Viking Voices (18 page)

We pass the village, which I remember as Prestune, high on its sandy ridge, but I know better than to stop there today. We do not want to make ourselves known or to be seen and so we carry on up the river for while. To our right we see the derelict stone ruins of unknown buildings from an earlier age, now abandoned but very prominently seen beside the point where a large brook also enters the main channel. I have heard that these are also part of the remains from the Roman age, as we have seen in Ceaster and Jorvik, but these are no longer part of any city and just lie in overgrown ruins amid the fields besides a confluence point, where a small brook joins the main river.

Now we are in a wide valley with the flood plain reaching out to the wooded slopes on either side of us. The land is mostly forested but with occasional patches beside the river where the trees have been cleared to create a farm. We reach the fording point just as the tide starts to turn against us, the flow of the water being easily visible on the surface of the river. This time we have not gone as far up the river as we had been able to get on previous occasions when we were at the top of a spring tide. I carry out Ragnald's orders of burying the treasure at the highest navigable point, but I wonder if he is aware of the variation that the differing tide heights make to this point.

There are a few boats on the bank near here, no doubt there are other Vikings who have disembarked and marched onto Jorvik, as we once did. Surprisingly they have left their boats unguarded. We are able to sail just a little way beyond them before the boat grounds and we are glad to get that little way further to be away from any prying eyes.

Although exhausted we haul the boat up onto the bank, and beach it there for the night. We have just one more task before we can eat and sleep which is to take the large wooden chest out of the boat and place it high up on the river bank, sufficiently far up so that we can be sure it cannot move and fall into the river. Then I open the chest to see it is very sturdily built with a lead lining. This is my first and perhaps only view of the fabulous treasure we have come to hide from prying eyes.

I want to look at it as fully as I can in the small amount of time available. So I peer into a few of the leather bags for this one time before they go into the ground, probably for a long time, perhaps for a very long time. It is my only opportunity to examine the contents.

One bag contains silver coins, many of which I can see were minted in Jorvik but also there are many others from Wessex bearing the head of their King Edward the Elder. The strangest coins bear marks I cannot recognise and it must be that they come from some far kingdom where they use different letters. Other bags are filled with hack silver, old objects that have been cut up and retained only for the value of their metal. Yet others are old ornaments such as armlets. It's a huge variety of different items but a great weight of metal and its value must be massive, beyond my ability to imagine. I cannot forget how much blood has been spilt to accumulate all this metal, how many men have died to collect it. It will all be of no value if we cannot keep it safe or, worse still, if we cannot recover it when it is needed.

So we start to dig with our shovels and blades, and bury the box quite deep in the earth of the bank. Importantly I take a mental note of its position so it can be retrieved when it is needed, seeing that it is on an alignment of two large oak trees. I am sure that those trees will be there for many years to come, and they make a great means of defining the position of the chest without putting any physical mark on the ground that others might recognise and use to steal our treasure.

I tell our men it is necessary to get the chest deep underground before we sleep if we are to be safe this night. We must hurry with the task as we are surrounded by hostile people, which is possibly true, and that they only speak Brythonic, which is not true. We are actually in the centre of Danelaw but I am still trying to persuade them that we are in Môn.

The men are exhausted and dig slowly but steadily, creating a pit which the chest is put into. First we put stones around it, some of the quite heavy ones. Finally the hole is filled up with the rich black earth again, and the chest with its hoard is safely underground and out of sight. At last we can rest, and I allow everyone to sleep.

There is nothing left to guard now and in any event, they would all fall asleep any way. We all sleep the sound sleep of the exhausted, no dreams of any kind tonight, and the sun is already in the sky when we awake. I allow a little time for a bite to eat and drink but we are very soon back on the river and battling against the new incoming tidal current to row downstream. Our task is done and we can return home, and I am especially anxious to get home to my family as quickly as possible. For once I am prepared to take on the arduous task of rowing in opposition to the tide.

It is likely that we will be seen from the village, but they have little or no reason to think anything of our passage, as there are many boats moving up and down this river. Although no other boat has gone as far upstream as we did there are several that have left from the bank near the village. This is not good news for me, as it is a very unlikely scene if we were truly on the island of Môn. I ignore these boats and ensure that neither I nor anyone else comment on them. We simply get out to sea as quickly as we can, and hope that the crew do not wonder too much about where they are.

Once we are well away from the land we can raise the sail for a time, though we are often too close to the direction of the breeze to make very good progress. Eventually we have to abandon our increasingly futile attempts to sail and we just row, making a direct route towards the open sea. We maintain this course for several hours before turning south east, towards home. I make little pretence at a different route this time, I am just too impatient to get back home, and we are often close enough inshore to see the coast. Anyone looking over the side of the boat can see what our route is, and where we have come from. I am relying on these weary, exhausted men not taking much interest in where we are going. We reach the Dee at twilight, and get back to our home beach just as the last rays of the sun are cut off by the sun sinking over the horizon.

I am greeted by a very gloomy Aud with the shattering and disastrous news that Edda, my mother, has died during the only night that I was away. Naturally we are all distraught at the news, she will be greatly missed, perhaps even more by Aud than by me. I have never seen my wife looking so totally unhappy.

The timing of my mission was incredibly unfortunate, but the mission I undertook was both very important and very urgent and has made our entire village safer. Nevertheless it is naturally a deep regret that I was not with my mother as she left this world.

I have an uneasy feeling that some of Aud's unhappiness is directed at me for being away from home on this occasion. I can see that she is extremely unhappy and rather hurt by my absence. More so this time than on any other occasion, even much longer periods away from home. She seems not to have understood at all my need to make this voyage.

I hope she knows that I have always been a good husband, completely faithful to her at all times, although we all know that it is not the typical action of a warrior to be faithful to his wife in the way that I have. I also want to be a great father to little Astrithr and all our other children when they come along.

This is not the time for those thoughts though; it is a time for sadness and mourning.

Aud has once again become quite sickly these last few weeks and she and Grunhilde, her mother, are quite sure that she is with child once more. I hope so, as I long for a son and this would be a wonderful thing for all of us, a great thing to bind us together and rebuild our love for one another, just as little Astrithr's arrival did earlier. I hope and believe it will be a boy this time to become my heir in time, and pray that it will come true.

We all seem happy again here after the unrest caused by the expedition to Fortriu and the mission to bury the hoard. It is once more delightful to have my place in the house and to see how that small piece of land which we once cleared together has developed into a fine small farm. I see it as my mother Edda's legacy, and it is clear that Aud has gained all of her skills and crafts. Maybe Aud has even surpassed her. Together they added sheep, cattle and pigs to the geese we first raised and now have two fields which in turn grow grain and vegetables; parsnips, onions, leeks, peas and cabbages, using all the slurry from the beasts to renew the fertility of the land. During the summer months we are very well fed though it is still difficult to retain enough food in good condition to sustain us through the winter. At times we have to revert to our failsafe of shellfish; the beach is a larder which just never runs out.

Aud is again enjoying being the centre of attention, not just from me, but from her mother as well. It is a good time to stay at home and enjoy the company of my gentle, charming women. Little Astrithr is getting larger and has started to walk a little, though we need to pay great attention to her. Without supervision she will wander off and is always in danger of falling or just wandering into things and going to places she is better avoiding. Soon we expect she will start saying her first words. Everything she does is a great delight to us all.

Aud was always a happy girl, with a radiant smile, but for a while she has seemed to be burdened with cares and worries. Now the strain appears to have been lifted again and she has blossomed, though I know she misses my mother who had become a great friend to her. I remember vividly how intensely happy she was at the imminent arrival of her first child, and she is hardly less delighted with the second.

I have also taken up my iron working again, leaving young Brodir to work in silver, and despite the long period that I have been away the skills have not left me. My stock of charcoal has been quickly replenished and the hearth is alive with its red glow once more. The old suppliers of ore are still there among the Angles nearby and, although they more often ask for payment in silver now, they always eventually accept other goods in payment. Often I can supply them with freshly cut timber as I am still enlarging our fields by cutting down the woods that surround them. Some of the timber has gone into charcoal, but there is always a great deal left over to sell or trade.

Aud is very content to see me going back to this trade and often tells me how much she loves to see me working like this and how she hopes that I will stay at it forever now, giving up my role at the side of Ragnald so that I can stay with her and our children. It is a lovely idea but I know that I have gone too far in my relationship with and commitment to Ragnald for him to ever permit me to move back into a domestic role. What's more we are friends and comrades now. I also have the deadly knowledge of the location of the silver hoard; perhaps I am the only one who can find the alignment of the two oak trees that defines the position of the site. In some ways Ragnald is dependent on me, but I am equally dependant on him.

My life is certainly intertwined with the plan to regain Dyflinn for the Lochlain and when the time comes I will have no choice but to play my part, it is my destiny. For now though, the time has not come and Ragnald is also playing happy families. He has finally succumbed to Thora's plea: they are to be formally married, and she will be declared his queen. It will be a happy day for them and all of the community will celebrate with them, drinking and feasting all day long.

Naturally the wedding ceremony itself takes place on Friday, the day that is sacred to Freyja, the goddess of love and fertility. The ritual itself is quite short but includes an exchange of rings between the happy couple and Ragnald has entrusted a sword to Thora to be given to their first son. He does not expect her to hold it for very long, as she is very obviously pregnant now. She looks very happy and proud wearing her bridal crown.

There are a few visitors who have travelled here for the wedding, especially among Thora's relations in Jorvik. It is around three or four days travel from there so they have made a very special effort to get here. Naturally Thora is delighted to see them. Ragnald has family here among the community but has lost contact with the rest of his family who are probably now spread around the Irish Sea or even further beyond. The fall of Dyflinn having spread our people far and wide. There are gifts too, often jewels for both the groom and his new bride, the most lavish which we can afford, some of it silver and much decorated with amber and glass. The gifts brought from Jorvik do not seem quite so lavish but they are valued too.

At sunset on the wedding day we all gather together in Ragnald's longhouse. The usual evening meal is enlarged this night because it is a wedding feast night. A horse had been sacrificed to the old gods and the meat is spitted and roasted, and there is also roast lamb, salted fish and pork with plenty of fresh bread. For dessert we eat fresh fruit and a little honey on buttered bread.

As on so many other days the Viking women's time is spent mainly on cooking. We have a fire placed in the middle of each of the one-room houses, with kettles and cauldrons hanging above for cooking. Although there is a hole in the roof, the houses are always unpleasantly smoky, and there is a risk of fire. The floor is strewn with fresh straw today specially for the wedding feast.

The entire feast is served on wooden plates and eaten from a pointed knife, many of which have been fashioned on my forge; it is my most typical product. The spoons are made from wood, horn or animal bone and carved with delicate patterns of interlaced knot work and decorated with the heads and bodies of fantastic and unlikely looking mythical beasts and demons with scales and fierce teeth.

All of the food is to be eaten along with some beer or strong mead which is drunk from horns, similarly decorated with those knots and strange animals and sometimes with silver tips and rims for the richest people. We Vikings always love to drink alcohol and it is not uncommon to see drunken Vikings lying around the village on a feast day. Enough honey has been gathered during the summer for a month of mead drinking following the wedding, so this month of celebration is called the honeymoon. Some people, but mostly women and children, prefer to drink milk.

Although the worst of the drunkenness occurs on the night of the wedding there are a number who carry it on into the following days. There is extra food for every one as well while the celebrations continue for most of the week. We have a long week of eating and drinking which befits the importance of the occasion, and demonstrates both the wealth and generosity of the host.

Thora's extended family return to Jorvik after just three days of celebration, having been especially well treated. They have received the very best hospitality that Ragnald could afford, even including the construction of a new longhouse to accommodate them. That building will also be very useful for the community once the celebrations are over but it shows how much effort Ragnald has gone to in order to honour his guests. Our king is very disappointed though that Halfdan has not come here himself, and his absence is the centre of some attention and comment. It feels something like a snub.

I know that Ragnald is very conscious of the importance to him of having powerful friends in Jorvik and he is certainly anxious to be in contact with them again soon. I am sure he will soon want to raise a new army to attack the Irskrs, and recover Dyflinn at the earliest opportunity but the expedition into Fortriu not only reduced his army, but also those of Halfdan, who might therefore be reluctant to engage in another adventure. It depends on how he values the plunder against the likely attrition of his military capability. A close alliance with Halfdan will be vital to Ragnald's future plans, even if it does not produce a quick result. For now that is tomorrow's business and we will concentrate on our own affairs in our own little world.

Ragnald is concentrating on his family for a time and is unlikely to undertake a new initiative until his new child is born. This suits me extremely well as I also have a new child to be born in the near future. It engages us both for a few months, during which we enjoy being a part of a thriving and growing community.

This is high summer and the best summer for many years, not just warm but hot, very hot. We have had several weeks of hot dry weather the like of which no one can remember. The hay is ripening fast and has to be gathered in now. Our crops are growing well but they need to be watered a great deal and the streams are nearly all dry. It is back breaking work to constantly carry the water to the fields and all the more exhausting in the heat of the bright sun.

After the work is done though, it is delightful to spend the afternoons swimming in the estuary. No shortage of water there, and it's unusually warm for a while, when the tide brings it in over the hot sands which have been exposed to the hot sun all day. Aud and I get the chance to lie together in the shade of the trees after our evening, looking over the river to the hills on the other bank and looking towards the distant mountains. It is a glorious way to spend time in a glorious place. Nowhere is more beautiful on the days when we get summers like this.

Ragnald's adventures and notably his successes in Vannin and in Fortriu have become legends in the Viking world, especially among the Danir, and he is widely admired among warriors. A few travellers seek him out to express their admiration, and it is easy to see that he loves this kind of attention. There are also a number of warrior groups who make their way here, intending to be part of any future adventures that Ragnald undertakes, since they hope for a share in the spoils. A number of the Danir hearing the success of this group have come to seek land to settle here among us, and these mercenaries are made welcome. Larger numbers of warriors suits Ragnald's ambitions; they make him stronger as the ruler with a larger army. They are among the first of many recruits for his increasing force. For the present they provide extra labour for the farms but these are not peaceful men, and will not be content with that sort of work for very long.

Many of the widows are happy to see this influx of new men, as there was a shortage of men after the Fortriu campaign. The community has adopted the air of a meeting place for marriageable men and women. Lots of carousing and flirting is common place, and many new relationships have started recently. There are likely to be a few more weddings to take place over these months, followed rapidly by new births, which will surely be a very good thing for the renewal of our community.

The dull sadness that hung over this community after our return from Fortriu has passed and been replaced by a sense of renewal. The passion of new love has infiltrated the entire group. Even Aud seems receptive to me again, after her anger towards me when I was absent as my mother died.

For the present Ragnald seems content to spend his time in domestic bliss with his wife and await the birth of his new child. It suits me extremely well as I am also enjoying my time with Aud. These hot summer days are happy times for Thora and him too, and the extended honeymoon stretches over several months.

I spend much of this period improving my iron working skills, sometimes working alone but I prefer to work with the other artisans. It is not clear that they enjoy this, as many are secretive about their expertise and guard it jealously. My standing and reputation in this group as Ragnald's counsel is, however, well established. Everyone knows that I am a close confidante of the king and few would choose to cross me, no sensible person ever does, and I learn everything I need to know even if I sometimes need to insist on being told.

Soon I have sufficient knowledge to be working completely independently and make a good living. I could live indefinitely with this new period of family bliss, and naturally Aud makes it very clear that she expects me to stay at home with her now.

Iron is used to make all manner of items from nails to swords, with every one being very valuable. A fine sword would take a week or so to make by a specialist weapon smith. I do not really have that skill but I can make a number of cooking utensils and pans. The most common tool I make is probably the knife, which has an enormous number of uses just for eating, or as a specific tool just for carving wood, but it still has to be made well whatever its purpose.

In Dyflinn all of our iron came from bog iron, which was found in small pellets in the bog and bought from the Irskrs who harvested it, but here I have to buy ore from the Anglian merchants to smelt the iron myself. This was once the only way, but now it is possible to buy the iron already smelted by them into ingots. Although more expensive this saves a great deal of very messy and time consuming work and gets the products made much more quickly. Wherever I can I also take broken or discarded iron objects and reforge them to make them into new items.

The iron working keeps me extremely fit as it is heavy work, I have to hammer every item out into the necessary shape on a rock which I use as my anvil. This is exhausting but very satisfying work. Unlike many of my fellow iron workers I do my work outdoors and this saves me from breathing in the smoke, as I hate that. Of course, it also means there are often times I cannot work in the rain, which is perhaps one of the reasons they call me a part time iron worker.

Despite their taunts I know that I am progressing well in my abilities though and, to prove it, I am making myself a new sword which is among the most difficult items to make. It must be very strong so it involves working two separate bars to intertwine each other and then reworked in the flame, heated until at least red hot and hammered until they blend into one blade. The edge then needs to be strengthened, honed and ground to a fine edge. The big danger is that if the work is not done well, then the blade might be brittle and break at the time of battle. That is what all warriors fear as it might leave them defenceless, at the moment of greatest peril. It needs to be worked at a very high heat to burn out the carbon, which would increase its fragility unless burnt off.