I sent Ebbe ahead to warn Gytha and her volva. Neither of the wounds was likely to cause death but the sooner Gytha could start to heal him the better. Ada was nursing our son by the water when we arrived. All the women stared at the young boy. He had still to awake. Gytha nodded and smiled, “Once again, Erik the Navigator, you show your wisdom. You were the only one to think of saving one of them.” I bowed. She turned to her husband, “And this, Snorri Long Fingers, is the Allfather’s way of telling you to hang up your sword.”
While her women worked on the boy she probed and poked her husband. I went to Ada and our son, “All is well?”
She smiled, “It is because you live.”
When Gytha had finished with Snorri, she kissed him. “You will never walk without the aid of a stick, my husband. You will have to become a singer of songs.”
“Then that is a skill I will have to learn as I have a voice like Butar’s deer in season!”
“Now let us see to this young skræling.” She used salted water and vinegar to clean out the wound and then she packed it with moss mixed with honey and some of her herbs. She wrapped it up and bound it with a bandage. “Your arrow was clean, Erik, but I fear he will never run. You chipped the bone. He has a wound like my husband.” She suddenly stared up at the sky and clutched her amulet. “Gytha, you are an old fool. This is the Norns. They have given my husband and this skræling the same wound. You need not sing songs husband. You can learn the words of this skræling and teach him ours. Erik, you took this thrall…”
“And I give him, gladly, to you Snorri Long Fingers.”
Even as he nodded the boy opened his eyes and pointing at my neck said something in a hushed voice. He pointed at the teeth of the bear. The Norns were spinning.
Epilogue
The fire burned all day and all night. The pall of smoke and the fact that their warriors did not return would tell the skrælings what had happened. The next day we took Benni and his family to the cemetery at the eastern end of the island. As the sun came up we buried Benni and his family. Eidel now had a foster son, Leif Bennison. The ship’s boy was now a man, he would soon be a father and he had his wife’s brother to care for. The men had died with weapons in their hands. They would be in Valhalla. Snorri, that most patient of men, tried to tame the skræling. I just felt the hairs on the back of my neck as they tingled. I was part of this. The boy would lead me to my waterfall and, perhaps, the maid I had seen. Our world would never be the same.
The End
Norse Calendar
Gormánuður October 14th - November 13th
Ýlir November 14th - December 13th
Mörsugur December 14th - January 12th
Þorri - January 13th - February 11th
Gói - February 12th - March 13th
Einmánuður - March 14th - April 13th
Harpa April 14th - May 13th
Skerpla - May 14th - June 12th
Sólmánuður - June 13th - July 12th
Heyannir - July 13th - August 14th
Tvímánuður - August 15th - September 14th
Haustmánuður September 15th-October 13th
Glossary
Afen- River Avon
Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh
Àird Rosain – Ardrossan (On the Clyde Estuary)
Balley Chashtal -Castleton (Isle of Man)
Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria also known as Din Guardi in the ancient tongue
Beck- a stream
Beinn na bhFadhla- Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides
Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl
Bondi- Viking farmers who fight
Bjarnarøy –Great Bernera (Bear Island)
Byrnie- a mail or leather shirt reaching down to the knees
Càrdainn Ros -Cardross (Argyll)
Chape- the tip of a scabbard
Cyninges-tūn – Coniston. It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)
Dùn Èideann –Edinburgh (Gaelic)
Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship) pl. drekar
Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man
Dun Holme- Durham
Dún Lethglaise - Downpatrick (Northern Ireland)
Dyrøy –Jura (Inner Hebrides)
Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin
Eoforwic- Saxon for York
Føroyar- Faroe Islands
Fey- having second sight
Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)
Fret-a sea mist
Fyrd-the Saxon levy
Gaill- Irish for foreigners
Galdramenn- wizard
Hersey- Isle of Arran
Hersir- a Viking landowner and minor noble. It ranks below a jarl
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
Hundred- Saxon military organization. (One hundred men from an area-led by a thegn or gesith)
Hwitebi - Norse for Whitby, North Yorkshire
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
Ljoðhús- Lewis
Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)
Lough- Irish lake
Lundenburh/Lundenburgh- the walled burh built around the old Roman fort
Lundenwic - London
Mast fish- two large racks on a ship designed to store the mast when not required
Midden- a place where they dumped human waste
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).
Orkneyjar-Orkney
Ran- Goddess of the sea
Roof rock- slate
Saami- the people who live in what is now Northern Norway/Sweden
Samhain- a Celtic festival of the dead between 31st October and1st November (Halloween)
Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley
Seax – short sword
Sennight- seven nights- a week
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
Skræling -Barbarian
Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade
Skíð -the Isle of Skye
Skreið- stockfish (any fish which is preserved)
Smoky Bay- Reykjavik
Snekke- a small warship
Stad- Norse settlement
Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow
Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar
Suðreyjar – Southern Hebrides (Islay)
Syllingar Insula, Syllingar- Scilly Isles
Tarn- small lake (Norse)
The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men
Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald in the Isle of Man)
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
Úlfarrston- Ulverston
Ullr-Norse God of Hunting
Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour
Veisafjǫrðr – Wexford (Ireland)
Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture
Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5)
Walhaz -Norse for the Welsh (foreigners)
Waite
- a Viking word for farm
Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship
Woden’s day- Wednesday
Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army
Wyddfa-Snowdon
Wykinglo- Wicklow (Ireland)
Wyrd- Fate
Wyrme- Norse for Dragon
Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended
Ynys Enlli- Bardsey Island
Ynys Môn-Anglesey
Historical Note
I tell lies for a living. I am a writer and this book is very a ‘what if’ sort of book. We now know that the Vikings reached further south in mainland America than we thought. Just how far is debatable. The evidence we have is from the sagas. Vinland was named after a fruit which could be brewed into wine was discovered. It does not necessarily mean grapes. King Harald Finehair did drive many Vikings west but I cannot believe that they would choose to live on a volcanic island.
I have my clan reaching Newfoundland and sailing down the coast of Nova Scotia. The island I call Bear Island is Isle Au Haut off the Maine coast. Grey Fox island and (Horse) Deer Island can also be found there. The Indigenous people, the Miꞌkmaq, inhabited the northeastern coast of America. In the summer they would migrate to the coast and in winter, when there were fewer flies, they would retreat back to the hinterland. The maps are how Erik might have mapped them. Butar’s deer are caribou and the horse deer are moose. Both were native to the region.
For the voyage, I used the records of single-handed sailings and rowing of the Atlantic.
The Vikings were a complicated people. Forget movies where they wear horned helmets and spend all their time pillaging. They did pillage and they could be cruel but they were also traders and explorers. The discovery of Iceland and after that Greenland and America has been put down to the attempt by King Harald Finehair to create a Viking Empire. True Vikings never liked kings. Rather than be taxed they sought new lands. Iceland was empty and bare but they made it their home.
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Demographics.htm is a good website with some interesting stats. In 1000 AD 75% of Vikings were under 50 and under 15s represented half! A boy was considered a fully-grown man by the time he was 16. A man could be a judge at the age of 12. Helgi and Bergr were 10 and 12 when they avenged their father by killing his killer. We cannot imagine their world.
The compass I refer to was used in the Viking times. There is a Timewatch programme made by the BBC in which Robin Knox Johnston uses the compass to sail from Norway to Iceland. He was just half a mile out when he arrived.
I used the following books for research:
Vikings- Life and Legends -British Museum
Saxon, Norman and Viking by Terence Wise (Osprey)
The Vikings (Osprey) -Ian Heath
Byzantine Armies 668-1118 (Osprey)-Ian Heath
Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Century (Osprey) -David Nicholle
The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453 (Osprey) -Stephen Turnbull
Viking Longship (Osprey) - Keith Durham
The Vikings in England Anglo-Danish Project
Anglo Saxon Thegn AD 449-1066- Mark Harrison (Osprey)
Viking Hersir- 793-1066 AD - Mark Harrison (Osprey)
Hadrian's Wall- David Breeze (English Heritage)
National Geographic- March 2017
Time Life Seafarers-The Vikings Robert Wernick
Griff Hosker
February 2019
Other books
by
Griff Hosker
If you enjoyed reading this book, then why not read another one by the author?
Ancient History
The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50 A.D. – 128 A.D.)
Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior (prequel)
Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua
Book 2 The Horse Warriors
Book 3 Invasion Caledonia
Book 4 Roman Retreat
Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch
Book 6 Druid’s Gold
Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters
Book 8 The Last Frontier
Book 9 Hero of Rome
Book 10 Roman Hawk
Book 11 Roman Treachery
Book 12 Roman Wall
Book 13 Roman Courage
The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D. - 1085 A.D.
Book 1 Housecarl
Book 2 Outlaw
Book 3 Varangian
The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)
Book 1 Saxon Dawn
Book 2 Saxon Revenge
Book 3 Saxon England
Book 4 Saxon Blood
Book 5 Saxon Slayer
Book 6 Saxon Slaughter
Book 7 Saxon Bane
Book 8 Saxon Fall: Rise of the Warlord
Book 9 Saxon Throne
Book 10 Saxon Sword
The Dragon Heart Series
Book 1 Viking Slave
Book 2 Viking Warrior
Book 3 Viking Jarl
Book 4 Viking Kingdom
Book 5 Viking Wolf
Book 6 Viking War
Book 7 Viking Sword
Book 8 Viking Wrath
Book 9 Viking Raid
Book 10 Viking Legend
Book 11 Viking Vengeance
Book 12 Viking Dragon
Book 13 Viking Treasure
Book 14 Viking Enemy
Book 15 Viking Witch
Book 16 Viking Blood
Book 17 Viking Weregeld
Book 18 Viking Storm
Book 19 Viking Warband
Book 20 Viking Shadow
Book 21 Viking Legacy
Book 22 Viking Clan
The Norman Genesis Series
Hrolf the Viking
Horseman
The Battle for a Home
Revenge of the Franks
The Land of the Northmen
Ragnvald Hrolfsson
Brothers in Blood
Lord of Rouen
Drekar in the Seine
Duke of Normandy
New World Series
Blood on the Blade
Across the Seas
The Anarchy Series England 1120-1180
English Knight
Knight of the Empress
Northern Knight
Baron of the North
Earl
King Henry’s Champion
The King is Dead
Warlord of the North
Enemy at the Gate
The Fallen Crown
Warlord's War
Kingmaker
Henry II
Crusader
The Welsh Marches
Irish War
Poisonous Plots
The Princes’ Revolt
Earl Marshal
Border Knight 1182-1300
Sword for Hire
Return of the Knight
Baron’s War
Magna Carta
Welsh Wars
Henry III
Struggle for a Crown 1360- 1485
Blood on the Crown
To Murder A King
The Throne
Modern History
The Napoleonic Horseman Series
Book 1 Chasseur a Cheval
Book 2 Napoleon’s Guard
Book 3 British Light Dragoon
Book 4 Soldier Spy
Book 5 1808: The Road to A Coruña
Waterloo
The Lucky Jack American Civil War series
Rebel Raiders
Confederate Rangers
The Road to Gettysburg
The British Ace Series
1914
1915 Fokker Scourge
1916 Angels over the Somme
1917 Eagles Fall
1918 We will remember them
From Arctic Snow to Desert Sand
Wings over Persia
Combined Operations series 1940-1945
Commando
Raider
Behind Enemy Lines
Dieppe
Toehold in Europe
Sword Beach
Breakout
The Battle for Antwerp
King Tiger
Beyond the Rhine
Korea
Other Books
Carnage at Cannes (a thriller)
Great Granny’s Ghost (Aimed at 9-14-year-old young people)
Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.