Viking Voices (11 page)

It's not a situation that Ragnald readily understands as he could not work in such a way; he is not a natural co-operator, more a natural competitor. Nevertheless he understands that he must meet with at least one of them and gets an invitation to meet Halfdan the Younger in the Palace within the Roman arch. Ragnald is very greatly assisted in this by his connection with Thora, his current concubine and Ivarr the Younger's former queen. She is also Halfdan's cousin and has therefore some influence with him.

Halfdan listens patiently to Ragnald's plea for assistance and for “co-operation” between our warriors and their “Great Army”. It seems that Ragnald understands enough about the idea of co-operation to exploit it for as much advantage as he can get out of it. He is initially very pleased with the response too, as Halfdan agrees to make a large force of warriors available to him, if Ragnald can match their number from his own force. This should give him a combined force of around 150 boats. If they can spring a surprise attack on the Irskrs that might be a large enough force to carry out a powerful attack and re-capture the town. It might not, however, be enough to hold the city once the foreigners have got their whole army together again. If indeed they ever could raise such a force again as that would require them to co-operate between themselves as they did when we were expelled.

Ragnald and I consider this offer, and the conditions attached to it. These conditions are important, very important: that the combined force must first rehearse and demonstrate its fighting ability with a great raid on the Picts of Fortriu in the far north of this land, and bring back a great deal of plunder and slaves. This is the kind of work that Ragnald enjoys, but it is not really a direct assistance to his own cause, perhaps only in adding to his war chest. More importantly for the Danir king it reduces a powerful competitor in lands not too far away from his own land.

It does, of course, allow Ragnald an ideal opportunity to demonstrate his formidable fighting ability to the kings of Jorvik. I have my doubts as to whether this is really the kind of expedition that will help us achieve our goal and am not convinced that Halfdan will really meet his commitment to help us at all after this first adventure is completed. The whole expedition appeals to Ragnald's warrior instincts though, and so he overrules my concerns and accepts the offer and its terms.

Ragnald will now return to his own community to raise his Lochlain army and will meet up with the Danir force which Halfdan already has near at hand. These will then need to be organised into one fighting unit. Each of these two leaders will accept responsibility for arming and feeding the warriors but Ragnald will lead them in the north and into battle. Each leader will share the spoils equally providing that his force is supplied in the full numbers agreed.

The plan is to sail our forces up towards Fortriu and then join the Danir who will march north. We will join together at the head of the long fjord that leads into that land. It may be quite difficult to get the two armies together but the location of such large armies seem to send out news, the majority of people talk about them, though in that land we may have difficulty conversing with the ordinary people. Halfdan has some people who speak Brythonic and sends one of them to join with us and travel with us. Although this will not help us in Fortriu, where the natives speak Pictish, it will be useful in the country we will need to cross to get there.

It is agreed that both armies will set off in twenty days time, to meet and join together in forty days; this allows us time to return to our community and make the necessary preparations, and raise the army. I can imagine how unpopular this will be with all the warriors who have come to enjoy their time building homes, farming and being happy with their families. They will need to realise, as I have to, that such a life is not normal for a Viking warrior. It is just not our destiny to live such ordinary lives; we are a warlike people and have our destiny to fulfil and our gods and our Jarls to serve.

So we must make the long walk back the way we came, over the hills and along the valley until we reach the ford near the village of Prestune where left our single boat. The journey is wearying but otherwise uneventful. Although these roads are thought to be dangerous the law of the Danir seems to holding here and we have seen no evidence of any crime. Perhaps that is the beneficial effect of the rule of law, or perhaps we simply have a large enough group of strong, armed men to protect ourselves. It is a relief and a minor surprise to find our boat still there, apparently untouched and unharmed. Just one more day of rowing or sailing before we can get back to our own people again.

After a night's rest we push the boat out into the river and leave, assisted by the flow of the river Ripam. In fact, we sail very little on our return journey. It is almost all rowing, with just a short period when we approach our own river that we can raise the sail to take us up the river. Naturally we have calculated our departure time to allow us the best use of the tides, and it certainly eases our labour considerably again. We again divide ourselves into two crews so that one rows while the other rests. Nevertheless we are all completely exhausted when we finally get the boat pulled up onto our own beach.

Once there I am immediately back with my dear Aud, she is holding Astithr in her arms, running down the beach to meet me. It seems she has been watching the river for days hoping to see us approach. I can see that she is very lonely without me and longs to be with her husband. At first she is as inclined to scold me for leaving her as to welcome me home but soon that initial coolness melts and we are in love again. Tonight is like our second honeymoon, as though we were just married again.

All of the travellers are delighted to see their families but it is a bitter sweet feeling as we all know that we will soon be leaving again. This time we will be going away for a long period and will face many great dangers along the way. We all know that there will be some who will never return, though none of know which of us that will be!

Our fates remain in the hands of the three Norns who determine the destiny of all in this world.

There is a period of frenzied activity now as we prepare to take all of the available men and boats north to Fortriu, the land of the Picts. As I expected there are many who have little enthusiasm for this expedition, having become fat and lazy in their comfortable new lives, but there are also a surprisingly large number who welcome the chance for new journeys having wearied of domestic life and who are now longing for adventures. My sympathies lie mostly with the ones who love their home life, but the others make my task easier.

It falls to me to visit each warrior, and tell him that he will be travelling north with us. With those who are reluctant I must cajole and persuade enthusiastically, even if my heart is not really in it. We all know that the persuasion is only for show and in the end they will be required to go, whether they wish to or not. They owe a duty to their king and to the gods, who will insist that they fulfil it. I know that the hidden threat is the deciding factor with many of these reluctant warriors who really wish to be simple farmers.

Why would any of us willingly put our lives at risk? The big benefits always accrue to the Jarls and kings. It seems that there are some who enjoy the risk, and see the campaigns as a great adventure. There are many others who enjoy the prospect of the booty; even though experience shows that our share often seems to be quite modest.

There is a lot of work to do, especially preparation of a great quantity of dried foods for the long journey. We must take as much as we can carry since it will be difficult to feed an army of this size off the land.

I face a difficult decision as to how many warriors to leave behind to guard our land and our families. We need all the warriors that we can muster but we are also conscious that Irskrs or the British might raid us here at any time. Although relations with the Saxons and Danir have always seemed friendly, it is not always possible to be entirely sure of them either. Every community contains greedy and dangerous men prepared to rob their neighbours, and so none of them are to be trusted.

Although the stories of our possessing silver and treasure seem to have quietened down, they might still draw in raiders at a time when our guard is seen to be down. I have little idea where Ragnald has put the great trunk containing his great silver hoard; he has certainly kept it silent and it would have appeared to have disappeared. Even I, who consider myself to be his most trusted friend and adviser, am not trusted with knowing the location of the chest. I last saw it as I carried it into the woods above his house but I know from my many visits there since that it is not to be seen now. I am sure he is wise to keep it out of sight and hope that it will be forgotten.

So the risk of losing the hoard seems relatively small. The risk of it drawing in thieves who might plunder our settlement and kill our families is much higher.

The youngest and the oldest warriors are left behind together with those who are currently injured or sick, which turns out to be a rather larger number than expected. I know some of these have illnesses that will be miraculously cured the moment the boats leave, but I accept it as they describe it, with no further questioning. Their presence will make the community safer so I diplomatically turn a blind eye.

We have around a thousand swords in the end and these men will travel in around forty boats. This fleet will still look hugely impressive when it sails and will certainly strike terror into the hearts of all who see it approaching them.

Ragnald has given Ingamund the responsibility for staying behind and organising the security of the settlement in his absence. It seems a generous gesture in a way as it allows Ingamund to have the easier task, and also gives him considerable power and status in the community which remains here. On the other hand it also sidelines him from the attention of the army and therefore takes him out of serious reckoning as a rival to Ragnald at least in the short term. Ragnald will, however, need to succeed and return alive, with great wealth if he is to be seen as Ingamund's superior.

In the eyes of the warriors Ingamund will be seen as a second rate Jarl, only fit to sit at home with the women. He still has charge of a group of over a hundred men, mostly old and sick, to defend the village, along with a similar number of juvenile boys.

The time to leave comes sooner than I had expected, those twenty happy, busy days have come and gone in what seems like the twinkling of an eye! I am devastated to be leaving Aud and Astrithr once more but secretly I am excited by the great adventure we are about to embark on. We can become wealthy people if this goes well, but I cannot show this excitement to my wife. It is important to look as sad and as disappointed as I can over the next few days.

When we sail this time I am in the lead boat, standing beside Ragnald, and have been excused my duty as an oarsman, at least for the present. It seems I am being raised up into the higher level of Norse society and have earned my place at the side of my king. Maybe I will also become a Jarl if all goes well.

It is just a few hours rowing before we can see the mountains of Vannin appear as a smudge on the horizon, and very slowly they get nearer and appear larger. It seems like an eternity as we get closer and there seems to be a huge effort going into the rowing for just a small movement towards the island. Ragnald hopes to get there before nightfall, so we can eat and sleep in relative comfort on land. The whole of the voyage to Fortriu is well known to us and we can move in one day stages if we choose, sleeping overnight on land every evening. This will allow us to sleep properly and enjoy the passage. It also allows us to take some foods from the lands we visit and we will be constantly able to take fresh water. All of that makes the journey more comfortable, and we might also be able to take some plunder from unwitting victims as we go, and to build up our war chest.

The fleet moves steadily towards Vannin and I wonder if we are heading to our previous home on the sweeping bay. It would be a good place to stay overnight, and with its large sandy beaches it offers good shelter for our boats and plenty of space for them all. Ragnald has another idea though, he has sailed this entire island many times, and is taking us east of the island. We move steadily north along its shores until the sun sets and we find ourselves moving into another large bay, which also has broad beaches for us to ground our fleet. It offers a peaceful night's rest for most of us, but apparently not for me.

I have a small group who are given the task of guarding the site overnight. It seems that staying here has some dangers being so close to Ottar's base and Ragnald is concerned about the danger of being attacked. I am to earn my status and privileges with some difficult and unwanted tasks. Being the most trusted deputy of a king clearly often means doing the tasks he chooses not to undertake himself.

In the morning my weary guards and I are the first to break our fast with a poor meal of flat bread and pounded beans, but we are the last to get into the boats. Then we have our chance to sleep, but not the peaceful sleep we would have had on land during the hours of darkness. We sleep as we are tossed around in the bottom of the boat, desperately trying to find a few dry places. We are constantly woken again by the movement of the boat in the waves. We are all left feeling groggy, light-headed and exhausted.

It had been a long and quiet night for the main army, and they are all well-rested. Fortunately there was no sign of Ottar's men appearing. We had feared that they might have seen us and marched across from their fortress on the other side of the island, which is not more than a night's march away. Probably they left later and are on their way there right now as we leave and sail, again north and we get round the northernmost cape of the island at midday. We can now see another land to the north of us and here, we know, lives another group of Britons, probably as hostile as those who expelled us from Môn. They hold this land and a great more to the north of it. We will soon be crossing their territory but for now we can just row past it, hard rowing directly into the wind.

Seeing our position, which I also know from our previous reconnaissance of the island, I know that Ottar's fort is not far south of us now, along the westward side of the island. I wonder whether Ottar's men will have set off to look for us on the east of the island. It is very likely, as they are certain to know by now that we have been there. We have such a large fleet that we cannot easily move about unnoticed. He would definitely react to our presence since our men have been here a few times recently to steal his cattle and sheep. As I am aware of Ragnald's feeling towards Ottar I suggest to him that this might be the ideal time to pay a visit to his home base. His warriors are likely to be away, patrolling the area next to our overnight camp, still expecting to see us there. They might well have left their own base lightly protected, and we can raid and plunder it. Opportunity beckons!

It's an idea that he seizes on with glee, and so the whole fleet turns south along the island's coast, clinging close to the shore, despite the danger of rocks, to make it more difficult for us to be seen from the castle. All the boats are now rowed, even though the wind direction would have allowed us to sail if we had chosen, we are much less visible from the shore this way. It is not long before we can see the fortress on the small island but are hoping that they will not have seen us. In order to improve our chances of taking them by surprise, we beach the boats in two gravelly bays, out of view of the fortress, and climb the cliffs to approach our enemies on foot.

It works and it very nearly works completely! We get very close to the town before we are spotted. Once we are seen all hell breaks out, and the people of the town run as fast as they can for the fort, with all of us in hot pursuit, swords and axes in hand. Most of them make it to the fort in time and as we reach the edge of the fortified island we see that they have escaped. Just a few of the elderly and infirm are left behind and they are of no interest to us. They have no value as slaves.

We cannot easily reach the Danir inside their fort and we would take a great risk of losing many of our men. It is much more sensible to ransack the abandoned town and look for what plunder we can find. There are indeed rich takings to be had, since the inhabitants have been taken by complete surprise. There was little or no time for them to take any of their goods with them. Only the lightest and most easily portable goods have gone.

We find lots of weapons, some silver coins and manufactured goods including jewellery, leather goods and other textiles. There is a great deal of fresh food and good stocks of mead that naturally we always value. This time we will not consume it all on the spot though, remembering that was a small disaster for us on Môn at Maes Osfeilion. In particular I remember losing my raven haired maiden. As usual Ragnald is claiming the silver for himself but is content to allow all other goods to be distributed among the successful warriors.

To our surprise a group of six horsemen now appear, approaching and then riding into the town as though unaware of anything unusual happening. They are clearly wealthy, high status people, dressed well, and carrying banners and weapons. They are completely unaware that their town has fallen into the hands of a rival group and ride straight into our midst expecting us to part and let them through. It is obviously an unpleasant surprise to find their way forward blocked, especially as the throng then closes behind them too.

The look to fight but quickly think better of it, six men will not last long among a thousand enemies, so they have to yield. A fine rich group of captives, with lots of expensive mail and weapons to take. Best of all, the group includes King Ottar himself, and he is surprised and not at all pleased to find himself detained, a prisoner of his detested adversary Ragnald.

Ragnald on the other hand is beside himself with glee, I have never seen him so laugh so much, he is delighted and excited. I remind him that Ottar still has an army out somewhere looking for us, so it is best to take Ottar as our prisoner along with our plunder and to quietly make our escape before their return. So we are off again, barely more an hour after our arrival, having not fought any one and with no casualties on either side, but we are laden with booty and taking the despised Ottar as hostage for a great ransom.

Ottar is stripped of his weapons and mail, then dragged, bound hand and feet, into the boat. By then he has taken quite a kicking and is covered in bruises on every part of his body and bleeding profusely from gashes on his face and arms. It is a great humiliation for him and he is now fully aware of the danger he is in. The man is completely terrified, and justifiably in great fear for his life. He knows he is worth a large ransom but he also knows he is the hands of a competitor who hates him, would gladly eliminate him and is quite likely to do exactly that.

Ottar may also have some doubts about whether his own family will want to ransom him, or he may even doubt their ability to raise the money needed. It is certainly not likely to be a small sum, but he will know far more than we do about the circumstances of their wealth.

The other five men in his group are treated with much more respect but they are also required to join us on the boat, it is not an invitation. No doubt they are also in fear of their lives but Ragnald's intention towards them is to recruit them into his army and get them to participate as free men. Of course, being free men does not mean they will be given a choice in the matter. If they resist they will still be coming with us, but unarmed and with shaven heads to denote that they are slaves. Additional warriors will be far more valuable to us than slaves though where we are going. These men might be especially useful as they are genuine fighting men: full time, professional huskarls.

We have not all gone back by foot to the bay where our boats lie. Ragnald and I, along with our prisoner are going back in boats provided by our “hosts”. We have deprived them of twenty of their finest drakken boats, taking ten and towing another ten behind us to be released to drift out to sea. This strengthens our fleet as we can now spread our warriors around more vessels and also makes it more difficult for the defeated Danes to pursue us. It takes a long time and a great deal of skilled labour to build a new boat, let alone replace twenty of them.