A Sea Queen's Sailing by Charles Whistler

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Hakon watched them go gravely, and then turned to Bertric and
greeted him as an old and most welcome friend, and so Bertric made
me known, and I also was well greeted. Then Hakon turned to
Asbiorn, who stood by, watching all this quietly.

"Who is this prisoner of yours, Malcolm?" he asked. "You have not
taken his sword from him, as I see."

"He is Asbiorn Heidreksson, King Hakon," I answered. "I cannot call
him a prisoner, for I owe my own life to him, and freedom also. He
saved me from his father's men."

"And let you go thereafter. I see," answered Hakon.

"Do you know aught of this Viking, Earl Osric?"

This was the chief to whom Hakon had spoken before the boat was run
down. He had told the young king that which had led him to crush
her as if her crew were vermin, and wondered to see us save one of
them.

"I have heard much of Heidrek, seeing that I am a Northumbrian," he
said. "The track of that ruffian lies black on our coasts; but I
have not heard of his son. We have naught against his name, at
least."

Then said Bertric: "I sailed as a thrall with yon ships for six
months or more, and have naught against Asbiorn here. He is the
only one of all the crew who follow Heidrek of whom I could say as
much."

"Faith!" said Asbiorn, with a grave face, "it is somewhat to have
no sort of character at all, as it seems."

Hakon looked at him and laughed a little.

"Take service with me and make a good name for yourself," he said.
"It is a pity to see a good warrior who will do a kindly turn to a
captive naught but a wolf's-head Viking. I have need of courtmen."

"I might do worse," he answered; "but hither comes my father, and I
have no mind to fight him at the very beginning of my service."

Hakon looked at the two ships, which were nearing us fast, though
we were still close-hauled, as when the boat was brought alongside.

"I had no mind to fight him," said Hakon.

"It is not his way to let a ship pass without either toll or
battle," Asbiorn said bluntly.

"Why, then, go forward and get dried," Hakon said. "We will speak
of this presently, after we have met your ships."

Thereon Asbiorn ungirt his sword and gave it to me solemnly.

"It is in my mind that this might get loose when our men come over
the side," he said. "Better that I am your captive for a while."

With that he walked forward, and Hakon looked after him with a
smile that was somewhat grim. Then someone touched my arm, and
there was Father Phelim, with a face full of trouble. With him were
two men, dressed in somewhat the same way as himself. They were
Hakon's English chaplains, and they could not understand his Erse.

"Malcolm," he said, "what of our brethren on the island? There are
the wild Danes yet there--on the shore. I can see them."

Hakon asked with some concern what was amiss with the hermit, and I
told him, adding that they had only too much reason to fear the
Danes. And when he heard he turned to Earl Osric, who seemed to be
his shipmaster, and asked him to send a boat with men enough to
take these Danes, if possible, and anywise to see that the hermits
came to no harm.

"If we are to fight this Heidrek," the earl said doubtfully, "you
will want us all. We are not over-manned."

Nor were they. The ship pulled five-and-thirty oars a side, but had
no more than two men to each, instead of the full fighting number,
which should be three--one to row, one to shield the rower, and one
to fight or relieve. King Athelstane had given Hakon these ships
and sailing crews, but could not find Norsemen for him. Those who
were here had been picked up from the Norse towns in Ireland, where
many men of note waited for his coming. Eric, his half brother, was
not loved in Norway.

Presently I learned that Hakon was steering westward thus in order
to find that ship which we had seen when we were wrecked. It
belonged to some friend of his cause.

But Hakon would have the hermits protected, and Osric manned our
boat and sent it away, bidding the men hasten. They had a two-mile
sail to the island now, but the Danes stood and watched the coming
of the boat as if unconcerned. Doubtless they had not seen what
happened to their comrades, and thought they were returning.

"Tell me about these ships," Hakon said to Bertric when the boat
had gone. "Is there to be fighting, as this Asbiorn says?"

"Heidrek will not fight without surety of gain," my comrade
answered. "His ships are full of men, but he cannot tell that you
are under-manned. He can see that he must needs lose heavily in
boarding, for you have the advantage in height of side. I doubt if
he will chance it. There is an Irish levy waiting ashore for him,
and he has not faced that--or has been driven off."

"Rid the seas of him," growled Earl Osric. "Get to windward of him
and run his ships down, and have done."

"There is not a seaman in the North Sea who will not thank you if
you do so," said Bertric. "Those two ships are a pest."

"See to it, Osric," answered Hakon.

Then he glanced at us and saw our arms lying at our feet, for his
men had brought them from the boat.

"I was going to offer to arm you, but there is no need. Bertric and
I have drawn sword together against Danes before now, but I do not
know whether Malcolm may not owe some fealty to Eric, my half
brother. I am going to try to turn him out of Norway--as men have
begged me to do--and I would sooner have you on my side than
against me."

"Thanks, King Hakon," I answered. "I have owned no king as yet. My
sword is yours to command; but first I have promised to see Queen
Gerda into safety, at least, in Norway, if her home may not be won
again for her."

Hakon laughed, as if pleased enough.

"I think you have done the first already," he said. "As for the
winning her home afresh, who knows if you may not be in a fair way
to do so from this moment? It is likely."

"Hakon does not forget the friends of the house of Harald," Thoralf
the Tall said. "Tell him all the tale presently, for there seems to
be one, and be content."

"It would be strange if I were not," I answered.

Hakon held out his hand to me and I took it, and thereby pledged
myself to help set him on the Norse throne. It was a hazardous, and
perhaps hopeless errand on which he was setting forth, but I did
not stay to weigh all that. I knew that at least I had found a
leader who was worth following, and who had claimed friendship with
Gerda from the first.

Maybe there was another thought mixed up with all this. I will not
say that it might not have had the first place. Gerda was in
Hakon's care now, and I would not be far from her.

Now, there was the bustle of clearing ship for action. Already it
was plain that Heidrek meant fighting, if he could make no gain of
these ships elsewise, for we could see that his men had hung the
war boards--the shields--along the gunwales. He would see the same
here directly, and make up his mind either to fight or fly. As we
armed ourselves, Bertric and I had some thoughts that he might
choose the latter.

Now, I would not have it thought that I had forgotten Fergus, who
had spent himself so bravely for us. The two English chaplains and
Phelim were caring for him forward, and I had seen that he was
himself again, so far as coming to his senses is concerned. Now we
went and spoke to him, with all thanks for his help.

He smiled and shook his head.

"The flesh is very weak," he answered. "Now tell me if I may not go
back to the cells again. This crowd of men bewilders me after the
quiet. I am not fit now for the open world."

"In truth you may, father," I answered, somewhat surprised, for I
had not a thought but that both would do so. "We shall not take you
far. You will be landed when we go to take up the queen's
treasure."

"Then we will ask the superior to send me alone," said Phelim. "You
mind that we deemed that the end of our life here had come. Now,
all is safe once more, for this time at least."

"I do not think that we shall go to the court of the Irish king
now," said I, thinking that they were sent with us thither. "King
Hakon, who is a friend of the queen's, is bound for Norway."

There that talk ended, for Hakon came forward to watch the enemy,
and called us to go to the raised foredeck with him. But he spoke
to the hermits in passing, and though they could not understand
him, yet they might see that his words were kindly.

We were going to windward of Heidrek fast. His ships had tried to
weather on us, but had failed. Neither side had taken to the oars,
for he saw that we had the advantage, and we had no need to do so,
therefore. It was a fair sailing match.

But now Heidrek saw what sort of ships he had to deal with, and he
did not like the look of them, being near enough to note their
height of side and strength of build. It is likely that, like
myself, he saw at last what manner of shipbuilder that Alfred was
of whom we had heard such tales. I had ever been told, when shipmen
gathered in our hall, that the ships of the west Saxons were framed
with all the best points of the best ships yet built, with added
size and power, and now I knew that all I had heard was but truth.
Also I minded how Bertric had laughed when I said that most likely
Vikings had taken these vessels, and understood why.

Heidrek saw that he had no chance if there was to be a fight, and
acted accordingly. Had he been an honest Viking, cruising for
ransom from coast towns, and toll from cargo ships as he met them,
or ready to do some fair fighting for any chief who had a quarrel
on hand, and needed a little more help toward the ending of it, no
doubt he would have borne down on us and spoken with Hakon. Being
what he was, with the smoke of the burning village of the harmless
fishers rising black against the hills to prove the ways of his
men; or else, being in no wise willing to let us hear of the
treasure he had found at last, he did but take a fair look at the
great ships, put his helm over, and fled down the coast westward
whence he had come.

Asbiorn sat below the break of the foredeck, paying no heed to what
went on. He had taken off his mail, and was drying it carefully
with some cloths which Hakon's men had given him. I called down to
him and told him what had happened.

"Best thing my father could have done," he growled, without looking
up. "He does not take foolish risks, as a rule."

Hakon came down the short ladder which led to the maindeck and
heard, and laughed. Then he went aft, and Asbiorn looked after him.
Some order passed, and the men ran to the sheet and braces.

"Eh, but I am sorry for father," quoth Asbiorn. "Your friends are
after him."

The ships paid off to the wind and followed Heidrek. At that time
we were broad off the end of the island, and I saw it again as we
had first sighted it from the sea in the gale. Phelim and Fergus
stood looking at it and the swift boat which was nearing the beach,
and I joined them. The good men were full of fears for their
brethren, but the Danes were gathered quietly on the beach,
watching the boat. There were five of them, and Hakon had sent
eight men ashore.

The long reef showed up with a fringe of curling breakers over it,
and the boat could not cross it. Hakon's men skirted it, and found
some channel they could pass through, and by that time the Danes
had learned their mistake, and were plainly in some wonderment as
to what they had best do. They gathered together and followed the
course of the boat, for I have no doubt they hoped to see one or
two of Asbiorn's men with the strangers. Then the boat reached the
beach, and they went to meet it.

Whereon was a sudden scattering, and some ran one way and some the
other. One man stayed with the boat, and the rest chased the Danes
into the sand hills, where we lost sight of them for the most part.
Once or twice we spied men between them, and once I thought there
was a fight on the slope of one of the nearest hills.

But before we passed beyond further view we knew that the Danes had
been taken, for Hakon's men, some of whom wore scarlet cloaks and
were easily to be known, came back to the shore, and drove their
captives before them. Whereby we knew that the hermits were safe,
and the two here gave thanks, almost weeping in their joy. The two
English clergy came then, and led them forward to the dim cabin
under the foredeck. Until they were sure that the island was to be
in peace, neither Phelim nor Fergus would touch aught of food, and
they needed it somewhat sorely.

Chapter 14: Dane And Irishman.

Once we had settled down to that chase there was quiet on the
decks, and the ship was on an even keel. The ladies came out of
their cabin under the after deck and sat them down on a bench which
ran across under the shelter of the bulkhead, and I saw Gerda with
them. Thoralf's wife had cared for her, and had done it well, so
that she seemed to be a very queen as she sat there with those two
making much of her. The elder lady had known her as a child, for
she had been in Thorwald's hall with Thoralf the Tall on that visit
of which he spoke. The younger lady, whose name I knew afterward to
be Ortrud, was of Gerda's age.

Presently it was plain that Gerda would have us speak to them, and
we went and were made known to them, and after that we sat and told
of our doings for half an hour. Thoralf's wife had naught but
thanks to us for caring for Gerda, so that I was glad when Hakon
joined us for a little while.

He went forward soon, taking us with him, and sought Asbiorn, who
sat on the deck still scouring his wet arms and mail with the
cloths the men had lent him. Hakon asked if he could tell anything
of a large Norse ship which should have gone west some days ago. It
was that which we had seen on the day of our wreck.

"I have heard of a ship which has gone to trade at Sligo," said
Asbiorn. "It was in our minds to look for her ourselves presently.
That is far to the westward, and if you are in any hurry, you may
as well let my folk go, and follow her."

"No hurry at all," answered Hakon. "It seems that these ships of
yours are too well known for me to overlook. My men say that I am
sure to have to settle with Heidrek at some time, and I may as well
do so here as on the Norway shore next summer. I shall be busy
then, and Heidrek will have heard thereof. I am not busy just now."

"You will be when you overhaul the ships," said Asbiorn. "But they
are of less draught than yours, and you may miss them yet. Round
yon point is the Bann River, whence we came this morning."

Hakon turned away with a laugh, and watched the chase for a time.
Then he went aft and sat him down by the steersman, with Earl Osric
and Thoralf the Tall. Heidrek's ships were swift when before the
wind, and these great vessels might not overhaul them until they
had reached some shallow waters in the river mouth which Heidrek
had already entered. But there waited Dalfin and the Irish levies,
who would be gathered by this time in force.

Mayhap Heidrek would not chance being pent between two foes.

So that chase went on, and I wearied of watching it at last. Then
Bertric and I went to Asbiorn, for we would ask concerning some
things which had happened. Men were serving round the midday meal
at the time, and we ate and talked. The first thing I asked him was
what he had done with our ship.

"Sold her to one Arnkel in Norway, so to speak," he answered, with
a grin. "He was the man who had to do with this treasure ship you
picked up."

"Then you had some pact with Arnkel?"

"More or less," he said; "but there was a deal of chance in the
matter. In the gale I was outsailed, for your ship is not speedy,
as you know. The other two took refuge among the islands on the
Norse shore, and there heard of the great mound laying of Thorwald
which was to be. The ship had passed in the dawn of that morning,
and had not far to go. Whereon my father sent a message to Arnkel,
whom he knew, to say that he was at hand, and landed and fell on
him. As it turned out, he had better have taken his ships, for
Thorwald's folk set the ship adrift to save her from pillage. It
seems that they meant her to burn, but blundered that part. There
was nothing to fight for then, so they ceased. I came to the
islands and there had news of my father, and followed him. On the
way I passed Thorwald's ship at a distance, and was afraid of her,
she seeming to be a fully-armed war vessel. So I let her pass."

"Then you brought the news to Arnkel that she was not burning?"

"So it was. Whereon he would have us sail at once in chase of her
on his account. As we would not do that, and he would not let us go
on our own, there was a small fight. In the end Arnkel's men manned
your ship and we sailed in company, the bargain being that the
treasure was to fall to the finder. We thought we might have little
difficulty in overhauling the vessel, and should have had none if
it had not been for you. Had you picked up a crew of fishers?"

"No; we managed somehow by ourselves."

"I always told my father that Bertric was the best seaman we had in
all our crowd," Asbiorn said frankly. "You did well that time."

Then he told us how they had searched for us much in the way which
we had thought likely, and so at last had heard of a wreck when
they reached the river Bann.

"Asbiorn," I said, "did you know that there was a lady on board
this ship which was to be burnt?"

"No, on my word," he said, starting somewhat. "So that is where the
young queen was hidden, after all? There was wailing when her men
found that she was missing, and they said that she must have gone
distraught in her grief, and wandered to the mountains. How was she
left on board?"

"Arnkel put her there," I answered.

"So that explains his way somewhat. He seemed to want that ship
caught, and yet did not. When we did sail, he steered wide of the
course she took, and too far to the northward."

Then his face grew very black, and he growled: "Bad we are, but not
so bad as Arnkel, who would have men think him an honest man. Now,
if it were but to get in one fair blow at him for this, it were
worth joining Hakon. I take it that he will hear your tale--and
maybe mine."

"And the lady's also," Bertric answered. "Well--wait until you know
what befalls your ships."

"And my father," answered Asbiorn, getting up and looking ahead.
"To say the truth, I am not altogether sorry of an excuse to leave
that company, which is bad, though I say it. Yet he was driven out
of his own home by his foes, and thereafter his hand has been
against all men. It is the crew he has gathered which I would
leave, not him."

We had not gained on the two pirate ships. Now they were rounding
that headland whence they had come, and were altering their course.
Asbiorn said that they were making for the river mouth, and half an
hour thereafter we opened it out and saw that Heidrek was far
within it, heading landward. The beacon fires blazed up afresh as
the watchers knew that he had returned, and presently each fire had
a second alongside it. Men thought that Heidrek had brought us to
help him raid the land.

There were Norsemen on board, men from Dublin, who knew the mouth
of the river as well as need be, and better than Heidrek, who had
been into it but this once before. One of them piloted the ships
after him, for Hakon meant to end the business even as he had said,
here and now, if he could, and sent for Bertric that he might tell
him more of the enemy. He heard somewhat of our story at this time,
we sitting on the after deck with him, but he said little about it
then.

I suppose that we stood into the river over the falling tide for
five miles or more. Then Heidrek took to his oars, finding that he
was chased in earnest, and Hakon did so likewise at once. It was a
beautiful river, wide and clear, with great, green hills on either
side, and thick forests at their feet. But never a boat on its
waters, or man on its shores did we see. Only from each hilltop the
smoke of the war beacons rose and eddied.

The channel narrowed presently as we held on, going with all
caution. Then we opened out a wide valley, down which ran a fair
stream, and there we saw the Irish at last. High up they were,
crossing the valley in a column of black-garbed warriors which
seemed endless. There was no sparkle of mail among them, but here
and there a speck of light flashed from an axe blade or spear
point, to tell us that they were armed men. They were keeping pace
with Heidrek's ships by crossing from point to point, and how long
they may have watched him and us from the forests I cannot say.

Now the river took a sharp bend, and I heard the pilot say to his
mate that Heidrek had better have a care at this stage of tide,
while Asbiorn, forward, was watching intently. The tide was almost
at its lowest by this time, and Heidrek's hindmost ship was about
half a mile ahead of us. Hakon meant to pen them in some stretch of
the river which the pilot knew, and there deal with them. It was
said to be a deep reach with a bar at its head, beyond which no
ship might pass until high water.

Suddenly there came a shout from the men forward, and the pilot
cried to the oarsmen to cease rowing. Heidrek's second ship had
gone aground. We could see her crew trying to pole her off, and
Hakon asked if we could reach her.

"Not by five score yards," answered the pilot; "but see what
happens."

I suppose that he knew the Irish ways, for he had hardly spoken
when somewhat did happen. Out of the fringe of thicket and forest
along the bank of the river swarmed the Irish, with yells and howls
which reached us plainly, and flung themselves into the water to
wade out to the ship. The bank was black with them, and the light
from their axes overhead shimmered and sparkled in a wave of
brightness. The water was full shoulder deep round the ship, but
they did not heed that. Nor did they pay any attention to us, for
we could not reach them, and they knew it. They would deal with us
presently in one way or another. Meanwhile, this ship was at their
mercy.

Heidrek's other ship held on round the bend, and may have been out
of sight of her consort before she grounded, as the river bent with
its channel close under the banks. At all events, she did not
return to help.

"This affair is off our hands," said Hakon. "Best not meddle
therewith, even if we could. It is a great fight."

So it was, for the Danes fought well. The sides of the ship were
high above the wading men, and the spears flashed out between the
war boards, and the axe and sword were at work across the gunwales.
Yet the Irish never fell back from their swarming attack, and their
cries never ceased. One or two wounded men floated, paddling with
their hands, down past us, and hurled curses and defiance at us
also. Phelim and Fergus cried to them to forbear, for we were
friends, but they did not heed them, and passed, to reach the shore
below us as they might. We did not watch them.

For now the Irish had borne down the defence amidships, where the
run of the gunwales was lowest. The sheer weight of them as they
clambered, one over the other, on board, listed the ship over, and
made the boarding easier for those who followed. The wild Danish
war shout rose once or twice, and then it was drowned by the Irish
yell. After that there was a sudden silence, for the fighting was
over.

Then the victors leapt out of the ship and went ashore as swiftly
as they had come, and the forest hid them. The ship was hard and
fast aground now, and we pulled up abreast of her slowly, having no
mind to share her fate. Whether the Irish took any of her crew with
them as captives I do not know, but I saw her decks, and it seemed
hardly possible. So terrible a sight were they, that I feared lest
Gerda should in any way see it. But the doors of the cabin had been
shut, doubtless lest the fighting should fray the ladies.

"Will you venture farther, King Hakon?" asked the pilot.

"We will take one ship farther," he said. "The other shall bide
here, and see that this ship is not burnt by these wild folk.
Mayhap we shall want her."

Thoralf laughed at that. "We have no men to man her withal," he
said.

"We have men to sail her to Norway, and there wait the men to fight
for us," Hakon answered gaily. "We shall meet no foes on the high
seas, and we have met a queen whose men will hail us as their best
friends."

Thoralf shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "None can say that you
fare forward sadly, Hakon."

"This is the worse of the two ships," Bertric said. "The other is
Heidrek's own. He is not here. Asbiorn yonder commanded this."

"Asbiorn is in luck today," Earl Osric said, nodding toward those
terrible decks.

But Asbiorn stood on the foredeck with his back to that which he
had looked on, biting the ends of his long moustache, and pale with
rage. I did not wonder thereat.

Now Osric hailed the other ship and bade her anchor in the stream
while we went on. The pilot said that we could safely do so, and
that the next reach was the one of which he had spoken as a trap.
Then his comrade went into the bows with a long pole, sounding, and
so we crept past the stranded vessel, and into the most lovely
reach of river I had ever seen. It was well nigh a lake, long and
broad, between the soft hills and forest-clad shores, and the water
was bright and clear as glass beneath our keel, so that I saw a
great silver salmon flash like an arrow past the ship as we held
on. There was a village at the head of the reach, and men swarmed
in it like angry bees round a hive's mouth. Only the long black ship,
which still pulled slowly away from us, and the fiercely-burning
fires on every hilltop spoilt the quiet of the place.

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