Viking Vengeance (26 page)

"Do you know who the spy is?"

He shook his head, "I was not important enough to be told."

"And the ship he sailed?"

"Only Jarl Erik met the captain.  I am sorry Jarl."

"What will you do now Bjorn Bloodaxe?  Would you come with us to my home?"

He shook his head.  "I have a family here now.  They went to Hrams-a for safety. I will return there.  I was happy there when I grew up.  I will farm."

As he limped off I said, "May the Allfather be with you."

I was glad that I had saved at least one.  As we prepared to leave Hrolf came to me, "Jarl Dragonheart I would beg to leave your service."

"You were never bound to me but I will miss you." I waved a hand around my men, "We will all miss you."

"And I will miss you but you have taught me that destiny is important.  Eystein Thorfinnson has offered me a bench on his drekar and he intends to go a-Viking.  He would be like Jarl Dragonheart."

"Then I wish you well.  The sword I gave you shall be a reminder that you will always be welcome in my home." I clasped his arm, "May the Allfather be with you."

My men all took their leave of him and I saw that he was so filled with emotion that he could barely speak.  He had been in our lives but a short time and yet he had made a great impression. The Weird Sisters had other plans for him. We headed across the island to Erik and our ship.  We were going home.  We had wrought our vengeance and our enemies were punished. 

As we headed across the seas to Úlfarrston we used just the wind.  There were many empty benches.  Only twenty warriors returned from Man. There was no hurry and we would get home when the wind allowed.  I sat at the stern with my Ulfheonar. Haaken shook his head, "I shall miss Hrolf, Jarl.  He was courageous and he never complained."

"Our threads are still bound.  There will come a time when we cross paths again.  I feel it.  Perhaps when we get home Aiden can explain it."

Haaken pointed to Olaf who lay sleeping, bathed in bandages.  "He will need to examine Olaf.  How he is not dead I do not know."

"Aye and we have a more difficult problem of our own."

"What is that Jarl?"

We must discover the viper in our nest.  We must seek out the traitor and find the enemy who spies." I shook my head. "Putting a plate in a head will be child's play compared with uncovering this."

I could see that they had not thought through Bjorn Bloodaxe's words. "Perhaps he was wrong Jarl."

"No Ulf. Many things which have gone awry are now explained. Somewhere in our land there is an enemy.  We have to unmask the Viking Traitor.  I will not sleep easy until we have done so.

Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

Alpín mac Echdach – the father of Kenneth MacAlpin, reputedly the first king of the Scots

Alt Clut- Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde

Balley Chashtal -Castleton (Isle of Man)

Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria Also know as Din Guardi in the ancient tongue

Beck- a stream

Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

Blue Sea- The Mediterranean

Bondi- Viking farmers who fight

Bourde- Bordeaux

Bjarnarøy –Great Bernera (Bear island)

Byrnie- a mail or leather shirt reaching down to the knees

Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

Caestir - Chester (old English)

Casnewydd –Newport, Wales

Cephas- Greek for Simon Peter (St. Peter)

Chape- the tip of a scabbard

Charlemagne- Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the 8
th
and beginning of the 9
th
centuries

Celchyth- Chelsea

Cherestanc- Garstang (Lancashire)

Corn Walum or Om Walum- Cornwall

Cymri- Welsh

Cymru- Wales

Cyninges-tūn – Coniston.  It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)

Dùn Èideann –Edinburgh (Gaelic)

Din Guardi- Bamburgh castle

Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

Dyrøy –Jura (Inner Hebrides)

Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

Ein-mánuðr- middle of March to the middle of April

Eoforwic- Saxon for York

Faro Bregancio- Corunna (Spain)

Ferneberga -Farnborough (Hampshire)

Fey- having second sight

Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

Fret-a sea mist

Frankia- France and part of Germany

Fyrd-the Saxon levy

Garth
- Dragon Heart

Gaill- Irish for foreigners

Galdramenn- wizard

Glaesum –amber

Gleawecastre- Gloucester

Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

Grenewic- Greenwich

Hamwic -Southampton

Haughs- small hills in Norse (As in Tarn Hows)

Heels- when a ship leans to one side under the pressure of the wind

Hel
- Queen of
Niflheim
, the Norse underworld.

Here Wic- Harwich

Hetaereiarch – Byzantine general

Hí- Iona (Gaelic)

Hjáp
- Shap- Cumbria (Norse for stone circle)

Hoggs or Hogging- when the pressure of the wind causes the stern or the bow to droop

Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 814-825

Icaunis- British river god

Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

Jarl- Norse earl or lord

Joro-goddess of the earth

kjerringa - Old Woman- the solid block in which the mast rested

Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

Kyrtle-woven top

Leathes Water- Thirlmere

Ljoðhús- Lewis

Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

Louis the Pious- King of the Franks and son of Charlemagne

Lundenwic - London

Maeresea- River Mersey

Mammceaster- Manchester

Manau/Mann – The Isle of Man(n) (Saxon)

Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

Mast fish- two large racks on a ship for the mast

Melita- Malta

Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

Miklagård - Constantinople

Nikephoros- Emperor of Byzantium 802-811

Njoror- God of the sea

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Odin
- The "All Father" God of war, also associated with wisdom, poetry, and magic (The Portesmūða -Portsmouth

Ruler of the gods).

Olissipo- Lisbon

Orkneyjar-Orkney

Penrhudd – Penrith Cumbria

Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar

Ran- Goddess of the sea

Roof rock- slate

Rinaz –The Rhine

Sabrina- Latin and Celtic for the River Severn.  Also the name of a female Celtic deity

Saami- the people who live in what is now Northern Norway/Sweden

St. Cybi- Holyhead

Syllingar Insula- Scilly Isles

Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley

Seax – short sword

Sheerstrake- the uppermost strake in the hull

Sheet- a rope fastened to the lower corner of a sail

Shroud- a rope from the masthead to the hull amidships

Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade

South Folk- Suffolk

Stad- Norse settlement

Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow

Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar

Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)

Syllingar- Scilly Isles

Tarn- small lake (Norse)

Temese- River Thames (also called the Tamese)

The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men

Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)

Thor’s day- Thursday

Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.

Thrall- slave

Tinea- Tyne

Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes

Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man

Úlfarrberg- Helvellyn

Úlfarrland- Cumbria

Úlfarr- Wolf Warrior

Úlfarrston- Ulverston

Ullr-Norse God of Hunting

Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour

Vectis- The Isle of Wight

Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5) Windlesore-Windsor

Waite- a Viking word for farm

Werham -Wareham (Dorset)

Wintan-ceastre -Winchester

Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship

Woden’s day- Wednesday

Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

Wyddfa-Snowdon

Wyrd- Fate

Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

Ynys Môn-Anglesey

Anglo Saxon London

Northumbria circa 800 AD