Viking Wrath (24 page)

I was a bird flying high above the island of
Ynys Môn. I saw, below me, a column of men sitting atop large horses. A warrior came out of the Roman fort we had destroyed. He mounted a jet black horse and the column of men headed west across the island. They all wore mail and carried an oval shield. Their helmets had a point and a feather plume. They looked to be mighty warriors. I saw no faces but the horsemen rode ever eastwards. They reached the end of the island and there was a wooden bridge. They galloped across it and the bridge disappeared. I saw that a few of the warriors had also disappeared. They turned south and rode along a road which bordered the sea. They passed a half demolished stone castle and climbed a ridge. Before them was a vast Army. From their weapons they were Saxons.

The mounted men formed a line and charged the Saxons. It was a futile charge for they were outnumbered more than ten to one but still they charged. As I circled above the battlefield I could see that they rode knee to knee. They struck the line of Saxons and swept through it. Beyond them another line of Saxons appeared and the mounted horsemen swept through them. Then I saw that their numbers were fewer. As they charged each successive line more of the mounted men fell to be butchered like animals by the Saxon horde. The horsemen relentlessly sought the Saxon leader. I could see him now, quite clearly. He had a red shield with four interlocked legs. There were just three horsemen left when, miraculously, they caught up with the Saxon and his oathsworn. The three of them plunged into the Saxons and there was a furious battle. It was a maelstrom of weapons, bodies and horses. Suddenly there were just two figures left alive; the Saxon leader and the leader of the horsemen. They fought long and hard on the top of that mountain. Suddenly the Saxon leader fell as the horseman took off his head. I swooped down and saw that the horseman was wounded. Below him the rest of the Saxons raced to get at the warrior who had killed their leader. He ran but his steps grew slower and slower. Finally he could go no further. I recognised where he was as he dropped the sword he bore into the hole which lay by his head. He put his head on the ground and then he was still. I dived down to get to him but he kept slipping further away from me. He grew fainter, as though he was in a fog and then he disappeared but I could not stop. The ground was rising up to meet me. There were jagged rocks and I would be smashed to pieces. I shouted for help as my death approached.

"Jarl Dragon Heart!"

I looked up and saw the terrified face of Karl the ships' boy.

"You were screaming and the captain worried for you."

I looked up at Erik who also looked afraid. Before me the rowers had all stopped. I found I still had the blue stones in my hands. I put them and the wolf back into the pouch, returned them to the chest and then closed the lid. As I stood I saw that we had sailed all the way around Ynys Môn and we were under the baleful glare of Wyddfa.

I smiled, "Fear not my warriors. I have just been taken back in time by the power of the stones and the Holy Mountain. I know where I come from. I know my blood. Let us return home for we have much to tell and much to celebrate. We were meant to return here. The Weird Sisters had not finished with us. This was
wyrd
!"

We never rebuilt my home. It remained a blackened line of burnt wood and graves until the forest slowly reclaimed it. Within a few years the only signs that anyone had ever lived there were the seat hut which I still used and my grave mounds. Rolf, my guards and my servants were buried alongside Erika. When the forest made the landward journey too hard I took to sailing across on a small skiff I had built. It became a place of contemplation for me. I could look down the Water and almost see Ynys Cybi and the hill fort. If I closed my eyes then I saw Cnut and heard his chants as he kept the cadence in the drekar. When I immersed myself in the Water then their spirits would swirl and surge around me creating a feeling of peace. Finally, when I sat in the sweat hut and allowed my body to be cleansed the spirits cleansed my mind and I was able to become the Jarl who watched over my people and kept their protection at the fore of his mind.

Aiden and my daughter unravelled the mystery of the wolf pendant and the blue stones. When I told them of my dreams they too took the stones in their hands and a potion which Kara made. They too dreamed. They spoke with my mother. Both of them were silent after they awoke as though they feared to speak of what they had seen. They told me that the man I had see fighting the Saxon had been my ancestor but that was not what had put fear and awe into them. They had spoken with the great wizard, they had spoken with Myrddyn. They would never tell me all that he had told them. All that Kara had said was that it was best not to know. When I pushed her she had said that it might make me a weaker warrior if I heard what he had to say.

Although I was unhappy about that I respected both of them for, from that day, their powers increased. They healed more of our people and, they began to see the future with a clarity which was truly terrifying. I had thought that I had gone to Ynys Môn purely for revenge. I had gone there to vent my wrath. I now knew I was meant to go there. The Norns had not finished with me. My story was not yet ended. I had gone berserk and lived; I had passed the test. I was Jarl Dragon Heart, the curse of the Welsh and the bane of the Saxons still.

Áed Oirdnide
–King of Tara 797

Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria

Beck- a stream

Beiti-ass -a wooden spar used to tauten sail when tacking

Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

Byrnie- a mail shirt reaching down to the knees

Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

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)

On Corn Walum- Cornwall

Cymri- Welsh

Cymru- Wales

Cynan ap Rhodri - King of Gwynedd 798-816

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

Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

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

Fey- having second sight

Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

Fret-a sea mist

Frankia- France and part of Germany

Garth
- Dragon Heart

Gaill- Irish for foreigners

Galdramenn- wizard

Ghyll- a narrow rocky cleft, normally with water running through it

Glaesum –amber

Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

Grenewic- Greenwich

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

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

Hjáp - Shap in Cumbria (Norse for Stone circle)

Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 816-825

Icaunis- British river god

Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

Jarl- Norse earl or lord

Joro-goddess of the earth

Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

Kyrtle-woven top

Leathes Water- Thirlmere

Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

Lundenwic - London

Mammceaster- Manchester

Manau – The Isle of Mann (Saxon)

Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

Maeresea- River Mersey

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

Melita- Malta

Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

Miklagård - Constantinople

Month of the wolf- January

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 Ruler of the gods).

On Corn Walum –Cornwall

Olissipo- Lisbon

Orkneyjar-Orkney

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

St. Cybi- Holyhead

Scillonia 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

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

Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5)

Waite- a Viking word for farm

Windlesore-Windsor

Woden’s day- Wednesday

Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

Wyddfa-Snowdon

Wyrd- Fate

Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

Ynys Cybi- Holy Island

Ynys Môn- Anglesey

Coniston Water

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Anglo Saxon London

Northumbria circa 800 A
D

Porthdafarc Bay

The inlet where Dragon Heart lands and the cave where they shelter

The mountain