When he burst through the
door, the monks looked up from their desks, startled. He rushed to the back of
the room and pulled the
Codex Hibernia
from the cabinet.

Brother Luke got to his feet.
“What are you looking for?” he asked.

Redknee ran his finger along
the inside edge of the book boards. The leather gaped open. He gave the
Codex
a shake and a small piece of vellum fluttered to the floor.

He knelt down and unfolded
it. The writing and diagram of a
curragh
were in perfect condition,
protected by the leather boards from water damage.

“I think,” Redknee said,
smiling up at his father, “I have a wedding to stop.”

Arboreal:
of
or relating to trees

Ascetic:
someone
who seeks spiritual purity through self-denial and meditation

Asgard: t
he
land of the gods in Norse mythology

Adze:
a kind
of chisel

Berserker:
fierce
warrior who dresses as a bear

blood-month:
the
month domestic animals were traditionally slaughtered for meat before the
winter, November

boss:
reinforced
area in the centre of a shield, usually metal, which protects the hand

casket:
small
chest for keeping jewels

crenellated:
jagged-like
battlements

cacophony:
loud
jarring noise

caldera:
basin-like
depression at top of volcano

Fenrir:
a
giant wolf in Norse mythology

Frankish:
denoting
someone from the land of the Franks, broadly modern day
France

Freya:
Norse
goddess

Furthark:
the
Norse alphabet

Gunnels:
side
rails of a ship

Hela:
Norse
god of the underworld

Helve:
axe
handle

Ignoble:
dishonourable

Insolence:
disrespect

Kaupangen:
Viking
name for the modern Norwegian city of
Trondheim
, means ‘market place’

Knar:
A
Viking merchant ship

Mailcoat:
A
flexible armour tunic made of riveted iron rings or links

Mead:
An
alcoholic drink made from fermented honey, drunk extensively in Viking times

Nascent:
new
born or rising

Necromancy:
the
magic of bringing the dead to life

Novice:
an
inexperienced person; a trainee monk or nun

Odin:
Father
of the Norse gods. God of wisdom and war. Exchanged his eye for the knowledge
of all things.