Bran Mak Morn: The Last King (32 page)

Ships were not over-numerous upon the seas in those days, but we took every one we could over-haul and who was not too strong for us.

Phoenecian and Italian traders and merchants, other pirate ships, any ship was loot to us.

Nor were we averse to raiding inland. Many a village we looted in Alba, in Hibernia and in Britain.

There was a fierce old viking who had a skalli on the coast of Jutland. Every ship that passed that part of the coast was forced to pay toll.

Our dragon-ships swung around the out-jutting promontory where the old viking� skalli was.

Instantly a long, low dragon-ship came sweeping around the point of land and swept toward us.

Our two ships closed in on it and after a short skirmish at long range, the dragon-ship turned and made for the small bay from which it had come. We could see the viking� skalli upon the highest part of the promontory.

�fter them!�thundered Tostig, �y Odin and Thor! We will sack the skalli!� �lowly, Tostig, slowly.�quoth old Rane, �erchance it is some trap. Erling is as cunning as a fox and �is well known that he posseses five dragon-ships. We have seen only one.� But Tostig was carried away by the lust of battle and the prospect of loot.

� care not if old Erling hath an hundred dragon-ships crowded with men!�he shouted, �teer for the bay, helmsman!� Into the bay we drove, and there upon the beach where they had dragged her, lay the dragon-ship. But she was deserted.

�hen we have looted and burned the skalli,�quoth Tostig, �e will take the ship with us for she is a sound ship and a handsome one.� �ut where are her men?�asked Sigurd, �nd where are the other ships of Erling?� �his� ship� men have doubtless gone to defend the skalli.�answered old Rane, �s to the other ships, I have no idea.� �hey have fled.�Tostig answered, �hey have all fled for they learned that Tostig the Mighty was coming to loot the skalli and the village.� And just so many people fled at the coming of Tostig.

Little use it is to relate that battle at Erling� skalli. We quit our ships and charged up the slope, yelling our war-cries.

The warriors and house-carls in the skalli fought boldly but we out-numbered them and we swarmed over the skalli-walls and in a short time our enemies were prisoners or had fled and a number were slain.

In the great hall of the skalli old Erling confronted us.

He had been disarmed and his hall was thronged with the armed vikings of Tostig the Mighty, but he glared at us defiantly and with haughty pride.

�ut that my other four dragon-ships and most of my men were off on a raiding cruise, our places would be changed, Tostig.�said Erling.

�o, ho!�laughed Tostig, gustily, �igh words for a captive! Had all your ships and all your vikings been here, I would have conquered just the same! I am Tostig, Tostig the Mighty and I am unconquerable!� Erling glared at him with hate. Just at that moment a girl, Erling� daughter, rushed into the room, pursued by some of Tostig� men. She ran to her father and clung to him.

Tostig gazed at her.

� fair girl.�he said, � will take her.� �ou would not!�Erling cried.

�hy not?�queried Tostig, � am Tostig the Mighty. What I wish, I take.�Then craftily, �hat will you pay for your freedom and the girl�?� Erling was beaten and he knew. He spoke an order to a house-carl and presently slaves came into the hall, bearing hampers and armloads of treasure.

They dumped it all down on the long table. There were gold ornaments, bracelets, armlets, rings, there were piles of golden and silver coins, there costly weapons and armor and rich clothing.

�t is the wealth I have gathered from years of raiding and looting.�Erling said, �ake it all and depart.� �ye, we will do so.�said Tostig coolly, �t is a fair dower for your girl, Erling.� The girl cried out and clung to her father. She was not like most of of our Norse women, for she was small and slender with a timid air and large, pleading violet eyes.

Erling glared at Tostig. �illian!�he exclaimed, �ou will take all this great treasure and break your vow? You are forsworn!� �ay,�Tostig said coolly, � took no vow and you shall go free, Erling.� And at that moment Sigurd dashed into the skalli.

�way, away!�he shouted, �he ships of Erling are upon us! To sea!� Instantly all was confusion. Tostig� vikings rushed toward the door of the skalli, releasing the prisoners and snatching at whatever loot was handiest. Erling� vikiings and house-carles fell upon the men of Tostig with shouts and war-cries, seeking to snatch weapons.

I had been edging toward the table where the loot was and I happened to be nearest to it. The house-carles leaped like tigers on Tostig and Erling caught up the girl and retreated toward the rear of the skalli.

�akon!�bellowed Tostig, scattering his assailants right and left with sweeps of his great sword, �eize the girl and bear her away!� �enris seize the girl and you also!�I yelled, springing to the table. Erling, backing away, swung the girl behind him, shouting for his men to rally about him. I paid no attention to him. I had no time for girls when loot was to be had. I snatched up a hamper filled with loot and fled for the door of the skalli.

Erling� vikings sought to seize me and struck at me with swords and spears, but I ducked and side-stepped and avoided every blow. Out of the skalli door I leaped, and fled down the slope toward our galleys with the rest of Tostig� vikings, Tostig among them.

For we could plainly see four long, low galleys sweeping in from the sea and outnumbered as we were, we only wished to get aboard our galleys and flee to the sea. Not even Tostig cared to stay and fight against such odds. The galleys tried to hem us in the bay, but we made it out into the open sea. For several leagues they followed us, but finally turned and sailed back to Erling� bay.

All of Tostig� vikings were in an ugly humor, Tostig no less. For vikings were not used to running from enemies and there was fighting and fleeing and no loot. I smiled as I watched the vikings.

�o loot.�said Holgar, angrily, �ot a trinket, not a coin.� �e might have had plunder by boat-fulls had not Tostig tried to seize the girl.�Einar added.

That was the talk I was pleased to hear. I had hidden my hamper of loot under some furs. Now I lifted it and bore it to the middle of the deck. All the vikings watched me, perplexed.

�ere are some few trinkets.�I said, �ad I obeyed Tostig� order and carried off the girl, we should not have this now.� I took from the hamper a golden-hilted dagger in a golden sheath and a handful of bracelets and rings.

�ivide the rest amongst yourselves.�I said, with a wave of my hand toward the hamper.

�y Thor!�swore Lodbrog with amazement, �uch generosity I have not met with for long! Unless my eyes belie me, there is in that hamper a silver sword-sheath I would fain possess.� I watched them, a slight smile on my face, as with many a hearty oath, they divided the loot. Their respect and esteem for me was going forward by leaps and bounds, as I intended it should.

Then came old Rane, to announce that Tostig commanded me before him at once. I went forward to the quarter-deck, where Tostig was.

Tostig was in a fine rage, cursing all Jutes in general and Erling in particular.

He glared at me furiously, his hand playing with his sword-hilt.

� ordered you to seize the girl and bear her away.�he said, furiously, �ou disobeyed my command.� �hat I might bear away some of Erling� plunder and men should not say the raid was for naught and that we fled empty-handed.� �hat care I?�he thundered, �our place is to obey.�And he sent his fist with all his power against my face. I caught the blow on an up-flung arm but the force was enough to knock me from my feet and send me rolling along the deck.

From the vikings came a murmur of dissaproval.

Half-stunned, I got to my feet. I turned to the vikings.

�ou see,�I said, �ow Tostig deals with those who disobey his commands. By seizeing the loot for all of us, instead of the girl, I went against Tostig� orders. Now ye know that Tostig must be obeyed.� Thus I spoke craftily, and Tostig glared at me, not sure whether to smite me down or not. Then he could see, that though they said nothing, the vikings were clearly on my side. I believed I could have started a mutiny there and then but such was not my intention. Tostig� eyes blazed and he stepped forward, his fingers closing around the hilt of his sword.

But before he could speak I skillfully turned aside whatever he might say, by seeming to acknowledge his supremacy.

�ee that you obey Tostig� commands in all things.�I said, still adressing the vikings, � did wrong in not seizing the girl for Tostig. Knowing that we all would share in the loot, I took it. But Tostig is our chieftain and it is for him to say whether or not we shall take plunder. Why should I disobey Tostig and take loot for ourselves when he commands me to seize a woman for Tostig? With all submission to you, Tostig.�I added humbly and walked away, leaving Tostig glaring after me uncertainly, and the vikings with puzzled looks on their face. I smiled to myself. Oh, I was crafty, I, Hakon the Norseman.

Tostig and the vikings were puzzled. Craft meant little to them. All save one. I saw Sigurd watching me and a faint smile was on his lips. No word passed between us but glances of understanding.

The hamper of loot had been a large one and filled to the brim with much costly plunder. I had scarcely managed to carry it, and there was not a viking on the ship that did not recieve his share.

Unseen myself, I heard two of the vikings discussing the loot and myself.

�ostig did wrong in smiting Hakon.�quoth Erik, �ad it not been for Hakon, we should have come away from Erling� skalli empty-handed.� �ut if Hakon had carried off Erling� daughter, as Tostig ordered,�argued Garulf, �e might have had all of Erling� wealth as ransom.� Erik laughed scornfully, �hink you Tostig would have given her up for ransom? Besides if Hakon had carried her off, Erling would have followed us with his five dragon-ships and slain us all. No, Hakon did as he should have done.� �oubtless you are right.�agreed Garulf.

Cunningly, without speaking against Tostig and giving him an excuse to slay me, craftily, without drawing suspicion of any sort to myself, I turned the vikings against Tostig, against his arrogance, his over-bearing ways, his cruelty. Many of them hated Tostig anyway, so it was not such a difficult matter. For Tostig was arrogant and selfish and cruel, ruling with a hand of iron.

Ragnar� ship, that had become separated from Tostig� ship in the flight from Erling� bay, met us again.

The two ships swept along-side and the vikings shouted to each other.

�hat loot have ye?�Holgar yelled sarcastically. The answer was a torrent of curses, directed mostly at Erling and his Jutes.

The men on Tostig� ship waved their plunder and shouted taunts.

�ou have no man like Hakon on your ship!�shouted Lodbrog, �e alone had the swiftness and wit to bring away any loot.� Later when Ragnar came aboard the �raken�as Tostig� dragon-ship was called, and was told, by Tostig with many curses, of my feat, the viking chief looked at me appraisingly. I was appraising him likewise. Ragnar was not so famed in battle as Tostig, yet he was close behind the chieftain in fame and he was shrewder and more skilled in council. I decided I could use Ragnar.

�e will sail for Bretland.�said Tostig, �here should be much plunder along the coast.� So for Bretland we sailed. Tostig scorned to hug the coast and we sailed straight out across the sea.

Not far off the coasts of Orkneyar, the Orkney islands, we sighted two dragon-ships. They tacked to meet us and soon we saw that they were Angles, the vikings of Gathlaff who was as fierce and cruel a chieftain as Tostig. There was little friendship between Norseman and Angle and and the vikings joined battle instantly. Straight for Gathlaff� dragon-ship drove the �raken� hurled through the water by long oars that bended in the rowers�hands as they drove the ship forward, the vikings crowding the rails of all the ships, brandishing their weapons and yelling savage war-cries. Tostig stood in the bows of the �raken� his long, yellow beard streaming down over his corselet, his voice booming battle-cries and curses, wild and gusty as the sea-winds, his great sword glittering in his hand.

The ships struck with a crash and in an instant were fastened together with swift-thrown grappling irons and the ship-rails were crowded with battling men, and was a din of clashing swords and bucklers as each crew sought to board the other ship. A swift glance cast over my shoulder showed the other Angle ship and Ragnar� ship, grappled together in the same manner.

For awhile the struggle on the ships-rail was undecided and then, with a berserk shout, Tostig cleared a space with a terrific sweep of his sword and leaped over the rails onto the the deck of the Angle ship.

The Angles wavered for a moment and then gave back a few steps before a determined rush of the Norsemen and some score of us managed to clamber over the rail and join Tostig on the deck.

In an instant the whirlwind of battle shifted from the ships-rails to deck of the Angle� ship.

The deck was a swirling sea of glittering swords and battling vikings. Tostig and Gathlaff were striving to come near each other and their men were seeking to aid them, but the battle-press was too great.

A man could scarce find room to swing a sword and spears had been discarded as useless. It was the kind of hand-to-hand fighting I liked best. I was not so tall or so large as most of the men, and I fought crouching low, depending mostly upon stabbing and thrusting, my shield held above my head and shoulders. Most vikings preferred to stand erect and swing their long swords with all their power and with full reach, so such close fighting encumbered most of them.

A long sword crashed down upon my upraised shield, bearing me to the deck. The wielder of the sword was Gathlaff. I sprang from the deck, stabbing as I leaped, but my sword was turned aside by the Angle� shield and in turn I side-stepped his sword as it swished down.

Then I leaped in and my sword gashed Gathlaff� arm as he struck it aside. In another instant the battle had swirled away, separating the Angle and I. The battle raged fiercely on the quarter-deck.