Viking Voices (7 page)

That Viking spirit, which will carry us through all these difficulties is strong within us, and Ragnald knows his duty is to keep the fiery motivation alive. There is no better man for that job; he has the Viking spirit in great measure, with all its virtues and all its flaws, and he shows his spirit it to all and sundry.

The morning sunshine makes us feel better and the rain has stopped for a while. We can see that we have been fortunate to arrive here as we have indeed found a very favourable site. This is a large south facing bay, which has several different beaches in a broad arc, where we can move the boats to. We can thus gain shelter from storms coming from most directions though our boats will always be vulnerable to a full storm coming directly from the south. It has good flat land for farming near to the coast and extensive woods for timber, so we could build our new town right here, and we therefore intend to do so.

Ragnald strides out to negotiate with our neighbours, as he can undertake the task himself here without any need for translators. As a Jarl, with the backing of a heavily armed force that outnumber the farmers by at least ten to one, he has a very strong negotiating hand, and he is not in the mood for small talk. It is not so much a negotiation as his rapid dictation of terms to them, but he has my advice on the need to be fair or even generous to them.

These villagers may be simple folk but they will be our neighbours for a long time and they will also have other Viking kinsmen who will look at this arrangement, and those kin will be better armed and perhaps also be very numerous. It makes sense to form a pact which emphasises co-operation and suits everyone. We already have enough enemies and too few friends.

Ragnald's terms are that the current owners will take the land to the east of the village, which has the more of the developed farm land, and just a few woods. Our men will cut down those woods straight away as we have need of the timber. This will allow them to easily develop some new land for farming, restoring the amount of land currently available to them, and enabling us to build new houses. We will be doing so right next to the existing settlements on raised land next to the bay.

This will leave us extensive lands to the west of the settlement. Although most of it is now wooded, and therefore less immediately useful, it can soon be cultivated after we clear the woods. So the main task of developing new farm land will fall on us, the newcomers, and this seems to be just to all of us. It also gives us that great source of green timber, which we need for building houses and for fuel for our fires.

It is already late in the season though and this winter we will struggle to feed ourselves. There is no possibility of any crops this year and we will need to live on our wits for some time to come. It will be difficult to feed such a large community and all of us will be hungry for much of the coming winter.

By noon the work has already started. Our axes which were once used in battle or in raiding are now being used to cut down trees. We also have just a few of the Dyflinn tradesmen still in our party and they are the most useful of all people to Ragnald now. Some of them even have saws which are suddenly much more valuable than swords or any other iron implement. The trees are felled steadily and carried over to the site where our new homes have already started to emerge, first using the dry timber that was carried with us from Môn.

The work progresses well over a week, then two weeks, and already the first outline of an enlarged village has started to appear. There will be twelve new longhouses, for our community, with some additional buildings further away for iron working. These are placed at a safe distance away since they are well known for their tendency to catch fire.

Many of the trees have been cut into planks, a long arduous task with so few saws and we are all learning new trades, especially carpentry, as the work progresses. A few are given the task of feeding us while the construction is done, and we are thriving, mostly on a diet of fish and especially shellfish which are very plentiful here. Although there are three surviving cattle brought with us from our last island home no one can imagine butchering them for meat. They are our first, and at present only farm stock, useful for pulling carts and our only means of moving the heavy timbers. It will be necessary to acquire some more, probably by raiding the lands around us later on. For now the first wattle fences will be built to retain the valuable beasts on their new pasture land.

The hard work is purposeful and good for us and therefore morale is high, as we feel very reassured by the apparent permanence of our constructions. All of the community feel Ragnald must be very certain that this is the right place for us, though I feel that there will inevitably be a challenge coming to him soon.

Unsurprisingly it is not long before other parties start to take an interest in us, the new comers. The island of Vannin already has a Danir king who has taken a little while to notice our presence but is now not best pleased by the arrival of several thousand new people who might provide him with a rival. After all, Ragnald is already well known, as is his aggression, fighting ability and ambition, and so the representatives of King Ottar soon come to see Ragnald and to hold talks. We hope and believe that this must be a good sign as they come in peace and want to talk, but we remain quite suspicious of them. We had, however, also hoped that there were prospects for a negotiated peace when the King of Gwynedd sent his ambassadors to meet Ragnald. That had not gone at all well for us in the end. So now I am once more at Ragnald's shoulder, listening to the negotiations.

The talks take many hours and then break up for a time, while we discuss the issues facing us. Ragnald has to consider onerous demands that have been made on him by Ottar the Dane, and is not at all pleased with his choices. King Ottar is prepared to let us stay but only if Ragnald pays him a huge silver tribute. This is not a happy idea for Ragnald, as he is such a proud, fierce man and hates the idea of accepting any one as his overlord. What is more the price will be very high, and Ragnald and this community seem to have so little wealth at present.

It seems that Ottar knows of Ragnald's flight from Dyflinn and has heard stories that he took large quantities of silver with him and is carrying it around in his wanderings. This is the curse of carrying that chest around with us. Many will talk about it and word of treasure spreads faster than any other gossip. Ottar believes that Ragnald is able to pay him off by dipping into the precious silver hoard. Clearly our king hates this idea with a vengeance, and I was standing close enough to hear him cursing and explaining to his personal guards that this money is sacred for him. He says that has not collected it for the benefit of himself or his family, but for the task he has sworn to undertake, that of recapturing Dyflinn from the Irskrs, and gain vengeance for the Lochlain. Therefore no part of this wealth should be spent in paying off a greedy Dane.

This leaves him with a very unpleasant choice, and he has to decide quickly. I know he is very tempted to fight and defend what he has already built here. This is confirmed when I am chosen to lead a group who are sent to go over the hills, to reconnoitre our neighbour's base, and look at what strength Ottar has at his disposal if it comes to a fight. I am delighted that Ragnald recognises me as the warrior who is both capable of and trustworthy to carry out this vital task.

I am to set off at daybreak and Aud wakes me gently with a kiss, that morning as the first light streams onto us, through the skins that are stretched over us, forming the temporary shelter where we live right now. She sends me off with a small supply of dried herring to keep me going through the day.

We have a long walk of three hours over the nearby hills, through the woods and over the mud of the valleys, but it is good to see that this is a green, fertile land with great potential, even if it is not yet extensively farmed. We have only a sketchy idea of where we are going so it is fortunate that we can soon follow the coast, in the sure knowledge that all Viking settlements are built on the coast. We are fortunate to get a dry day, but it is very overcast with grey cloud and not at all warm. The summer has already passed, so we are very pleased to be moving energetically through the countryside. It is probably also wise to move quickly so as to keep the chances of our being observed to a minimum, we are unlikely to be welcomed.

Soon we have arrived on a small steep hill from where we can overlook Ottar's stronghold on the western side of the island. He has a fortress on a small island with steep cliffs on each side, the timber palisades built around the tops of the cliffs. These cliffs make this a formidable site, a natural fortification, almost as good a natural defensive site as I can imagine. Much stronger than the one we lost in Dyflinn and nearly as large. Next to it is a small estuary which is very well sheltered from all directions by the small island which lies across the river mouth, forming a natural harbour. There are around sixty boats pulled up on the beaches around the harbour, and this suggests a community around the same size as our own, now that Ingamund and his people have left us.

It seems there is a considerable town next to the castle as well. All in all this is around the same area as the town that we lost to the Irskrs, though perhaps fewer people in it. That smaller population seems appropriate, as it has much less developed hinterland to provide farming to feed the population.

It has enough defenders to make it secure though and we, with Ingamund's group missing, are now a smaller force than before. There is no way I can see that we can succeed in attacking this site. At best we could harry it by mounting surprise raids. None of this will be the good news which Ragnald is hoping we will take back with us. His great hope was that he can hope to attack Ottar, wipe him out and thus take over his realm. That hope is clearly now unrealistic.

Perhaps we might take the castle if we could all get inside the fortress but it is certain we would lose more than half our force while scaling the cliffs alone. We have all heard the stories of the warlocks who can turn warriors into ravens so that they can fly into the fortress before turning back into warriors, but no one has yet met the warlock that can do that. When I do meet him I hope he is on our side! We will certainly need some sorcery to win this battle.

Apart from my day dreaming, the appraisal is now fully complete and I can return to make my report. Although it is not what Ragnald will want to hear it is important and essential information to allow him to make a sound judgement. Despite his aggressive nature Ragnald will make a calm, considered evaluation before he decides on which course of action to follow, and this is a good reason why we follow him rather than any of the other Jarls. We know that he will eventually choose a wise course, and his decisions will be very much made with the wider interest of the community in mind.

This time when we bring our news I tell Ragnald just the bare facts of what we have seen, and I make no recommendations, although I know the implications are clear. I am not tempted to explain that it means he cannot sensibly attack the Danir. I want him to figure it out for himself and make his own decision, and it is clear that he does understand when he immediately lets out a huge roar of anger and frustration.

We all feel that frustration. So much effort has been made in the building of our new homes, and we desperately need a safe secure place where our families can grow up in safety, but it looks likely that we will now need to leave again. It is even more frustrating since this island is entirely Viking controlled, so there is the minimum danger of attack from Irskr, Briton or Saxon. They would hesitate to attack this island; they know it would certainly be defended vigorously. Although we know that nowhere is completely safe in these dangerous times, especially on a coastal site, this place had seemed our best prospect of security.

Despite his evident commitment to the development of site on the south facing bay, and the agreement with the villagers, Ragnald has decided that he will not pay the tribute and therefore we cannot stay unless he comes up with some clever new solution. None of us, including myself, can imagine what he could dream up that might possibly work.

I discuss the situation with Aud as we lay together that night. It seems that all of the community are asking her what will happen next as, by now, they believe that she will know, as I am seen as Ragnald's principal adviser. Although she does not say this I am confident that Aud is very happy to be at the very centre of all of the gossip, with every one expecting her to know as much as I do. She is seen as the best source of information in the whole of our group, and her company is greatly sought after among all of the women.

Once I have explained our position and options to her, as I see them, she is strongly of the opinion that Ragnald should pay the tribute and allow us to stay here. Of course, she understands his desire to preserve the silver hoard in order to allow us to attack and regain Dyflinn, but she also sees both the immediate needs of our group and the long term advantages of being on Vannin, rather than further away.

In the short term my wife is right about the need to draw the best advantage from all the time and effort invested into this site. It has great promise both as an agricultural site, and a base to raid or even invade Dyflinn. If Ragnald was patient he might build up his numbers here and, in the long run, could easily become more powerful than Ottar. He will certainly need to do that anyway if we are to be powerful enough to throw the Irskr out again.

I can see her arguments and they make complete sense, but I have no intention of attempting to advise Ragnald to part with his silver. It would certainly be pushing my developing bond with him beyond its probable breaking point.

When the idea comes to Ragnald after two days of dark thought it is not so clever but absolutely characteristic of the man's aggression and courage. He will challenge Ottar to single combat, a fight to the death, with the winner taking the leadership of both of the two communities. It is a fair challenge and Ottar is honour bound, in the Viking code, to accept it. Ragnald is a younger, stronger man though, and much feared in battle, so Ottar will know that he will be in significant danger of losing his life. He could possibly nominate a champion to fight on his behalf but would look like a coward if he did that. Ragnald has already played this card in successfully challenging Ivarr the Younger and he clearly has great confidence that it will work again for him.