A Sea Queen's Sailing by Charles Whistler

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"You must be Freyr, you other of the greeters of the slain. Speak
for me, I pray you, to the hammer bearer, that I may go whither my
grandfather is gone, if so be that I am dead."

"Nay, lady," said Dalfin, with all courtesy, "I do not know him you
mean. I am only Dalfin, Prince of Maghera, of the northern
O'Neills."

Now, at that magnificent "only" I saw Bertric trying to stifle
somewhat like a grin beyond the shoulder of his charge.

"Lady," he said, "we are but mortal men. We are here to help you,
for the ship has not taken fire, and you are safe."

She gave a little gasp and sank back on the roll of canvas we had
set for a pillow, and her eyes closed. I put back the last timber
hastily, and came aft, getting out of sight behind the bedstead,
being in no wise willing to be hailed as Thor again. As for Dalfin,
he poured out another cup of the wine and gave it to Bertric, who
had signed to him for it.

"She will be herself directly," he said sagely. "Who was it that
she took me for?"

"Only a heathen god, and a worthy one," answered the Saxon, setting
the cup to the lips of the girl, and making her drink some of its
contents slowly. "Neither you nor Malcolm will ever be held quite
so highly again. Make the most of it."

I think that he meant the lady to hear him speak thus cheerfully,
and it is certain that she did so. A little wan smile flitted
across her face, and then she flushed red, and opened her eyes. Her
first glance fell on the penthouse, and she shuddered somewhat.
Then she sat up and looked round for us, seeing Bertric for the
first time, as he stood at the head of the rough couch.

"Forgive me, friends," she said quietly. "I think I was not quite
myself. I must have been in a long swoon. There was smoke also
rising round me when last I knew anything."

Now she slipped from the bedstead and set her feet on the deck,
facing us. I saw her look pass quickly over our dress, and minded
that we were in no holiday trim. She saw Bertric in the thrall's
dress, and Dalfin in his torn and scorched and sea-stained green
hunting tunic and leather hose, and myself only in the Norse dress,
and that war torn and grimed with the fight in the hall, which
seemed so many years ago now, and with the long sea struggle that
came thereafter. Yet she did not shrink from us.

"I cannot understand it all," she said. "How comes it that you are
here, and thus? You seem as men who have fought, and are hardly yet
restored after the weariness of fight."

"We have fought, lady, and have fared ill. We were captives and
have escaped; and as we fled by sea we fell in with this ship when
at our wits' end."

So I answered, for my comrades looked at me. The fight was mine, so
to speak.

"It seems well for me," she said, smiling somewhat sadly. "I had no
thought but to be burnt. Now I have escaped that. Tell me how it
may have been."

I did so, wondering all the time how she came to be in that
terrible place, for she spoke of escape. That she would tell us in
her own time, no doubt.

"What can be done now?" she asked, speaking to us as to known
friends, very bravely.

If she had doubts of us, she hid them. Perhaps that we owned to
being escaped captives explained much to her--else she had surely
wondered that the tattered Dalfin claimed to be a prince. Yet he
was princely, both in look and bearing, as he rose up and made
himself known, with a bow which none but a courtier could have
compassed.

"Bertric is shipmaster," I said; "he will answer."

"The ship is yours, lady, and we can but serve you," he answered.
"Now, it depends on the wind when it comes with dawn, as no doubt
it will, what course we can take, for we are too few to work the
ship rightly. We had thought of trying to make the Norway shore at
the nearest point we could reach, and so setting the ship, and the
hero who lies in her, in the hands of those who will do him the
honour that he needs at the last."

At that, to our great surprise, she shook her head.

"That you cannot do; at least, you may not go back to the land
whence he came. Hall and town may be in the hands of our worst foe,
else I had not been here."

"We cannot be sure of making your haven in any case. We should have
sought such haven as we might, had we been alone."

"And you thought nothing of the treasure, which will be surely
taken from you?"

"We had not thought of it, lady. We have been on board the ship but
three hours or so. What thought might have come to us I cannot say.
But it is not ours, and we could not rob the dead."

He said that quite simply, and as the very truth, which must be to
us as a matter of honour.

"Tell me who you are," she said. "The prince I know already.
Dalfin, I think it was, an Irish name."

Dalfin bowed again, well pleased. Then he took on himself to make
us known in turn, as gravely as if in his father's court.

"This is my host, Malcolm, son of the Norse Jarl of Caithness, who
has unfortunately succeeded his brave father after a gallant fight,
in which I was honoured in taking part. This is Bertric the Thane,
of Lyme, in England, a shipmaster of long standing. He joined us
when we two escaped from Heidrek, who calls himself the Seafarer,
and held us captive after burning out my host and his folk."

"Heidrek the Seafarer!" she said, with a sharp sigh, looking up in
wonder at us. "When was it that he did this harm to you?"

"It was three days ago," I answered. "He fell on us at dawn, and by
noon we were at sea with him as captives. That same night we
escaped, thanks to the young chief, Asbiorn."

"Then he came straightway from your home and fell on mine," she
said gravely. "Surely the wrath of the Asir will fall on Heidrek
ere long, if, indeed, the Asir care aught what a warrior does of
wrong."

"Has he burnt you out also, lady?" asked Dalfin.

"That I doubt," she answered shortly. "But it was with his help
that I myself was set afloat to be burned."

Then her strength seemed to give way at last as the fullness of her
trouble came to her, and she turned from us and sank down sideways
on the bed where she sat, and wept silently. It was hard for us to
stand and see this; but we were helpless, not at all knowing what
we could do. I suppose that we could have done nothing, in truth;
but it seemed as if we ought to have been of some help in word, at
least.

At last she ceased, and sat up again, trying to smile.

"Yesterday, I had thought myself far from such foolishness as
this," she said. "Today, I know that this mail and helm of mine and
the sword that lies yonder in the chamber where you found me are
not fitting for me. They are an idle boast and empty. I am only a
weak woman--and alone."

Almost was she to breaking down again, but she was brave. And then
Bertric spoke for the three of us.

"Lady," he said, "we are homeless wanderers, but we would not have
you think yourself altogether alone so long as we can plan for you.
Mayhap we can do no more, but, at least, we shall see. I cannot
think that all hope is lost. See, we have the ship, and it is high
summer. Not one of us can be worse off than we have been of late,
and we may win to comfort once more."

Thereat she looked at the three of us, and rose up and stretched
her hands toward us, as in greeting.

"I will trust you," she said. "I will think of you as friends and
brothers in trouble, and in enmity to Heidrek the evildoer. It must
be that you three have wrought loyally together through the long
storm, and you can never be aught but friends thereafter, for you
have tried one another. Let me be as the fourth of you without
favour."

"Lady," said Dalfin, "I have sisters at home, and they were wont to
share all the sport of myself and my brothers, even as you say, as
of our number without favour. But always the sisters had the
favoured place, because we willed it, and should be unhappy if it
were otherwise. There were some favours which they held as their
unspoken right.

"Is not that so in your land, Bertric the Thane, and in yours,
friend Malcolm the Jarl?"

Truly this Dalfin knew how to set things in the right way, for even
I, who had no sisters, was not left out of that answer. So we both
said that he was right, and she knew well what we meant, and was
content. Moreover, by naming our titles once again, though they
were barren enough here in all truth, he told her that it was on
our honour to help her.

"I am more than content," she said softly. "I am no longer
friendless. Now I will tell you what befell me, and then you shall
plan what you may, not in anywise thinking too much of me, but for
all four of us."

She set the blue cloak round her as if chill, and was silent,
thinking for a few minutes. Bertric and I leant on the gunwale
close by, and Dalfin set himself on the deck near us. And all the
while she spoke, Bertric was glancing eastward across the still
water for the first sign of the breeze we longed for. I know now
that on him was a dread lest it should bring with it the brown
sails of Heidrek's two ships; but he did not show it. It was likely
that men would have watched for the smoke of the burning ship, and
that when they did not see it, would put out to search, guessing
what had happened.

"Yonder lies my grandfather," the lady said presently. "He was a
king in the old days before Harald made himself the one ruler in
the land who should so call himself. But he cared not at all for
the name, so that he held his own place among his own people, and
therefore let it be, for he was a friend of Harald's and helped him
to the one throne. Whereby we have lived in peace till just now,
when the old chief grew feeble. Then came my far cousin, Arnkel,
and would take first place, for my father, the old man's son, was
dead. That my grandfather would not suffer. He would have me rule,
for I should not be the first woman who had done so in his little
realm. One of my ancestresses fought as a shield maiden--as I
thought myself until today--in the great Bravalla fight long ago.
It is her mail which I have on now. Arnkel pretended to agree to
this, being crafty. It pleased the chief, and deceived me--till
yesterday. Then at last I knew that he did but wait for the death
of my grandfather, Thorwald, and then would get rid of me and my
claims. So Thorwald died, and we would set him in his ship and
build a mound over her in all honour. But to do that must sail her
from up the long fjord, where we have our place, to a low shore
which lies open to the sea near its mouth, for with us is no place
where we may find such a spot as we needed. A little village of
ours is there on the coast, at which we might beach and draw up the
ship; and so we made all ready, even as you see it now, save for
closing the chamber, and sailed thither after the storm had passed,
in the bright night. There we beached the ship, with the rollers
under her, while the people made ready the place for the mound.

"Then suddenly, from over the near hills came Heidrek and his men,
and fell on us as the folk worked. I sat on the deck here alone at
that time, clad thus for the last rites, and saw the warriors swarm
out of a little valley on my folk, and rose up to go to them with
my arms. Then came Arnkel on board in haste, and bade me shelter in
the chamber. The ship was to be set afloat lest the fight should go
against us. But I would not go."

There she stopped, and a look of remembered terror crossed her
face.

"He had two men with him; and all the rest--our courtmen and the
freemen who loved me, as I think--were running to the fight. So
they made no more ado, but carried me thither, bound me that I
might not cry out, and then set up the timbers hastily and fastened
them. So I must lie helpless and hear what went on. They went
ashore, and soon the ship groaned and creaked over the rollers, but
stopped before she was afloat. Men came then and cast things on
board, which were the fagots and the peat for firing; but I could
not cry out, for my head was too closely muffled. I think you would
say that I was gagged. The noise of the fight went on, and seemed
to come nearer. Then the ship took the water. I heard men leap on
board her, and the sail was hoisted. One cried that the chief would
have a fitting funeral after all, Heidrek or no Heidrek; and
another said that the treasure Heidrek sought would be lost to him.
I heard the creak of the yard, and I felt the ship swing to the
wind, and then the men went over the side, and there was silence.
Only from the shore after a little space came a great cry, 'Skoal
to King Thorwald, and farewell!' and with that the war horns blew
fiercely, and the battle cry rang again. Then came the terrible
stifling smoke, and I knew that Arnkel had thus rid himself of me.

"Presently I freed myself from the gag and the bonds, and tried to
beat down the end of the house, but I could not. I took an axe from
the wall, feeling for it in the darkness, but I waxed faint and
breathless, and the roof is low and I could not use it. I mind that
I set it back; and that is all until I woke here to see, as I
thought, Thor with his hammer and Freyr beside him, and so--"

That was all; and it was enough. Only Dalfin had one question to
ask.

"I wonder this evil Arnkel parted with the treasure so lightly."

"My folk would not have let him lay hands on it in any case," she
answered plainly. "And they would keep it from Heidrek."

"That is how the men of Heidrek fell on us," I said. "He must have
landed his men beyond your sight, but not far off."

"There were two ships seen passing north in the storm," she said.
"They will have been his, and he must have berthed them in some
near fjord. There he would hear of this that was to be, and of the
treasure which the old king took with him to his grave."

Then Bertric said thoughtfully enough:

"It may well be that the fight has gone hardly for Heidrek, else I
think that he would have put off to follow the ship before this.
After all, it may be that we can sail back to your fjord and tell
this tale to your folk, and so make an end of Arnkel and his
misdeeds. Now, lady--for as yet we do not know your name--we will
rig the forward awning for you, and there you shall sleep. Here is
this bed, and if there is aught else--"

"My name is Gerda," she answered, smiling. "I forgot that you could
not know it. Yes, I am weary, and what you will do is most kind.
See, there is one chest there which I would have with me. It holds
the gear that was my grandmother's, and I may surely use it in my
need. I had never to ask my grandsire for aught but he would give
it me."

We had all ready in very little time, and there we left her, and
she smiled at us and thanked us again, and so let fall the awning
curtains and was gone. Then we three went aft and sat down and
looked at one another. We had a new care thrust on us, and a heavy
one.

Chapter 5: Vision And Pursuit.

Bertric walked backward and forward, as a seaman ever will, across
the deck, whistling softly to himself, and looking eastward.

"Once," he said, as if thinking aloud, "I was foolish enough to buy
a bag full of wind from a Finn. He said that it depended on how
much I let out what sort of breeze I had. When he was out of my
reach, I found that he had not told me from which quarter the wind
would come. So I hove the thing overboard. Now I wish I had it. Any
wind is better than this doubt of what may come."

"Aye," I said. "We may be blown back into the arms of old Heidrek.
What say you to taking one of these boats, or fitting out our own
with their oars, and so trying to make the coast? Even Heidrek
would pay no heed to a boat."

"We may have to do that yet," answered my friend. "Heidrek is not
coming, or he would have sought this ship under oars at once. That
Arnkel must have beaten him soundly--is that likely?"

"I think so," I said. "Every warrior would be in his war gear at
that funeral, and it would be a full gathering of the king's folk.
Now, I wonder how Arnkel explained the making away of the lady to
her people."

"One may think of many lies he could tell. Men do not heed what
goes on behind them when a fight is on hand. He will say that she
fled, or that Heidrek's men took her--as the fight may go. They
will search for her, in the first case, and presently think her
lost for good."

"If there is one thing which I should like more than another," said
Dalfin, "it would be to see Arnkel's face when we take back the
lady."

"So we may--but not yet. We must know where Heidrek is. And we have
to wait for wind. Eh, well! We had better sleep. I will take first
watch."

"No, Bertric," I said; "do you two sleep. I could not if I tried."

"Why not?" he asked, with a great yawn. "I could sleep anywhere at
this minute, and Dalfin is as bad."

"I think that I could not sleep with yonder chief so near me," I
said frankly.

Dalfin laughed, though Bertric did not; but without more ado, they
took the sail from the nearest boat and rolled themselves under it
on the after deck. They were asleep in a moment, knowing that I
would call them with the first sign of wind, if it came before my
watch was ended. It wanted about an hour to midnight at this time,
and the red glow of the sun in the sky was flooding the north.

Now for a long while I paced the deck, thinking of all that had
happened in these few days. Heavy things they were, but the
heaviest were those of the summer morning when Heidrek came, so
that beside those terrors what else had passed was as nothing. And
I passed through them all again, as it were, and hardened myself to
bear them.

I have said little or nothing of my folk, and I needed not to do
so. They were gone, and from henceforth I was alone. What had been
was no more for me. Even the little Norse village in Caithness,
which had been my home, was destroyed, so far as I was concerned,
for the Scots would have stepped into our place, if it was worth
having after the fire and sword had been there. I could never regain
it. Only, there were some things which I owed to my father, and no
man could take them from me while I lived. Skill in arms I had from
his teaching, and such seamanship as a man of two-and-twenty may
have learned in short cruises; woodcraft, too, and the many other
things which the son of a jarl should know. And with these, health
and strength, and a little Scots coolness, maybe; for I could see
that if aught was to be won, I had only myself to look to for the
winning.

So I, in the weird twilight that had fallen now with midnight,
thought and tried to foresee what should be in the days to come,
and could plan nothing. Only I knew that now, for the time at
least, I and these two friends who slept had the lady yonder to
care for before ourselves.

I tired of the short walk to and fro presently, and I think that at
last I forgot my fears of the dead king in my thoughts, for I went
nearer the penthouse, and sat myself on the starboard boat on the
deck. There had risen a light curling mist from the still sea now,
as the air cooled, and it wrapped the ship round with its white
folds, and hid the height of the drooping sails and the dragon head
forward; and presently it seemed to me that out of the mist came
the wraiths of those of whom I thought, and drew near me, and I had
neither fear nor joy of their coming.

My father came and sat himself beside me, and he was as I had seen
him last, dressed in his mail, but with a peace on his face instead
of the war light. My brothers came, and they stood before us, not
smiling, but grave and content. The courtmen whom I had loved came,
and they ranged themselves across the deck, and I watched them, and
felt no wonder that they should be here. Surely my longings had
called them, and they came. So I and they all bided still for a
little while; and then the courtmen raised their weapons toward me
as in salute, and drifted from the deck into the white mists over
the water, and were gone. Then those two mighty brethren of mine
smiled on me, with a still smile, and so they, too, were gone, and
only my father was left; and he, too, rose up, and stood before me
where the brothers had been, and it seemed to me that he spoke to
me.

"Now are you the last of our line, the line which goes back to
Odin, my son; and on you it lies that no dishonour shall fall on
that line, which has never yet been stained. And we trust you. So
be strong, for there are deeds to be done yet in the days that lie
before you."

Then he set his hand on my shoulder, and passed to join those
others, and how I do not know. I was alone.

Then a longing to be with them again came over me, and I rose and
stretched my hands to the place where I had seen them, but there
was nothing--until I turned a little, looking for them; and then I
knew that there was one who would speak to me yet.

The penthouse chamber was open, and it seemed to be filled with a
white light and soft, and in the doorway stood the old king,
beckoning to me, so that, for all my fears, I must needs go to him.
Yet there was naught for me to fear in the look which he turned on
me.

"Friend," he said, "the old sea which I love should be my grave.
See to it that so it shall be. Then shall you do the bidding of the
maiden whom I have loved, my son's daughter, and it shall be well
with you, and with those friends of yours and of mine who sleep
yonder."

Therewith he paused, and his glance went to the things which lay
round the boats and in them--the things which had been set in the
ship for the hero to take to Asgard with him.

"See these things," he said again. "They are hers, and not mine.
There will be a time when she will have need of them. In the place
where I shall be is no need of treasure, as I deemed before I knew.
Nor of sword, or mail, or gear of war at all. And the ways of the
peace of that place are the best."

Then I was alone on the deck, and the tall figure with the long
white beard and hair was no longer before me. The chamber was
closed, even as we had left it, and there was neither sign nor
sound to tell me how that had been wrought. And with that a terror
came on me, and I went backward toward where my comrades lay,
crying to them by name, and my knees failed me, and I fell on the
deck, unknowing if they heard.

Bertric leapt up and saw me falling, and ran to me.

"Poor lad!" he said, "poor lad! Here is he worn out by fighting and
watching, and I would let him watch yet more--I, who am used to the
long hours at sea, and have grown hard in ill usage."

With that he called to Dalfin, who was sitting up sleepily, being
as worn out as myself, and they two hapt me in the sail, and made
me drink of the wine--which I would not have done at all, if I had
rightly known what I was about, considering whence it came--and
presently I came to myself and thanked them, feeling foolish. But
more than that I did not do, for the warmth took hold of me, and I
fell asleep with the words on my lips. Nor did Dalfin need a second
bidding before he lay down again alongside me and slept. And so
Bertric went on watch silently, and I heeded nothing more, till the
sun and the heave of the ship on a long swell that was setting from
the north woke me.

In the sunlight those visions which I had seen seemed as if they
had been but wrought of weariness and weakness, and of the long
thoughts which I had been thinking. I would heed them as little as
I might, therefore, lest they took hold of me again. But I had not
forgotten the words which had been spoken to me, for they were
good, and in no wise fanciful.

I said nothing of what had happened before I cried out and fell.
There was no need, for both Bertric and Dalfin made little of the
matter, saying that it was no wonder, and that maybe I had been
more hurt when I was struck down than I felt at the time--which is
likely enough. However, I had no more trouble in that way. Food and
sleep and the rest on that quiet deck were all that I needed.

"There is wind coming directly, and enough of of it, if not too
much for us," Bertric said. "There has been a gale somewhere far
north, to judge by this swell. Now, I want breakfast before it
comes, but I dare not rouse the lady by getting yon kettle."

As if she had heard him, from beyond the penthouse we saw the lady
herself coming, and we rose up to greet her. Dalfin went quickly,
and helped her over the slanting timbers of the house, where they
blocked the way, and so she came aft to us. She had taken off her
mail, and had put on a warm, blue kirtle over her white dress, and
had made some differences otherwise, which are past my setting
down. But now she looked fresh and bright after the rest, and the
utmost of the trouble had gone from her face.

She greeted us as if we were old friends of her own household, and
that was good. Then she sat on the steersman's bench, which we set
for her, and asked of the sea and wind, and the chances of the day,
brightly. And so at last Bertric said what was nearest to his mind.

"The wind will be here shortly, lady, and meanwhile we were
thinking of our breakfast. Yesterday we had no scruple in helping
ourselves, but today we are somewhat shy, maybe. But we would bring
the great kettle from forward, if you will break your fast with
us."

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