A Viking Moon Read online

Sarah, Leif and Hakon followed the party of captive children in silence. Leif had quickly identified an animal trail that ran parallel to the path. Sarah was especially grateful as she had not yet mastered the art of moving silently and on more than one occasion was certain she had brought the wrath of the berserker down on them. From the way the boys kept looking at her it was obvious that they had made a conscious effort to find the trail.

  Whatever their motives, she was grateful and the animal trail had made the going a lot easier. Perhaps I should join the scouts when she got home and learn all this boy stuff. Do they take girls? Being deep in thought Sarah failed to notice that Hakon and Leif had stopped moving until her face tried to make a dent in Leif’s back.

  “Sorry” mumbled Sarah rubbing her nose.

  Leif hastily put a hand over Sarah’s mouth and glared at her. Sarah glared back pushing Leif’s hand away. With hands on hips and trying to look indignant Sarah moved quietly past Leif to look where Hakon was pointing. The group of children had arrived at a junction where the path that they had been on now joined a main road of sorts.

  Looking around Sarah realised that they had skirted past the spot where they had landed last night and were a bit further around the bay. It seemed that they were indeed heading towards the harbour that they had seen last night.

  The warrior they had taken to calling ‘snake arms’ stopped to point out the grisly remains of what was once a person. It hung from a tree which had once stood proud and green by the side of the road it’s dead grey branches now echoing the corpse hanging from them. They were close enough to hear what ‘snake arms’ was saying.

  “Pay attention you runts! This man was a slave in life but he disobeyed and tried to run away, now he is food for the ravens. Where you are going there are punishments worse than death. Remember this and you might live longer than most slaves. Now stop gawping and get a move on. You lot of snivelling brats have a date with the slave block and I have a date with a large sum of silver.” ‘Snake arms’ laughed and turned his back on the body swaying in the breeze.

  Sarah was really angry. Tormenting the children like that was not nice. She made a mental note that if she ever got the chance she would happily give the man a taste of his own medicine. However, she did have the satisfaction of knowing that not one of the children was actually snivelling and that they were, in fact, putting on their best brave faces. Even more astonishing was hearing Rolf pipe up and ask;

  “Excuse me, My Lord,” only a hint of sarcasm present in his voice, “but could you tell me how long the body has been hanging here?”

  Snake arms turned with a look of amazement at the small boy standing before him, not only did he not sound frightened but he actually had asked a question. With eyebrows narrowed, expecting a trick, he slowly replied;

  “Seven nights”.

  “That’s very interesting, the body has rotted quite quickly, do you do anything to the body before hanging it?” asked Rolf, smiling pleasantly as if he was having an everyday conversation with one of his brothers. The other children sniggered and ‘snake arms’ realising that Rolf was trying to make a fool of him took two quick strides towards him striking him hard across the head with the palm of his hand. Rolf crumpled to the ground, the other children giggles vanished immediately as they rushed to his aid.

  It had not taken any of Sarah’s special gifts to know that the little exchange would not end well for Rolf and even before the man had struck him she had a restraining hand on both Leif and Hakon. Both boys had started to move to their younger brother’s aid but common sense and Sarah frantically pulling them back made them stop.

  “Get up! Move! No more talk!” The voice of the berserker brought everything back into focus and the children, now quiet once more, were herded along the road. After waiting awhile Hakon and Leif made to follow but Sarah stopped them once more.

  “Let’s wait a bit longer, if we keep following them like this we are bound to be spotted eventually. Besides, we know where they are heading,” she said pointing to the large settlement on the opposite side of the bay.

  “Could we not go and get the boat and row there? Then at least the boat would be within easy reach when we rescue the children.”

  Both boys nodded their agreement as they crouched behind a tree, waiting until they were sure it was safe for them to come out of their hiding place.

  Later, as they were rowing across the bay towards the larger settlement that they had seen the day before, Sarah could see that the harbour was a busy one. There were numerous boats of many shapes and sizes hauled up onto the beach, as well as a number of partly built craft. A long jetty jutted out into deeper water and tied up to it were several larger vessels which Sarah could only guess were the long distance trading vessels she had heard about.

  To the rear of the beach were numerous buildings, some large, some small but all aligned along the beach with a second row of buildings behind them. She had no idea what the buildings were for but could hazard a guess that the ones with smoke seeping out of the roof were homes and the rest were workshops and storage sheds of varying kinds.

  As they got closer Sarah suggested that they row off towards the seaward end of the bay as she could see several craft similar to theirs pulled up onto the beach. Leif smiled at Sarah.

  “What?” said Sarah.

  “Still determined to rescue ALL the children, aren’t we?” said Leif.

  Sarah shook her head, “I have no idea what you going on about. Just thought we should make an effort at blending in, our boat would stand out less if it was beached with other similar ones.” This was of course the main reason but it had also occurred to Sarah that another similar vessel would be ideal to help carry the children that they couldn’t fit on theirs. Not that she would admit it, of course.

  Although there had been some curious stares when they landed they were not challenged and it seemed to Sarah that the harbour settlement was quite used to visitors. On closer inspection the village consisted of two rows of predominantly wooden buildings with a main street running between them. The buildings in the middle section all faced inwards to the street whilst the buildings towards either end of the settlement faced the bay. It was these that looked like warehouses, some had large doors and on closer inspection she found they were used to house boats that were under repair or being built.

  Sounds of hammering and sawing reached Sarah’s ears, as did all the usual sounds of village life that she had become used to. Although there were differences there was also much that was the same as Hakon and Leif’s home.

  “Well we can’t stand here staring all day, we’ll attract attention” said Sarah walking off down the main street (that it was the only street seemed totally irrelevant) as if she had reason for being here. Hakon and Leif once more found themselves dutifully following behind and it had occurred to Hakon that at some point Sarah had taken the lead but if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t that bothered, he should have been and if anyone was to ask he would have scowled and made complaining noises, but really, he wasn’t bothered.

  “Where are we going?” piped up Leif.

  “Don’t know but I figure the children will come in from the far end, so…” began Sarah.

  “We need to find somewhere to keep watch and see where ‘snake arms’ takes them” finished Leif.

  “Precisely”

  Walking down the street, the trio found their noses assailed by the most delicious smells. Given that they had been living on a diet of dried berries and hard oat cakes for the last couple of days, it was not surprising that they found themselves drawn to the house from where those tantalising aromas were coming. As they drew closer, a woman stepped out of the door. Frowning she stared at them.

  “What do you lot want? Standing there like simpletons. Off with ya!” she said waving her arms.

  Without thinking Sarah said, “Sorry, we’re very hungry and whatever it is you’re cooking smells heavenly”. The woman
stood with her hands on her hips, her head cocked to one side.

  “Hungry are ya? Ah well, you’ve come to the right place. You can have some of the stew I have cooking and a loaf between ya. But it’ll cost ya, nothing is free in this world. Go sit on that bench over there and I’ll have the girl bring it to you,” the woman turned to go back into the house but Sarah quickly put a hand on her arm.

  “Please, how much? We don’t have any coin,” said Sarah her stomach growling loudly.

  The woman frowned as she looked down at the hand on her arm, “Well, that arm ring should be sufficient payment for the three of ya, I’ll even throw in a jug of mead, watered down of course,” she said sternly.

  Sarah looked at the boys - the arm ring had been a gift from their mother. A nod from Hakon was all Sarah needed, she handed over the arm ring and the trio went and sat on the bench waiting hungrily for their first substantial meal in days. Once the stew arrived they fell upon it with gusto, all talk suspended until their bellies were full.

  “Now I feel that I could face an army and win – it is very hard to remain positive on an empty stomach!” said Sarah, rubbing her belly in appreciation. Hakon and Leif burst out laughing, their troubles momentarily forgotten.

  Chapter Fifteen