Viking Voices (4 page)

You were young and naive before today's battle, unaffected by my traumas and proud to be a citizen of the town of Dyflinn, the strongest enclave of our Norse people, alone here in the midst of all the foreigners. You thought it a strong, well-defended place, with that wooden fence built on an earth bank that surrounded the town. Where is it now? It was never as impenetrable as you thought in your youthful foolishness, you were happy in your blindness to the perils that were all around us.

You are cursed now as I was, you will never have that confidence again, you are doomed now to inherit my nightmares and wake up in the night screaming and suffering from the same shakes and sweats that I had. There is nothing I can do to spare you that, I was never free of these terrors. All the power that we thought we had was just an illusion.

Right now all the efforts of many generations lie in ruins! The town that we valued and thought invincible is shattered. All the thought and planning that went into building the very many rectangular houses built in a regular pattern along straight streets, where people come in peace to trade for slaves and exchange goods, are all in ruins. The Irskr have their revenge for the decades of misery that we have subjected them too. It looks like the gods have taken their side against us and paid us back for the great evil we brought to this country.

It was through that cursed trade in slaves that we got all the goods that we could ever need or want. It enhanced our lives greatly, and we were the richest and strongest people in this land. It was the riches from this trade in misery that brought our people here, and that same trade sowed the seeds of our doom. Although we have held this turf proudly for several generations we are far from our own native land and our own people. Even in the old country the Norse do not want us anymore, and they would certainly never give up any of their land to us. So this is the only country I have ever known. Although it was my only home it was always going to deliver us into the hands of our enemies.

There was no way that the foreigners could have just stood by, generation after generation as we plundered their youth. We have been using their children as a crop to be reaped as each of them reached their teen years. No people would take this forever, and neither did the Irskr. Eventually they had to rise up and wipe us off their land, and now that time has come.

I died fighting with a sword held in my hand but I have not seen any of the Valkyrie yet. They must be here soon to carry me to my place in Valhalla. I know I have damn well earned it.”

With that the hollow voice ceases and the grey man with the dead eyes turns his back on me without a word of farewell or a backward glance and walks into the mist, his bitterness shown and his message of doom delivered.

He is no longer alone, as there seem to be other figures walking in the shadows which he is approaching. I can see a group of young women are waving him forwards towards them and he goes together with them, disappearing with them into the darkness. I hope he is going to Valhalla now, to live in happiness feasting with Odin and Thor until the day of Ragnarok when he will be needed to fight again, although it is already written that the giants will destroy them all and the world with them.

That is the last I ever saw of him and I awake suddenly. I am shouting in fear to Aud to come and help me, I am shaking and covered in sweat. Of course, she is there immediately to help me and I can see that she is very frightened by my fear.

I must look truly frightful as well as truly frightened.

As the grey light of the new morning breaks we can see a fleet of around 50 boats sailing away to the north carrying Sihtric and Guthfrith and their followers away. They have left at the very first chance, no doubt feeling insecure and very vulnerable as they are a minority in a hostile situation. We have perhaps around 80 boats left to us, still a large number and perhaps more than we need for our reduced number. They will be difficult to crew after all our losses, but no Viking will ever abandon a longboat if it can possibly be taken with him. We are all sailors at heart; it is woven into our souls and every part of our culture and nothing is more precious than a longboat.

The first business that Ragnald has been left to settle is the fate of the traders who are seeking to return to Dyflinn. He will allow them to exercise their choice as promised, though he tries hard to persuade them to stay with us, and he is especially keen to retain the iron workers as he will constantly need new swords and other arms. He even succeeds in keeping one or two by promising to keep them from the fighting and allowing them some better conditions when we set up our new settlement. What those better conditions will be is not yet clear, but in the short term it clearly means some extra meat, which is very welcome to them.

Those tradesmen and their families who cannot be persuaded to stay with us are not allowed to take any boats back to Dyflinn. They are just taken to the shore nearby, with no food, no provisions and no weapons, and are told to walk back to Dyflinn and take their chances with the foreigners. It is quite possible, even likely, that they will all be slaughtered but they have made their choice and must live with it. They all appear content to do so.

We who remain know that we cannot linger much longer on this island as the Irskrs will soon know where we are and how weakened and depleted we are. They will also know that as we are burning with anger and seeking vengeance, we will always represent a danger to them while we survive, so they will be here to attack us before long. It is a small surprise that they are not here already to besiege us.

It is time to leave this country and look for a safer new home elsewhere, but we will have to return some day in a mighty force, as we are all now pledged to take back our town. It is a pledge we all intend to fulfil, or die in the attempt.

Our fleet, a mixture of the knarr trader boats and drakken fighting boats, carries us east from Dalkey Island in a long, weary and very cold voyage across the narrow sea. We move rather slowly, as we have to travel at the pace of the slowest boat, and can hardly afford to deplete our little community any further. It would have taken even longer if we had not benefitted from a following wind that allowed us to sail all the way. No man ever had to use an oar until the very last stretch that took us into the bay where we have now landed.

That gives me the ability to lie in the bilges of the boat, free from the need to row, and it is comforting. It has left me free to stay close to the little that is left of my family: Aud, my mother and my mother-in-law. We have all been in great distress over the loss of our family members and are deeply consumed by our grief. It is rare that we Scandinavians show our grief but today we are all continuously in tears at this situation.

I try to do what I can to console them, but I am not strong enough and I need consoling myself. I will greatly miss my own father and brother, and am conscious of having lost the opportunity to get to know Aud's father. I spend a lot of that voyage weeping and lying in my wife's arms taking comfort there, drawing on her superior mental strength.

My mother Edda is also an old woman of around forty, and she has acquired a great deal of wisdom through her many years. She is still a very competent gardener and animal keeper and so much respected here. Her expertise has grown and she is very often consulted by many of the community in how best to breed animals. She is often involved in supervising births and in looking at illnesses and diseases in the cattle, pigs and sheep. She has developed a range of herbal recipes which benefit the health of the beasts, and knows how to vary their diet so as to fatten them up before slaughter.

Having set off in the middle of the day we arrive in the middle of the night, which is exactly how we want it for reasons of security. No one is likely to observe our arrival at that time, as both the darkness and the cliffs will shield us from prying view and we are therefore safe from any immediate attack. We will quickly need to search out what people, if any, there are around us here. We now have the sea between us and the Irskrs, but there will be other foreigners here who will also know of the Vikings, since our people will have raided here often in the past. That experience means they will certainly not be pleased to have our company, and we are very conscious of the dangers we face from them. There is some safety in our numbers though and we all carry weapons, so only an army would take us on.

We passed by the large island in the gathering darkness, an island which we had been approaching for some hours. It first appeared in the afternoon as a small peak on the eastern horizon and slowly grew throughout the afternoon. Then as it grew closer eventually it showed some lower land to the north as well. It always seemed to be getting closer, but very slowly, and it took many hours before we finally arrived. Perhaps it is an island or perhaps it is just a peninsula, we have no way to know, and right now none of us care. We arrive exhausted and in almost total darkness onto a pebbly beach on the north shore of a rocky bay surrounded by cliffs. Only the moon gives us a little light to see where we are, and that is only an occasional light as it is often covered by cloud. It is quite a small bay for so many boats and every pebble of that beach and the next bay as well, seems to have a Viking boat hauled high up onto it, every one competing for that part of the beach which is likely to lie above the level of the next tide.

Although we have no shelter we fall onto the stony ground wrapped in pelts and hides and attempt to fall asleep. Some sleep easily and deeply because of their exhaustion, but many others are awake long into the night. They may be conscious of their discomfort or are still troubled by the unhappy recollections and the thoughts of their grief or fear. I sleep very badly again, troubled by the terrible dreams that still haunt me with scenes of the battle of Dyflinn.

Early in the morning Ragnald sends out a large group of well-armed warriors to seek food, and to reconnoitre the hinterland around us. That means raiding nearby farms and eliminating any people that live there so they will not attack us in retaliation, or raise the alarm among any others. This place can be a refuge for us if no one knows we are here, at least for a time, and we need a safe refuge for all of our people more than anything else. Any of the local peasants we come across today are unlucky, as Ragnald is in no mood for mercy. They are all despatched quickly, their throats cut with no ceremony, and all the bodies of any men, women and children encountered are thrown into the nearest ditch.

I have stayed behind with another group of men who are seeking out timber to build some basic shelters, and to light fires. There is often a light rain falling, and so we are again always cold and wet. Shelter and a fire are as vital to us as food, and all are needed quickly.

After a few hours the raiders come back with five cattle. We immediately slaughter the bull and start a large fire to roast his whole carcass. A few hours later there is sufficient meat for the whole community and there will be still more for tomorrow and a few days. We have found our respite, at least temporarily, but we are still an unhappy group of refugees and will need to understand our position better; especially we will need to understand both the attitude and the capability of our new neighbours, before we commit much effort to building more permanent structures.

Ragnald is naturally impatient to make progress and he has already decided the families are safe enough here for the short term. Although he leaves most of the men to protect them he will take a group of four boats to reconnoitre the island, carry out a raid, take plunder, especially food and perhaps some slaves. I am delighted to be among the group he has chosen for the raid as I want to be known as a capable and courageous warrior and am already concerned that my display of grief has been too public for my own good. Among this group it carries a lot of prestige to be recognised as a warrior, even more to be part of the king's inner circle. It is time to demonstrate that my tears are over and that I am still a man to be feared in a fight.

The four boats are launched from the beach and, as we set off, we find ourselves immediately in a very fast flowing tidal stream which takes us rapidly eastwards around the island. The tide is strong and fast, moving like a living creature here; it feels like a collection of serpents are squirming and wriggling under the keel of the boat. Tugging us one way, then the other but always producing a powerful and strange fluent motion under us, a little frightening. I half expect a serpent's head to appear from under the sea and to consume us all. It is all too apparent that we are not fully in control of the boat, which is in the grip of another force. The wind is again at our back too, so we have every element moving us forward and it is exhilarating to travel so fast now we have raised the sails. The great woollen sails swell before the breeze and we can hear the hemp rigging creaking as it takes the strain. For the first time since we left Dyflinn life seems worth living. The sun has even come out at last and is shining on us!

Soon we reach a headland where the coastline turns south, and the cliffs then become lower. As we turn south to follow the coast the tide slackens and the wind now goes across our track and although we can still sail it is at a slower rate. Although the pace is reduced we are still moving well, and are very content with our progress.

We soon reach a very large bay full of red sand stretching out to the west of us, lit for a moment by a shaft of sunshine. We can see the sand close in is very shallow and there will be sand banks, or even rocks there. It therefore makes sense to stay further out to sea, where the boat will be safer. The tide is now starting to turn against us though. If that had been the sole factor we would have been better to be closer in where the adverse current would flow more slowly against us.

On the southern shore of the bay there are high cliffs and we can see smoke rising from their tops indicating the position of a settlement, a nice target it seems. There are clearly fires there, perhaps there are many fires, suggesting a large settlement, and that offers us the prospect of a lot of plunder. As we draw closer we take down the sail, since we know that it may be difficult to see the boat from the shore unless the sail is up. If we row it's likely that they will not see us until we are quite close inshore. If we wait until dusk or even dark it's very unlikely that they will ever see us, and then many will die in their sleep, perhaps never becoming aware of their danger.

Such people obviously get very few visitors, and probably none before who have arrived silently and unobserved from the sea with hostile intentions, so they rarely keep a guard and our arrival will therefore be a very unhappy surprise for them. We all agree that if these foreigners are so foolish they do not deserve to keep their lives and possessions, and we will be happy to give them Thor's verdict on their foolish husbandry. It is any way their fate, as pre-written by the Norn's, the witches who determine the fate of all living creatures.

I have always been fascinated by Thor, the warrior's god, and like most warriors I carry a small amulet of his hammer tied onto a piece of calf skin around my neck. I know that I must take care to placate Thor, the most fickle and perverse of the gods. He may turn against you at any moment even when you need him most, in the midst of battle. Some day he is certain to betray my trust and when that happens I will surely die a sudden and bloody death. I hope that I will have hold of my sword when it happens so that the Valkyrie, the beautiful warrior maidens who find the souls of the bravest warriors who die in battle, might carry me off to sit beside Woden in the hall of heroes at Valhalla.

It's not great fun waiting out at sea. Even in only a moderate swell the waves are rolling us continuously and we feel it a great deal more now we have stopped rowing. We intend to stay motionless so as to await nightfall but there is constant motion. The cold grey water rises and falls endlessly, sometimes higher and sometimes spraying foam across us. Although we are on the leeward side of the island we are getting little shelter from the breeze because we must stay far enough away from the shore to preserve the element of surprise. We can help to steady things by rowing sufficiently to keep the prow facing into the swell, but it's still cold and the rain falls slowly. It steadily drenches us despite the furs that we all wear.

These are the drakken boats, long and narrow with little keel, good to row but sometimes difficult to sail, especially towards the wind. They are fast and able to reach into very shallow waters, and so they are ideal boats for raiding, but evidently a little unstable now they are completely stopped as they have so little keel. Ragnald calls the four boats together and we tie them to each other to form a raft. It's a good call from our leader, who is a skilled sailor, as now the movement in the sea becomes a lot easier.

There is little to eat or drink while we wait. Perhaps we can find a few pieces of dried fish to chew, and if we are lucky there might be a little water left from the voyage, though it is a now few days old and tastes very leathery like the flask that contains it. We all know that if we carry out the raid well though, there will be rich pickings and much meat to eat and good things to drink before we leave. No one comments on the discomfort now, it's not the warrior way, but we all thinking the same thoughts. We are impatient for the time to pass so we can get ashore and carry out our raid.

I pass the time thinking of Aud and how happy she makes me feel when we are together. It's cold comfort as we are not together now, and I feel miserable to be here without her. I tell myself that I must be a good warrior and be sure to bring back great plunder to assist our family. My first experience of battle has done little to encourage me; indeed it has filled me with dread. I have to put these thoughts aside as we ride in the boat.